Top-tier Unruly Master-Chapter 1577 - 1614: Unbelievable

Lu Ferng looked at Ding Fan with some confusion in his eyes. The other party’s calm demeanor at this moment was really baffling to him, a feeling he rarely experienced, only with cultivators more powerful than himself. But even knowing the other party wasn’t handing in a blank paper didn’t mean much.

He didn’t believe the other party could write out the spiritual materials at the same time the examiner elder was placing them. That was simply not something a human could do, especially given the other party was so young and about the same age as himself. If it were an elder alchemist of Seventh Grade or above with white hair, he might believe it.

But as for Ding Fan, he absolutely wouldn’t believe it.

Therefore, Lu Ferng couldn’t understand what the other party was writing in that time. Perhaps that’s why he found it hard to see through him. Lu Ferng comforted himself with this thought.

...

When the elder announced the second place, which was Lu Ferng’s result, even the sect masters in the observatory were shocked. They didn’t expect that in just the first round of the Great Alchemy Competition, the first place wouldn’t belong to the always excellent Lu Ferng. Especially a middle-aged man with greying temples was the most surprised.

Lu Ferng was his disciple, and he understood this outstanding disciple very well. This disciple had brought him much pride, not only being unattainable by other disciples in the sect but also standing out as a genius among all the best disciples across the thirty-six caves. This always made him very proud.

But this middle-aged sect master with graying temples didn’t anticipate that in the first round of the Great Alchemy Competition, Lu Ferng would actually take second place. He really couldn’t think of another sect among the thirty-six whose disciple could be better than his Lu Ferng. Lu Ferng’s excellence was not only in cultivation but in all aspects, making such a disciple truly rare, and even the Lake Master thought highly of Lu Ferng.

Although Lu Ferng couldn’t be compared to the Lake Master, the Lake Master greatly valued this disciple of his, which always made him extremely proud.

But at this moment, the winner of the first event of the Great Alchemy Competition wasn’t Lu Ferng. Then who could it be? The sect master was also very shocked, as in his impression, none of the disciples from the thirty-six caves were better than Lu Ferng. Could it be the elder brother of the Lake Master?

Filled with doubts, the middle-aged sect master thought to himself. Among these participating disciples, only the elder brother of the Lake Master was unknown to him, as he had some understanding of the others. However, the elder brother’s performance in the first round of the Great Alchemy Competition wasn’t particularly remarkable. It was unlikely that he was the first place, probably not even in the top twenty...

Then the middle-aged sect master couldn’t help but start analyzing each of the other disciples with potential...

"It’s quite unexpected that the first place isn’t that disciple Lu Ferng."

"Indeed, could it be that Elder Gong made a mistake?"

"How’s that possible? Elder Gong has always been meticulous. If anyone made a mistake, it wouldn’t be Elder Gong!"

"Right, perhaps a dark horse has emerged from this group of disciples!"

"Indeed, who knows..."

...

"Do you think it could be the elder brother of the Lake Master?"

At this time, many sect masters couldn’t help but discuss among themselves, and one of them mentioned Ding Fan, asking curiously.

"Impossible! Although the elder brother of the Lake Master has great proficiency in formations and is an outstanding existence, he isn’t that formidable in the area of medicine pills! Human energy is limited, and even if he has some talent in medicine, it wouldn’t surpass that of Lu Ferng. It must be someone else!"

An elder with graying hair, a cultivator in the Transcendence Tribulation Stage, who held great respect among the sect masters of the thirty-six caves, evidently did not favor Ding Fan and said so.

For this elder, there was no concern about Long Ren because he was also a senior of the thirty-six caves, and this elder was merely speaking his perceived truth without meaning to offend the Lake Master. Thus, there was no worry about Long Ren taking offense.

The other sect masters, hearing the elder’s analysis, nodded in agreement with him. They also couldn’t believe that Ding Fan could be the first-place winner of the first round of the Great Alchemy Competition. In their view, Ding Fan wouldn’t even make it into the top twenty.

However, out of respect for the Lake Master Long Ren, the sect masters wouldn’t voice their opinions, so they could only nod subtly, agreeing with the elder’s assessment and expressing their thoughts diplomatically...

Long Ren naturally heard the elder’s words and smiled faintly. Long Ren knew in his heart what the first round of the Great Alchemy Competition entailed. Could anyone be the winner other than his elder brother? People didn’t understand his brother; they weren’t aware that his brother was the champion of the Great Alchemy Competition. Such difficulty in the pill competition wouldn’t baffle his brother at all.

At this moment, the Great Elder next to Long Ren also showed a slight smile upon seeing Long Ren’s expression, especially after hearing the discussions of those sect masters. The Great Elder was eagerly anticipating the moment Elder Gong announced the first place and people’s reactions.

...

