Chapter 187: Chapter 185: Giving Up and Letting Go?_1
"Studts of Drawing and 3 may temporarily withdraw from the site, and those in Drawing , prepare your alchemy equipmt. The examination will commce in 5 minutes."
As the voice of an elderly proctor faded, two-thirds of the studts left the site with their herbs and lot-drawing papers and proceeded to the front of the spectator stands.
Fang R spread the red paper on the g after receiving his herbs and started examining them.
"How stingy."
Upon seeing the herbs inside, Fang R couldn't help but smack his lips in dissatisfaction.
The variety of herbs had no issues; every type of herb he needed was prest, but the quality of the herbs themselves was flawed. They were all of inferior quality, and some had be stored for too long and not preserved properly.
As a rule, all herbs for the alchemy competition should have be provided by the Ctral Area, where every type of herb is guaranteed to be of middle to upper quality. The inferior herbs in Fang R's hands were clearly not from the batch st by the Ctral Area.
They were swapped by someone in the guild, who kept the better-quality herbs from the Ctral Area stock and gave him their stockpiled inferior goods.
But there was nothing to be done. These herbs were too expsive, and it was inevitable that some people in the Alchemist Guild might become greedy.
One thing to note is that the Ctral Area does not provide fourth-order elixir materials for the university studt alchemy competition, as the talts who can concoct second-order upper-level pills at the university studts' age are extremely rare. Providing fourth-order materials is unnecessary, as no one would be capable of concocting them.
The highest material that the Ctral Area can provide is for a three-level pill, just in case some out-of-nowhere gius is able to concoct a three-level pill.
The reason why there were materials for fourth-order elixirs here was that the herbs Fang R had chos were some of the most expsive ones used in several three-level pills, and these herbs together were just ough for the concoction of a fourth-order elixir.
In fact, some people from the Orchid Bamboo Guild were overjoyed as soon as he had reported these herbs.
That's because any herbs provided by the Ctral Area that the studts don't use must be returned to the Ctral Area, and cannot be left with the guild.
And since Fang R chose so many expsive herbs, the Orchid Bamboo Alchemist Guild had the perfect opportunity to cut corners.
In their eyes, a studt wouldn't be able to concoct a fourth-order elixir anyway, so providing them with low-quality herbs as a ruse was sufficit, and it served as a perfect excuse to keep the high-quality herbs provided by the Ctral Area for themselves.
Not far away, the Sevth Elder could naturally hear what he said, and his face couldn't help but show a few momts of embarrassmt, with his heart feeling a mix of annoyance and rage.
The princess and Young Master Fang had specifically come to inspect, and yet some rascals within the guild had still gaged in these underhanded tricks. Wasn't this setting their tire guild up for public disgrace?
The other aristocratic studts who remained on site saw the herbs laid out on the g by Fang R and immediately stirred into excitemt. At first, their faces showed surprise, and disbelief, but in the d, they all shared the same look of mockery.
"That low-ability studt actually chose all the most precious herbs from the three-level pills, this is hilariously foolish!"
"From what I see, those herbs put together are just what's needed to concoct a fourth-order elixir, the Entry into Void Pill. This low-ability studt isn't completely ignorant, at least he knows a bit about herb pairing. But this is merely an act of puffing oneself up at one's own cost, trying to show off, and ev aiming to flaunt extravagantly."
"Ridiculous! Wait until he ruins all these precious ingredits and let's see how he's going to wrap this up!"
"Every year the competition has its oddities, but I've never se someone quite like this. To pull off such a stunt will probably cost him ts of millions. How is he going to compsate for that!"
...
In the audice stands, some parts who were dissatisfied because their childr had just be lectured by the Sevth Elder now eagerly spewed out their pt-up displeasure.
"Who is the one with the low quality here? That low-ability studt is blatantly destroying the competition's property! Was my child wrong in calling him out?"
"Exactly! The one in need of moral education is that trash studt from Mediocre University, not our childr!"
"If you can't compete, don't embarrass yourself! At this point, still trying to put on a brave face, looking for dignity? Ha, low-d schools really just produce a bunch of societal trash!"
...
Of course, the majority of aristocrats in the stands remained silt. They came to watch the competition, not a farce.
At that momt, on the very edge of the audice seating, Bai Qi sat on the stairs with a face full of anger. She just couldn't understand why Fang R, this idiot, had to be so stubborn at this momt?
She had made herself very clear that if he had only said the word, she would not hesitate to drop the matter of meeting Brother Song...
Behind her, stood several elders exuding an extraordinary aura, their facial expressions subtly reflecting their thoughts about everything happing in the ara.
"This studt from Yangming University, having the courage to come here is commdable, yet it is not a wise move," said one of the elders in a Zhongshan suit. "Furthermore, being provoked by ridicule to the point of rage and acting recklessly shows a lack of inner strgth. This experice may well shatter his confidce for good."
"A studt like him probably represts those from schools that most of society doesn't pay atttion to — someone with some talt who made it this far on passion alone. Once they collide with the world's top talted studts, they're bound to be crushed. This is the currt tragedy of human society," another elder in a gray robe commted.
"Back wh I was practicing my craft, I too faced much ridicule and had to push through it. Now, seeing this sce, I still can't help but feel a bit sorrowful," sighed an elder dressed in casual clothes.
Bai Qi, listing to the elders behind her speaking in a tone quite differt from the rest, found herself drawn to their conversation.
This was what she understood aristocrats to be like — reflective upon witnessing social disputes, contemplative upon seeing human discord, rather than joining the masses in mocking their less talted brethr.
Bai Qi slightly tilted her visor cap and looked back at the three elders behind her, her anxiety spiking wh she recognized them as acquaintances from the Tianjiang. She quickly turned back a and pressed her cap down over her face.
It seemed that her conversation with Fang R from the beginning until now had be overheard by these people.
If they were to discover that she, a princess, in collusion with her fiancé, was attempting to cheat in such a major evt, how embarrassing would that be?
Absolutely must not be discovered!