“45, no mistakes!”
“50, no mistakes!”
“55, no mistakes!”
The unceasing voice gradually grew fainter and slower, as if the one speaking was finally overcome by disbelief.
Since the score had reached 55 without a single error, it meant to say that the pill forging was already more than halfway through…
To make no errors for the entire former half of the examination?
Even that invincible genius, Mo Hongyi, wasn’t capable of such feat back then!
It could even be said that no master teacher in Tianwu Kingdom had ever achieved such an impressive result.
“This… impossible! It wouldn’t be possible for even a 3-star apothecary to offer such perfect guidance… He is just a countryside bumpkin, what basis does he have to achieve that?”
Jiang Chen’s mouth quivered, and his body trembled uncontrollably.
Even though one merely has to guide the puppet to forge a grade-1 pill, the ‘answer key’ was based on the forging process of a 4-star apothecary.
At 4-star, an apothecary’s understanding toward medicinal pills has reached an extremely profound level. They are already capable of forging grade-1 pills impeccably.
Thus, using their forging process as an ‘answer key’ was more than appropriate.
For the fellow inside to forge the pill without any errors, what does that mean? Can it be that his comprehension of pill forging is already comparable to that of a 4-star apothecary?
How is that possible?
The most capable apothecary in the entire of Tianwu Kingdom, the guild leader of the Apothecary Guild, was only a 3-star apothecary primary stage. Just like the newly-promoted Apothecary Hong, he was still a long way from reaching 4-star.
Yet, a youngster below twenty has managed to reach the level of a 4-star?
“Can it be that… what Princess Mo Yu said is true?”
Someone within the crowd muttered.
Upon hearing those words, the eyes of the crowd narrowed involuntarily.
Previously, Mo Yu, a 2-star apothecary, said that Zhang Xuan was half a teacher to her, and if not for him, she wouldn’t have successfully passed the examination.
Back then, most of the crowd found it hard to believe.
Then, when he revealed his apothecary grade… 1-star! Everyone thought that the princess had exaggerated her words.
A mere 1-star apothecary… How skilled and knowledgeable can he be?
But after witnessing the result he obtained in this Supporting Occupation Pavilion, they realized that it was all true.
If it wasn’t true, then the situation that had unfolded before them couldn’t be explained.
“Don’t worry, he will definitely make an error soon. Even a 4-star apothecary can’t promise to forge a 1-star pill perfectly each time…”
Veins popped out on Jiang Chen’s temple. Unable to accept the situation, a ferocious expression had crept onto his face subconsciously.
He thought that this fellow would make a disgrace out of himself once the examination started. Who would have thought that he would be so formidable, going against all odds and not making a single mistake in the entire first half!
“60, no mistakes!”
Without care for the astonished expression on the audience’s faces, the digit on the wall continued to increase steadily without any signs of stopping.
“He has already broken Mo Hongyi, Mo shi’s record!”
“I thought that this record would remain unbroken for at least several centuries, to think that it would be broken in just a few years’ time!”
“This Zhang Xuan’s understanding of pill forging is simply too formidable. Not only is his score high, the crux is that he hasn’t made a single mistake. Will he really create a new record?”
“Who knows? In any case, based on the current flow of events… He will surely make a new record. Just that, I wonder how far he can go… 65? 70? Or 75?”
…
Accompanying the unceasing rise in his score, everyone grew progressively nervous.
Wu shi, who was in charge of conducting the examination, felt his body stiffen, and sweat flowed down his forehead incessantly.
He had conducted uncountable examinations throughout the years, but it was his first time witnessing such a situation.
Despite having exceeded 60 points, Zhang Xuan hadn’t made a single error. No one would have believed it if they hadn’t seen it for themselves.
“Wait, look, he made a mistake!”
Weng!
Just when everyone began to think that the fellow would continue his streak until the end of the examination, the number on the wall flickered all of a sudden, and from 60, it dropped to 59!
Since the score dropped, it meant that there was an erroneous instruction!
“He finally made a mistake! I thought that he might complete the test without making any mistake. Phew…”
“Indeed, didn’t I say so? How can there be anyone who doesn’t make a mistake guiding another on pill forging? It wouldn’t be logical…”
…
Seeing the dip in the score, everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
If he were to really achieve a perfect score, that would be truly scary.
That would mean that the fellow inside was way beyond their league.
They felt relieved that that wasn’t the case.
“As time passes, the rise in temperature and the increasing medicinal herbs in the cauldron makes errors more likely to happen. Even if he made no mistakes in the earlier half, there is no guarantee that he can keep this up for the rest of the process. In fact, most of the errors should be made toward the end!”
A master teacher within the crowd, who had a supporting occupation as an apothecary, stroked his beard.
The crowd nodded in approval of his words.
That was also why it was so difficult to become an official apothecary.
Due to the flame beneath the cauldron, the temperature within would just grow higher and higher as time passes. Furthermore, while fusing two medicinal herbs together may be easy, fusing dozens at once might result in all kinds of unexpected conflicts.
This is similar to stacking blocks of wood. Stacking two pieces of wood may be easy, but when it comes to stacking several hundred of them, putting aside how they are stacked toward the end, a single error at the start can possibly result in a poor foundation and an unstable center of gravity, and all of your work might end up in vain.
The slightest mistake would cause miles of difference.
It was the same any other thing. The further one got, the greater the difficulty.
Zhang Xuan’s flying start had indeed shocked them all, but once a mistake occurred, it would be as if a dripping a droplet of ink into clear water, resulting in an irreversible domino effect.
