To avoid accidents, the competition was held on an empty field. Moreover, to ensure the fairness of the competition, both Vivian and Zayn had to prepare their elixir on the spot.
After the scene was set, both parties got ready. The targets for the drug experiment were two mice placed in a cage.
Baltazar took on the role of the referee, and Vivian didn’t intend to show all he’d got.
Even though he had nothing to lose if he lost the competition and could even gain the meridian-nourishing plant if he won, he made Salazar record the entire process to prevent his rival from cheating.
After all, whoever came to challenge his medical skills had a death wish!
“Let’s start!” When Baltazar’s words fell, Vivian and Zayn started moving almost at the same time.
Looking at the purchased medicinal materials that were neatly placed in front of him, Zayn skillfully picked out all the herbs he needed.
Heart-stopper flower, lotus root, angelica, the root of Longstem Hawksbeard, as well as other familiar and unknown herbs were placed into the medicine jar one after another.
While pounding the herbs, he did not forget to observe Vivian’s progress. All he saw was Vivian slowly picking out his herbs.
With a mocking smirk, Zayn secretly expressed his disdain for his opponent. From choosing the herbs alone, Zayn could tell that even a third-tier chemist from Emsgate worked faster than Stefan.
“Cathians are merely talkers. They only know how to brag with their mouth, but in reality, their skills lack far behind.” While muttering to himself, Zayn sped up the motion of pounding his herbs.
Baltazar nodded repeatedly beside him, watching his disciple’s actions.
The combination of the herbs Zayn picked out was reasonable. Moreover, under the mutual influence of the properties of the ingredients, the toxicity of the heart-stopper pampas could be maximized.
‘Not bad… Seems that my beloved apprentice managed to improve himself in poison-making over this period of time…’
His notoriety as Emsgate’s youngest genius did not come easily.
Ten minutes later, Zayn completed his concoction. He was now holding a small bottle of lilac-colored liquid.
Under the sun, it reflected a charming glow, but of course, it was more hazardous than one could imagine. Due to that, he wore a thick pair of sealed gloves to prevent getting in contact with the elixir.
Meanwhile, Vivian was still picking out his herbs slowly.
He picked the notoginseng, angelica, hasma, dendrobium, and many more. In short, he was just throwing all types of tonics into the jar.
Salazar, who was watching from the side, started getting anxious.
‘Bruh, we’re competing to make poison, not to refine the perfect tonic!’
Despite his lack of medical knowledge, Salazar could tell from the names of the various medicinal materials on the medicine box that Vivian seemed to have misunderstood the entire concept of the competition.
When he glanced at Zayn’s elixir, he could already sense the dangerous aura it emitted even from a distance. From the aspect of concoction, the opponent was firmly ahead of Vivian by a large margin.
Was Vivian really going to lose in just the first match?
Considering the current situation when rumors about Vivian were spreading like wildfire in Stonedale and Eastshire, Salazar reckoned that Vivian’s losing would only be adding fuel to fire.
He couldn’t fathom Vivian’s intentions at all!
After another ten minutes or so, Vivian finally completed his concoction.
Salazar couldn’t help sniffing, trying to take in the smell. He shuddered after smelling it and wondered what on earth it was.
Could it really be the perfect tonic?
Standing opposite them, Baltazar and Zayn exchanged glances with each other, their eyes filled with triumph. They watched the entire refining process Vivian carried out.
Among the sixteen herbs and fifteen tonics, the only poisonous ingredient he used was a seven-step vine. Although the seven-step vine was toxic, it couldn’t compare to the heart-stopper elixir Zayn had made.
Under the dilution effect of the other fifteen tonics, both Baltazar and Zayn could already foresee the outcome of the competition.
“Now that you have both completed your concoctions, you may test the elixir now.” While saying that, Baltazar presented a look of triumph.