At this moment, Examiner Elder Gong looked at Ding Fan’s test paper and took several deep breaths before finally calming down. Then, with a loud voice, doing his best to contain his excitement, he announced:

"First place... Ding Fan. Correctly identified twenty-five spiritual materials and marked the usage quantities. Deserves to be first place!"

...

At that moment, upon hearing the elder’s words, everyone fell silent, with no voices discussing anything for a moment. The surroundings were so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

Moments later, the discussions among the crowd exploded like boiling water, deafening...

"Is there a mistake? How could it be him? How is he the first place?"

"What’s amazing is that he identified twenty-five spiritual materials! It’s important to know how many spiritual materials the examiner elder could put in total. He identified twenty-five more spiritual materials, which is unbelievably amazing!"

"Even if the other side clearly had their eyes closed the entire time, without even seeing the other side write, how could they have written down twenty-five types of Spiritual Materials, and even noted the quantities? What on earth is this?"

"Yeah, could the other side be cheating? Clearly nothing was written, yet somehow twenty-five types of Spiritual Materials suddenly appeared?"

"Exactly, we don’t believe it... Could we get a reasonable explanation?"

"Yes, could it be that the examiner is deliberately shielding the Lake Master?"

"..."

For a time, everyone was abuzz with discussion. Many cultivators did not believe Ding Fan’s results, leading many to start questioning the examiner. After all, this was a selection for the coveted spots to enter the Xuantian Secret Realm, and no one wanted to let their guard down. If the examiner truly did cheat for the Lake Master’s brother, everyone would naturally challenge it.

Amidst the loud voices of doubt, Lu Ferng, who had been silent with a somber expression, spoke up to the crowd:

"Big brother didn’t cheat; I saw him write his paper."

...

The crowd quieted significantly after hearing Lu Ferng’s words, but they felt even more shocked. Lu Ferng was a highly credible figure among the disciples; not only was his cultivation superior to that of most ordinary disciples, but his character was also well-regarded. Clearly, he was always seen as a very upright, principled person.

Thus, everyone was even more astonished. They hadn’t expected Lu Ferng to come forward to vouch for the Lake Master’s brother. No one would doubt that Lu Ferng was trying to curry favor with the Lake Master, precisely because everyone believed Lu Ferng’s words, so their disbelief grew; clearly, they hadn’t seen when Ding Fan had completed the test paper.

"Everyone, please calm down. This is Ding Fan’s paper. If you’re interested, you can come and have a look. This contestant wrote it while I was distributing the Spiritual Materials, and stopped when I stopped distributing. The rest of the time, you saw what you saw—he remained in a state of meditative rest with his eyes closed."

At this point, Elder Gong directly displayed Ding Fan’s test paper in front of everyone, explaining on behalf of the crowd.

After hearing both Lu Ferng and the elder, everyone stepped forward one by one to look at Ding Fan’s paper. After seeing it, they were all shocked: clearly, the paper was densely packed yet meticulously detailed with twenty-five types of Spiritual Materials, with quantities noted for each.

"My God, this is simply unbelievable!"

"He really wrote out twenty-five types! May I ask, examiners, how many Spiritual Materials did you actually distribute? Might these twenty-five types exceed that?"

"Yeah..."

...

One disciple raised a question that puzzled everyone, knowing that even Lu Ferng only managed to write out fifteen types of Spiritual Materials. Yet Ding Fan had somehow written ten more; people deeply suspected that the elderly examiner hadn’t distributed that many Spiritual Materials at all.

Upon hearing everyone’s questions, Elder Gong couldn’t help but sigh before saying:

"I have distributed exactly twenty-five types of Spiritual Materials. This contestant has listed all the ones I distributed—all accurately!"

After the elder spoke, everyone felt a profound impact on their minds once again, deeply astonished, the disciples all wore faces of incredulity—it was simply inconceivable!

"How is this possible? Good heavens! What level of alchemist is required to achieve this?"

"Indeed, even if he’s the Lake Master’s brother, he’s just a young man. To be so familiar with Medicine Pills at this level—could it be that only Grade Nine Alchemists could accomplish this?"

"Even Grade Nine Alchemists might not be able to annotate the quantities of all these Spiritual Materials! This is simply baffling!"

At this time, Lu Ferng, deeply earnest, joined in on the discussions, unable to help but comment.

"Yes, exactly! Even Senior Brother Lu Ferng said so! Even Grade Nine Alchemists can’t do it; how could someone so young?"

"Could it be that the other side cheated?"

"Exactly... This is simply beyond belief!"

"..."

After a wave of astonishment and debate, even though the disciples heard Elder Gong speak, they still couldn’t grasp that it was real. All present were exceptionally talented youths, prodigious cultivators even, yet even they couldn’t believe the facts before them...

On the viewing platform at this time, many Elders were also full of incredulous shock, finding it unbelievable that the other party could achieve this—truly an exaggeration. And to have completed writing at the moment Elder Gong ceased distributing, who would believe it if told?

"What on earth is happening?"

"Yes, this is too incredible!"

...