Having observed the first round of contestants, Yang Shen decided to step up during the second round.
Approaching one of the black slabs under the eyes of not just the anxious participants, but also the probing Li Na who was showing special interest in him, Yang Shen waited for the rest of the nineteen individuals to step up and take their positions.
Once there was a person in front of all of the twenty slabs, Li Na like before repeated the same words and told all of them to start.
But unlike before she didn't look at all of the participants and rather focussed most of her attention on Yang Shen.
Remembering the cute way he didn't dare meet her eyes as if she was afraid of offending her, whom he considered as an elder, and adding on his cultivation which was enough to become an Inner Disciple in the other Great Sects, Li Na felt that there was a great chance he would pass the first test.
It was the remaining three tests which had Li Na a little worried about.
After all, while the first two tests required one to be strong, the third and fourth one tested one's knowledge regarding alchemy. Due to this, given how young the participants should be to take part in the test, most of them who were stronger than the average ones of the same age would possess lesser knowledge regarding alchemy since the time they spent studying would naturally be less.
'Huh… Why am I worrying about him?'
Shaking her head and getting rid of the unnecessary thoughts, by the time Li Na came to her senses five minutes were overdue to which she made the participants stop and move away from the black slabs.
'He passed!'
Showing a lot of excitement and happiness on the inside as she passed by the black slab Yang Shen had picked and saw the dots were all connected by clear straight lines, Li Na made the remaining nineteen leave since none of them passed.
Following this, twenty more participants were made to take the same test.
At the end of it all, a mere seventeen individuals passed causing the huge crowd to thin down to a handful.
Moving on, the next test was for everyone to summon their flames and let Li Na judge if they were strong enough to be used for alchemy.
During this test, Yang Shen was lucky enough to witness someone pass before him due to which he knew how weak he should turn the Primordial Nine Suns Flame before showing it to Li Na.
Next was the knowledge related to alchemy, and identifying herbs.
For the third test, everyone was handed a piece of paper with questions on it that they needed to answer. And those who answered at least eight of the ten questions right were given another piece of paper and taken to a place which had three long tables with ten pots with one herb growing inside each of them.
As long as one wrote down the correct names of twenty five herbs, they would pass the final test as well.
Having gone through all the four tests without facing even the slightest trouble, Yang Shen felt that he hadn't underestimated the test, but rather overestimated it.
With how easy the test was, Yang Shen felt that even if he didn't swallow the book titled 'Beginners Guide to Alchemy', it would at most take him one or two years to understand everything he needed to pass the four tests.
However, how could he know that most of the ones who wanted to become alchemists made up their minds only after they turned sixteen or seventeen. Due to this quite a lot of them couldn't completely give up on cultivating and focus on increasing their knowledge related to alchemy.
After all, what if they failed to become alchemists? Wouldn't they have wasted the best years of their life for nothing?
Therefore, by the time they realized the true worth of alchemists, they would no longer be eligible to take part in the Mystic Pill Sect's test.
….
"It is a huge surprise for three people to pass during a single day."
Looking towards Yang Shen, and the two others who managed to pass the four tests along with him, Li Na was full of smiles as she looked towards the elder who had given the job of being an examiner for today's test to her.
"You didn't let three of them pass for bonus contributions did you? Hahahaha…"
Shaking her head towards the elder who was laughing out loud at the end of his sentence due to which she knew that he was joking, Li Na felt that she was lucky it was this elder who gave her the job.
If it was some other elder, Li Na would have had to worry about them taking all the contribution points away for themselves. But this bald headed elder was one of the few kind and righteous ones who would never do such a thing.
"Not at all, Elder Zhang. The three of them have passed the tests by themselves."
"Hahahahahaha, that's good. Go ahead and finish the procedure for them to join as the Outer Disciples. I'll have one of the deacons transfer the contribution points to you."
"Yes, Elder Zhang."
Bowing and leaving the building along with the three who passed the test behind her, Li Na started thinking that the time had come for her to become a Core Disciple.
With the contribution points she'd obtain from Elder Zhang, she was sure that she'd be able to master refining Level 7 Pills and confidently take part in the assessment to become a Core Disciple.