On the third and final day of the Hall of the Herb Lord’s end-of-year competition, I arrived at the stadium an hour early, as usual.

The stage was set.

This time, there were eight rows of workbenches, with six workbenches per row, allowing a total of 48 Disciples to compete against each other. At the head of the stage, in front of the judges’ raised platform, a dozen tables were covered by formations, blocking anyone from seeing what sat atop them, but everyone already knew what they held. The herbs available to us would be the same as those that were available to the Masters and Grandmaster. The formations only served to prevent us from studying the specifics of each herb.

Upon entering the stadium, I presented my identity jade to one of the attendants and was guided to my assigned position, the third workbench in the first row, one of the two workbenches that were at the front and center of the stage.

There was still an hour to go before the festivities kicked off, so I took out a cultivation mat, sat down, and closed my eyes as I mentally prepared myself for the upcoming trial.

Over the next thirty minutes, my competitors trickled in one by one. The first to arrive were guided to workbenches at the back of the stage. The last to arrive were guided to the two workbenches on my left and the two workbenches on my far right, leaving only the workbench to my immediate right empty.

Studying these four, I saw that they were each Peak Disciples who carried themselves with grace and dignity. They all had either the green or bark-like skin of the ‘Hall people,’ and they were each wearing elaborately embroidered robes, suggesting that they were scions of noble houses.

When they looked in my direction, their gazes contained a mix of anger and jealousy. However, these pettier emotions were tempered by a solid dose of fear. As I had never met these four, such strong emotions seemed unwarranted, but I had a pretty good idea of who had caused them.

As I looked around the stage, I found that the target of my speculation had yet to make his appearance. Disciples were already standing behind 47 of the 48 workbenches, and the start of the competition was mere minutes away, yet Jon was still absent.

By this point, unlike with the competitions between Masters and Grandmasters, the stands surrounding the stage were already packed with spectators. While some of these were simply civilians looking to join in on the fun, most looked to be members of noble houses who were carefully scrutinizing the Disciples on stage.

A few of these nobles looked in my direction, but most were focused on the contestants nearer to the rear. Once the competition was over, several of these weaker Disciples would no doubt be fielding offers from a fair number of minor houses.

When there were only five minutes left until the competition was set to begin, a team of attendants walked onto the wide, raised platform at the front of the stage. Three Lords had attended the Grandmaster competition, and five had attended the Master competition. For this Disciple competition, the attendants had arranged a total of ten ornate chairs on the raised platform. Five were placed on the right side of the platform, and five on the left. The center of the platform was left entirely empty.

Once everything was in place, the five Pill Lords who had attended the Master competition, including Lord Yong, walked out and took up positions on the right side of the stage. Then, five more Lords walked out and took up position on the left side of the stage.

These five newcomers all had green skin and long blonde hair. Upon studying them in energy vision, I noticed something unusual. All five of them were cultivating wood qi, but three were using a dual-element technique that combined wood qi with a type of qi I didn’t recognize. Given the context, it wasn’t hard to guess that these five were the Hall’s Herb Lords. That strange qi had to be herb qi.

This sent my mind racing with ideas for the future, but all of these thoughts were sent reeling as an absolute monster appeared in my vision.

After crawling its way out of the tall arch at the back of the stadium, the creature stood to its full height of over four meters.

It was… a tree.

The creature was ‘walking’ on a tangle of roots that looked like a mass of writhing snakes, and its five willowy limbs, which were entirely devoid of leaves, swayed with disturbing irregularity.

The ten waiting Lords turned to this creature, cupped their fists, and bowed. In response, the creature scuttled forward and took up a position at the center of the raised platform.

Like most of the Disciples, I was more than a little confused by this, but we all knew what we needed to do. Cupping our fists, we gave the tree monster a deep bow.

A burst of wood qi emanated from the tree monster, and slow, deep-pitched words echoed out through its gnarled brown bark. “Welcome to the Hall of the Herb Lord’s End-of-Year Competition for Disciple Alchemists.”

Like me, most of the audience were stunned into silence, so this pronouncement was met with only scattered applause. Thankfully, this didn’t seem to bother the tree monster.

“As Hall Master, I normally have no part in these events. However, this year’s competition is special. The Temple of the Herb Saint will soon open its doors to the top herbalists and alchemists from Palaces across the continent. Those who join the Temple at that time will form its next generation of Sovereigns, Spirits, and Ancestors. The one who stands at the pinnacle of this new generation will ascend to become the next Saint of Myriad Herbs. Traditionally, the Saint is an urgamal, but urgamal, human, or urgan half-breed, all the Temple cares about is your skill.”

