"Welcome to the first of two Alchemist Association trials this year."
"I'm sure I don't need to explain the rules to you, so I'll go straight and tell you the tests."
"The trials will be divided into three parts."
"For the first part, we are going to place a number of herbs in front of you, and you're going to write down their names, uses, effects, and counter-effects, if there are any, in the scroll to your left."
Everyone simultaneously looked to their left to find that there was indeed an open scroll there. They nodded.
"Good. For round two, we will provide you with some alchemy problems, of course of your level, to test your research knowledge."
"One hundred questions, one point for each correct question, one hundred points for full marks."
"Note that for the second round, the pass mark to move on to the final stage is a minimum of 85 points."
"Hiss!" Hearing it required a sky-high mark of 85 points to progress, everyone couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air.
Waiting for it to sink in a little bit before the elder continued.
"For the last phase, you will be required to refine a tier-one alchemy pill of your choice."
"Of course, the grade to pass—the pill must at least be of the first-level, middle-grade pills, and you will only be provided with three sets of materials."
"Which means you'll have only three chances to meet the requirements. Don't waste it."
"And by now, I'm sure you know that you are required to pass all these three tests in order to pass these trials and become an official grade-one alchemist."
"Which means if you fail one, you will be eliminated instantly—no do-overs."
He clapped his hands, and a few pill boys came in with trays full of alchemy herbs and presented them to each trialist.
"Alright, now sta—"
"Excuse me, elder," a voice belonging to Ouyang Jun sounded.
The elder frowned slightly, as he was displeased by being interrupted, but decided for the sake of face not to argue with a junior. He turned to meet the voice.
"What is it? Any questions?" he asked.
"No, elder. It's just that I'm here for the second-grade exam."
The elder was shocked at how young he was attempting to become second grade, but he did not let it show on his face.
"Oh, stand aside then," he instructed him.
Then he turned back to the others.
"You all have the time of one stick of incense to complete the task,"
he said, gesturing to the incense stick held by a stand on top of a table in front of the other judges. Then he nodded to one of the elders who, understanding the signal, said nothing but flicked his hand, and a spark flew out of his fingertips and landed on the stick of incense, lighting it and making smoke rise from the top, signifying that it had begun to burn.
"You may begin now."
...
Hearing the instruction to begin and seeing the rapidly consuming incense, all the participants hurriedly began to submit their answers, not having time to marvel at the wondrous display of flame control by the elder who threw the spark.
As everyone strived to complete the task in the short amount of time given, the judges sitting down in front of them in the middle of the room began to observe them, hoping to spot promising candidates, whispering amongst themselves, mostly expressing disappointment at their facial expressions and the way they handled the materials.
"What the hell are they doing?" one of the elders said, clearly enraged at what he saw.
"Look at that one, handling a delicate material like it is metal," another said, not masking his disdain.
"Don't they know rough handling ingredients like that can not only affect the quality of the final product after refinement but also cause the pill formation to fail altogether?" the previous elder continued to speak. The others nodded, agreeing with his words.
"You can't blame them. They think that the task is actually 100 marks."
"But unfortunately, you can only score a maximum of 50 points for the main task."
"Isn't that right, Lao Lu?"
An older female judge spoke as she turned to the previous elder who introduced the trial rules.
"This is the president's meaning, and besides, I think the head is right."
"If all these fundamentals aren't engraved into the bones from an early stage, such an alchemist will not progress far."
"There are too many first-grade alchemists in Qinghe, consuming a large number of the association's resources and too few higher-grade ones. We don't have much use for first grade, so if we can weed out the ones who won't go far, we can save up resources to create a second- or even third-grade to take over from us."
Elder Lu remained indifferent to her questioning as he spoke. The others also went silent at his words, knowing that he was right.
Ouyang Jun, on the side, folded his arms, sneering at the people's despairing faces, clearly taking pleasure in other people's suffering. Then he turned to Lin Feng and was stunned, almost bursting into laughter, watching Lin Feng, who had his eyes closed, yet to even begin. Then he glanced at the incense stick, which had burned over half of it. He grinned from ear to ear, thinking Lin Feng couldn't identify any material and had given up decisively. He seemed to see the time expire and Lin Feng expelled in disgrace and couldn't wait to teach him a lesson. He believed that as long as Lin Feng was expelled, nobody would stop him from taking action, and he could cripple the other party. Suddenly, Lin Feng opened his eyes.
