"I hereby announce... the commencement of the Top 100 showdown of the Magical Hand Conference. Would all partic.i.p.ants gather at the First Arena."
The deep voice echoed throughout the entire central plaza, resonating within everyone"s ears. Together with an accompanying ticking clock sound, it continued blasting its message!
Within a heartbeat, the central plaza was filled with the deafening roar of the audience, each of them equally excited about the commencement. The ruckus threatened by them seemed to penetrate the heavens themselves as they reverberated through to the horizon.
"Finally, it"s going to begin. I cannot bear waiting a moment longer!"
"The showdown is finally about to start! I want my G.o.ddess An!"
"Haha! I"ve been looking forward to this for a long time. My Senior Brother Mu Bai is the best!"
…
The faces in the audience were filled with excitement and delight while they chatted non-stop. Among this crowd, there were some who were alchemists while there were some who were not. However, they all had an idol they admired.
Within the Pill Palace, refining elixirs had long ago formed a trend of its own, and that was the reason for the Magical Hand Conference.
The professions of Doctor and Poison Master were created by those who did not possess talent in refining pills but still sought after that prized t.i.tle of Alchemist. Because the Pill Palace didn"t reject such talents, the Magical Hand Conference had a category for such special talents.
However, at its core, the Magical Hand Conference was still the main stage for alchemists. This was where alchemists showcased their worth.
It had to be said, however, that art of Doctors and Poison Master were not part of the orthodoxy of pill refining. Their struggles were nothing than the opening acts to set the stage for the Alchemists to bloom.
This time there was no judge who asked Bu Fang what he was going to cook. For that, Sorceress An Sheng couldn"t help but lament that slim wasted chance, in her heart, she was reluctant.
A stream of people soon arrived at the first arena. Due to Bu Fang, there were only 91 contestants in this top 100 showdown. However, this was a compet.i.tion dedicated to the top 100, it wouldn"t stand to have only 91 contestants. Hence, within that three days period, a revival round was held to help select the other nine contestants.
Finally, the remaining nine contestants were selected.
Among the nine was a certain Senior Brother Liu who was eliminated due to Bu Fang. Although this Senior Brother was still depressed, his eye revealed a glimmer of restored confidence.
On the arena stage, Senior Brother Liu, Senior Brother Zhang and Duan Yun were standing together. As they eyed Bu Fang, each of their facial expressions differed wildly from each other.
Senior Brother Zhang"s eyes reflected the deep apprehension within himself. He narrowly managed to advance in the elimination round with Bu Fang inside. He was clearly aware of Bu Fang"s strength. Even now there remained some lingering fear in his heart.
Duan Yun, on the other hand, was excited. To be able to see Owner Bu in Heavenly Mist City was a serendipitous surprise for him.
Senior Brother Liu"s glare toward Bu Fang was that of an angry wolf. He swore he would take revenge against the person who brought so much humiliation to him!
At first, Bu Fang was slightly taken aback by each of the gazes they threw at him. However, he promptly and solemnly nodded his head as a greeting.
On the audience stand, Ximen Xuan, back taut with the weight of the heavy sword strapped to his back, found a seat for himself and sat down.
"Brother Ximen, to think you had the mood to come down and watch the compet.i.tion?"
By coincidence, Xiao He was seated not far from Ximen Xuan, and he smiled towards Ximen Xuan.
Ximen Xuan rolled his eye, as the corners of his mouth uttered a word.
Xiao He was stunned and later he became enraged.
Creep…
What"s a grown man like you doing uttering such words!? Just because you whispered them doesn"t mean that I couldn"t hear them.
Xiao He was livid! To be called a creep by a beautiful lady was one matter, but to be called that by a grown man... he was almost ready to erupt.
However, Xiao He could only keep this grievance in his heart.
Three days ago at Cloud Mist Restaurant, he had eaten Owner Bu"s Red Braised Meat. That amazing taste... even now he could still feel its seductive hands wrap around him refusing to let go. There was just nothing that could resist such a temptation. Thus, he ended up spending the next three days at Owner Bu"s restaurant.
Now that Owner Bu had wound up taking part in the compet.i.tion, he decided to have a look out of sheer curiosity.
As for Ximen Xuan, the situation was almost the same for him.
However, when Xiao He asked him the previous day whether he wanted to come along, Ximen Xuan strictly refused. Yet today he still came and even sat beside Xiao He. Awkward...
On the arena stage, a few shadows could be seen floating down from a wars.h.i.+p.
These were the judges for this entire Magical Hand Conference and the overall in-charge of this compet.i.tion, with startling levels of cultivation.
Grand Master Gu He was always smiling, like an amiable old child.
Grand Master Xuan Ming was one of Heavenly Mist City"s Four-Cloud Alchemist. With his esteemed status, he was also the main person in charge; every important detail of the compet.i.tion went through him.
"Three days have gone by. I hope your preparations have gone smoothly. The top 100 compet.i.tion is about to start. You will soon face off against your own respective opponents. Showcase your true strength! After all... throughout each round of this compet.i.tion, only one will make it through to the Magical Hand Conference Top 50!"
Grand Master Xian Ming"s solemn voice boomed in the air as he floated mid-air, long robes fluttering majestically with the winds. Coupled with the resounding snaps of his otherworldly garments, he seemed to project an aura of a resplendent immortal.
The contestants within the First Arena started to stir with excitement.
"I a.s.sume everyone present should already be aware of their opponent"s ident.i.ty since three days ago. Now will be the time to ballot the order of the matches… Will everyone direct your gaze to the array over there?"
Grand Master Xuan Ming waved his hand toward the back of his body.
