Thousands of competitors entered the stadium. The meeting was set up in a grand place which was surrounded by a viewer stand. It was a major event within the Pill Valley's territory, and hence attracted a lot of eyes. The competitors this time were also abundant. A majority of the current competitors came here from the subordinate forces of Pill Valley and the Ten families. An organization this large was bound to have huge man-power working for them.
The rest of the list was comprised of people from other powers, families, guilds, and even the members of the Ten families. This was after all a yardstick to measure the extent of power held by each of the families and hence taken very seriously by them.
The old man who invited the participants into the stadium soon stood before them with a stern expression. "The Pill-brew competition is the entrance examination conducted by the Valley for choosing potential descendants for our sects. Any alchemist, no matter their level, could enter the competition as long as they are under the age of 21. Since you people have decided to take part in this competition, I wish you luck and hope you give it your best to come to the top."
"The competition this time is to be conducted at three levels. The first level is to test your elemental affinity and control. I would like to state that it is going to be a stacked competition and hence the participants need to do well in both the sectors to qualify for the next round. It also means that you get a second platform to improve your chances to get into the next round."
"The affinity would be tested by elemental stones of all kinds. You simply need to induce your aura into the stone to know your affinity. You people would herby be divided into 64 groups who would be tested simultaneously. Only the top 8 rankers would be allowed to enter the next round. Winning this round would also result in you being honored with the title of an outer sect disciple."
"I hope you do your best."
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The top echelon of Pill Valley was seated alongside representatives of the ten families and various top tier powers.
"I have heard a rumor regarding the current line-up of the ten families. I believe each family has sent their best possible line-up to compete against each other." The biased tone was quite visible even by a common man. It was as if the man spelling didn't even care about the participants from the other forces.
"The competition this time might be having multiple dark-horses amidst it. I hope elders have gone through the newly produced pill-brewers list. The ranked ninth participant is sure to make an appearance in this competition. We need to keep an eye out for him. If the guild has ranked him in the top 10, they must have a pretty good reason for it."
"I would like to see how capable he is." A Teng family representative was speaking out. The person chosen by his family was kicked out of the top ten by this person. It was a given fact that he would be annoyed by the mention of that candidate.
"There is no reason for the Teng family to be getting so worked up. I am sure your chosen would show great accomplishments in the competition."
The atmosphere got even tenser due to these provoking words.
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Lu Ming was grouped with the 50th group. He still couldn't believe the massive number of people taking part in the competition. His group consisted of more than a hundred participants. Just how influential Pill Valley was to have collected such a massive following among the people.
The affinity shown for each participant was no less than the 1st-grade elemental body. It showed the massive difference between the central plains and a backwater like Jiao country.
There were many at level 2 and even level 3 elemental bodies present here. The competition continued and it was finally Lu Ming's turn.
"place your palm on the stone."
Lu Ming placed his palm and the bars began to rise. The elders testing the participants were showing a lazy expression just before Lu Ming's turn. When the bars finally stopped and his eyes turned to view the result, his lazy expression went through an incredible morph. It transformed from laziness to alertness and gradually ended up in genuine shock. His lips shook as he muttered, "8th-grade elemental affinity of fire and wood and 7th-grade affinity to the rest of the elements."
He instantly stood up and looked at Lu Ming. He then restarted examining the stone. "Could you go through the test once more?" Lu Ming complied with the wishes and tested once again. The same result as before showed up once again. His expression immediately turned into that of extreme joy.
"Could this brother report his name to me?"
"Lu Ming" The others who stood behind Lu Ming were shocked and speechless too. The result they just saw graded him as a rank 8th elemental body with two elements. An affinity like this didn't appear in the Pill Valley for a long time.
"I hope to see great results from this brother." He immediately called the substitute elder who was reviewing the test with him. He left immediately after giving him some instructions about how to proceed with the test. This was a huge piece of news. The disciple is going to rank 1 regardless of how he performs in the second phase of the first test. An 8th-grade elemental body was a once in a hundred-year occurrence. He wanted to take credit for discovering it.
Lu Ming stepped down after the assessment. Although his performance was quite spectacular, he expected there to be some capable individuals in the other 64 teams.
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Interior of the Pill Valley-
Pill Valley was divided into four sections in terms of the rank of disciples. The first one was the outer circle, the second one was the inner region, the third one was core areas and the final circle was the establishment containing both legacy and personal disciples of high-ranked elders.
The elder halls were similarly divided into three sections namely outer, inner, and core elders. At the time a figure was rushing to make a report in the elderly area. It was none other than the elder who was in charge of testing Lu Ming. His name Peng li and was an outer elder of the Valley. This opportunity might be able to help him get enough resources to promote to the inner ring.
After the reporting was complete and huge waves began to rise within the valley. A participant with a level 8 elemental body of fire and wood along with level 7 affinity with every other element has made his appearance. How could this not attract the attention of the inner and core elders? They decided to probe the competition happening this time.
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The ten families' representatives along with all the high-ranking officials from other power got the information after some time. The name Lu Ming already caused a huge uproar when it first appeared on the list. It now seemed that the participant didn't get the rank without any ability.
"We need to probe this boy's background."
"Send in spies to tail him. We need to find where he is staying at the moment so that we can establish contact."
"We could recruit the guy into our family. If he did choose to be persistent and not take our offer, we could only resort to some more violent means."
All the elders started to send secret messages to each other and their respective powers. A dark horse was not beneficial for them. Either the horse needs to bow, or they need to leave his head.
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In a lodge not far from the arena-
"It seems my disciple has already started to create huge waves within the competition. As expected, the brat was hiding a lot of secrets from us. The grade 8 affinity is just a little lower than the King type body. I need to teach him a lesson in the future."
"We also need to prepare some rewards for him. Given his attitude, he would never reveal his true powers before the final moment. He seems to have realized my intentions. I need to reward him in case the plan is a success."
