Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  The line in front of the desk slowly got smaller and smaller until Hui Yue was finally able to sign up for the exam.

  "Name and teacher," The woman said as she looked at the paper she was writing on, not noticing Hui Yue at all. "Hui Yue, no teacher." He said seriously, but his words, which could be heard in the entire front hall, caused many to laugh or snort at him. It was clear that having no teacher meant that he was far below everyone else.

  'Let them laugh. I will give them something to laugh at when I pass this test,' Hui Yue said to himself and steadily calmed his anger. He focused on nothing but the woman in front of him.

  "Mister, if you have no master then are you sure you want to take this test? You will have to refine and create the Devouring Paste of the Red Orchid to pass." She said and looked up afterwards. Looking up, she recognized the person as the man she had seen four days prior.

  "You?" She asked shocked, and her reaction caused everyone to be surprised as well. The clerk dealing with the exams was often aloof and prideful. Not only was her job to sign up people for the various exams, but she was also the judge of said exams, and she needed the power of a Grandmaster to be allowed to conduct the final exam one could take. She usually did not care about the people signing up for the exam meant for first rank alchemists. This time, she seemed different, though.

  "To think you would come to take the test. I did not expect you so soon," She said with a smile on her lips, but she did not try to dissuade him. Instead, she handed him a number and accepted his coins. "Good luck," She told him as he left the booth.

  Behind Hui Yue, a large group of experts had appeared. Now in total, it seemed as though two hundred experts had appeared. It did not seem to fit the information Hui Yue had heard about alchemists being rare.

  "It is because of the pill auction. Although there are auctions where alchemists sell their pills and pastes, and mercenaries sell rare herbs, the pill auction is the biggest of its kind. It is very tempting, especially to young alchemists such as ourselves."

  "But there is an event during the pill auction which is the reason these young experts are flocking to become an alchemist is not because of the auctions but because of the annual alchemist's contest."

  "The alchemists contest is a tournament where any new alchemists from this year join and concocting pills to show off their skills. The winner will be the one who concocts the best pill. The winner not only gets fame and money but also rare materials and formulas from the Alchemist Guild as well."

  Hui Yue looked at the young man by his side who had been speaking for some time. It was obvious that Hui Yue had never met him before, yet this young man just smiled gently to Hui Yue. "Should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I will do my best to answer them all." He said seriously, and his sincerity made Hui Yue worried.

  "I owe you quite a lot Grand Marshall," The man said with a bow. His words were low, but everyone noticed his actions. The words, however, caused Hui Yue to become even more worried.

  “Why would you thank me consider you have a dantian instead of a beast core. You are clearly not a beast, how could you owe me anything at all?" Hui Yue's voice was low, and only the talkative expert heard his question.

  "I might not be a full beast, but I am half. I just happened to get my mother's genes, but everyone hated me for being different. They would do anything in their power to bully me and eventually I ran away from home. I ended up in Shenyuan, and everyone treated me as one of their own. You made the dreams of all beasts come true, and that includes me."

  "To be able to live with our heads held high, to live side by side with humans knowing that you will not be captured and sold as a slave, or looked down upon as though we are the most disgusting creature in the world, all of this is due to you. Even in the Taiyang Kingdom and the Yueliang Province, the nobles are changing their view on people of mixed blood, not to mention the beasts living as humans."

  "I lived in Shenyuan, but I followed the first migrants to the Siban Empire. When I was there, I lived a great life. It was a life of peace, but I realized that this life was nothing if I could not prove to you just how grateful I am." The young man continued.

  "I was lucky enough to have the elemental affinities of Wood and Fire and decided to become an alchemist. I figured you could use an alchemist as a supporter, but it turns out that I was wrong and that you do not need anyone, you can rely on yourself."

  'This is a very touching tale but be careful. We don't know him, and although he claims to be our ally, he could easily have other objectives in mind. Keep an eye on him.' Lan Feng warned, but Hui Yue snorted, 'Do you think I'm an idiot? He is very dangerous, but even so, he seems quite eager to impress me. We can use him, and as long as we are careful, he will be useful to us.'

  Hearing Hui Yue's words, Lan Feng nodded his head. 'I’ll leave it to you.' He agreed, and Hui Ye once more focused on the young man by his side.

  "What is your name?" Hui Yue suddenly asked, and the young man seemed stunned for a moment. "My name is Zhong Hei." The young man said.

  Hui Yue looked at the man in front of him. His hair was golden like the hair of Wan Qiao, his skin was as pale as ice, and his body seemed cold rather than warm.

  "What kind of technique do you train to have such a cold aura around you?" Hui Yue suddenly asked with a frown. The aura reminded him of someone he had met before, but right at this moment, he could not remember where he had felt it.

