As xiaojie was adamant to acknowledge Zhang Xuan as her teacher, Yao Han had been looking into Zhang Xuan’s background these few days.
This Zhang laoshi was once known as a genius, reaching Fighter 3-dan Zhenqi realm by sixteen years old. However, his legacy stopped there. He had been stuck at that cultivation realm ever since and as time passed, the genius became trash.
At eighteen years old, he took the teacher examination and passed in one go, thus becoming Hongtian Academy’s youngest teacher. Back then, his name rang brightly, incurring the envy of numerous teachers.
Initially, they thought that this young teacher would be able to produce good results and soar to great heights. Yet, the reality was cruel. After news of the cultivation of his student going berserk spread out, all of the students he admitted withdrew from his lessons and he was left alone. Eventually, he even scored a zero for his Teacher Qualification Examination, causing his reputation to sour further.
Thus, Hongtian Academy’s youngest teacher became a joke and the greatest trash.
These rumors were everywhere! So he thought that it was just a moment of folly on xiaojie’s part, but as long as he properly enlightened her, she would realize her mistake and see through the true nature of this trash of a teacher!
At this moment, upon hearing that he scored perfectly for the first round of the Apothecary Examinations, his deep-rooted thoughts started to waver.
Apothecaries had to have an in-depth knowledge of medicinal herbs and also a deep understanding of the human body. Otherwise, it would’ve been impossible for them to concoct pills suited for cultivators.
So, how could someone who passed the first round of the apprentice apothecary examination possibly cause a student’s cultivation to go berserk?
“No matter how good he is in theories, it is useless if he is unable to utilize them practically. The second round of the examination is Medicinal Herb Discernment Time Trial. Of the ten medicinal herbs, if he were to get a single one of them wrong, he will fail the examination…”
Wen Xue harrumphed furiously.
She still felt resentment toward Zhang Xuan. Initially, she thought that he was a playboy intentionally acting to attract her attention. In the end, he turned out to be someone capable, causing her face to burn in embarrassment and become unable to face the other party.
At this point, they saw two people walking over.
They were the two out of the three who passed the first round of examinations, Sun Tao and Qian Wen Man.
“How is it, did you two pass the examination?”
Wen Xue hurried forward and asked them.
As frequent candidates for the apprentice apothecary examinations, they were well-acquainted with one another.
“No!” The both of them shook their heads in disappointment.
They felt discontent, but this loss was something they could concede.
After all, they had to concede even if they didn’t want to. The other person scored full marks in the first round, and in the second, he was even able to point out the mistakes of true apothecaries… His abilities were way beyond their imaginations.
“Then… What about Zhang Xuan?”
Upon hearing that they didn’t pass the second round, Wen Xue couldn’t help but ask once more.
“He… passed. He is an apprentice apothecary now!” Sun Tao said.
“Apprentice apothecary?” Wen Xue’s small stature staggered.
Previously, when she was conversing with the other party, it had been clear to her that that fellow had zero understanding of medicinal herbs and such. In fact, he wasn’t even clear on what an apothecary was… Initially, she thought that it was a joke for him to register for the examinations, so she was filled with disdain toward him. Yet… Not only did he pass the round of examinations, he even went on to bash through the remaining two to successfully become an apprentice apothecary!
This slap caused a fiery and stinging sensation on her face.
She had toiled for so many years, only to be remain blocked out in the very first round…
Yet, the other party became an apprentice apothecary so easily…
She even mocked the other party for his thick skin…
Where did her confidence originate from?
“That… When will Zhang laoshi come out?” Zhao Ya looked around but didn’t see Zhang Xuan anywhere. Thus, she asked the two.
She wasn’t as surprised as Wen Xue was. That’s because the image of Zhang laoshi in her heart was omnipotent, and becoming a mere apprentice apothecary should mean nothing at all to him.
