Chapter 165: The Test for a Tier One Alchemist
At the doorway, there was a tall figure with transparent eyes like the cold clear spring on top of a snowy mountain, an exquisite face, and long eyebrows. On her tall and nimble body was a tight silver colored dress. The silver colored clothing and her warm jade like skin complimented each other, giving the girl a special icy metallic beauty. What caused others to be most amazed about was that this girl in a silver dressed actually possessed long silver hair that extended to her waist.
This silver color was not the pale silver color of illness. Rather, it was like soft and gentle silver threads. As it drifted, it gave the silver clad girl a strange attraction.
After his gaze carefully sized her up, Xiao Yan could not stop praising in his heart. No wonder this girl was able to cause most of the gazes in the hall to heat up. This kind of loveliness and demeanor was considered to be excellent.
When compared to her, the one known as Lin Fei lacked this kind of spiritual demeanor. The soft and gentle silvery hair with full luster was easy to cause other females to feel a little jealous in their hearts.
After sweeping his gaze around, Xiao Yan slowly withdrew it. He moved his body slightly and consciously opened up a small path.
The silver clad girl slowly walked forward. She ignored Xiao Yan as she passed him and directly headed for Frank.
Standing by the side, Xiao Yan sniffed the faint body fragrance she left behind as she passed and praised with a smile in his heart. “Excellent quality.”
“Teacher!” As she arrived in front of Frank, a faint smile surfaced on the exquisite face of the silver clad girl. In an instant, that smile was like a snow lotus that bloomed on an icy mountain, giving everyone a feeling of beauty.
“Haha, you are finally here. Ao Tuo old man had already become impatient.” With a gentle gaze, Frank stared at the student he was most proud of as he said in a pleased voice.
“Grandmaster Ao Tuo!” The silver clad girl tilted her head and greeted Ao Tuo, who was rolling his eyes.
“Xue Mei really knows her manners. Compared to my… *cough*. Alright, alright. Since you are here, let’s quickly start.” As Ao Tuo smiled and nodded, he turned around and noticed his student pursing her small mouth. Involuntarily he shook his head and quickly changed his words.
Nodding slightly, Xue Mei also walked toward the stone table under everyone’s gaze. Between her and Lin Fei was an empty table.
When the two’s eyes met, there were some sparks. It appeared that the two of them were not harmonious.
“Hmm, please do not cause the cauldron to explode later. It is alright if you fail but don’t disturb me.” Lin Fei raised her pretty nose and softly snorted as her hand tapped lightly on a medicinal cauldron of the same model.
“I think that even if you are not distracted, your chances of failure would not be small.” Xue Mei smiled faintly. Although she appeared icy on the surface, it was difficult for her to remain calm in the face of her rival of a few years.
“*Cough*, alright…” Noticing that the smell of gunpowder was already becoming increasingly dense between the two despite the fact that the examination had yet to begin, Frank could only helplessly shake his head. After which, he faced Xiao Yan who was in a corner, “Young man, why don’t you go there. I am looking forward to your performance, haha. Even if you were to fail, it is alright. You have a lot of time ahead of you.”
Listening to the meaning in his words, it appeared that Frank did not hold much hope for Xiao Yan successfully passing the test.
Shrugging his shoulders, Xiao Yan looked toward the place where Frank pointed to. He could not help but shake his head helplessly. This was because he realized that the spot was right between the two girls who were in a belligerent mood.
When the two girls who were giving a tit for a tat with each other heard Frank’s arrangement, they involuntarily glanced at Xiao Yan. Although Xiao Yan could not be considered as the kind of extremely handsome man who would cause women to throw themselves at him upon first glance, he would at the very least not cause those who saw him to feel disgusted. Thus, neither of them voiced their rejection. After randomly taking a glance, they withdrew their gaze and started to check the tools needed to refine medicine on the stone table.
Helplessly shaking his head, Xiao Yan ignored the jealous gaze the few young people of the same occupation as he slowly walked toward the stone table. The corner of his eyes swept across his two sides. The two different beautiful auras of the girls allowed him to comfort himself before he started to check the tools on the stone table.
The basic requirement for a tier one alchemist was that the person must be able to successfully refine a medicinal pill that had been shaped. The type of medicinal pill was something that was randomly decided by the Alchemist Association. Xiao Yan grabbed a parchment made of goatskin from the stone table and took a glance. This was a medicinal formula, one that was for a medicinal pill known as the Amassing Strength Pill. This Amassing Strength Pill had the effect of causing the user to gain some strength for a short while after consuming it. Among the tier one medicinal pills, this kind of medicinal pill might only be barely considered as middle-grade but for a newcomer who was taking the test for the first time, this was undoubtedly a challenge.
Holding the Amassing Strength Pill Medicinal Formula in his hand, Xiao Yan’s gaze drifted left and right. He realized that everyone seemed to have obtained a different medicinal formula. From the expressions of the two girls beside him, it appeared that they were confident in the medicinal pill that they were required to make.
“Don’t tell me that these two old men were trying to make things difficult?” Xiao Yan mumbled in his heart. He glanced at Frank whose face was filled with smiles and helplessly shook his head. Once again, he turned his gaze onto the stone table.
On the stone table were the ingredients needed for the Amassing Strength Pill. Only three sets of ingredients were prepared. In other words, whoever completely used up these three sets of medicinal ingredients during the refinement process and did not produce anything, would be considered to have failed the test.
Beside the medicinal ingredients, a few jade bottles of quite good color were placed nearby. It appeared that they were meant to be used to store the final pill.
