Just as the Mantis Stalks the Cicada

Wa Ke was extremely irritated. His originally flawless plan had actually been ruined by a little girl.

He had paid a great price to bribe Ka Lisi, having him make slight alterations to the prescription and medicinal ingredients. This Wind Spirit Bone Eradicating Grass was exceedingly obscure; only high-level Alchemists or veteran Alchemists with immense experience in refining might possibly see through the scheme. As for the prescription, he had cleverly exploited the contestants' mutual distrust. They would never share and discuss the prescriptions they had deciphered with others, allowing him to alter part of it.

But now, Ka Lisi had been arrested. Given his greedy, cowardly nature, it was only a matter of time before he exposed Wa Ke. Fortunately, Wa Ke had not told Ka Lisi his true identity, only that he came from another country.

"There's still a chance." Ka Lisi stared coldly at the Pink-haired Girl in the competition area, murderous intent rising within him.

But he quickly suppressed it. The girl was a representative student sent by Jia Nan Academy. If he assassinated her and the matter was exposed, both he and the Chu Yun Empire would bear the full wrath of Jia Nan Academy.

Although the Chu Yun Empire could gather its entire nation's strength and was not incapable of contending with Jia Nan Academy, no one would be willing to make such a sacrifice. When the time came, he alone would be pushed forward, sacrificed to preserve the greater whole, made to bear every charge, and then executed.

Besides, there was also a Jia Nan Academy elder on the stage. He had probed him from afar once, and his strength was at least that of a Dou Emperor. Thus, making a move against someone from Jia Nan Academy here was hardly wise.

He then shifted his gaze toward the Young Man beside the girl, the cruelty in his eyes growing ever stronger.

The other ten seats all had more or less some identity and background; their deaths would have too great an impact. But this Alchemist named Yan Xiao was outstanding in strength, while his background was remarkably humble. Killing him would not only remove one opponent for the Chu Yun Empire, but would also cause relatively little fallout.

After pondering for a while, Wa Ke let out a cold laugh and settled on his plan.

Liuli found the second round much easier, since the course of the competition was basically the same as in the Original Work.

Xiao Yan turned the tide, beating the incomparably arrogant Chu Yun Empire genius "young" Alchemist Yan Li to uncover the competition's core difficulty and successfully refine the pill first, astonishing the entire venue.

With the splendid conclusion of the second round, the first day of the Alchemist Competition came to an end. Tomorrow would be the true Finals.

Under the admiring and worshipful gazes of the entire crowd, Xiao Yan packed up his things and left the plaza alongside the departing Alchemists.

He did not like being watched and discussed by so many people. Though most of what they said was praise and recognition, the psychological scars from the past were too numerous, and he instinctively resisted it.

"Mr. Yan Xiao, congratulations." Just as Xiao Yan exited the plaza gates and prepared to return to the inn, a soft, pleasant voice called out.

Xiao Yan turned his head and saw that the people from the VIP section had all come out. Yao Ye, Nalan Yanran, and Ya Fei were walking at the front of the group, looking at him with bright eyes.

Behind them, influential figures of the empire such as Jia Xingtian and Fa Ma chatted and laughed together. Yu Gongtian stood nearby, with Gongsun Liuli clinging to her right arm. The two pink-haired women walking together made for quite a sight.

"I was just lucky." Xiao Yan used the classic humble line in response to Nalan Yanran, who was smiling like a blossoming peach.

Nalan Yanran was already used to Xiao Yan's somewhat cold attitude toward her. She chuckled, took hold of Yao Ye's and Ya Fei's wrists, and said, "Princess Yao Yue said she would host a banquet today to celebrate for you, the little princess, and Liu Ling. I wonder..."

"My apologies, Princess Yao Yue. The two rounds have taken quite a toll on me, and I need to rest and recover properly in preparation for tomorrow's Finals. I'm afraid I won't be able to attend. My apologies." Xiao Yan cupped his hands and spoke with a wry smile.

Nalan Yanran lowered her gaze, a trace of loneliness flashing across her features. Mr. Yan Xiao probably did not want to attend the banquet because he did not want to deal with her.

"If there is nothing else, I shall take my leave first." Xiao Yan gave Yao Ye an apologetic smile and turned to leave.

"Wait!" At that moment, another girl's voice rang out.

Xiao Yan and the three women turned to look behind them, only to see Liuli running over with quick pattering steps before stopping in front of Xiao Yan.

"Mr. Yan Xiao, I still have a score to settle with you!" Liuli looked up and smiled faintly.

Xiao Yan looked completely baffled, staring at the Pink-haired Girl in confusion.

"We'll talk on the way." Liuli directly grabbed Xiao Yan's hand and pulled him toward a street.

