This team from the imperial capital included majestic knights and well-equipped soldiers, but the most eye-catching one was the middle-aged man riding a black magic horse.
This was a thin servant demon with an ordinary appearance, but even the two pharmacist masters beside him did not dare to neglect this man who was just a pharmacist, because he was Sandru, the most outstanding pharmacist genius in the Fallen Angel Empire in the past three hundred years!
The group was welcomed by the eldest princess Xia at the city gate. Although everyone showed considerable courtesy and respect to the eldest princess of the prince's lineage, many people couldn't help showing contempt when they looked at the simple and depressed buildings around them on the way to the palace. The so-called sense of superiority from the big city was evident.
After entering the palace, the guests and hosts sat down, and Xia said: "You all have come from afar, and it is very hard. Let's rest for a day and then discuss the challenge."
Sandru stood up and said: "Your Highness, I came here specially this time to challenge Master Aldas. I ask to start the challenge now. Please understand my eagerness to become a master."
Master Zola and Master Kemp smiled at the same time. They originally wanted to launch a surprise attack. They notified two days in advance and followed the rules of the Pharmacist Alliance. Otherwise, they would not give an extra day. How could they give the other party a chance to delay now?
"There is nothing to rest in such a poor place." A contemptuous voice came from the visitor. It was the young knight who escorted the team, wearing a silver full body armor.
Xia recognized that this was the new military upstart Shelt. His father was one of the three generals of the empire who first turned to Obsidian. He frowned slightly and pretended not to hear it. Athena on the opposite side could not hold back, and stood up and shouted: "Shelt, you cowardly guy, how dare you despise the majesty of Her Royal Highness the Princess! Draw your sword, let me see if the defeated opponent has improved!"
Shelt had been defeated by Athena's sword in a youth swordsmanship competition a few years ago. When she exposed the past in public, he was immediately furious and was about to take action, but was stopped by Master Kemp. At this time, if there is any trouble and it falls into Xia's trap, it is more important to return to the main topic.
Master Zola is also a dark elf. He said, "Why don't you see Master Aldass? It is the rule of the Pharmacist Alliance that the master must accept the challenge. There is no need to discuss. Why don't we go directly to his laboratory?"
Xia was not panicked when she heard Master Zola get straight to the point. She just said with a little embarrassment, "Actually, it's like this. Master Aldass had an accident when he was testing a powerful new drug three days ago. Now he is seriously injured and has lost his ability to move. He can't come, so I said I want to discuss it."
"Oh?" Master Zola sneered, "Why did Master Aldass have an accident just when we got here? Isn't it because he was afraid of Sandru's reputation and faked an injury to avoid the challenge?"
Xia's expression did not change, and he asked back, "Master Aldass had an accident three days ago. At that time, he didn't know that Sandru would come to challenge. According to your schedule, it took at least more than a month to get here from the imperial capital. Why did we only receive the magic message from the Pharmacist Alliance two days before we arrived?"
This rhetorical question hit the nail on the head. It not only clarified Aldass's innocence, but also vaguely pointed out that this was a conspiracy. Master Zola was speechless for a moment, and the demon master Kamp spoke up: "Your Highness Xia has misunderstood. We were originally invited by Lord Zhuoqi of the Red Ghost to visit the Red Ghost City. Sandru decided to come to the Dark Moon Territory to challenge Master Aldas first, so the magic communication was so hasty. If the princess doesn't believe it, you can ask Joseph, the eldest son of Lord Zhuoqi. I remember that he seems to be the treasurer of Dark Moon City."
The Red Ghost Territory is adjacent to the Dark Moon Territory. As a confidant of Prince Obsidian, Lord Zhuoqi of the Red Ghost is the "eye" of the imperial capital to monitor Dark Moon. Since most of the resources and funding of the Dark Moon Territory come from the Red Ghost, Xia has to reuse Joseph who came to "serve". Joseph is a person from Dark Moon City on the surface. If he testifies to this matter, it will be even more impossible to refute.
To put it another way, Sandru's challenge was in accordance with the procedure, and there is no point in arguing about the time of notification.
"No, how could I not believe Master Kemp." Xia nodded calmly, "I have just sent Kagulon to ask the injured Master Aldas whether he wants to postpone this challenge."
Kemp and Zola looked at each other and exchanged opinions quickly. You can hide for a while, but you can't hide forever. If the other party wants to postpone, then Sandru will stay in Dark Moon City until Aldas "recovers from his injury" and fights. Anyway, he will never give up until Aldas is driven away.
Soon, the report of Kagulon, the chief of the palace guards, surprised the visitors from the imperial capital, including Sandru - the seriously injured Master Aldas was unwilling to postpone and agreed to openly accept Sandru's challenge in the center of the arena in Dark Moon City!
Sandru originally thought that the other party was going to use a delaying tactic, but unexpectedly he would directly accept the challenge. However, he was confident of his skills and courage, and said proudly: "It is rare that Master Aldass accepts the challenge with an injury. To show my respect for him, I will go to the arena now and start the challenge."
