An Alchemy Master?

But since Nie Li had made that request, she couldn't refuse. It was the Alchemist Association's rule: the examinations for both Junior Apprentice and Junior Alchemy Master were completely open to the public! Anyone could take them, with no age restrictions; all they had to do was pay two hundred Spirit Coins.

Some senior apprentices even came back every month to take the exam. After all, once they passed all three rounds and qualified as a Junior Alchemy Master, their status and benefits would change beyond recognition.

However, the Junior Alchemy Master examination wasn't easy to pass. Usually, out of a hundred people who took it, only a handful remained by the end of the first round. The second and third rounds were said to be even harder!

"Taking the Junior Alchemy Master examination costs two hundred Spirit Coins. You have to pay the full amount before entering the examination room!" Miss Xiao Lan said, looking at Nie Li.

"Just two hundred Spirit Coins. Take me there!" Nie Li said to Miss Xiao Lan, then glanced back at Xiao Ninger and the others.

"You guys wait here. I'll come find you once I pass!" Nie Li said, looking completely at ease.

"Sure. Once you pass, we'll celebrate together tonight!" Lu Piao chuckled, evidently confident in him.

"Nie Li, good luck!" Xiao Ninger said gently, holding her hands in front of her chest.

Hearing Nie Li and Lu Piao's conversation, Miss Xiao Lan couldn't help rolling her eyes. This was the Alchemy Master examination, not the apprentice exam! Nie Li and the others were being utterly ridiculous. Did they think qualifying as a Junior Alchemy Master was that easy? Nie Li would probably be wasting those two hundred Spirit Coins. But it was his money, not her problem; she just had to do her job.

"Come with me!" Miss Xiao Lan pursed her lips and said no more.

The Junior Alchemy Master examination hall had a long corridor stretching into the distance, lined with small rooms. Each person taking the exam entered one of them to complete a complicated test of alchemy knowledge. Only after several Junior Alchemy Masters graded their work and approved it could they move on to the next round.

There were six people taking the exam this time. Three were young men in their thirties, while two had hair that was already white.

When they saw Miss Xiao Lan leading Nie Li inside, every one of them was dumbfounded.

One of the young men looked at Nie Li, furrowed his brows slightly, and asked, "What are you here for?"

Nie Li raised his head and looked at the young man. "I'm here for the same reason as you, of course. I'm taking the exam!"

The young man looked at Nie Li's clothes. It was obvious he wasn't a scion of some major family. He laughed scornfully. "Ha! A little brat like you thinks he can take the Alchemy Master exam? Kid, you're in the wrong place. Go take the Junior Apprentice exam instead!" A thirteen- or fourteen-year-old boy taking the Junior Alchemy Master exam was practically an insult to them!

"Who are you?" Nie Li glanced at the young man indifferently.

"I'm Chu Ning, a member of the Chu Family, a family of alchemists!" Chu Ning said arrogantly.

"A family of alchemists? The Chu Family dares to call itself that?" Nie Li replied with a disdainful sneer. He remembered Chu Yuan, whom he'd had a run-in with earlier at the Ancient Orchid City Ruins. That fellow seemed to be from the Chu Family too.

"Three Alchemy Masters, six Intermediate Alchemy Masters, and more than twenty Junior Alchemy Masters have come from the Chu Family throughout its history. How can we not be a family of alchemists?" Chu Ning declared proudly.

"What good does it do to keep bragging about past glory? What about now? The Chu Family only has one Junior Alchemy Master left. Does that still qualify you as a family of alchemists?" Nie Li retorted with a smile.

Chu Ning hadn't expected a child like Nie Li to know the Chu Family so well, let alone be so sharp-tongued.

"Hmph! So what? I, Chu Ning, will definitely become an Alchemy Master. You little brat, you still smell of milk. Hurry up and get lost! This is the Alchemy Master examination hall, not a place for you to play!" Chu Ning snorted. He had already taken the exam twice, but he was still quite confident about his third attempt.

At Chu Ning's words, the others nearby let out quiet chuckles. They had all spent at least ten years, some even decades, studying alchemy, yet they were only just beginning to take the Junior Alchemy Master exam. If a little kid like Nie Li passed, where would that leave their pride?

Nie Li shrugged and replied frankly, "We'll see."

He pushed open a door and walked inside.

Chu Ning sneered. He refused to believe that a little brat could have gotten far in the study of alchemy. He went through one of the doors himself.

After Nie Li entered, two Junior Alchemy Masters were seated at the front. Both were old men around fifty or sixty. Beside them stood a desk and chairs, with a stack of papers and a horn pen on top.

