Chapter 23: I’m in a Hurry
2013-02-09 Author: Gu Zhenren
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Chapter 23: I’m in a Hurry
“Wh-what?” Wu Shuang’s eyes widened, thinking she had misheard.
Chu Yun sighed, knowing his actions were indeed arrogant. However, he wanted to gain more victories, giving him more opportunities, so he inquired about the Rumor Vine Dragon King. With the Blissful Joy Ship and forty-eight Immortal Consorts as his trump cards, he was fully capable of competing in these eighteen events.
In his helplessness, he had no choice but to repeat himself to Wu Shuang.
The next moment, Wu Shuang’s jaw dropped, and she stared at Chu Yun in astonishment, unable to speak. She felt as if this young man was toying with her. Yet, he clearly possessed a letter of recommendation.
Could the letter of recommendation be fake? Who would participate in so many events at once?
Was this for real? In the history of the Academy, the most anyone had participated in was three events, and even then, they only won one, with the other two being very poor. The individual at the time was incredibly famous, sensationalizing the world and being called an unparalleled genius. After all, these nineteen events were all profound and required deep study.
Wu Shuang’s heart pounded. Without a trace, she quickly re-examined Chu Yun’s letter of recommendation.
“Is there a problem?” Chu Yun asked.
“No, no problem! I’ll process it for you right away,” the freckled young girl replied hurriedly. After some time, she finished processing and handed Chu Yun a stack of jade tokens.
She carefully instructed, “These are eighteen competition jade tokens, corresponding to the eighteen events. After each day’s spar, regardless of victory or defeat, please come to me in the evening to register.”
“This is so troublesome?” Chu Yun frowned, looking at the pile of multicolored jade tokens with a bit of speechlessness.
“Can it be combined into one? So many, it’s too complicated,” Chu Yun suggested.
A slight sheen of sweat appeared on the young girl’s forehead. “My sincerest apologies, this request cannot be fulfilled at this time. We hope for your understanding regarding any inconvenience caused.”
Generally, participants would compete in only one event; two was already quite noteworthy. Just like the Immortal Pouch King participating in the pouch-making event, and the Wine King participating in the alchemy event, they each had only one jade token. Only Chu Yun, participating in eighteen events at once, obtained eighteen jade tokens.
On this point alone, he had already broken the record of the Academy Assembly.
“Forget it, let’s leave it at that.” Chu Yun collected the jade tokens and turned to leave. He left the young girl, Wu Shuang, standing there dumbfounded, watching his ordinary back until he disappeared around the corner.
“Wu Shuang, are you alright?”
“Did I just see that right? That young man accepted eighteen jade tokens at once?!”
After Chu Yun and his group left, a crowd of scholars immediately swarmed around Wu Shuang.
“This is impossible. How can one person be competent in everything and be good at everything? Even those Monster Tamer powerhouses who have lived for hundreds of years cannot achieve this.”
“That young man is so young. Perhaps he fancies our Wu Shuang and wants to leave a deep impression on her!” Wu Shuang’s best friend playfully teased.
“Hmph, girls’ thoughts are so naive. In my opinion, this is a diversionary tactic. He deliberately chose so many events to cover his tracks and prevent people from seeing his true intentions,” an arrogant young man commented with his arms crossed.
“Your thoughts are naive. Why would he cover his tracks? What benefit would that bring him?” the best friend immediately retorted, her eyes shining with excitement. “Oh, right, what’s his name? Wushuang? That’s clearly a fake name.”
“Hmph, using a fake name and participating in so many events, he either has unspeakable secrets or is a clown seeking attention,” the arrogant young man said coldly, as if he had found solid evidence.
“Enough, Li Er! I know you also received a recommendation letter and are participating in the sealing event spar. Seeing a contemporary steal your thunder, you’re feeling jealous, aren’t you?” the best friend raised her eyebrows.
“You!” The young man, Li Er, whose thoughts had been exposed, became enraged. “Forget it, it’s useless to argue with you girls. I’m really looking forward to meeting him in the sealing event. Just watch me defeat him and make him lose all face.”
With that, he flicked his sleeve and, in a fit of pique, turned and left.
“Then let’s wait and see. When the spar begins, everything will be revealed!” the best friend shouted loudly. She had long been annoyed by this arrogant and talented Li Er.
Chu Yun was unaware that after he left, he had inadvertently sparked a rivalry among the scholars. However, even if he had known, he wouldn’t have paid it any mind.
This was just a small squabble among children.
After leaving the South District, their group arrived at the West District, which had been converted into a temporary residential area. After paying a rent slightly lower than that of shops, Chu Yun and the others moved in. No one knew their true identities, and everyone maintained a low profile.
For the next two days, Chu Yun spent time shopping in the East District. Sometimes he went alone, and sometimes he went with Erlang Tian Jun, Sleeping Old Man, and others.
He had another unexpected surprise. At a street stall, he found a component for the Blissful Joy Ship. He didn’t pay any price.
He originally intended to chat with the stall owner, but under Chu Yun’s deliberate approach, the stall owner felt he had met a kindred spirit. As they chatted enthusiastically, he casually gave Chu Yun this Immortal Consort Demon Soldier.
