Chương 68: A Slightly Tense Exam

Looking at this grey face, without any emotion at the sight of her, the examiner frowned slightly.

"Give me your personal plaque. And you may begin..." She straightened up and extended her palm. An without raising his gaze took out his plaque and using his Qi placed it on her palm.' Damn... I thought I could at least have some fun by accusing him of improper conduct and kicking him out of here... but he won't even look at me... Eh, now I have to sit here for two days while he blows all his attempts and leaves the auditorium with a disappointed face...'

Exhaling with a frustrated look, she slowly walked toward her chair, elegantly swaying her hips. Sitting down on the chair, she cross-referenced the information from the exam sheet received from the wooden doll with An's personal plaque. After making sure everything was in order, she slumped slightly and closed her eyes, waiting for it all to end.' Oh... there are catalysts here too. This will be a first.' Opening the first chest, he saw eight different second-rank spirit plants and four catalysts.

He could not wait to start; he was itching to finally begin refining pills.' Hmm, even the recipe with full step-by-step instructions... Unexpected.' Carefully laying out the plants before him, at the bottom of the chest lay a rolled-up sheet. Unrolling it, he saw the pill's name and its step-by-step preparation. The only thing missing from the instructions were the timings and tricks needed for successful concoction. But for him that didn't matter, since he had never refined according to timings and memorization.

All he needed were the Qi flows and the information contained within them to successfully refine the pill.' Qi Attraction Wall, a pill for cultivators with a dominant Earth element. The boost depends on the strength, more precisely, the dominance of the element in the cultivator's roots. But the increase is simply laughable, the pill can enhance your Qi output by 8-10%. Hmm... Good, I think it's time to begin!'

Having finished studying the recipe and the spirit plants with catalysts, he ran through several concoction scenarios from start to finish, working through all possible errors. After spending a few minutes on analysis, he began. Taking the cauldron and opening it, he converted his Qi into water and, following the instructions, added all the spirit plants, and only two of the four catalysts. Five hours later.' Hmm? He still hasn't failed?' Opening her eyes, the examiner looked at An." Ha?"

A sound suddenly escaped her mouth. Looking at his cauldron, she scanned the inside of the cauldron with wide eyes, using her internal technique, common to all cultivators who had broken through to Foundation Establishment, namely the ability of spirit sense, which allowed her to scan the surroundings through Qi within a limited radius. Using spirit sense, she saw that the pill was already in its final stage of concoction, at the Calming technique.

Abruptly standing up from her chair, she approached the table, standing opposite An, not taking her eyes off the process itself.' He... wait, wait a minute! I don't sense any energy from him at all... It's as if he's a mortal... And his heartbeat and breathing are almost non-existent... What kind of technique is that? Why didn't I notice it earlier! Only when he uses his Qi during refining, only then can I sense his ninth layer of Qi Condensation cultivation…''

As if he were a switch, turning off his cultivation and turning it back on... A brilliant technique! On the level of my master's!' Trying to scan him, she realized she couldn't catch even a weak energy emanating from him, at the moment he wasn't using his energy. Puzzled, she continued scanning him with her spirit sense, which in the cultivation world is considered rude even toward weaker cultivators.' Eh. This doesn't feel very comfortable… Did she just use spirit sense?

I thought it was considered rude in the cultivation world to use this ability, even toward weaker cultivators, according to Elder Shoa… Although, now to trust his words…' Feeling his body being invaded by energy over and over, he frowned, but continued watching the cauldron, without raising his gaze. Finally removing her spirit sense from him, she directed it inside the cauldron, ' This is only his first attempt, and the pill is almost ready.

And judging by the aroma, the quality is clearly high, which means the first stage is almost passed.' Finally finishing the pill, An carefully opened the cauldron and was about to take out the pill, when it was intercepted by the examiner, standing right before him. An saw a blur before his eyes, and the next moment, she was already examining the pill. Waving her hand, the masses of aroma emanating from the cauldron and the pill dispersed throughout the auditorium, away from them.

She took out an artifact for checking pill quality from her ring, and began the inspection.

"Only 11% potency loss. Impressive… Congratulations, the first stage can be considered passed. You may move on to the second pill whenever you wish. You still have forty-two hours left. So if you want to rest, don't hesitate." Throwing a glance at him, she saw that he had already reached for the second chest, without even waiting for her to finish. Seeing this, she clicked her tongue and turning around tossed the pill onto the table and headed back to her chair.

Sitting more comfortably, this time she no longer closed her eyes, but intently watched all of An's actions.' Only 11%, not bad for a first attempt. Hahaha!' He almost raised his hands to the sky and performed his already honed habit, when everything worked out in his experiments.' Ahem. Too early to celebrate, I'm almost not responsible for this, it's all thanks to the step-by-step recipe. Compared to my pills, where I'm mostly flying blind, not knowing what reaction will follow another.

So my result is this good because of a ready-made and pre-chewed recipe for idiots.' Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.' By the way, catalysts, surprisingly, greatly ease and calm the conflicts between Qi during concoction.' Standing and preparing everything for the second pill, he analyzed his first work and how easily everything had gone. Continuing to analyze the experience he gained, his thoughts simultaneously drifted in another direction.' I still don't understand…

if Elder Shoa wanted to use me, then why did he provide so much help, if he could have just done the bare minimum... It feels like he was preparing me for something, he needed me to be more knowledgeable in alchemy, in my abilities… I really don't understand.' Having cleaned the cauldron and removed everything unnecessary, leaving only one set of plants and catalysts for the second pill, An picked up the sheet with the recipe.' Beast Passion pill?'

