In the morning, Qin Ran stood on the beach, watching the waves crashing against the rocks recklessly, turning themselves into small white water droplets and falling back into the sea.
As he watched, he felt like a monk challenging the long river of fate, but ultimately failing and falling into the long river of fate.
This made him feel tragic.
"Are you going to compete in Hailang Sect?"
A voice suddenly came from behind.
Qin Ran turned around and saw the saint with a great figure walking towards him.
"Yes, we're leaving soon. I'm waiting for Manager Pang." He replied, "You know that too?"
The Saint seemed a little different today. Her eyes no longer had the deep affection and smile that always made people obsessed, but a little depressed, making her look very depressed.
She walked to Qin Ran's side, looked at the waves coming and going, and asked again, "How long will it take?"
Qin Ran looked at her profile from the side and saw that she was still covered with a black veil, so he couldn't see her features clearly. He could only see her curved eyebrows and her upturned peach blossom eyes.
"At least one month, at most two months," he replied.
"Two months?" The Saint sighed, "That's fine."
"What's wrong? You don't look happy." Qin Ran asked, "Is it because of this competition, or did you encounter some problems?"
The saint looked at the sea, was silent for a long time, and replied: "I came to say goodbye to you."
Qin Ran felt that there was something wrong with this statement. But firstly, he was about to leave Devil Island for Hailang Sect, so this was a good way to say goodbye; secondly, the person in front of him was the saint of the "Yuan" organization, a demonic organization, and he didn't dare to think too much about her words.
So he just replied: "Don't be so serious, I'm just going to the game and will be back soon. It's not a life-and-death farewell."
“Hmm…” Perhaps Qin Ran’s words of comfort worked, the Saint smiled again. Her eyes curved, she tilted her head to look at Qin Ran, and smiled seriously, “You must take care of yourself.”
There was no charm or affection in these eyes; they were as pure and clear as autumn water, like the eyes of a young girl in her prime.
But when he looked into those eyes, Qin Ran saw the clarity in them, the pure eyes, the clean smile, and his heart, which was constructed from divine energy, hit his chest hard.
There is no love in the amorous eyes, but these eyes of feeling...
His Adam's apple swallowed unconsciously, and he hurriedly avoided those exceptionally beautiful eyes, looked toward the sea, and replied: "Well, you should take care of yourself too."
“Hehe…” The Saint laughed. She looked at Qin Ran’s flustered eyes from the side. She reached her hand to her ear, lifted the strap of her veil, and asked Qin Ran, “I’ve known you for so many years and eaten so many meals with you… Do you want to know what I look like?”
In the past five years, he had met the Saint numerous times, but Kieran had never seen what she looked like.
If he said he wasn't curious, it would be a lie. After all, he knew the Saint must be very beautiful, so he turned around, looked at the Saint, and said, "It would be nice to meet her."
However, for some reason, he suddenly felt that the distance between them was very close, too close. So close that he felt a great pressure. He did not see the saint unveil her veil, but only saw her clear eyes.
His throat swallowed again involuntarily.
“Hahaha…” The Saint suddenly burst into laughter, turned around, took two steps, and distanced herself from him, “I’m just kidding you! You’re so stupid!”
Seeing the Saint take two steps forward, Qin Ran finally understood that the reason why he felt the distance was too close just now was because the Saint quietly closed the distance.
His heart was pounding and he opened his mouth, wanting to ask something.
But at this moment, another voice came from behind: "Mr. Li, are you ready?"
He turned around and saw Pang Xuan's round figure approaching. Behind Pang Xuan were dozens of people from the "Yuan" organization.
"Ready," he replied.
"Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Li." Pang Xuan smiled, walked over here, saw the Saint, and said respectfully, "So the Saint is here too? Are you here to see Mr. Li off as well?"
The Saint returned to her charming and affectionate look. She looked at Pang Xuan and said with a smile, "Yes! I hope Mr. Li gets first place! Complete the organization's mission."
"That's inevitable!" Pang Xuan replied.
The saint's eyes were bright. She glanced at Qin Ran, but she didn't say anything else and left.
Watching the Saint's disappearing figure, Pang Xuan asked Qin Ran with a smile: "What did the Saint say to you?"
Qin Ran shook his head and said, "I'm not familiar with the Saint, we just happened to meet and chatted for a while."
He asked Pang Xuan, "How did she know I was going to the competition?"
