In Huang Longwei's study a small servant jut gave him a news.
"They're here?!" He erupted from his chair. "Quick, go inform Luo Jiang!"
At the same time before the City Lord's mansion, the Grand Alchemy Master and her little companion were waiting for the arrival of Feng Yingyue.
Dun Mofan had sent people to bring her here immediately. She was still indecisive about this matter but Feng Yingyue had to admit that studying under an alchemy master would be perfect for her. The only problem was that she did not want to leave her father's shop. Cao Yun came along with her and they quickly arrived before the mansion.
As soon as he saw her, the little guy whistled and angry glares stabbed him from all sides. The City Lord did not dare to be too impolite but Feng Yingyue and Cao Yun's eyes were screaming murder. And on his side, Grand Alchemy Master Hua's eyes were full of rage.
"Sorry, sorry. I'll behave, I'll behave." He approached the young lady. "This lowly one is way too vulgar. But faced with such a beautiful young woman, how could I suppress my admiration?" The little guy was around twenty but he seemed to be way older than that. Being a Spirit Warrior, the City Lord could easily see through his cultivation. Qi was abundant throughout his entire body, the sign of a 9th-grade Mortal. According to the movement of the Qi within him, he was very close to a breakthrough. Despite his appearance, the little guy was certainly competent.
Feng Yingyue immediately despised him. As he got near her, Cao Yun positioned himself between them, a little on the side.
"Oh?! Who might this little friend be?" The fat guy darted his eyes to both of them and laughed. "Are you perhaps her Dao companion?"
A Dao companion was akin to a lover, but Dao companions shared an even deeper connection. They were people who roamed the painful world of cultivation together, sharing their life, their death, their body and their soul. Of course, when someone used the term, they often did not mean it literally and referred more loosely to mere lovers among cultivators. It was especially the case for this guy who was just joking around.
Cao Yun did not know how to answer him when he heard Feng Yingyue. "And what if we are? Is it any business of you?" After this outburst, she just remembered that she was in public and that her potential Master was here. The City Lord had spent many efforts to get this audience. Although, Feng Yingyue was not too sure of her decision yet, she did not want to ruin his efforts.
"Enough! Song Guixiang, you went too far! You'll have to eat vegetarian for the next month."
The fat guy's face turned from amusement to terror. "Master, Master! I was just joking! I swear! I have no ill will!" He turned back to Feng Yingyue. "Young lady, you know I was joking, right? I apologize! Please, tell my master we were just joking..."
The Grand Master did not care for her disciple's act and got closer to Feng Yingyue. As the little guy was frantically trying to find a way out, she examined her demeanor. Her eyes stayed a long time at examining her hands and fingers. "Good. You seem to be a real hard worker. Your cultivation is very stable as well. It's rare to see such a young alchemist with a firm cultivation."
Feng Yingyue cupped her fists and bowed.
"This lowly one has just some meager achievements in alchemy, nothing too impressive."
The Grand Master turned her head toward Cao Yun. "Little boy, you're even more impressive. You're only 16 and already ready to break through to 5th-grade Mortal. Quite impressive!"
Song Guixiang who had realized his efforts were vain had stopped talking. When he heard the cultivation of Cao Yun he looked at him again. He thought he was quick in his cultivation, but this boy was something else. Alchemists were often quicker in their cultivation because they used various pills and ingredients to advance. Hence, their cultivation was not very stable and their fighting power pretty low. But they mostly cared about being able to master their craft, and cultivation was essential to use certain alchemical techniques.
When he heard her Master say that the young girl's cultivation was very stable, he also knew that she most likely cultivated without assistance from drugs or pills. In such a little city, that was also impressive. But that could also mean that she did not spend enough time training her alchemy. However, a small look at her fingers immediately told him that that was not the case. She had all the signs and marks of someone who spent their entire days manipulating a cauldron, alchemical tools and ingredients.
As they were speaking, two men came rushing with several servants. They were Huang Longwei and Luo Jiang. As soon as she saw them, Feng Yingyue's nerves erupted. Cao Yun took her hand to calm her down. Nothing good would come out from antagonizing them, especially before a grand master.