As I gazed calmly at the tree monster and carefully analyzed its words, the children around me began speaking in hushed whispers. The tree monster, the urgamal, allowed this to go on for several seconds before releasing a wave of soul pressure to silence them.

“There are only two decades left until the Temple begins recruiting new members. This competition is your final opportunity to join a Palace in time to be eligible. Good luck.”

After the Hall Master’s speech ended, one of the Pill Lords stepped forward and explained the rules of the competition. They were the same as they had been for the Masters and Grandmasters. We had three chances to concoct whatever pills we wished. We had to use the herbs that had been provided, but we could use any tools or blessings available to us. Whoever produced the most valuable pill would be declared the winner.

The Pill Lord raised his hand, and a look of anticipation crossed his face. “Be—”

“Wait!” A shout rang out from the stadium’s entrance. Moments later, a disheveled young man wearing a rumpled, plain brown robe stepped onto the stage. Walking with all the confidence of a Sovereign, Jon strode through the rows of Disciples until coming to stop at the workbench to my immediate right. Then, he looked up at the Pill Lord and gave a condescending nod of his head.

The Pill Lord scowled at him angrily but didn’t say anything to rebuke him. He just slashed his hand in impotent rage. “Begin!”

The formations covering the tables of herbs dropped, and we could finally see what we would be working with. Around me, Disciples rushed forward, trying to secure the best ingredients possible, but I didn’t move. I first wanted to understand what we were working with.

There were several sets of herbs that were connected by sympathetic bonds. However, many of these formed combinations that I wasn’t familiar with. Either they created pills that were unknown to me, or they were red herrings meant to mislead us.

The strongest and most unusual of these connections was between a Rank 1 herb, a Rank 2 herb, two Rank 3 herbs, and a Rank 4 herb. None of Emperor Li’s notes had included anything about combining herbs from different Ranks, so this combination was utterly baffling.

Aside from Jon and me, the other four front-row Disciples had already stepped forward to examine the Rank 2 herbs in more detail. So, not wanting to lose out, I dashed forward and grabbed the set of Rank 2 herbs that had the strongest sympathetic connection available. Then, upon returning to my workbench, I took out my pill furnace, blocked out the world around me, and began concocting my pill.

While I didn’t have much experience with Rank 2 Central Continent pills, they weren’t overly special. I had already mastered concocting Rank 2 pills on the Nine Rivers Continent, and I had already mastered concocting Rank 1 pills on the Central Continent. To concoct Central Continent Rank 2 pills, I just needed to combine these skill sets. I had easily gotten the hang of this during the lead-up to this competition.

Still, blending the energies of five Rank 2 herbs and shaping the combined mass into the proper form took both time and power. And as a lowly Disciple, inverting that mass into a mirror image of itself was nearly impossible. Only ‘nearly,’ though.

I spent three full hours working on my first pill of the competition. By the time I was done, a few of the competitors had already finished all three of their attempts, though the more talented Disciples were still on their second.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

When I opened my pill furnace and saw what I had made, I nodded in satisfaction.

High-Purity Rank 2 Swift Strike Pill, 143% Medicinal Efficacy, 3 Patterns. Value: 95,000 gold.

A three-patterned Rank 2 pill. In any normal contest between Disciples, such a pill would have been unbeatable. Unfortunately, this was no normal contest.

Jon hadn’t moved a single muscle since the start of the competition. He had just been standing there silently, eyes closed, looking like he was asleep. The moment that pill left my furnace, however, he looked over and smiled at me. “Not bad.”

Then, he stepped forward and grabbed the strange set of herbs that was connected by a powerful sympathetic bond, even though they were of different Ranks. Upon returning to his workbench, Jon pulled out a battered old pill furnace and haphazardly tossed the herbs inside.

Seeing this, I felt a chill run down my spine. I had no idea what those herbs would create, but I was certain that it would be both potent and valuable.

A three-patterned Rank 2 pill was nice, but its value was ultimately limited. I needed to do better.

I didn’t rush forward immediately, however. I only had two more chances to get this right, so I took the time I needed to carefully analyze the herbs on offer.

