"Sure enough, it's not the same as the news from yesterday." Huchen Wuding looked at the herb fragments that were like a sky full of stars before him. He sent out his Divine Sense and swept it towards a small piece that looked like a rhizome. As his Divine Sense locked on, that small piece of rhizome-like thing was instantly dragged before his eyes.
"If all of this isn't done with a large-scale, rapid scan and control of Divine Sense, and just relying on eyes, it's possible that not even one plant can be pieced together in half an hour."
He hadn't heard what Huchen Wandong had said outside just now, but he had felt that the light shield that appeared on the square might not be the same as the news his father, the family head, had given him yesterday. However, he was not suspicious, because the news Huchen Wandong had given him was the same as what Huchen Huiqing had given him. With Huchen Wuding's intelligence, he already knew that all of this was likely deliberately done by the Huchen ancestor. But for him, it didn't matter. As long as it was fair.
Soon, Huchen Wuding gathered his thoughts. Looking at the herb fragments that were like a sky full of stars, he took a deep breath. This round of assessment was the most basic thing in the first five layers of the Ghostly Poison Scroll.
In another world, listening to the majestic voice from the void, Huchen Wanli's face was ashen. This was not at all the content of the competition that he had found out a few days ago. He had made careful preparations for that content. He had originally thought that this round was to refine a kind of medicinal pill, and he had repeatedly practiced the refining methods of several kinds of pills that he estimated might be tested in the alchemy room every day. He had not expected it to be a different format.
"Truly my good father. The news I went to great lengths to find out is actually fake. Do you think this can stump me?" Huchen Wanli said through gritted teeth. He was more and more dissatisfied in his heart. In this way, his Foundation Establishment stage cultivation was of little significance to this round of assessment. Some of his original advantages were gone. Alchemy had a close relationship with cultivation. A higher cultivation level meant better control of the pill furnace fire. And now this round was purely aimed at the basic chapter of the Ghostly Poison Scroll. However, he was still confident in his cultivation of the Ghostly Poison Scroll. So after observing for a moment, with a hook of his Divine Sense, several fragments flew over.
Huchen Jianghai looked at the vast sea of herb fragments before him. His originally confident face became extremely grave. 'My good big brother originally thought that this round was to refine a medicinal pill. With his early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation, he would have had a lot of advantages in both the control of spiritual energy and the control of pill fire. In this way, his wishful thinking has been broken. But with my fourth-layer realm of the Ghostly Poison Scroll, then let's set a goal of three hundred plants...'
A beautiful face, illuminated by the endless points of light flickering in the void, Huchen Huiqing muttered to herself, "This is too perverted..."
And at the same time, in the dozens of other light shields on the square, there were either low curses or wails. It was just that these sounds could not be heard outside.
Time, however, flowed on its own...
Huchen Wanli looked at the thirty-two herbs he had already pieced together before him, a smile appearing on his face. Only half an incense stick's time had passed, and he had already completed so many. His heart was full of pride. He thought that it was still possible to reach three hundred plants after half an hour.
At this time, in Huchen Jianghai's independent space, his Divine Sense was rapidly scanning everywhere, constantly pulling over herb fragments, judging them, and then pushing them away. And beside him, thirty-seven herbs were already floating.
Beside Huchen Huiqing and Huchen Qiukong, about thirty complete herbs had also appeared within half an incense stick's time.
In Huchen Wuding's space, there was not a single complete herb beside him. And no herb fragments had been pulled over by him. He just closed his eyes, his Divine Sense spread out, and he was scanning all the herb fragments with all his might.
...
On the square, everyone's eyes were fixed on the nearly a hundred light shields on the square. With a cultivator's memory, they of course clearly remembered who had entered each light shield before.
At this time, many of the light shields on the square were gradually deepening in color as time passed.
"Look, a dozen or so colors have already turned a little black. This is a sign that they are far ahead of the others."