"This lowly one pays respect to the Grand Master."
Hua Fenfei was intrigued.
"And who might you be?"
"I'm just a nobody who dabbles in alchemy. When my friend told me that such a powerful alchemy master was coming, I just could not resist. Please, allow this lowly one to perform his meager craft before you."
Huang Longwei took over.
"This lowly one heard that City Lord Dun Mofan had invited a prestigious alchemy master to examine a candidate for the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. My friend here is too modest. He has real skills in alchemy and I petition the Grand Master to allow him to prove himself."
"You should know that, per the rules of the institute, I can only accept one candidate, were he to qualify."
The City Lord was furious but could not say anything, it was all up to the Grand Master. Hua Fenfi was pensive for some time and finally concluded.
"Fine. Both of you will take the examination. I will be fair. The one who performs better will be qualified to follow me back to the institute."
Huang Longwei hid a huge smile on his face. "Thank you, Grand Master. We all trust in your fair judgment."
Feng Yingyue, Cao Yun and the City Lord were enraged. Huang Longwei was too crafty.
-
They all settled down in the courtyard of the mansion. Two tables had been installed with basic cauldrons and alchemical tools.
The Grand Master waved her hand and a black ring on her index lit up. In a burst of light, several scrolls appeared in the air. This was a spatial ring. Long ago, some cultivators were able to cut off some parts of space and put it into objects. One of these objects was called a spatial ring. No one had the power and knowledge to build more of them nowadays and only big lineages or lucky adventurers could ever possess them, no matter how rich they were.
In a tiny ring, there could be a space as big as a storage room, or even an entire mansion. There were legends about spatial rings as vast as a the capital of the Hongchen Kingdom. The only weakness of such a ring was that no living thing could be taken in. They could not be used to transport people or even animals or beasts. On the other hand they could harbor dead things like alchemical ingredients, scrolls or tools. They were also useful to contain food and water during long journeys.
"Here is the examination. Each one of you will try to forge a 5-star Earth rank pill."
Everyone present was surprised. Pills were classified into several tiers: Earth, Human, Heaven, Spirit and God. Each rank was further divided into stars, from 1 for the lowest to 5 for the highest. Earth rank pills were pills that could be forged by Mortals. From the 1-star Human rank on, only a cultivator able to use his Qi outside of his body could forge them, so only Mortal Warriors or higher. But a 5-star Earth pill was the utmost difficult to forge within this rank. It was already bordering on the Human rank.
"You do not need to be able to complete the pill. I will judge you on your skills, not necessarily on the results."
As Feng Yingyue and Luo Jiang took place behind their respective table, the scrolls started to float around them.
"These are all 5-star Earth rank pill recipes. Choose any one you want. I will provide all the ingredients for one batch, and only one. Then, everything is up to you."
Both of them quickly browsed through the scrolls.
Luo Jiang was trying to think of the best strategy to win. He used to be pretty confident, but his state of mind, despite the Frozen Heart Pill, was chaotic recently. No matter how hard he tried, he could not calm down until Cao Yun was dead. But right now, he had to focus on the examination. Were he to become a member of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, it would be easy to kill such an insignificant insect.
I need a recipe easy to make. Given my excitement, a yang pill would be perfect. It's also easier to make, and... "I choose the Gorilla Fleeting Pill."
As soon as he spoke, several ingredients appeared in a flash of light. Among them was the 1-core of a Carnivorous hammer-gorilla. The Gorilla Fleeting Pill had the effect of enhancing one's physical strength during a interval of time, varying from an incense stick to an hour according to the quality of the pill.
Song Guixiang sighed. "This one is choosing the easy path."
"It's not a bad choice to be cautious. Let's see what the little girl will choose."
Feng Yingyue had never seen that many scrolls of such rare pills. She was at a loss as to what to choose. Coincidentally, her eyes fell on the title of one of the scrolls, 'Frozen Heart Pill'.
"I choose the Frozen Heart Pill."
