Chapter 456: The Pill Apprentice Examination

’Ah, that’s the guild’s emblem...’ Yi Chen’s brows rose slightly the moment the middle-aged man turned to face the entire hall.

On the left side of the middle-aged man’s dark grey robe, a compact emblem of a black cauldron atop fiery red flames was neatly placed.

’So, it’s a uniform...’ Yi Chen muttered as his gaze went towards the four Pill Apprentices, who too had turned around and were standing at the bottom of the raised teaching platform, their eyes scanning the faces of all the candidates present.

The middle-aged man was also doing the same, slowly scanning the faces of all the candidates present in pin-drop silence. He finally cleared his throat to draw everyone’s attention and began his address.

"Greetings. I’m your Test Supervisor, and my name’s Tao Liao, and you can just refer to me as Elder Tao. I’m one of the several Tier 3 Pill Masters in the Supreme Pill Forging Guild, and I’ll be ensuring that today’s test will be conducted as fairly as possible, giving all those who deserve to become Pill Apprentices an equal chance."

Elder Tao Liao paused for a moment to let his words sink into everyone’s mind before continuing.

"The first part of the test will last two hours and consist of a written examination. After that, there will be a one-hour break, after which the results will be declared. Those who clear the first part will be called in for the second test. The rest will have failed the test. Is this clear?"

"Yes, Elder Tao!"

The candidates responded at the top of their voices with a mix of emotions welling in their stomachs.

"Good." Elder Tao nodded after hearing their response and stretched his right hand towards the table next to him.

The very next second, his storage ring glimmered momentarily as piles of papers already segregated into four sets of 50 appeared on top of the table.

"Start distributing the papers then," Elder Tao instructed the four Pill Apprentices, who instantly went into action, grabbing a set each and taking care of one column of seats each.

"Only open the test booklet once I tell you to start. We haven’t gone to the trouble of frisking you all individually, trusting that you won’t resort to any underhanded means to get by the test.

However, remember that if you betray this trust and it comes to my attention or that of any of my four invigilators, you’ll be barred from joining the Supreme Pill Forging Guild ever again.

So do keep these words in your mind before attempting something foolish."

A silent pressure welled up in everyone’s heart the moment Elder Tao’s warning reached their ears. It was to the point that even though they didn’t plan to use any unfair means at all, they couldn’t help but worry about what would happen to them if they were to be caught by the invigilators.

Meanwhile, seeing the signals from the four invigilators, Elder Tao subtly nodded and declared the very next instant, "Your two hours for the written examination start...Now!"

The sound of pages being flipped rang out almost simultaneously as some candidates read the first question and immediately began writing their answers, while others decided to go through all the questions before answering them.

As for Yi Chen, he was among the former.

Flipping open the test booklet, he found himself staring at a half-page-long question and couldn’t help thinking, ’Bloody hell, is that question or a freaking paragraph...’

However, he quickly composed himself and began reading the question seriously.

’A pill refiner is attempting to create an unranked low-grade pill called the Misty Snow Pill. It is a pill given to patients to dull their senses and make them fall asleep. He is creating the pill using the following formula:

1. Violet Ice Flower’s Extract – 60 ml

2. Beady-eyed fish’s liver powder – 10 grams

3. Dizzying Leaf’s boiled solution – 100 ml

.

.

.

21. Nine-year-old mature Moss solution – 20 ml

...after successfully refining the pill, the pill refiner tested it on a subject who, instead of falling asleep, turned extremely violent. After careful consideration, the pill refiner found that three ingredients had been incorrectly included in the formula and were responsible for the violent reaction.

Identify those three ingredients and state your reasoning behind choosing them. Also, state how the properties of the newly formed pill would change if the dry extract of Yellow Yang Leaf were added to the revised formula.

After reading the entire question once, Yi Chen went over it again with greater vigour as everything he had read in the books over the past month and a half began linking up at the speed of light.

Subtly tightening his grip on his fountain pen, he placed its tip on the blank space beneath the question and began writing what he thought was the right answer. Slowly but steadily, an excited smile took root on his face as he immersed himself in solving the question.

’Next.’

’Next.’

’Next.’

Paying no attention to the invigilators walking past him, Yi Chen’s hand moved incessantly across the paper without any sign of stopping as he tackled one question after another.

FLIP!

Tackling the fifth question, Yi Chen quickly flipped over to tackle the next question, only to realise something.

’...I-It’s finished?’

He blanked out for a second as he realised that it was really the case before looking around to see the rest of the candidates around him who were still furiously writing on their booklets with all their might.

’...I didn’t miss something, right?’ he thought, feeling a little doubtful when he noticed that many among the nearby candidates were still tackling the second question and were nowhere close to the end.

As a result, he went through the entire booklet all over again to confirm that he hadn’t missed any part of the questions.

’Yeah... I didn’t,’ he thought to himself. Although he felt confident about his answers, seeing that no one else had finished their paper, he couldn’t help feeling a little awkward.

Whatever, it’s not like I have anything to do with them anyway...’ he thought to himself before standing up with his booklet in hand.

The moment Yi Chen’s words rang out, almost all of the candidates, including the invigilators and even the supervisor, turned their heads in his direction.

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