When one of the Junior Alchemy Masters saw Nie Li, he froze and asked in confusion, "Young man, are you sure you're in the right place? This is the Junior Alchemy Master examination hall!"

"Masters, I'm in the right place. I'm here to take the Junior Alchemy Master exam!" Nie Li replied politely. It was always better to show some respect to the examiners.

The two Junior Alchemy Masters exchanged glances. They had no idea whose child had come to take the Junior Alchemy Master exam on a whim. Nie Li would soon find out how difficult it was! Without decades of studying alchemy, there was no way to become an Alchemy Master!

"All right. There are more than three hundred and sixty exam papers on this desk, tucked between the pages of these books. Pick any of them at random. They're filled with all kinds of questions about alchemy. Write down your answers. You need to draw twenty papers and finish them within two hours. You must get at least ninety percent correct to move on to the next round!" one of the Alchemy Masters explained.

"Master, could you pick a few for me?" Nie Li asked one of them. Having the Alchemy Master choose the papers would rule out any possibility of cheating!

Seeing the clarity in Nie Li's eyes, the Alchemy Master gave a slight nod. "All right!" He randomly drew twenty papers and placed them in front of Nie Li. "Do these."

Nie Li picked up the horn pen and glanced over the questions on the paper. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly. These questions were ridiculously easy for him—like an Alchemy Master taking an apprentice's exam. His understanding of alchemy far surpassed the level of an Alchemy Master! For some questions, Nie Li was afraid the Alchemy Masters wouldn't understand a complicated answer, so he deliberately wrote something simple. Some answers he knew were wrong, but he could only write them down anyway, because the Alchemy Masters' understanding of alchemy hadn't reached that level.

Nie Li's pen flew across the page. In no time, he'd answered dozens of questions.

The two Alchemy Masters had expected Nie Li not to be able to answer even one question. They hadn't expected him to work so quickly, finishing dozens of answers in no time. Thinking he was just scribbling nonsense, they raised their heads to take a look.

"The first question asks for sixteen uses of Primordial Spirit Grass. Oh, this is a good answer—he's listed every single one!"

"The second asks for the detailed process and precautions for refining a Condensed Essence Pill. All twenty-six steps are complete!"

The two Alchemy Masters stared at each other. Their first thought was that Nie Li must have cheated. How could a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old child understand these processes so thoroughly? Each question on its own was actually quite simple, but they had been chosen at random from tens of thousands of herbs and thousands of pills. How vast did someone's knowledge have to be to answer them all so fluently?

But they had chosen the papers themselves, which had all but ruled out the possibility of Nie Li cheating!

Even if a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old child had started reading books in the womb, he still couldn't have read that many!

The two Alchemy Masters exchanged bitter smiles. Could there truly be people in this world born with extraordinary knowledge? To be born knowing meant to possess, from birth, wisdom beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Under normal circumstances, an ordinary person needed at least fifteen minutes to finish one paper. Those who could complete ten papers in the allotted time were exceedingly rare; many got stuck on difficult questions. But Nie Li worked through them without the slightest pause, at a pace of three papers every fifteen minutes.

In less than an hour, ten papers were filled with answers.

Every time Nie Li completed a paper, the two Alchemy Masters graded it. To their horror, they discovered that not one of the ten papers had a single error or omission. Some answers were so ingenious that they went beyond what was recorded in certain books, leaving the two of them utterly amazed!

A genius!

A true genius!

The two Alchemy Masters were filled with amazement and excitement. They had to report this to the Council of Elders and let the president know! Nie Li was still so young, yet already possessed such astonishing knowledge. What would he be like in a few more years?

Nie Li might become the one to restore the Alchemist Association to its former glory. Just thinking about it made them excited. And as the mentors who had graded his papers, they would be great contributors too!

"I wonder which family this young master comes from," one of the old men said with a beaming smile. "My name is Hu Yanming, and this is Mu Yang. We're both Junior Alchemy Masters!"

"Masters, please just call me by my name. I'm Nie Li, from the Sky Mark Family," Nie Li replied humbly at once. There was another person surnamed Hu Yan. He wondered if he belonged to the Hu Yan Family.

Hearing Nie Li call them his mentors, Hu Yanming and Mu Yang's eyes narrowed into delighted smiles. The title had filled the two Junior Alchemy Masters with joy. Good, good! He was so young, yet so talented, and still not conceited. If Nie Li really secured a place for himself in the Alchemist Association, being called his mentor would greatly raise their status.