After they finished collecting the alchemy products, Elder Godari deactivated the room formation, and the contestants were able to see others again.
They immediately asked each other about the sacred aura they felt 2 days ago, but everyone on the stage was clueless.
Anda walked toward Norin and smiled at her. The competition was over, so she could start getting to know other alchemists and be friends if possible.
She had no intention of bringing her into the harem because it would probably be impossible. Unlike Selene, she was probably the most talented alchemist of the Homun Family in the current generation, so marrying her out was out of the question.
"Miss Norin, congratulations on your enlightenment." Anda congratulated her to start the conversation.
Surprise crossed Norin's face. "Ah, you knew?" She thought none of the contestants knew about it yet. After all, only the spectators could see her in the room formation.
"I am quite familiar with the Dao aura, so I could feel it clearly from you," Anda explained.
Norin recalled something. "Ah yes, you know the Fire Concept. I forgot about it. That was amazing! I've been regarding you as my rival since then."
"A rival?" Anda chuckled. "I don't mind. If there's another competition in the future, we can compete again." She would love to compete again using her true ability, not relying on alchemy vision.
"Ah, there's another person that I consider a rival. Let's go meet her too. We should get to know each other while the Alchemy Association is scoring our products." Norin suggested.
"You mean Mia Fafifa? Sure!" Anda guessed. She dominated the fourth round, after all.
"Yes, yes! Great minds think alike!" Norin grabbed Andy's hand like a friend and walked to Mia Fafifa.
Anda smiled mischievously and started having an internal monologue. Young Lady Norin, if our minds truly think alike, it might not be good for you because you might fall for my husband. At that time, you will suffer because your family wouldn't let you be with my husband. Ah, what a drama.
"Hello Miss Mia," Norin and Anda approached Mia Fafifa, who seemed to be occupied with something.
Mia was waiting for a response from Lin Wei. After the competition ended, she quickly sent him multiple messages inquiring about his whereabouts, but there was no response.
While she was worried about Lin Wei, she heard someone greet her. Huh? These two....
"Miss Norin and Miss Panda.... AHH!! I'm sorry! That was rude of me! I'm sorry Miss Anda! I blurted that out accidentally. I didn't mean to be disrespectful!" Mia Fafifa was frantically bowing and apologizing.
"Hehe." Anda giggled. "Don't worry about it, Miss Mia. I don't mind being called a panda at all. My husband calls me panda all the time."
"Eh? Are you sure? It's not offensive?" Mia felt surprised.
"Not at all. I'm only offended if people call my birthmark ugly."
"Wew....I thought I was being rude. Thank goodness." Mia patted her chest.
"Wait, you are married already, Miss Anda?" Norin asked.
She didn't expect a genius alchemist like Anda would already be married. After all, capable women usually marry late as they have more options and want to choose the most suitable partner matching their status.
Anda smiled proudly. "That's right! I'm happily married! He's over there, with the red jacket." Anda pointed to her left. Mia and Norin turned their heads and saw Leyvi.
At the same time, Leyvi noticed them checking him out and misunderstood the situation.
Huh? Don't tell me Anda is promoting me again. She really doesn't waste time. Not now, Anda. A ghost is haunting me right now. I have to deal with her first after this.
"Miss Anda, who are those women around your husband? Does your husband have fan girls too?" Mia asked, thinking about the fan girls who were always chasing after Lin Wei.
"Fan girls? You could say that," Anda chuckled. "To be precise, they are his other wives and concubines."
"WHAT?" Both Mia and Norin were shocked.
They both held Anda's hand. "How horrible! He already has you, but he still finds more women? You can't tolerate this, Miss Anda! After all, you have a glorious future as a great alchemist." Norin criticized Leyvi.
"Ahahaha" Anda laughed. "You both misunderstood."
Mia and Norin looked at each other in confusion. "Misunderstood? About what?"
"I was the one who gathered them all for my husband. They are all wonderful girls, so I shared some of my happiness. They are my beloved sisters now." Anda cleared the misunderstanding.
Both of their eyes widened in disbelief.
