Lord of the Demon Sect

Jiang Chen nodded and said, “I understand! I know my cultivation level is low and my spiritual root is poor, but I really love alchemy and want to see what level I’m at!”

The three examiners smiled and pointed to the second pill room, saying, “You can go in! There are materials for ten doses of gathering qi powder inside. As long as you can refine one dose from those materials, you will pass. We will grant you the qualification of a junior alchemist!”

Jiang Chen entered the pill room and picked up a jade slip from the table, on which five gilded characters read “Gathering Qi Powder Recipe.” Although this recipe is quite common, it would cost thirty spirit stones to purchase in the market. No wonder the Alchemist Guild charges so many spirit stones for the assessment. They must be including this cost as well.

He glanced over the slip and then poured his spiritual sense into it…

Gathering qi powder is a pill suitable for cultivators at the middle stage of Qi Refinement to enhance their cultivation level. Among low-level pills, it barely ranks in the middle, but for someone like him, who is attending the assessment for the first time, it presents more of a challenge compared to the lowest-level pills like qi nourishing pills and detoxification pills.

“Could the examiners be intentionally making this difficult for me?” Jiang Chen muttered to himself, glancing at the other two disciples participating in the assessment on either side of him. He noticed that the jade slips before them indicated a qi nourishing pill and a detoxification pill, both of which were simpler than his task.

“Geez, I must have been set up by the examiners! It’s probably because I spoke back to them earlier that they purposely gave me the hardest task!” Jiang Chen glanced back at the three examiners, who all wore calm smiles, their faces revealing no signs of deception.

He could only shake his head helplessly and turned his attention back to the ten boxes on the table, which were neatly organized with ten sets of materials for gathering qi powder, mostly consisting of herbal powders.

Beside the alchemical materials, there were several differently colored jade bottles, presumably for storing the refined pills.

Jiang Chen pulled his gaze away from the table and took a deep breath to collect his thoughts. With his current level of alchemy skills and a thirty percent success rate bonus from the system, creating this gathering qi powder shouldn’t be too difficult. Now he was just considering whether to create three doses instead.

At that moment, the two earlier cultivators also stepped into the pill room and scanned the alchemical tools and materials inside.

“Zhang Li from the Bloodshadow Sect in Room One, are you ready? Have you checked the materials?” the middle-aged scholar-like examiner asked.

“Everything’s fine! I’m ready!” replied Zhang Li, a sturdy-looking disciple of the Bloodshadow Sect.

Then the middle-aged beautiful woman asked, “Liu Nian, the female disciple of the Ghost Spirit Sect! Are you ready?”

The stunning young woman, Liu Nian, cheerfully replied, “I’m all set!”

“The Ghost Spirit Sect? Where is that sect? I’ve never heard of it around Blood Shadow City,” Zhang Li said, slightly surprised. But he quickly forgot about it; after all, there were countless sects in the world, and he couldn’t possibly remember them all.

“Probably a sect from another part of Yi Prefecture. Maybe this disciple came by to try her luck at the alchemist assessment!” Zhang Li speculated to himself.

The bald elder asked Jiang Chen the same question, and after receiving a positive response, he called out, “Are you all prepared? If there are no issues, we will now begin the junior alchemist assessment!”

His gaze swept through the pill room, and with a wave of his right hand, the hourglass in the center of the hall began to slowly pour sand!

The bald elder chuckled, “Time starts now! The exam will end in 12 hours! Three little friends, make good use of your time!”

After hearing the start of the exam, all the candidates in the pill room immediately placed their alchemy furnaces on the dragon head and quickly pressed their palms against the switch. With a strong turn, the dragon head opened its mouth, and bright red flames burst forth, engulfing the entire exterior of the pill furnace.

Once the flames in the alchemy furnace soared high, the three examiners began to act swiftly, releasing streams of vibrant spiritual energy. Before long, a transparent barrier slowly rose outside the three pill rooms, isolating them from all external sounds and lights. This was to prevent external disturbances from affecting the candidates’ mental state, which could lead to failure in refining pills.

The three examiners focused intently on the actions of the candidates in the three pill rooms. They were observing their alchemical techniques to assess their potential, as well as ensuring there was no cheating or smuggling of pills.

At this time, Jiang Chen also began his alchemical process. He followed the proportions in the pill recipe, carefully measuring and adding the various herbal powders and ingredients for gathering qi powder into the alchemy furnace…

The middle-aged scholar and the beautiful woman examiner observed Zhang Li and Liu Nian as they refined their pills, nodding slightly. Both of them displayed quite adept techniques, showing clear signs of having received careful training from their sect.

Both examiners couldn’t help but think that if these two maintained such a level of performance throughout, becoming junior alchemists would be a piece of cake for them. Of course, it ultimately depended on the final step of pill creation.

