บท 18: Alchemy Master
Entering the room, Wu Xiaotian was met with people from all walks of life. Young, prideful men trying to flaunt their knowledge of alchemy to the ladies their age in the room, adults looking at them as they talk among themselves, often bragging about a descendant of theirs or about themselves when they were young. As well as old people that spent their entire life in alchemy, exchanging knowledge with each other as a way to deepen their understanding of alchemy itself.
Despite immediately being the center of attention when he got there, Wu Xiaotian just ignore the stares as he found a comfortable place to sit in. Seeing his appearance though, the ladies' eyes glows and some of them event want to go and talk to him but unfortunately for them, they were interrupted when a monotonous voice suddenly sounded from behind the thick curtain in front of the room, telling everyone that the test is about to start.
Hearing the voice, the people in the room bow their head as they greet the voice simultaneously.
"Master Hua" the people in the room greeted in unison.
"No need for courtesy, the test will start now" the voice once again said as ladies dressed in the shop's uniform enters the room, bringing a bunch of similar herbs towards each of the participants, then leaving once they completed the task.
"On the container are a hundred stalks of spirit grass, sort them from the lowest to the highest potency, and bring them in front for me to inspect once you're done doing so"
Once the voice is done speaking, the participants move quickly as they used what they studied for as a way of identifying the potency of the spirit grass. Some observing them carefully looking around every part of the grass closely, some smelling it and some even tasting the grass, eventually, most of the people tasting the grass finished, looking at the other participants with disdain as they approach the front.
However, before even reaching the curtain, the voice already spoke now with a tinge of anger in their voice.
"You can scram out now, how dare you do that to things I will use" the voice said as their disgust gradually grow.
Hearing this, the participants' face paled as they stood in front in terror, realizing that they've unknowingly, completely offended the person behind the curtain. Quickly packing up their stuffs, they rushed outside the room as they ran away from the shop, afraid that the other party will not spare them should they linger inside any longer.
Seeing this, the other participants left started to panic as they do their best to complete the task, with the pressure building up, some of them eventually giving up as time passed, leaving fewer and fewer contestant inside.
"Fail"
"Also Fail"
"Don't show me that kind of face, you know exactly what you've done to fail something as simple as this."
"You in the back, you better leave now if you're just going to feel around the spirit grass"
The voice continues berating the participants, forcing them to leave as they realize they're not cut for being this person's errand runner.
The voice doesn't only berate the whole time though, as even when some people failed, the voice still gives them some tips and tricks on how to improve when it comes to identifying herbs. They also answer question of people who manage to get their respect.
The participants still continues to thin out, from the original dozens something from the start eventually going down to only ten participants now, seeing the other nine being all seemingly experienced old men, Wu Xiaotian was sweating as he is still wondering how he managed to avoid being kicked out until now, with the only thing he's doing being feeling out the stalks of spirit grass with the Primordial Nihility Transcendent Qi, and the response rate is so low because of the difference in quality, making him aware of the quality of only seventy six stalks so far.
Luckily, no time limit is announced so he thought he could take his time identifying the rest. As time passes, all the other contestant finished with him only classifying ninety-five of the stalks, the surrounding so awkwardly silent that he wishes he could inspect the last five stalks faster so he could leave the room immediately.
After toiling for another five minutes, he finally finished scanning the stalks, manipulating it with his qi to avoid touching it, he sorted it from the least to most potent, before finally rushing in front to submit his work.
"You sure took your time kid" the figure behind the curtain said still shocked witnessing such level of qi control to a young man that appears to be only in his teens. Despite knowing that the stalks were arranged in the perfect order, they couldn't help but take a look at it closer, also using qi manipulation to bring the stalks to the other side of the curtain.
At first, the figure behind the curtain didn't find anything as they inspect it with their eyes as well as spirit qi, but once they probed it using something else, they couldn't help but be shocked as obscure mystery flow into their brain, knowledge not only encompassing alchemy but seemingly even everything else as well. Unfortunately, the feeling was so fleeting that they only manage to get a certain feel, yet even just that certain feel is enough to give them a small breakthrough if they studied it further.
'This guy is special' the figure couldn't help but think as they stare at Wu Xiaotian with excitement, almost as if an artisan looking towards an uncut jade with a potential to transform into a great piece of sculptural art.
Coughing as if to clear their throat, the figure's voice changes as they talk once again, asking Wu Xiaotian of something.
"Say young man, do you want to be my disciple?" the voice, being a gentle yet cool feminine voice surprises him more than the question itself starting to wonder whether the rumor from his good brother Ling Feng was real or not.
Seeing him not replying while displaying doubt in his face, the figure once again speaks, but now in a panicked voice as they also walk out of the curtain, completely revealing themselves to him.
The figure, being a lady of around mid-20s age, stood taller than the average at 175cm, with an hourglass shaped figure, wearing a cold blue dress that accentuates her curves as it reveals the deep ravine in the middle of her chest.
The lady's face, small and heart shaped, with a phoenix shaped eyes with fairly large, almond-colored iris, separated by a small straight nose connected to a thin, arched eyebrows and a soft, shiny beautiful lips, was panicked as if she's afraid of Wu Xiaotian rejecting her offer, quickly speaking, it was clear how much she wants him to be her apprentice.
"You don't need to answer now, you can think about it and I will patiently wait for your answer" she said as she held his shoulder down with her hands.
Seeing the panicked appearance of the greatest alchemist of the Nine Sun Province while asking him to be her apprentice, Wu Xiaotian feel that this second life of him was so blessed that he once again thank whoever allow him to reincarnate here.
Freeing himself from the other person's grasp, Wu Xiaotian said something first before deciding whether he will accept this lady's offer to him or not.
"Apologies Master Hua but I am a wandering cultivator, and I can't allow myself to be tied down to a single force just to master a single thing"
Surprised by him escaping her, the lady evaluates him once again as she wonders where his strength lies. After all, even if she's only at the Early State, she is still a true Nascent Source Realm cultivator, and for someone to escape her grasp even if it was a gentle one is an achievement that can make lower realm cultivators brag about it their whole life.
Hearing his words, she shakes her head in pity as it appears that her first disciple will be an adventurous one, someone who rarely go home. If only she knows how much the guy want to just stay at home and enjoy 'bonding' with his mother.
"That's no problem to me, but you have to stay here for a while so that I can teach you the complete basics" she said as she casually hands a finger thick book to him.
"I greet master!" he said as he tries to kneel on the ground but she stops him from doing so.
"Stop that, there's no need doing such thing as my disciple" she said with a smile, excited that he accepts her offer
"Okay Master, what's this book though" he replied as he wonders about the book, she just gave him.
"Ah that, that's the compendium I wrote about all the alchemical materials in the Qi Refining Realm, you should memorize it and return here by tomorrow, then I will test you about the entire book" she said as she merrily walks out of the room while humming to herself, causing her dignified image in his heart to shook a bit
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