"She's a saint, of course she knows." Pang Xuan looked at Qin Ran and didn't ask any more questions. He waved his hand and said, "Okay, let's go to Hailang Sect now!"
Qin Ran looked at it and asked, "How do we get there? Are we going to fly there?"
Pang Xuan laughed and touched his storage belt, and a model of a ship appeared in his hand. He threw the boat forward, and the boat grew bigger in the wind, and in the blink of an eye it turned into a large ship docked on the sea.
"Of course we'll take a boat!" Pang Xuan patted Qin Ran on the shoulder and flew onto the boat first.
The speed of the boat was not slow, comparable to the flying speed of an ordinary second-grade cultivator, but it still took three days of sailing on the sea to reach Hailang Sect.
As expected, Hailangzong is also an island. It is larger than Devil Island and Longjing Island. It is an important island in Tianlan Sea. It is named after Hailangzong and is called Hailang Island.
If Dragon Whale Island is the lord mode and Devil Island is the pirate mode, then Hailang Island is the sect mode.
The entire island is centered on Hailangzong, and other cities exist around Hailangzong.
As alchemy sects, Hailang Sect is much larger than Zhishen Valley in terms of area. However, due to the different geographical conditions between Tianhai Region and Lingnan Region, it is not certain which of the two sects is stronger.
Due to the alchemy competition, Hailang Island was quite lively during this period. Inside and outside the sect, there were people everywhere, making alchemy, buying alchemy, selling alchemy, or for other purposes. As for the city, people from the outer islands and the people from the main island were crowded together, and it could be described as rubbing shoulders with each other.
This may be the main reason why Hailang Island held the alchemy exchange conference.
Although Qin Ran and his team arrived not too late, there were too many people on the island, and they were too many people, so they naturally couldn't find the location of the inn. But fortunately, the "Yuan" organization also had a branch on the island, so they finally stayed in the Yuanlai Teahouse.
On this day, in a private room on the third floor of the teahouse, Pang Xuan and Qin Ran were drinking tea and discussing matters concerning the competition.
Pang Xuan and Qin Ran said: "There are six opponents you need to pay attention to. The alchemists on the three large islands are fifth-grade alchemists..."
He gave Kieran a detailed introduction and showed him the information he had collected.
He continued, "Among the other three opponents, two are from Hailang Sect. One is called Dongfang Yu, a genius alchemist cultivated by Hailang Sect in recent years. She is quite famous and gifted. Although she is only a fourth-grade alchemist, every time she refines an elixir, it must be of top-grade quality. She must have practiced a special technique.
"Another alchemist in Hailang Sect is called Dong Guanhai. He is a veteran alchemist in Hailang Sect and a sixth-rank alchemist. He was specially arranged to take charge in order to prevent Hailang Sect from losing face by taking the first place to an outsider.
"As for the last opponent, he comes from within the organization."
“An?” Qin Ran was looking at the information and was caught off guard when he heard this.
"Someone within the organization?" he asked, making sure he heard correctly.
"They are indeed alchemists within the organization, but they are from the Hailang Island branch." Pang Xuan explained, "Although they are all people within the organization, but..."
“Oh…” Qin Ran understood, “I understand.”
"His name is Bai Tu, and he is also a sixth-rank alchemist. He has been in the organization for many years and has extremely rich experience in alchemy. He is the chief of the Hailang Island branch."
Pang Xuan said, "He is the strongest alchemist organized in the Tianlan Sea. If nothing unexpected happens, the first place in this alchemy competition will be between Dong Guanhai and Bai Tu."
He stared at Qin Ran who was reading the information, and suddenly became uncertain. He asked, "Sixth-rank alchemist, can you... win first place?!"
Qin Ran took the information, but his eyes moved from the information to Pang Xuan's face. He did not answer, but asked: "I don't know why you value this first place so much, but I remember you said that I will be awarded a great merit if I win the first place. Is that true?"
Pang Xuan was stunned, then nodded and said, "Of course it's true."
Qin Ran asked again: "Is there a teleportation formation on Devil Island?"
"have."
“I mean…” Qin Ran paused, “Super long-distance teleportation formation, a teleportation formation between domains.”
Pang Xuan opened his mouth and asked, "What are you going to do?"
"I want to leave the Tianhai Region and visit other regions." Qin Ran asked, "Is this great achievement possible?"
