by Feng Yise
Chapter 37 - Assistant
Within the Dan Wu Academy, Feng Ruoqing had always been an existence who everyone looked up to.
The reason why she taught medicinal theory was naturally that her attainments in medicinal theory were very high.
But even the current Feng Ruoqing did not dare to say that she had a thorough grasp on the 'Herbal Essentials,' let alone its full version, 'Herbal Compendium.' That was the syllabus that even an Alchemy King needed to devote all his attention to study.
And now, this punk in front of her who was not even an Alchemy Apprentice actually said that 'Herbal Essentials' was simple. This was simply humiliating all her years of hard work.
Ye Yuan did not seem to hear the meaning inside Feng Ruoqing's words and casually said, "Yeah, it's too simple. The person who wrote the book didn't observe and study properly."
Everyone was gloating over Ye Yuan's misfortunate currently. They wanted to see just how Teacher Feng would punish this fool.
Many among them were cheated out of Essence Qi Pills by Ye Yuan. Now that they saw Ye Yuan being beaten, they naturally welcomed it.
During the deathmatch, the shock that Ye Yuan gave them was too great, making them feel that the current Ye Yuan was no longer the man he was. But looking at things today, Ye Yuan was indeed still that Ye Yuan of the past.
Ignorant and fearless!
"Good! Good!" Feng Ruoqing said two 'good' in a row. It was clear that she was extremely angry. "I want to see just how 'Herbal Essentials' is easy. I will ask a question. If you can answer it, then in future medicinal theory classes, you can sleep however you like. But, if you can't answer, I want you to copy the 'Herbal Essentials' one hundred times!"
The way other people saw it, Ye Yuan was definitely dead.
Even though Ye Yuan's combat prowess was abnormally strong now, he was not even an Alchemy Apprentice. So how could he possibly answer the questions from the middle-tier Alchemy Master, Teacher Feng?
But Ye Yuan himself let out a sigh of relief. Answering questions were much better. He did not want to copy that stupid 'Herbal Essentials' ten times.
In terms of medicinal theory, who dared to compete with him?
"That's great. Teacher Feng, please ask your question."
Looking at how impatient Ye Yuan was, Feng Ruoqing was incensed and thought to herself that he would cry later.
Feng Ruoqing pulled a long face and said, "What medicinal herbs are used in refining Qi Returning Pill? What are the steps involved in the refinement?"
Feng Ruoqing asked this in a single breath and stared coldly at Ye Yuan.
The other students also stared at Ye Yuan, gloating at his misfortune. They knew that Ye Yuan was definitely going to make a fool of himself.
A Qi Returning Pill was a high-grade Tier 1 medicinal pill, something that martial artists used to recover their essence energy. Refining it required at least the power of a high-tier Alchemy Apprentice. To the Ye Yuan who was not even an Alchemy Apprentice, it was absolutely a highly challenging question.
Among the students, there were only a few who could refine this sort of medicinal pill.
Since nobody could refine it, there would obviously be no one who would pay attention to the pill formula of the Qi Returning Pill. Let alone paying any attention to its theory and points to take note of.
Hence, nobody thought that Ye Yuan could answer the question.
Ye Yuan touched his chin and said, "Oh, Qi Returning Pill? Simple. The core ingredients are the Jade Toad's inner core and Crimson Sun Sword Toothed Flower. The secondary ingredients are Four Seasons Azure, Wind-Tail Grass, Sky Southern Star, and etc. One has to pay some attention to the procedure. Separate the secondary ingredients into two portions to temper; one of it with Jade Toad's Inner core, and the other with Crimson Sun Sword Toothed Flower; in order to extract two portions of the medicinal essence. Then, refine it in the furnace at the same time, and finally, merge it into one."
After Ye Yuan said finished, everybody started laughing.
They did not know the pill formula, but this refinement technique was complete rubbish. Splitting the ingredients into two portions, then extracting and refining two portions of the medicinal essence, and finally into the furnace? How does one control it? And also, how would one merge it?
This sort of refinement technique was unheard of. One could only say that this Ye Yuan knew nothing about it and was trying to hoodwink Feng Ruoqing!
