Getting First Place

“I… I can’t believe it’s Tang Xiao Xi! By the G.o.ds…”

On one side, Zhao Xin’s face was flushed with excitement. Staring at the beautiful maiden from far away, it was as if he had lost control of his body.

Lin Mu Yu asked with a puzzled face, “Tang Xiao Xi? Who’s that?”

Zhao Xin gave him a questioning look and responded, “Ah Yu, you don’t know who Tang Xiao Xi is? She was ranked second of the Capital’s Top Ten Beauty Ranking and you don’t even recognize her?”

“Top Ten Beauty Rankings….” Lin Mu Yu seemed to have understood something: So this kind of ranking also exist in this world…

Zhao Xin looked from afar with a infatuated look on his face and remarked, “Tang Xiao Xi’s beauty… There is probably no one in Silver Fir City that can be compared to her…”

This point was something Lin Mu Yu also agreed on. Tang Xiao Xi was definitely a national treasure in terms of her alluring appearance, plus she also seemed to be quite a spirited young girl. Frankly, Chu Yao, who was standing next to him, was slightly inferior in comparison.

……

“Lower your heads!”

Chu Feng softly scolded, “Stop staring, you nimwits. Desecrating the appearance of the princess is a punishable offense!”

One after another, the apprentices lowered their heads. Two meter away, Tang Xiao Xi walked by as a pair of cute little boots could be seen, as well as the 20cm “absolute domain” between the boots and her skirt. Her smooth toned flesh was as white as snow. With just one glance, Lin Mu Yu was already in a slight daze. This is bad! It’s too enchanting!

Tang Xiao Xi walked in front, and following behind was a white-robed, lightly-armored old man who seemed to be around 60 years of age. His face was one that seemed to have weathered the vicissitudes of life while an aura, powerful but restrained, could be felt emanating from him. With one look, anyone could tell he was an expert. Hand lightly resting on the sword on his side, he followed closely behind Tang Xiao Xi.

Hua Tian saluted him with respect and smiled, “Elder Qu, Been a while!”

The old man smiled in return, “Lord Hua Tian is managing Silver Fir City quite well. For the emperor to send Princess Xi to inspect the event, it is easy to see how much the Majesty trusts you. I suppose we should say it’s a joyous occasion for both of us.”

Hua Tian was smiling from ear to ear and said, “Please come this way, Elder Qu. The a.s.sembly is about to begin.”

……

Right as this “Elder Qu” walked past the crowd, his eyes landed on Chu Feng. Immediate stopping to salute in respect, he laughed, “Old buddy, don’t remember me anymore?”

Chu Feng similarly laughed, “Old Qu, what is that supposed to mean? I was afraid you weren’t going to remember me!”

The two saluted each other once more and said:

“The a.s.sembly is about to begin. Let’s talk after the event. I still have to discuss with you about a few things related to medicinal alchemy.”

“Sounds good, I’ll prepare dinner at my humble abode.”

“Very good. Drink until we drop!”

……

Only after Elder Qu left, had Lin Mu Yu asked, “Grandpa, who was that? With that powerful aura, he must be very strong, right?”

Chu Feng responded, “Elder Qu, Sacred realm Level 94. Of course he is strong.”

“So that’s Qu Chu from the White-Robe Imperial Forest Guard…” Zhao Xin uttered in surprise, “I heard he was an ordinary peasant without any support from any financial groups. To train himself to this level is truly amazing. Even within the whole empire, there is only a few Sacred Realm warriors. This Qu Chu can presumably be considered one of the few!”

Chu Feng looked at Lin Mu Yu with pity in his eyes and sighed, “Ah Yu… Originally I had thought that you would be able to further your martial arts training, so I planned to ask Qu Chu to bring you along to train you and to enlighten you in martial arts. But it’s a shame that you have a heaven sealed physique…”

A long sigh alluded to the old man’s newly gained hope was shattered once more. Chu Feng always thought that although his granddaughter Chu Yao was naturally talented, she was still a girl. No matter how hard she trained, she would still never reach the level of a man. That’s why he had recently placed his hopes on Lin Mu Yu, but no one could have antic.i.p.ated that Lin Mu Yu’s physique is totally incapable of training in martial arts.

