Painting of the Nine Immortals

On the field, the elderly watched Ling Xian leave. His murky eyes were flashing with anticipation.

“What an interesting character. I will wait for your performance at the initial test.”

Then, his eyes darkened and he restored back to his half asleep sheepish behavior to sign up the remaining.

Looking at the completely black token in his hand, Ling Xian walked towards the location for the initial test. As he walked, he exclaimed how the gathering of the alchemist was truly the highest standard competition, as so many people were participating.

Because he realized that the number on the token he had was 2342.

It other words, in two days, more than 2,000 people had signed up. This wasn’t even the end of it.

This made it obvious how attractive the gathering of alchemists was to have so many young talents converge and participate.

“Yuezhou truly is a place with top talents and great resources. Despite the harsh restrictions, so many people still passed.” Ling Xian exclaimed. However, he remembered about the initial test he was about to face and couldn’t help but sigh, “I sure wonder though, after the initial test and the second test, how many people will remain standing.”

He had attended the gathering of alchemists once in the Hidden Territory and of course knew that after the initial and second test, the number of alchemists will greatly reduce by at least 90%!

What could he do? This was the competition with the highest standard and it was not a competition that anyone could pass. Even the initial test could bring down most people.

However, Ling Xian was not worried. He was here to win the championship. If he could not even pass the initial test, then wouldn’t that be laughable?

“I cannot believe that even after I returned to reality, I would be back where I stood back then.”

Looking at the giant tent in front of him, Ling Xian exclaimed and picked up his pace.

The moment he went in, he saw an elder dressed in all black sitting on a chair and staring at him with awe in his eyes.

“Senior, I am here for the initial test.” Ling Xian smiled and disregarded the elder’s shocked gaze. He placed the token in his palm.

“How interesting. An alchemist here for the gathering of alchemist is a cultivator of the completion level.” The elder grinned. Similar to the elder helping out with the signup, he was very interested in Lin Xian.

Hearing this, Ling Xian grinned helplessly but didn’t speak.

At this, the elderly stopped this topic and smiled, “Take your token and go do your initial test over there.”

Then, he pointed his finger towards the northwest corner.

Following the direction of the elder’s pointed finger, Ling Xian realized that there were many tables and chairs there. Every set was for one alchemist.

By now, most tables were already occupied. The alchemists were all deep in their frowns as if they were pondering over some difficult problem.

“An actual paper test?” Ling Xian frowned. The gathering he went to during the lost century was not like this.

“You can call it that. We are testing alchemists’ overall knowledge with Dan recipes.”

The elder grinned. Perhaps he was impressed by Ling Xian’s completion leveled cultivation, so he explained patiently, “There are various Dan recipes on the table, but none of them are complete. We need the alchemists to fill in all the blanks. Whoever can complete all of them pass the initial test.”

“I see how it is.” Ling Xian revealed a faint smiled and understood the intention of the test.

As everyone knows, in order to brew high quality Dans, an alchemists needs to have three qualities: one, manipulation of spiritual Dans; two, control of flame; and three, mastery of spiritual energy.

Only when all three traits are possessed, can high quality spiritual Dans be brewed. Medicinal Dans are, without a doubt, an accurate way to judge an alchemist’s abilities.

However, for the initial test, there was no way they were going to make the alchemists brew already. First, it’s too much work. Second, the best show happened later.

Therefore, they came up with this test – fill in the blanks for Dan recipes. Because this way, time and energy were saved, and alchemists’ knowledge with alchemy was tested.

After all, Dan recipes represented the most fundamental understanding an alchemist would have regarding Dans. So they were perfect for the initial test.

Even the lowest level of Dan recipes require extremely profound alchemy knowledge. A sixth or seventh realm alchemists cannot make a Dan with a level rank like the ninth.

This was why the first test the five clans chose to have was to complete the Dan recipes.

According to Ling Xian’s estimations, they probably wrote on paper the effects of the Dan and majority of the ingredients needed to make such Dan. It was the alchemist’s job to deduce what was missing.

By doing so, the difficulty decreases by at least 90 percent. However, despite this, it remained difficult. To a young alchemists without much experience, the difficulty level of this test was high.

“Since I understand the rules of the test, then I will start.” Ling Xian paid his respect to the elder and headed towards his table.

As he watched Ling Xian leave, the elder’s eyes flashed with anticipation and he mumbled to himself, “Such a young man yet he is already a completion leveled cultivator. I just don’t know how skilled he is at alchemy. After all, this competition does not care for cultivation level.”

“This initial test sure is interesting. If I’m not guessing wrong, they should have written down majority of the spiritual medicines required to make a medicinal Dan with a certain effects. The test is for the alchemists to write down any additional spiritual medicine required.”

Ling Xian deduced to himself. The result was just what he expected.

He sat in his chair and picked up the white sheet of paper off the table. His lips curled up and a look of success flooded his face.