To dare play tricks on Teacher Feng, this fellow was going to suffer for it.
A hundred times, oh , one hundred times!
Who asked you to scam our Essence Qi pills! You deserved it!
After a series of laughter, everyone still did not hear Teacher Feng's exasperated reprimanding.
Looking again, Teacher Feng's face showed a thoughtful expression. Everyone could not help but question the situation. Could it be that this fellow actually managed to fool Teacher Feng?
"Ooo? You are saying Yin-Yang Separation Flow Technique?" Feng Ruoqing asked.
Ye Yuan smiled and said, "Teacher Feng is indeed well-read, to even know Yin-Yang Separation Flow Technique."
Ye Yuan did some research on the Dan Wu Academy's refinement techniques. This Yin-Yang Separation Flow Technique was a rather obscure refinement technique which the average person would not know.
Saying it was obscure was because it was too difficult to learn. The average person could not grasp it at all.
Controlling two separate medicinal essences in a furnace of medicinal pills and not letting the two medicinal essences touch at all required one to split their focus. Furthermore, the control over essence energy had to be extremely even. The difficulty involved could not be imagined.
It was impossible to control without going through severe training and being repeatedly tempered with experience.
However, this was not even hard for Ye Yuan. Ye Yuan had perfect command over refinement techniques that were even a hundred times, a thousand times more complex.
"If one uses Yin-Yang Separation Flow Technique, is it also appropriate for Duo-Cycle Qi Returning Pill?" The initially cold and prideful Feng Ruoqing looked like a student thirsting for knowledge currently, making everyone's glasses dropped in shock.
Could it be that Ye Yuan was also a genius in alchemy? The things that he said completely exceeded the understanding of all the students here.
"Of course, it's appropriate. It's just that the ingredients for the Duo-Cycle Qi Returning Pill are a little more complex, and the refinement process is also a bit more complicated. But the principle still applies. Using the Yin-Yang Separation Flow Technique is naturally fitting."
Ye Yuan's words flowed with ease as if he was the teacher now, and the well-read Feng Ruoqing had become the student.
Feng Ruoqing's eyes lit up, and she muttered to herself, "That's right. Why didn't I think of using the Yin-Yang Separation Flow Technique?"
A Duo-Cycle Qi Returning Pill was a high-grade Tier 2 medicinal pill. Currently, Feng Ruoqing was a middle-tier Alchemy Master; her soul strength was between middle-tier Alchemy Master and high-tier Alchemy Master. Being slightly inadequate, the refinement was obviously very taxing.
But this Yin-Yang Separation Flow Technique could avoid the weakness of insufficient soul strength, as tempering two smaller portions of medicinal essence separately would be much easier than controlling one large portion of the medicinal essence. It was just that the requirement for an alchemist's control ability was too demanding.
In addition, the Yin-Yang Separation Flow Technique had another advantage, which was separating the core ingredients allowed their medicinal efficacy to be preserved to the highest degree, resulting in an even higher quality pill after refinement!
If an alchemist was highly proficient in using the Yin-Yang Separation Flow Technique, the quality of the medicinal pill that he refined would be higher than other alchemists of the same level.
Having said that, conventional refinement techniques were already more than enoug
h for alchemists to study. To also study an obscure technique like the Yin-Yang Separation Flow Technique was simply asking for trouble.
Hence, even though the Yin-Yang Separation Flow Technique was powerful, little to nobody knew it.
"Uh. Teacher Feng, since I already answered, can I go back to sleep now? You just look at my table . . ." Ye Yuan said with an innocent face.
"You!" Feng Ruoqing never expected that this fellow was still concerned about his sleep right now. Her originally subsided wrath surged once again.
"Teacher Feng, you were the one who said it just now. If I could answer your question, then I can sleep however I want. Uh. Even though it isn't very polite, but I'm really very tired right now . . ." Ye Yuan had a troubled face.
Feng Ruoqing looked at Ye Yuan's pair of panda eyes and knew that Ye Yuan was not lying. But what did this fellow do yesterday? Even if he went through a deathmatch yesterday, he should not be so tired today, right?
"Did I say anything?" Feng Ruoqing blinked her eyes, and gave every student a threatening glance, asking, "Did I say anything just now?"