Reading the name of the recipe, he felt surprised, not expecting to have to refine an aphrodisiac for beasts.' The examiner wants to say that every Alchemy Master should know how to make this pill? Although, if I recall the chapter from the book Know Whose Tracks These Are, the higher the cultivation of a spirit beast, the less willing it is to mate with individuals of lower cultivation. And this pill can help at the right moment.'

Starting to think about the reason for choosing this pill, and mentioning spirit beasts, he suddenly remembered the rooster. Turning around, he saw Baldi curled up by his feet, sleeping peacefully.' Hmm, is all this really that boring for you?' Not wanting to disturb him, he turned back to the table and began working through all the possible scenarios for refining the second pill, all the errors, all the rough spots. Exhaling, he began refining the Beast Passion pill.

From the very start of the concoction, she sat and watched him through her spirit sense. Barely moving, not taking her eyes off him, occasionally nodding or shaking her head.' He's already approaching the completion of Forming. Throughout this time, he's only made a few timing errors, some of which should have resulted in complete failure, but no. In the end, he's perfectly brought the process along, only a little bit remains.'

Taking out a white pocket watch from her robe, she opened it and saw that more than seven hours had already passed on the second pill, which, for a disciple taking the exam, was a decent result.' He's only at the ninth layer of Qi Condensation… Where did he even come from?' She glanced alternately at the cauldron, and at young boy.' If I'm assuming correctly, I need to make two more small mistakes during Forming, otherwise the loss will be too low, close to peak quality. And that's not good...'

Finishing the pill's Forming, he deliberately missed a few emerging Qi flows from the pill, thereby lowering the quality. Even though in reality, he would have liked to miss more, but he was afraid of losing control and ruining the concoction, perfectly understanding that his strength as a cultivator wouldn't be enough, in case of chaos, to stabilize all these second-rank plant energies trapped inside the small cauldron. Almost another hour later, An finally refined the second pill.

Carefully opening the cauldron's lid, the pill immediately flew out and landed in the examiner's palm, as she was already standing right before him.

"Not bad, 13% loss... Keep it up, and the second stage is passed." Putting the pill away from the quality measurement artifact, she stared intently at him as he, again ignoring her, began cleaning the table and the cauldron. Feeling slight irritation that this disciple wouldn't even glance at her, she maliciously snapped her fingers, and the masses of aroma from the pill dispersed through the air.

But this time, she did not step back; instead, she continued standing next to An, looking at him in an attempt to finally catch his gaze. Feeling her gaze, An gathered himself and exhaled. Completely ignoring her, he began laying out the spirit plants and catalysts, arranging them on the table, carefully checking them. Having laid everything out neatly, he took out the sheet with the pill recipe. Reading the recipe, he wrinkled his nose slightly.

The sheet only contained the concoction stages and ingredients, but no pill name or its application. Recalling the recipe book inside his spatial pouch, he tried to match this recipe with the book, but in his head, there wasn't a single one that matched the one he was holding. Realizing he was seeing it for the first time, he began studying the plants lying on the table.' This is... a concentrated poison? No, not quite...

These three plants neutralize each other, especially the Crystal Root, which completely loses its characteristics… in the end, their interaction neutralizes any poison in the other plants... Hmm? Wait, is this something cosmetic? Heh...' Examining the plants before him for almost twenty minutes, he identified the most likely effect of this pill. He smirked, and for the first time he raised his gaze and looked the examiner standing before him in the eyes.

"This is the Years of Beauty pill. Even if you spent all two days staring at the plants, trying to remember the recipe's name, you wouldn't have succeeded. Haha!" Catching his eyes, she covered her mouth and began to giggle, amused by his helplessness. At the same time, she felt triumph, that he had finally raised his eyes and looked at her.

"This is one of those recipes that are hidden from books for certain reasons. Although, in most cases, these reasons are related to the interests of third parties. Ahem!"

"What am I saying… You're probably wondering, what kind of miracle pill is this Years of Beauty, right?" Seeing his unchanging calm expression, she removed her hand from her mouth and leaned slightly on the table, barely pushing her chest forward.' Oh, twice the same move?' Without taking his eyes off her face, he continued waiting for her to finish explaining, and finally let him refine the last pill.

"Even though this pill isn't popular for export, due to the rarity of the recipe and the exclusivity of this pill, our Sect makes a pretty decent profit from just a few orders a month." Slightly shifting in place, moving her body forward and back, she looked at An's face with burning eyes.' Her behavior is definitely not normal. Perhaps she really is practicing techniques that alter one's personality this drastically…

And what's starting to scare me, I no longer feel anger or rage from her, only unbridled desire and even arousal... I need to finish quickly and get out of here, before something worse happens!' Lowering his gaze again, deliberately ignoring her swaying figure, An began preparing for the concoction." Oh? I completely forgot why this pill is so in demand... By eating just one, you can stop external aging for several decades, and restore your twenty-year-old appearance...

Just imagine what people would give for eternal youth. Aah~" Seeing An lower his gaze again to ignore her slightly protruding chest, she wilted slightly. Finishing her spiel about the pill, she turned around and returned to her chair, swaying her hips more than usual. But this time, her behavior changed again. With a demonstrative scrape against the floor, she turned the chair backward to face him. With a smooth movement of one hand, she unclasped the outer fastener of her upper robe, opening it like a coat.

Underneath, there was only a thin form-fitting shirt, through which absolutely everything was visible, especially in the daylight streaming through the huge windows. And tight-fitting thin pants, not inferior in thinness to the shirt. With a smirk, she sat on the chair, resting her hands and chest on the backrest, and slowly spread her legs on either side.' Damn...' Even without looking, An was stunned for a second, seeing this with his peripheral vision.

Closing his eyes for a moment and pulling himself together, he began working through the concoction process in his head, over and over, eliminating the problems that might arise.