  "It is a secret from my school," He said with a secretive smile on his lips, and Hui Yue just shrugged, paying no more attention to it. Instead, he once more started to look around at the many experts in the front hall, waiting for the exam to begin.

  "Are you nervous?" Zhong Hei asked curiously, but Hui Yue just smiled, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

  "Everyone, follow me to the exam room!" A loud voice boomed through the hall. The woman who had been accepting sign ups now stood in the middle of the room, her voice reverberating through every corner of the hall.

  Many of the expert's presents said goodbye to their masters before they lined up behind the woman. Neither Hui Yue nor Zhong Hei said goodbye to anyone they just silently found a position in the line of experts that appeared behind the woman.

  "Follow me," She ordered before she left the hall. She walked straight to a door leading into a large room workstations were set up. There was enough for all the apprentice alchemists behind her.

  "Find a table!" The woman said and everyone moved to their own place randomly. Zhong Hei chose the table by Hui Yue's side, and with a friendly smile towards his newfound friend, he then turned his attention towards the woman standing in front of everyone.

  "Bring out your cauldrons. If you do not have your own cauldron, you instantly fail this examination." Her voice was stern and filled with authority. Everyone looked around to see if anyone had forgotten their cauldrons and many ended up observed Hui Yue and his cauldron.

  Although Hui Yue's cauldron looked different from all the others, no one assumed that it was a treasure. Instead, they figured he just wanted to adorn it with beautiful runes and inscriptions. These had never before been seen in this world, and therefore no one knew that they actually played a large part of Hui Yue's amazing ability to have a hundred percent success rate.

  "Good, now find the medicinal herbs needed for the Devouring Paste of the Red Orchid. We do not provide the items; you need to bring your own." She said, her voice as stern as before and once more a few more apprentices had to leave the room. Hui Yue was quite shocked. How could they expect to become alchemists if they did not have these simple materials? A cauldron he could understand as they might have to borrow it from their master, but even so, he figured that any alchemist should have their own set of items.

  "Now, you have two hours to create a Devouring Paste of the Red Orchid. The higher grade the paste is, the more benefits you will get and the higher your rank will be. If you manage to create a perfect Devouring Paste of the Red Orchid, then it will l
et you directly enter the exam for the second ranked alchemist." The woman explained before she sat in the front watching everyone.

  Seeing the woman sitting down a few were unsure if the exam had already begun and only Hui Yue and Zhong Hei started to refine the materials. Only after seeing them start did the others scramble to begin creating their paste as well.

  Hui Yue threw one red orchid into his furnace at a time. He had long since learned how to refine more than one at the same time, but he also knew that if he finished creating the paste in five minutes, then there would be some questions about whether or not he cheated.

  Deciding to slow down the refinement, Hui Yue was able to observe everything that happened around him. Many of the apprentices were sweating, and everyone, even Zhong Hei, was looking at their cauldrons with a focused gaze. Hui Yue, however, was calm and collected. When he looked into the eyes of the woman who was overseeing the examination, he smiled at her before he continued to look around him.

  Chapter 409 - Natural Talent

  * * *

  Chapter 409: Natural Talent

  A frown appeared on the woman's face, and she stood up from her chair. She started walking around the many apprentice alchemists, and all of them were clearly nervous as she came close to them. Many of them had failed the refinement of the herb they were currently working on.

  The woman did not seem to care that her presence caused more trouble than help to the many apprentice alchemists taking the exam. In her eyes, if they could not control the flame when she was walking by, then they were not worth her time.

  There was no limit to how many times the apprentices were allowed to try and refine a herb as long as it was done within the time frame of the exam. Almost no alchemists were capable of having a success rate of a hundred percent; not even the master alchemists dared to make such a claim.

  The woman moved slowly looking over at each contestant. Hui Yue did not feel any pressure from her, not even when he realized that she was moving towards him.

  Having focused as little as possible on the task at hand, Hui Yue finally refined the first red orchid. The time it took him was close to the time most of the other experts had spent refining their first herb. However, although Hui Yue was slow, the quality of his refinement was far better than that of anyone else in the room. Many of them had lost quite a lot of the medicinal energy of the herb. This was because they were not refining it at the perfect temperature. Hui Yue, however, had steadily refined the orchid at the perfect temperature and thus all the energy of the herb had been preserved in the paste.

  Doing the same thing once more, Hui Yue noticed that the woman had reached him and sent her a charming smile as he fully controlled the flames within the cauldron.

  The moment the woman who was overseeing the exam reached Hui Yue, she stopped and stood still. She watched his every move and the refinement process of the herb.

  Looking at the slow speed with which Hui Yue was refining, a snort escaped her before she once more turned cold.

