Chapter 294 - Unknown Figure

"Wait we just got here. Why was he laughing? Why are you red?" Zhou Mei started asking.

"Doesn't matter. Show me your best pills," Fan Ruogang practically ordered.

"Well, this is mine. A 43% pill," Zhou Mei said as she took out a pill.

"No, I don't believe you. Use a pill tester," she said.

"Right here? Okay," Zhou Mei said and brought out a pill tester. Wan Li and Fan Ruogang also brought out their pill tester.

Seeing them all take those out, Alex also brought out his spare pill tester, one he kept just for consistency with the other alchemists.

If there ever came a day where he was asked for a pill tester and he didn't own one, that would start making people think of him as weird.

Once he took it out, he also brought out one of the pills with him. He didn't want to embarrass them or make them feel bad about their alchemy achievements, so he brought out a high-grade pill, but not the highest he made.

He put his pill into the pill tester and looked at the others.

Zhou Mei was the first to put the pill first, so hers was the one that moved up the first. As she had said, her pill harmony reached up to 43% and stopped moving any further.

"Sigh, this is the best I could do. What about you guys?" she said and looked at Wan Li's pill tester which was the second one to be used.

The fog slowly rose up and soon caught up to the 43% mark as Zhou Mei's eyes got dejected. She had lost again. At least it was to the first ranking disciple of the sect.

The fog soon rose up to 46% and stopped.

"Wow, you actually managed to make such a great pill," she said.

"Haha, yeah. I got to research a lot for this pill in the last 6 hours and managed to make this amount," he said.

"Wow, Wanwan. Your pill is only 3% lower than what you made for the competition yesterday," Fan Ruogang said.

"Haha, yeah. I was a little surprised myself too," he said. "Although, if I had taken part in today's competition, I would've failed for sure. My first pill was only 22% in harmony."

"Geez, whatever. You won in the end, so be happy. Look at me, my pill is so bad," Fan Ruogang said as she showed the pill tester with 41% harmony."

"Fanfan, you are more focused on the ingredients than pills. You need to give some effort into making pills too. Once I start teaching Mimi better, she will make better pills than you very soon," Zhou Mei said.

"What? Do you think your sister can make better pills than me? … is she really that talented?" Fan Ruogang asked with a little nervous voice.

"Sigh, no. It will take her some time. She is still young," Zhou Mei said.

"Umm… is she as young as Mingming?" Fan Ruogang asked.

"Umm… no. She is older," Zhou Mei said while shaking her head.

"Oh, it crossed 40%," Wan Li said. He was the only one of the three focusing on Alex's pill tester.

"Huh?" Fan Ruogang turned around to catch the fog go above 41%. "No! I am at the last place," she said.

Soon the fog crossed 43% as well. "Sigh, as expected," Zhou Mei said. Soon the fog rose up and reached 45% and acted stayed there for a few seconds, giving the illusion of stopping, but it increased once more to reach 46%.

"Aii, you are too good, Brother Yu," Wan Li said.

Just then, the percentage went up once more to 47%. Wan Li and the rest knew better than to assume this was the end, so they silently waited for it to go up.

The fog did rise up twice and the final result was 49%.

"Sigh, you have my respect brother Yu. This is truly amazing," Wan Li said.

"Oh wow, Mingming, you nearly made a Heaven grade pill from something you learned just today?" Fan Ruogang said excitedly.

"Haha, that is a really interesting thing I am seeing right now," A voice came from behind Alex. The four of them turned around to see a man in his late 20s staring at them.

He wore a simple grayish robe with black linings. He was wearing a small hat, but Alex could see his handsome face clearly.

The man walked forward stood next to Alex. He was nearly 3 finger-widths taller than Alex.

"Young man, can I take a look at your pill?" the man asked.

"Umm… " Alex wasn't sure what to say. A random person coming up to him and asking to look at his pill was something he had never experienced or prepared for before.

"Thank you," the man said, taking Alex's non-responsiveness as agreement.

He took the pill tester and dropped a pill out. He brought it close to his face and looked at it. He frowned a little and brought out another pill from his bag and immediately ate it without hesitation.

He shook his head as if electricity coursed through his body, and the next time he opened his eyes, the pupils were wide open.

He looked at the pill once more and now he started nodding at it. "Good, good. The composition of the powders is a little flawed, but the overall structure is good. You also managed to get the timing correct a lot of the time— No, almost all the time."

"Temperature control was good, but it could be better if you acquire a better cauldron. Hmm… aside from that… you just need better ingredients and you can easily make Heaven-grade pills," the man said while nodding to himself.

He seemed to be fascinated with the pill, more so than any other person Alex had seen in his life.

He finally looked up from the pill and stared at Alex and asked, "What's your name, little brother?"

Alex could tell that this man was a pill-making genius or at least one that could analyze as greatly, so he decided to answer, "My name is Yu Ming."