Having learned the truth, the crowd's voice, in the colosseum, on the planet, in every place where the event was broadcasted within the starfield, EXPLODED!
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!" Gao Zi's heavy and deep voice resounded. His horns trembled and his large eyes bulged irregularly. He wasn't too familiar with the process of alchemy, except the results, but Yi Yun. Li Che, and Qingye Yun had just announced the results!
A success?
Fastest in history?
HOW?!
They had just watched Wei Wuyin start and complete the entire process in less time than it took to brew tea! This shouldn't be enough to walk one's dog let alone concoct a high-tier eighth-grade elixir to perfection! This didn't conform with their beliefs and understanding of the world!!
It wasn't just him. The entire colosseum went into an uproar, their mouths slinging questions and demands for clarification. There were even curses of being deceived, someone had even questioned their qualifications for some reason. But what was there to clarify?
Li Che's eyebrows twitched ceaselessly. The shattering of their realities had little to do with them! They only spoke facts. Could they change the truth before them?! A wisp of anger emerged in his aged gaze.
"SILENCE!" A fierce, explosive shout silenced the raging crowd. An oppressively chilly spiritual pressure erupted, engulfing the entire crowd as they choked on their words! The crowd of nearly a billion was immediately silenced!
They turned towards the origin of the voice, finding an extremely wintry looking elf. Her gorgeous countenance was covered in fierce coldness, and her silky black hair swayed without a hint of wind. Even the tips of her hair had an icy sheen of frost on them.
The silent leader of the Sacred Light Palace had finally spoken. Simply her cold aura revealed an extremely dominating presence which brokered no arguments. She was like an Ice Empress from another world.
She swiftly swept her gaze across the entire colosseum from up high, making everyone feel an extremely pervasive chill crawl through their spines and bones. They were fearful that she might direct those eyes at them for a moment longer.
After this, she sat back down and remained quiet. When everyone was expecting her to say a few words, she simply didn't. This made the crowd feel somewhat stifled. Were they supposed to accept this ridiculous explanation? How could they?
While they revered Wei Wuyin, while they respected him, while they had the highest of hopes, they were supposed to believe that he just completed the product with the fastest speed in history?! Didn't that mean the King of Everlore was slower?! Wei Wuyin was less than fifty. It was just too unbelievable.
Despite witnessing it themselves, they, for some ungodly reason, simply couldn't accept it. This phenomenon was quite strange, almost too strange.
In the end, even Yi Yun, someone who witnessed the process from beginning to end, understood the details of how and why, couldn't fully believe it. He was questioning his reality right now, thinking that maybe he was dreaming this all up in a fantastical fantasy. Could that be it?
Pinch!
Crack!
He pinched his arm so hard that it fractured, the pain causing him to stifle a groan but he didn't wake up. He could see Qingye Ying and Wei Wuyin on the platform, seemingly unaware of everything else around them.
He went back into commentary mode, "Since Ascendant Emperor Wei had completed this feat with utmost speed, then Princess Ying will certainly display her fullest abilities." This was a competition, and these words had awakened the crowd a little.
That was right!
This was a clash!
If Wei Wuyin could break history, their very realities, then Qingye Ying will definitely do even more! Thinking of what she might do, her now elevated abilities in their imagination, Wei Wuyin's feat was easier to swallow somehow.
Li Che added, "This is a new era, and these are the era-defining figures of our world." He sighed, but a seemingly heavy weight left his chest as he uttered those words. Instead, anticipation and excitement at the prospect of what this meant started to reinvigorate him.
It wasn't just him either, but everyone's hearts started to pound with anticipation. They were even rooting for Qingye Ying, this Princess of Everlore, to give them a greater shock! This considerably lessened their own emotions, only drumming up more excitement and cheers.
There were even members of the crowd who were cheering Qingye Ying on!
"Princess Ying! Princess Ying! Princess Ying!"
"YOU CAN DO THIS! SHOW THIS POSER WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A SUCCESSOR OF THE KING OF EVERLORE! Wait, WAIT!!!" That figure was soon lost in the crowd, likely never to be seen or heard from again.
While they frantically rooted for Qingye Ying, there was no way anyone would accept an insult towards Wei Wuyin. He was still their idol and his feat had changed their realities. With the rising excitement, it started to reinforce his status in their hearts.
Then…
Ten minutes passed.
Qingye Ying remained still in thought.