"Of course you can. You can be transferred to another branch at the same level. But..." Pang Xuan said, "Devil Island does not have a cross-domain teleportation formation."
"No?" Qin Ran raised his eyebrows.
"There are some in the Seven Islands!" Pang Xuan said hurriedly, "As long as you win first place, I will send you to the Seven Islands. I will personally send you to other areas."
"A gentleman's word is as good as a whip to a swift horse!" Qin Ran stared at Pang Xuan and said, "I will help you get first place, and you will help me go to Lingnan Region!"
"Lingnan Territory?"
"Lingnan Territory!"
The alchemy competition held by Hailang Sect has the full name of Alchemy Exchange Competition, with the emphasis on exchange rather than competition.
The economic and cultural development brought about by the alchemy competition far exceeds the competition itself.
Therefore, the first twenty-six days of the one-month alchemy exchange competition were all about exchanges. Alchemists exchanged skills, bought and sold elixirs and medicinal materials within the Hailang Sect. The competition lasted for the last four days.
With the support of the "Yuan" organization, Qin Ran also gained a lot of benefits during this period.
Happy times are always short, and in the blink of an eye it’s game day.
The competition venue is located in the center of Hailang Island, where a large square has been built specifically for competitions and has a history of thousands of years.
There were more than a thousand contestants, and each of them had a large alchemy furnace in front of them, so the square did not feel crowded.
The first day's competition was to identify various magical medicines and herbs.
Hailangzong gave each contestant a bag of mixed medicinal materials and asked them to sort them out by category. They should also write down how the medicinal materials were prepared, what effects they had, and what kind of pills they could be used to make.
This was exactly what Qin Ran was good at. Moreover, he had reviewed for five years in advance. So he sorted out the medicines one by one without any mistakes and got an A-level evaluation.
As an alchemist, identifying medicines is a basic skill, and many alchemists have obtained A grades.
But to Qin Ran's surprise, a female alchemist named Dongfang Yu got a B grade. I wonder if she is the genius alchemist from Hailang Sect.
If so, it will be fun.
The second day's competition was to test the alchemist's control over the elixir water and elixir fire.
They are called elixir water and elixir fire, but in fact, most of them are elixir water. After all, this is the Tianhai area, and using fire to make elixir is not popular here.
And how to test the control over Danshui
Just let the alchemist extract the medicinal power and that's it.
See how many kinds of medicinal materials they can extract at one time, and to what extent they can extract the medicinal materials. These two dimensions are tested.
Qin Ran's entire body is made up of Dan Shui, and he has also specially trained his ability to refine medicinal materials. Probably no one has a stronger control over Dan Shui than him.
He got another A grade.
Controlling the elixir water is still the basic skill of an alchemist, so there are still many who get A grade.
but…
There are not many people who have got A grade in both basic skills. Among more than a thousand alchemists, there are less than a hundred such people.
The third day's competition was to refine a finished pill.
The recipe for the elixir came from Hailang Sect, which was equivalent to a composition assignment.
The name of the elixir recipe is Youquan Dan, a fourth-grade elixir.
It was not difficult for Qin Ran to refine a fourth-grade elixir, but since it was a new elixir, he spent a lot of time reading the recipe before he started refining the elixir.
By the time he finished refining the pill, the others had already finished refining it. So this furnace of top-grade fourth-grade pills was produced in full view of everyone.
Qin Ran got another A grade.
"Excellent!" someone exclaimed.
But then someone discovered a more serious problem: "Three A-grades!!!"
During the three-day competition, there were alchemists who got A-grade every day, but there were only three who got A-grade every day for three days.
The other two were both veteran alchemists, both sixth-rank alchemists, and everyone knew them more or less.
The only person they met was Qin Ran, the young alchemist, whom they met for the first time.
"Who is he?" someone asked.
But no one answered. It was as if Qin Ran appeared out of nowhere and no one recognized him.
"The exotic water he used is very special." Someone discovered a bright spot.
“It’s of very high quality.”
"A bit like..." Someone recognized it, "Shenhua Xianning!"
“Shenhua Xianning?!!”
The alchemists were in an uproar: "The descendant of the old demon Shenhua?!"
"He inherited the legacy of the old demon Shenhua?"
"when!?"
Regardless of whether they knew Qin Ran before, now, at this moment, everyone looked at the furnace of top-grade elixirs and remembered this descendant of the old demon Shenhua.