บท 36: Alchemist Exam

The person who had arrived was surprisingly Adept Sun Yi.

Min Hong however, was stunned speechless by the crazy young maiden's words; he would never have believed that Adept Sun Yi had such an apprentice; their poise and attitude was simply vastly contrasting.

Adept Sun Yi however, simply shook his head; "I've already said that I, Sun Yi, will never accept an apprentice in this lifetime. You're just wasting your time hanging around here; it's useless."

"Master, I'm a weak lady. I've traveled thousands of miles in order to study alchemy arts from you and I've been here for three whole months. Do you really think I'm not sincere enough?" The crazy young maiden asked with a wronged tone.

"I never hinted you to do any such thing, so you can return to wherever you came from." Adept Sun Yi indifferently answered, unmoved by her emotions.

"No, I won't leave! You can refuse me every day, but I'll stay here until you finally accept me." The crazy maiden stubbornly refused.

"Well, that's up to you; there's little I can do to change that. However, perhaps I need to remind you that physical force is not allowed within this building. If you break this rule again, I will directly expel you." Adept Sun Yi added; this time, with a little bit of coldness in his tone.

Then he turned towards Min Hong and beckoned; "Come with me."

Min Hong was stunned to stupor this time; to think this crazy young lady actually wanted to study alchemy under Grandmaster Sun Yi, but the latter was not the slightest bit interested.

Then upon giving her another look and seeing her bitter gaze, Min Hong finally realized what the problem was. What had caused all the ruckus was that, the young maiden had mistaken him for another person looking to learn under Grandmaster Sun Yi, hence her interrogative questions.

Shaking his head in utter disappointment, Min Hong followed after Adept Sun Yi as they entered a room of some sort.

Who would dare take in such an apprentice?

Upon entering the room, Min Hong swiftly bowed and apologized; "Sorry, this youngster was disrespectful."

Adept Sun Yi however, simply smiled at the apology.

"It doesn't matter; that wasn't your fault, I saw everything that happened.

However, you really did surprise me greatly; to think you could actually send a Peak Blood Condensing expert flying without the slightest bit of Qi. Though yo only used the innate strength of your bones and muscles, if you had added a bit of energy, she would have been heavily injured.

You really do hide yourself pretty deeply."

Min Hong was startled; apparently, he had underestimated grandmaster Sun Yi. As expected, this old fellow was extremely sharp and could see through his moves so easily.

For a moment, he was stunned speechless as he didn't even know how to reply.

"Child, everyone has their own secrets; this is nothing. However, a person like you cannot waste his time, otherwise, your great talent will be completely wasted." Adept Sun Yi hinted at some kind of deeper meaning.

Min Hong immediately understood what he was being told; the veteran alchemist was simply telling him that he hoped Min Hong would focus all his attention on the cultivating the Dao of Alchemy.

"Many thanks for the reminder, grandmaster. Min Hong understands."

Though they have only known each other for a few weeks at best, Min Hong had no doubt that Adept Sun Yi had good intentions for him. Whether it was due to selfless or selfish reasons, only time will tell; regardless of that however, Min Hong truly appreciated the veteran alchemist' efforts.

"Just this morning, I heard it only took three strokes of the blade for you to kill a Metal Blood Condensing expert; is it true?" Adept Sun Yi had an unreadable expression when asking.

Hearing this, Min Hong subconsciously raised his guard as he replied with an awkward chuckle:

"Yes, it's true; I was simply lucky."

Min Hong couldn't help but perspire a bit; after all, when the situation had occurred last night, he had been completely surrounded by elite warriors, and normally, it should've been impossible for anyone else to be there without giving their presence away to either him or West Head Shen.

As if seeing through Min Hong's doubt, Adept Sun Yi simply smiled and explained:

"Some folks from the Chieftain's Estate came here to conduct some investigations yesterday; they were asking if a certain Min Hong really was one of the members of our alchemist association. I told them yes, and I also said you were my student. They then disappeared."

Min Hong had an incredulous expression as he heard Adept Sun Yi recount all that happened in his absence. Furthermore, he couldn't believe that the veteran alchemist who had claimed to never take in an apprentice would actually recognize him to others in such manner.

"Many thanks, teacher." Min Hong was truly moved and thus bowed deeply.

"Hehe. It wasn't much. My influence is only as valuable as its level of access or deterrence, as well as the situation within which it is being used. Moreover, a student is not the same as an apprentice; it's not my fault that they couldn't spot the difference." Adept Sun Yi added with a slight chuckle.

Although calling Min Hong his student only took a slight effort from from the Adept Alchemist; to Min Hong however, it was an incredibly helpful act. With Adept Sun Yi as his phantom support, he now had a huge trump card available for whenever and whatever.

"I've learnt a bit about your situation. The association has its own rules, and we are to refrain from all secular scuffles, so I can only help you this much."

Adept Sun Yi couldn't help but sigh when he made that revelation; if he really could, he would have loved to help Min Hong, but as the Chairman of the Alchemist Association, that specific rule was even more binding.

