As Fang Ren stood up from the field, parents and students in the audience, as well as the invigilators on the field, all showed various expressions on their faces, contempt, disgust, sarcasm, dismissiveness…
"This guy finally can't keep up the act anymore, he's leaving the competition. It's just a pity for the tens of millions worth of dicinal herbs."
"Hurry up and get out of the competition area. It's bad enough you're humiliating yourself, but you're making us all feel sick too."
"Oh, those tens of millions in herbs can't be considered a total waste, after all. It's not easy for this shaless fellow to finally recognize his own worth."
...
Standing less than half a ter away from the deeply subrged Fang Ren, the Seventh Elder was sowhat at a loss when he saw Fang Ren stand up. He had no idea how to proceed with assisting the young master in the investigation plan involving the princess.
After a two-second pause, the Seventh Elder straightened up, maintaining his deanor as an invigilator, and looked at Fang Ren with a significantly more official tone, "Are you giving up?"
Fang Ren was stunned. He had clearly finished his alchemy. Why did the old man think he was forfeiting? Could it be the Seventh Elder couldn't discern the aura of the pills?
Glancing at his Pill Furnace, Fang Ren suddenly realized the reason. The Blue Fla he had previously placed inside the Pill Furnace had damaged the entire furnace, preventing the scent of the pills from escaping, which was why the Seventh Elder thought his alchemy was a failure.
Fang Ren's gaze turned back towards the Seventh Elder and he spoke, "It's not a forfeit, my alchemy is complete. Please, invigilator, evaluate my results."
With that, Fang Ren stepped back two paces from the Pill Furnace on the ground.
These two steps were a matter of etiquette after announcing the completion of alchemy, allowing staff to inspect the results, and they also assured that the competitors had not touched the Pill Furnace again, eliminating any opportunity for cheating.
"Alchemy… complete?"
The Seventh Elder was dumbfounded after hearing this. He simply could not comprehend such a thing, how could alchemy be done this quickly?
And this was a Fourth-order elixir. Even a Grandmaster Alchemist from district one would need at least two hours to ensure a successful refinent.
And Fang Ren was rely a 20-sothing college student. His alchemy skill was not comparable to that of the more seasoned and experienced alchemists. Even the most talented alchemists of today, when refining a Second-order pill, would need at least half an hour to complete it.
When it cos to the capabilities of the students in the current competition, Liu Family's Liu Xifeng was among the most talented representatives. It took him around two and a half hours just to produce a Second-order elixir!
Fang Ren claid his alchemy was finished, yet there was no scent of pills from the furnace. No matter what, the Seventh Elder couldn't help him cheat.
"I take back what I said just now. I thought tens of millions in herbs could make an idiot realize his limits, but it turns out this guy is stubborn to the end, sticking to his act despite being a joke!"
"He brings misfortune upon himself and deserves to be looked down upon here. No, he should be disdained everywhere," a nobleman, who had been silent until now, couldn't help but speak.
"Living is a waste of air; even his misdeeds squander public resources. Shaful!"
...
Chen Cheng was stunned by this scene and pulled Lin Bozhong over, then sheltered their conversation with True Qi before speaking, "Little brother, what drama is Young Master Fang pulling off this ti? It's not sounding too good. The Gold Pill obviously hasn't been refined successfully, so why is Young Master Fang still insisting on faking it?"
Lin Bozhong was also dazed at the mont, his aged eyes staring at the Pill Furnace where Fang Ren was, unable to utter a word.
When Fang Ren had successfully refined pills before, he could feel a potent aura from dozens of ters away. How co there was no aura this ti?
"This… even the greatest Alchemist can have an off day…"
Lin Bozhong's face turned dark, thinking about how he had hyped his young master so much before. He now felt like finding a hole to crawl into and escape.
Chen Cheng's expression stiffened, then he could only muster a smile, "Well, alright. After all, it can't be helped."
In his view, Fang Ren refining a Fourth-order elixir was impossible from the start. Now that it hadn't succeeded, it seed all the more inevitable.
However, seeing the fiancé of Her Highness the Princess lose face so greatly in such a scenario, he, as the old butler of the Bai Family, couldn't help but feel a sense of helpless sigh within.
...
Mockery from the audience had intensified from the mont Fang Ren got up, and Bai Qi's entire heart was filled with an extrely complex mix of emotions.
There was guilt, anger, and sorrow.
She felt guilty because Fang Ren had co here only because of a word she said and had endured all the sarcasm and unfair treatnt so far.
She was angry that for her own selfish desires, she had made such a nice guy as Fang Ren face such an unbearable scenario, and she was also angry at the relentless mockery from the audience.
The sorrow was because seeing Fang Ren being scolded seed a hundred tis more painful than being scolded herself; her own scolding would have just led to a mont of anger and sadness, but Fang Ren being insulted like this turned her sorrow into an extre heartache.
"Enough!"
Finally, she stood up from the spectator stands and shouted at the people around her.
Although the entire venue was filled with the sounds of discussion, those voices weren't very loud, and certainly, no one had shouted out like she did.
In an instant, all eyes focused on Bai Qi.
Not far behind her, Chen Cheng and Lin Bozhong, who had been whispering with heads close together, were startled by her action, their faces frozen as they stared at her.
The butlers of the other three great families frowned at the scene. This female student was really lacking in manners; how could she shout so loudly while others were taking an exam?
The students participating in the exam were also displeased. How could they focus on alchemy now? Their internal countdowns had been disrupted.
But the most splendid expression belonged to the Seventh Elder standing in the middle of the field. The whole situation was a ss for him. Young Master Fang's issue had not yet been resolved, and now the princess had created a disturbance. How had he gotten caught up in this examination hall?
Fang Ren saw that she had stood up and shouted, and was about to take off the hat from his head when he raised his hand towards her from the center of the field.
Bai Qi saw his sudden gesture, and her expression beca even more complicated. After suffering so much, he still thought of taking her to et Brother Song.
Why was he so stubborn!
This ti, Bai Qi didn't want to listen to him. She continued trying to take off the hat on her head, intending to use her identity to return all the sarcasms he had suffered back to the audience.
But when she saw the unreadable smile on Fang Ren's face, she suddenly paused.
As Bai Qi's voice echoed throughout the venue, the audience, who had been holding back their disgust and anger, were about to erupt.
They were determined to expel these two low-ability and ill-mannered lower-class students from this sacred assembly.
Seeing this, Fang Ren turned his gaze toward the Seventh Elder: "It's ti to check the results."
"Oh, oh, oh."
The Seventh Elder didn't know what to do and imdiately nodded, repeating "oh" three tis before crouching down and lifting the lid off Fang Ren's Pill Furnace.
As the Seventh Elder's aged hands lifted the lid, the voices poised to attack Bai Qi, the noisemaker, were abruptly stifled back into everyone's throats.
Whoosh—
A golden glow burst forth from the Pill Furnace, illuminating the old, damaged, and inferior furnace covered with cracks.
For a mont, an item akin to rubbish, the Pill Furnace, was visually transford into a "Precious Relic" by this golden light.
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