That female disciple only shook her head adamantly, her voice sounded even more urgent, “It’s Sun Jinqiang! Sun Jinqiang’s arms were broken by Tang Hong, on top of that…!” Her voice came to an abrupt stop as if the following words were unmentionable.

“What?!” Tian Juaner thought she had misheard, “It was Tang Hong that broke Sun Jinqiang’s arms? Are you sure?”

That female disciple heavily nodded her head, “Absolutely, I have checked three times, it is Sun Jinqiang’s arms that were broken!”

Tian Juaner was momentarily dazed, her widened eyes clearly showed her disbelief.

“Tang Hong did it himself?” Tian Juaner asked again.

“Yes,” The female disciple nodded.

It took Tian Juaner a long time to recover from her shock, “What else did you say just now?”

The female disciple hesitated before speaking, “It is said that Sun Jinqiang wanted to cut off Tang Hong’s lower part with a sword, but his weapon was snapped in two by Tang Hong, stabbing himself 'there' in the process! I heard it is possible that Sun Jinqiang…” The female disciple’s voice trailed off, her face already red, and no longer continue.

Tian Juaner’s eyes widened a fraction more. She felt like laughing but somehow couldn’t.

Until the female disciple left, Tian Juaner remained in the same posture, no one knew what thoughts were crossing her mind at this moment.

Back in Tang Hong’s cultivation dwelling, Huang Xiaolong took out the grade four spiritual vein and began cultivating as usual.

There was a Liu Qingyang behind Sun Jinqiang, but Huang Xiaolong had never been concerned about this.

Darkness covered the land, then it slowly receded again as the morning light appeared.

Huang Xiaolong ended his night of cultivation before stepping outside and heading off in the direction of the Sacred Pill Hall where the alchemy refining competition would be held.

An hour later, Huang Xiaolong appeared at the Sacred Pill Hall.

When he arrived, the square opposite the hall’s main entrance was already filled with disciples.

In the beginning, this was just a small scale competition, rarely attracting this large a number of disciples to spectate, however, after knowing that Tian Juaner also registered for this competition, all core disciples came out in droves, nearly achieving perfect attendance. Even inner disciples found their way here as well.

When ‘Tang Hong’ appeared, he became quite the center of attention, receiving more than a few strange glances.

Clearly, the interlude last evening had reached these disciples’ ears. There was pity, doubt, astonishment, ridicule, disdain, some even secretly gloating at Huang Xiaolong’s impending doom.

In most of these disciples’ eyes, 'Tang Hong' was no different than a dead person after injuring Sun Jinqiang. Within the Golden Dragon Gate, who wasn’t aware that Grand Elder Liu Qingyang doted on this grandson the most? Even some of the Elders would be more tolerant of Sun Jinqiang.

Huang Xiaolong’s expression and demeanor remained aloof, not bothered by the strange gazes directed at him as he stood there straight but relaxed, waiting for the competition to begin.

Among the waiting crowd, Tian Juaner shook her head as she observed Huang Xiaolong standing straight, looking as if he wasn’t one bit concerned with the repercussions of yesterday’s incident. Although the fact that Tang Hong managed to injure Sun Jinqiang came as a shock to her, this didn't change her impression of him. It was the opposite instead, she felt an even stronger dislike.

Because this Tang Hong had grown more arrogant than before.

A short while later, the Elder overseeing the alchemy competition, Mo Zhibai, arrived at the square. Standing at the center, he called for the registered disciples to gather in front of him.

At Mo Zhibai’s words, Huang Xiaolong, Tian Juaner, and other registered core disciples made their way to the center of the square. 

Despite the large number of disciples filling the square, only twelve core disciples registered for the competition. With a quota of six, selecting half of them made the chances of winning appear to be very high, but these twelve disciples were all highly talented individuals. On the surface, the other eleven core disciples’ cultivation was higher than ‘Tang Hong’, at Sixth Order Heavenly God Realm. There was a degree of difficulty if ‘Tang Hong’ wanted to stand out from the rest.

However, this wasn’t a big issue to Huang Xiaolong.

