Astonishing the Crowd

Whoosh!

As figure after figure drifted down, the many Bao Dan Sect elders landed in the arena under the watchful eyes of the judges and began compiling the results.

"Number 10662, identified a total of 12,245 varieties!"

"Number 251, identified a total of 9,558 varieties!"

"Number 8547, identified a total of 29,888 varieties!"

As the judges compiled more and more results, the noise in the arena grew increasingly chaotic.

Gradually, no one could make out every judge's report.

Even so, the scores of several contestants still caused an uproar.

"Number 4459, identified a total of... 85,774 varieties!"

"Number 5588, identified a total of... 91,574 varieties!"

"Number 5897, identified a total of... 99,999 varieties!"

Every score announced drew cheers from the entire venue.

But when Number 5897's score was announced, the entire arena fell silent.

Even among the judges, some froze where they stood and turned away in distraction.

Half an hour later.

All twelve elders had returned to the judges' seats.

After another ten-odd minutes of tallying the results.

This time, Senior Zhao of the Talismans and Arrays Sect slowly rose to his feet. "After our deliberation, the results of the first Herbal Identification assessment are out.

The top hundred are: Number 165! Number 558! Number 1146! Number 1169! Number 1987! Number 1999! Number 2079!"

As Senior Zhao's voice echoed over the plaza.

The alchemists whose numbers had been called all revealed excited expressions.

They knew they had successfully passed the first round. Ranking among the top hundred out of over ten thousand alchemists was already an immense honor.

At the very least, it proved that they were exceptionally skilled in herbal identification, a fundamental aspect of alchemy.

Xu Qing, however, stood quietly beside his table. When he heard his number called, not the slightest ripple appeared on his face.