Qin Meng grinned as he waved his hand and white liquid emerged in between his palm.
"What is this?" asked Yan Yunjie, staring at the liquid curiously. He figured it was something precious, though not knowing its origin.
Qin Meng eyed his companions before asking, "Have you heard about Spirit Liquid?"
"Spirit Liquid?" Trio's eyes widened. Of course they had heard about it. "Is this…?
"Yes," Qin Meng nodded. "This is Spirit Liquid, formed by the condensation of energy in heaven and earth. Furthermore, this is no ordinary Spirit Liqiud, but grade 4. Even Golden Moon Mentors would fight against each other and pay a hefty price to get their hands on it."
"Is it really that precious?" asked Wu Hui with a slight tremor in his voice.
Zeng Hong frowned and asked, "But I heard that you can't refine Spirit Liqiud if your Martial Spirit's properties don't match with it."
"Oh, you know quite a bit, Zeng Hong," Qin Meng gave him a sidelong glance, trying to find something inside his eyes. He didn't.
"I read about it somewhere in the past," nodded Zeng Hong.
Qin Meng no longer tried to probe the information out of him. Everyone had their secrets that they didn't want to share with others. "You are right," he said. "Usually people can't refine it if the properties of their Martial Spirits don't match the liquid, however..." he eyed them one by one, and then proceeded, "...this liquid doesn't have any special property. Anyone can refine it without any problem."
"Is this for real?" The three pairs of eyes started to shine with eagerness and anticipation.
Qin Meng nodded, but didn't explain how he had turned the fire type Spirit Liquid into neutral one; neither did he tell them that it was not possible to refine too much Spirit Liquid as it would shake the foundation and cause many other problems, as this liquid didn't have any such problems. This was the doing of Mysterious Cauldron: it had refined the berserk element out of Spirit Liquid.
Then he handed some of the liquid to the trio and started to refine it together with them. No one said anything and they spend another fourteen days in that cave, secluded.
***
"Wow, never thought Yu Cheng was this amazing," said one spectator amongst the crowd. "To hold number one position for such a long time, he is the first person to do that."
It was the last day, and there was not much time left for the competition to end. Today the victor and loser would be decided.
"Tan Qi isn't too bad either," said another man. "She is still in top five."
"Yan Zhilan from House Yan is also pretty amazing; she is holding third spot, not even number four He Chen could shake her position."
"Humph, didn't Yan Zhilan defeated He Chen two days ago?" said another person with contempt, then he eyed the screen in adoration, his eyes shining. "How could someone like him defeat my goddess?"
"I never thought he would be number two," said someone and the people fell silent, looking at the screen with fear in their eyes.
***
"Li Yan," said Zhong Liqiu, staring at the number two on the screen, "the junior master of House Li. I heard he is quite cruel individual."
"He has yet to show his full strength," said Leng Yueyan, her eyes roaming on the screen in the sky, trying to find that one name which was most important to her. "He is not simple," she concluded.
Zhong Liqiu nodded. She could tell this junior master of House Li was still hiding many trump cards. All this time he had fought many battles and crushed numerous students, forcing them to break their bracelets. No one could force him to use his entire strength.
"Cousin," a gloating voice said from behind Leng Yueyan, "you declared that Qin Meng would be number one, but I haven't seen even his shadow until now. Do you think that he encounter—"
Halfway through he stopped, his expression turned rigid, feeling Leng Yueyan's cold gaze shooting down at him. However, he still squeezed a smile out of his face. He was feeling best at this moment. He wanted nothing more than to burry Qin Meng under a mountain, or get eaten by a beast.
"You don't need to worry," said Leng Yueyan, turning around. "We still have an entire day. If he could defeat the top participants, he can still get the number one position easily."
"And you believe that?" asked Ye Fa, sounding dissatisfied.
"I do," Leng Yueyan replied, gazing on the screen. Though hidden behind the façade of confidence was worry; after all, it had been a long time since Qin Meng showed himself.
"Look," said someone from the crowd, "Li Yan is about to meet Yu Cheng!"
Everyone eyed the scene inside one of the screen, and indeed, Li Yan was rushing towards Yu Cheng, in just a few minutes the duo would meet each other. Anticipated and eager expression appear on everyone's faces. They couldn't wait to see the epic battle between two top students.
"Yan Zhilan is catching up to the duo," said Qian Jie. "Does she also want to battle Yu Cheng?"
"Well," Zhong Liqiu was saying, "she is quite a talent, and with that fearless yet calculative personality of hers, she would definitely become someone strong in the future."
Leng Yueyan nodded in agreement.
***
"Li Yan?" said burly Yu Cheng as he eyed the figure standing in front of him. Yu Cheng's clothes were unable to hide his muscles. He pointed the spear towards Li Yan and said, "Come!"
Li Yan eyed Yu Cheng with his hawk like eyes as his long black hair rustled in the wind. He narrowed his eyes and a fierce look appeared on his face. Then a cry of a bird sounded and an image of an eagle appeared behind him. He grinned and bolted towards Yu Cheng.
Yu Cheng never thought that Li Yan would release his Martial Spirit this early. He frowned. Does he want to end the battle quickly? He thought and a fierce glint passed through his pupils. He was such a proud individual, he had never thought that someone would look down on him.
Yu Cheng gritted his teeth in fury and released his Martial Spirit as well: White Tiger with seven black lines.
However, when he turned towards Li Yan he found no one in front of him. "Where are you looking at?" said a cold voice from behind him.