“Here, it’s just an antique. We hit it off, so I’ll give it to you, hahaha.” Although the stall owner was a low-level Beast Tamer, he appeared very generous.
Chu Yun did not accept it for free. In the end, he secretly slipped a Jade Slip into the stall owner’s pocket. The content of the Jade Slip was the basic weapon forging knowledge he had been dreaming of.
Three days passed, and on the fourth day, registration closed, and the spars officially began. Chu Yun received a notification and was informed of his first opponent.
“Little fellow, which Academy student are you? You’ve received such favor from your teacher, so much so that they’d use even a recommendation slot to let you come here for the experience?” This opponent was a middle-aged uncle. Upon seeing Chu Yun, his eyebrows rose, his gaze carrying a hint of condescension, and his tone was rather casual.
Chu Yun smiled slightly, glanced at his opponent with a hint of indifference, and said, “I’m in a hurry, let’s begin.”
The middle-aged uncle was furious. What was he in a hurry for? There were only three spars per day, one in the morning, one at noon, and one in the evening. There was plenty of time, and he could even go shopping after the spar.
He didn’t know that Chu Yun was participating in eighteen events in total, so his time was indeed very tight. He mistakenly thought that the young man opposite him had said that intentionally.
“You’re quite arrogant. It’s not good for young people to be too arrogant. I understand why your mentor wanted to send you to the Academy Assembly. Let me, Bu Xing, teach you a lesson on behalf of your mentor. There are always people better than you.” The middle-aged uncle looked down at Chu Yun and nodded, speaking in a preachy tone.
“Alright, the first spar is to refine a Slumbering Pill. One stick of incense will be the time limit. The one who takes less time will be the winner. Please enter the private room.” At this point, an Academy staff member announced.
“Slumbering Pill? The process of refining this pill is indeed complex. However, I’ve refined a few before, and I’ve already won! How old is that kid? He probably hasn’t even refined one. This is the experience of pill refining! Haha, I, Bu Xing, am so lucky to encounter such a weak opponent in the first round.”
The middle-aged uncle, Bu Xing, laughed heartily and strolled into the private room. Inside the room were the medicinal ingredients for refining the Slumbering Pill. These ingredients had been specially processed. If they were replaced without authorization, the Academy could immediately detect it even if a pill was successfully refined.
Bu Xing hummed a tune, checked the medicinal ingredients, found them to be correct, and then reached into his Immortal Pouch.
However, he had just taken out the pill cauldron for refining when he heard the Academy staff outside shout, “The winner of this round is Wushuang! One point awarded, entering the winner’s group. The loser, Bu Xing, enters the loser’s group.”
“Wh-what?!” The middle-aged uncle was utterly confused at this moment!
What kind of joke was this? I just took out the cauldron…
“Who are you fooling?” He rushed out of the pill refining room, his face flushed with anger, and roared at the Academy staff.
This Academy staff member was not a novice like Miss Wu Shuang but a seasoned Alchemist. He looked at the middle-aged uncle, Bu Xing, mockingly. “What’s so strange about this? In Xingzhou, there are hand seals for pill refining such as the ‘Seize Every Second Seal’ and ‘Hair’s Breadth Refining Hand Seal’, and ‘Lightning Flash Refining Technique’ that can refine a pill in an instant. The Slumbering Pill is not that complex. Besides, do you doubt the fairness of the Academy Assembly, or do you think this old Alchemist is blind and cannot distinguish the refining time of a pill?”
Bu Xing’s mouth hung open, speechless for a long time.
Of course, he wasn’t foolish enough to doubt the fairness of the Academy spar. It was just that he couldn’t accept this harsh reality so quickly.
He also wouldn’t complain about the unfairness of the competition. Who told him he didn’t know such special pill refining hand seals? Being able to master such hand seals meant he was more capable. At least in terms of pill refining speed, his ability was evident. He wasn’t without hope; there was still a chance to turn the tables in the loser’s group.
Finally, he sighed to the heavens, “I am truly unfortunate to have encountered an opponent who specializes in such obscure hand seals, and to have encountered such a competition topic. Alas, where is that young man? I want to meet him.”
The Academy staff member glanced at him indifferently. “That young man seemed to be in a hurry and left quickly. I’ll advise you, don’t judge people by their appearance in the future. You didn’t lose unfairly.”
“You are wise to lecture me, senior.” The middle-aged uncle, Bu Xing, sighed deeply and left the competition venue with faltering steps.
He was unaware that Chu Yun knew no quick pill refining hand seals at all.
After Chu Yun entered the pill refining room and sensed no surveillance, he summoned Baozi.
Baozi transformed into human form, appearing as a chubby boy with a bellyband, and timidly emerged. He then twitched his little nose, smelling the medicinal fragrance.
“See that? Refine a batch of Slumbering Pills for me,” Chu Yun said, pointing at the medicinal ingredients.
Baozi nodded, stuffed the medicinal ingredients into his mouth, and immediately frowned adorably. These pills had been tampered with; they were not pure, which would affect the final medicinal efficacy.
He swallowed the medicinal ingredients and after much effort, spat out thirty finished pills.
Chu Yun took out one pill and waited for a moment before walking out of the private room. After winning, he scurried away; he still had seventeen other events to attend.
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