Translated by Yan of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
The Mushroom Building was the Mage Association’s most important place. There were many valuable objects stored inside, and if they were destroyed, it would be a major loss to the association to the point that it might even impact their foundation.
After the middle-aged man entered the Mushroom Building, he used his identity to move unimpeded. He arrived at the second floor very quickly. There were even more guards on the second floor than the first, and there were two guards every two meters. The security was tight, making the middle-aged man narrow his eyes slightly.
Originally, he wanted to go to the third floor to take a look, but he was obstructed when he just walked to the door.
The middle-aged man handed his identity card to the guard. Unexpectedly, the guard only took a glance at it before handing it back, saying expressionlessly, “You cannot go up.”
The middle-aged man was stunned. He asked, “Why can’t I?”
The guard said, “Not enough authority!”
The middle-aged man asked again, “Then what level of authority do you need in order to go up?”
The guard: “Without the consent of the leader of the institution or the head elder, nobody is allowed to go up!”
The middle-aged man frowned. He hadn’t expected it to be so complicated; originally he thought that he would be able to go up to the third floor after getting this identity card, but it turned out that he actually needed the consent of those two old farts. This was as hard as ascending – those two were so shrewd, if he dared to ask, he would definitely be suspected!
When he saw the entrance to the third level so close nearby, the middle-aged man didn’t want to just give up like this. He finally entered this place with much difficulty, and he didn’t know when the next time he could do so would be. Furthermore, most of the people from the two associations were at the plaza at this time, so these two days were the best time to seize the Mage Association!
“I have the second elder’s recommendation letter, I still can’t go up?” The middle-aged man asked, unwilling to give up. As he spoke, he took out a small bottle and took a step forward, stuffing it secretly into the guard’s hand. Even without looking it was obvious that there was a magic pill inside of it, and not a low-level one at that.
Unexpectedly, the guard didn’t even bat an eyelid at it, and he instantly dodged to the side. He said woodenly, “Even if the second elder personally came by, it wouldn’t be allowed!”
The middle-aged man’s face immediately darkened quite a bit, as if he was a little resentful of the guard’s undiscriminating attitude.
The guard said with a serious expression, “Please leave immediately!”
Once he spoke, a faint killing intent burst from his body, as if he was saying he would take action if he didn’t leave!
The middle-aged man didn’t dare to make a fuss here, so he had no choice but to go.
Once he left the Mage Association and turned the corner, he tossed the identity card away.
This identity card wasn’t his at all, but one that he got from somebody else. That person had already been invited by him to the afterlife to drink tea. Afterwards, his face also changed into that of somebody else’s, around the same age, but a bit more spirited and sharp.
The middle-aged man walked towards somewhere more remote. When he arrived outside of an enclosed courtyard, he knocked on the front gates, and a lowered voice came out from within.
“Who is it?”
“Hei Niao.”
After that, the front gates opened. Standing behind it was someone wrapped completely in a cloak, and he he closed the gates carefully right after he let the middle-aged man inside.
After the two of them walked into the courtyard, they arrived in front of a house. A somewhat elderly voice floated out at once from inside of it, allowing them to come in.
When they opened the door and entered, the person inside just happened to turn around.
If You XiaoMo were here, he would have definitely recognized this person, because he was precisely that High Priest. The only difference was that he was much older now than before. Ever since TongTian Emperor’s plan had failed, TongTian Emperor had taken his anger out on him. Indeed, things had gone awry because he hadn’t kept an eye on You XiaoMo carefully. Many years of sweat and blood had been destroyed in an instant, and he had also been affected!
“What’s the situation?” the High Priest asked.
The middle-aged man shook his head and briefly explained what had happened.
The High Priest frowned and tapped the surface of the table with his finger as he said, “It seems like things are a bit complicated. It’s not easy to impersonate those two old farts…”
“There is no need for things to be so complicated. How about I help you guys out?”
At that moment, a voice that carried the hint of a strange smile abruptly spoke, echoing above them, cutting off the High Priest.
The expression on their faces changed at once.
The High Priest looked backwards fiercely. A figure in white had appeared behind them at some unknown time, and there was a curtain separating them. It swayed in the wind that blew in from outside the window. It was also unclear how long he had stood there listening to them, but they hadn’t noticed at all.
The three of them reacted extremely quickly, but they didn’t attack the person behind the curtain. Instead, they quickly fought to run outside, as if the white figure was some kind of monster or demon.
However, no matter how fast they were, they weren’t faster than the white figure. The curtain swayed lightly, and the white figure flashed in front of them in an instant, blocking their way out. At the same time, they made a move, and a powerful pressure attacked the middle-aged man and the cloaked person who had led him inside head on.
