Qin Ruqing’s movements were smooth and graceful, almost like flowing clouds and flowing water.

The examiners and onlookers were so amazed that their eyes almost popped out.

When Dan Qing saw Qin Ruqing, who seemed like an insurmountable mountain, he wanted to greet her.

However, she turned and passed him swiftly, disappearing like the wind.

Dan Qing slowly lowered his hand, his face showing a hint of confusion.

Could it be that the mountain is too high, and he is too weak, so his abilities don’t even catch the attention of the fairy Ruqing?

After a moment of defeat, a surge of fighting spirit rose within him.

Dan Qing grasped the hilt of his sword and looked up at the three giant stone tablets in front of him.

If he couldn’t overcome these three stone tablets, how could he hope to defeat the Qin Ruqing?

He decided to give it his all on the tenth level!

The Light Source Buddha Son, who was holding Buddhist beads, saw the fairy Ruqing in red clothes leaping towards him, making everything around seem dull by comparison.

The Light Source Buddha Son nodded inwardly, thinking the title “Light Brilliance” really suited her.

He was about to smile and show a compassionate and kind expression, hoping to start a conversation as he usually did when he made this expression.

Typically, people would stop to talk to him when he made this expression, and he would share some Buddhist teachings.

But before he could say anything, the fairy in red had already leaped over him and was soaring into the air.

The Light Source Buddha Son could only see the fluttering of her red clothes.

Hmm?

Ming Ying, standing on a large bird, was focused on her business when she suddenly saw the small creature she feared most flying towards her.

She was alarmed!

Ming Ying became very cautious.

Could it be that the Qin Ruqing from the South Region, who stole her title of the number one fairy of the Four Regions, also wanted to fight with her?!

Ming Ying, with a fierce expression, summoned her magic weapon, her eyes glaring.

She was determined to face this challenge.

However, the Qin Ruqing suddenly made a flirtatious smile at her, leaving Ming Ying stunned.

If it were a male cultivator, she would have used her magic weapon against him, shouting “immoral man!”

But a female cultivator… especially one who stole her title as the most beautiful fairy.

Ming Ying’s expression changed unpredictably. Was the fairy trying to show off her beauty to her?

How dare she! Ming Ying was furious.

She gracefully jumped off the large bird and landed in front of the stone tablets.

She knew she had to rise to the occasion. First, she set a small goal: defeat Qin Ruqing’s brother!

Fang Zhiming was thinking about his lines for the first encounter with Qin Ruqing.

He wanted to appear nonchalant and dismissive while also being sarcastic and condescending.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud on top of the carriage, as if something heavy had fallen, followed by a cracking sound.

Fang Zhiming frowned and used his spiritual sense to check outside.

He saw that a gem embedded in the top of the carriage had been broken off, and the gem had vanished.

His spiritual sense swept around and spotted a red figure quickly disappearing in the distance.

The man and woman…

Fang Zhiming’s face darkened, and he squeezed out the words from his throat: “I will never be at peace with the Qin family!”

Qin Ruqing, pulling Qirong, swiftly flew away.

After leaving Sandbar Island, they continued running until the island had shrunk to a tiny dot and then stopped.

Qin Qirong and Qin Ruqing had always worked in perfect harmony.

Seeing his sister drag him along and run so quickly, though puzzled, he complied fully. It was only when Qin Ruqing stopped that he asked:

“Sister, why did we run so fast?”

Qin Ruqing took a deep breath and replied, “If we don’t run now, we won’t be able to get out later. Qirong, remember, our Qin family is attracting a lot of attention this time.

There will probably be many families with envious eyes. So, we need to complete our tests as quickly as possible, making sure the others can’t catch up.”

Qirong seemed to understand but wasn’t entirely clear.

After that, Qin Ruqing took out a jade slip to check the Golden List scores.

She wasn’t looking at her own score but her eldest sister’s. Frowning after checking, she said, “Sister Luwei hasn’t received a score yet. It must be that her test isn’t complete.”

