At the Lecture Hall, Elder Deng watched the Sect Elder at the front from a distance with a serious expression on his face.
The other disciples quickly noticed his presence and tried to greet him, but upon seeing his expression, they all acted as though they didn't even see him.
"What am I getting all worked up for? There's no way he can foresee the results of a pill just from the smell alone…"
Although he thought that, Elder Deng still had doubts in his head.
The process of creating a pill is profound and almost incomprehensible to those that are not Alchemy Masters and requires countless hours of practice to concoct even the simplest of pills.
Making a single pill requires dozens of different and rare herbs. These herbs are then grounded together and melted into liquid before solidifying it into a pill, and with some profound pill requiring over hundreds of different ingredients, it is almost impossible to guess a pill without looking at the ingredients first. However, it is not entirely an impossible task, as some of the peak Alchemy Masters of this world has such ability but only for low-grade pills such as Elementary-grade and Profound-grade Pills.
As for the Advanced Spirit Refreshment Pill, it is an Earth-grade Pill that could almost completely restore an exhausted Dantian of even Earth Spirit Realm experts. In other words, it's far from being a low-grade pull.
Even with their enhanced senses as Cultivators, even the best Alchemy Masters in the Holy Continent would not be able to guess an Earth-grade pill being made just by the smell, much less some kid at the True Spirit Realm.
However, what's even more impossible than guessing the pill would be telling the outcome of the pill's quality, and such a feat is unheard of in the world of Alchemy.
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While Elder Deng pondered about what Su Yang said, the Sect Elder behind the cauldron has finally completed the Advanced Spirit Refreshment Pill after five hours of sweating and effort.
After taking a deep breath, the Sect Elder opened the cauldron to let the smoke out before taking out a white pill to show the astounded audience.
"It'd only taken Elder Li five short hours to concoct an Earth-grade pill! Truly amazing!"
"Not to mention the quality of the pill! Look at it! There are only a few dark spots on the Advanced Spirit Refreshment Pill! It means—"
Before the disciple could talk about the pill's quality, Elder Deng, who had been patiently waiting in the back, rushed forward and jumped to the front to stand beside Elder Li, greatly surprising him.
"Elder Deng! You nearly gave me a heart attack with that grand entrance!" Elder Li said while wiping the sweat off his face.
He then continued after seeing Elder Deng stare at his pill with a serious expression, "Is there something wrong with the pill?"
Elder Li didn't notice anything wrong with the pill when he retrieved it from the cauldron, but since Elder Deng's superior in Alchemy, he wanted to make sure.
However, Elder Deng did not respond to him even after many moments, only looking at his pill with a shocked expression that seemed to be frozen in time.
"Uhhh… Elder Deng?" Elder Li started to feel anxious from the silence. Did he screw up the pill that badly? To the point where it shocked Elder Deng to this extent? And in front of this many disciples? His reputation would also be screwed at this rate!
"80%! It's quality really is 80%! Impossible! It must be some kind of trick! How did he do it?! And from such a distance! Does he have the nose of a dog?!"
Elder Li watched with a dumbfounded expression as Elder Deng spew what sounded like nonsense to himself nonstop.
In Elder Deng's eyes, he'd just witnessed someone achieve something that was thought to be impossible by all Alchemy Masters.
A few seconds later, watched by everybody there, Elder Deng jumped off the platform and returned to Su Yang without explaining anything to Elder Li, leaving him profoundly puzzled.
"Who are those two?"
When the disciples there noticed Su Yang and Qiuyue, they quickly began mumbling in curiosity, as their Sect rarely have any guests.
"Hey, do you see that young man?"
"You'd have to be blind to miss someone as dazzling as him!"
"He's so handsome. I can even feel his calm demeanor from all the way over here. Where do you think he's from?"
Though, the females' voice far exceeded that of the males there for obvious reasons, causing a few of them to be upset from envy.
"I don't recognize his robes but they are clearly robes for disciples."
"To be accompanied by Elder Deng himself, he must be some bigshot…"
"If he's that famous, then how come nobody here recognizes him?"
The disciples no longer paid attention to the lecture and instead focused on the mysterious guest.
"How did you do it?" Elder Deng asked Su Yang with a serious face after returning to him.
"How did I do what?" Su Yang replied with a question of his own.
"Don't act stupid now! How did you know that it would come out as medium quality Advanced Spirit Refreshment Pill? There's no way that you could've found out beforehand, but it's even more impossible for you to have guessed its outcome by the smell alone!"
"Ah, that?" Su Yang casually said, "What? You can't even do something as simple as that? The Alchemy Masters in this place are more inferior than I'd expected then."
"What did you say?!"
Su Yang's words easily angered Elder Deng, someone who takes great pride in his status as an Alchemy Master. Not just Elder Deng, but if anybody else there had heard his words, they too, would be fuming with anger right now. Su Yang basically called the entire Four Seasons Academy inexperienced, after all.
However, in Su Yang's eyes, his ability to deduct the quality of a pill before it's even finished is considered common practice within the Four Divine Heavens, so he was truly surprised to find out that this 'great' Four Seasons Academy couldn't do something as simple as that.
