Chapter 8: Sleeping

“Master Qu Yi, you really agreed to compete with Tan Changhuo?”
After selling all the beast cores, Fang Mo returned to Fang Qi Ge’s shop and immediately heard the news of Qu Yi’s competition with Tan Changhuo, so he called out right away.
Qu Yi sat on a wooden chair, looking at the anxious Fang Mo, and laughed heartily. Waving his hand, he said, “Fang Mo, don’t worry. This time, I’ll make Tan Changhuo suffer a huge setback.”
One divine artifact per hundred years?
At the thought of the competition, Qu Yi couldn’t help but laugh. Did it really take a hundred years to craft a divine artifact?
Ten days!
Even while in Bai Shou Village, Qu Yi already possessed such extraordinary crafting skills and could produce a hundred divine artifacts in just ten days.
Qu Yi was overjoyed at the idea of tricking Tan Changhuo and had already planned how to tease him during the public competition.
Seeing Qu Yi’s relaxed expression, Fang Mo had something to say but didn’t know how.
If it weren’t for Qu Yi giving him a hundred thousand divine artifacts, array jade slips, and another hundred thousand beast cores, Fang Mo would have thought Qu Yi was sent by Xiao Ding Dian to sabotage Fang Qi Ge. After all, if Fang Qi Ge’s shop failed, it would truly disappear from public view.
“Master Qu Yi will definitely win, definitely win…” Fang Mo could only encourage himself like this.
Qu Yi didn’t try to reassure Fang Mo further, as the outcome would be clear in a hundred years—a very short time for gods.
“Fang Mo, have you sold all the beast cores?” Qu Yi changed the subject and asked with a smile.
This question immediately excited Fang Mo, who replied right away, “Master Qu Yi, I’ve sold all a hundred thousand beast cores. Thirty thousand divine crystals per core—now I have three billion divine crystals and can continue helping you buy materials.”
Qu Yi estimated that three billion divine crystals would be enough to purchase the remaining materials for the arrays.
“Good. Fang Mo, keep collecting materials here. I’ll go out for a while. Let’s meet at the Crafting Guild in a year,” Qu Yi said cheerfully as he stood up.
Although still a bit worried, Fang Mo calmed down and watched Qu Yi leave.
※※※
The Crafting Guild in Huo Bao Town was located in the town center and was the most concentrated area for craftsmen there.
At the guild, craftsmen from various factions would come to exchange experiences and compare their skills, making it the favorite place for craftsmen everywhere.

Recently, the hottest topic among the alchemists in the Alchemy Guild was that Tan Changhuo, an elder from the Xiaoding Hall, intended to compete in alchemy with Qu Yi, an alchemist from the Fangqi Pavilion. As soon as this news spread, it immediately caught the attention of many alchemists.

Who doesn’t know the level of the Fangqi Pavilion? It’s a sect that has remained silent for tens of millions of years without selling a single divine artifact. Now, an alchemist from the Fangqi Pavilion wants to compete in alchemy with Tan Changhuo, an elder from the Xiaoding Hall—this is definitely sensational news. The Xiaoding Hall ranks tenth among all alchemy sects in Huobao Town. If the Fangqi Pavilion defeats it, how will the other alchemy sects fare?

Undoubtedly, whether to see the excitement or for the sake of their own sects, many alchemists stopped what they were doing and came to the Alchemy Guild, waiting for the competition between Qu Yi and Tan Changhuo.

The Alchemy Guild covers a vast area, with various departments inside. There’s a specific area designated for alchemy competitions. The “Who Can Win” competition arena is a large circular space with two square platforms in the middle, surrounded by seating—a total of 100,000 seats. At that moment, Qu Yi and Tan Changhuo entered one of the platforms each.

Yet, all 100,000 seats were empty. Many more alchemists tried to rush in through the entrance but were blocked by the guild staff. It had been many years since an alchemy competition saw such empty seats. This shows just how highly anticipated the match between Qu Yi and Tan Changhuo was.

A large group from the Xiaoding Hall, numbering no less than a thousand, sat together in one area, dressed in uniform attire that stood out sharply. As for the Fangqi Pavilion, only Fang Xinféi and Fang Mó came to support them. The two sat together, timidly shrinking back, not daring to look at the surrounding alchemists.

At that moment, a person walked toward the center of the arena. With long eyebrows and a face, flowing hair, and strange clothing, he smiled as he stepped between the two platforms, then glanced around at the audience.

“Dear fellow cultivators, I am Bo Tianping, the supervisor of the Alchemy Guild’s competition arena. Today, Tan Changhuo, an elder from the Xiaoding Hall, and Qu Yi, an alchemist from the Fangqi Pavilion, have agreed to compete in alchemy. If Tan Changhuo wins, the Fangqi Pavilion’s shop will belong to the Xiaoding Hall. If Qu Yi wins, the Xiaoding Hall’s third shop in Huobao Town will go to the Fangqi Pavilion. Both parties have agreed that over a period of a hundred years, the one who creates the most divine artifacts will be declared the winner.”

As the referee, Bo Tianping spoke fairly and impartially.