Qirong looked up and asked, “Should we go look for Sister San?”

“No need,” Qin Ruqing replied. “Sister Luwei is fine. As a pill alchemist, her track is different from ours. We just need to stay far ahead, creating a large gap between us and the second place. That way, Sister Luwei won’t have to worry about us.”

“Let’s check the next test location.”

Qirong examined the jade slip and read aloud, “Second station, east of Sandbar Island, in the place where the sun rises and the moon sets.

Hmm, the second station doesn’t give a specific location. It seems your guess was right, Sister.”

Qin Ruqing snorted, “It’s all part of the routine!”

After sending a message to Lu Wei and Tang Zifeng, she looked east and said, “The second station shouldn’t be too hard to find. Let’s go!”

Green Jade Island was a lush and verdant place.

Lu Wei had just finished identifying the three hundredth type of spiritual herb when her attention was caught by a glowing communication jade slip.

“Sister, Qirong and I have completed the test and left Sandbar Island. We’re now heading to the second station. Don’t worry, everything is going smoothly!”

Lu Wei smiled and then took another look at the Golden List scores.

As expected, Qin Ruqing was first with full marks in all three tests.

The second place was still Dan Qing, also with full marks in all three tests, though for some reason, he was ranked after Qin Ruqing despite having the same score.

To her surprise, the third place was Qirong…

Other familiar talents might not have had their scores displayed yet because they hadn’t completed their tests.

Thanks to Qin Ruqing and Qirong’s outstanding performances, the Qin family on the Hundred Clans List had created a significant gap between themselves and the second place.

No other family had had two members complete their tests with such high scores until now.

After reviewing the results, Lu Wei put away the jade slip and murmured, “You’re all so amazing. I need to work hard too.”

She then shifted her gaze forward, her light purple gauze dress brushing against the grass tips.

Lu Wei’s eyes fell upon a modest blue flower hidden among the shrubs.

She crouched down to examine it carefully and confirmed it was a rare type of hemostatic herb.

She thought for a moment.

Although the Blue Moon Flower had a single function, its effectiveness was superior to ordinary hemostatic herbs.

So, she took out a jade plate and gently and meticulously removed the Blue Moon Flower.

After placing the removed Blue Moon Flower into the storage pouch provided by the examiner, she continued forward, her mind also reflecting on the first part of the pill alchemy test.

The requirement was to find useful spiritual plants on Green Jade Island within a specified time and place them into the provided pouch.

There were no requirements for quantity, type, or a fair scoring standard.

Seeing such an ambiguous test prompt, Lu Wei thought…

Qin Ruqing had once told her, “Third Sister, remember, the more vague and ambiguous something is, the more pitfalls there are. Be extra cautious; it’s never too thorough.”

So, Lu Wei made herself learn to analyze tasks the way Qin Ruqing did.

“Finding useful spiritual plants on Luying Island,” considering the entire island’s large area, means she had to be selective.

She couldn’t spend too much time on one place, or she’d never cover the whole island.

Missing some spots might lead to missing rare and valuable plants.

Additionally, the term “useful” is subjective.

What does “useful” mean?

What’s its use?

A pharmacist has to use their experience to judge this.

Finally, she needed to transplant the identified plants into her pouch.

Different plants require different transplanting methods, and even a small mistake could damage their medicinal properties.

Therefore, the first test of the alchemy exam is a comprehensive assessment of the pharmacist’s basic skills and knowledge.

As Lu Wei considered these points, her spiritual sense detected unusual fluctuations on a nearby cliff.

She approached and found a rare spiritual moss.

This moss is a key ingredient for several high-grade pills and is very rare.

Although the rules didn’t specify the scoring criteria, it’s clear that finding more rare plants would likely be beneficial for the score.

Just as she was about to collect it, she felt a sudden danger from behind.

Lu Wei dodged to the side, and the spot where she had been was blasted into a small crater.

Turning around, she saw a female cultivator in a silk white cloak, appearing delicate and beautiful, but with a hint of arrogance.

