Page 83: Argument

*Alchemy grounds

The six hours time limit that was announced was almost up. Alchemy students, junior alchemists, aspiring alchemists, and curious people has now filled the alchemy arena where the transport array was installed. Mostly from these people, they are curious about things that they would be bringing back from the place where they were sent. As reports from the past, there were those who were lucky to bring back artifacts that can help them in their cultivation. There were also reports from the past that they were able to bring back a spiritual herb that would increase the efficiency of pill making causing them to make high quality pills.

On the middle of the arena, Six elders were sitting while waiting to reactivate the array artifact that connects to the broken world where the ten participants were sent. With the upper region of the hourglass almost gone, they started moving towards the array. People who noticed their movements became filled with anticipation wanting to see what would come out of the portal.

"Open the portal!"

The senior attendant of the program shouted. Seconds later, the inscription was activated and bright lights of beautiful arrangements filled the area. After a couple of minutes to prep the array, the portal door which looked like a dark spot in the area widened enough to fit two average people stacked together.

The arena became silent all of a sudden. The loud cheers and laughter from different directions were gone and was replaced by whispers and and silent murmurs. After waiting for 2 minutes, someone's silhoutte showed up on the portal. First to be recognized was Tan Zhong, followed by his companion from the merchant union. Supporters from the merchant union cheered with glee for their safe return.

A few seconds later, Zhang Li came out followed by Long Bai from behind. All lined up and greeted the elders who were in front of them.

On the bleachers, seeing that the famous characters like Cuifen and Yusheng were not yet up, they started to make speculations. There were some who made speculations that these first ones did not ventured far away and had most likely failed the test. However, there were others who spoke the opposite saying that those famous figures must have been the ones who failed instead. People became rowdy at some point but was immediately silenced by the next thing that happened.

By the portal's entrance, they saw a bloody and messed up Yusheng dragging a person by its foot. Upon close up inspection, people recognized who it was.

"What is happening? That's Cuifen, isn't it? Why does the scene looked confusing? A battered and messed up Yusheng is actually dragging Cuifen who looks fine and everything! Can someone tell me what is happening?" A perplexed spectator loudly yelled on his seat.

Everyone heard the man's words but unfortunately all of them have a guess as good as his. The only one who can tell them what was going on would be those who came out of the portal. While waiting for what will happen, Elder alchemist Cai came jumping on the stage yelling at Yusheng's actions.

"Yusheng! What do you think you're doing!"

Elder Cai was exerting pressure towards Yusheng but then Yusheng's master, elder alchemist Ling, stood at the middle neutralizing the pressure directed towards Yusheng.

"Alchemist Cai, stay your hands. Can't you see your disciple is fine while mine is limping? If there is someone who should be angry here, that would be me. Isn't that right?"

Elder Ling pressured elder Cai to stop his mouth from saying anymore. Knowing that elder Ling was stronger, elder Cai had no choice but to stop.

"Yusheng, tell me what happened. Why are you in such state?"

Yusheng gave a summary of how he came to such state. Tan Zhong and the rest who was listening was surprised with what Yusheng told the elder. While Yusheng was busy telling what happened on that specific situation, Cuifen who was kneeling on the ground was begging for forgiveness. If one will see, Cuifen was not facing his master but instead, he was kneeling towards elder Ling. He must know that his master was no match to him that was why Cuifen was actually feeling fearful against Yusheng.

Long Bai listened earnestly on Yusheng's words and was appreciative of not including them in his case. If he was one of those typical young masters who usually uses their influence to take advantage of others, Long Bai would be ready to retaliate no matter what happened. Good thing, Yusheng still holds some commendable values. Long Bai guessed that Yusheng must have been trying to return the favor he received from Zhang Li back in the old world fragment. However, he can't really tell until when will this Yusheng behave as such.

