At nine o’clock the next morning, over a hundred thousand cultivators, merchants, and townspeople packed both banks of the Cloud-Dragon Stone Bridge on the border between Great Yan and Three-River Province.
Right in the center of the wide stone bridge stood two raised wooden stages and a long red-draped table where five respected, neutral judges sat: three gray-bearded Grandmasters from the Central Continent Alchemist Verification Guild and two retired Rank 5 Royal Physicians from neighboring kingdoms.
On the eastern stage stood Elder Dan, dressed in his highest ceremonial regalia—a glittering gold-brocade robe embroidered with nine dragons and four cauldrons.
Even though Elder Dan had lost his thirty shadow assassins two nights ago and all two thousand of his Fire Boys yesterday, he had spent the entire night drinking calming spirit tea to steady his nerves. In front of him sat a three-foot-tall Rank 5 Nine-Dragon Gold Tripod—a sacred heirloom treasure borrowed from the Myriad-Pill Pavilion’s main mountain vault!
“People of the Central Continent! Respected Judges!” Elder Dan’s voice boomed across the river as he pointed an accusing finger toward the Great Yan side of the bridge. “For three days, King Pei Xuan and his disgraced rogue cook, Sun Baolu, have used cheap tricks, bath towels, and vulgar sugar candies to deceive the public and lure away our young apprentices! Candy is NOT true Immortal Alchemy!”
