Chapter 441: Volunteers
Chapter 441: Volunteers
"Alright, Huo Yin, you may sit now." Elder Ru Qi gestured towards Huo Yin, who had finished her lecture, as she started walking towards the teaching stage.
Turning towards the disciples, the very next moment she said, "I believe after going through my teaching assistant’s session, the newcomers will be able to keep up with me in the next three hours. So, let’s begin."
Elder Ru Qi subtly let out a breath and started the class in earnest.
"Although pill refining involves a vast amount of theoretical knowledge, without being able to put that knowledge into practice, one can never be considered a Pill Refiner.
Therefore, I’ll be focusing the next session more on refining the pills and alongside that process, I’ll be providing you with the information you should be aware of while refining that Pill. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Elder Ru Qi!"
Hearing an affirmative answer, she flicked her hand towards her side the very next moment as a Pill Cauldron appeared out of the storage ring and was placed right in the middle of the teaching stage.
"In the next six hours, I’ll be refining three batches of pills, which I believe will cover most of what you were looking to learn when you applied for these classes.
The first batch of pills would be a High-Grade Mortal Pill. The second batch would consist of Low-Grade Immortal Pills, and lastly, the third batch would be a Mid-Grade Immortal Pill.
As many of you would have already guessed, the mortal pill will serve to help those who have yet to become a Pill Apprentice. The Low-Grade Immortal Pill would help the Pill Apprentices who have yet to form their first Immortal Pill, and lastly, the Mid-Grade Immortal Pill will help the Mid-Grade Pill Apprentices who are striving to raise the efficiency of their Immortal Pills."
Several eyes glimmered in understanding when Elder Ru Qi clearly stated the reason behind the way she had structured her lessons.
Meanwhile, the moment Elder Ru Qi had finished those words, she scanned the entire hall with her eyes before saying, "To enhance everyone’s understanding, I’ll be choosing three volunteers from among the disciples present here who will be acting as my assistants during the refining process.
They can be either Unranked Pill Refiners or Pill Apprentices. It doesn’t matter. So, the ones who are interested, please raise your hands."
’This...’ The moment Yi Chen heard those words, an expectant glimmer appeared in his eyes as he instantly raised his hand.
However, his hand had gone only halfway up when a curious thought made him turn around to check how many others were interested in volunteering as well.
A sea of hands appeared before his eyes the very next moment, taking him out by surprise.
’At this point... should I even bother raising my hand?’ he thought as his expression turned regretful.
His hand, which had only halfway gone up, reached a stop at that very point as he retracted it the very next second.
From his understanding, it was clear that to be among the three who would be selected would require a massive amount of luck, something which he felt he clearly lacked.
’With my shitty luck, even if there were just four people in the audience, there would still be a high chance I would end up becoming the fourth one...’ he thought while letting out a forced smile as he finally turned toward Elder Ru Qi, who, instead of looking in the front rows, was looking at the people behind.
Seeing that she wasn’t even looking at the front rows, he was already sure he had no chance of being selected.
However, what he didn’t know was that the moment he had put down his hand from a half-raised position, he had instantly attracted Elder Ru Qi’s attention, who had been observing him from the corner of her eye.
’How cute...’ she thought in amusement, noticing Yi Chen’s antics before looking at the disciples at the back.
"You there, the one in the fifth seat of the third row...Yes, you."
Elder Ru Qi selected the first volunteer before pointing her hand at another disciple who was sitting near the end.
"First row, fourth seat from the last..."
The disciple let out a cheer the instant he realised that he was selected. Elder Ru Qi’s eyes soon moved through another set of candidates, this time looking for one in the first set of seats.
At this moment, her gaze once again fell on Yi Chen, who was the only exception amongst everyone present who wasn’t raising his hand.
’I thought he would end up conforming to peer pressure and raise his hand by now...’ she thought as the gaze with which she was looking at Yi Chen turned even more amused.
"As for the third and last volunteer..." the smile on her face subtly widened as she pointed right towards Yi Chen and said, "You, the only disciple who didn’t raise his hand in the entire hall. I’ll be choosing you as the last volunteer."
The moment Yi Chen heard those words, his eyes couldn’t help but widen as an expression of disbelief appeared on his face right at that instant.
’This... this works?!’
Seeing Yi Chen’s flabbergasted expression, Elder Ru Qi let out a chuckle right at that instant and said, "You weren’t expecting you’d get chosen, right? How do you feel now that you’re selected?"
"I... I feel great!" Yi Chen stood up with utter excitement on his face the very next moment.
To be granted such an opportunity to closely watch the pill refining process of a Tier 3 Pill Master while assisting them with their task was something to truly die for if one was passionate about Pill Refining.
’Do you now?’
Elder Ru Qi thought, shaking her head with a pursed smile as she observed Yi Chen’s changed demeanour and was about to give him some advice. However, taking time into consideration, she swallowed those words of hers and gestured for all three volunteers to come up the stage.
"Hurry up on stage, then, all of you. We’ll be starting the process."
The three of them nodded, and while they were making their way towards the teaching stage, Elder Ru Qi addressed everyone in the hall, "The first pill we’ll be refining is called the Sun Radiating Pill.
It’s highly effective in fighting off fever among the mortals by raising their body’s temperature substantially. When it comes to cultivators, its effect can even be felt by Meridian Refinement Stage cultivators who can use it as a way to fight off the cold when venturing into cold places."
As she finished those words, she gestured at Huo Yin and said, "You’ve prepared the ingredients, right? Place the ingredients on one of the two tables over here."
The moment Elder Ru Qi finished those words, two long tables appeared next to the cauldron, with one on each side. One was to be used for segregating all the ingredients, while the other was going to be used for processing the ingredients.
"Yes, Elder Ru." Huo Yin nodded, hearing those words, and made her way towards one of the tables, placing several dozen ingredients on top of it.
By that time, Yi Chen and the rest had already made their way onto the stage and were waiting for Elder Ru Qi’s instructions.
She asked them a few questions and soon assigned them their tasks one by one.
"Since you’re a Mid-Grade Apprentice already, you’ll be taking care of the flames." She said while turning towards the Low-Grade Pill Apprentice and saying, "You’ll be helping me process the ingredients."
With that said, she turned towards Yi Chen, who was the only unranked Pill Refiner among the three, and said, "You’ll be handing out the herbs and other ingredients when asked by me. You don’t need to worry about how to differentiate them. Along with their names, I’ll also tell you about their appearance so that you can find them on the table. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Elder Ru Qi." Yi Chen nodded the moment he heard those words.
While Elder Ru seemed to be concerned about Yi Chen finding it difficult to differentiate between the herbs and other ingredients when asked, Yi Chen was least concerned about it.
In fact, unlike the other two volunteers, Yi Chen wasn’t nervous in the least and was fully confident about being able to handle the task he was responsible for easily.
It was to the point that his aim was more on being able to observe the processing and refining process while helping out with the ingredients on the stage.
’With my ability to check the status of all the ingredients on the table, I’ll be able to provide the required herbs and ingredients with a snap of my fingers anyway...’
He thought with a confident smirk as Elder Ru Qi finally finished giving the additional instructions to the other two volunteers.
"Alright. I’ll start the refining process now, so everyone, make sure to observe carefully." Elder Ru Qi’s voice rang throughout the entire hall as, the very next second, she turned her head towards Yi Chen and asked for the very first ingredient.