BTTH : Treasure Exchange System

When only one-third of the sand in the hourglass remained, Liu Ling finally completed his alchemy. He glanced at Xiao Se with displeasure and, seeing him standing quietly with his eyes closed, instantly realized that Xiao Se had already finished. His face turned gloomy once again. Frustrated, Liu Ling consoled himself, thinking, "This is a second-tier pill. He must have refined it quickly by extracting the herbs faster than I did. But in the end, the true victor will be determined by the pill's grade and effectiveness. Just wait, the final champion will surely be me."

Playing with the freshly refined, round pill in his hand, Liu Ling smiled at Xiao Se and teasingly said, "It seems Mr. Xiao Huohuo has already finished. But I wonder about the quality of the pill. There will be a test soon, so I hope Mr. Xiao Huohuo doesn't get eliminated in the first round for being too hasty."

Xiao Se, hearing Liu Ling's sarcastic tone, shrugged slightly and responded with words that were sure to infuriate him: "Take care of yourself. Miss Nalan is watching you from above. If you lose to me again, I'm afraid…"

As he spoke, Xiao Se glanced toward the rear right of the square. There, he sensed a powerful soul force, not much weaker than his own. It was clear that the person was also a fifth-tier alchemist.

"You…" Liu Ling's face twitched slightly upon hearing Xiao Se mention Nalan Yanran. He snorted coldly, refrained from speaking further, and turned his gaze to Fa Ma on the VIP stage, quietly waiting for the competition to end.

On the VIP stage, Au Tuo and Fu Lan Ke were overjoyed. Xiao Se had been the first to complete his pill, and his alchemy movements were even more fluid than when they had seen him in Black Rock City a year ago. It was likely another high-quality pill. Without a doubt, their Black Rock City Alchemist Guild would take the top three spots in this competition.

"Fu Lan Ke, it seems giving him that Na Ling wasn't in vain. Not only that, but you've also gained a favor from the boy. I'm starting to envy you," Au Tuo said with a cheerful smile, looking toward Fu Lan Ke.

Fu Lan Ke, his old face softening with a smile, chuckled and said, "I'm glad I didn't misjudge him."

As the competition drew to a close, nearly half of the participants had been eliminated, even though it was only the first round. The difficulty of the competition was evident, especially since many third-tier alchemists were among those eliminated.

Next came the pill testing phase under Fa Ma's supervision, just as described in the original story. In terms of quality, Xiao Se unsurprisingly came in first.

This infuriated Liu Ling, not only because of Nalan Yanran, Yafei, and Yao Ye but also because even his so-called "ally," Yao Yue, had started looking at Xiao Se differently.

On the high stage, Fa Ma looked at Liu Ling, who was fuming below, and smiled. He turned to Gu He on the far left and said with a chuckle, "Hehe, Gu He, it seems Liu Ling still has some maturing to do."

"President Fa Ma is right," Gu He replied with an awkward smile.

Suddenly, both Fa Ma and Gu He's expressions turned serious as the pill-testing device in another corner of the square detected a pill on par with Xiao Se's.

"That is…" Fa Ma squinted, tapping the armrest of his chair lightly with his dry fingers, and muttered to himself, "This person…is no ordinary individual."

Gu He nodded solemnly, his gaze fixed on a gray-robed figure in the far-right corner of the square. "Judging by their soul force alone, they are at least a fourth-tier alchemist. If they're hiding their true strength, they might even be a fifth-tier alchemist."

"A fourth-tier? Maybe even a fifth-tier?" Upon hearing this, the faces of Hai Bodong, Jia Xingtian, and Yun Yun tightened slightly.

Jia Xingtian, somewhat surprised, remarked, "That person looks no older than twenty, about the same age as Xiao Huohuo. Where did they get such powerful soul force?"

"I don't know," Fa Ma replied with a frown after a moment of thought. "Judging by their attire, they seem to be from the Izumo(Chu Yun) Empire. This is troublesome. Among all the alchemists here, aside from Xiao Huohuo, no one can compare to them."

After some contemplation, Fa Ma waved his hand toward Qie Mi Er behind him. "Qie Mi Er, bring me that person's information."

Qie Mi Er nodded slowly, glanced at the number of the alchemy platform where the Izumo(Chu Yun) Empire alchemist was, and began searching through his spatial ring. After a while, he retrieved a document with a portrait of the alchemist. \

It depicted a young man with short yellow hair and pale blue eyes, appearing no older than seventeen. His age was alarmingly young, and aside from Xiao Se, who was disguised, he was likely the youngest person present.

"President, he's indeed from the Izumo(Chu Yun) Empire," Qie Mi Er said, frowning as he handed the document to Fa Ma.

"Huo Tan, seventeen years old, second-tier alchemist?" Fa Ma read the document, furrowing his brows deeply.

Gu He chimed in, "If President Fa Ma and I didn't misperceive earlier, Huo Tan's soul force is at least that of a fourth-tier alchemist. He might even be a fifth-tier. This is highly suspicious… Could he be in disguise?"

Hai Bodong smiled lightly and said, "Why not test him? If he's in disguise, he won't escape detection from the few Dou Huangs present."

As they spoke, Jia Xingtian discreetly glanced at Xiao Se, who stood conspicuously in the square. He had a nagging feeling that Xiao Se was also in disguise, but every time he tried to probe, an invisible force blocked him. However, it didn't matter whether Xiao Se was disguised or not, as long as the champion remained with the Jia Ma Empire.

"In that case, Yun Yun should reveal this mysterious person's true identity," said Yun Yun, who had remained silent until now, her voice cold and clear.

Fa Ma nodded solemnly. "I'll leave it to you, Sect Leader Yun. All you need to do is lift the gray hat on his head."

Yun Yun nodded slightly and quickly formed several strange hand seals.

Silently, a cool breeze swept through the large square, laced with Yun Yun's faint wind-element Dou Qi, gently drifting toward the gray-robed figure's head.

At that moment, the gray-robed figure was tidying up his alchemy tools when he suddenly sensed something amiss and leaped backward. However, Yun Yun wasn't about to let him escape. The air solidified into a vortex, rapidly descending and swirling toward the gray-robed figure's head.

Whoosh

The gray hat was blown off, revealing a youthful, pale face.

The gray-robed boy glanced at his hat, which had been blown away. After a moment, his icy gaze shifted toward Yun Yun and the others on the VIP stage.

"Impressive," Yun Yun mused, somewhat surprised. "To detect my subtle manipulation of the wind and trace it back to its source so quickly—such keen perception is beyond even that of a Dou Wang."

After hesitating for a moment, she continued, "I once read in an ancient book about a peculiar pill called the Restoring Appearance Pill. It can change a person's appearance, making them look younger, but to return to their original appearance, they must take a specific pill. If my guess is correct, this Huo Tan must have taken the Restoring Appearance Pill."

—

T/N - Izumo Empire and Chu Yun Empire are the same