Chapter 108 - 105: 1st Round of Competition

"Two hours... isn’t that a bit too short?"

"In two hours, many Spirit Masters might not even be able to upgrade a single Spirit Pill."

"They only need to select three winners. As long as a few manage to succeed, that will be enough. Even if no one succeeds, there’s always the second and third rounds."

A wave of discussion rippled through the crowd. Many Spirit Masters in the arena frowned. Two hours was simply not enough time!

Mo Qianqian was also surprised. Two hours was indeed a bit short. If this were his first time upgrading a Spirit Pill, he wouldn’t be able to finish even one. Furthermore, if he accelerated the infusion of spirituality, it was highly likely that he would destroy the pill. Of course, he was no longer the same person he used to be. Given that this was a live competition, he had no choice but to forcefully speed up the process and accelerate his spiritual infusion.

HISS! HISS! HISS!

Soon, the thirty Spirit Masters on the field manifested their Spirit Bodies one after another. The Spirit Bodies directly picked up the Spirit Pills from the maidservants’ trays and began infusing them with spirituality. The Spirit Masters present could still see the transparent Spirit Bodies that looked exactly like their creators. However, the ordinary spectators couldn’t see a thing; to them, it merely looked as though the pills were floating in midair.

HISS!

A Spirit Body materialized in front of Mo Qianqian as well, bearing his exact likeness and even wearing a mask. The Spirit Body picked up a Spirit Pill from the maidservant’s tray and began the spiritual infusion.

"Two Spirit Pills! Chu He is actually going to upgrade two Spirit Pills at the same time!" someone exclaimed.

Mo Qianqian was equally surprised and turned to look at where Chu He was standing. He saw that a Spirit Body identical to Chu He was holding a Spirit Pill in each of its hands.

"Two at once! Chu He truly lives up to his reputation as Master Chu Yiming’s son and a top-tier Spirit Master genius!"

"I’ve never heard of anyone being able to use this method of upgrading two pills simultaneously. Not even Master Chu Yiming can do it!"

"The student has truly surpassed the master! If Chu He can sustain this, he will definitely end up with the highest quantity."

Cries of astonishment echoed through the crowd one after another.

"The Double-Handed Pill Lifting Technique!" Even Chu Yiming and Qiu Fengliang’s eyes lit up brightly.

Mo Qianqian was also taken aback. Upgrading two Spirit Pills with both hands simultaneously was akin to wielding two swords to attack two different enemies at the same time. Generally speaking, the maximum power output of attacking two people with dual swords would definitely be inferior to focusing on a single enemy with one sword. After all, using two swords required dividing one’s strength. There were also very few combat skills designed for dual swords or dual sabers. Even if such skills existed, the energy consumption would inevitably be far greater than that of a single weapon.

Mo Qianqian couldn’t help but marvel inwardly, "He is indeed formidable!"

Truth be told, upgrading Spirit Pills was not Mo Qianqian’s strong suit. He had not upgraded many pills in his life. Chu He, on the other hand, was clearly a seasoned veteran.

Amidst the heated discussions of the crowd, time slowly ticked by. On the competition floor, a few participants even caused their pills to explode out of sheer impatience.

Meanwhile, outside the Hongyan Building.

A man hurried out of the establishment. He was a staff member specially assigned by the Hongyan Building to provide real-time updates to those gathered outside.

As soon as the middle-aged man emerged, he shouted to the waiting crowd, "The first round of the Spirit Master competition has begun! The First-Grade Spirit Masters and Second-Grade Spirit Masters are competing simultaneously. They have two hours to see who can upgrade the highest number of Spirit Pills.

"Chu He has displayed the Double-Handed Pill Lifting Technique, upgrading two Spirit Pills at the same time! The rest of the participants are upgrading their pills normally!"

Hearing this, the crowd burst into a frenzy of excitement.

"It’s finally started!"

"Chu He truly lives up to his name as one of the three great geniuses. To think he’s upgrading two Spirit Pills simultaneously!"

The crowd chattered endlessly.

"Asura Conglomerate, just wait to lose!"

"In front of our Great Treasure Master, your Great Treasure Master is absolutely nothing!"

"Asura Conglomerate, get ready to make complete fools of yourselves!"

The members of the Bai Xiu Conglomerate, and even those from the Ye Xiao Conglomerate, began hurling insults at the Asura Conglomerate.

