Chapter 87 - 87 Gale Torrential Rain
“The first round is the selection of medicinal herbs,” Lin Yuan’s voice was loud enough for the whole venue to hear, “Select the herbs for concocting the Foundation Building Spiritual Liquid in the shortest time possible.”
“Whoever takes the least amount of time, and whose selection of herbs is the most complete and of the highest quality, will rank the highest.”
Following that, disciples of the Pharmacist Hall began to place batches of herbs in front of Yang Xiaotian, Cheng Long, Chen Zihan, Deng Yichun, Hu Xing, Huang Tingting, and the others.
The herbs required for concocting the Foundation Building Spiritual Liquid totaled fourteen kinds, but at this moment, they were mixed with many other herbs and laid out in front of the competitors like Yang Xiaotian-
The mixed herbs amounted to two hundred types in total.
This meant that Yang Xiaotian and the others needed to quickly select the fourteen kinds of herbs needed for the Foundation Building Spiritual Liquid from among the two hundred.
Of course, in each batch of mixed herbs, there were two types of the required herbs for the Foundation Building Spiritual Liquid, one of premium quality and one of inferior quality.
Many competitors, looking at the large pile of herbs before them, furrowed their brows.
To select the herbs was not hard, but to choose the right fourteen kinds from two hundred mixed herbs was extremely difficult.
The two hundred varieties mixed together made for a dizzying array that was overwhelming to even contemplate where to begin.
Moreover, many of the two hundred herbs had colors and shapes similar to those needed for the Foundation Building Spiritual Liquid.
Sometimes, even if a few herbs were placed separately, one could mistakenly pick the wrong one if not careful, let alone now that they were all mixed together.
After all the disciples had finished arranging the herbs, Lin Yuan said, “Begin now! ”
As soon as Lin Yuan’s words fell, Cheng Long immediately sprang into action. He almost leapt at his pile of herbs with an agility akin to an arrow leaving the bow, his hands moving so fast that they seemed to create illusions, quickly sorting the two hundred types of herbs into several small piles.
“What a Phantom Demon Hand!” Feng Xing exclaimed upon seeing Cheng
Long’s handiwork, “I didn’t expect that Master Jiang Yu even passed on the
Phantom Demon Hand to His Highness.”
Wu Qi also nodded in approval, “His Highness’ Phantom Demon Hand has been cultivated to an eight-shadow degree. His talent is extraordinary.”
From a distance, Cheng Long looked as if he had eight arms.
When Chen Zihan approached her pile of herbs, she swept her hands once, and the two hundred kinds of herbs spread out, each type separated by a certain distance.
“Miss Chen’s Cloud Brushing Hand is astonishing!” MO Lingkai said to Li Wen with a smile, “The Grand Hall Master has a worthy successor.”
Feng Xing, Wu Qi, Peng Zhigang, Cai Hao, Luo Junpeng, and others also praised her.
Li Wen watched Chen Zihan with a smile, clearly very satisfied with his disciple.
He turned his gaze to Yang Xiaotian.
But he saw Yang Xiaotian standing there, not moving an inch.
Li Wen, Lin Yuan, and others, seeing this, couldn’t help but feel puzzled.
Outside the arena, Cheng Beibei sneered upon witnessing this, “It seems Yang Xiaotian doesn’t know where to start with that pile of herbs. He can’t even distinguish the herbs for the Foundation Building Spiritual Liquid. I really don’t know how he passed the Pharmacist assessment.”
Cheng Beibei’s voice wasn’t quiet, and many people around heard her.
Some disciples from Yunhui Academy, already hostile towards Divine Sword Academy, laughed, “Yang Xiaotian’s one-star Pharmacist certification couldn’t have been bought, could it?”
“It’s entirely possible! With the resources of Divine Sword Academy, buying a one-star Pharmacist title would be easy,” they jeered.
Many Yunhui Academy disciples began to scoff out loud.
The students and teachers of Divine Sword Academy glared angrily at the jeering Yunhui Academy disciples.
