When the sun rose again, Darian opened his eyes, stood up, and stretched.
People in the arena stared at him, somewhat dazed… the nap looked pretty deep; they even saw him drool a little.
Darian had entered a deep meditative state while keeping his attention on the surroundings, especially on the special rune inside his pill furnace. That rune took a long time to disappear and for everything to be completed.
But, to the people outside… he definitely slept in the middle of this extremely important competition. Those from the Golden Crow Sect were somewhat embarrassed; it looked ridiculously absurd.
As he put away the chair and the parasol, Darian saw that only thirteen people remained. Many had left while he was 'sleeping'.
This was due to the order in which they refined the ingredients. They left the three most difficult ingredients for the end. Most likely, the majority failed at that stage.