Lu Wei knew that this kind of cloak was common among alchemists from the Eastern Region, marking their status.

Before Lu Wei could speak, the attacking cultivator, holding a blue talisman, threatened her: “I am a member of the Fang family from Yingzhou in the Eastern Region. Leave immediately!”

The Fang family.

This Fang cultivator wasn’t exactly foolish.

In the Eastern Region, status is emphasized.

If Lu Wei were from a family lower in status, she might have had trouble.

Lu Wei smiled and pretended to be respectful, “Oh, it’s the fairy from the esteemed Fang family of Yingzhou. I’m very sorry. I’ll leave right away.”

Fang Yuqing snorted, clearly used to using her family’s influence to intimidate others.

Just as she put away the talisman, she felt a sharp pain in her neck and lost consciousness.

Standing behind her, Lu Wei calmly sheathed her sword.

Imitating Qin Ruqing’s way of insulting, she said, “Really pathetic.”

With a flutter of her purple skirt, Lu Wei calmly stepped over her body.

She paused, turned back, and sprinkled some sleeping powder on her to ensure she would sleep through the exam.

Only after making sure she would miss the exam did she proceed to collect the spiritual moss.

After gathering the moss, Lu Wei, recalling Ruqing’s methods, glanced over at Fang Yuqing, then dragged her to the corner of the cliff.

She covered Fang Yuqing with grass so that even passing rabbits wouldn’t notice her.

Only then did she continue on her way, taking the alchemical materials with her.

….

Qin Ruqing and Qirong wandered at sea for a while before they finally arrived at a place where the sun rises and the moon sets.

This island was called the Sun-Moon Island.

It was positioned perfectly on the central axis where the sun rises and the moon sets.

That’s how it got its name.

When Qin Ruqing arrived on the island, she found it completely deserted.

This was normal because they were the first to reach the second test point on this strength test course.

Qirong looked around and even flew up to see if there were any special buildings on the island. “Sister, where’s the test point? We’re on the island, do we need to find it ourselves?”

Well, that was actually quite possible.

Qin Ruqing thought for a moment, then suddenly closed her eyes, channeling all her spiritual energy into her ears, and activated her innate perfection body.

The sounds of the world amplified suddenly as Qin Ruqing searched for any special signals.

Suddenly, she murmured and opened her eyes, which flashed with a strange light.

Qin Ruqing pointed in a direction. “Let’s go this way.”

After traveling to the southwestern part of the island’s center, Qin Ruqing and Qirong pushed through some bushes and found an elderly man with white hair napping against a rock cave.

Qin Ruqing calmly approached, bowed to the old man, and said loudly, “Qin Ruqing is here to see the examiner!”

The examiner was startled by the noise, causing him to bump his head on a rock as he woke up.

“Who’s there!” the examiner exclaimed, holding his head.

Qin Ruqing repeated her words and added, “We’re contestants from this year’s grand tournament.”

The examiner widened his eyes and then realized, “Wait, did you finish the first test already?”

He had been napping, thinking that the ancient stone tablet tests would take a long time.

Qin Ruqing kindly suggested, “If you don’t believe me, you can check the scores on the gold list.”

The examiner’s expression changed as he took out a gold ring, brushed his hand over it, and after a moment, his eyes widened and his expression shifted.

After a while, he said, “You’re the top contestant this year. Is the tall person beside you your brother?”

Qin Ruqing corrected him, “He’s my older brother.”

Qirong also pointed to himself, emphasizing, “Yes, I’m the older brother!”

The examiner was silent for a moment and then asked, “How did you find me?”

Qin Ruqing smiled, “It’s simple. I heard your snoring.”

The examiner was speechless.

He quickly stood up, adjusted his sleeves and clothes, and resumed his authoritative demeanor.

The examiner glanced at Qin Ruqing and cleared his throat. “You do have sharp senses.”

“In that case, you can start the second test over there.” He pointed to the cave and said casually, “Just go through this cave. It’s very simple.”

Simple? You believe that?