“Ah Yu?” Zhou Yang couldn't help but speak up.
Zhou Shuo also furrowed his brows, looking at her with an expression that said, “Are you kidding me?”
Still immersed in disappointment and grief, Zhou Yue raised her brows and snapped ill-temperedly at Shi Yu's intervention, “Why are you joining in the commotion?”
She recalled how back in the cave, Shi Yu couldn't even afford spiritual grain and had to gnaw on dried jerky—hardly looking like an alchemist. Alchemists were treated as honored guests wherever they went; they would never live so frugally.
Seeing Shi Yu casually pull out one hundred spirit stones for the assessment, Zhou Yue felt infuriated by her recklessness, vexed that she was wasting spirit stones like this.
Accumulating cultivation resources was no easy task for rogue cultivators. Let's see how she cries later; I certainly won't be kind enough to help her out... Zhou Yue's thoughts were in disarray, and her head throbbed with a dull ache.
Master Ji also looked her up and down. Seeing how young the speaker was, her face still carrying youthful innocence, he couldn't help but smile. “Have you thought this through? If you fail the assessment, the fee will not be refunded.”
Noticing that Shi Yu and her companions were dressed in the most ordinary clothes, he knew they were likely rogue cultivators or from small families. To them, an assessment fee of one hundred low-grade spirit stones was far from cheap.
By now, everyone else who was taking the test had finished, leaving the pill furnaces empty. She was the only one left to be assessed.
Shi Yu raised an eyebrow slightly, nodded to Master Ji, and stepped into the assessment room.
The people who had already finished their tests saw that another candidate was stepping up and lingered to watch the spectacle.
The Alchemist Association was generous with its resources, even equipping the entrance of a small assessment room with a Mind-Focusing Array. Once she stepped inside, the noise from the outside world faded significantly, and her mind felt noticeably sharper and more focused.
Master Ji said, “Select whichever spiritual plants you need for the pill you wish to refine.”
Shi Yu glanced at the spiritual plant baskets nearby and asked, “Senior, may I ask if the certification assessment must be taken tier by tier, or can one skip levels?”
Master Ji was baffled. “Naturally, you must advance step by step in order.”
Even the most talented ordinary alchemists took at least several years to advance a single tier. Since higher-tier identity jade tokens offered vastly superior privileges and benefits within the city, anyone who could pass an assessment would do so immediately. Who would ever talk about skipping levels?
“How troublesome,” she muttered under her breath.
Master Ji didn't catch her words and asked, “What did you say?”
Shi Yu smiled, shook her head, and went over to select her spiritual plants.
Not wanting to waste too much time on the assessment, she casually grabbed a single set of spiritual plants for refining a Rejuvenation Pill and returned to her pill furnace. She was unlike the others, who spent half a day picking herbs out of fear that inadequate potency would cause their refinement to fail.
Master Ji raised his eyebrows when he saw her take only one set of spiritual plants.
Others, worried about making mistakes during the medicinal liquid extraction process, would always prepare at least two sets.
Was this little girl ignorant and fearless, or... supremely confident?
Everyone's gazes converged on her.
Zhou Yue asked Zhou Yang in a low voice, “Eldest Brother, what do you think she's trying to do?”
Zhou Yang spoke uncertainly, “Perhaps she... really knows alchemy.”
Beside them, though Zhou Shuo was still overcome with shame, he couldn't help countering his elder brother's words, “How could anyone just casually pick up alchemy?”
He considered himself the most talented among the younger generation of his family. While he might be nothing in a vast main city, he felt he was still far superior to a petty rogue cultivator like Shi Yu. Facing this young girl, he could still muster an arrogant posture.
Zhou Yue sneered and taunted him, “Mind your own business.”
...
Since the rules stipulated using the charcoal provided by the association to refine pills, her natal fire could not be used.
Shi Yu didn't mind. After all, it was only a Tier-1 pill, so what fire she used made little difference.
With a flick of her hand, a stream of spiritual Qi ignited the refined charcoal. Flames surged upward instantly, burning fiercely inside the pill furnace. The fire licked the furnace walls, casting a rosy glow over her face.
Shi Yu's expression remained unchanged as she smoothly injected spiritual Qi, controlling the flames to shift according to her will.
