Her thoughts were spinning, and she was powerless, only staring blankly. She couldn't help but recall when she once challenged him to a competition in the skills of plants and vegetation, and how cautiously and even nervously he inquired about her ranking. Then she rembered how anxious he looked when he agreed to compete.
Since then, she realized that Yan Xiaobao's nervousness at the ti was just a front, hiding the smile blooming in his heart.
"Damn it, Xiao Bao!" she thought, gritting her teeth.
Chen Zie and Zhao Yiduo also gasped in surprise, staring at Yan Xiaobao.
As for Han Jianye, who had spent so many years in secluded ditation, he began to tremble. When he realized that Yan Xiaobao was undoubtedly his lifelong major rival, he glared at Yan Xiaobao, his thoughts spinning, a wave of shock hitting him.
"The most important part of the pharmacist's test is potion concoction!" he thought. "He might be strong, but I refuse to believe he can surpass in potion making. I spent seven years in secluded ditation just to take first place in this test!"
anwhile, the Outer Sect disciples around were out of breath, even dumbfounded.
"That's... ten responses! This ans he has also mastered all five volus of spiritual creatures! He passed all the steles outside the Ten Thousand dicines Pavilion! There are not even fifty disciples in the entire Outer Sect who can do that!"
"This guy has incredible patience! He waited to pass all ten steles before taking the promotion test!" "Don't tell ... he's the Little Turtle!?!" The crowd was in an uproar.
Of course, the most eye-opening was Xu Baocai, who was looking at Yan Xiaobao with wide eyes as if on the brink of collapse. Just a mont ago, he had scorned Yan Xiaobao for not considering mastering the three volus of spiritual creatures, but now, he clearly had every right to that attitude...
"The mastery of plants and vegetation, and spiritual creatures... Yan Xiaobao was clearly just ssing around with ! But this is incredible. He's only been in the sect for a few years! Could it be... he really is the Little Turtle?" Out of breath, Xu Baocai took out his little notebook and began jotting down the new developnts. Deep inside, he was glad he chose to resolve issues with Yan Xiaobao and also glad he hadn't said anything too mocking before.
Even as everyone was expressing their shock, Yan Xiaobao walked out of the passage, sighing. In fact, if there was a way to hide his achievents with the ten steles, he would have done so. After all, among Zhou Xinqi's fans were also Inner Sect disciples.
Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do. He couldn't give up the promotion. Although he was forced to reveal the truth, seeing the crowd's excitent and hearing people shouting his na, he was genuinely touched.
"What wonderful fellow disciples. Ah, if only everyone were like this!" Emotional, he sighed and amidst the crowd's gaze, he chose a pill furnace and sat down.
Elder Xu looked thoughtfully at Yan Xiaobao. A faint smile flashed across his face but quickly vanished. Regaining his composure, he said calmly, "In the bag before you, there are ten sets of dicinal plants you can use to make ten kinds of level-1 spiritual dicine, specifically Inkspirit Incense!
"You will be judged based on your success rate, needing at least two successes to pass. The one with the most successes... will receive 5,000 rit points! You can start imdiately."
In response to Elder Xu's explanation, the Outer Sect disciples in the audience began to get excited.
"This test is to make Inkspirit Incense!"
"Inkspirit Incense is not the hardest level-1 dicine to make, but it's not easy... It's unlike spirit condensing incense or other spirit dicines that many apprentice alchemists have."
"Hmph. They're just improving the qualification thods in test potion making. Can't you see what's happening? Previously, they needed four volus of plants and vegetation, and now it's five. They've even increased the difficulty of crafting spiritual dicine. It's expected things will continue to get tougher in the future."
As everyone discussed the matter, those sitting in front of the pill furnaces in the square had very serious expressions. Although so of them smiled bitterly when hearing the test involved Inkspirit Incense, they did not allow themselves to get distracted and instead opened their bags and began inspecting the dicinal plants.
Xu Baocai had previously ntioned the 5,000 rit points issue. Now that Yan Xiaobao heard Elder Xu's confirmation, his heart was pounding. His rit points were already quite low, and he needed to obtain the dicine formula and dicinal plants.
"If I can earn these 5,000 rit points, it will save a trendous amount of ti and effort." With this thought, Yan Xiaobao opened the bag which contained ten sets of dicinal plants along with a piece of jade that held the formula for the Inkspirit Incense.
He didn't start concocting the dicine imdiately but instead settled his Qi and cleared his mind before beginning to study the formula.
He took a substantial amount of ti, as was his habit when concocting dicine. Even the smallest question about anything needed complete analysis until he felt entirely confident.
His initial research took him only two hours.
By then, Du Lingfei and everyone else had already finished inspecting the plants and begun the actual potion making. In fact, most of them had already completed more than half of their first batch.
Soon, everyone except Yan Xiaobao was in the midst of concocting dicine. Yan Xiaobao was the only one sitting there, thoughtfully gazing at the jade. The sight made Xu Baocai sowhat astonished.
By that point, the first batch of spiritual dicines was erging. All the pill furnaces except Yan Xiaobao's were rumbling. As black smoke rose, most of them wore long faces, indicating their first batch had failed.
Han Jianye, on the other hand, raised his head and laughed heartily. His pill furnace was trembling, and a dicinal aroma began to spread. Shockingly, a 3-inch long stick of Inkspirit Incense appeared.
The surrounding Outer Sect disciples craned their necks to see.
"He succeeded on the first batch!"
"This Han Jianye definitely has a talent for potion concocting!"
A look of excitent appeared on Han Jianye's face, and he glanced at the other examinees. His gaze lingered on Yan Xiaobao for a mont, and when he realized he was still studying the dicine formula, his eyes filled with a disdainful expression. Finally, he took out the second batch of plants and began the second batch of concocting.
Du Lingfei and everyone else wore ugly expressions and gritted their teeth as they started working on the second batch.
Ti flew by. By the end of the fourth hour of the test, most of the group had completed their second batch. A sullen rumbling sound could be heard... not a single tester succeeded.
Around this ti, Yan Xiaobao put down the jade. His mind was now infused with the dicine formula for Inkspirit Incense. However, just as everyone thought he was about to start, they were stunned to see him take out a dicinal plant and begin to study it closely.
"What is Yan Xiaobao doing? He's already studied the dicine formula for four hours! What's the point of studying the plants?"
"I know it's a test, but does he have to be this slow...?"
When he saw others beginning their third batch, Xu Baocai's eyes were filled with incredibility.
At the sixth hour of the test, the audience was left waiting in bewildernt. By now, 18 examinees had all failed. Soon it was 8 hours, then 10 hours. Eventually, four people managed to concoct the Inkspirit Incense, including Du Lingfei, Chen Ziang, and Zhao Yiduo.
The aura of the incense spread all around. Han Jianye proudly laughed as he beca the first to concoct a second stick of Inkspirit Incense. Looking proudly around, his disdain for Yan Xiaobao grew.
By this ti, Yan Xiaobao was studying the fourth dicinal plant. Occasionally, he would even tear a hole in the plant, shocking the audience. Even Elder Xu took notice.
Ti flew by. Soon, twelve hours had passed. Everyone besides Han Jianye who had succeeded at concocting their sixth batch of spiritual dicine had failed, with Han Jianye being the sole successful one.
This caused a stir and even earned a slight nod from Elder Xu.
"This Han Jianye has already concocted three sticks of incense! No one else has even more than one!"
"In past tests, two successes ant you passed the test, and four successes made you a contender. All Han Jianye has to do is concoct one more stick to beco a chosen candidate!"
...
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