Chapter 673, Is He Really so Fierce?
The big man had clearly just been warning him casually but unexpectedly he had actually hit the mark.
Yang Kai studying the Alchemic Way was mainly in order to perform Alchemy for the Demon Race. Moreover, it was specifically to help the Ancient Demon Clan, the servants of the Great Demon God who reigned supreme thousands of years ago!
Inside the Alchemist Guild, a light medicinal fragrance could be smelt everywhere. From time to time, Yang Kai could also feel a surge of hot Qi coming from different wings of the building, obviously there were Alchemists here practicing Alchemy at this very moment.
Following behind the big man, Yang Kai eventually arrived at a relatively remote room, “Wait here, someone will come to see you after a while.”
Yang Kai nodded slightly and sat down on a nearby chair.
This room wasn’t big and there wasn’t much furniture inside, it seemed almost like an empty storage room.
After waiting for two hours or so, Yang Kai was beginning to feel somewhat impatient when he suddenly heard a set of approaching footsteps.
Soon, the door was pushed open, and a young woman with a somewhat disgruntled look upon her face walked in. Turning to look at Yang Kai, she bluntly asked, “Are you the one who wants to join the guild?”
Yang Kai nodded, stood up, and asked, “Is it possible to start the test now?”
“How long have you been studying Alchemy?” The woman’s brow wrinkled, seemingly a little unhappy as she muttered.
“Not too long, as for exactly how long, I’m not certain.”
If it was about how long he had actually been practicing Alchemy, then the answer would be about a year and a half, but if he counted the time he spent studying the fundamentals, then it would be a bit longer. From the time he acquired the True Alchemic Way until now, about four or five years had passed, but during that time he would only study the mysteries of the True Alchemic Way on and off.
So when this young woman asked this, Yang Kai didn’t know how to answer.
“Trying to act all mysterious!” The young woman coldly snorted, apparently dissatisfied that Yang Kai had not given her a straight answer. Touching the Universe Bag at her waist, she fumbled around for a moment before pulling out an herb and handing it over to Yang Kai, bluntly explaining, “This is a stalk of Cold Star Grass a Heaven Grade Low-Rank material. Purify it into medicinal liquid for me.”
Yang Kai reached out and accepted this stalk of grass from her blankly and couldn’t help asking, “Purify it just like that?”
The young woman sneered, “If you can’t even do this much, then don’t even dream about joining the guild. Do you think just anyone is eligible to join? Only Alchemists above Heaven Grade are qualified to receive Jade Tokens. Quickly now, I’m also in a hurry.”
Saying so, she began muttering under her breath, “Master is really too much. Such a young kid, why didn’t he just drive him out, wasting my precious time!”
When Yang Kai listened to her quietly complaining, he couldn’t help but laugh.
He understood that this young woman was unhappy because his arrival had cut into the time she had to study Alchemy.
When an Alchemist was performing Alchemy, the most taboo thing was to disturb them, so this young woman being in a foul mood was something Yang Kai could understand.
However, her words and demeanor clearly indicated she was looking down on him, which made Yang Kai feel somewhat helpless.
It was likely she really thought he had just begun studying the Alchemic Way.
Thinking so, Yang Kai began circulating his True Qi, wrapping up and slowly infiltrating it into the Cold Star Grass.
Soon, a faint fragrance began filling the air and the young woman finally reigned in the contemptuous look on her face, focusing her attention on Yang Kai’s movements.
The Cold Star Grass appeared as if it was melting and quickly transformed into a liquid suspended above Yang Kai’s palm, all the impurities evaporating under the effect of his True Qi.
As time passed, the Heaven Grade Low-Rank Cold Star Grass was transformed into a pure medicinal liquid with a light green hue.
With Yang Kai’s current level of skill, purifying a Heaven Grade herb into medicinal liquid was as easy as flipping his palm. Even without a pill furnace or any supplementary Spirit Arrays he could completely remove all traces of impurities.
After roughly the time it would take to boil a cup of tea, the medicinal liquid was completely formed. When the young woman released her Divine Sense and examined it, her pretty face quickly showed a look of surprise as she turned to stare at Yang Kai with amazement.
“Is this alright?” Yang Kai asked.
He could have further purified this medicinal liquid, but he had not done so intentionally as he thought this level should be able to meet this young woman’s requirements.
“Let me ask you, what grade of pill are you capable of refining?” The young woman looked at Yang Kai seriously, only not discovering that she had apparently underestimating the ability of this little brat.
“Spirit Grade.”
“What!?” The woman yelped as she gawked towards Yang Kai incredulously.
“Spirit Grade Low-Rank, and I sometimes still fail,” Yang Kai added hastily, not daring to over-inflate his skill lest he attract unwanted attention. Unfortunately for him, Spirit Grade Low-Rank still seemed to be beyond this young woman’s ability to accept.
“Impossible! You only look about twenty years old, how can you already refine Spirit Grade pills?”
“I can demonstrate for you,” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders.
The young woman stared at him deeply, seemingly wanting to see if he was just idly boasting, a moment later saying seriously, “You come with me. If you really have such ability, it’s no longer within my ability to assess you.”
She was just a Mysterious Grade Top-Rank Alchemist, how was she supposed to evaluate a Spirit Grade Alchemist?
Inside another room, the big man who had first greeted Yang Kai was staring at an ancient Alchemy book with a serious expression, engrossed in studying an old Spirit Array, a pensive look upon his face.
When his door was suddenly knocked, the big man lifted his head and indifferently called out, “What is it?”
