Chapter 99: Ouyang Cheng, Utterly Baffled

Ouyang Cheng and the others were inwardly collapsing.

Not even knowing where the primary library was, he chose the more difficult pill debate. They all suspected this guy's head had been squeezed by a door.

However, since he had already decided, he couldn't dissuade him.

After telling him the location and watching Zhang Xuan leave, Du Man looked at Ouyang Cheng: "Is he... too reckless?"

"Reckless, yes, but did you notice? He's very confident!" Ouyang Cheng was full of disbelief: "I really don't know where his confidence comes from!"

"Could it be that he doesn't know how terrifying the pill debate is?" Speaking of this assessment method, Du Man shuddered: "Even though I'm now a one-star alchemist, if I were to debate pills, I definitely wouldn't pass!"

The pill debate was extremely frightening, equivalent to pitting your knowledge against ten alchemists. No matter how rich one person's knowledge, how could it match ten opponents?

Moreover, the most crucial point was... you haven't even refined pills yet!

This was like a physiologist explaining pig slaughter to a butcher—no matter how good the theory, without practice, it's hard to succeed!

"We explained it so thoroughly, there's no way he doesn't know!" Ouyang Cheng shook his head: "This man is truly an enigma!"

"Indeed, he made no mistakes in the first round! In the second round, not only did he make no mistakes, but he also pointed out our errors... And he's so young, I really don't know how he has such good memory and reasoning ability!"

Recalling what had just happened, Du Man couldn't help but marvel.

This guy had performed too brilliantly earlier. Just in terms of herb identification and drug reasoning, he was probably far stronger than them!

An apprentice stronger than an alchemist... if you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, you really wouldn't believe it.

"Actually, it's simple to find out where his confidence comes from. Isn't he going to the library to read? We can send someone to follow him. If we keep tailing him, he'll eventually reveal some clues, and we'll see something!" Ouyang Cheng said.

Daring to debate alchemy, he must know a lot about alchemical knowledge. As long as we send someone to follow him, we should be able to find some clues.

"Not bad!" Du Man nodded and waved his hand: "Hua Hua, go to the elementary library and see what he's doing. Be discreet and don't get caught!"

"Yes!" Zhu Huahua walked out.

Not long after, this alchemist's apprentice returned, looking bewildered.

"What's wrong? What is he doing? Is he looking up some obscure alchemical methods?" Ouyang Cheng looked over.

An alchemist participating in a debate would definitely come up with very difficult and obscure questions, making it hard to answer. To pass, one must not only have extensive knowledge but also be well-versed in these obscure methods.

"No!" Zhu Huahua's eyes were dazed, as if she still couldn't believe what she saw: "He's... flipping through books!"

"Flipping through books? Maybe he's looking for the books he wants. Tell me, which ones is he flipping through?" Ouyang Cheng continued asking.

"When I went, he was flipping through books on the basic alchemy shelf. I took a peek and saw books like 'Basic Alchemy Techniques,' 'How to Extract Medicinal Materials,' 'Methods to Preserve Medicinal Properties,' 'How to Move the Alchemy Furnace,' and such. I didn't dare get close for fear of being discovered!" Zhu Huahua thought for a moment and said.

"Basic Alchemy Techniques? How to Extract Medicinal Materials?"

"Methods to Preserve Medicinal Properties? How to Move the Alchemy Furnace? This..."

Du Man and Ouyang Cheng exchanged glances, both dumbfounded.

These are the simplest theoretical books for apprentices, aren't they? Like walking or eating—every alchemy apprentice must master them. This guy is about to debate alchemy with someone, and he's just now reading this kind of book?

Is he kidding?

It's like a world-class swordsman about to duel the greatest swordsman under heaven suddenly remembering to buy a sword and learn how to use it...

Is this for real?

"Are you sure he's reading those books?"

Unable to hold back any longer, Ouyang Cheng asked doubtfully.

"I'm not sure either. He's not reading, he's flipping through... flipping through one after another. I don't know what he's doing!" Zhu Huahua was on the verge of tears.

He really didn't know what the other party was doing. Like a madman, he went through the bookshelf from the first row, flipping through each one. It didn't look like he was reading, nor like he was looking for a book. He truly had no idea what he was up to.

"Flipping through books? One after another?"

Ouyang Cheng and Du Man blinked.

Why did it sound like nonsense?

"How did he flip? Show us!" Du Man said.

"Okay!"

There happened to be many books in the room. Zhu Huahua walked over, picked up a dozen or so, and swept his palm across the front, making the pages rustle.

"That's it?"

Seeing him stop after one sweep, Ouyang Cheng and Du Man stared wide-eyed, bewildered.

"Yes!" Zhu Huahua nodded. "He did just that, then moved to the next shelf..."

"..."

Ouyang Cheng and Du Man exchanged glances, both seeing exasperation in each other's eyes.

They had thought the guy went to the elementary library to find books to read, but instead he was flipping through them... And even if others flipped quickly, they at least glanced at what it was. But him? At that speed, he couldn't possibly see anything!

Forget the content, he probably didn't even know what book it was...

"Could it be... he wants to check the material of the books and burn them?"

After a long while, Du Man blurted out.

Other than intending to burn the books, he couldn't think of any use for flipping through them like that.

"Impossible. Although the elementary library doesn't involve alchemist guild secrets, it's not something you can just burn. As an apprentice, he shouldn't be that reckless!" Ouyang Cheng shook his head.

Though Du Man's suggestion was absurd, he too couldn't come up with a better reason, his brows furrowed into a knot.

"Then tell me, what's going on? What does he intend to do?"

Du Man couldn't help asking.

"I..." Ouyang Cheng looked utterly confused. To be honest, he had never heard of such a freak, let alone seen one.

"Could it be... he's looking for a specific book? And that book has a very special material that can only be identified by touch?" After a long pause, he offered a new hypothesis.

"Maybe..."

The two sat at the table, now frowning, now grimacing, utterly unable to figure out what Zhang Xuan was up to.

In just half a day, they had exhausted every possible reason, even all the excuses they could think of in their lifetime, yet still didn't know what he was doing.

During this time, Zhu Huahua went to the library several more times and returned to report on the other party's situation.

When they heard that he hadn't stopped at all, continuing to flip through books, even not sparing titles like "What Are Pills," "Types and Identification of Pills," "Does Alchemy Require a Furnace?"... they once again looked strange, conflicted, struggling, and pained...

Only then did they realize that their various strange excuses hadn't run out yet; it seemed they could still come up with a few more...