I Became the Alchemy Master by Picking Up Trash-Chapter 94 - 93: Preliminary Round (Part 11)

Fluorescent Star Shards, the Trapping Array completely dissipated, Qi Ming, drenched in sweat, collapsed on the ice surface, completed his retreat after the Lotus Technique.

The crocodile-shaped withered wood emitted billowing black smoke, floating on the water. Ye Qingting quickly froze a ring of ice to secure the Heaven Rank Crocodile Beast’s remains, preventing it from being swept downstream by the river.

After several waves of global bullet comments, the number of people in Channel 84 exceeded a million, making the administrator suspect that every account watching the live broadcast had joined their channel.

//Did they just kill a Heaven Rank Water Beast? Am I seeing things?//

//Even a formal military team would struggle against a Heaven Rank Star Beast, and these kids won without even getting scratched. When did reserve student warriors become so strong?//

//Who said Harssas is at the bottom of the four famous schools? With the strength of this Crocodile Beast, even the Tianyi Academy would fail miserably!//

//Guys, I reckon the "Specializing in Handling Dissatisfaction" team has a good chance of winning the championship, switch over to this channel quickly!//

//I admit the "Specializing in Handling Dissatisfaction" team is strong, but to win the championship, they need to find the badge. Looking at their luck, it’s doubtful!//

...

"Dead, dead?"

Cui Tianxiao could hardly believe it. Four lower-grade students actually killed a Heaven Rank Water Beast? He’s truly making a name for himself!

"Oh my god—! Awesome—!"

"We won, we won—!" Qi Ming felt like his emotions were on a roller coaster for the past few minutes, and perhaps due to excessive spiritual power consumption, he just wanted to have a good cry.

"Don’t get carried away, we’re still in the danger zone!" Ye Qingting sheathed his Ice Sword and strode towards Li Xing, looking less than pleased.

Li Xing had just pulled out the Heavenly Wolf Saber when she heard Ye Qingting calling her name.

"Li Xing—!"

Li Xing shuddered; Ye Qingting never called her by her full name, so he must be angry. She immediately put on a big smile and moved toward him, preemptively admitting her mistake:

"Captain, I was wrong, I really was. I shouldn’t have disobeyed orders, let alone acted on my own, lacked communication, and had a severe personal heroism complex, causing worry to my teammates and angering you. It’s all my fault!"

Seeing Li Xing’s pitiful expression, half of Ye Qingting’s anger dissipated.

Producing a piece of mid-grade Energy Stone, offering it with both hands, Li Xing, full of flattery, said, "Captain, you don’t look well. Is it because your Primordial Spirit was overexerted? Here, take an Energy Stone to replenish it. If it’s not enough, I have more!" After saying this, she produced another. She was pulling out all the stops today to appease Ye Qingting.

The remaining half of Ye Qingting’s anger disappeared, but he was startled by Li Xing today. If he didn’t reprimand her now, given her personality, such "mistakes" would surely recur, troubling them all.

"Do you know how long you were underwater?"

"Uh—, four, five minutes maybe."

"Thirteen minutes and fifty-two seconds! I thought you were doomed!"

For the first time in his life, the refined Master Ye blurted a rough word in front of a girl and quickly played it off, pushing his fist to his lips awkwardly.

"Explain to me why you can hold your breath for so long?"

Li Xing’s excuses always came smoothly: "I don’t know, born this way, maybe it’s related to my Wood Element Spirit."

But that was nothing; by the time her Eternal Green Technique reached the mid-organ refinement stage, she could switch from external to internal respiration, even sleep underwater overnight.

Ye Qingting’s expressions softened a lot. Wood attribute Star Beasts often have stronger life forces than those with other attributes, deducing from there, perhaps humans might have similar tendencies.

"Is there anything else you can do that I don’t know about, confess while you have the chance!"

Li Xing chuckled awkwardly: "Heh, that’s it, all my cards are on the table."

Ye Qingting snorted, righteously plucking two Energy Stones from Li Xing’s hands.

Ye Qingting wasn’t short on Energy Stones, but he decided to keep these two as the compensation deserved for his fear and sorrow, hoping Li Xing, for money’s sake, would remember this lesson.

Cui Tianxiao, supporting the exhausted Qi Ming, limped over, witnessing the colossal, horrifying remains of the Crocodile Beast at close range, and both exclaimed in unison: "Holy—crap—!"

Qi Ming: "Do you think its Crystal Stone is still there? Could it have turned into wood too?"

Ye Qingting: "Ah Xing, go up and see if you can extract the Crystal Stone."

"On it—!"

Li Xing deftly jumped onto the crocodile’s head, and the once-hard-as-steel Heavenly Horn had become brittle with the loss of life, easily snapping off at the base, revealing the green-glimmering Crystal Stone beneath.

Li Xing showed this Heaven Rank Crystal Stone to her teammates. Inside the green crystal, abundant Wood Elemental Energy resided. Although the Crocodile Beast’s combat strength was average, the Crystal Stone’s quality wasn’t bad.

Ye Qingting: "Ah Xing, keep it."

Li Xing: "Captain, you should hold onto it. We’ll split the money when sold." Wood Crystal Stones can assist Healing Masters in leveling up, and the selling price wouldn’t be below three million.

Cui Tianxiao: "Split what? The Crystal Stone is yours by right!"

Ye Qingting: "There’s an unspoken rule in the military, in team battles, whoever lands the fatal blow on a Star Beast owns its Crystal Stone, and the same applies to us reservists."

"Ah... this?"

Though Li Xing contributed the most, without the full cooperation of others, she couldn’t have killed the Crocodile Beast.

In regular middle or high-rank Star Beast battles, Crystal Stone distribution didn’t seem unfair, but this was a Heaven Rank Crystal Stone, how often would one encounter it in a lifetime?

Everyone risked their lives for half a day, yet the reward fell solely to her, it seemed unfair no matter how you looked at it.

Li Xing’s conflicted expression was too obvious, leaving Ye Qingting feeling both amused and gratified.

Li Xing loved money, but she acted based on principles, taking wealth properly, and felt nervous if keeping what wasn’t hers, even if holding it felt like handling hot iron. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

How could someone like that be disliked?

"Don’t fret, if you truly feel bad, next time when battling Star Beasts, you do more and leave the last hit for us."

Li Xing nodded, that could work.

"Beep beep—beep beep—"

Ye Qingting’s communicator suddenly received a transmission request, it was from Wenda.

To prevent cheating, the competition zone had signal blockage, no communication or information could go in or out. What did the principal mean by calling him now? Could it be they violated some rule? Everyone’s nerves were on edge.

Cui Tianxiao: "What’s happening? Did we break a rule?"

Ye Qingting frowned and pressed the answer button.

Wenda’s face barely appeared on the screen for a split second before being shoved aside. Luo Jun took over the screen, with an exceptionally long face, pointing at Li Xing, unleashing a torrential rant, sparing even Ye Qingting, Cui Tianxiao, and Qi Ming from the verbal avalanche.

In the auditorium, Luo Jun pressed down on Wenda’s head, pulling his wrist while spewing fragrant words at the communicator.

Zhou Song, sitting next to them, was already petrified by her impressive vocabulary, glasses slipping down his nose without him noticing.