Xiao Yan and the other alchemists had naturally been escorted to the assessment grounds by the City Lord of Zixi City. Everyone else was now gathered in a mountain range packed with a sea of people. Deafening clamor rose into the sky and spread across the entire range, creating a rather imposing spectacle.
At the summit of the Wanling Mountain Range, rows of elegant, timeworn buildings stood alongside an enormous square nearly a thousand zhang across!
The square was empty save for several dozen stone platforms, upon which a number of elderly men seemed to be waiting in solemn readiness. Meanwhile, the surrounding mountaintops and the air above them were packed so tightly with countless figures that not even water could trickle through.
"Old Yao, don't take your games too far."
"The number of alchemists registered for this competition has reached an exceedingly rare level."
Several solemn-faced elderly men sat in the square. Among them, the two who looked the oldest began to speak.
"How many are there?"
"Look at you, jumping at shadows."
The white-haired elder addressed as Old Yao lifted an exquisite jade cup from the stone table and pursed his lips slightly, seemingly unconcerned.
"..."
The other elder smiled with narrowed eyes but said nothing. He merely held up three fingers, looking mysterious.
"Three thousand?"
"That's not much."
Old Yao glanced at those three fingers, then shook his head.
"Elder Yao, it's not thousands... it's tens of thousands."
Some of the younger elders beside him offered a cautious reminder.
"Pfft!"
"Th-thirty thousand?"
The tea Old Yao had just swallowed sprayed straight back out, his face filled with shock.
"Indeed."
Elder Yao's eyelids twitched. It seemed that the number of participants in previous Alchemist Pill Gatherings had never broken the ten-thousand mark!
High-ranking alchemists, ordinarily as rare and