Standing besides him, Chu Yao also comforted, “Ah Yu, it’s okay. If we train hard enough, we’ll definitely break through one day. I’m not going to believe in some legend!”

Lin Mu Yu faintly smiled back, “Mhm, I know.”

Although he didn’t show it on his face, the revelation did strike him quite hard deep down. But Lin Mu Yu  had an air of haughtiness in his bones. Never willing to admit defeat, he had never took to believe that he can’t train in martial arts because of his heaven sealed physique. If he just stayed motivated and worked hard, there was nothing in the world that can’t be done, right?

……

Following the announcement of an officer, the Pharmacopeia General a.s.sembly officially commenced. Each pharmacy had a tiny “display stand” to place their concoctions on top of it. They were really just rows of  tables set up in wait of the arbitrating officers.

A few robed men walked down the stage and past the rows of tables. Each held a strange device in their hand which looked like a gla.s.s stick. They stabbed the device into each bottle of medicine and loudly shouted the corresponding level and tier of the medicine.

(TL note: Level signifies the difficulty while tier denotes the quality.)

“Ping Nan Pharmacy, Level 4 Healing Potion, 6th Tier!”

“Cang Hu Pharmacy, Level 4 Stoneskin Potion, 5th Tier!”

“Tian Qing Pharmacy, Level 5 G.o.dly Recovery Potion, 4th Tier!”

……

After the grading of many pharmacies, the officer finally arrived at G.o.d Wing Pharmacy’s table. That was the young lord’s pharmacy. The arbitrator saluted before examining the potion in front of him and  loudly yelled out, “G.o.d Wing Pharmacy, Level 5 G.o.dly Recovery Potion, 2nd Tier! Level 6 Force Potion, 4th Tier! Level 7 Slumber Potion, 4th Tier!”

Those were probably the potions of the highest level and quality at this event.

Immediately, cheers and congratulations were sent around. Even Qu Chu had congratulated while stroking his white beard, “What a surprise. For Lord Hua Tian to have alchemized a 4th Tier Level 7 potion, this is great news. I’m afraid in a few years, Lord, you will probably be promoted to Medicine King! Haha.”

Hua Tian humbly smiled, “I wouldn’t say that. I only alchemized a 4th Tier Level 7 potion by chance.”

Right then, the arbitrating officers continued down the rows.

Finally, one arbitrator arrived at Bai Ling Pharmacy’s table. Using the gla.s.s stick to examine Chu Feng’s potion, an expression of disbelief washed over his face. Without a pause, he examined Lin Mu Yu’s Stoneskin Potion, and the look of shock was even greater this time. Loudly, he announced, “Bai Ling Pharmacy, Level 5 Super Strength Potion, 3rd Tier! Level 4 Stoneskin Potion, 1st Tier!”

“WHAT!?”

Qu Chu sat up from his chair as his eyes glowed with excitement, “Who… Who made the 1st Tier Level 4 potion?”

Tang Xiao Xi was even more excited as she immediately jumped up and dashed down the viewing stage. Running straight at Lin Mu Yu’s table, Qu Chu and a few guards hurriedly followed behind the spirited young princess.

“Slow down, Princess Xi!” Qu Chu yelled.

Tang Xiao Xi was really fast, so fast that it was a bit shocking. With just two arrow steps, she had already arrived in front of Bai Ling Pharmacy’s table. Holding up the bottle of Stoneskin potion, she exclaimed, “It’s a first tier Stoneskin Potion… I couldn’t possibly let a rarity like this slip past my fingers.”

Qu Chu grunted, “I know, but that was too rash of you, Princess. If something were to happen to you, how would I explain it to your grandfather? I had promised your safety with my own honor.”

