The Red Palms Plague that Yu Jinqi concocted disturbed him more than anything else he had created in this exam. The single vial of dark red liquid was enough to infect half a dozen people, but within a month, those six people could infect dozens more, unleashing a plague that might kill hundreds or thousands before it was contained.
As much as Yu Jinqi wanted to burn the vial of poison to ash as soon as he'd concocted it, he knew he'd need to wait until he left the consortium and Master Duzhen's watchful eyes before he could do so. Instead, he set this vial alongside the others he'd prepared and turned to the final concoction, the powerful elixir that only a true Alchemy Novice would be able to complete.
Dark Delirium was a tortuous elixir that combined the venom of the Darkweaver Spider with the fluid taken from the eyes of a Three-Eyed Sapphire Serpent to produce a nightmare tool of interrogation. Under his breath, Yu Jinqi muttered an apology to Sister Su Xiang as he got to work preparing the dangerous elixir.
Unlike the poisons he'd prepared previously, this one wasn't directly harmful or lethal to the cultivator who consumed it. Rather, they would be plunged into a semi-conscious state where they could hear and answer questions while their mind conjured an unending stream of terrifying delusions and nightmares to torment them.
The more the person spoke, the faster their body consumed the elixir. Here, however, was the trap. If the person spoke a falsehood, the nightmares would intensify, inflicting agony from wounds that felt and looked real to the person tormented by the elixir.
A skilled cultivator could escape the elixir by spouting a lengthy stream of irrelevant truths. The sky is blue, the sun sets in the west, and so on. The more they talked, the faster the elixir would wear off. No skilled interrogator, however, would allow them to keep speaking nonsense. Yu Jinqi was certain that anyone desperate enough for information to use this elixir would have their own forceful methods of keeping their victim on the right topics.
Once again, he found himself thinking of Sister Hua when preparing this dangerous elixir. Wu Ling had confessed that he wasn't skilled in questioning his victim when he killed Nalan Jiang, and as a result, he obtained little information about the Mountain's Bones' fortress. If she had something like this, would Sister Hua find it easier to obtain what she needed to know?
The thought that it might be useful to the enchanting leader of their group spurred Yu Jinqi to even greater efforts as he set aside any concerns about the dubious elixir and worked to produce something that might help her accomplish one or more of her missions. If his refinement was good enough, potent enough, it could produce two doses that would affect second-stage cultivators or one large dose that could even affect a third-stage cultivator!
The young man's increased fervor didn't escape Master Alchemist Duzhen's notice. It seemed to him that the young man must have a person he desperately wanted to gain information from, perhaps someone that he had a deep grudge against. Whatever it was, all of the young man's earlier hesitation had vanished and he seemed poised to create a potent elixir.
Several hours had passed by the time Yu Jinqi's purple flames finally faded and he placed his final concoction in a crystal vial, setting it next to the five poisons he'd already concocted where it awaited inspection by Master Duzhen. Of the four hours he'd been granted, Yu Jinqi had used just three and a half of them, finishing with plenty of time to spare despite the extra caution required by his earlier blunder.
It had been risky, but as he gazed on his results, he couldn't help but feel a swell of pride in the results. As much as he disliked poisons, no one would be able to say that his standards fell short!
"Well done, young man," Master Duzhen said, his raspy voice pulling Yu Jinqi out of his moment of satisfaction at his results. "Are you ready to hear my judgment?"
"I am, Master Duzhen," Yu Jinqi said, giving a formal bow toward the master.
"Three of your first five poisons are of Ordinary Grade, easily exceeding the requirement of producing an Impure grade poison," the dark robed master announced. "Two of them, however, your Dust of the Black Lung and the Sweet Sleep that you produced, can be considered to have reached Pure grade. Tell me, what inspired you to form the Sweet Sleep into a lip balm?"
"It shouldn't be a surprise to Master Duzhen that I'm acquainted with assassins," Yu Jinqi said, exaggerating slightly that he knew any assassins other than Sister Hua. After all, providing his services to assassins was just the sort of reputation that Wu Ling had encouraged him to cultivate. "I made this one in a shade that's preferred by a good friend," he added.
"A good friend is it?" Master Duzhen said, peering carefully at the young alchemist. When the young man didn't retreat from his statement, even under the pressure of his corrosive aura, however, he decided that either the statement was true or the young man was a better liar than he appeared to be.
"Your Dark Delirium is particularly inspired," the Master Alchemist praised. "It's a shame that you fell short at the end, I would have liked to see this reach Extraordinary Grade. As is, it's still at the very peak of Pure Grade. Do you also intend this for your assassin friend?"
"I do," Yu Jinqi answered without hesitation. "I'm certain she'll make good use of it."
"I'm certain that she will," the older man said, scowling behind his mask. It seemed that this young man was captured by something beyond just bandits. Perhaps he'd even been inflicted by the most debilitating of poisons that could seize a young man's heart. If this assassin had him wrapped around her fingers, there was little hope he could rescue the promising young man from the doom he'd consigned himself to but Master Duzhen still felt it was worth trying.
"Little Bai," he said to the young woman waiting on the benches with Zhang Buyan and Xiong Dahuo. "Fetch a green sash embroidered in purple for Poison Novice Jade here. Ensure that his name is added to our membership rolls by the day's end."
"At once, Master Duzhen," the young woman said, rushing from the room as soon as she'd heard the old man's command.
"Now, Novice Jade," the old master said, returning his attention to the young man. "The quality of your concoctions speaks to the level of your skills, but your temperament is lacking for a Poison Novice. So, this old man has a proposal for you. I wonder if you'd be willing to entertain it?"
"Of course, I'll entertain anything Master Duzhen wishes to say," Yu Jinqi said, bowing over cupped hands. "I cannot promise to accept your proposal. We're only staying long enough to attend the auction in six days. After that, we intend to move on from Bufa City."
"Six days is it?" Master Duzhen mused, raising a scarred hand to his chin in thought. "Then give me four of those days. I have a use for your gentle flames in a few concoctions that my flames are less suited for," he explained. "Serve as my medicine boy for four days, and I will spend the fifth day tutoring you on the methods a Poison Master uses to fight and protect themselves."
"What do you say, Poison Novice Jade," the old master said, retrieving a green sash from Little Bai. On the end of the sash, the outlines of two flames in dark purple embroidery marked the bearer as an Alchemy Novice. Additionally, each flame also held a teardrop shaped outline in its center, signifying that the wearer had sufficient skill with the deadly art of Poison Concoction for the Alchemy Consortium to recognize it formally.
"Will you spend a few days as my medicine boy in order to learn from me?" Master Duzhen asked.
For a moment, Yu Jinqi's mind raced, trying to find a polite way to decline. When he glanced over at his friends, however, he saw a reassuring nod from Xiong Dahuo.
The nod reminded him of how often over the past month the crimson-haired Brawler had pushed him back while they were hunting or searching for herbs. Always, his friend acted to protect him because he knew that the young alchemist was incapable of protecting himself. It had been the same when the men from the Mountain's Bones Gang found them by the lake. Wu Ling had stepped out and kept himself between the gang and the scholars who had no way to fight back.
Now, while he disliked the use of poison, he was being offered a chance to learn to use it to fight for himself. Could he refuse an offer like that and still call himself a good friend to his companions? A good friend they constantly needed to protect?
"Master Duzhen," he said, bowing again towards the old master. "I would be honored to serve as your medicine boy in exchange for a lesson."