  All of the people present thought that she did this due to contempt, and they all looked at Hui Yue with pity; however, the white-haired young man knew the reason was that she had seen through his refinement speed.

  The time for the exam was too long, and Hui Yue was uncertain about what to do now that he had finished. He had finished the refinement after half an hour, and he was completely certain that it was of the highest grade. Creating more would seem like he was boasting but doing nothing also made it seem like he thought too much of himself.

  Hui Yue was not the only one who had finished making the paste and placed it in a jade bottle, but all the others had instantly started another paste in the hopes of increasing the quality. The better the quality of the paste the more likely one was to be invited to the second round of the examination.

  Some of the apprentices had not yet finished their paste because they were aiming for the highest quality from the start; Zhong Hei was one such person.

  Looking at these experts, Hui Yue noticed how they all had sweat dripping from their foreheads; their eyes were only focused on the cauldrons in front of them, and the red and green flames were reflected in their eyes.

  The whole room was full of medicinal aromas. From time to time, a large flame would soar to the ceiling from a cauldrons as an apprentice failed to control their flames. Sometimes swearing was heard as others failed to refine a herb.

  However, Hui Yue was just seated in the middle of the room observing everyone else.

  Time went by slowly but steadily as more and more apprentices finished their pastes. They sighed deeply as they too started looking around.

  The ones who were left now were either the ones who had aimed for the highest quality Devouring Paste of the Red Orchid, or the ones who were repeatedly failing to refine the medicinal herb.

  With ten minutes left, Zhong Hei finally heaved a heavy sigh before he leaned back against the chair and used his sleeve to wipe the sweat off his forehead. Looking around, a shocked expression was visible in his eyes for a short moment when he saw that Hui Yue was seated casually with a wry smile on his face as his eyes roamed around the room.

  Zhong Hei looked as though he wanted to say something to Hui Yue but the woman who conducted the exam was right behind them, and therefore, he had no other option than to keep his mouth shut and wait the final ten minutes to finish the exam.

  "Well done everyone!" The woman suddenly called out while clapping her hands and moving back to the chair and desk in front of all seats.

  "Bring your vial to me so that I can examine your results. If your result is acceptable, you will become an alchemist. If you have an excellent quality paste, then you can follow me to the second exam to see if you are good enough to be considered a two-star alchemist."

  "Now line up and come down here!" The woman called out, and everyone stood up forming a line ready to have their pastes checked.

  The first person in line was sent out a door to the side after being scolded for such a low quality paste, and soon the first ten had been sent out the door in the same manner. Finally, an apprentice appeared who was told to wait by the side of the desk. Once again a great many experts were sent packing.

  By the time Hui Yue had reached the front, there were a mere three apprentices waiting by the side of the desk.

  "Your paste is... perfect quality," She said, but her words had no emotion at all, even through her eyes were shining brightly. "Move to the side and wait for the second exam to b."

  Hui Yue nodded before he moved to the desk were the other three men looked at him curiously. As he moved, he heard the woman tell Zhong Hei to also join Hui Yue at the desk.

  Looking at the many apprentice alchemists, Hui Yue understood that he was the strongest when it came to cultivation. The majority of the people present were only Master or Grandmaster ranked, while Hui Yue was an Emperor. He had an enormous advantage of energy reserves over everyone, but even still, it should not have been possible for him to create such a high-quality paste in such a short time.

  Soon the last person had left the exam room, and only seven remained from the hundreds who had taken the exam.

  "Although you needed to bring your own things for the first exam, we will provide you with the materials for the second exam," The woman said as she gestured for the seven experts to sit down. Zhong Hei once more managed to sit right next to Hui Yue.

  "How fortunate that you managed to reach the second exam too!" He whispered excitedly, "I will do my best to become a two-star Alchemist so that I can be of use to you!"

  Hearing this, the more Zhong Hei talked, the more worried Hui Yue became. This abnormal interest in him reminded him of a certain Frozen General, and even their names were similar. Hui Yue did not want to bring up this subject at present and instead decided to keep a safe distance from this young man.

  "To become a two-star Alchemist what you need to do is to be able to create a medicinal pill. It does not matter if your pill is low grade or h
igh grade if you successfully concoct the pill you will be a two-star alchemist."

  "Since we know that you did not prepare for this test, we will provide both the formula and ingredients. You will have two hours again." The woman explained the test, and for once Hui Yue was unsure if he would succeed. He had never made pills before, and even if he did manage to succeed, it would definitely not be of high quality. At least that was what he thought.

  Still, Hui Yue accepted the ingredients and the formula before he sat down and looked through it.

  It was a formula for the Lion's Strength pill. A pill which increased one's physical strength in battle. The pill was one of the easiest pills to make, and Hui Yue had gained this formula from the Ma family. He had not intended to refine pills yet, and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous.