The First Alchemist - Chap 48

Chapter 48 - Before the Finals

“Where have you been?” Chem Au asked when he saw his little brother, followed by Sorka Jiu, returning back to the market area.

"Making some friends," Chem Al said.

"Friends?"

"Nevermind." Chem Al shook his head. "Come on, we better hurry or we'll be late for the tournament."

Who the hell do you think I was waiting for? Chem Au thought.

But no matter. It was finally time for the Finals.

Everyone from Chem Village was excited. To think, someone from their village has qualified for the Finals!

Nevermind just from their village, this was the first time any cultivator that came from a lowly village managed to get this far.

Needless to say, they were dancing with joy over this. Spending the day selling crops, who wants to do that? Instead, they all followed behind Chem Au towards the tournament grounds. With the jubilant atmosphere and the amount of people, it almost felt like a parade.

Soon they arrived. The tournament was already packed; standing room only.

It was like the entire city was here. It wasn't just excitement over watching the final match, it was about this never before seen precedent of a weak villager fighting in the Finals. Of course, they couldn't call Chem Au weak anymore. Being able to make it this far with barely any weapons and shitty leather armor showed the extent of his strength.

For this to have happened, people have been talking about it throughout the city, attracting everyone here.

"The heavens doesn't have eyes. To think a village kid made it to the Finals."

"He's definitely going to lose. There is no way that he can beat Li Qinli, whose cultivation has managed to reach the twenty fifth level, a full five levels higher!"

"Sigh.... The odds are too much in Li Qinli’s favor. Even if I bet on him, I won’t be able to make that much money."

To be able to qualify for the Finals, Chem Au could be considered strong. However, they still didn't think that he was going to win.

After all, he was fighting against last year's champion: Li Qinli.

Honestly, most of Chem Village thought the same. They didn't think that Chem Au would win either. But they were still happy that he was able to make it this far.

Chem Au thought differently. He wanted to win.

When this whole thing started, he was just hoping to not embarrass himself and lose during his first match. But then, miracles kept happening everyday. He got through the Preliminaries, then the Semi-Finals, and now he was finally here to challenge the strongest youth in Vera City.

Doubts plagued his mind, but he didn't let them stop him. Since he had made it this far, he might as well go for the championship.

That was his mindset as he stepped onto the field amidst mostly boos from the audience.

On the other side, when last year’s champion, Li Qinli, stepped on the field, the crowd roared with cheers.

He wasn’t wearing some rough leather armor, but a gorgeous white robe that was obviously made from some high quality material. On his waist hung two twin swords held in jeweled sheaths. Combine this with his handsome face and long hair flowing in the wind, he looked like a legendary hero.

However, despite his heroic appearance, his inner thoughts were more on the moody side.

According to the deal his father had made with that weak villager, he will have to lose. It wasn't like he didn't understand the reasons. Winning a tournament in a small city meant almost nothing in the grand scheme of things. What he needed right now was a way to get stronger so that he could compete with those cultivators in the large cities and powerful sects, and maybe get further in the Capital’s main tournament.

Still, even though he knew that he needed to lose to get those helpful pills, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed in this upcoming fight. His current mindset was that he should at least make it look realistic when he lost.

On one side, one was brimming with energy to win, while on the other, one was preparing to lose.

And in that moment, Li Qinli pulled out his twin swords from their sheaths. They glittered under the sun. But instead of attacking like everyone thought he would, he simply tossed them to the sides.

Everyone’s minds reeled at that. What was going on?

“My goodness, what is he doing?”

“Why did he throw his swords away?”

As for Chem Au, he was wondering the same thing. While the audience speculated on what was going on, Li Qinli suddenly shouted in a loud voice for everyone to hear, “Don’t get me wrong. I just want to make this a fair fight.”

Oh, so that’s it… everyone thought.

“That’s our Vera City’s champion right there, so magnanimous.”

“He saw that the village kid didn’t have a weapon, so he threw his own weapons away. Li Qinli has such a good heart.”

“After all, the match would end too fast otherwise. This will give that village kid a better chance to not lose too quickly.”

This made the final match a little bit more exciting. The audience leaned forward with eyes wide open, not wishing to miss a thing. How was Li Qinli going to crush that village cultivator?

And then the match began.

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