"..."
Bai Fanxian sitting center stage watched the situation unfolding below without understanding.
Suddenly about a third of the audience had flushed faces, some bodies weakly collapsed onto chairs, some screaming crazily, or about three or four who fainted completely.
Did I accidentally release pressure?
No. Since crossing eras, her body had developed noticeably. It could be controlled perfectly. If she didn't want to, there was no way even a fragment of qi power would leak from her body.
Then what madness had come over these idiots?
On the Empress fan group leaders' side, Brother Yang and Novice Alchemist fell into the same situation. Their faces flushed while tears flowed. They felt happiness like never before, as if their lives were already fulfilled.
"Brother Yang... I'm so happy," Novice Alchemist spoke shakily.
"Ah... me too."
Brother Yang spoke while raising his hand to wipe tears streaming down his cheeks.
Looking back, they felt like fools themselves. Empress appeared before them so long ago yet they didn't realize. They even dared doubt her identity.
They were no different from stupid ignorant people. No—this was utterly idiotic!
Elder Fang watched the occurring situation with strange feelings. The truth that Grandmaster Bai Fanxian was Alchemy Empress shocked the association elders equally.
Especially Master Sun Mingchuan—upon learning that Grandmaster Bai, whom he'd accidentally admired, was the same person who demolished him in his own thread, he nearly choked up the tea he'd just swallowed.
But before more chaos arose, it was association head representative Elder Chen who came out to control the peace first.
"Ahem!... Everyone please remain calm. The test must continue."
He turned to look at Grandmaster Bai, who began sipping tea calmly again on stage, and concluded:
"Does anyone else have questions?"
Many apprentice alchemists wanted to raise hands to ask their questions, but somehow when they tried, some people beside them turned to glare fiercely!
The Empress fans!
Seeing no one else dared raise hands, Elder Chen could only sigh. But what could be done? Besides, both the name Alchemy Empress and Bai Fanxian had demonstrated knowledge and ability far surpassing elders like them many times already.
So ending like this should be fine!
"Then the public Q&A test ends here. Next we'll begin testing alchemy!"
As the elder finished, the crowd below cheered loudly. Speaking honestly, this moment was what they'd been waiting for most.
For those studying this path, what could be more interesting than alchemy!
They turned to chatter noisily. Even Empress fans stopped daydreaming momentarily to exchange opinions about this.
"What elixir will Grandmaster Bai refine?"
"Whatever Empress refines must be amazing!"
"Right, I can't wait anymore."
"Hey, you guys didn't forget it might take days to refine?"
That last sentence awakened everyone to reality.
Right—in refining one elixir, whether liquid or pill form, the higher level the elixir, the more complex it became.
So it wasn't strange to sometimes see alchemists disappear for days to refine one pot!
Using an entire day became normal in this industry.
Especially the Tier 4 elixir Bai Fanxian would refine—though the audience didn't know what type, being called Tier 4 meant it must be difficult to refine and take a long time.
"Grandmaster Bai, have you chosen what to refine?" Elder Fang Niang walked over to ask nearby. This seemed like preparation time, so people weren't paying much attention to the stage.
"A Tier 4 elixir?"
Bai Fanxian raised an eyebrow asking.
"Yes. If Grandmaster Bai needs any special materials, just tell us. The association will prepare them as quickly as possible."
Fang Niang nodded. It was like an investment—if Grandmaster Bai truly became a Tier 4 alchemist, it would create positive impact for the association.
Bai Fanxian pondered. Speaking of equipment first—to refine elixirs, what couldn't be missing was an alchemy cauldron. She herself had one. Except that cauldron was a bit special.
It was a cauldron about three times larger than her—size where she could stand inside comfortably. Her companion created it with the best materials. The yin-yang balance was incomparable. No cauldron in the previous era could match hers.
Moreover, after ten thousand years passed, after going through alchemy refinement merged with her body, this cauldron seemed to have something more special than before. She could easily sense the power of heaven and earth still remaining in the cauldron.
She'd never tried refining elixirs with that cauldron in this era even once. There was no necessity to refine anything—just the elixirs she'd refined and stored in her dimension were abundantly more than enough. And she thought this time would be the same.
