Chapter 28: Waste Pills Turned into Treasures
Fifteen days passed in a flash.
When Yue Ji stood at the door of the Alchemy Association again, almost no one believed that he was here to take the exam to become a green-level alchemist.
After all, it had been less than half a month since he got the White-level Alchemist Token. How could this be possible? You know, the fastest record of Liucheng White-level Alchemist ascending to Green was nearly half a year.
——Half a month, absolutely impossible.
Therefore, although the old alchemist was surprised when he saw Master Qi Qing and his apprentice again, he still didn't want to believe it. He pretended not to see them and turned to the person next to him and said, "Is everything upstairs ready? Master Wen will be here soon, so be sure to watch carefully."
The person next to him nodded in agreement, ignored Qi Qing and the other person, and hurried upstairs.
Qi Qing found that there were a lot of people in the Alchemy Association today, and it was too lively. Logically speaking, today was only the last day for registration, so there shouldn't be such a grand occasion.
Who is Mr. Wen?
Although he had doubts in his heart, Qi Qing did not say anything. He just walked up to him and said briefly: "Grade test."
The old Dan Xiu slowly raised his eyelids, glanced at him, and said coldly: "It's you."
"Of course, if I say the 15th, then it's the 15th." Qi Qing knocked on his desk and didn't bother to be polite with him: "Lead the way."
The old Dan Xiu snorted coldly, put down his pen reluctantly, stood up slowly, and said with a gloomy face: "Follow me!"
Several people walked through the corridor and came to an inner room on the second floor.
There were a lot more people here than the last time they took the white-level exam. The inner room was about forty to fifty feet square. Several people were lined up at the door with frowns on their faces and muttering to themselves. Qi Qing listened carefully and found that they were reciting the formula for alchemy.
There were seven or eight cauldrons placed on the open space in front, and someone was refining pills in front of each furnace.
The green-level assessment is not conducted by a single person, but by multiple cauldrons at the same time. However, some already nervous and socially anxious alchemists have failed over and over again and are almost too embarrassed to see anyone.
Qi Qing looked at Yue Ji and asked worriedly, "Are you sure?"
Yue Ji nodded.
"If you are not sure, just say it. It's okay. Master will think of another way for you..."
Before he finished speaking, Yue Ji turned his head and glanced at him.
The young man's eyes were calm, and he was not shaken at all by the scene before him.
Qi Qing was relieved unconsciously when he looked at her like this. She stopped talking, brushed the soft hair on his cheek, and said softly, "Okay, go ahead. Master is waiting for you here."
"No, Master will accompany me."
Yue Ji grabbed his hand that was about to loosen, rubbed his cheek against his warm palm, and repeated: "Stay with me."
Qi Qing said with a hint of disdain: "There are so many people here, who really needs the Master to accompany them?"
Although he said this, he did not let go of his hand. Yue Ji raised the corners of his lips slightly and pulled him to the cauldron.
The old alchemist couldn't bear to see them being so annoying, so he handed a basket of spiritual medicine to Qi Qing and said with a stern face, "Let's get started."
He opened the recipe he had drawn, took a look at it, and suddenly a hint of gloating appeared on his face.
"Qi-Repairing Pill, green-level recipe, time limit is three hours."
At this point, the old alchemist deliberately emphasized his tone: "Do you need to review the book again? Don't forget which spiritual herbs you need."
This sentence attracted the attention of other people, and many people showed a trace of fear on their faces.
Qi Repairing Pill, a high-difficulty pill in the green-level pill recipe, is used to quickly replenish qi when spiritual power is exhausted. It requires more than just a few kinds of spiritual herbs, there are nearly fifty or sixty kinds, and the refining time and state of each one is different. If the state of the spiritual herbs is slightly wrong, it is impossible to make a good pill.
"Luckily I didn't get it..."
"Oh my god, I will never be able to learn this recipe in my next life."
"My brother came back a few days ago and told me that there was a teenager who came to take the White Level Alchemy Examination. Could this be him?"
The people around were whispering. Yue Ji took the recipe and took a quick look at it.