Whatever Jon was making, it used two Rank 3 herbs and one Rank 4 herb. I had to assume this would result in a pill that was at least Rank 3, but with Rank 1 and 2 herbs added to the mix, it wouldn’t have sufficient energy to make anything greater.

So, unless Jon’s pill was unusually valuable for some reason, a high-quality Rank 3 pill with at least two patterns would likely be enough to beat it.

The moment I had this thought, a variety of magical effects condensed around Jon’s furnace. These were not the result of qi techniques. They had been caused by blessings.

Seeing this, I knew I had to go further. I had to make the best damn pill possible.

Scanning the Rank 4 herbs, I found several that were connected by weak sympathetic bonds, but nothing that was overly impressive. So, I set aside my reliance on bonds as a measure of compatibility and carefully analyzed the herbs to figure out which ones would work best together.

I didn’t concern myself with the types of herbs I was looking at or matching them to known recipes. I only cared about finding herbs that would fit together in the most elegant combination possible. This might have been foolish, but if I failed, I still had my third attempt remaining, so it was worth the risk.

After over an hour of picking through the various herbs, spending time looking for matches to one particular specimen only to toss it to the side, I finally found a combination that looked like it might work.

It was strange, consisting of one water herb, one wood herb, and three earth herbs. Usually, the water-empowered wood herbs would do nothing but destroy the efficacy of the three earth herbs. These herbs shouldn’t work together. However, their medicinal energies fit together perfectly.

I had to give it a try.

Focusing, I took all five herbs and placed them into my furnace. Then, I went about the slow and laborious task of melting their physical shells and purifying them. To do this, I needed to use nearly all the power my furnace’s formations could muster, and after each short burst of concentrated qi, I needed to let them cool down before continuing. And, since I was working with Rank 4 herbs, the entire time I did this, I had to use my affinities to maintain an iron grip on the medicinal energies.

This was troublesome, incredibly so, but the herbs I had picked were special.

Unlike with normal Central Continent herbs, I didn’t half-ass the purification process. I cleansed these herbs in their entirety. Then, I fitted them together and tried to bridge the gaps between their energies.

To my dismay, this failed. The herbs looked like they fit together, but whether because the toxins were missing or because the elements were simply incompatible, the five herbs refused to merge.

Staring into my furnace, I knew I needed to act. I couldn’t continue to hold Rank 4 energies like this indefinitely.

Wood and earth didn’t work together. It was a destructive relationship. I needed something that could bridge the gap.

Reaching into my inner world, I pulled out a tendril of the Three Thousand Flames Fire and injected it directly into my furnace. Then, I wrapped the spirit fire in a combination of my intent and pill fire qi. Finally, I pulled off minuscule wisps of flame and placed them at each of the connection points between the wood energy and the earth energies.

This instantly caused a cascade reaction that pulled all five energies together. The medicinal energy might have condensed into a pill right then and there, but two powerful flashes of energy shot out, preventing this from happening.

Could I have tried for more? Possibly, but I was already at the end of my rope. I needed to bring this to an end. So, I buckled down and used everything I had to force the combined energies to condense.

When I heard the tink of a pill hitting the bottom of my furnace, I collapsed in relief.

Breathing out a puff of stale air, I opened my furnace and examined the pill inside.

Perfect Rank 4 Qacha’s Strengthened Enhanced True Body of Stone Pill, 162% Medicinal Efficacy, 2 Patterns. Value: 24,000 low-grade spirit stones.

I looked over at Jon, who was, somehow, still in the middle of concocting his first pill. A bead of sweat ran down the man’s forehead as he focused intently on the content for his furnace. But, when he saw that I had completed my pill, a wave of relief washed through him, and he focused his will, forcing the energies in his furnace to condense.

Without taking any time to analyze his concoction, he scooped it into a pill bottle, placed it on the workbench in front of him, and returned to a relaxed, confident posture.

While I didn’t know what kind of pill he might have created, I had already reached the limit of my abilities. Even with 100 trillion credits in the bank, nothing I could think of would have any meaningful impact on this competition. If Jon’s pill was superior to my own, then I had no way to defeat it. The necessary herbs just weren’t available.

So, I placed my pill into a jade bottle, set the bottle on my workbench, and stood back to await the results.

By the time Jon and I were done, everyone else’s pills had long been examined, and most of the Disciples had already left the stage.