He saw seven different spiritual medicine written on the paper along with the finished Dan’s realm, and effects.

The Dan of Quick Travel – a ninth realm medicinal Dan. For a limited period after consumption, it allows the cultivator to acquire a speed that is three to five times faster than normal. It is a relatively decent spiritual Dan that can save a life.

“I have never heard of this medicinal Dan. Perhaps the five clans made it up just for this test.” Ling Xian smiled and did not hesitate again before analyzing the recipe list.

As he sat down, everyone else shot him a glance. It wasn’t that his temperament was so out of the ordinary, it was because everyone saw how he communicated with the elder when he entered.

You should know that when they entered, the elder merely lifted his eyelid for a second before gesturing for them to participate in the test. He never even explained the content of the test.

Yet this elder explained it to Ling Xian. So, how could everyone here not be intrigued? Other than intrigue, they were also very unhappy.

Therefore, after Ling Xian sat down, he garnered much attention. Everyone seemed to want to try and figure out what was so different about him that the elder was treating him differently.

Feeling everyone’s gaze on him, Ling Xian raised an eyebrow and didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to waste any more time on the initial test. Therefore, he calmed himself down and analyzed the spiritual medicine quietly.

Based on the effects of the Dan of Quick Travel and the given recipe list, it wasn’t difficult to figure out what was missing. If he could think of the key ingredient that triggers a human to be able to speed up while doesn’t counteract with the other ingredients, it would be enough.

Of course, to him, this wasn’t difficult.

Don’t forget, he had the inheritance from the Immortal of Alchemy. Though he didn’t practice brewing much, his fundamental skills and knowledge were exceptional. Even if he didn’t have the Essence of Herbalism, he contained the knowledge for thousands of spiritual medicine.

Therefore, he merely peeked and he thought of a spiritual medicine.

The Grass of Speed.

It was a spiritual medicine of the ninth realm. It was very gentle in effects and could be used simultaneously with most other spiritual medicines. The seven spiritual medicines written on paper were exceptionally suitable with this type of grass.

“That’s it.”

Ling Xian faintly grinned and manipulated his Qi. Using his finger as a pen, he wrote down the words “Grass of Speed”. Then, at everyone’s shocked gaze, he picked up the spiritual paper and walked towards the elder.

The Dan of Quick Travel was a ninth realm medicinal Dan. Thus, it wouldn’t require too much spiritual medicine. Though there was no instruction that specified how many spiritual medicines were missing, there really was only one missing.

He was very certain that the Grass of Speed was the one last missing spiritual medicine required.

This confidence came from the fact that he was the inheritor of great inheritance, and the fact that he was certain of his own alchemy knowledge!

Therefore, he merely wrote down this one medicine and did not dwell on it before he headed for the judge.

Realizing that Ling Xian had stood up and was now walking to the judge, everyone gasped and quickly began to discuss.

“He is handing in his test?”

“That’s not possible. He just sat down, how could he have analyzed it so fast?”

“Yeah, only seconds have passed. It is impossible to get the right answer. I think he realized that his knowledge is limited and he is giving up.”

“That’s what I’m thinking. Since everyone came, it’s been a while. Yet none of us could figure it out. How can he be so fast?”

“Hehe, why are you even questioning it? He must be giving up.”

Everyone chimed in their opinions. From their words, all of them thought Ling Xian had given up and could not find the answer.

It wasn’t that they were cocky enough to think that just because they couldn’t answer, Ling Xian couldn’t neither. Reality was that before Ling Xian’s arrival, many people have handed in their tests.

It’s just that nobody was as fast as he was being!

To have found an answer within seconds of sitting down was an unbelievable feat!

Therefore, everyone had their opinions and refused to believe that Ling Xian was this insane.

“So what if I can spend just a few seconds to have an answer. Is there really such a need to be so surprised?”

Listening to the discussions by his ears, Ling Xian shook his head. He was too lazy to debate with these people and he headed straight for the elderly.

Watching Ling Xian approach him, the elder was in shock, “You have an answer?”

“That’s right. Please check it.” Ling Xian nodded and handed the elder his paper.

However, the elder did not take the spiritual paper right away. He gawked at Ling Xian and frowned, “Young man, I have to remind you. You only have one chance. If you are wrong, you will have no way entering the next test.”

“I trust that I am not wrong.” Ling Xian smiled. His handsome face was full of confidence.

At this, the elder’s frown deepened. He did not believe that Ling Xian would be able to form an answer within seconds. However, he did not continue his lecture. He merely looked disappointed.

Originally, he admired Ling Xian for having such a high cultivation level when he was so young. However, now, he thought this young man was far too aggressive and far too arrogant. His admiration naturally turned into disappointment.

However, the moment the elder saw the words “Grass of Speed” on there, the disappointment in his eyes turned into shock.

“You… you actually got the correct answer?”

The moment his voice arose, the entire test center silenced. Even a needle drop could be heard!