Qi Qing's scalp tingled when he saw the densely packed names of spiritual herbs on it. Was this person doing this on purpose? Was he bullying Yue Ji because he was taking the Green Level exam for the first time and trying to scare him off with a difficult pill formula?
His face darkened and he was about to step forward when Yue Ji moved.
The young man threw the recipe aside, lit the fire, and warmed the furnace.
"White level is white level, even fire control is so unfamiliar."
Some people couldn't help but shake their heads.
Qi Qing turned and glared at the man: "Quiet, do you have any moral standards?"
The man shrank his neck and said unhappily, "Tsk, who are you looking down on? Your technique is not even as good as my brother's."
Yue Ji turned a deaf ear to it and concentrated on controlling the temperature inside the cauldron.
After half an incense stick, he flattened his palm, felt the temperature was about right, and put in the first spiritual herb.
The green herbs melted when they came into contact with fire, turning into clear juice. Before they fell to the bottom of the furnace, they melted into a fingernail-sized drop of water, floating in the middle.
"What a nice scent of spiritual herbs."
The man who spoke earlier opened his eyes wide in surprise. This man seemed to be unfamiliar with controlling fire, but he was so lucky to get the temperature just right.
Old Danxiu twitched his beard and snorted, "Nothing more than that."
But as the second and third spiritual herbs penetrated, the faces of the others also changed.
Once may be just right, but what about twice or three times?
Spiritual herbs were thrown into the cauldron one after another. Yue Ji's movements became faster and faster, and his fingers did not hesitate at all, as if everything had been calculated with the utmost precision in his mind.
The temperature inside the cauldron kept changing, and there was a risk of it getting out of control at any time, but the temperature never reached that extreme.
Seeing this, the old alchemist's breathing became heavier and heavier, and his eyes were fixed on the cauldron.
Could this person really be able to... No, that's impossible. It's only been a short time.
Or is it that this person has already reached the green level of ability, and was just hiding his abilities during the last assessment?
The latter thought made him feel a little better, but before he could continue to think deeply, the cauldron suddenly made a slight explosion.
The old alchemist's eyes fixed, and Qi Qing's eyebrows slightly frowned.
The temperature is not right.
Qi Qing's gaze fell on Yue Ji's hand, and the boy's wrist was trembling slightly.
Yue Ji had been studying alchemy very hard these days, almost to the point of neglecting sleep and food. His trembling at this moment must be due to fatigue after excessive practice.
Although the tremor was very slight, it was still caught by many people.
"It's over. The furnace is going to explode."
The people around thought with regret.
The spiritual herbs in front were obviously refined to perfection, so it’s a pity that they just exploded like this.
The sound of the cauldron exploding became louder and louder, one after another, and several spirit herb beads gradually showed signs of fusion.
Qi Qing put one hand behind his back and quietly began to practice some magic.
When the furnace exploded, he would protect Yue Ji and retreat, letting the juice of the spiritual herbs fry the old alchemist's head and face.
Yue Ji's expression also became a little serious. Even so, he had no intention of stopping and continued to put new spiritual herbs into the cauldron. He didn't seem to be worried about the cauldron exploding at all.
Before the time came for the pill to be formed, the juice from the spiritual herbs began to blend.
The old Dan cultivator twirled his beard and shook his head contemptuously: "What a waste of spiritual herbs."
Hearing this, Yue Ji looked at him provocatively, then raised his hand and threw all the remaining spiritual herbs down at once.
The old Dan Xiu's eyes widened immediately, and his beard trembled: "You, you you you...you are wasting nature's gifts!"
He hurriedly tried to get it out, but Qi Qing raised his hand to block him.
"The assessment isn't over yet, is it?" The young man glanced at him, his voice no longer gentle, as if a layer of ice had condensed on it: "Stop, stand back."
Everyone else was stunned by Yue Ji's operation. They wondered vaguely, could it be that this person saw that he couldn't make the elixir, so he gave up on himself?
Immediately, Yue Ji told them the answer with his actions.
A wisp of flame quietly appeared in the palm of the young man's hand. It was faint and weak, but it steadily took over the flame of the cauldron, wrapping up all the spiritual herbs that had just been thrown in, and slowly refining them.