Although most of the audience already knew the content of the competition, hearing it again still caused a stir, with various voices filling the space—most of them clearly expressing their support for Xiaoding Hall. Fang Xinfei and Fang Mo lowered their heads even further. “Hall Master, why did you also agree to Master Qu Yi’s request for a competition? The shop is now our only asset,” Fang Mo sent a message to Fang Xinfei as he ducked his head. After leaving Fangqi Pavilion, Qu Yi only communicated with Fang Xinfei, telling him the details of the competition and asking him to support him wholeheartedly. While Fang Xinfei was deeply engrossed in studying formations, he received this message without much thought and blindly trusted Qu Yi. It wasn’t until he arrived at the competition site and saw the situation that he began to worry. “Don’t panic, stay calm. We must trust Master Qu Yi,” Fang Xinfei replied, trying to appear composed despite his own uncertainty. Fang Mo looked anxious but said nothing more. At that moment, the referee, Bo Gongping, raised his hand to ask the audience to quiet down, then said with a smile, “Now, let’s invite the two competitors to begin crafting the divine artifacts.” Immediately, applause erupted from the audience like a wave, echoing several times. Qu Yi then turned to Tan Changhuo and said with a smile, “Elder Tan, you can’t take this competition lightly this time. I’m quite skilled.” The fact that someone would boast about their own skill naturally drew the attention of all the artifact craftsmen, sparking laughter. “This Qu Yi is really interesting. Could he be trying to annoy Tan Changhuo on purpose?” “Just one sentence, and it’s clear Qu Yi is a low-level artisan. Trying to provoke Elder Tan with words—how ridiculous!” “Some guy who shows up out of nowhere, only good at wordplay. It’s obvious his craftsmanship isn’t very good.” … Countless artifact craftsmen immediately gave Qu Yi a flashy but meaningless title. Hearing Qu Yi’s words, Tan Changhuo grew even more confident. It seemed Qu Yi’s craftsmanship was quite poor, and he was trying to disrupt Tan’s focus with words to prevent him from succeeding. “Qu Yi, more talk is pointless. Let’s start now,” Tan Changhuo declared firmly. This statement immediately brought cheers from the over a thousand artifact craftsmen of Xiaoding Hall, with praise pouring in.

As the tenth-ranked alchemy sect, Xiaoding Hall naturally had extensive connections. The praise from its over a thousand members immediately sparked widespread admiration among the audience, with waves of positive comments. Qu Yi remained unfazed, nodding slightly with a smile. Soon after, the competition between Qu Yi and Tan Changhuo officially began. On the two competition platforms, two transparent semi-circular light shields suddenly appeared, enclosing both Qu Yi and Tan Changhuo inside. These light shields were also driven by arrays, designed to prevent any unformed divine artifacts from exploding and harming the audience. Upon seeing the light shields, Tan Changhuo immediately took out a red circular cauldron from his space ring, placed it on the competition platform, and then set up a platform beside it to hold materials and artifact cores. “Light the fire!” Fully focused on his alchemy, Tan Changhuo paid no attention to anything else around him. A massive Black Tidal Divine Flame instantly appeared in the red cauldron, its flames perfectly balanced—clear evidence that Tan Changhuo was a master of fire control, skilled in manipulating flames with ease. As soon as the divine flame appeared, he put the prepared alchemy materials into the cauldron and began carefully controlling the Black Tidal Divine Flame to melt, decompose, and mix the various materials. Tan Changhuo was very proud of this familiar process, as he had already crafted hundreds of Flying Fire Swords proficiently, mastering every step of the process. It was this expertise that allowed his bet with Qu Yi to be approved within Xiaoding Hall—after all, creating a divine artifact within a hundred years was something only a few alchemists in the entire divine realm could achieve. Yet, no one paid attention to Tan Changhuo’s effortless alchemy process, as all the alchemists in the audience were fixed on Qu Yi’s platform. “What’s this Qu Yi doing? Why hasn’t he started yet?” All the alchemists stared at Qu Yi with confusion, unable to guess his thoughts. On his platform, when the transparent light shields appeared, Qu Yi didn’t take out an alchemy cauldron but rather a wooden bed. Right there, under everyone’s gaze, he comfortably lay down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep. Not only were the audience surprised, but Bo Tianping, the referee between the two platforms, was also filled with uncontrollable anger—Qu Yi had actually fallen asleep during his competition under his supervision.

Bo Tianping wished he could rush straight into the competition arena and strangle Qu Yi on the spot. Yet he held back, turning instead to look at Tan Changhuo, ignoring Qu Yi completely—after all, out of sight, out of mind. The thousand armorsmiths in Xiaoding Hall burst into laughter at that moment. They were already convinced that Qu Yi couldn’t forge a divine artifact, so they chose not to embarrass themselves in front of everyone. They also guessed Qu Yi’s true intention: he believed Tan Changhuo wouldn’t be able to forge a divine artifact even in a hundred years. Since neither of them could forge one, the competition was a draw—no one had won. The only two representatives from Fangqi Pavilion, Fang Xinfei and Fang Mo, were too shocked to speak. Their eyes were wide as they stared at Qu Yi, who was sleeping on the wooden bed, their anxious expressions revealing their hearts pounding wildly. “It’s over…” “Could Qu Yi be a spy for Xiaoding Hall? Maybe he’s deliberately giving me favors to then stage this act for Xiaoding Hall and take over my Fangqi Pavilion shop.” Countless thoughts crossed Fang Xinfei and Fang Mo’s minds, and their uncertainty made them restless. But Qu Yi continued to sleep.