“Master,” The young woman softly shouted, “It’s about the young man who wanted to join the guild.”
“Oh? Did he pass the test?” The big man asked.
“Well… not exactly…”
“No? Then don’t bother me, go attend to your own Alchemy studies.”
Hearing this off-handed remark, the young woman suddenly ground her teeth and proceeded to violently kick open the door, leaving Yang Kai somewhat stunned.
Seeing his young female disciple rudely burst into his room, the big man angrily slammed his fist on the table in front of him, “How improper! Actually ignoring the orders of your master, do you still put your master in your eyes?”
The young woman grumbled in annoyance, holding her arms akimbo as she shouted, “Master, didn’t you say this guy had just begun studying Alchemy?”
“That’s right, what’s the problem?”
“Then why can he refine Spirit Grade pills? My using a Heaven Grade Low-Rank Cold Star Grass to test him made me lose a lot of face!”
“Ah?” The big man was dumbstruck, standing up from his chair quickly, “He can refine Spirit Grade pills? Impossible! Little girl, you dare lie to me!?”
“I’ve brought the person in question here, whether he has such ability, you can verify it yourself,” The woman beckoned to Yang Kai, the latter letting out a sigh and bracing himself.
The big man stared at Yang Kai with a dignified expression and asked, “You claim you’re able to refine Spirit Grade pills?”
Yang Kai nodded sternly.
The look on the big man’s face became somewhat gloomy, “Boy, you understand that this is the Alchemist Guild? No matter which force you come from, if you dare spout nonsense here you won’t be leaving alive!”
Yang Kai rubbed his forehead and felt a headache coming on. All he wanted was to get a Jade Token, never had he expected the process would be so convoluted and tiresome.
“Forget it, I don’t need that Jade Token anyways, I apologize for bothering you. I’ll see myself out.”
“You dare!” The big man roared, his voice echoing throughout the nearby halls, sneering hard as he said, “You think the Alchemist Guild is a place you can casually come and go as you please? Trying to back out now just because you’re afraid of being exposed is impossible! I will prepare the materials for you and see how you refine Spirit Grade pills. If you are unable to satisfy me, heh heh…”
“I also want to see if you have such skill,” The young woman also sized up Yang Kai.
Yang Kai took a deep breath, and helplessly nodded.
“Mi Na, take out your Spirit Grade materials,” The big man fixed his eyes on Yang Kai as he issued an order to the young woman.
The young woman nodded gently and searched through her Universe Bag, a moment later withdrawing a pile of Spirit Grade materials and placing them gently onto a nearby table.
The big man also stretched out his hand and summoned a pill furnace roughly the size of his head onto his palm, turning to look at Yang Kai and saying, “This is my personal pill furnace, I spent eight years collecting the materials for it before commissioning a Saint Grade Artifact Refiner to forge it. It is capable of greatly increasing the chance of successfully forming a pill, so don’t even think of claiming I am trying to make things difficult for you. If you can’t manage to refine a Spirit Grade pill even with this pill furnace, I’ll make sure your head flies from your body!”
Having issues this ultimatum, the big man threw the pill furnace over.
Yang Kai reached out and grabbed it, sweeping his Divine Sense over it and nodding slightly.
The quality of this pill furnace was indeed very good, beyond that of any ordinary furnace he had seen before, and the Spirit Array engraved inside it also had the effect of enhancing the chance of successful pill formation. However, Yang Kai was keenly aware that the Spirit Array inside it was not complete and wasn’t capable of displaying its full effect.
“Here are five sets of Spirit Grade materials, you must succeed three times in order to pass my test, if you can’t, heh!” The big man sneered, waving his hand as he said, “You may start. I will be observing you closely so don’t think about trying to pull some kind of clever trick.”
Now that things had gotten to this point, it was impossible for Yang Kai to back out; setting down the pill furnace on the table, he began to carefully check the five sets of materials.
After a moment, his brow wrinkled and rearranged the position of a number of herbs.
The big man and the young woman both couldn’t help looking at him suspiciously, not understanding why he seemed so self-confident still. The materials had already been laid out in the optimum configuration so why had he changed their positions?
Not saying anything, the two simply stood there and quietly watched.
After a brief silence, Yang Kai began moving, adding one herb after another to the pill furnace in a methodical way, pouring his True Qi into the furnace to refine them into medicinal liquid, paying careful attention to use the right amount of heat and the proper timing.
Seeing this, the big man and the young woman’s expression brightened.
Just this series of preliminary actions allowed them to realize that this young man really had some skill and was not idly boasting. His steady technique and calm demeanor were clearly built upon a large amount of experience.
Soon, all the medicinal herbs were added to the pill furnace, and under Yang Kai’s precise control, a light medicinal fragrance gently wafted out.
The big man and the young woman’s eyes stared at Yang Kai without blinking, their expressions gradually becoming solemn, without a hint of their prior suspicion or contempt.
After about the time it would take to burn a stick of incense, Yang Kai reached out and patted the pill furnace and a round, golden yellow pill leapt from it. The big man reached out swiftly and drew the pill into his palm.
After carefully inspecting it, his eyes bulged as he muttered under his breath, “It really is a Spirit Grade pill.”
“Is this little brat really so fierce?” Mi Na was also dumbfounded. She hadn’t expected Yang Kai could really refine Spirit Grade pills. Even though it was just a Spirit Grade Low-Rank pill, it was still beyond her current ability.
“The medicinal properties are well preserved and none of the herbs’ medicinal essences were wasted. It’s only a step away from giving birth to Pill Veins, a pity,” The big man pined, as if he was somewhat regretful.