Li Jiye already had his heart set on obtaining the Azure Mystic Potion. Thus, he had increased the price by 3,000 gold coins to try to capture it in one fell swoop.
But the woman in Room 6 had actually given him a taste of his own medicine and had added another 6,000 gold coins. Anger rose in Li Jiye, and he clenched his fists.
The bottom line in his heart was 30,000 gold coins. This price alone could even buy a large mansion in one of the realms to become a nobleman. This was the hard-earned money from selling the magic cores and medicinal materials he had obtained from the Demonic Beast Mountain Range some time ago.
Thirty thousand gold coins was his whole fortune, but the woman had raised the price so lightly, as if it meant nothing.
Upon seeing the embarrassment on Li Jiye's face, Lingard caressed his own chin thoughtfully.
"Brother Li! Ahem… I have 20,000 gold coins here. I'll lend you the money to outbid that woman"—Lingard turned to stare at Li Jiye— "but you have to tell me how you were suddenly able to use my Rock Fall Fist that day."
Frowning, Li Jiye glanced at him and suddenly chuckled lightly. "Don't worry… I don't need to have this formula. You don't have to spend your money."
At the same time, the auctioneer in the auction house smashed his purple-gold gavel against the soundboard.
"30,000 gold coins… Going once!"
Lingard's lips twitched, and he continued teasing Li Jiye. "Brother Li, let's not joke around. I know exactly what a Tier 4 formula means to a pharmacist like you. In my opinion, you still—"
Ignoring him, Li Jiye got up and was about to leave the room.
Lingard panicked and hurriedly blocked him, then laughed. "Hey, Brother Li. I won't force you to reveal your secret if you don't want to… How about this? I'll lend you 20,000 gold coins first. If you win the bid for this formula and really manage to refine it, how about sharing a portion of the Azure Mystic Potion with me as compensation?"
Pausing, Li Jiye turned around and then nodded upon seeing Lingard's sincere expression.
"30,000 gold coins… Going twice…"
"Room 7 bids 50,000 gold coins."
The auction house turned so silent that a pin dropping could have been heard.
Li Jiye and Lingard walked out of Yibao Pavilion with a full harvest, but right at this moment, a slender woman with dark hair chased after them.
"Gentlemen, I'm— Oh! Li Jiye?"
Li Jiye was also stunned.
"Alice? What a coincidence! Ohhh! You were the one in Room 6!"
This was an embarrassing situation. If they had known earlier, they wouldn't have had to increase the bid for the Azure Mystic Potion formula.
As a pharmacist who had just been promoted, Alice really wanted to obtain this formula.
After a brief catch-up, Li Jiye copied down the formula and handed it to Alice. As she seemed to be in a hurry, he bid farewell to her and returned to the hotel with Lingard.
Refining the Azure Mystic Potion wasn't considered very difficult. After obtaining the formula, Li Jiye didn't rush to refine it.
…
In a flash, the semifinals of the Grand Four-City Contest had quietly kicked off.
Barman Yingjian, the strongest student of North Sea Academy, stood in front of Li Jiye now.
They took the stage and bowed to signal the start of the competition. After the referee called to start the match, neither of them took the lead to attack.
Barman Yingjian was shorter than Li Jiye. He glanced up at him and smiled. "I heard that you're most proficient at the Wind Element martial arts. What a coincidence, so am I."
Raising an eyebrow, Li Jiye focused on the opponent, and a piece of information immediately emerged in his mind.
Human: Barman Yingjian
Skill: A-level Wind Element
Realm: Tier 2 (Peak Advanced-level)
Martial Arts: Wind Stroke (A-level movement technique), Wind Strike (B-level martial art)
Li Jiye's pupils shrank. In battles, he relied on the speed given by Shadow Wind Steps and the Wind Element to move quickly in the battle. But now, he was up against an opponent with the same Wind Element as him.
In addition, Barman Yingjian's skill was A-level, a level higher than him. This shook Li Jiye to the core.
"If you're not making a move, then I'll take the lead…"
As soon as Barman Yingjian's words fell, Li Jiye saw the Wind Element rushing around him. In the next second, the opponent disappeared into thin air, leaving a hurricane rotating rapidly in the field.
"I have to admit that your skill and martial arts are superior to mine. But what a pity…" After slowly shaking his head, Li Jiye's legs suddenly burst into turquoise brilliance, and he jumped up fiercely. "Your physical strength is much weaker than mine!"
Along with this sentence, Li Jiye's figure rotated in the air like a spinning top.
The turquoise Wind Element surging from Li Jiye's body was in no way inferior to Barman Yingjian's.
Having summoned Wind Stroke to move around quickly, Barman Yingjian was also quite surprised to see Li Jiye's hurricane-like move. It was really hard to imagine that Li Jiye, a rookie Tier 2 advanced-level martial artist, could actually be evenly matched with him, a peak Tier 2 advanced-level martial artist.
But there was more to come.
After the wind elements engulfed his body to an extreme, Li Jiye suddenly changed his moves.
He did a flying roundhouse kick with the force of a hatchet, and the point of impact of his one-legged kick happened to be the center of the rotating hurricane.
A sharp cracking sound made the spectators in the stand instinctively cover their ears. Right away, a fierce wind suddenly blew from the arena to the surroundings.
"I—I've lost…"
As the turquoise mist dissipated, everyone gradually saw the scene on the ring.
Barman Yingjian was on one knee with an astonished expression. Li Jiye's leg was just an inch away from dealing a heavy blow to his head.
"The winner of the East Division semifinals is… Li Jiye!"
Only then did the audience in the stands jump up and erupt into heavy applause.
Reaching out, Li Jiye pulled Barman Yingjian from the ground and smiled at him.
"Your speed indeed trumps mine… but you chose the wrong way to fight me. If you had continued using the A-level Wind Stroke movement technique to deal with me and waited for an opportunity to break through, I might really have been left helpless. But you were too eager to win and used your B-level martial art to fight against me. This is the reason you lost."
With the end of the semifinals, the Tier 2 matches of the Grand Four-City Contest was drawing to a close.
In the finals a few days later, Li Jiye's opponent was Mike.