"You dare to act so arrogantly before the results are even out? Aren’t you afraid of choking on your own words?"

"Just wait! You’ll be the ones losing face later!"

"Our Great Treasure Master will never go down so easily!"

The members of the Asura Conglomerate immediately fired back, turning the scene into a chaotic and boisterous shouting match.

An hour later, on the competition stage inside the Hongyan Building.

HISS!

Xian Ling’Er was the first to successfully upgrade a Spirit Pill. Her Spirit Body carefully placed the finished pill onto the side of the maidservant’s tray opposite her.

"Someone succeeded! Xian Ling’Er is the first to successfully upgrade a Spirit Pill!"

"As expected of Master Chu Yiming’s disciple!"

"She truly lives up to her rank as the sixth genius on the Hidden Dragon List!"

Various voices of discussion and praise rang out. But just as those words faded, another sound echoed.

HISS!

Beside Mo Qianqian, Bai Xiu had also successfully upgraded a Spirit Pill. Bai Xiu’s Spirit Body placed the pill on the other end of the opposing maidservant’s tray before retrieving another one.

"Bai Xiu succeeded too! He’s the first Second-Grade Spirit Master to finish!"

"As one of the three great Second-Grade Spirit Master geniuses, Bai Xiu is incredibly strong!"

"Excluding Chu He, Bai Xiu is the first among the Second-Grade Spirit Masters to successfully upgrade a pill! Of course, whether he can beat Chu He will depend on the final results. After all, Chu He is upgrading two at once."

Gasps of admiration and praise washed over the crowd.

The overall first place went to Xian Ling’Er, of course. However, it was difficult to accurately compare First-Grade Spirit Masters and Second-Grade Spirit Masters. After all, First-Grade Spirit Masters were upgrading First-Grade Spirit Pills, which was relatively simpler. It was much like breaking through a cultivation level in the Spirit Vein Realm versus the Spirit Profound Realm; the latter was undeniably much more difficult.

At this moment, a smug look appeared on Bai Xiu’s face. While infusing his second pill, he glanced over at Mo Qianqian.

"Asura, this is the gap between you and me!" Bai Xiu sneered.

HISS!

Right then, Mo Qianqian finished as well. He had his Spirit Body place the completed pill into the tray and retrieve another one. Turning his head to look at Bai Xiu, Mo Qianqian smiled and said, "Mine is done too."

"Hmph, I was still faster than you!" Bai Xiu scoffed coldly.

"It’s not over yet," Mo Qianqian replied with a smile.

For the first pill, he had tried to speed up the infusion process, but being his first attempt, he had remained quite cautious. For this second pill, he could try to increase his speed by a much larger margin.

"Asura succeeded too! His strength is clearly nothing to scoff at. He was only a tiny bit slower than Bai Xiu!"

"Even if he was only a bit slower, factoring in that Asura is older, if the results for the second pill remain the same, Asura will still lose this round."

The crowd’s chatter swelled once more. Soon after, Ye Xiao also successfully upgraded his first pill, sparking yet another wave of heated discussion.

Outside the Hongyan Building.

The messenger providing real-time updates sprinted out of the building once again. "Xian Ling’Er was the first to successfully upgrade a Spirit Pill! Bai Xiu followed closely behind, then Asura, and finally Ye Xiao!" he announced.

The crowd was utterly astonished. Xian Ling’Er was first, Bai Xiu second, Asura third, and Ye Xiao fourth!

To everyone’s surprise, Asura actually possessed genuine strength and was even faster than Ye Xiao. This completely exceeded their expectations, catching even the members of the Bai Xiu Conglomerate off guard.

Nevertheless, they continued to clamor, "Did you see that, Asura Conglomerate? This is the strength of our Great Treasure Master! He’s faster than yours!"

"Our Great Treasure Master is faster than Ye Xiao!" the Asura Conglomerate retorted.

The expressions of the Ye Xiao Conglomerate members soured. They had absolutely not anticipated this outcome either.

"Our Great Treasure Master is younger than Asura!" the Ye Xiao Conglomerate members shouted back lamely.

"Our Great Treasure Master is faster than Ye Xiao!" the Asura Conglomerate repeated.

"Our Great Treasure Master is faster than Asura! And younger, too!" the Bai Xiu Conglomerate chimed in once more.

The scene descended into a cacophony of shouting and endless chatter, rendering the outside of the Hongyan Building even livelier than the inside.