There was no fluctuation on Xia's cold face, and he said lightly: "In this case, please wait a moment, I will send someone to the arena to arrange everything immediately."
The Dark Moon Arena is one of the largest buildings in the city. It was quite famous four hundred years ago. The Beelzebub royal family, which had disappeared at that time, appeared in Dark Moon City, controlled the Dark Moon territory, attempted to annex the Red Nether Territory and threaten the imperial capital. Emperor Bai Ye heard the news and came, and fought with the Beelzebub royal family in this arena, and finally severely injured the opponent, and the man has disappeared since then.
Corresponding to the long history of the arena is the shabby furnishings. Under the busyness of Kagulon and other guards, the arena was quickly cleaned up, a high platform was set up, and rows of seats were placed as VIP seats. As for the rest of the people, they naturally did not receive such good treatment, but it did not affect their enthusiasm at all. The originally deserted arena was crowded.
Although everyone was quite afraid of the Master Aldass who often made screams, they still hoped that he could defeat those outsiders and win glory for Dark Moon.
Under the attention of the crowd, Sandru's servants skillfully arranged a series of utensils and materials. On the other side, Master Aldass was also carried into the arena on a stretcher, followed by the new apprentice Chen Rui, causing a lot of noise from the audience.
Human? The appearance of Chen Rui made Sandru frown. After listening to Xia's introduction of Chen Rui's origin, he showed a look of disapproval. Zola and Kamp were all contemptuous when they heard that Aldass actually accepted a human captive as an apprentice.
It was the first time for Chen Rui to face such a big scene. Looking at the countless strange-looking demon faces around him, he calmed down, bowed to the VIP seats, and said loudly: "I am Chen Rui, the new apprentice of Master Aldass. Since the master was accidentally injured in the experiment and cannot move temporarily, he will command me to accept the challenge. I wonder if Master Sandru agrees?"
Command an apprentice to accept a challenge? And it was a new apprentice! This is the first time in the history of master challenges. Although Aldass has the reason that he is seriously injured and cannot move, Sandru still clearly feels insulted: Could it be that Aldass knows that he will fail and simply tries to humiliate his opponent once before leaving?
"I agree," Sandru stared at Aldass in the distance, with murderous intent in his eyes: "I request a life-and-death battle. I wonder if Master Aldass still has the courage to let that human apprentice take his place?"
Life-and-death battle! Zola and Kemp showed surprise. A life-and-death battle is when pharmacists directly test drugs on each other, not substitutes. The first person to be poisoned to death is considered a failure, and this is usually done only when there is a deep hatred between the two parties. Under this rule, even if Aldas sends an apprentice to the field, as long as the apprentice is poisoned to death, he himself must accept the punishment of death.
Masters Zola and Kemp have absolute confidence in Sandru's strength. Although they were surprised, they quickly regained their composure.
Sure enough, Aldas on the opposite side fell into deep thought, as if he was thinking about something, and the human apprentice showed fear and whispered to Aldas, as if he did not dare to fight. The dark elf looked angry, and his fingers trembled as if he was about to point at the human, but he could only lift a little and fell down weakly. The serious injury did not seem to be a fake.
The surrounding sounds were too noisy, and even those with keen hearing could not hear the whispers of the two.
Joseph saw this and frowned: According to the intelligence from the insider, Aldass was not injured three days ago, but stayed in the laboratory these two days. Could it be that he was accidentally injured while dealing with Sandro and forcibly preparing some difficult potions?
Finally, Aldass made a decision to let his apprentice Chen Rui take his place in the life-and-death battle. It seems that this dark elf master is going to use death to repay the princess's kindness.
After the guards announced the rules of the life-and-death battle to the audience who didn't know anything, the people of Dark Moon City were in an uproar and felt more and more excited. They couldn't understand potions, but they could understand life and death!
Sandro showed a cruel smile. He didn't think there was any suspense in this fight. With his newly developed poison, even if Aldass went down in person, he would only end up dead from the poison, not to mention the weak human.
Princess Xia announced the start of the competition, and the surrounding noise suddenly quieted down. Everyone's eyes fell on the poor human. Some people were already betting on how long it would take for the human to be poisoned to death? One second? Or two seconds?
Sandru quickly began to prepare the medicine. His skilled and precise technique made the two masters Zola and Kemp, who were the referees, sigh in admiration. The genius pharmacist was indeed worthy of his reputation.
In just two minutes, a bottle of medicine was prepared. On the other side, apprentice Chen Rui was clumsily following Aldas's gestures and did not even finish the classification of the raw materials.
According to the rules, if one party prepares the medicine first, the other party can only stop and prepare the antidote within the specified time to try the poison. The life-and-death battle is not only a test of the strength of the medicine, but also a test of the skills and wisdom of the pharmacist himself. If you only seek speed, then the medicinal properties may not be enough. If you are too slow, the other party will take the lead.
Sandro signaled the referee to let the other party try the drug. Chen Rui seemed very nervous. He closed his eyes and prayed for a while before he took the bottle of dark blue medicine with trembling hands. No one knew that what he was praying for was progress! Progress!