Having integrated the Void Fissure Spiritual Flame, manipulating this mortal fire was effortlessly easy. Every minute detail was handled with flawless precision; the fire obeyed her every whim like a tame pet.
However, to the onlookers, this scene was quite surprising.
The crowd outside that hadn't left yet erupted into low murmurs of discussion.
“Her fire control technique seems to have some real skill behind it.”
“And look at her relaxed expression. She might even be holding back.”
Zhou Shuo's eyes widened in disbelief, and he silently muttered, “Is this a joke...?”
Master Ji, who had initially been indifferent, froze. He thought to himself, Her mastery over heat control... is barely inferior to mine?
However, alchemy was not just about controlling heat.
The four steps—purification, fusion, pill division, and spirit injection—required deep knowledge of spiritual plant medicinal properties, control over fusion catalysis, and more... None of them were easy.
Still, based on her fire control alone, I am almost tempted to take her on as a disciple. Seeing that she looks like a rogue cultivator, she probably doesn't have a master yet, Master Ji thought, staring at Shi Yu. While his expression remained calm on the surface, his mind raced through several thoughts.
Looking back at Shi Yu, after warming the furnace, she directly tossed in all three spiritual plants at once, beginning to refine them simultaneously.
Master Ji's brow twitched.
The surrounding audience was equally dumbfounded.
To dare refine three spiritual plants simultaneously—was she not afraid that a slight misstep would cause conflicting medicinal effects, evaporating the liquid or turning it into dregs?
Yet, the outcome defied all expectations.
Under the young girl's calm and effortless control, the three spiritual plants hovered steadily in the center of the furnace, separated into three distinct blobs, and were simultaneously refined into medicinal liquid.
Her divine sense, wrapped in spiritual power, guided the flames to weave through them, continuously scorching and purifying the murky, dull liquid.
As the refinement progressed, the medicinal liquid slowly rose from the bottom fire inlet into the furnace chamber as it was purified. The spectators could no longer see what was happening inside and couldn't help guessing.
“Can she... actually form pills?”
“Controlling three blobs of liquid right from the start consumes a lot of divine sense. It's too reckless. I reckon forming a pill will be risky. Even if she succeeds, the quality probably won't be very good.”
“I share the same opinion.”
Time ticked by. When the three lustrous, translucent blobs of liquid reappeared, Shi Yu began the fusion and pill division process, producing a series of soft sizzling sounds from within the furnace.
...
Seeing that the pill formation was near and the furnace was about to be opened, Master Ji picked up his teacup and took a sip of spiritual tea to moisten his throat.
Every movement the girl made while refining was extraordinarily adept, so natural it seemed effortless.
Because the liquid had moved up into the furnace chamber, he couldn't see the current situation inside clearly either. He thought uncertainly, Could it reach medium-grade?
Finally, the pill division was complete. Shi Yu cast a pill seal, slowly channeling the remaining spiritual energy and potency inside the furnace into the pill embryos.
Seeing the pills form, she struck out lightly with her palm. The furnace lid opened, revealing eight round, glossy greenish pills inside.
Before Master Ji could even look, a rich pill fragrance wafted over. Setting down his teacup, he thought, It really is a medium-grade pill! What a promising youth—to refine a medium-grade pill at such a young age—
However, when he stood up and clearly saw the appearance of the pills inside, the mouthful of tea he hadn't yet swallowed spewed right out of his mouth.
Seeing this, Wen Wen outside paled in fright and hurriedly grabbed a handkerchief to hand to Master Ji.
Instead of taking the handkerchief, Master Ji stared with wide eyes, pointing a trembling finger at the pill furnace with a look of utter disbelief.
Confused, Wen Wen turned to look, and her mouth instantly fell open in an expression like she had seen a ghost.
The crowd outside had no idea what was happening and pressed against the doorway, trying to peer inside and see what on earth was in the furnace that caused the two association members to lose their composure like that.
With unsteady steps, Master Ji stumbled quickly over to the furnace, staring intently at the eight glossy, pleasing Rejuvenation Pills inside.
All eight pills emitted a delicate pill fragrance, and every single one... was encircled by a faint halo of light.
Rate on N.U.
