The next day, at the Jia Ma Empire's Alchemist Tournament.
Bang!
With the sound of something shattering, the bamboo hat atop a mysterious Gray-Robed Man's head suddenly burst into powder and rained down over the competition grounds.
With the hat gone, the youthful face concealed beneath it was instantly exposed to countless gazes.
"That guy is from the Chu Yun Empire?"
The sharp-eyed little princess, Yao Yue, spotted the badge on the gray-robed youth's chest and suddenly cried out in surprise.
"The Chu Yun Empire?"
Hearing that name, Xiao Yan paused slightly, as though something had occurred to him.
Wasn't that the neighboring empire crawling with poison masters?
"We absolutely cannot let him take our Jia Ma Empire's championship!"
Liu Ling exchanged a glance with the little princess and spoke in a low, angry voice.
"All right. Since everyone has completed the first round, let us begin the second assessment..."
At the front of the VIP seats, Fa Ma slowly exhaled, a trace of coldness in his clouded eyes.
He stared fixedly at the gray-robed youth below, whose true face had now been revealed. After a long moment, his calm voice rang out across the square once more.
Second assessment: Windwalk Pill, third-grade pill. Effect: Temporarily heightens the user's sensitivity to wind-attribute energy in the world, thereby increasing movement speed.
With the detailed, orthodox formula provided by the Alchemist Guild, refining a Windwalk Pill should have been no difficult task for alchemists of Liu Ling's caliber.
As Xiao Yan worked on his pill, he was still wondering why the second round was such a simple "open-book exam."
A faint, muffled sound suddenly came from a Bluestone Platform not far in front of him.
Xiao Yan looked up and saw an alchemist staring blankly at a pile of