RUMBLE!
When the tenth reverberation echoed out, Elder Xu’s eyes shot open, and they glowed with unprecedented brightness. He looked over at Bai Xiaochun, completely shocked.
It must be stated that it would be rare enough for one of the thousands of Outer Sect disciples on Fragrant Cloud Peak to master all ten of the volumes, including the five for plants and vegetation, and the five for spirit creatures. Virtually all of them would have already taken this test. For someone to be so patient as to wait until they had mastered all ten was something that Elder Xu had never seen, not until this very day.
Even Zhou Xinqi had taken the test after having mastered only nine.
Du Lingfei’s eyes went wide as she stared at Bai Xiaochun standing there in the passageway. Although she had already known that he was far more advanced than her in his skill with plants and vegetation, she had never imagined that he would have reached such an astonishing level. Not only had he completely mastered plants and vegetation, he also had shocking skill with spirit creatures.
Her mind was spinning, and she could do nothing but gape blankly. She couldn’t help but recall how she had demanded to compete with him in skill with plants and vegetation, and how he had cautiously and even nervously asked about her ranking. Then she thought about how anxious he had looked when he had agreed to compete.
As of this moment she realized that Bai Xiaochun’s nervousness back then had been a front, concealing the wide smile that had blossomed in his heart.
“Bai. Xiao. CHUN!!” she thought, gnashing her teeth.
Chen Zi’ang and Zhao Yiduo also gasped and stared at Bai Xiaochun in astonishment.
As for Han Jianye, who had spent so many years in secluded meditation, he began to tremble. He was glaring at Bai Xiaochun, his mind spinning, waves of shock crashing into him as he realized that Bai Xiaochun was definitely his lifelong archenemy.
“The most important part of the journeyman apothecary test is medicine concocting!” he thought. “He might be strong, but I refuse to believe that he can outdo me in concocting medicine. I spent seven years in secluded meditation just to take the top spot in this test!!”
At the same time, the surrounding Outer Sect disciples were gasping and even crying out in shock.
“That was… ten reverberations! That means he mastered all five of the volumes of spirit creatures too! He passed all of the stone steles outside the 10,000 Medicines Pavilion! There aren’t even fifty disciples in the entire Outer Sect who can do that!”
“This guy has incredible patience! He waited to pass all ten of the stone steles before taking the promotion test!”
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Chapter
43: Slow... So Slow....
“Don’t tell me... he's the little turtle!?!?” The crowd was in an uproar.
Of course, most flabbergasted of everyone was Xu Baocai, who was staring at Bai Xiaochun with eyes so wide they seemed to be on the verge of popping out of his head. Moments ago, he had despised Bai Xiaochun for not thinking much of having mastered three volumes of spirit creatures, but now, he clearly had every right to have that attitude....
“Mastery of plants and vegetation and mastery of spirit creatures.... Bai Xiaochun was clearly just messing with me!! But this is simply unbelievable. He's only been in the sect for a few years! Could it be... that he really is the little turtle?” Gasping, Xu Baocai pulled out his little notebook and began to write down the new developments. Inwardly, he was rejoicing that he had chosen to smooth things out with Bai Xiaochun, and was also rejoicing that he hadn’t said anything too derisive earlier.
Even as everyone was giving voice to their shock, Bai Xiaochun walked out of the passageway, sighing. Actually, if there had been a way to conceal his accomplishments regarding the ten stone steles, then he would have. After all, there were still Inner Sect disciples among Zhou Xinqi’s fans.
Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done about it. He couldn’t just give up on the promotion. Despite the fact that he had been forced to reveal the truth, when he saw how excited the crowds were, and when he heard people calling out his name, he was actually quite moved.
“What wonderful fellow disciples. Ah, if only everyone were like that!” Sighing emotionally, and under the eyes of everyone in the audience, he selected a pill furnace and sat down.
Elder Xu looked thoughtfully at Bai Xiaochun. A smile flickered across his face, but quickly vanished. After recovered his composure, he calmly said, “The bag in front of you has ten sets of medicinal plants, which you can use to concoct ten tier-1 spirit medicines, specifically, Inkspirit Incense!
“You will be judged based on your success rate, with a minimum of two successes being the requirement to pass. Whoever has the most successes... will be awarded 5,000 merit points! You may begin immediately.”
The Outer Sect disciples in the audience instantly began to buzz with excitement in response to Elder Xu’s explanation.
“This time the test is to concoct Inkspirit Incense!”
“Inkspirit Incense isn't the most difficult tier-1 medicine to concoct, but it’s not easy.... It’s not like Spirit Condensation Incense or other spirit medicines like that, which many apprentice apothecaries have experience with.”
“Hmph. They’re only refining the ways to test one’s qualifications in medicine concocting. Can’t you see what’s happening? Before, they required four volumes of plants and vegetation, now it's five. They even increased the level of difficulty of the spirit medicine to be concocted. Presumably, things will only continue to get harder in the future.”
As everyone discussed the matter, the group sitting in front of the pill furnaces in the square had very serious expressions on their faces. Although some of them smiled bitterly when they heard that the test involved Inkspirit Incense, they didn't allow themselves to be distracted, but instead opened the bags and began to inspect the medicinal plants.
Xu Baocai had mentioned the matter of the 5,000 merit points earlier. Now that Bai Xiaochun heard confirmation from Elder Xu, his heart was thumping. He was already running low on merit points, which he needed to get medicine formulas and medicinal plants.
“If I can get those 5,000 merit points, it will save me a lot of time and effort.” With those thoughts on his mind, Bai Xiaochun opened the bag, within which were the ten sets of medicinal plants, plus a jade slip, which was none other than the medicine formula for the Inkspirit Incense.
He didn't immediately begin to concoct the medicine, but instead settled his qi and cleared his mind, then began to study the formula.
He took his time, which was how he had grown accustomed to concocting medicine. Even the slightest question about anything needed to be analyzed completely until he felt completely confident.
His initial research alone took him two hours.
By that time, Du Lingfei and everyone else had already finished inspecting the plants, and were beginning to actually concoct the medicine. In fact, most of them were more than half finished with their first batch.
It didn’t take long before everyone except Bai Xiaochun was already in the middle of medicine concocting. Bai Xiaochun was the only one who was sitting there, looking thoughtfully at the jade slip. That sight left Xu Baocai somewhat shocked.
By now, the first batches of spirit medicine were coming out. Rumbling sounds began to emanate from the pill furnaces of everyone except Bai Xiaochun. Most of them had long faces as black smoke rose up, indicating that their first batches were failures.
Han Jianye, on the other hand, threw his head back and laughed loudly. His pill furnace was trembling, and a medicinal aroma began to spread out. Shockingly, a three-inch-long stick of Inkspirit Incense appeared.