Instantly, all the ingredients appeared, including a small box emitting an eerie sensation.
Song Guixiang was surprised. "She chose the opposite. I'm pretty sure that's the most difficult pill in the lot."
"Indeed, this pill is highly Yin in nature. If you fail to correctly balance the Yang of the flame, you can easily harm the ingredients and fail to take out their medicinal effects. But if you fail to control the Yin, you can also extinguish the flame. Mortal alchemists who are able to succeed in its forging are very rare."
Cao Yun overheard them. He knew why Feng Yingyue had chosen this pill. She had done so because he needed it. It was for him.
Luo Jiang's laughter echoed throughout the courtyard. "Oh?! Such a difficult recipe. Is it to replace the pill you could not afford, perhaps?! Oh, oh, oh!"
Cao Yun gritted his teeth so as not to rush him and bash his face in. Feng Yingyue kept her calm and circulated the Yi symbol in her mind to prepare herself for the forging. On the other hand, Luo Jiang was already preparing each ingredient, as if he was in a rush.
Song Guixiang whispered to his Master. "I find this little guy pretty distasteful."
"Don't you always find men distasteful?"
"Come on, Master. Have more faith in me!" His Master chuckled a little. "But, Master, I don't know... There's something..." His eyes went beyond the boy and examined the two consorts he had brought along with him. Their skin was still very exposed, leaving little to the imagination. "I must admit that his ladies seem very tempting..."
His Master rolled her eyes as he walked over to them.
Feng Yingyue had finally reached a state of mind peaceful enough for her alchemy. She prepared all the ingredients and lit up a flame under the cauldron.
The last ingredient was in the box. With extreme care, she opened it, trying to protect its content from the sun. The box contained five Embalming Lake Lotus Leaves. These leaves grew from the corpses found in lakes or rivers. With an extreme Yin nature, they only bloomed during a new moon night, the only time to pluck them. Inside the box, there was a strange yellowish sand, Dead Sun Barren Soil. This soil was also very strong in Yin, often found inside caves.
Such leaves were very useful to reduce Yang and calm the mind. Of course, trying to consume them like that would be highly poisonous and the Yin had to be balanced out by the alchemical process.
The real difficulty here was the control of the flame. A Mortal Warrior was able to infuse his Qi in the flame to gain more control over it, but a Mortal alchemist had no choice but to use his senses to examine the flame. Feng Yingyue had to monitor what was going on in the cauldron, while putting the ingredients at the right moment and controlling the heat of the flame. She used several powders that she threw in the fire at the right moment to either strengthen it or reduce it. Some powders even gave strange colors to the flame, amplifying or altering its Yang nature.
Cao Yun knew almost nothing about alchemists but he could see how focused she was. The Grand Master was also very attentive to both alchemists. And the boy looked at her from time to time to gauge her reactions. But her face was impassive. But, after more than an hour, a frown appeared on her calm face. Suddenly, an explosion echoed in the courtyard.
Luo Jiang had failed to control his cauldron. His flame was too intense and the Yang energy within the cauldron exploded. With a mind in chaos, it was impossible for him to really control such an powerful energy. Thus, his state of mind degenerated even more.
He tried to calm himself. After all, he had prepared the ingredients masterfully and his technique had been perfect until now. He turned toward the young girl and got enraged. She was perfectly controlling and balancing the Yin and Yang in her cauldron.
Huang Longwei who was on the side was horrified as the City Lord was beaming with joy.
Luo Jiang left the table in a feat of rage and went back to his consorts. But he found out a plump little guy caressing their beautiful curves. Had the Grand Master not been present, he would have unleashed all the poisons he had on him, killing everyone. His sanity was almost gone by now.
The contest was not over and it took around forty minutes more. The flame under Feng Yingyue's cauldron decreased and a sweet fragrance filled the courtyard. The young girl was sweating profusely and she fell backwards. Cao Yun immediately rushed behind her and caught her body before she touched the ground. She was too tired to even stand.
The forging had completely exhausted her mind. If she had not practiced 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks', she would never have had the strength to finish it.