What others could accomplish effortlessly was what he struggled desperately to achieve.
Such a vast disparity was like the final straw that broke the camel's back, severing the last string of his already on-the-brink psyche.
Unconsciously, he found himself unable to control his movements, his hands that should have been as stable as rocks after years of arduous practice, began to tremble involuntarily.
He realized his anomaly and tried to steady his body, but this effort only resulted in more severe trembling of his arms.
He watched helplessly as the semi-finished energy liquid in the crystal tube in his hand turned murky due to excessive shaking.
It was useless.
It was irredeemable.
Not only had he failed to produce the perfect quality energy liquid required by his teacher, but he could not even produce the lowest quality.
This batch of energy liquid was wasted.
And in the final match of the Alchemist Grand Competition, there was no chance for him to start over.
He violently threw the crystal tube to the ground, clutched his painfully throbbing forehead with both hands, and let out a hysterical scream, as if he had lost his sanity.
…
"Phew." Having finally completed the preparation, Lin Su looked at the crystal bottle emitting a golden glow in his hands and smiled satisfactorily.
Quite good, not bad. Should the championship be secure now?
He was about to turn his head to check on Zhou Qiyi's situation when suddenly he heard a hysterical roar.
Hm?
Lin Su swiftly turned his head, looking at Tang Hao, who inexplicably had a fierce and crazy expression, unsure of what to do for a moment.
A figure appeared instantly behind Tang Hao and slapped the back of his neck.
That was the extremely grim Chu Feng.
"Waste." Holding the collar of his disciple, who had fallen into unconsciousness, Chu Feng cursed angrily and, with a flash, left the site of the Alchemist Grand Competition, leaving behind only a sentence echoing in the area.
"Contestant Tang Hao is treated as having forfeited, directly declared as the third place."
In front of so many people, his direct disciple exhibited such an appalling state.
He had no face to stay here any longer.
Lin Su scratched his head and turned to the equally baffled Zhou Qiyi, "Did you see that, what's going on?"
"I don't know…" Zhou Qiyi shook his head, "He just collapsed out of nowhere and smashed the semi-finished product…"
Oh well...
Forget it.
Lin Su looked curiously at the crystal bottle in Zhou Qiyi's hands, "What energy liquid did you prepare?"
"I should be the second." Zhou Qiyi shook his head, but without much disappointment on his face, "Although the quality level is slightly higher than yours, the difficulty level of the energy liquids we each prepared is quite different, so overall, you're still the better one."
"Oh." Lin Su nodded and then with a delayed reaction realized, "I won?"
Level six supernatural resources in hand!
Awesome!
Qiuqiu's evolution is settled!
"Yes, you won." Zhou Qiyi nodded, "By the way, people from Yongnan City shouldn't be leaving so soon, right?"
"Seems like we leave tomorrow." Lin Su thought for a moment and answered.
"Then could we exchange some insights on energy liquid preparation later?" Zhou Qiyi's smile brightened, showing a bit of anticipation.
"Ah?" Lin Su blinked.
Oh right, the senior Mu had mentioned before that the Alchemist Grand Competition is also a platform for young alchemists to exchange insights with each other, and if you meet other alchemists, you can share experiences.
"Sure!" Lin Su nodded without hesitation.
The alchemist before him was able to prepare perfect quality energy liquid, surely he had his own tricks, indeed they could learn from each other.
After handing over their competition-prepared energy liquids to the organizers, they eagerly sat at the side of the grandstand and started exchanging ideas.
…
After the two had finished exchanging and learned from each other, and returned to their respective waiting areas, this Alchemist Grand Competition was also nearing its end.
After the finals, the seven who had not advanced from the semifinals vied for the fourth and fifth places.
The fourth place went to a mixer from Yang Feng City, while the fifth place was taken by another mixer from Qingyun City.
As the host, Qingyun City had two contestants in the top five, while the other three cities each had one contestant, but the faces of the Qingyun City mixers showed no joy.
It wasn't just about not winning the championship but also not securing the second place.
They did manage to claim the third place, but as the third-place Tang Hao... His embarrassing performance in the competition made the other Qingyun City mixers feel ashamed.
"Very good," Mu Yuxing patted Lin Su on the shoulder as he returned to his side, slightly unable to maintain his usual aloof demeanor in front of others, "You gave me a surprise."