“He went to the book collection vault. He intends to return tomorrow afternoon to undergo Pill Debate to become a certified apothecary!” Sun Tao still found the situation unbelievable even as he said these words himself.
How much guts did it take for him to choose to undergo Pill Debate right after becoming an apprentice apothecary?
“Undergo Pill Debate to become a certified apothecary?” Wen Xue staggered and her eyes were about to pop out from their sockets. Giddiness filled her head.
“Tomorrow afternoon?”
[Are you for real!
Why does it sound like a joke to me?
Also… What in the world is a Pill Debate?]
“Pill Debate is another method for one to become an apothecary. One has to debate with ten official apothecaries and emerge victorious over them!” Seeing the perplexed looks of the crowd, Sun Tao explained. “This examination is even more difficult than Pill Forging and the penalties upon failure are much greater!”
At this point, he shook his head subconsciously.
“I have once read of Pill Debate in the books. The difficulty of it is much greater than the Pill Forging examination. One needs to triumph over ten official apothecaries in terms of knowledge on practical aspects of pill forging! It is an exceptionally difficult test!” Uncle Li suppressed the shock he was experiencing and nodded his head to affirm what Sun Tao said. At the same time, he couldn’t help but be baffled, “He is able to become an apprentice apothecary at such a young age, so he shouldn’t lack time. Why is he so anxious such that he had to choose to undergo Pill Debate. He could just tread upon the normal route to learn Pill Forging. After all, the consequences of failing a Pill Debate is difficult to bear!”
His accomplishment of becoming an apprentice apothecary under twenty years old was an incredible feat even when taking the previous thousand years of history of Tianxuan Kingdom’s Apothecary Guild into account. He wouldn’t lose out much to slow down and learn Pill Forging properly. There was no need for him to put himself at risk by undergoing Pill Debate.
One must know that the difficulty of Pill Debate was several times that of Pill Forging and successes were rare.
“I’m not sure too. He seems to be looking for books regarding unique constitutions! However, these books are only available to certified apothecaries,” Sun Tao mused for a moment and recalled the conversation between Zhang Xuan and Ouyang Cheng, “oh, he also mentioned something about half a month. It seems that there is something urgent that requires him to become an apothecary within half a month to find those books!”
“Half a month? Unique constitution?”
While Wen Xue and the others simply found the situation baffling, Zhao Ya paled and trembled uncontrollably.
She had a unique constitution, Pure Yin Body.
This was something that Zhang laoshi told her.
Half a month, wasn’t that the day of the Freshmen Tournament? To be rushing to accomplish it within half a month… Could it be that Zhang laoshi intends to awaken her unique constitution to raise her strength?
After all, a unique constitution held no might if it wasn’t awakened!
It must be it!
Clenching her fists tightly, Zhao Ya suppressed the emotions in her heart. She looked at Uncle Li and asked, “Senior, you said that the penalties upon failure are great, may I ask what the penalties are?”
“This… I’m not too sure either!” Uncle Li shook his head.
He had only read of Pill Debate in the books, so he wasn’t really aware of the penalties.
“Oh, I know. Master Ouyang had spoken of it previously!” Sun Tao contemplated for a moment and said, “There is a total of three penalties. Firstly, one has to pay each apothecary with a hundred thousand gold coins, so that’s a total of a million gold coins for the ten of them! Secondly, he has to suffer a hundred God Slaying Flogs! Thirdly, he is banned from the apothecary examination for ten years!”
“A million gold coins? A hundred God Slaying Flogs? Banned from the apothecary examination for ten years?”
Zhao Ya’s body trembled even more intensely.
This punishment was way too severe!
In order to help her awaken her constitution, Zhang laoshi was willing to go through so much peril…
[Teacher… Thank you!
Even if I, Zhao Ya, were to be smashed to smithereens, it would be difficult for me to repay this gratitude!]
Unable to hold back her billowing emotions any longer, tears streamed down from Zhao Ya’s clean jade-like face.
