Chapter 304: No Mistake?

The trust between parents and children is around 60, between spouses about 70. Beyond that, it's life and death together, bound by life and death!

Such trust is unreserved, even willing to die for it!

This is the level of trust that only a five-star master teacher can achieve with a student!

Jiang Chen had just said it wouldn't exceed twenty when he saw this, as if slapped in the face, his cheeks burning, mouth agape, frozen in place.

Only taught for five or six days?

Who the hell has ever seen such high trust after teaching for such a short time?

With such high trust in such a short time, if he teaches for a few more years, won't it reach over ninety?

Damn!

Even a five-star master teacher couldn't do it!

A mindset level of 5.1, teaching students with trust of 85...

This country bumpkin is going to defy the heavens!

Ling Xiaoxiao's delicate body trembled, feeling as if ten thousand grass-mud horses were galloping through her mind.

Bringing students of about the same age as himself, having taught for only a short time... No matter how you looked at it, this young man seemed like a novice, completely ignorant of the assessment of renowned teachers.

Yet someone like this, with just a casual effort, achieved a trust value of 85 points!

It was both frustrating and maddening.

Mo Yu's mouth twitched.

She had long guessed that Teacher Zhang's result would pass, but she never imagined it would pass so thoroughly, so inconceivably.

After all, the student she had trained for three years only scored a trust level of 52, barely passing.

Even Mo Hongyi, hailed as the number one prodigy in the kingdom, had students with a trust level of only 55—those students had studied with him since age seven and were only eleven at the time of assessment.

Seeing students of such an age with such a high trust level made one wonder if the trust room was broken.

"Creak!"

The door opened, and Zhao Ya and the others walked over, looking slightly tired, turning to look at the trust value on the door.

"Sorry, Teacher..." they said, their faces full of apology.

They had felt in their hearts that they trusted this Teacher Zhang one hundred percent—otherwise, they wouldn't have left their families to follow him—yet the test showed only this much, and they immediately felt embarrassed.

Seeing their expressions, everyone felt another billion points of damage.

Not only was the teacher abnormal, but the students were abnormal too—85 points of trust, and they still weren't satisfied; why not just go die...

"Ahem!"

Seeing that many renowned masters and apprentices were struck speechless, Master Wu came to his senses and coughed.

"Trust level 85, first round passed! Now for the second round, the auxiliary hall assessment!"

He then looked at Zhang Xuan: "The auxiliary hall tests your auxiliary profession. Your auxiliary profession is alchemist. Here I must remind you:"

"Normally, an alchemist's assessment tests alchemy skills; as long as you can refine a first-grade pill, you can be called a one-star alchemist. The auxiliary hall is different—it tests not your own understanding of alchemy, but... instruction!"

"In other words, even if you are a three-star alchemist, if you cannot instruct, you won't pass! The score is determined by two factors: first, the grade of the pill refined after your instruction—successful pill, full pill, perfect pill, pill patterns... the higher the grade, the higher the score; second, the number of errors in your instruction—errors will deduct points accordingly, one deduction per error, and so on. Do you understand?"

After explaining, Master Wu specifically asked.

"Understood!" Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

Although he was a one-star alchemist, he had obtained it through pill identification. If he were actually to refine pills, let alone first-grade, he probably couldn't even succeed at half-grade. Instruction... was much simpler.

His mind had merged with the entire alchemist guild's collection of books from the Tianxuan Kingdom. Even without using the library, instructing on refining first-grade pills was more than sufficient.

"Good, go on in!" Master Wu waved his hand.

"Mm." Zhang Xuan said nothing more and stepped inside.

"Do you think he can pass this round?"

"Master Mo called him teacher, so he must have special skills in alchemy. He should pass, but we don't know his score."

"The auxiliary hall's score, like trust level, is out of 100. Different professions have different requirements. For alchemists, instructing to produce a successful pill counts as barely passing, around 50. For calligraphers and painters, instructing to create a second-realm painting is about the same."

"Yes, 50 points is enough to pass. Back then, Master Mo Hongyi's auxiliary hall assessment was as a formation master, and his score reached 60, causing quite a stir!"

"Reaching 60 means his understanding of the auxiliary profession had surpassed the one-star level. To have such strength when assessing for one-star master... only a genius like him could do it!"

"This guy, with a mental state of 5.1 and student trust of 85, probably... won't have a low score either."

"True, but personal alchemy skill is different from instruction. I think if he exceeds 55, that would be a high score!"

...

As he entered the auxiliary hall, the crowd buzzed with discussion.