"You.... gathered them?" Norin asked.
Anda nodded twice with a smile.
"Sharing....happiness??" Mia followed up.
Anda nodded twice again with a wider smile.
Mia and Norin couldn't imagine doing the same thing as Anda. They couldn't even entertain the thought of sharing their man with other girls, let alone actively seeking more wives and concubines.
After a while, Norin sighed. "Your husband is truly a lucky guy to have you, Miss Anda." Mia nodded in agreement.
Anda shook her head. "No no no, Miss Norin, you are wrong. I am the lucky one. After all, he is the best man in the world. Ah... He is so nice, so manly, so charming..." Anda corrected Norin and started praising Leyvi, as the habit of bragging and promoting her man took over.
Mia and Norin were speechless as they looked at each other again. They had never seen such a display of affection from a woman. This was something new to them. The world was very big and there were many people with unique personalities.
As the three ladies got to know each other and became more familiar, they dropped the honorific and called each other by name only.
Anda found amusement in Mia's and Norin's almost identical personalities. They reacted the same way, and they also shared the same worldview. Anda could see they become best friends.
"What? My sister had bothered you before? Anda, I'm so sorry about her behavior. Should I bring her to apologize now?" The topic about Dorin got brought up during their conversations.
"Calm down, Norin, no need for that. My husband made her speechless and ran away that time." Anda described how it happened.
Norin felt impressed. To be able to make her arrogant twin sister speechless and run away, maybe Anda's husband has the ability to tame her wild sister.
While Norin was thinking, Anda turned to Mia and asked, "Mia, you are from Longevity Academy, right? Do you know about Lin Wei? Why I haven't seen his name at all in the ranking?"
"Anda, you know Lin Wei?" Mia instantly reacted, looking very worried.
"No, I've never seen him, but my husband became friends with him recently and talked about him, saying that he would participate in the competition too. But I don't see his name." Anda explained.
"I see. So your husband was the friend he was talking about....Lin Wei.....he has gone missing since the Alchemy Conference started. He hasn't contacted us yet," Mia said, looking visibly dejected.
"I am sorry to hear that." Anda gave her sympathy. How could she not see that Mia obviously had feelings for Lin Wei?
As a cultivator, two weeks wouldn't be enough for someone to be considered missing. However, disappearing during an important competition was more than enough to suggest that he was missing.
"It's fine. I have a strong feeling that he's still alive and I've done my best for him in this competition. When he comes back, I'll demand a reward for my efforts." Mia stopped thinking negatively.
"Oh? A steaming, passionate night together as a reward? If you don't have sexy lingerie yet, you better buy some. How about we all go shopping together?" Anda teased.
"Ehhhhh? Se-se-sexy lingerie? Why would we have something like that? Isn't that something for prostitutes only?" Anda's suggestion flustered the two inexperienced maidens, and they blushed heavily.
Anda shook her head. "Ladies, this is not good. You need to be prepared at any time. It could happen at any moment, so you need to have it ready!" She started sharing her experiences and slowly opened a new door for them.
"Look at them blushing. Anda really can't stop her habit of brainwashing inexperienced girls." Leyvi could guess what his panda wife was doing. He had seen this many times before.
"Husband, you can't say that about Big Madam! She showed us the way, not brainwashing!" Hana protested. The other maids nodded in support.
Leyvi looked around and saw Lilian, Layla, and Valenia glared at him as well.
He was speechless. Ah, I knew it. Anda had definitely brainwashed them. If I make Anda unhappy, they will gang up on me, without a doubt. Only Nala and Selene seemed neutral about it. For now, most likely. Anda's brainwashing will affect Nala and Selene too after some time.
Selene giggled seeing they all sided with Anda. This would have never happened in her family.
An hour later, Elder Godari returned to the stage after he was done with the scoring. At this point, the contestants were already aware of the situation with Norin, and some of them were not happy about it. They were mad that someone else had received enlightenment. Why couldn't it be them?
"Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to know the final results?" Elder Godari said.
"YES!!!!!!" Their reply roared through the Grand Stadium.