Pill Knowledge and Formula
Mu Yu laid back at the peak of the bamboo forest and gazed at the entirety of Bamboo Peak. Ku Mu was on his bed in the bamboo house and had yet to come to after Mu Yu fed him the reversal pill. According to Xiaoshuai, it was only a matter of time before Ku Mu regained conscious. It had been three days since then, during which Leng Bingxue accompanied Ku Mu the entire time. Mu Yu knew better than to hang around the house while she was there with Ku Mu. Whatever happened in the house was their business alone.
Mu Yu still had no clue if he was qualified to compete for the slot in today’s competition. Frankly, he wasn’t too keen on competing; he’d rather be on standby in case Ku Mu needed him. Well, maybe Ku Mu’s emergency-helper shoes were already filled.
“What are you dawdling here for? Get moving to the contest grounds.” Elder Leng rushed to Mu Yu and slapped the latter over the head.
“Hey, clear your throat next time, instead. I might have a panic attack if you do that again,” griped mu Yu, rubbing his head. “Also, aren’t you the ones who refuse to let an outsider participate?”
“I stepped in to secure your candidacy.”
Mu Yu couldn’t trust the elder based on the latter’s countenance.
“You don’t trust me?”
“Not in the last.”
“You little… Shut up, and come with me.”
Elder Leng grabbed Mu Yu’s collar and flew up. Mu Yu saw receding light in a field of pitch black. They were inside a void. Travelling from place to place via a void was an ability exclusive to those who had ascended to Spirit Severing Realm and beyond. Ku Mu had used it with him plenty of times before, but Mu Yu was never a fan of it. Once they arrived, Elder Leng threw him out the exit.
“Must he throw me? Is it so hard to put me down gently?” Mu Yu silently cursed.
Mu Yu checked out the crowded plaza. Those present scorned him once they put his name to his face. He greeted, “Hello?”
Since they all snubbed him, Mu Yu turned his attention to the stone desk in front of him, where a pill, a sheet of paper and brush was set. The name tag was “scandalous.” Annoyed, he suggested to the young girl next to him, “Let’s switch name tags.”
“No,” rejected the girl, putting distance between them.
A tanned, middle-aged examiner sternly announced, “You all know the rules for this contest. Let the first round commence!”
“What rules? Start what?”
The examinees picked up the pill on their desks and scrutinised it. Some sniffed. Some gently scraped the surface. Some already put their brush to paper. Spotting Mu Yu looking around for answers, the examiner approached Mu Yu and pointed in his face. “You’re cheating! Get out!”
“Huh? I was merely wondering what this first round consists of.”
“Are you playing games with me?”
“Nobody told me what this is about.”
“What’s your name? Which faction are you with?”
“My name is Mu Yu. I am a disciple of Bamboo Peak,” Mu Yu courteously answered.
Believing Mu Yu was genuinely lost since he knew about Mu Yu’s recent accomplishment, he calmed down and explained, “The first test is pill and formula knowledge. Write down all of the herbs in the pill given to you that you can identify and its formula.”
“This isn’t fair!” cried Xiaoshuai, climbing up to Mu Yu’s shoulder.
“Indeed.”
“Not fair? If you can even do something this basic, you should quit now.”
The examiner walked off with condescending grin, clearly knowing the test was unfair on Mu Yu as Ku Mu didn’t learn orthodox alchemy. He was correct but also wrong. It was unfair on everyone but Mu Yu. Ku Mu forced him to memorise and identify herbs for two years straight. Herbs were the core of pills.
Mu Yu picked up his black pill with white streaks on it. Its design indicated it was a rank four pill. He only needed to touch it to know what its components were. He began writing mountainous feather herb, string work flower, fiend grass root… He also identified a spirit fox’s blood, a fiend toad’s heart in powder form and more. He even identified there were ten foal leaves smaller than a grain of sand.
Foal leaves didn’t have a smell and was placed in the deepest part of the pill. The only hope anyone had at identifying it was splitting the pill open – provided they could see the grains. Otherwise, the alchemist would need to transfer potent spiritual energy, on par with Body Severing Realm or higher, inside and identify it based off reactions.
There were ninety-eight herbs used in the making of the rank four pill – enough to tire out Mu Yu’s hand. When he looked around again, he noticed everybody was still at work, yet he was done. He found it amusing when he spotted those staring at their pills as if that’d write the answer for them. The examiner watched him the entire time, waiting for an opportunity to nail him with a cheating accusation. When they locked eyes, Mu Yu yawned and stretched out. Then, he got out of his seat and went to hand in his answer sheet.
On his way to the examiner, Mu Yu heard a chubby disciple muttering, “Glazing herb? Dog tail flower is probably in there, too. Seven pains leaf? Whatever, let’s just get the word count.” The poor disciple had no idea none of those items were in the pill.
Examinees resorted to scratching, cracking, squeezing and anything they could think of for some clues. It didn’t matter what they did with it because the pills weren’t worth much. The range of text written ranged from a one item to twenty items.
Golden Core Realm disciples in the audience discussed the probability actually passed in a legitimate answer sheet. Nobody was convinced Mu Yu wrote proper answers as he finished in record time. Genius Xu Ziye was still examining his pill. Examinees always hung onto their papers until they were instructed to pass up their papers a second time. Like the chubby disciple, last minute guesses were commonplace.
Mu Yu had almost reached the smirking examiner when a smack sent Mu Yu’s head forward. He turned to Elder Leng and exclaimed, “What was that for?!”
“What, you have a problem? Why are you handing in your sheet so soon? Can’t you write some more? You can always guess. What if you don’t make it to the third round?” questioned Elder Leng, having not seen Mu Yu’s sheet.
“Third round? What happened to the second round? You seem unusually eager for me to win the slot. What are you cooking up?”
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