Someone gasped and asked in disbelief, "You actually want to refine dozens of spiritual herbs at the same time?"
The refining times required for these spiritual herbs are different. How can he master the refining time for each one?
Unless this person is born with a very smart mind, it is absolutely impossible!
Qi Qing stabbed the man with a dagger-like gaze and said coldly, "What? Are you trying to break the law?"
The man lowered his head and shut his mouth in disappointment because of his gaze.
Qi Qing appeared to be tough on the surface, but he was actually unsure.
There is no way. Even if others don’t believe in Yue Ji, he, as his master, has to believe in him.
The flames continued to burn patiently, and the herbs began to melt in order, leaving others stunned.
Alchemists with fire spiritual roots are extremely common, but those who can control fire so accurately are indeed rare.
As Qi Qing watched, he suddenly felt a little hungry.
He thought to himself, the fire spirit root is indeed the best. He didn't even need to bring a grill when he went out for a picnic. He could just grill the skewers in his hands and get delicious barbecue.
If Yue Ji can't find a proper job in the future, it would be nice for him to become a kebab chef.
His thoughts drifted a little far away, and when he came back to his senses, the spiritual herb juice in front of him began to blend again.
Different from the hasty fusion just now, the temperature of the spiritual herb juice this time was just right. They stuck close to each other, blended, rotated, and tore apart.
Some spiritual herbs began to repel each other and struggled to escape from the cauldron, but were drowned by more spiritual herb juice that was added in. The irregular water droplets were gradually polished into circles, and the prototype of the pill quietly appeared.
The old alchemist frowned tightly, thinking it was extremely absurd. He said unwillingly, "Even if it can be made into a pill, it is just rotten cotton inside and has no medicinal properties. It is just a useless pill!"
"How did you become an examiner when you have such poor patience?" Qi Qing couldn't help but retort: "If jobs were as easy to find as yours, I think the alchemists in Liucheng would have an easy life."
The old Dan Xiu said coldly: "You ignorant boy, you are so sharp-tongued."
Qi Qing sneered: "What else can I say? Be careful or I will complain to you later."
He raised his hand and cast a spell, and was about to physically help Old Dan Xiu shut up, when the person next to him suddenly shouted, "It's done! It's done!"
In an instant, everyone's eyes were focused on Yue Ji's cauldron. A pill floated up from the cauldron, flashing a crystal luster.
But this light only lasted for a moment before being abruptly cut off.
——The surface of the pill was actually cracked.
The onlookers groaned in disappointment, but old Danxiu had a smile of triumph on his face.
Qi Qing was stunned for a moment, then reacted and comforted him: "It's okay, after all, it's the first time..."
Before he could finish his words, Yue Ji had already put the pill into the Dingding furnace again. His movements were quick and decisive, without any hesitation.
"It will be useless if you practice more." The old Dan cultivator calmed down and said proudly, "Go back and practice more. I admit that you are very talented, but the gap between people is not something that everyone can cross."
In his opinion, these two people are nothing but geniuses who are just trying to attract attention.
Yue Ji pursed his lips, and the flame in his hand suddenly grew larger. At the same time, a faint ray of golden spiritual power emerged from the fire, and he began to refine the elixir from scratch.
"Dual spiritual roots of gold and fire?" The old alchemist was really surprised this time.
With dual golden elixir spiritual roots at such a young age, he is indeed a genius.
However, the cracks on the surface of the pill did not heal due to the injection of golden light, but instead grew larger and larger, as if the golden light intentionally wanted to tear the pill apart.
…
"Mr. Wen, please come this way."
The man dressed in blue-level alchemist attire spoke respectfully.
The old man behind him had a calm expression on his face. He walked up the stairs surrounded by several people, and suddenly stopped.
The old man raised his eyes, his sharp gaze piercing into a closed door on the second floor.
His face was clearly very old, but when he raised his eyes, his aura suddenly became fierce and frightening.
The leader lowered his head quickly: "Mr. Wen, what's wrong?"
The old man said nothing for a long while before he stretched out two fingers, scooped up the wind, and put it to his nose to sniff.
He asked calmly, "Who is refining the elixir?"
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