As I had finished earlier than Jon, an attendant first came to my workbench, accepted my pill bottle, and took it to the Lords for their appraisal. While none of them said anything, I could sense overwhelming shock when they saw what I had created.

After the final Herb Lord was done studying my pill, the attendant took Jon’s pill and handed it to the Pill Lord on the far right of the platform. This Lord showed no overt signs of what he was thinking, but his subtle gestures were enough to tell me everything I needed to know.

When the final Herb Lord set aside Jon’s pill, the tree-like Hall Master let out a burst of wood qi and spoke once more in his low, gravely voice. “For the first time in history, Golden Eagle City had produced an alchemist who may one day be qualified to join the Temple of the Herb Saint. Congratulations on your victory, Pill Lord Su Fang.”

For a moment, there was only silence. Then…

“What!?” Jon looked around frantically. “No, no, no! I… I did everything right. I should be the main character now. I… I can’t… I…”

Before he could say anything else, Jon’s eyes glazed over, and his body collapsed to the ground, dead.

External energy detected. External entity requesting access. Access Denied. Energy absorbed.

New skill granted: Infuse Intent (Written, Rank 4)

“How dare you!?” A powerful shout that echoed out from the top of the stands rocked the stadium.

The Hall Master’s branches twisted as it sent out a wave of qi to protect me from the power of these words.

A robust man in elegant red and yellow robes leapt on stage and glared at me. “Lord Khongorzul, I have no wish to offend the Hall of the Herb, but that child murdered Prince JinZhan, the most talented Disciple in our kingdom’s history. If you do not allow me to bring him to justice, then we will be at war. Do not think that your Sovereign will be able to protect you.”

The Hall Master condensed his qi and was about to speak, but no matter what he was about to say, I was in a bad spot. Even if there was no real reason to think that I had caused Jon’s death, if Jon had been a prince, then I needed to get gone before any of the continent’s more powerful denizens decided to show up.

Before anyone could react, I sprinted over to Jon’s corpse and grabbed his storage bag. This caused three different will locks to target me, but they were unusually weak, and I was able to shatter them with just a small flex of my soul power and space affinity.

Sticking a hand into Jon’s storage bag, I sent all of its contents into my inner world. Then, I made a poison pill appear directly in my mouth and swallowed.

You have died. Calculating…

My mind drifted through absolute darkness. Something was… different.

Death on Lower World detected. System update initialized.

Credit balance adjusted. Costs adjusted.

Welcome to the Undying Immortal System version 1.1.

Calculating…

You died as a Martial Disciple Peak – 0 credits awarded.

Total Credits: 1,330

-----------------------------------------------------

Complete Status Page

Rank 4 Small World – 2,034/10,000 km3 (Earth, Wood, Fire, Dark)

Affinities / (Latent Talent)

Elemental Affinities:

High Three-Star – Earth, Metal, Water, Fire, Wood

Low Three-Star – Lightning, Wind, Light, Dark

Esoteric Affinities:

Low Three-Star – Herbalism (199 credits)

Peak Four-Star – Talisman Artistry (199 credits), Formations (199 credits)

Mid Five-Star – Alchemy (199 credits)

Low Nine-Star – Empathy (199 credits)

Lesser Affinities:

Peak Four-Star – Karmic Energy (50 credits)

Mid Eight-Star – Qi (249 credits)

Greater Affinities:

Peak Five-Star – Space

Additional Latent Talents:

Wu – 250 credits

Soul – 249 credits

Teaching – 200 credits

Refining – 199 credits

Beast Taming – 200 credits

Gu Keeping – 200 credits

Illusions – 200 credits

Martial – 200 credits

Resistances

Mental Effects (Cultivation Techniques) – 200 credits

Mental Library

Capacity – Rank 8

Journal (with Mental Input) – Rank 8

Perfect Transcription – Rank 8

Touch Reading – Rank 8

Scribe – Rank 8

Skills

Infuse Intent (Written, Rank 4)

Mastery of Cold Mountain Fire, Expanding Realms Fire (seed)

Mastery of Immutable Mountain Fire, Eternal Grove Fire (spirit fire)

Memory Implantation — Rank 1

Soul Formation Concealment – Rank 7

Fire Seed Appraisal – Profound

Pill, Formation, Herb, Talisman, Demon Beast, Refined Item, Illusion, and Gu Appraisal – Rank 5 (Comprehensive, Detailed)

Technique Appraisal – Rank 6 (Earth)

Languages: Western Han