After elder Ling learned the main issue from Yusheng, he personally announced that Cuifen would be stripped out of his title as a grade 3 alchemist. While Cuifen was bawling like a kid on the floor, elder Cai was quiet on the side behaving like he didn't know what just happened. This just shows how powerless he was with the current situation.

"Elder Cai, take your disciple and punish him severely. If I'm not satisfied how you do things, I'll deal with him personally.

Honorable elders, please continue the assessment but I would like to request my disciple to return after he's healed."

"Elder Ling, that won't do. Before your disciple can step out of this ring, he must present his assessment items. If he step's out of this arena without his herbs, his efforts would immediately be deemed wasteful. No matter what happened inside that small world, the test is still in effect."

Looking that the presiding elder was firm with his words, elder Ling looked at Yusheng with questioning eyes. Yusheng on the side nodded at his master affirming that he doesn't have a problem with it.

"Alright then, Yusheng. Go and submit what you have. As it was instructed, identify them with clear details."

Yusheng stepped back to the middle and placed three different herbs on the display platform. With the three parchments laid on the platform, he wrote the names of the herbs and gave their characteristics.

"Elders, here are the herbs I found from that place.

Please check the parchment if there are problems."

All five elders who served as judges read the parchment and nodded with the written information. The details written were the correct information for the three herbs Yusheng brought.

"Elder Ling, you may now take your disciple and tend his injuries. With the five elder's approval, Yusheng passed the second round of the test."

The two disciples and their masters left the arena. Two of them were keeping a stoic expression while the other two were showing anxiety and fear. After their presence was gone, the people who were afraid to make commotion let out some air and started expressing their feelings on what transpired just a moment ago. Many reacted as if they knew what happened while others were still trying to ask the ones in front if they were able to hear something from the young alchemist's confession.

As the noise escalated, the presiding elder stomped the ground once which startled the audience. This stopped them from making any further noise to disrupt the rest.

"Now, the rest of you, choose a table to lay your own herbs for us to check. If you have three, write the information needed on the parchment provided. If you were not able to find three herbs, step out of the ring."

While Long Bai, Zhang Li, and Tan Zhong were headed for a table, one member from the merchant union walked straight to the merchant union's bleachers. This meant that there were only a total of four participants for today's test.

One after the other, the five elders started checking from Tan Zhong and was followed by Zhang Li. The two didn't have an issue since their herbs were known. Long Bai on the other hand was still thinking what to show aside from the swamp latifolia and swamp maxima that he and Zhang Li picked from the swamp. As he dove into the small world in his core system, he picked the most simple looking herb of them all however it was too late to return after seeing that it was actually a grade 4 herb. He took it out as if he was taking it from his cosmic pouch to prevent any suspicions. After writing the information the system gave him, that very moment, the five elders arrived.

"Elders, please check my papers."

The five elders nodded at the first two pages but then after reading the third page, three of them reacted and signalled that the info in there was wrong.

"Although he found three herbs, his identification of the third herb was wrong. This participant failed!

Long Bai was bewildered. 'Huh? Is it really possible for the system to make mistake? I don't think so?'

Long Bai was not convinced with what happened and raised a challenge.

"Respected elders, may I know which part I could have been wrong? I demand a petition to challenge the elder's identification."

The presiding elder heard Long Bai raise a petition. A petition against an elder's judgement is a heavy case in the alchemy test. The challenger would require to exchange something when he or she can't prove that the prior judgement was wrong. On the other hand, when the petition is successful, the one who filed it would receive something of great value from the elder.

"Young man, are you sure about this? There are three elders who agreed that the entry was wrong. Are you prepared to face the consequence?" the presiding elder warned.

"Yes, I do your honor. I was lucky while I was inside that broken world. While I was looking for around, I chanced upon a peculiar herb. I don't know what it is but I think this is something of high value. Will this do?"

Long Bai was purposely feigning ignorance about the name of the herb even though he knew that it was a grade 4 herb. It was another herb he took inside the tiny world in his core system. What he wanted was for them to focus on the herb itself and take their attention away from the paper so they won't go and recheck their wrong assessment. If they are trying to fail him because of their incompetence, they should pay dearly with their own pockets.

