Below the stage, Tang Hao's mood was a complex mix of emotions.
On the stage, Lin Su's mood wasn't too great either.
He had concocted a perfect grade energy liquid, which was quite normal.
But who could tell him what was going on with the person in tenth place next to him?!
Seeing the pure golden glow radiating from the energy liquid the other had concocted, it was almost indistinguishable from his own, clearly not on the just-barely-advanced level of the number one alchemist in the preliminary competition.
Wasn't the agreement that concocting a perfect grade energy liquid would basically secure the championship? What was this situation?!
By the semifinals, of course, no one would conceal their abilities, and the other's skill in concocting energy liquids was almost on par with his own, which made Lin Su, who had felt quite confident about winning the championship, suddenly feel his heart sink.
He had chosen such a big rank-six supernatural resource!
It was hanging by a thread!!
Next to him, the expression of the young alchemist also became slightly more solemn.
With his teacher's advice, the alchemist from Star Light City already knew that Lin Su was highly likely to concoct a perfect grade base energy liquid, so he wasn't too surprised, but upon seeing the other's strength nearly identical to his own, he still felt nervous.
It seemed that winning the championship this time wasn't going to be so easy after all.
However, this alchemist from Yongnan City appeared to be even younger than himself, so perhaps after the competition, they could exchange ideas and both make progress.
Thinking this, the alchemist nodded at Lin Su and said, "Hello, my name is Zhou Qiyi."
Seeing the other's polite and friendly greeting, Lin Su's expression also eased a bit, "Hello, my name is Lin Su."
Because the final match was not far off after the end of the semifinals, the two didn't chat much. They merely greeted each other, learned the other's name, and then each walked down from the stage.
Among the ten alchemists who entered the semifinals, only three concocted a perfect grade energy liquid, and it was a foregone conclusion who the three advancing to the finals would be.
Still, the process had to be followed, so there was about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before the finals officially began.
For an alchemist, the fastest concoction of an energy liquid still took more than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, so this brief waiting period wasn't enough for Lin Su to cram at the last minute.
Re-seating himself, his expression grew slightly grave.
If he really could only get second place, what would he do about Qiuqiu's evolution resource?
Next to Lin Su, Mu Yuxing's expression also became more serious as he meaningfully looked at the woman leading the group from Star Light City.
He had never expected the constantly overlooked Star Light City to suddenly produce such a dark horse.
Because Lin Su had deliberately made a mistake that was discovered by Zhou Qiyi's teacher, Zhou Qiyi chose a different tactic for laying low in the preliminaries. He chose a base energy liquid he was less familiar with for concocting and also advanced smoothly without arousing any suspicions.
Compared to Lin Su, it was Zhou Qiyi who truly gave everyone a surprise.
Well... it could also be a shock.
Glancing at Lin Su out of the corner of his eye, Mu Yuxing's expression softened a bit.
Fortunately, the alchemist from Star Light City was on par with Lin Su in strength; the situation wasn't so bad after all, at least... the championship wouldn't go to Qingyun City, would it?
Looking at the old rival from Qingyun City with a face as dark as the bottom of a pot, Mu Yuxing's mood improved slightly.
"It's okay, even if you don't get first place this time, you can still compete in the next competition. With your talent, no one will be your match by then," Mu Yuxing said, thinking that Lin Su's grave expression was due to nervousness, he still spoke up to encourage him.
The next competition?
That would be five years later, by which time the opportunity would be long gone!
However, Lin Su didn't feel it was appropriate to explain this to Mu Yuxing, so he simply nodded, while thinking silently about how to make his victory more certain.
In the preliminary competition the day before, after Lin Su made his move early, he had practiced in the room provided by the Qingyun City Beast Taming Union to the competitors for a whole day, and his efforts were not without reward.
He had concocted several high-difficulty base energy liquids to perfect grade, but the process wasn't stable, similar to Tang Hao's situation. Even concentrating on one type would require practicing over ten times to be proficient, so it was not feasible to use them in the finals.
He believed that as long as he could use one of them, defeating the other wouldn't be so difficult.
But time waited for no one.
Over ten practices, taking half an hour each time, that would be five or six hours.
Yet he was only given a quarter of an hour.
There was no moment when Lin Su felt the time allotted to him was so urgent.
Was there any way to concoct energy liquid ten times within a quarter of an hour?
As he pondered with furrowed brows, his expression suddenly changed as if he had thought of something.
Since his first travel to now, Lin Su had traversed between the two worlds dozens of times, enough for him to thoroughly understand his mysterious Golden Finger.
In his spare time, he had also thought about whether he could use this Golden Finger for other things, and he already had some ideas but had not yet had the chance to try them.
Now was an opportunity to give it a try.
"Mu senior," he turned his head sharply to look at Mu Yuxing, "do you have a pet beast that masters hypnosis skills?"
"Hypnosis skill?" Mu Yuxing shook his head, "I don't have one."
He did not have a contracted Spirit-type beast, so he couldn't provide assistance in that area.