"Senior..." Lin Su coughed lightly and looked around, unable to help but speak, "When will the competition rewards be distributed?"
Mu Yuxing: "..."
Although he knew that was what the young man was here for, did he have to make it so obvious?
"You can get the Space Heart tonight, and the top three will be scheduled to enter the Nirvana Pool in three days. As for the chosen Level 6 supernatural resources…" Mu Yuxing glanced at Lin Su, "You want the eye core of the dominion tier Fear Demon Statue, right?"
"Yes!" Lin Su nodded vigorously.
"The host is providing that. I'll go ask them for it now, and give it to you before we leave tomorrow." Mu Yuxing smiled, thinking about facing Chu Feng's deadpan expression later when asking for the resource, which he couldn't refuse. He felt incredibly pleased, like drinking a cup of ice water in the hottest days of summer.
"Okay, okay." Lin Su's face immediately lit up with excitement.
After receiving Qiuqiu's primary evolution resource tomorrow, obtaining the other lower-level supernatural resources required for evolution won't be difficult with the perfectly graded energy liquid he mixed.
In three days, when they enter the so-called Nirvana Pool, Qiuqiu's evolution could begin!
Thinking this, Lin Su excused himself and hurriedly returned to his reception room.
Qiuqiu was summoned from the Beast Taming Space, and seeing her completely unaware of everything, Lin Su chuckled, "Did I win the championship?"
"Mi~(ˊωˋ*)ฅ♡" (Congratulations~)
Qiuqiu lazily waved her little paw, acknowledging Lin Su's congratulations, then suddenly seemed to think of something, and the paw in mid-air stiffened.
"Mi?!" (Can I evolve now?!)
"Right." Seeing Qiuqiu's slow reaction, Lin Su laughed and rubbed her little head, "In three days, we can enter the Nirvana Pool!"
"Mi! ฅ(≧ω≦)ฅ" (Just three days!)
My Qiuqiu will rise!
Watching the excited Qiuqiu, Lin Su suddenly remembered something, "Oh right, Qiuqiu, today I..."
When he traveled between worlds, Qiuqiu inside the Beast Taming Space had no idea about the outside world. So, he decided to update Qiuqiu about what had happened outside, otherwise, when they returned to the Blue Star, Qiuqiu would be confused.
Now having completely validated his idea, Lin Su could perhaps utilize this interdimensional travel bug to develop some new abilities.
...
"You young fella, how can you fall asleep when we are about to leave?"
Qin Nan's familiar voice came from beside him, and Lin Su opened his eyes, sitting up from the lab bench.
After finishing practicing energy liquid mixing on Blue Star, Lin Su asked the Six-sided Rubik's Cube for hypnosis and simply lay down to sleep on the lab bench.
Only after falling asleep in the God of Martial Arts world as it turned night did he return.
"How long was I asleep?" Lin Su looked at the Six-sided Rubik's Cube floating beside him.
"Half an hour," the Six-sided Rubik's Cube replied.
Oh, that wasn't long then.
"Sister Nan, are we setting off now?"
"Soon, you haven't packed yet? Hurry up, I'm only giving you ten minutes!"
"Okay, okay." Lin Su hurriedly got up, collecting various documents he had to bring to the First Zone and casually asked, "By the way, how are we getting there?"
"Transport plane, dummy." Qin Nan rolled her eyes, "What else, you're going to grow wings and fly yourself?"
Lin Su: "..."
Frankly speaking, his first ride on a transport plane had been interrupted by an attack from the Beast Sect, and he was somewhat traumatized by that experience.
There were many key figures from their research institute traveling this time, surely they wouldn't be attacked by the Beast Sect again?
Seeing the reservation in Lin Su's thoughts, Qin Nan slapped him on the back of his head, "Coward, last time we were on a regular civilian transport plane. This time it's a strategic transport plane equipped to withstand Monarch-tier attacks and even capable of threatening Emperor-tier opponents. Set your mind at ease."
"Oh…" Lin Su finally felt relieved and quickly finished packing his belongings.
"Sister Nan, I'm ready."
"Let's go!" Qin Nan waved her hand, spirited and valiant as if heading to the battlefield.