Elder Mo Zhibai’s gaze swept over the twelve registered core disciples, lingering a second longer on Huang Xiaolong and Tian Juaner. He then proceeded to announce the competition rules.

The rules were simple. Huang Xiaolong and the rest were required to concoct a divine pellet called Hundred Scales of the Golden Dragon Divine Pill using the herb ingredients and pill furnace provided by the Sacred Pill Hall.

The first six people to complete could proceed to accept the Gate Chief’s task.

This Hundred Scales of the Golden Dragon Divine Pill was at a level between high grade and top grade rank two divine pellet. To some Heavenly God Realm disciples, refining this pill had its own level of difficulty.

Then again, for those with a good grasp of alchemy and at least a mid-level Heavenly God Realm strength, there was a high rate of success.

Finishing with the competition rules, Mo Zhibai ordered the prepared pill furnaces and herbs to be distributed, placed in front of the twelve disciples.

“Elder Mo, the age of my herb ingredients doesn’t seem to be correct.” Huang Xiaolong merely took a glance at the spread of herb ingredients in front of him and knew they were lacking in age. He continued to point out, “And Tian Juaner’s batch of herbs ingredients seems to exceed mine significantly.” He did not forget to point at Tian Juaner’s pile of herbs.

The higher the age of the ingredients, the easier it was to refine them into pellets.

The disciples at the front took a look at Huang Xiaolong’s batch of herb ingredients and noticed they were indeed much lower in age compared to Tian Juaner’s and the others'. But they quickly understood what was going on with some thought.

Mo Zhibai's face sank, directing a stern gaze at Huang Xiaolong saying, "A slight difference in herb ingredients' age is very common. If you don't want to compete, you can get out now, don't stay here and hinder other participants."

The large crowd of disciples stirred with excitement watching Elder Mo Zhibai reprimand Huang Xiaolong.

Tian Juaner threw a mocking glance in Huang Xiaolong’s direction, she wanted to see how this ‘Tang Hong’ was going to handle the situation.

It didn’t take much for Huang Xiaolong to guess that this Mo Zhibai must have received instructions from Liu Qingyang to make things difficult for him, deliberately changing his batch of herb ingredients to a lower age count. His question was just a chance in disguise to Mo Zhibai.

Since this Mo Zhibai chose to disregard his kindness… One month later, when he got his hands on the Nine Petals Spiritual Lightning Lotus and left the Golden Dragon Gate would be the day this Mo Zhibai disappears from this world.

“Tang Hong, with your alchemy refining skills, I think it’d be better if you don’t make a fool out of yourself here. Even if you take part, you might not manage to refine anything.” The participating disciple called Li Zhan who was standing next to Huang Xiaolong mocked, “If you leave now, it would help our sect save some precious herbs.”

The crowd broke out in a whoop of laughter.

Huang Xiaolong said nothing, as calm as he could be.

Mo Zhibai’s brows wrinkled slightly, he did not expect this ‘Tang Hong’ would be able to keep his composure, but with his early Fifth Order Heavenly God Realm strength and a batch of lower-age herb ingredients, there was a nine out of ten chance he won’t be able to complete the concoction of the Divine Pill. Thus, Mo Zhibai wasn’t worried at all.

A moment later, he announced the beginning of the competition.

In an instant, pillars of flame soared to the sky as Tian Juaner and the rest started refining.

The moment Tian Juaner move, she attracted the crowd’s attention and admiration.

“That’s the Ten Thousand Divine Beasts Pill Refining Diagram”

As Tian Juaner’s hands danced spiritedly in the air, her ingredients flew up, taking the shape of ten thousand divine beasts.

It was a rare sight for a Heavenly God Realm cultivator to be so well versed in the Ten Thousand Divine Beast Pill Refining Diagram; most of the time, this level of skill was seen on Ancient God Realm masters. It was no wonder the spectating crowd was exclaiming with envy and admiration.

Huang Xiaolong was still unaffected watching this. When he was still in the lower realm, merely God Realm cultivator, he was already skilled in the Ten Thousand Divine Beasts Pill Refining Diagram. Right now, he could probably l try the Hundred Thousand Divine Beasts Pill Refining Diagram…

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