"Take back your words just now! You can insult me all you like but I will not allow you to speak badly of the Four Seasons Academy like this!"
Su Yang understood why Elder Deng was angry, but he only smiled, and said, "Or else?"
"..."
Elder Deng turned silent for a moment before saying, "Since you think so lowly of the Alchemy Masters in this place, you must be very confident of your own abilities. If you think you are really that good, then you wouldn't mind competing with one of our disciples, right? Or do you only have the ability to smell?"
"You are challenging me with Alchemy?" Su Yang suddenly burst out laughing.
"Good… Good! I will take on that challenge." He easily agreed.
Although Elder Deng was surprised that he had accepted his challenge so easily, he still smiled upon hearing him agree.
"In order to make it fair, we will make your opponent around the same age as you," he then asked. "How old are you?"
"You don't need to give me a handicap." Su Yang casually said. "I won't complain even if you were to participate yourself."
Elder Deng frowned. "You want to compete with me? Hmph! Just because you have a good nose does not qualify you to face me!" he coldly snorted. "Who knows what your actual abilities are?"
After another moment, he continued, "But since you are so confident, I will allow you to see what the geniuses of our Four Seasons Academy are capable of!"
Elder Deng then turned to look at the crowd of disciples by the Lecture Hall and called out a name, "Qing Shan, come over here!"
When the disciples heard Qing Shan's name being called out by Elder Deng, they all exchanged surprised looks with each other, wondering why Elder Deng would be calling for her now.
A few moments after Elder Deng called for this Qing Shan, an elegant beauty with a calming demeanor walked out of the crowd and approached him.
This beauty looked to be in her early twenties and the way she moves her body as she walked gave off an enchanting feeling, causing many of the male disciples there to stare at her with loose jaws and lustful eyes.
When she arrived in front of them, she gave a quick glance at Su Yang before greeting Elder Deng.
"Disciple Qing greets Sect Elder Deng."
Elder Deng accepted her graceful greeting with a bright smile and said, "This may be sudden, but I'd like you to participate in a little event. It's nothing important, so you don't have to worry too much about it."
"A little event?" she looked at him with her eyebrows raised. Out of all of the disciples at the Lecture Hall, she was the one he decided to call for this little task? When was the last time anybody had asked her to do something that was of little importance? She couldn't even remember!
"That's right. I'd like you to participate in a small showdown with this gentleman over here." Elder Deng pointed to Su Yang and continue, "This gentleman over here does not have a good grasp of our Four Seasons Academy, so I figured that we should show him a little of what we are capable of…"
Qing Shan had a good idea of the meaning behind Elder Deng's words, and she turned to look at Su Yang again.
"True Spirit Realm… You want me, who is at the fifth level Heavenly Spirit Realm, to fight him? Is this a joke, Sect Elder Deng?"
Elder Deng quickly waved his hands and laughed, "Of course not! I will have the two of you create a pill of my choosing under a time limit. The one with the best quality pill will be the victor."
However, Qing Shan still looked unhappy, and she said, "Even if it's only Alchemy, it still wouldn't be fair at all for him if I were to be his competitor. He is at the True Spirit Realm, and the highest grade of pills he'd be able to make with that Cultivation base are Profound-grade pills. It wouldn't be challenging at all if I were to make Profound-grade pills."
Although she didn't say it out loud, Qing Shan simply couldn't take Su Yang seriously as her competitor. How could a mere nobody compete with her, Core Disciples of the Four Seasons Academy in Alchemy? Even if she isn't the best within the Sect, her abilities are still top-notch, and not just within the Four Seasons Academy but the entire continent.
"Hahaha!" Suddenly, Su Yang burst out laughing, dumbfounding the two.
"What's so funny?" Qing Shan asked with a frown on her elegant face.
"Nothing much," he said while still chuckling. "It's just that you remind me of someone I know. Acting all humble when it comes to Alchemy but you're full of arrogance inside, thinking that nobody is worth your time. Ahhh… this is great…"
"What did you just say?"
What Su Yang said had struck anger right in Qing Shan's heart, as his words were too true. While she indeed showed humbleness when speaking out loud, she was thinking inwardly that it'd only be a waste of time to compete with a nobody like Su Yang.
"I also find Profound-grade pills a tad bit boring, so why don't we kick it up a notch and concoct the Advanced Spirit Refreshment Pill for the challenge?"
Qing Shan smiled slightly upon hearing his words, and she said a moment later. "Elder Deng, this challenge, I accept!" Her heart was filled with discomfort. Nobody besides Su Yang has dared to speak to her in such a way ever since she was born, and she wasn't going to allow him to leave without being subjected to the same humiliation she'd just experienced if not even more.
Elder Deng, knowing that the Advanced Spirit Refreshment Pill is one of Qing Shan's specialties nearly burst out laughing and said, "Good! This challenge shall take place over there at the Lecture Hall for all the disciples to witness! We will begin once we finish preparing the stage!"
"I will make you regret choosing me as your competitor!" Qing Shan said as she walked away to prepare herself.
Su Yang only smiled at her words and casually walked towards the Lecture Hall.