But the disciples from Yunhui Academy only became more boisterous in their taunting.
At that moment, the guards behind Cheng Beibei also laughed, “Yang Xiaotian, you might as well step down now. If you can’t even pick out the herbs for the Foundation Building Spiritual Liquid, don’t embarrass yourself!”
Lin Yuan frowned, about to speak up in clarification when suddenly, Yang Xiaotian finally made his move. He made a sweeping gesture with his hands from several meters away towards the pile of herbs.
A gale erupted.
Suddenly, the pile of herbs was swept up by the gale and then flew into the air.
The crowd was startled upon seeing this.
What kind of technique was this?
At that moment, Cheng Beibei sneered, “This must be a martial arts technique.
Yang Xiaotian couldn’t possibly think this is a martial arts arena, could he? Please, this is a Pharmacist competition.”
The guards by her side also smiled.
Yang Xiaotian’s face remained expressionless as he turned his palms over.
The wind began to circulate rhythmically, and the pile of herbs began to separate distinctly, floating within the wind. Each type of herb distributed itself in different corners of the turbulent wind, layered from top to bottom— the darkest herbs at the top and the lightest ones at the bottom.
As the herbs were systematically placed within the wind, creating a miraculous scene, everyone watched in astonishment, even Cheng Beibei and her guards, who had just been laughing, were now silent.
After all the herbs were properly arranged in the wind, Yang Xiaotian’s fingers danced rapidly, flicking energy at the herbs within the wind like a torrential downpour.
One after another, the herbs were flicked up into the air.
These flicked herbs landed on the ground, one by one.
Not more, not less.
Exactly fourteen types!
These were precisely the fourteen types of herbs needed for concocting the Foundation Building Spiritual Liquid.
Then, with a turn of his palms, Yang Xiaotian abruptly stopped the gale. All the superfluous herbs fell to the ground beside him.
Seeing this scene, everyone was shocked, whether it was Li Wen, Peng Zhigang, and others on the presidential stage, or the experts from various countries and sects standing below.
They had never imagined that the fourteen herbs for creating the Foundation Building Spiritual Liquid could be selected in this manner.
It took less than a minute!
No, to be exact, it was just a matter of seconds.
Almost everyone was witnessing this method of herb selection for the first time.
Li Wen was also seeing this method for the first time.
Liu An’s eyes widened as he thought of a technique, but he couldn’t be sure. He turned to Wu Qi, “Master, could this be?”
“Gale Torrential Rain!” exclaimed Wu Qi, staring at the selected pile of herbs, speaking slowly, his voice unable to hide the excitement and tremor.
Wu Qi’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was still overheard by some people nearby. “What, Gale Torrential Rain! One of the top ten alchemy techniques!”
“This is Gale Torrential Rain. I’ve witnessed the Gale Torrential Rain technique!”
Many pharmacists who heard this trembled inexplicably, overwhelmed with excitement.
Li Wen, Wu Qi, Feng Xing, MO Lingkai, Peng Zhigang, Cai Hao, and others on the presidential stage were all shocked and stood up.
“Gale Torrential Rain!” Li Wen was incoherent, “This, this!”
Three months prior, when Yang Xiaotian took his Pharmacist assessment, his display of the Layered Wave Hand technique was astonishing, but it paled in comparison to the miraculous top ten alchemy techniques before them.
“So it is the Gale Torrential Rain technique,” Wu Qi said excitedly, his beard trembling nonstop.
The top ten alchemy techniques of the pharmacists were indeed magical, but extremely rare. Many pharmacists could go their entire lives without witnessing any of them, and now they were fortunate enough to see one.
Cheng Beibei was completely dumbstruck. She stared wide-eyed at the pile of fourteen herbs that had been selected and neatly arranged.
“Gale Torrential Rain? One of the top ten alchemy techniques?”
Wasn’t Yang Xiaotian just performing a martial arts technique a moment ago? How did it turn into one of the top ten alchemy techniques?
(Awesome!)