Tang Xiao Xi paid no attention to Qu Chu as she focused on the Stoneskin potion. Looking up, she looked at Lin Mu Yu with her starry eyes and asked, “This Stoneskin potion, did you make this?”

Lin Mu Yu was panicking a little because of her gaze and nodded, “Ye-yeah…”

“Hee…”

A brilliant smile blossomed on Tang Xiao Xi’s face as she spoke, “You don’t look very old, yet you’re able to refine 1st Tier medicine. That’s really awesome. Can I try this bottle of Stoneskin potion?”

“Sure…” There was no way Lin Mu Yu would have dared to refuse, as the tough-looking guards standing behind her were glaring at him the whole time. Each one’s strength was probably a hundred times that of Hawkeye. He didn’t want to die young.

Tang Xiao Xi splashed a portion of the potion on her wrist, and a few seconds later the potion took effect to greatly boost defense. She smacked her hand a few times and noted, “Wow, I really can’t feel it anymore…”

Opening her palm, a stream of flames rose up as an illusory firefox wrapped around her arm. This girl actually had a martial spirit! It didn’t look like a low level one either. Aiming at the Stoneskin-affected left wrist, she punched down with her martial spirit!

Bang!

She clenched her teeth in pain and joked, “Wow, amazing… That only hurt a little, if…if I take a bath with this kind of Stoneskin potion, won’t I become invincible?”

Lin Mu Yu awkwardly looked at the girl’s cute bust thinking that if it became permanently stiff after the bath, it would be quite a shame. But these were not words that he dared to say aloud, so he responded, “Princess, the duration of potion effects are determined by the user’s physique. The stronger one’s physique, the longer the duration. But there is definitely a time limit.”

“Oh…Is that so?”

Tang Xiao Xi disappointedly lamented, “Grandfather always scold me about hurting myself during training. I thought this first tier Stoneskin potion could save me! Heehee, but it’s still fine. I’m going to test its defensive capabilities again!”

As she spoke, she pulled out the sword of a nearby guard, and lightly swung at her left wrist.

“Ah…”

She frowned, “Oh, I’m bleeding…”

Lin Mu Yu wanted to go dig a hole to die in, “Princess, you…”

Qu Chu frantically pet.i.tioned, “Princess, let’s quickly go back to our seats. This isn’t a place for you to be.”

……

When Tang Xiao Xi and Qu Chu returned to their seats, Lin Mu Yu looked in front of him only to see Hua Wan staring at him with a ruthless gaze that would have killed him if looks could kill. c.r.a.p, looks like I stole the young lord’s moment.

After nearly two hours, the examination period was finally over.

Hua Tian asked, “Princess Xi, who do you think… the first three places should go to?”

Tang Xiao Xi’s mouth lifted into a smile, “That 1st Tier Stoneskin potion was pretty interesting. That person was called Lin Mu Yu right? I think… he should be first place. What do you think?”

Naturally, Hua Tian didn’t want to agree, but still bowed, “Princess Xi is the special representative, so your wish is my command. We’ll award Bai Ling pharmacy first place in this year’s Pharmacopeia General a.s.sembly!”

“Good.”

As such, Hua Tian stood up as he channeled energy into his voice, and loudly announced, “The majesty sent Princess Xi as the special envoy to visit Silver Fir City and allowed us to be in her grace. Today’s results have been finalized! First place is Bai Ling Pharmacy’s Lin Mu Yu, second place is G.o.d Wing Pharmacy’s Hua Wan, third place is Tian Qing Pharmacy’s Liu Ge!”

Continuing on, Hua Tian smilingly announced, “This year’s subsidies are as followed: Special approval, Bai Ling Pharmacy will receive 100 gold Yin as operation funds, as well as permitting the sales of their potions at the auction house. Also, this year’s Discount Token is still being awarded to the winner of the martial art compet.i.tion between the younger generation.

……