The auxiliary assessment tested instruction, not personal ability. Many talented in other professions had come to take the test but left in defeat.

Although Zhang Xuan had astonished everyone with his mental state and student trust, many still held low expectations for the second round.

...

With a creak, the door closed.

Zhang Xuan looked inside.

It was a room about twenty meters in diameter, with a large pill furnace placed in the center.

"It seems the room changes according to the auxiliary profession."

Seeing a furnace upon entering, Zhang Xuan was somewhat surprised, but then he understood.

The auxiliary hall would change its scene according to the examinee's auxiliary profession. Since his auxiliary profession was alchemy, it was natural for an alchemy furnace to be here.

Whoosh!

While he was wondering how the assessment would proceed, a puppet walked over beside the furnace.

This puppet, made of unknown materials, looked exactly like a real person, but it was expressionless and devoid of any vitality.

In front of the puppet was a row of medicinal herbs, densely packed, totaling forty or fifty types.

"Green Leaf Broken Palm Flower, Rootless Grass, White Angelica... Could it be for refining the first-grade Zhuangyuan Pill?"

Looking at the herbs, Zhang Xuan recognized them.

With his understanding of alchemy, even without the Library of Heaven's Path, he could tell what these herbs were intended to refine.

As soon as he identified them, the puppet began to move.

Lighting the fire, heating the cauldron, preparing the herbs... The puppet's movements, though not perfectly fluid, were orderly and precise, without any error.

"This way, the pill won't be refined..."

After a glance, Zhang Xuan shook his head.

Alchemy, like practicing martial arts, yields different results when the same herbs and steps are used by different people.

The puppet placed the herbs in the correct order, but it failed to grasp the conflicts and intervals between them. Following this method, the refinement would surely fail.

Sure enough, after a short while, the refinement ended with a "pop!" as the furnace opened, emitting a puff of black smoke.

Failure!

"Guide the puppet to refine the pill successfully. Success, and you pass!"

A voice sounded.

It seemed the puppet's initial refinement was for the examinee to observe carefully, identify errors, and then easily guide it during the second attempt.

After the voice ended, the puppet began refining again, following the exact same steps without any deviation.

For an ordinary alchemist, it would be impossible to replicate the process twice identically. Only such specially crafted puppets could strictly adhere to the steps.

"But this is even better. Unlike humans, puppets don't get distracted. As long as I give strict instructions, I can definitely get the pill refined!"

Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

Back when he guided Princess Mo Yu, her distraction caused the furnace to explode, nearly ruining the refinement.

Humans are emotional beings; joy, worry—all can affect the outcome of alchemy. Puppets are different.

They execute commands strictly, without the slightest error, so refining pills this way naturally avoids mistakes.

"Slow the fire by half a breath, extend the heating by four breaths, wait a moment, good, start..."

Understanding this, Zhang Xuan smiled lightly and, standing still, gave instructions one by one.

...

In the outer hall, everyone focused on the wall displaying numbers.

"He should have started guiding by now!"

Someone called out.

"Right! The assessment in the auxiliary hall is different from the Trust Room. The latter gives a score after testing trust, while the auxiliary hall displays a score as soon as guidance begins. The more correct guidance, the higher the score; any mistake reduces the score."

"This way, we can intuitively see the score and also his performance!"

"When Mo Hongyi, Master Mo, took the assessment, guiding array formations, his score kept increasing, with only five instances of regression—meaning five errors!"

"Yes, when Hall Master Jiang took the two-star assessment, I heard he had seven errors. Mo Hongyi had only five, setting a record!"

"I wonder how this one will do!"

"Even if he's a genius, his mental state is only 5.1, still inferior to Mo Hongyi's 6.0. I think his errors will be no less than ten!"

"I think so too, at least ten!"

...

The crowd buzzed with discussion.

"Look, the score is starting to increase!"

Another voice made everyone stop talking, and they all fixed their eyes on the wall ahead.

A number appeared, slowly jumping upward.

10!

11!

12!

"Looks good! It keeps increasing without any regression, meaning no mistakes. This guy is exceeding our expectations!"

"No mistakes so far, but it's only a matter of time. Who can guarantee perfection in guiding alchemy?"

"True..."

Watching the numbers jump, the crowd nodded.

At first, they chatted and laughed, but after a while, their expressions turned serious.

"It's already at 40, and still no mistakes..."

All the master teachers widened their eyes, looking as if they had seen a monster.

At this moment, the number on the wall had reached 40, with not a single regression—meaning from the start of guidance until now, there had been no errors!