"This Linghu Xian coming to my cave dwelling — he's not the first, nor will he be the last." Elder Yun Nie sighed lightly. "The Hall of Herbs has over twenty elders, and at least half of them have come to see me. This Linghu Xian has already been here twice."
"Jiang Chen, when Linghu Xian sought you out last time, it must have been related to this matter as well."
"Oh? What exactly is it about?" Jiang Chen grew curious.
"All of this is just for the spots in the Huanbo Mountain Alchemy Competition." Elder Yun Nie sighed. "In the Myriad Phenomena Domain, there is a place called Huanbo Mountain, famously rich in spiritual medicine. Originally, Huanbo Mountain was under the control of the Myriad Phenomena Empire's royal family. After the empire's fall, ownership of the mountain has been disputed ever since. The major sects fought and bickered endlessly, but could never settle the matter. So the ownership of Huanbo Mountain remained unresolved. However, the spiritual medicine produced there left every major power in the Myriad Phenomena Domain drooling with desire. To compete for the spiritual medicine resources, the major sects frequently clashed, resulting in heavy casualties. Eventually, all the sects agreed that this couldn't continue. So they made a pact: every thirty years, they would hold an alchemy competition, and the entry quota for herb-gathering in Huanbo Mountain would be allocated based on the results."
Elder Yun Nie revealed this secret history, but Jiang Chen had never heard of it before. Clearly, this was something the Four Great Sects of the Sixteen Kingdoms Alliance likely had no qualification to even participate in.
"Within the Myriad Phenomena Domain, the six Fourth-Rank sects, including Danqian Palace, are the most powerful and have always been the main participants in the Huanbo Mountain Alchemy Competition. There are also twenty Fifth-Rank sects that qualify to participate, though their quota is only half that of the Fourth-Rank sects. As for Sixth-Rank sects, they have no qualification to even ask about it, let alone those below that. So every single spot in the Huanbo Mountain Alchemy Competition is extremely coveted. Even we at Danqian Palace only have eight spots."
Elder Yun Nie smiled. "Eight spots might seem like a good number. But the internal relationships within the sect are intricate, and allocating these eight spots is no easy task. The Hall of Herbs is responsible for alchemy and cultivating spiritual medicine. Naturally, these competition spots fall under my authority as the Hall Master."
Jiang Chen suddenly understood everything.
The list of participants for the alchemy competition was in Elder Yun Nie's hands. Who would go and who wouldn't was essentially his decision alone.
With that, it was easy to understand why these Hall of Herbs elders wanted to pull strings behind the scenes.
"Eight spots should be fairly sufficient. Even though the Hall of Herbs has many elders, surely they don't all have the same seniority and skill? Just pick the best ones," Jiang Chen said.
"Of the eight spots, only four can be allocated to Hall of Herbs elders. The remaining four must go to young people. Those elders who recruited you almost certainly wanted to bring you along to the competition to increase their chances of winning. It's just that since they haven't secured the spots yet, there were things they couldn't disclose to you. In that regard, they clearly think highly of your talent in alchemy."
"So you're saying the Huanbo Mountain Alchemy Competition follows a model of one elder paired with one junior? Four elders and four young alchemists?"
Elder Yun Nie nodded with a smile. "So, are you interested? Danqian Palace has always excelled at the Huanbo Mountain Alchemy Competition. I, as the Hall Master, will certainly be participating. If you're willing to go, the spot I carry will be reserved for you."
Elder Yun Nie spoke with keen interest, a hint of anticipation and encouragement in his eyes.
"Jiang Chen, you should know — if you place well in the Huanbo Mountain Alchemy Competition, you'll be able to enter Huanbo Mountain to gather spiritual medicine. For ten days, you can harvest as much as you want. Half of your spoils go to the sect, and half stay with you."
"What do you think? Give it some thought."
Since Huanbo Mountain was the highest-grade spiritual medicine source in the Myriad Phenomena Domain, it was bound to have all sorts of treasures. Though Jiang Chen knew Elder Yun Nie was tempting him, he couldn't help but feel his heart stir.
"Jiang Chen, before you came along, I had originally planned to give this spot to another young alchemy genius in the sect. These spots are limited, you know."
Elder Yun Nie's expression was like someone dangling a lollipop in front of a child.
Jiang Chen sighed. "Alright, Elder Yun Nie, I admit you've convinced me. When is this alchemy competition held?"
"It's held once every thirty years. Counting it out, there are only seven or eight months left. Otherwise, the competition for spots wouldn't be this fierce."
Seven or eight months. Jiang Chen calculated the time. He had agreed to explore the Wood Spirit Spring with Mu Xiaoxian, and if everything went smoothly, making it back in time for the Huanbo Mountain Alchemy Competition should not be a problem.
"With such generosity from Elder Yun Nie, Jiang Chen is eternally grateful." With those words, Jiang Chen essentially confirmed his acceptance of the spot.
Elder Yun Nie waved his hand dismissively. "I don't care for pleasantries. What I need you to do is give it your all and make a name for our Danqian Palace's younger generation. I've heard that the other Fourth-Rank sects have been unearthing alchemy geniuses over these past thirty years, grooming them specifically for this competition. They're planning to make a big splash at the Huanbo Mountain Alchemy Competition. Although Danqian Palace has always performed well and maintained a leading position in past competitions, the younger generation is full of unknowns. If those sects have placed special emphasis on nurturing their young talent, this edition of the competition could see extremely fierce rivalries. Danqian Palace was built on alchemy — if we lose our edge in the competition, it could severely impact our sect's future development."
Danqian Palace's greatest advantage lay in alchemy.
If their younger generation were surpassed in the alchemy competition, then over the coming decades — or even centuries — Danqian Palace's advantage in medicinal pills could very well be diminished or even overtaken by others.
This was something Danqian Palace absolutely could not afford to let happen.
This was precisely what Elder Yun Nie worried about most. Because Danqian Palace had always led in alchemy, many of the sect's higher-ups had grown complacent about this advantage. This long-standing psychological superiority had left the sect's young generation with an inflated sense of pride when it came to alchemy.
The young people no longer possessed the same drive in alchemy, instead devoting more of their energy to martial arts cultivation.
While this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it wasn't exactly good news for Danqian Palace's dominance in alchemy.