"Among those dozen or so people, the five with the darkest colors seem to be the light shields of Young Master Wanli, Young Master Jianghai, and Miss Huiqing, right? They are indeed the bloodline of the family head." The colors of the few light shields these people were talking about were almost the same. As long as the difference in the number of assembled herbs was not too great, it was still impossible to distinguish them clearly from the color of the light shields.
"Yes, and Huchen Qiukong and Huchen Gu are not far behind. The color of their light shields is almost the same as theirs."
"Hey, have you noticed? Young Master Wuding, who has returned from outside, his light shield's color hasn't changed at all. It's still gray-white. Look, the few light shields next to him are at least light gray. What's going on? Has he not assembled a single one?"
"It's true. I really didn't notice until you said it. Young Master Wuding chose a light shield in a corner, so I didn't notice it for a while..."
The people on the square were constantly talking in low voices. And on the seats, Xie Xiaoxiao and Ye Luoyan slowly showed a smile on their faces. As for the few family ancestors in front, they were all as if they were dozing off, without any reaction.
Chi Dongli's eyebrows furrowed. And at this time, the voice of the Chi family's old ancestor, who had been half-closing his eyes, came into her mind. "That child Huiqing is really not bad. But with her ability, if she wants to stand out in this round and shake off those two families, it will not be easy. It seems to be an even match, and the outcome is difficult to judge."
"Also, didn't you say that the boy from the Third Branch was very confident when he came back? Not only is there no movement, he is basically at a standstill." The Chi family's old ancestor said slowly. With his early-stage Nascent Soul cultivation, he could naturally easily penetrate the light shields on the square. But that would not only be beneath his status, but also not allowed by the Huchen ancestor.
"It's definitely not right that there is no movement at all. Even if he didn't have the family's resources to help him outside, he should have been able to cultivate the first two layers of the Ghostly Poison Scroll. I just don't know what he's planning inside. Is he trying to amaze everyone with a single feat?" the beautiful woman Chi Dongli said through a voice transmission. From the news she had gotten from her daughter yesterday about Huchen Wuding, his performance should not be like this.
"If that's the case, it's extremely risky. A last-minute rush is always lacking in composure..." the Chi family's old ancestor said in a low voice and then fell silent.
Although Huchen Wandong in front of them was looking at everything on the square with a blank expression, his heart was also full of suspicion. 'With his hateful attitude last night, vowing to win this competition, how can he have made no progress after an incense stick's time has passed in this first round? Could it be that he is really counting on Huchen Qiukong and Huchen Gu?' He was a little disappointed in his heart, but he was also prepared. He had been secretly cultivating Huchen Qiukong and Huchen Gu all these years. The true level of these two was by no means as ordinary as they appeared on the surface.
The Huchen ancestor sitting beside him just glanced sideways at Huchen Wandong, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. His eyes, looking at the square, showed a look of interest. He had arranged this assessment. Others might not know the situation inside the light shields, but how could he not know what was happening inside?
Li Yan listened to the discussions around him, then glanced at Zhuo Lingfeng from the corner of his eye. Seeing Zhuo Lingfeng sitting there, he was also squinting his eyes as if he were asleep, as if he had completely forgotten about his young master's competition.
'This is interesting. It seems he is not worried at all. Is Huchen Wuding going for a late burst of strength? Or is he deliberately attracting attention? I really don't know about this kind of assessment. It would be great if I could see the situation inside the light shields with my own eyes,' Li Yan thought.
When half of the assessment time had passed, except for one light shield on the square whose color was still gray-white, the rest of the light shields had more or less begun to turn gray or black. In particular, the color of eight light shields had already turned dark black.
That lone gray-white light shield seemed so unique and eye-catching, attracting the gazes of many people from time to time.
Xie Xiaoxiao and Ye Luoyan exchanged a look, and they both saw a trace of disdain in the other's eyes. After such a long time without any movement, it seemed this boy had really learned nothing outside. And just as their eyes were full of contempt, the color of the only gray-white light shield began to move. In a few breaths, it slowly turned gray.
