Translator: Silavin
Everyone knew that the second stage of the Alchemy Master qualification needed the examinee to demonstrate the most basic skill in Alchemy, refining Medicinal Liquid!
This was also what all Alchemist Assistants practised daily. Extracting the essence from medicinal herbs was not difficult, but achieving any Third Grade Medicinal Liquid was challenging.
Moreover, during the test, the Pill Furnace in the test room was ordinary. It had no grade. This further increased the difficulty of the test. Even those who had condensed Divine Soul Beads could fail due to a single mistake.
Thus, the testing process was always lengthy!
However, Qin Yichen walked out after just a few minutes.
“The young are too impetuous these days. I wonder what connection he has to the Li Family for Li Yuanba to come here and embarrass himself with him…” Just as an Alchemist Assistant, clearly over twenty years old, was about to criticise with the attitude of an Elder educating a Junior, his voice suddenly stopped. It was as if someone had grabbed his throat.
He had stopped talking because under everyone’s watchful eyes, after Qin Yichen walked out, he directly entered the room for the third stage of the test!
In other words, he had successfully passed the second stage in just these few short minutes!
“What’s going on? How can he enter the third stage?”
“This is absolutely impossible. How long was he in there? That kid must have cheated!”
“Guildmaster, there must be some kind of foul play afoot here!”
Seeing Qin Yichen enter the room for the third stage of the test, the onlookers could no longer contain themselves. A chorus of doubting voices rose, all agitated. It was almost as if they were requesting Liu Wen to drag Qin Yichen out for a severe interrogation.
At this moment, Liu Wen’s brows were furrowed, with a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes. After all, Qin Yichen had indeed come out too quickly!
Back when he took the test after condensing his Divine Soul Bead, it had taken him about a quarter of an hour for the second test. [Could it be, as Ran Rui said… I’m not as good as him!?]
Liu Qiong’er glanced at him, who had not expressed any opinion yet. She also had no intention to ask.
Thus, everything would have to wait for the final result.
However, while these people were making a fuss outside, they did not know that in the room for the second stage of the test, the test official was staring blankly at the almost transparent Medicinal Liquid in a bottle in front of him. He was completely unable to come back to his senses.
It could be said that if he had not seen it with his own eyes, he would have thought Qin Yichen must have cheated.
This was at least Fifth Grade Medicinal Liquid!
He naturally had to give a perfect score, because even he, as the test official, could not do what this teen had easily accomplished.
“Qiong’er, go in and supervise.” Just as Liu Qiong’er was in a daze, Liu Wen’s voice rang out. It was seemingly in response to the requests of these onlookers.
“Supervise?” Liu Qiong’er looked at him in astonishment, but in the next moment, she quickly reacted. She nodded and walked towards the room for the third stage of the test.
Supervision was absolutely unnecessary, since the test official would never assist in cheating. Furthermore, even if the first two stages of the test were simple, a person without real ability would absolutely not be able to pass in such a short time.
“Observe him carefully.” As she passed by Liu Wen, his voice quietly reached her ears, causing her delicate body to slightly tremble.
She seemed to understand her grandfather’s intention, which made her heart unable to calm down. [Does Grandfather believe this young man possessed freakish talent comparable to Grandmaster Gu Ye?!]
With this unusual feeling, Liu Qiong’er pushed open the door of the room for the third stage of the test.
Inside, Qin Yichen had already lit the fire under the Pill Furnace. At the same time, he was casually tossing various medicinal herbs into the Pill Furnace. Everything was done very carelessly, without the rigorous attitude of an Alchemy Master.
This directly caused the somewhat older test official to frown as he watched, especially after he saw the two perfect scores on the test form. This scene made him very perplexed.
“Uh…” After Liu Qiong’er entered and saw this scene, she was also stunned for a moment. The gap in her expectation and reality was far too big.
Qin Yichen’s current behaviour was a completely negative example. When refining Pills, there were very strict requirements for the order and quantity of medicinal herbs added each time. A single oversight would lead to failure in Pill refining. Qin Yichen’s actions in her eyes were completely random. He seemed to be tossing and throwing whatever he felt like. He not only did not weigh anything, but he did not even inspect each medicinal herb.
Before Liu Qiong’er could stop him, Qin Yichen had already stuffed all the materials into the Pill Furnace and covered it with the lid.
*Hum hum…* Afterwards, a rare look of Qin Yichen concentrating appeared. His hands were placed on two sides of the Pill Furnace, with fluctuations of Spiritual Energy slowly spreading out.
For some reason, his series of seemingly reckless actions now gave Liu Qiong’er a strange impression of a smooth flow. This completely different feeling made her pause in surprise.
Looking at Qin Yichen standing in front of the Pill Furnace, just one glance was enough to completely captivate her eye. [Is he really only sixteen years old?]
Earlier, when he put the medicinal herbs into the Pill Furnace, it did give a feeling of carelessness and lack of rigour. However, now, when Liu Qiong’er saw Qin Yichen’s hands sometimes moving above the Pill Furnace, sometimes waving to adjust the temperature of the charcoal fire below… Each posture of his was clearly that of someone extremely skillful. It was as if he had done this countless times.
Even when she observed her own Grandfather refining Pills, she had never had this feeling of being captivated before.
Furthermore, this was not even the main point. At this time, the fluctuation of Spiritual Energy on Qin Yichen was very thin. So thin that one might think he was not using Spiritual Energy.
However, Liu Qiong’er could feel that his Spiritual Energy was rapidly depleting, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. It made it hard for her to figure out. It seemed as if these transitions were always on point.
At this time, the test official’s gaze towards Qin Yichen had also changed.
Not to mention anything else, just Qin Yichen’s use of Spiritual Energy and his technique in controlling the fire were completely beyond his abilities.
If he did not have this level of discernment and could not tell from this display, then he would not be qualified to be a test official!
Inside the Pill Furnace, medicinal herbs were decomposing in an orderly manner. Clusters of Medicinal Liquid separated out but did not mix. It was as if something was isolating them.
Refining Medicinal Liquid held no difficulty for Qin Yichen, but he needed to conserve as much Spiritual Energy as possible.
*Huuuuu…* After refining all the medicinal herbs into Medicinal Liquid, Qin Yichen closed his eyes and rested for a moment. Then, he suddenly opened his eyes. A powerful Spiritual Energy surged out like a storm. At the same time, he softly exclaimed, “Condense!”
Obviously, he had concentrated all his remaining Spiritual Energy. Success or failure would be determined in this one move!
As this Spiritual Energy poured into the Pill Furnace, it was like an invisible large hand, directly grasping those scattered Medicinal Liquids and forcefully squeezing them together.
“Rise!” Qin Yichen slapped his palm on the Pill Furnace and the lid flew off to the side. A round Pill exuding a strong medicinal fragrance burst out from the Pill Furnace. He picked up a box and calmly collected the Pill.