The bald elder observed Jiang Chen’s alchemical techniques with a deeply furrowed brow, for Jiang Chen’s methods appeared remarkably amateurish. It was clear he had not received proper training from a sect or the guidance of more experienced alchemists; he seemed more like a novice who had only begun learning about alchemy a couple of months ago.

Noticing the bald elder’s expression, the middle-aged scholar and the beautiful woman examiners also began scrutinizing Jiang Chen’s refining techniques. Both displayed expressions of disdainful surprise.

“Master Luo, this kid named Jiang Chen is nowhere near qualified! Although we’ve established that anyone can take the exam as long as they pay the spirit stones, there has to be some foundational skill! His performance is that of a complete rookie…” the middle-aged scholar said, shaking his head repeatedly.

“Exactly! Master Luo, look at his techniques; they’re completely unrefined… He’s using a spoon instead of a spatula! Does he have such confidence that one scoop will be just the right amount of herbal powder?” the middle-aged woman chimed in, continuing to express her critique.

Sitting between the two, Master Luo only nodded slightly and remarked, “Outwardly, he may appear that way. But I sense a strong confidence radiating from him. It seems he firmly believes he will pass the assessment and obtain the qualification of a junior alchemist. I don’t think this young man is the type to recklessly waste a hundred spirit stones like that… So, let’s wait and see!”

After hearing this, the middle-aged scholar and the woman stopped their chatter. They glanced at Jiang Chen in the center pill room, who was entirely focused on refining his pills, and then redirected their attention to the candidates they were supposed to be observing.

Inside the barrier, Jiang Chen naturally had no leisure to concern himself with the examiners’ evaluations of him. He briefly scanned the herbs laid out on the table and methodically picked several types of herbal powders. He added them to the alchemy furnace according to the correct proportions, all the while keeping one hand firmly on the dragon head switch to control the bright red ground fire that heated the pill furnace.

Beside him, Zhang Li and Liu Nian seemed to sense Jiang Chen’s calm demeanor. Though his techniques appeared quite clumsy and inexperienced, the expression on his face radiated an intense confidence that intrigued them.

The youth, a couple of years younger than them, had a delicate face free of any signs of tension. The bright flames of the ground fire cast a subtle red hue upon his handsome features.

If they overlooked his poor technique and focused solely on his composed demeanor, they might almost believe that the person before them was not a callow youth under twenty but rather a seasoned senior alchemist with considerable experience.

At that moment, the bald elder chimed in with a reminder, “One hour has passed; you have five hours left!”

Zhang Li and Liu Nian exchanged a glance and sighed softly. Both of them refocused their attention and once again dedicated themselves to the alchemy process.

By now, the first pill they attempted had already been refined, but it turned out to be a failure. They shook their heads in disappointment, sharing a wry smile before tossing their second batch of herbs into the alchemy furnace, beginning yet another round of refinement.

Meanwhile, Jiang Chen, who was completely absorbed in ensuring the success of his pill, remained oblivious to the attention of his neighboring competitors. His gaze was firmly locked on the alchemy furnace, as he anticipated the moment the pill would be ready…

Finally, after calculating the perfect timing for the pill’s completion, Jiang Chen decisively shut off the flames at the dragon head switch. With a flick of his fingers, the lid of the alchemy furnace was propelled open by a wave of true energy. With a gesture of his right hand, a light red pill shot out, soaring toward Jiang Chen.

Quickly, he grabbed a jade porcelain bottle with his left hand and carefully placed the pill inside with his right, then sealed the bottle tightly. The light red gathering qi powder pill was successfully captured within the bottle.

To his surprise, he succeeded on the second attempt. This was a bit unexpected for Jiang Chen, considering that during his first attempt to refine a Jiangshi cultivation pill six months ago, he had failed five times before finally succeeding on the sixth try.

What he didn’t realize was that he had since refined pills hundreds of times, and his experience had far surpassed that of six months ago. Moreover, the difficulty of refining a Jiangshi cultivation pill was inherently higher than that of gathering qi powder. Without the assistance of the Holy Lord System, he feared he might never have produced a single Jiangshi cultivation pill.

Seeing that Jiang Chen had successfully refined a gathering qi powder pill caused both Zhang Li on his left and Liu Nian on his right to feel anxious. As they became more hurried, mistakes began to creep in; their second and third batches of materials failed to yield success, resulting in nothing but duds.

After failing three times in a row, they began to realize that their eagerness for quick results had hindered their progress. Liu Nian’s beautiful eyes flickered for a moment as she pondered, It looks like I need to step up my game so I don’t fall behind this little guy. She took a deep breath, steadied her emotions, and began the process for her fourth pill.