“Hmph, I thought that you would never make a mistake…”
Jiang Chen also heaved a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to continue speaking, his eyes suddenly narrowed into two thin slits.
The number on the door, which had just decreased, flickered again before increasing abruptly!
Zi la!
62!
…
In a silent chamber inside the Master Teacher Pavilion.
Seated within, Mo Hongyi was in the midst of adjusting his breath. Wave after wave of visible spiritual energy absorbed into his skin, slowly but steadily pulling his cultivation to higher heights.
Hu!
He opened his eyes all of a sudden and revealed his displeasure, “Didn’t I say that no one is to interrupt me when I’m cultivating?”
Jiya!
The door opened, and a servant walked in fearfully. “I don’t mean to interrupt Your Highness, just that…”
At this moment, he hesitated with his words.
“Speak!” Mo Hongyi frowned.
“It’s because someone is taking the 1-star master teacher examination!” The servant spoke up hastily.
“The master teacher is the world’s number one occupation, and many view it as their dream. Every day, countless people travel to the Master Teacher Pavilion from all around the world in hopes of achieving their goal, but those who do pass amount to less than a handful!”
Mo Hongyi thought that it would be a something important. However, after hearing the servant’s words, he shook his head and said indifferently, “Did you interrupt my cultivation just for this matter? If that’s the case, go ahead to receive your punishment. 100 whips, not a single one less!”
He hated to be interrupted during his training, and as such, he made a rule stating that anyone who interrupted him without a good reason would be punished.
Upon hearing the punishment that his master had issued, the servant shuddered and hurriedly added, “It’s not just that… The one taking the examination has a Soul Depth of 5.1!”
“Soul Depth of 5.1? Even higher than Mo Yu?”
A gleam flashed across Mo Hongyi’s eyes.
Without a doubt, the news had surprised him.
“That isn’t anything much. However, to be able to achieve such a Soul Depth during the 1-star master teacher examination, he is indeed talented!” Even though Mo Hongyi was surprised, he didn’t think too much of the matter.
He was a genius whose Soul Depth exceeded 6.0. A mere 5.1 didn’t mean anything to him.
“A person with a Soul Depth of 5.1 taking the master teacher examination is indeed a huge affair. However, it isn’t good enough a reason to interrupt my cultivation. Go back and take 50 whips!”
Mo Hongyi waved his hands and returned back to his cultivation.
“Your Highness, Your Highness… I’m not done yet…”
Seeing that his master was about to return to his training, the servant hurriedly spoke up.
“Is there anything else?” Mo Hongyi frowned.
“That person taking the examination is known as Zhang Xuan, and he seems to be below twenty. Just a moment ago, he brought a few sixteen to seventeen-year-old students into the House of Trust and… he achieved a Trust Level of 85!”
Afraid that he would incur his master’s displeasure if he wasted his time, the servant spoke swiftly.
“House of Trust… 85 points?”
Mo Hongyi lost his calm and stood up abruptly.
He had never heard of any teacher in Tianwu Kingdom who could induce such trust in his students. This completely exceeded his expectations.
“Yes!”
The young man nodded his head and his disbelief was apparent as well. “Not only so, he is currently undergoing the second test, Supporting Occupation Pavilion and managed to reach 60 points without making a single mistake!”
“Reached 60 points? How… How is that possible?”
Mo Hongyi’s face warped in shock.
He was the one man who scored the best result in the Supporting Occupation Pavilion throughout the past thousand years of history of the guild. Even so, he had made five errors. Yet, the other party hadn’t made a single mistake?
Didn’t this mean that the other party was even more talented than him?
“Yes… However, this is where weird things started to happen. At 60 points, he made a single mistake, so a point got deducted. However… in the next instant, his score leaped to 62!”
Up until now, the youngster still unable to understand what was going on. He had even suspected that the scoreboard was malfunctioning.
“After getting a point deducted, his score decreased to 59, but in the next moment, it increased to 62?” Mo Hongyi had never heard of such a situation either and he became stupefied.
“That’s the case!” At this point, the servant hesitated once more. “Furthermore…”
“Furthermore, such a situation was repeated three times afterward. A point was deducted first before three points were swiftly added…”
“Points were deducted before being added again? What’s going on? The scoreboard of the Master Teacher Pavilion was created with the efforts of a formation grandmaster and countless master teachers. For the last several thousand years, it has never once malfunctioned. Why would it behave like this all of a sudden?”
Mo Hongyi felt perplexed, “Has anyone checked if it is damaged?”
“Wu shi, who is in charge of the examination, checked the scoreboard on the spot and has confirmed that there is nothing wrong with it…” The servant said.
“If there’s no error, why would his score be added back after being deducted? This…”
Mo Hongyi shook his head. Then, he suddenly froze upon a certain thought, and his eyes narrowed to small slits, “What did you say just now? The situation happened after he reached 60 points, and repeated itself for another three more times afterward?”
“Yes!” The young servant nodded.
“Then…” Mo Hongyi’s lips quivered. “What… is his current score?”
The first time it happened, Zhang Xuan’s score reached 62. If it happened another three times, didn’t that mean that his score had already exceeded 62? Judging by how his point would increase by a total of 2 every time the situation occurred, his score would be at minimum 68 by now!
Achieving 68 points in the Supporting Occupation Pavilion?
This… Such a score is completely unimaginable!
Can that fellow called Zhang Xuan really be more talented than me?
How is that possible?
“His… His current score is…”
Upon recalling the score, the servant’s face contorted immediately as if he had thought of something terrifying. His body trembled, and his mouth opened and closed for several times before words escaped from his quivering lips.
“101 points!”