"Grandmaster, you've done so much for this little one that I cannot thank you enough. As for the battles of the secular world, I intend to personally handle them myself," Min Hong appreciated the Adept with a smile.

With the reputation of Grandmaster Sun Yi behind him, his affairs would become much more convenient. The safety of the Min Estate would also rise by a great deal.

Although the alchemist association wouldn't interfere in battles that didn't involve them, as long as he became a very important part of it, he would definitely still gain their protection and support. Then once he obtained enough strength, he would personally solve the mystery surrounding him.

"So why did you come here today?" Adept Sun Yi asked almost in afterthought.

Apparently Min Hong had also forgotten the true purpose of his visit, and it was only when the Adept pointed it out that he remembered.

"This youngster wishes to buy some medicinal herbs on credit with the association; once I refine them, I will pay back all I owe."

Withdrawing medicinal herbs on credit was quite common for alchemists within the association, as they could always pay it back easily with whatever product they had created on their next visit. It was a good deal for both alchemists and the association.

With his alchemist badge, Min Hong was able to buy medicinal herbs at a discount, but at the same time, he had a duty to sell first to the association; it was an agreement between both himself and the association back when he received his badge.

"You can refine pills?" Adept Sun Yi was somewhat shocked.

"I feel I can, however, I would like to seek some pointers from teacher." Min Hong earnestly asked.

Now that he had doused his insecurities significantly, he felt the need to build on the momentum and finally learn to refine pills. Concocting potions was good and perfect, however, there was nothing wrong with being versatile; after all, that only brought about varieties of options.

Within a refining room, over a dozen alchemists were sitting in a circle and staring at a youth. These alchemists were no longer young and most of them were already over forty years old, and even the youngest was in his thirties.

For a ten-year-old youngster to now claim that he wanted to refine pills, all of them were stunned and had trouble believing it. Some of them were even shaking their heads in ridicule inside.

But they were all smart people and had all long since heard that Grandmaster Sun Yi had made an exception and given a youth a Alchemy Apprentice badge. Although they didn't know if that rumor was true, none of them were foolish enough to display their contempt.

"Min Hong, although I am the chairman of the association, even I cannot break the customs. If you want to get medicinal herbs on credit, you have to refine a pill in front of all these alchemists.

We will then use the basis of the quality of the pill you refine to determine how much you can take on credit." Adept Sun Yi solemnly explained.

"This little one understands." Min Hong understood that this was the alchemist association and that it wasn't owned by anyone.

Moreover, with Grandmaster Sun Yi's methods of doing things, there was no way he would give him preferential treatment that went against the rules.

"There are 187 types of Common Tier medicinal pill formulas here. You can pick any random one of your choosing."

One of the alchemists brought over a paper. Within his eyes was some hidden anticipation for Min Hong's failure.

All the pill formulas on the page he had brought over were not just ordinary Common Tier pills. Their difficulties were all above average, and ordinary Alchemy Apprentices would find it incredibly difficult to achieve a high success rate with them.

Moreover, in a situation where all the alchemists were there watching you, in addition to Grandmaster Sun Yi himself, it wouldn't be strange for someone to become nervous. Under such an atmosphere, trying to refine a successful medicinal pill was extremely difficult.

The person who handed Min Hong that page was also a Alchemy Apprentice like himself. He was already over forty years old now; back when he had been attempting to pass the alchemist test, he had failed seventeen times before passing.

Everyone else present were all roughly on the same level as him, and none of them had used less ten attempts before passing.

It could be seen that the ability to obtain medicinal herbs in advance from the association was not an easy task. But if you succeeded, it would become much more convenient for you in the future.

Min Hong read through the entire page and pointed to the last pill formula. "That one."

"What? Are you sure?"

That person's expression became a bit strange. That pill formula was for the Qi Eruption Pill; it was an exceptionally domineering pill formula.

For a short time, it allowed someone to explode with almost three times the amount of battle power.

The Qi Trampling Pill was something which cultivators were very fond of. It was a pill specifically meant to compress one's Qi reserves, condensing it into a purer and thicker form, and thereby consolidating the cultivators foundation even further.

It's not only valuable for its ability to make cultivators far readier for a breakthrough, it also help those who had just broken through to stabilize their cultivations much quicker.

However, refining it was extremely difficult; there were several herbs which possessed tyrannical efficacy energy. Even amongst experienced Alchemy Apprentices, there were extremely few who would refine it.

After all, refining pills were not without risk. Although medicinal pills could be sold for high prices, their herbs were not nothing. Medicinal herbs also cost money. The herbs needed to refine the Qi Trampling Pill were extremely expensive.

If one was unable to successfully refine it within three attempts, one would end up losing money. Therefore, there were few people who refined this pill.

Its extremely high price range was also something cultivators were unable to afford; after all, if they had so much money, who would risk their life adventuring into dangerous places to make some?