Being unreasonable was the privilege of a woman, especially it was this unparalleled beauty, Teacher Feng Ruoqing.
All the students were petrified, and many revealed embarrassed expressions. "Ah? S-said what? D-didn't say anything. That's right. How could Teacher Feng possibly say something like that?"
Ye Yuan was thoroughly defeated. Right now, the only thing he wanted to do was to sleep . . .
"T-teacher Feng . . ."
"Oh? It's not impossible to go back to sleep, but you have to promise me one thing!"
So it turns out the reason was here! But right now . . .
"Let alone one thing, even ten things will do."
"Good. I need a student to be my assistant. You will be my assistant."
Everyone was petrified once more. . .
Why did not such a wonderful chore happen to them?!
Whoosh . . .
Executing Instant Flash, Ye Yuan was gone, leaving his voice echoing on the spot, "No problem . . ."
Chapter 38 - Advancement Test
Under the stunned eyes of all the students, Ye Yuan slipped away, leaving Feng Ruoqing looking somewhat bitter.
However, Ye Yuan could not be bothered anymore. He was seriously too sleepy.
How could he not catch up on sleep when he would have another fierce battle at night?
As for becoming an assistant, Ye Yuan only casually agreed to it. At that moment, he did not have any choice.
Feng Ruoqing was a genuine Spirit Condensation Realm martial artist. If she did not let Ye Yuan go, then he would absolutely not be able to leave, even with his Instant Flash.
Back at his residence, Ye Yuan slept all the way till dusk before waking up leisurely.
Throwing a transcendent-grade Qi Returning Pill down his throat, plus the recovery rate while he was sleeping, essence energy in his body was quickly restored.
This Qi Returning Pill was refined before Ye Yuan set off, and it came quite handy now.
After his essence energy was restored, Ye Yuan continued using the Six Astral Array to refine transcendent-grade Essence Qi Pills.
This was a colossal project. Tens of thousands of high-grade Essence Qi Pills . . . Even if one refined six each time, it would make several thousand transcendent-grade Essence Qi Pills.
And just like this, Ye Yuan slept during the day and refined pills during the night.
At dusk two days later, Ye Yuan had just woken up and was about to refine the last batch of transcendent-grade Essence Qi Pills, when an unexpected guest arrived. It was the host of the deathmatch, Huyan Yong.
Ye Yuan was called out by Lu-er. He then blocked the entrance to the room in a weird manner to avoid Huyan Yong from being able to peer inside.
"Haha. Hello, Teacher Huyan. Are you looking for me for something? I still have some matters to attend to, so let's keep it short, shall we?" Ye Yuan laughed and said to Huyan Yong.
Huyan Yong was not someone who bothered with such trivialities and did not become angry at Ye Yuan's behavior. He asked curiously, "Since I'm here, you are not going to invite me in to have a seat?"
Ye Yuan stood vigilantly in front of the door without any intention of letting him in. If he were to let Huyan Yong see that he could freely refine transcendent-grade Essence Qi Pills . . . at that time, not only the Dan Wu Academy, the entire state of Qin would be in chaos.
"That . . . It's too messy inside. So it's better for Teacher Huyan to not go in. After I clean up, I will invite Teacher Huyan over to have a cup of tea another day." Ye Yuan tried to evade the question.
Ye Yuan had heard before that Huyan Yong was usually a little cold, but he was a very fair and honest man. So he was not afraid that he would barge in.
Huyan Yong knew that Ye Yuan was clearly doing something fishy inside, but the residences of students were private after all. It would not be reasonable of him to barge in, so he gave up.
"Alright then. I will await your invitation."
Ye Yuan was only being polite, but he never expected that Huyan Yong would just follow up like that.
Everyone said that Huyan Yong was infatuated with Martial Dao and did not curry favor with anyone. Why was he so different today?
"I came to look for you because I wanted to tell you that with your current strength, you should be able to barely make it into Black rank. So you can go take the advancement test already," Huyan Yong said his intention for visiting.
In the Dan Wu Academy, what rank you were in was not determined by cultivation realm, but actual combat power.
