“Being a principal isn’t fun at all. The head of the eight emperors sounds much better!” Firey blurted out.

“Ouch!” The next second, she crouched down and covered her head. “Master, I’m sorry! I meant I wanted to be the head of the eight emperors!”

Both Himmel Soan and Bandora laughed.

Himmel Soan only gave Firey’s head a little knock with his knuckle, and Firey made such an exaggerated response.

What a girl!

While they were laughing and chatting, the alchemy competition was coming to an end. Most people had produced their pills. Only Lan was still working on her furnace.

Bang!

There was a loud thump, and the competition was over.

“She made it!”

“How’s that possible? I didn’t know defective pills could be reused!”

“That’s against common sense! It’s going to change the history of alchemy!”

“Yes, she has refined the defective pills, but what pills has she turned them into?”

“I’m curious, too. Elder Tine asked us for eight sets of defective pills. Together with her own, she has nine in total. What pills are we going to see?”

“They have to be Grade 6 or 7 at least!”

“I don’t think they’ll be higher than Grade 5. How many effective ingredients can the defective pills have? Grade 5 is already a far stretch!”

“…”

Everybody was talking about it. Most of them had one of the two speculations. Some felt she would make low-grade pills, while others thought she would come up with ordinary Grade-6 pills.

Either way, they couldn’t deny the fact that pills could be refined. They thought Elder Tine was using this competition to showcase her skills.

“Alright, the competition has ended, and so should the discussion.” Bandora came out of the tower.

The crowd immediately quieted down. Bandora was here to announce the final result. Before that, she needed to reveal Lan’s result first.

“Lan, open your furnace, please,” said Bandora.

Lan nodded and opened the furnace without hesitation.

The thunder tribulation arrived at once.

The thunder tribulation?

How could this happen?

Everybody was dumbfounded.

“I’m using the pills as a channel to guide me into the Hinayana stage!” Lan began to give off some unmistakable energy.

She was going to have a breakthrough!

That was the reason for the thunder tribulation!

However, the crowd was still confused. Lan was only a mid-stage Contemplation cultivator. How could she make a breakthrough now?

Could she have skipped a few levels?

“Is she achieving this through making those pills?” Bandora asked herself.

Many things happening today had exceeded her imagination. She almost got used to them. Himmel Soan was the cause of all the amazing events.

Who exactly was he?

She had no idea.

The thunder tribulation arrived with a loud rumbling noise. Lan was hit by nine streaks of lightning, and she handled them as easily as eating and drinking.

“Congratulations, Mr. Soan! She has reached the Hinayana stage!” Bandora congratulated Himmel Soan.

“It all came from her own talent and hard work,” said Himmel Soan.

As soon as he said that, Lan arrived with a reverent look on her face.

“Master!” Lan wanted to kneel.

“There’s no need for that. Please stand up.” Himmel Soan didn’t let her, however.

He let Lan stand up before she could kneel. She had done so already when she became his pupil. There was no need to do that again. Kneeling on the ground every time she met him would be too troublesome.

“I’ll announce the result now.

“Lan Soan is the first. She made Class C Grade-9 pills with Grade-6 ingredients.

“The second is Frost. She made Grade-8 pills with inscriptions, although she’s only at the Virtualization stage.

“The third is Elder Neu. As a Contemplation cultivator, he made Class C Grade-9 pills.

“I’m not going to list all the following names,” said Bandora.

She would only read the first three names. Reading everything aloud was too much.

The crowd murmured when they heard Lan Soan’s name.

Lan Soan?

That surname…

“Who’s that? Is she referring to Elder Tine?”

“How can that be Elder Tine’s surname? I don’t understand!”

“Me neither, but the principal has announced it herself. It can’t be a mistake.”

“Is the man next to the principal Elder Tine’s master? Elder Tine has turned down the principal’s offer! How could that happen?”

“Hasn’t the eight emperors forbidden the surname Soan? Why is that Elder Tine’s surname? Has the principal mispronounced it?”

“Of course, she wouldn’t make such careless mistakes!”

“Even if the eight emperors forbid it, so what? The principal hasn’t. She’s at the Emperor stage, too!”

People couldn’t stop talking about Elder Tine and her surname. They couldn’t believe what they just heard. The ban had been around for so long that they all felt awkward about hearing that surname.

They all looked at Bandora. She was the only one who could answer their questions.

“Elder Tine changed her surname to Soan after she took Mr. Soan as her master. There’s nothing to talk about. Everybody should take a good rest now. The combat trial will start tomorrow.

“Dismissed.”

Bandora gave a brief explanation, telling them the essential things they needed to know. Elder Tine had the surname Soan because she had a teacher now.

Elder Tine had called Himmel Soan “master” in front of everybody. They would be very stupid if they couldn’t figure out who he was.

If Elder Tine changed her surname because of him, did that mean this ordinary-looking man was a Soan?

The master and pupil usually had the same surname. The eight emperors forbade that surname, but somebody with that surname was here. What was the principal up to?

“Lan, come with me.” Himmel Soan ignored other people’s gazes and summoned Lan.

Since she had reached the Hinayana stage, she could no longer participate in the competition.

“Master, I didn’t visit you when I arrived. I hope you didn’t mind!” Lan apologized to Himmel Soan.

“I need to talk to you about something else.”