Xie Xiaoxiao was stunned at first, then she stared at the gray light shield for a while, and finally she relaxed. 'Has he finally assembled some herbs now? Half the time has already passed. Even if you chase, how many can you complete?'
In Huchen Wuding's independent space, at this time, ten herbs had already been assembled beside him. And all of this had taken less than fifty breaths. He had spread out his Divine Sense comprehensively, splitting it into dozens of strands and shooting them at different herb fragments. He had spent a full quarter of an hour to roughly memorize the herb fragments in each area here. This was not just rote memorization. It required combining it with the unique method of analyzing herbs in the Ghostly Poison Scroll to classify and mark them. This was also the most troublesome kind of cultivation in the first five basic layers of the Ghostly Poison Scroll, and it was also one of the reasons why no one was willing to adopt the pure cultivation of the Ghostly Poison Scroll. After roughly memorizing the shapes of these herb fragments, they were then assembled according to specific marks. And there was no need for the Divine Sense to repeatedly scan areas that might have already been scanned when assembling each fragment.
Just as Huchen Wuding had just begun to assemble the herbs, the outside world had already begun to change. Just as half the time had passed, under the watchful eyes of the crowd on the square, the light on some of the light shields on the square flickered rapidly. Either a figure would stagger and fall out of it, or someone would fall unconscious on the square from the light shield. Every time this happened, a clan disciple would quickly fly to the person's side from the edge of the square, help him sit up next to the light shield, and then quickly take out a medicinal pill and put it in his mouth. A moment later, this person would regain consciousness. Without waiting for the clan disciple's instructions, he would sit cross-legged and close his eyes to meditate. Each of them looked as if they were exhausted. As the disciples in the light shields continued to fall out, a light shield that was originally covered in color instantly became transparent. Inside, there would be different numbers of already assembled whole herbs floating.
"That's Huchen Ling. She has assembled one hundred and ninety-three herbs. This... this... the herb fragments are actually so dense. To be able to assemble this number is really not easy." Someone on the square had already quickly scanned the light shield with their Divine Sense. Looking at the still densely packed herb fragments inside the light shield, a feeling of powerlessness rose in the hearts of many people. These hundreds of thousands of fragments, they estimated that they would not be able to assemble many at all.
"Someone else is out. It's Huchen Feishan. He has assembled... assembled one hundred and seventy. That's a lot less than Huchen Ling."
"You have to look. Huchen Feishan came out and sat down to meditate on his own. It's clear that he didn't dare to fight to the end. That Huchen Ling fell out unconscious. This round of competition should be very demanding on one's Divine Sense."
"It should be like this. But it depends on who has a more solid grasp of the basic pharmacology. Otherwise, too much Divine Sense would be wasted and consumed..."
Seeing that there were already results, the originally somewhat dull mood of the crowd on the square was instantly stirred up. Looking at the light shields from which people were beginning to fall out one after another, they began to comment.
In Huchen Wanli's space, at this moment, his eyes were already bloodshot, his face was pale, and a large amount of sweat was constantly seeping from his forehead. Three hundred and twelve complete herbs were already floating beside him. But at this time, his state had fallen sharply. Every time he scanned an area with his Divine Sense, or hooked a piece of herb fragment with his Divine Sense, his body would tremble violently, and sweat would pour down his forehead like rain.
At this moment, a small half of an herb was floating in front of him. Huchen Wanli gritted his teeth and released his already almost dry Divine Sense, trembling as he hooked a fragment he had already locked on to. But when his Divine Sense had been released for less than a zhang, this normally extremely simple action, like drinking water and eating, suddenly caused a piercing pain in his brain. The next moment, he felt the world spin. With a loud cry, he fell directly to the ground. The moment he fell to the ground, the half an herb he had already assembled in front of him also dissipated. And in this void, a human face appeared. It was Huchen Tingchun's appearance. Seeing this, he opened his mouth and sucked, and the membrane on the light shield quickly became transparent.