"You!" Xiao Yan snapped out of his daze and was just about to pull his hand back when the girl tightened her grip.

Liuli turned around, her beautiful blue-violet eyes fixed directly on him. "Don't move. Just walk with me."

Xiao Yan froze, staring at her for a long while before finally relaxing the strength in his hand.

Liuli smiled again and led him forward.

Everyone watched the two young people leave, exchanging puzzled looks.

"Lady Yu Gongtian, are we really going to let the two little fellows leave like that?" Jia Xingtian stroked his beard, his gaze meaningful.

The woman smiled and watched their retreating backs. "The two of them must have something important to do. There's no need for us to interfere in young people's affairs."

What a joke. I'm the one who dragged him away! Liuli, whose main consciousness was currently inside her Doppelganger, complained inwardly.

Nalan Jie looked at the dejected expression on his granddaughter's face and let out a heavy sigh. "Yes. Young people's affairs should be left to young people."

"Miss Gongsun, where are you taking me?" After they had moved far away from the plaza, Xiao Yan saw that Liuli was still holding his hand and frowned.

Although he had a favorable impression of this girl, they were not close. Doing something so rash was truly inappropriate.

Liuli said nothing. She merely led Xiao Yan into an alley, then decisively let go of his hand and turned to face him.

"You returned my Medicine Cauldron to me. What are you going to use for alchemy tomorrow?" Liuli asked with a light smile.

Xiao Yan was taken aback. He had actually forgotten to solve that problem.

"So, let's go browse the market in Jia Ma Holy City and find a Medicine Cauldron." Seeing that Xiao Yan truly had made no preparations, Liuli continued with her suggestion.

"I can buy a Medicine Cauldron by myself." Unable to withstand Liuli's gaze, which seemed capable of seeing through him, Xiao Yan looked away. He added quietly, "Or you could continue renting your cauldron to me. I think that cauldron is quite easy to use."

Upon hearing that, a blush unexpectedly appeared on Liuli's cheeks. She hurriedly shook her head. "No more lending it. No more."

During the second round, she had realized that when Gongsun Sanbu had forced her to learn alchemy as a child, she had found it boring and had taken a sword to carve on the Medicine Cauldron whenever Gongsun Sanbu was absent.

And what she had carved was content from the Original Work, Battle Through the Heavens. The image on the Green Cauldron was the battle between the Flame Emperor, codenamed "Anti-Inflammatory Medicine," and the great villain Hun Tiandi.

The artistic style was truly bizarre.

"Why?" Xiao Yan was puzzled. Though she charged him, he had actually been quite willing. Aside from the cauldron ranked on the Heavenly Demon Ranking that Old Yao possessed and had let him touch, that Green Cauldron was the highest-grade Medicine Cauldron he had ever used.

"No means no. That's my personal item. I only lent it to you because the situation was urgent. We're not close enough for that yet!" Liuli continued shaking her head.

"Then what kind of relationship do we have? Close enough that you can casually hold my hand?" Seeing Liuli's reaction, Xiao Yan suddenly felt the urge to tease her.

"This..." Liuli was rendered speechless for the first time outside. She turned her flushed face aside and looked at the ground.

Damn it, is this what it means to be the protagonist? His talent for playing with girls' feelings is actually this strong. He must have used Spirit Condensation Absolute. After my consciousness was divided, my defenses became weaker!

Liuli glared at Xiao Yan in embarrassment and annoyance, utterly unconvinced. She was going to be Xiao Yan's Big Sister at Jia Nan Academy in the future. How could she let him walk all over her?

She turned around and strode straight ahead, tossing out one sentence. "Come or don't come, whatever you want. If you can't find a good Medicine Cauldron and blow up your cauldron again tomorrow, I won't let you use mine."

Seeing how puffed up with anger she was after being teased by him, Xiao Yan could not help but laugh. After considering it for a moment, he still followed after her.

So this mischievous girl had a cute side too? Was this the legendary high attack, low defense?

Just as the two passed through the alley one after the other, a black shadow slowly emerged from a dim corner across from it. Beneath its black robes, it tightly gripped a dark green dagger.

"Hehe, I didn't expect to come across such a perfect opportunity. Those two little brats actually left the protection of those strong individuals and ran off on a date." Wa Ke gave a sinister smile, killing intent surging in his eyes.

This way, he could get rid of both of them and retreat without anyone noticing. Once these two were dealt with, the championship of this Alchemist Competition would belong to the Chu Yun Empire.

But what he did not know was that thousands of meters above him, a figure sat floating atop the clouds, smiling as she watched everything unfold below.

The fish has taken the bait!