The judges situated at the four corners of the arena nodded their heads at the same time as True Energy surged out from their bodies and entered the crystals which were situated inside the array.
Whoosh…
A rumbling sound could be heard as pillars of light shot into the sky from the four corners of the array. As the light gathered together, it formed a light curtain which covered the entire sky. It was as though countless stars were twinkling in the sky.
While everything was happening...
In both the Pill Towers of both Heavenly Pill City and Heavenly s.h.i.+ne City, a ray of light charged into the sky. As the light beam covered the sky, a blurred image appeared.
Initially, the image was extremely blurred. However, it started to align and eventually became clearer.
Looking at the clear image, the central plaza of Sky Mist City could be seen.
Wow...
The whole crowd was surprised as the scene in front of them was too awesome. The audience was amazed.
The art of array creation was extremely profound as well. It wasn"t an exaggeration to say that the art of creating arrays was more difficult than the art of refining pills. The array which was currently employed was a projection array. Even though it didn"t possess strong attacking abilities, it was much more difficult to set up compared to ordinary arrays.
Following that, Grand Master Xuan Ming continued his speech.
As the light curtain in the sky started to change, pairs of names started to appear.
Two names would appear beside each other and it was clear that they were competing against each other.
Searching for his name, Bu Fang found it before long. It was located with a bunch of other names.
The name beside his was someone called An Sheng.
"Hmm… It seems like we are going to compete against each other in the third match in the first arena. Owner Bu, why don"t you reveal a little bit of information about your dish to big sister?" Sorceress An Sheng spoke gently into Bu Fang"s ear.
As the fragrance of An Sheng"s perfume a.s.saulted Bu Fang"s nose, he knitted his brows. He completely ignored sorceress An Sheng.
Once everyone found their compet.i.tion schedule, they scattered from the first arena.
There were five bronze arenas and there were people allocated to every one of them. They were prepared to battle it out with their opponent in order to determine the better alchemist.
As Bu Fang was only competing in the third match, he carried his advertis.e.m.e.nt board as he left the arena.
This time, Sorceress An Sheng didn"t follow behind him as she seriously prepared herself for the refinement of her elixir. Maybe she realized that she wouldn"t be able to discover any weakness on Bu Fang.
...
Bu Fang scanned across the different arenas and he chanced upon a familiar figure.
The person whom he saw was someone who possessed more muscle than a typical man. It was Yang Meiji who had been missing for many days as she was forced by Master Xuan Bei to undergo secular training.
She managed to enter the Top 100 compet.i.tion and her opponent was a pretty alchemist, although, when compared to Sorceress An Sheng, Yang Meiji"s opponent paled in comparison. However, if one were to compare Yang Meiji"s opponent to herself… Cough cough!
Still, as soon the match begun, many surprised gasps were directed to Yang Meiji"s arena.
Nangong Wuque who was seated beside Bu Fang strained his eye as his entire body became tense.
"Heaven and Earth Obsidian Flame? Nine h.e.l.l King Flame?"
Nangong Wuque sucked in a breath of cold air. An expression of disbelief appeared on his face.
Nine h.e.l.l King Flame… It was the Heaven and Earth Obsidian Flame which belonged to him, it used to be his partner.
However, ever since that dog, Nangong Xuanhe, extracted it away, Nangong Wuque had lost all connection to it. He never expected to see the Nine h.e.l.l King Flame at this time.
The expression on Nangong Wuque"s face became solemn.
With the Nine h.e.l.l King Flame, Yang Meiji"s strength in refining pills had improved by leaps and bounds. As her alchemy fire countered the opponent"s alchemy fire, she completely defeated her opponent, advancing to the next round.
After obtaining victory, her heart fluttered with joy. Looking at where Bu Fang was standing, she suddenly noticed that Nangong Wuque, who was seated beside Bu Fang, was looking at her. Her little heart almost leapt out from her mouth.
"Mister Nangong is looking at me? I am so touched..."
A shy expression appeared on Yang Meiji"s face as she ran out of the arena, embarra.s.sed.
The audience looked at the arena with a startled expression.
As the progress of the compet.i.tion was pretty quick, Bu Fang"s turn quickly arrived.
Standing up, Bu Fang brought along his advertis.e.m.e.nt board as he walked onto the first arena.
"Owner Bu, do your best! It"s not embarra.s.sing to lose to Big B*obs An!" Nangong Wuque shouted with excitement.
Bu Fang glared at him with an urge to slap his face… Just who was he cheering for?
As Bu Fang went up the arena stage, the audience became delighted. Many audience members rushed toward the first arena where Bu Fang was competing!
To think there was a chef among all the alchemist!
This was simply too exciting!
"He is finally competing! Hahaha!"
"The public enemy of the alchemists… Tremble with fear you alchemists"
"I"ve been looking forward to Owner Bu creating a miracle! How cool would it be if a chef managed to enter the top 50 in the Magical Hand Conference?"
...
The crowd was full of antic.i.p.ation for what Bu Fang, the dark horse, was about to achieve. Of course, many of them were excited since they didn"t know who was Bu Fang"s opponent. Only a handful knew that Sorceress An Sheng was Bu Fang"s opponent.
As Sorceress An Sheng, with her voluptuous figure, leaped onto the arena, the audience members entered a stunned silence. In the next instant, the audience erupted into heated discussions.
Oh my G.o.d! Owner Bu"s opponent is Sorceress An Sheng?
Was the biggest dark horse in the compet.i.tion of Magical Hands, the public enemy of all alchemists, going to be defeated by Sorceress An Sheng?