All the six elders, the presiding one included, reacted at the same time with similar expression. What they saw was a silver heartfilia plant that is used to create the famous life extending pill that can increase lifespan of 10 years or more. Immediately, all the three elders took out a treasure from their pockets. First was a grade 3 pill furnace, the second elder brought out two grade 3 herbs while the third brought out a grade 4 pill recipe. Because of the perspective of getting a grade 4 herb, they nonchalantly brought out their most precious item inside their cosmic pouch.

"Alright then, as the presiding officer, I'll be the moderator. The three elders, start your explanation as to why this entry was wrong."

"First of all, this herb is the red leaf shy plant. Because it's already cut off from its stem, there's no way for me to prove that once it is placed close to another living body, it would withdraw its leaves towards its stem and then revert back only when there's no one 1 meter away from it. Although it's like that, we all know that it is the red leaf shy plant because of the red colored leaves, even the leaf venation is longitudinal and the leaf shape is ovate. There's no doubt. Now, give us that herb. The audience also agrees with us. Is there any point in going further?"

"Does the other two elders have anything to add?"

The cold presiding officer asked the other two elders who were just nodding with their spokesperson. After seeing that no one plans to add anything, his attention went to Long Bai.

"Now, it is your turn to speak."

Long Bai thanked the presiding elder. He was thinking that this presiding officer was really dedicated to his job as the arbiter. Although it seemed that the other party was too strong in their point, he still proceeded and asked his side.

"Elders, it is really a pity that we can't prove using the interactive reaction if the plant however I tell you that this plant is the red touch-me-not. This plant will only retract its leaves when touched but not when someone is close to it. It may look very similar to the red leaf shy plant but there's a subtle difference. Both plants have an ovate leaf and a longitudinal venation but you forgot its phyllotaxy. The red leaf shy plant has an alternate leaf orientation but this plant leaf connection to the stem have one each on the same node. Meaning it is opposite and not alternate. Am I wrong, dear elders?"

"There's no such thing! Although it is true that this plant's leaf orientation is opposite, we have never heard of any plant called red touch-me-not. This must be some variation that occured due to the harsh conditions inside the broken world."

The two other elders who did not declare that his answers were only silent on the sides. They were honest to admit that they are not sure of their own assessments since there were discrepancies. The other three who were on the opposition were still busy pointing out what they know.

"Since both have said their points and yet no one admits that they are wrong, we can only consult the herbarium. Bring me all the herbarium available."

Three large herbarium volumes were lined on a table. The elder flipped the pages and immediately checked the table of contents for the name. However after checking the three large books, there were no red touch-me-not in any of them.

"See? There's no such thing as the herb this brat says. The discrepancy must have just occured due to environmental factors."

The three elders were already confident with their stand. The looks on their faces tell everyone that they were already asking for the grade 4 herb.

"Elders, this young brat wants to say something. What if the plant I'm saying was not in the books that was check? What if it was in the volume 4? Do we have an available volume 4 herbarium?"

Long Bai's last resort was this. To use the volume 4 book which is not available to the public. Last time he heard from his senior, there's only one book and it's being kept in the sect's treasury vault. Unless a grade 4 alchemist will back him up, the book would be the last resort.

Although elder Wei is a grade 4 alchemist, if he will support him, they would just say that he was supporting his 3rd disciple. Elder Ling and elder Cai are not around so there are no other choices.

"Someone go and request the sect leader to retrieve the book from the treasury!"

The presiding elder yelled. The audience were shocked by his decision. Could it be that this elder was siding Long Bai? This was the question running in many people's thoughts.

"Elder! Do we really need to go this far? There are three of us who agrees that this is wrong. Why go to such lengths?"

"Greedy fools! I may just be a presiding officer and not a judge but I will do my job properly. If you think I made a mistake, we'll let the sect leader decide!"