If she suddenly took out that giant cauldron from her dimension, it would create unnecessary shock. So she showed hesitant manner like this.
"...Do you have a cauldron I could borrow?"
Bai Fanxian turned to ask Fang Niang. The middle-aged woman raised eyebrows in surprise. For alchemist beings like them, even beginners usually had at least one personal alchemy cauldron they used skillfully. Borrowing each other's alchemy cauldrons was rarely seen.
"The association has some cauldrons for apprentice alchemists..."
"That's enough."
Bai Fanxian sighed with relief. Soon someone ran into the hall bringing an alchemy cauldron kept for beginners to study and experiment with.
It was a standard cauldron commonly seen.
Bai Fanxian examined that cauldron only briefly. It was an ordinary cauldron mass-produced. The internal yin-yang balance wasn't good—suitable only for beginners practicing first-level alchemy where even if the cauldron exploded, it wasn't regrettable.
"Uh... if you don't mind, would you use my cauldron instead?" Fang Niang looked at the brought cauldron's condition uncomfortably. Bai Fanxian would refine a Tier 4 elixir but use such a standard practice cauldron—that seemed somewhat inappropriate.
A good cauldron increased success chances in refinement.
A bad cauldron reduced chances equally.
"It's fine..." Bai Fanxian didn't want to waste too much time. At the same time, Huang Zihan, who'd disappeared briefly, returned with various materials and herbs in hand.
Because today was seminar day, outside were many shops selling materials. Moreover, this was the Alchemists' Association—if anything was lacking, just tell them and the association would prepare it.
Bai Fanxian swept her gaze to check. Seeing everything ready, she walked to center stage. The watching crowd became alert and focused attention on her again.
"What's that? A practice cauldron?"
"Right, when I was a Tier 1 alchemist, I exploded cauldrons like that often..."
"Empress will really use that cauldron to refine a Tier 4 elixir?"
The person asking that last question was Brother Yang. He looked toward the stage while gulping loudly. No matter how much knowledge Empress had, it wasn't a guarantee she had truly sublime alchemy ability.
"We must believe in her!" The person tapping his shoulder was Novice Alchemist. Though both had only truly met today, it was as if some bond tied them together, making them close like brothers who crawled after each other.
"You're right. We must encourage Empress!"
Bai Fanxian standing center stage sensed strange movements in the crowd. When she turned, her gaze snagged on a large light-up sign held by nearly ten people.
It was the words 'Alchemy Empress' in large glowing letters. Besides her name, behind it was a large pink heart blinking rhythmically.
What were those idiots doing again?
Bai Fanxian chose to ignore them. She didn't realize at all that she was starting to see "those idiots" as her people without knowing.
She walked to center stage. That moment, the hall became silent. They who were alchemists knew well how important concentration was to refine high-level elixirs. The hall audience waited for staff to go install a furnace for lighting fire.
It was normal procedure—to refine elixirs, besides a cauldron, what couldn't be missing was a furnace. Some alchemists even had special furnaces custom-made specifically for themselves.
But Bai Fanxian did something different.
Before staff could install the furnace, Bai Fanxian flicked her hand once.
WHOOSH!
A clear blue flame flared up mid-air!
It was floating before Bai Fanxian. Bright sparks blazed like dancing. The nearby audience clearly felt warmth radiating from that small fire.
The staff carrying in the furnace gaped. So the furnace they bothered carrying became useless?
Suddenly the alchemy cauldron placed there floated up from the floor. It floated above the burning flame. In just seconds of the cauldron touching the blue flame, it trembled as if it could explode any moment.
"Th-that couldn't be?"
"Qi Flame! Must be Qi Flame for sure!"
"The high-purity flame most suitable for alchemy..."
"The mystical art of using fire! According to rumors, only Grandmaster Lu Qing can use Qi Flame like this!"
While the audience debated, the association elders stared at that blue flame in disbelief.
It was true Grandmaster Lu Qing could also use Qi Flame.
But Grandmaster Lu Qing's Qi Flame was bright red and didn't give a feeling as intense and pure as the clear blue Qi Flame they saw before them!
Didn't that mean her fire arts exceeded Grandmaster Lu Qing already!?
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