If a student felt that his power was sufficient, then he could undergo the advancement test at the Illusionary Spirit Tower. The moment he passed, he would advance a rank. And Huyan Yong was the teacher in charge of the advancement test.
In reality, many of the Black Rank students in the Dan Wu Academy got in through connections. Their potential was limited, so they belonged to the type where they just sit around doing nothing, waiting to die. The true elites were in Earth Rank and above.
Previously, Ye Yuan naturally also belonged to the type who just sat around waiting to die.
Fei Qingping's strength was initially already outstanding among the Black Rank students. After rising to the Fifth Level Essence Qi Realm, he already possessed the strength to take on the Black Rank test.
However, if that were simply the case, Huyan Yong would not personally look for Ye Yuan to take the test.
Challenging the Illusionary Spirit Tower was a student's personal matter. He could not even be bothered to go and urge the students.
During the deathmatch, Huyan Yong developed a strong interest in Ye Yuan, this dark horse.
Clearly, there were many secrets on Ye Yuan's body. Of course, this was not something amazing. Which accomplished person did not carry secrets on them?
Martial Roll of Honor's rank one, Long Tang, and rank two, Zuo Bugui. These people definitely all had their own lucky encounters. This was not something that the academy would be bothered with. What the academy needed were powerful students.
Even though Ye Yuan was only at the Third Level Essence Qi Realm right now, he managed to kill the Fifth Level Essence Qi Realm Fei Qingping during the deathmatch.
But most importantly, Huyan Yong felt that Ye Yuan did not go all out during the deathmatch. He really wanted to see where Ye Yuan's limits were.
The Illusionary Spirit Tower test was naturally a good place to test Ye Yuan's true power.
In the Dan Wu Academy, students would rush to take the test once their strength reached the standard for advancing. However, Huyan Yong heard that Ye Yuan spent the past few days sleeping during the lesson and did not seem to have any intention of participating in the test. Therefore, he personally came to look for Ye Yuan to take the test.
"Ah? Advancement test? Alright, when can I join?" Ye Yuan was stunned for a moment before readily accepting.
These few days, Ye Yuan was o
nly thinking of increasing his strength as soon as possible, which was why he forgot about joining the advancement test.
Someone who did not incur the jealousy of others was a mediocre person. Ye Yuan was not afraid of showing off his abilities.
Ye Yuan was an Alchemy Emperor previously and did not need to be overly cautious within this tiny Dan Wu Academy. He also wanted to see just where the current limits of his strength were.
Ye Yuan's reply made Huyan Yong a little surprised. He thought that Ye Yuan had some difficult dilemma, which was why he did not rush to join the test.
"Any time will do," Huyan Yong said.
"Alright. Then I will go over to the Illusionary Spirit Tower tomorrow morning," Ye Yuan thought about it for a moment before replying.
Huyan Yong nodded and turned to leave.
"Just a moment, Teacher Huyan," Ye Yuan suddenly recalled a matter and called out to Huyan Yong.
"Anything else?"
"I want to let my maidservant participate in the academy's entrance test. I wonder if Teacher Huyan could arrange for it."
Lu-er had followed Ye Yuan into the Dan Wu Academy for quite a few days already. However, Ye Yuan was always busy these few days, so he was not free to help her settle down. Today, since he coincidentally met up with Huyan Yong, it did not seem like an unreasonable matter to ask him to arrange the test for her.
According to the academy's rules, students were not allowed to freely bring followers into the academy no matter how powerful their background was. There was no issue for Lu-er to stay a few days temporarily, but the academy would definitely investigate after a while.
"That young lady just now? At such a young age and already at the Third Level Essence Qi Realm. I suppose she barely qualifies to participate in the test. Alright, bring her along with you tomorrow," Huyan Yong nodded his head and said to Ye Yuan.
With Huyan Yong's cultivation, he naturally could see Lu-er's strength at a glance.
Lu-er was younger than Ye Yuan by one year. Being able to cultivate to Third Level Essence Qi Realm was barely passable. Huyan Yong obviously would not mind too much.
However, who knows what his thoughts would be if he were to find out that it took less than a month for Lu-er to cultivate essence energy to the Third Level Essence Qi Realm.