Chapter 151: Xun Wei's Dissatisfaction

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Ethan finally reached the table and sat down in an extra chair that had been prepared for him.

By chance, he ended up sitting with two girls from his same category, Yan Mei and Xiang Hua.

Ethan would have preferred to sit with Xun Wei rather than these two, because one was too competitive, and the other was clearly upset with him.

But he had to admit, the way he looked at these two was very different now.

He now found their attitudes somewhat amusing, and nothing more.

Perhaps it was because his mental age was higher than almost everyone present, or maybe because he was the strongest among them.

Ethan didn't know and had no intention of figuring it out right now.

At this moment, he wondered what to do.

Earlier, they had asked him if he wanted something brought to him, which he declined, as he couldn't eat or drink with his mask on.

And so he sat with everyone, enduring the curious glances of those around him, especially the woman sitting in front of him.

He could tell that, aside from him and Xiang Hua, she was the third strongest person present.

'Well, that's the least I'd expect from a master alchemist,' he thought as he prepared for the questions that were about to come his way.

Since he had sat down, he had practically ignored everyone, and when asked why he had been absent during the attendance day, he simply replied that he had some important commitments.

Naturally, this flat answer didn't please the elder Shu Ai Qing, but she decided to drop the matter.

For some reason, the aura surrounding this masked boy felt very different from the others present.

It was a strange and mysterious aura, and in some ways, mature.

She didn't know what was happening but decided not to think too much about it.

At the very least, she could tell the boy had abilities.

She remembered him from the selection test, where he had scored a perfect score on the theory test, something difficult to achieve in such a short amount of time.

Even she, knowing all the answers, wasn't sure if she could have answered all the questions so quickly within a minute.

This only proved how special the boy in front of her was, even more so for the impeccable performance he gave during the practical test.

These were probably the only reasons why she let him off so easily.

Like it or not, he was needed for the tournament, and given his skill, he would most likely be a great help in securing a good position.

They might even win first place.

While she decided not to cause Ethan any further problems, someone else at the table thought differently.

'Damn it, you show up late, and now you're acting like nothing's wrong?'

It was none other than Xun Wei.

Knowing that there was a possibility for him to participate, his mood had been high the whole tim,e until today, when the masked boy showed up.

He had thought his participation in the tournament was assured, but who could have predicted that the masked boy would arrive at the last minute and snatch that opportunity from him?

This clearly annoyed him.

As they say, the higher the expectations, the harder the fall when things go wrong. Find adventures at m_v l|e-NovelFire

But he had no intention of giving up so easily.

He had trained a lot over the last three months and had successfully refined low-grade Level 2 pills with relative ease, so he no longer thought himself inferior to the masked boy as he had before.

So, in the end, he turned to him and said:

"You know, I'm not entirely convinced of your participation in the tournament.

You avoided participating in the last match against senior Xiang Hua, and you were really late in arriving here, when you should have handled your affairs and made sure everything was in order for the tournament.

Look, the pavilion elder had to go through the trouble of bringing me along because your participation was uncertain.

You're not going to pretend none of that happened, are you?"

He said this clearly trying to cast Ethan in a bad light.

Ethan, on the other hand, found Xun Wei's amusing attempt to steal his spot in the tournament rather funny and responded with a light chuckle and a neutral tone.

"So what?"

Ethan didn't want to provoke any unnecessary fights. Sёarch* The nôvelFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

If it were up to him, he'd attend the tournament, do what he had to do, and then leave without wasting any more time.

The only reason he was participating was to promote his brand and strengthen his position in the market.

But now, after all the improvements he'd undergone in the past 20 years in the minor dimension, both in terms of cultivation and alchemy skills, he no longer saw it as that important.

He was now skilled enough to refine higher and higher level pills and easily outshine the competition, but that would require effort on his part, not just participation in the tournament.

It wasn't just any competition; it was an imperial one.

To leave as if nothing had happened would be disrespectful to the competition, the pavilion, and all the participants.

Sure, at his current level he couldn't care less, but now that he's already here, why not?

He saw it more as a little vacation than anything else.

He also wanted to see the level of the other alchemy contenders from the other regions.

After all, the Phoenix Empire had always been the place he roamed, be it in small towns or the capital, and eventually within the Phoenix Sect.

Participating in the tournament was like taking a breath of fresh air and seeing a bit more of the outside world.

So, why not participate?

Xun Wei, hearing his audacious response, wanted to flip the table and hit at him, but he restrained himself, taking a deep breath to calm down before saying:

"How about this? Why don't we compete again?

You've beaten me once already, so it shouldn't be difficult for you to do it again, right?"

He said, clearly trying to provoke some kind of reaction from him, but with that mask on, it was hard to tell what he was thinking.

The pavilion elder, seeing this scene, decided not to intervene and instead watched how the situation would unfold.

She could have easily ended it with a simple command, but she wanted to see how the masked boy would handle this.

She honestly hoped Ethan would accept the challenge because she, too, wanted to see if the masked boy had improved since the last time.

She remembered that during the last competition, she, like the other examiners, had probed his cultivation and discovered, to her shock, that he was at the third stage, similar to most of them.

This, in itself, made them pay more attention to him.

But now, when she tried to probe his cultivation again, she realized she couldn't sense anything at all.

It was as if he were a normal person, but that would be impossible. So, she concluded that he was most likely using some kind of artifact to conceal his cultivation base.

She didn't believe that in just three months, this person had made giant leaps in his cultivation.

No matter how talented he was, no one could make such progress in such a short time.

And so, like everyone else, she waited for his answer.

And when he finally opened his mouth to respond, what came out was as flat as before.

"No."