After taking a brief glance at most of the things on the stone table, Xiao Yan’s heart gradually calmed. With his current alchemist ability, successfully refining this Amassing Strength Pill should not require too much energy. Moreover, with the help from the Purple Flame, his current alchemist skill had been strengthened even further. A mere medicinal pill that was barely considered a tier one medicinal pill did not possess the ability to trouble him.
As no one had announced the start of the examination, Xiao Yan’s gaze randomly swept across his two sides. After a rough glance at the medicinal ingredients placed on the two girls’ stone table, Xiao Yan pursed up his lips. After being influenced by Yao Lao, Xiao Yan could now roughly guess the type of medicinal pill the other two were attempting to refine by briefly glancing at the medicinal ingredients prepared.
“Wound Healing Pill, Congeal Flame Pill… dammit. Why is it that my medicinal formula is harder?” Xiao Yan muttered in an unsatisfied voice in his heart. His Amassing Strength Pill was undoubtedly the hardest when compared with both Xue Mei and Lin Fei’s medicinal formulas.
“Dammit. These two old men are abusing their power…” Being helpless to change the situation, Xiao Yan could only viciously slander Frank and Ao Tuo in his heart.
“Are all of you done checking? If there’s no problem, then… the examination has started!”
Upon noticing that no one had spoken up after sweeping his gaze across the stone tables, Frank waved his hand. A force escaped from his hand and smashed down on an ancient metal bell in the hall. Immediately, a clear chime floated within the hall.
Hearing the clock chime, all the examination candidates at the stone table other than Xiao Yan quickly placed their hands on the fire outlet of the medicinal cauldron. The Dou Qi in their body surged out and instantly a flame began rising within their medicinal cauldons after a muffled ‘puff’ sound.
After the flame rose within the medicinal cauldrons, a transparent light curtain slowly began to appear on the outside. The light curtain formed a square shape which completely surrounded the examinee within it.
Following the appearance of the light curtain cover, the whisperings in the hall completely became quiet. Everyone was entirely focused as they stared at the examinees’ actions. Occasionally, when they noticed new faces who were quite good with their ability, they would secretly nod their heads.
Standing in front of the stone table, Xiao Yan turned his head and looked at his surroundings. He realized that other than Xue Mei and Lin Fei, whose Dou Qi flames were a little darker, the flame in everyone’s cauldron were all a pale yellow color. Obviously, their strengths were below that of a four star Dou Zhe.
Within the stone tables, everyone was beginning to refine their own medicine. Only Xiao Yan continued to foolishly look at his surroundings. His manner was like a crane among a group of chickens and it was difficult for anyone to not notice him.
“That kid, what is he doing?” With a frown, Frank uncertainly asked as he looked at Xiao Yan.
“This… I don’t know.” Waving his hand, Ao Tuo was also a little puzzled. Was it possible that this kid did not even know how to start a fire? If it was like this, wouldn’t it be too much of a comedy?
“*Cough*… does he have a recommendation letter from a teacher? Let me see who taught this student…” Frank waved his hand and called one of his subordinate over and said.
“Chairman, he does not seem to have a recommendation letter. However, on his record, there is someone called Yao Lao who is his alchemist teacher…” That subordinate smiled bitterly after flipping through Xiao Yan’s information.
“Yao Lao?” Blinking his eyes in ignorance, Frank tilted his head and eyed Ao Tuo. “Have you heard of this name?”
“I have muddled along in the Jia Ma Empire for decades… but I have never heard of any alchemist teacher who has the qualification to accept students called Yao Lao.” Regarding this foreign name, Ao Tuo’s head was similarly filled with fog.
“Forget it. We will ask in greater detail when the time’s up. From the looks of things, I feel that we have been tricked by that kid.”
After irritably throwing the information in his hand toward his subordinate, Frank’s expression was a little ugly. After all, if a joke like this actually happened in the branch that he was in charge of and news were to spread, he would likely be mocked by the Alchemist Association branches of other cities.
Just as Frank and others outside were irritated at Xiao Yan’s action, Xue Mei and Lin Fei from within the light curtains also glanced at this far too odd young man with stunned expressions. Did this guy think that it was time to be fooling around?
Xiao Yan naturally did not know that his hesitation had attracted the attention of so many people. After musing for a long while, he let out a light sigh and slowly placed his hand on the fire outlet. In his heart, he helplessly said, “Whatever, it’s just a slightly unique flame. They won’t possibly jail me and slice me apart to study it…”
After comforting himself in his heart, the Dou Qi in Xiao Yan’s body began to rush forth, swiftly passing through his Qi Paths and moving along his palms. With a soft sound, it entered the medicinal cauldron.
“Bang.” Following a muted sound, a tempestuous purple colored flame suddenly rose within the medicinal cauldron.
At the same time outside the light curtain, Frank was irritably grabbing a cup of tea from his subordinate. He was just about to take a sip when the corner of his eyes suddenly noticed the purple colored flame that rose in Xiao Yan’s medicinal cauldron. Instantly, his eyes abruptly widened. With a ‘puff’ sound, the tea in his mouth was spat out in a rough manner…
The tea wetted his clothes but Frank ignored it. His finger was shaking as he pointed to Xiao Yan within the light curtain. In a shocked voice, he cried out involuntarily, “Purple colored flame? ‘Heavenly Flame’?”
Hearing this, the entire hall was instantly dead quiet. Numerous gazes suddenly turned toward Xiao Yan behind the light curtain…