Chapter 60 Your Level Is Too Low

Among the first two groups, the most attention was naturally on Xu Feng'er and Sun Keyun.

As it turned out, these two indeed outshone the students of the Danwu Academy.

When the two of them walked out of the medicine storehouse, the others were still searching for their own medicinal herbs.

As for Xu Feng'er and Sun Keyun, they were evenly matched, emerging from the storehouse almost simultaneously.

Seeing Xu Feng'er and Sun Keyun stand out like cranes among chickens, Elder Wang and Elder Sun felt their faces glow with pride. Elder Wang in particular, whose mood had been soured by Ye Yuan earlier, now saw his mood clear up like clouds parting to reveal the sun.

Elder Wang was named Wang Jinfu, and Elder Sun was named Sun Jianming. Both were veterans of the Alchemist Guild and the foremost grand alchemists in the Qin Kingdom, commanding great respect.

Both were vice presidents of the Alchemist Guild, but this time, bringing their juniors to participate in the assessment, they were secretly competing with each other.

“Old Sun, I didn't expect Keyun to improve so quickly. You must have put a lot of effort into her!” Wang Jinfu said with a smile, stroking his beard.

“Heh, your Feng'er isn't bad either. I recall you only took her on as your closed-door disciple the year before last, and now she's about to become a senior apothecary apprentice.”

“Indeed, Feng'er is quite gifted. She understands with just a hint—a fine seedling. In this herb-selection stage, they've tied, but this is just an appetizer. The key lies in the refining.”

Sun Jianming nodded in agreement.

Clearly, between these two old men, Wang Jinfu was talkative while Sun Jianming was more reserved.

After Xu Feng'er and Sun Keyun entered the alchemy room, they immediately began preparing the herbs.

In the herb-preparation stage, their movements were very skilled and swift. It was evident that they usually did a lot of grunt work for the two old men outside.

However, these basic skills were not usually apparent, but when put to use, the results showed.

Except for some favored students, the students of the Danwu Academy rarely had opportunities to assist their instructors with chores, so they naturally couldn't match Xu Feng'er and Sun Keyun in speed.

Moreover, Wang Jinfu and Sun Jianming were both grand alchemists who taught them hand in hand; it would be hard for the two girls not to excel.

In this stage, the Danwu Academy students were outdone again.

To everyone's surprise, Xu Feng'er and Sun Keyun seemed to have coordinated—their progress was perfectly synchronized, neck and neck.

From herb selection to the end of preparation, the two girls took about half an hour, showing how solid their fundamentals were.

In the Alchemist Guild's assessment, each student had three chances, so everyone prepared three sets of herbs.

Xu Feng'er and Sun Keyun finished preparing the herbs and began their first refining.

In the hall, Feng Zhirou watched the light screen listlessly. Having long been a senior apothecary apprentice, she naturally found such a competition uninteresting.

“Hey, Ye Yuan, which of those two girls do you think will win?” Feng Zhirou leaned toward Ye Yuan and started a game of sound transmission.

In this hall, no matter how softly she spoke, with the strength of those two old men, they would definitely hear.

“Sun Keyun,” Ye Yuan replied via sound transmission without hesitation.

“Oh? You can already tell? Why?” Feng Zhirou asked in surprise.

Feng Zhirou didn't doubt Ye Yuan's words; she knew he was truly formidable. Feng Ruoqing had always been haughty, and for her aunt to think so highly of this youth, he was no ordinary person.

But no matter how impressive she thought Ye Yuan was, she didn't believe he could pass the alchemist assessment at the fourth level of Yuan Qi.

“Because President Sun is slightly better,” Ye Yuan said calmly.

“President Sun? What does President Sun have to do with it?” Feng Zhirou was confused by Ye Yuan's reasoning.

“President Sun is taciturn and more devoted to the Dao of alchemy, so his skill should be slightly superior to President Wang's. President Sun is pragmatic, so when teaching disciples, he naturally emphasizes rigor. Sun Keyun inherits her grandfather's style, so she is also slightly better.”

“No way? Just because of that?”

Ye Yuan gave Feng Zhirou a look and added, “During herb selection, they seemed evenly matched, but actually Sun Keyun was slightly faster than Xu Feng'er.”

Feng Zhirou was dumbfounded: “How can you tell that?”

“Xu Feng'er is refining the Fierce Tiger Pill, while Sun Keyun is refining the Mystic Clarity Pill. The Mystic Clarity Pill has one more auxiliary ingredient than the Fierce Tiger Pill, yet they finished selecting at the same time. Who wins and who loses is clear.”

Ye Yuan's words left Feng Zhirou speechless for a long time: “You... you're not just making this up, are you? Just from the light screen, you can tell what pills they're refining?”

Ye Yuan smiled faintly and said, “Whether I'm making it up, won't you know once they finish refining?”

“Fine, I'll see if you have real skill! If I find out you're bluffing, I'll throw you out myself before President Wang does!” Feng Zhirou threatened.

“Suit yourself!” Ye Yuan said indifferently.

“Hmph, you talk so mysteriously. In the end, the assessment result depends on the refined pills. Even if they really are refining the Fierce Tiger Pill and Mystic Clarity Pill, it's not easy to tell which is better, right?” After a while, feeling bored, Feng Zhirou transmitted again.

“No, they've already decided the winner.”

“Keep pretending! I don't believe you can tell who won just from the light screen! Their pills are only half-refined; they haven't even condensed the pill yet!” Feng Zhirou was provoked by Ye Yuan's pretentious style and increasingly felt he was talking nonsense.

“Sun Keyun's refining is smooth and continuous; barring accidents, it should be a high-grade pill. Xu Feng'er made a small mistake at the start of refining. Although she corrected it in time, it will definitely affect the quality of the Fierce Tiger Pill, at most barely reaching high grade. If she makes any more mistakes later, it might even become a mid-grade pill,” Ye Yuan analyzed calmly.

“Did Xu Feng'er make a mistake? I didn't see it.”

“Your level is too low; you can't see it.”

“Ye Yuan! You!” If not for the occasion, Feng Zhirou would have already thrust her sword at him.

…

Xu Feng'er and Sun Keyun finished refining almost simultaneously, succeeding on the first try and taking only one and a half hours.

Among these two groups of students, they were undeniably the kings, and passing the senior apothecary apprentice assessment was already a foregone conclusion.

The only thing left was to judge the quality of the pills they refined to determine the winner.

The two carried their refined pills to the hall, bowed respectfully to the two elders, and said, “Please, Master (Grandfather), appraise.”

Wang Jinfu laughed heartily and said to Feng Ruoqing, “It's not proper for us to speak for our own. Miss Feng, would you judge for us?”

Feng Ruoqing smiled slightly and said, “I gladly accept.”

Feng Ruoqing picked up the pill from Xu Feng'er's tray, examined it carefully, and said, “First-grade high-grade Fierce Tiger Pill, excellently completed, reaching the high-grade level.”

Then, Feng Ruoqing picked up the pill from Sun Keyun's tray and did the same, saying, “First-grade high-grade Mystic Clarity Pill, also excellently completed, reaching the high-grade level.”

In the corner, Feng Zhirou's mouth hung open in shock as she looked at Ye Yuan as if she had seen a ghost.