.


    In a short time, Ethan arrived at the testing ce and immediately noticed that although there was still some time before the test began, the location was already full.


    ''Wow, there''s still more than an hour left, yet they''re all already here?''


    Ethan thought to himself, but then again, he had arrived early too, though probably not for the same reason as them.


    With that in mind, he found a less crowded spot and stayed there, silently waiting for the test time to arrive.


    Ethan preferred less crowded ces to avoid being disturbed by the chatter of those around him.


    While he could listen in to see if anything interesting was being said, most of the time, they were casual conversations, often irrelevant.


    That said, it wasn''t like he hadn''t overheard anything interesting; in fact, some conversations caught his attention.


    "Hey, did you hear that this year some disciples of renowned masters alchemistwill also participate?" said one person.


    "I hope not, because if that''s true, we basically have no chance of participating this year," another replied.


    "Exactly, of the three spots assigned to our city, at least two are practically already gone," said the first speaker.


    To Ethan, who was participating in thispetition for the first time, this didn''t matter.


    As far as he knew, unless the others could produce level 2, high-grade pills or level 3 pills, he didn''t have to worry.


    After all, a person at that level could aim to be a master alchemist directly.


    It wouldn''t make sense to participate in such apetition.


    With a level 2 recipe in hand and his refinement skills improved, he was unlikely to lose.


    He had heard that in the past, there was another category besides the current ones dedicated to master alchemists.


    Before the appearance of the first grandmaster alchemist, the top figures in the field of alchemypeted against each other to determine the best.


    But after the appearance of the first grandmaster alchemist, they all began to aim for that title, no longer concerned aboutpeting in tournaments.


    Therefore, the total categories for the tournament went from three to two, and these primarily served to scout out those with talent, in other words, the future master alchemists.


    It should be noted that throughout the empire, there were no more than 30 master alchemists, and only 4 grandmaster alchemists.


    The number might seemrge, but when divided among the number of major corporations or families, it wasn''t very high; in fact, it was the opposite.


    Getting hold of emerging talents was a must for all these powers.


    That being said, it wasn''t long before these so-called emerging talents began to make their appearance.


    Not far from where Ethan stood, a group of people parted to let a young girl pass, with raven-ck hair and a green dress, who walked forward with a proud look.


    The surrounding crowd, upon seeing her, went into a frenzy, starting to whisper about her.


    "Hey, isn''t that Elder QingShui''s granddaughter?"


    "Yes, it is."


    "I''ve heard that no one her age can equal her in terms of alchemy."


    Hearing themotion, Ethan looked to see who had just arrived and recognized her almost immediately.


    ''It''s that girl from back then,'' he thought, recalling the incident at the medicine pavilion a while ago.


    Although he believed she probably didn''t remember him, he was still d to be wearing a mask.


    Thest thing he wanted was to end up arguing with that crazy girl.


    While Ethan''s outfit attracted some attention, it was still nothing too strange.


    Just like him, others in the crowd wore something to cover their faces, though not many in number.


    But this was normal since many present hade to enhance their reputations, and hiding behind a mask certainly didn''t help in that goal.


    Ethan, on the other hand, just wanted to promote his brand and didn''t care about being in the spotlight too much.


    He believed that keeping a low profile was the best way to avoid unnecessary trouble.


    Before the chatter about Yan Mei''s arrival calmed down, others made their appearance, triggering a simr effect as before.


    "Hey, isn''t that Xun Wei?"


    "Oh, it really is him. It seems he''ll be participating this year too."


    "Great, first Yan Mei, and now him. We can already say goodbye to two of the three spots," someone said, and others nodded in regret.


    "Well, it shouldn''t matter to us.


    They''re probably participating to go into the expert category," said a guy who had been listening to their conversation.


    To this, many of them nodded their heads.


    It was known that there were a total of 6 spots for each city, divided into the two categories in which one could participate in the tournament.


    Most of those present hade to try and join the novice category, so they weren''t too worried about the appearance of the two.


    Seeing this, Ethan had no idea who he was, but from the others'' reactions, he could only assume he was someone akin to Yan Mei.


    Xun Wei walked confidently through the crowd, ignoring everyone around him.


    ''Tch, why do they even have to hold a selection in the first ce?


    Most of them aren''t even half as good as me,'' he thought, openly despising the others.


    Seeing his behavior, many were infuriated, but no one dared to provoke him openly. Everyone whispered in the background.


    "Look at him, arrogant as always," said a chubby boy to his friend.


    "Yeah, but what can you do? With his skills, he can afford to be that way," replied the friend.


    "I know, but it''s still frustrating. I really hope someone teaches him a lesson," said the chubby boy.


    Xun Wei didn''t bother to pay attention to any of them and continued to walk forward toward the spot where he was waiting for Yan Mei.


    Seeing him approach, Yan Mei made a displeased face, clearly unhappy to see him.


    Seeing this, a vein appeared on Xun Wei''s forehead, but he held back and maintained his smile as he got closer to her.


    "Miss Yan, it''s been a while since west met. How is Elder QingShui?" he asked, keeping a calm and respectful tone.


    Although both had grandmaster alchemists as mentors, Yan Mei''s family had more power than the Xun family.


    Therefore, even though they were both geniuses in Alchemy, Xun Wei couldn''t afford to provoke Yan Mei in any way.


    Not that he needed to.


    Ever since he first saw her, he had be infatuated with her, and from then on, whenever he had the chance, he tried to court her.


    In his eyes, a girl of her caliber was destined to be with someone of his level, and since they both had a certain talent in alchemy, he thought they would be the perfect couple.


    Too bad for him that Yan Mei had never once returned his feelings.


    Seeing the two, Ethan couldn''t help but shake his head internally.


    ''And here''s the typical Young Master,'' he thought,beling Xun Wei as the second-rate viin usually found in novels.


    He could only sympathize with anyone who fell victim to him.


    As the crowd calmed down for the arrival of these two, anothermotion arose shortly after.


    "I can''t believe it, is she nning to participate this year too?"


    "I heard she had stopped being an alchemist and was focusing entirely on her cultivation."


    "Exactly. I''ve also heard that thanks to her talent, she has already reached the peak of the Dantian Expansion stage."


    "Really?! But isn''t she just a little over 30 years old?" said one of them, shocked, but he wasn''t the only one in the crowd to feel that way.


    With the arrival of this new person, themotion created was much greater than that of Yan Mei and Xun Wei.


    Even those two, who were a short distance from the scene, couldn''t help but show surprised expressions upon seeing the neer.


    Ethan, who had stopped paying attention to the crowd, thought about ignoring the newmotion, but after hearing that the neer had already reached the peak of the third stage, his curiosity was piqued, and he couldn''t help but nce in that direction.


    ''Wait, what?!''


    Noticing the source of themotion, Ethan couldn''t help but be astonished.


    There, a little ahead from where he stood, was a girl, taller than 170 centimeters, with long ck hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a scarlet dress that couldn''t fully conceal her natural figure.


    The girl''s red dress was adorned with various golden embroidery, enhancing her beauty.


    This,bined with her wless and radiant face, left everyone who looked at her dazzled.


    But that wasn''t what had caught Ethan''s attention.


    The reason he was so surprised was that he recognized who the person was.


    ''Who would have thought she was also an alchemist?'' he thought as he looked at the girl in front of him, who was walking calmly at the entrance.


    The person in question was none other than Xiang Hua, a disciple of the Phoenix Sect and Ethan''s fellow direct disciple under the sect master.