"Hey, look at that!" one elder pointed in a direction, almost shouting in shock.
"Gasp!"
Others quickly turned toward the direction and gasped in shock, including Ouyang Jun, as they watched as he had opened his eyes at some point and began to sort out the medical materials at lightning speed, his hands a blur.
"What technique, what efficiency—wonderful!" Elder Lu praised.
Although the speed was quick, that was just to ordinary people. To them, with higher cultivation, the speed was just average, so they could see the intricacies.
"Heyya, I had previously thought he couldn't answer and gave up. It seems my eyesight is indeed old." The others said nothing, as they did think the same.
Lin Feng, who previously had his eyes closed, was neither sleeping nor had he given up, but was taking a mental note of each of the materials provided to him and matching them through the hundreds of thousands of medical materials in his head before beginning, which enabled him to sort the three dozen herbs in front of him in a neat and orderly fashion in a few breaths like a veteran alchemist, making the judges', including Ouyang Jun's, jaws nearly drop.
Seeing Lin Feng complete the process in a few breaths faster than him, he clenched his fist, his face looking grim, but he quickly comforted himself, thinking Lin Feng was just good at showing off but might not have any knowledge of the materials.
After concluding the first part, he rolled out the scroll and quickly began to write down their uses and other effects.
"Blue-green algae, ten-year-old blood fruit, whispering grass, melting grass... are the main ingredients for blood coagulation pill."
"Cloud-chasing roots, six yin plant... are guiding materials for the main ingredients."
"Water element fruit, earth spirit grass... serve as stabilizing materials and combining materials."
"Too little water element fruit can cause the pill to have less potency."
"Too much earth spirit grass causes pill poison to those who don't have earth spirit roots, and too much accumulation can cause sudden explosion and death to cultivators."
"Fiery red organ, a main ingredient of..."
"Silent sage grass, main material of..."
Lin Feng took more than a quarter of the incense in the half that remained to complete writing.
After he finished, he glanced at the stick, confirming he still had a quarter of the time. He nodded, satisfied at his speed, and began to ponder an observation he made.
"Although these materials are first-grade, medium-grade pill materials, they shouldn't be that hard to name their uses and counter-effects."
"Then what causes the massive over 90% failure in the trials?" he asked himself, clearly confused by this anomaly.
"Could it be..." He turned to look at the other trialists, with most of their messy tables and ruined materials.
"Sure enough, you can't get 100 points for just naming."
"The identification only gives maybe about 60 marks, and sorting and handling of materials should give..."
He nodded, feeling his analysis should be correct, as it accounts perfectly for this massive failure.
"TIME UP! STOP WRITING!"
"Those caught still writing will be automatically failed and be banned from future trials and from the association as well!"
Elder Lu projected his voice as the last bit of incense faded away. Other elders walked around, collecting their scrolls.
"Alright, everyone, go stand outside. We will be there soon to announce the results," Elder Lu waved them away.
"Heyya, I was almost done—just a little. What a pity."
"This year's first-round exam is even harder than last year's. I wonder if I can pass."
"Haha, so easy! I'm happy I brushed up on the basics. This time, I'm determined to become an alchemist!"
The people discussed as they waited outside.
Lin Feng stayed silent in an inconspicuous corner of the corridor.
Fifteen minutes later, an elder, who wasn't Elder Lu, walked to them holding a scroll.
"I'm about to announce results. Listen up."
The corridor became quiet as the elder spoke.
"Eehm... Zi Chuan—40 points, fail."
"Zu Lin—60 points, fail."
"Tang San—30 points, fail."
"Lu Chu—82 points, fail."
"Tian Ting—57 points, fail."
"Liu Si—85 points, pass."
"Zheng Chen—87 points, pass."
".....pass"
".....pass"
"Lin Feng—"