This only heightened their anticipation as the commentary started to explain Wei Wuyin's process, and what various methods Qingye Ying might deploy.
An hour passed.
The crowd was still hyped, being informed about the Predetermined Alchemist process known as Mental Simulation. This only raised the expectations in the crowd and spectators' hearts. After all, Wei Wuyin just jumped right into it. If he could succeed with barely any preparation, then Qingye Ying, the one who chose the recipe, should perform incredible wonders!
Three hours!
Finally, Qingye Ying broke out of her thoughts. She briefly glanced at Wei Wuyin, seeing him staring at her with a faint smile. He waved casually, causing her expression to change and her heart to thumb irregularly for a moment. She steeled her heart, ignored him, and started her extraction method.
Slowly, she started to extract each essence and unique energy of the materials one by one.
Seeing her start, the crowd cheered like maniacs. They raged and roared with exhilarating positive reinforcement and discussions!
Ten hours.
She was now extracting the seventh sub material with her method.
"..."
Three days.
She finally started to extract the essence, unique energies, and mana from the main materials. A faint smile was hidden behind her veil.
"She's just being careful!" Yi Yun speculated. He proceeded to explain that not every method was as violent and widely polarizing like flame-type extraction methods. After all, they could incinerate everything, including the essences, unique energies, and mana.
Nine days.
She finally extracted the unique qualities from every material! With all this finished, the screen zoomed into her cauldron.
Li Che's eyelids twitched, "That's enough for eight attempts!" When he thought of Wei Wuyin's over forty sets of extracted essences, he couldn't help but feel shocked. But what happened next shook the crowd!
Qingye Ying threw away seven of the sets, choosing only the best of the bunch and started to concoct. She was working on only a single product! As for the disposed of sets of extracted essences, they vanished into the world and dispersed naturally. She wasn't even bothering with them.
This was a standard and normal process for an alchemist, but after observing Wei Wuyin, this felt extremely harsh and foolish.
Yi Yun tried to explain, remaining impartial, "The Growth Stage requires one to bring the various extracted essence, unique energies, and mana into an acceptable concoction range for the grade of the recipe. By discarding the weaker portions, choosing merely the best, she can decrease the potential error of overshooting the Growth Stage while simultaneously reducing concoction...time." The last bit came out rough.
While it was the truth, it felt insulting to say for some reason.
Then, Qingye Ying began the Growth Stage.
Twenty days.
She had carefully brought the materials with her alchemic force into an acceptable range. Her brow was wet with sweat, but she was fully focused. With her Alchemic Force, she had it much easier than other alchemists, capable of accomplishing this task with relative ease. A smile of excitement emerged on her lips!
She started to work on the other stages.
The crowd just watched. The loud cheers went silent.
Thirty days.
Sixty days.
Seventy-three days!
She was finally brought to the Fusion Stage. She was performing exquisite sets of intense handseals, focusing her alchemic force with extreme precision. The liquid energies were being merged into one, slowly but certainly. At times, she would release faint bursts of power, releasing soft and cute grunts like a tennis player.
Throughout the entire starfield, for those moments, everyone just watched on in silence.
When she succeeded, displaying the greatness of alchemic force, she was left with the last step: Liquidize Step. She would transform the liquid energies into an elixir. This step was absolutely crucial, so she devoted her entire focus to it. She even used the inherent formations on her cauldron to support her.
It took three full days! But then a swish of liquid surrounded as it splashed inside her cauldron. This sound to her was the most beautiful sound. The sound of success! She did a faint pump of her fist, trying to keep it discreet from viewers.
When she withdrew a vial and slowly sucked in the liquid, she observed the radiant liquid that flashed with various colors of light reminiscent of a rainbow. It was beautiful. It lacked any form of impurities, her alchemic force displaying its powerful effects!
When she held it as if it was the most precious object, she turned to see Wei Wuyin.
Her eyes widened in disbelief!
Wei Wuyin was laying down on what seemed like a bed! Where did he even get the bed? And he was sleeping! While the others couldn't hear, she could faintly hear the sounds of snoring! The audacity!
She pouted her lips. "Wake up!" She blasted a spiritual transmission to Wei Wuyin in the most direct manner, causing Wei Wuyin to jump slightly. His eyes were drowsy as he looked around, noticing Qingye Ying hold a vial of rainbow liquid triumphantly within her hand.
He smacked his lips slightly, "Oh. You're done."