The two of them were caught off guard, and they sprayed out a mist of blood before falling and smashing into into the wall, creating an enormous noise.
The High Priest reacted the most quickly. It was almost as if he had anticipated this happening, and he immediately turned around and dashed towards the window behind the curtain.
Even though it was a little stupid for three people to be afraid of one person, the other person was somebody that had even caused TongTian Emperor to suffer from his actions. Even if there were ten more of them, they most likely couldn’t defeat their opponent. Rather than meeting force with force, it would be better to run away immediately. Perhaps they could still have a chance to live.
Ling Xiao didn’t spare a glance at the two people who had received serious injuries right after seeing him, and he instantly chased after the High Priest. The High Priest was a high-ranking official under TongTian Emperor, and as long as he died, it would be as if TongTian Emperor lost an arm. As a result, his target was him.
Silence resumed at once in the house.
The middle-aged man and the cloaked man gratefully crawled up and wiped away the blood at their mouths. There were about to leave when a large group of people suddenly surged in from outside. Judging from their apparel, they were astonishingly the Mage Association’s people.
The two people’s expressions stiffened at once.
At the same time, the competition at the plaza was also entering its final stages.
An hour was indeed enough time to drag down quite a few mages, because there were very few mages who paid attention to the time like You XiaoMo did, not because of the success rate of the magic pills.
When he saw that only half an hour was left and some mages had only just entered the melting pill stage, which was even harder than distilling, it was obvious that half an hour wasn’t enough at all, especially since the stage wasted time and energy.
The competition hadn’t even ended yet when mages gave up in quick succession and left the competition.
You XiaoMo didn’t pay attention to what was happening around him. He concentrated on staring at the magic pill inside of the cauldron. His speed had always been very fast, and by now, his magic pill had already taken shape. Only the last few steps were left, so passing the test would be no problem.
Next to him, Qiao WuXing and Jiu Ye were almost done as well. Making a level ten magic pill wasn’t anything difficult for them at all, as they were both rainbow level mages. Their shifu was also a notable person in the association, so his standards for his disciples were extremely high. If they couldn’t even pass this test, they wouldn’t just lose their own faces but the entire association’s.
A quarter of an hour later, there was a ‘clang’ inside of the cauldron.
Following that, You XiaoMo’s cauldron suddenly released a burst of white light, and a dark red magic pill attempted to fly out from inside. However, it was obstructed by the barrier inside of the cauldron, and it settled back down after a second.
You XiaoMo caught the Fire Cloud Pill. When he saw its quality, he revealed a satisfied expression on his face.
The magic pill’s quality was mid-grade, leaning towards high grade. Because there were only two high grade magic herbs, it was truly a little difficult to rely on these two magic herbs to refine a high-grade magic herb, unless he used spiritual water. But the assemblage rules stated that they couldn’t use anything that the competition didn’t provide.
You XiaoMo wasn’t the first one to finish.
He was the second. In front of him was Zu Ma, that experienced veteran of a transcendent level mage. She had already long since perfected the art of refining pills, and her Fire Cloud Pill quality was also mid-grade, leaning towards high-grade.
Everyone else’s were mostly mid-grade, but the majority of them were lower grade. Those people would inevitably be eliminated.
As a result, after this round of the competition ended, two hundred plus of the three hundred people were eliminated. In the end, only 108 people advanced to the third level of the competition. That last round had directly wiped out two thirds of the contestants, and quite a few people were both surprised, but also found it expected. After all, this test was truly very difficult.
You XiaoMo handed in his finished product. Since XiaoYao Institution provided the ingredients and also had to appraise whether the magic pills were good or bad, the contestants had no choice but to hand their magic pills over to them.
After the second round formally finished, You XiaoMo said goodbye to Qiao WuXing and went to the spectator section to find Ling Xiao. However… he couldn’t even find his shadow…
You XiaoMo thought that Ling Xiao was waiting at the exit, like yesterday, so he went over there to find him. But when he went around twice and still didn’t see him, he couldn’t help but feel bewildered. Ling Xiao couldn’t have left by himself, right?
Jiu Ye just happened to walk over. When he saw him, he lifted an eyebrow. “You’re looking for Ling Xiao?”
“Do you know where he is?” You XiaoMo turned around and asked. It sounded like he knew, judging from his voice.
Sure enough, Jiu Ye actually nodded. “I just heard shifu mention that it seems like he went to do something that took a bit of time. It’ll probably be a while before he comes back.”
You XiaoMo’s mouth twitched. He didn’t even need to ask to know what Ling Xiao went to go do; he actually went off by himself while You XiaoMo was in the middle of the competition, when he was preparing to go with him!
After saying farewell to Jiu Ye, You XiaoMo immediately ran off furiously.
