Assessment

Five Elements Mountain Range, Morning Sun Peak, Cauldron Hall.

The headquarters of the Five Elements Sect is located within the Five Elements Mountain Range, stretching for over a thousand miles. With countless natural treasures and a vast array of rare birds and beasts, it is the finest place for cultivation in the Luo Cloud Prefecture.

Morning Sun Peak is one of the most vital peaks of the Five Elements Sect, and as one of the sect's most important halls, the Cauldron Hall is situated right here on Morning Sun Peak.

If one wishes to pass the Alchemy Apprentice examination and become an Official Disciple, they must head to the Cauldron Hall.

Bamboo Forest Valley is several dozen miles away from the Cauldron Hall, and even at the pace of Qin Dongcheng, it took him over half an hour to arrive.

After ascending Morning Sun Peak, the scenery along the way—with its clear waters, lush hills, and layered ridges—was breathtaking, in no way inferior to the famous mountains of his past life, and perhaps even surpassing them.

Staying here, one could clearly feel their mind becoming much sharper, a sense of being completely refreshed; it was truly a place of spiritual essence and natural beauty.

If he could later become an Inner Sect Disciple or even a True Inheritance Disciple, he would be able to possess his own cave dwelling here, which would certainly accelerate his cultivation progress.

After making inquiries, he arrived at the Examination Hall. This is the place responsible for assessments, covering not only the examination for Official Disciples but also for Official Alchemists, and even higher-level assessments for Intermediate Alchemists, Senior Alchemists, and even Top-tier Alchemists.

As the sole hegemon-level power in the Luo Cloud Prefecture, ruling over the entire region, the Five Elements Sect naturally possesses Top-tier Alchemists whose status and influence are almost on par with the Sect Master.

Upon entering the Examination Hall, a Chore Disciple quickly approached him: "Is there something you need, Senior Brother?"

Since he dared to come to the Examination Hall, he was likely a disciple intending to take an exam; even if he were just an Alchemy Apprentice, he was not someone they could afford to offend.

Qin Dongcheng smiled: "I would like to take the examination for Official Disciple. Do you know where I should go?"

"Please follow me, Senior Brother." The honest-looking Chore Disciple hurriedly led Qin Dongcheng into the depths of the Examination Hall, where dozens of Alchemy Apprentices were already waiting, all hoping to pass the alchemy and medicine-making examination to become Official Disciples.

It is truly worthy of being the hegemon-level power of the Luo Cloud Prefecture. If this many Alchemy Apprentices are trying to pass the exam every day, one can only imagine how many Alchemy Apprentices the Cauldron Hall has accumulated over time.

Furthermore, there are occasionally examinations for Low-level Alchemists, Intermediate Alchemists, and so on, which further increases the prestige of the Examination Hall.

Standing among these people, someone soon asked: "Brother, are you also here to take the Official Disciple examination?"

Qin Dongcheng nodded, and the other person said with some surprise: "You look like you aren't even twenty yet, and you're already an Alchemy Apprentice? You must be the youngest among us."

Qin Dongcheng looked around and realized that indeed, the surrounding Chore Disciples all looked to be over twenty, with some even in their fifties or sixties. By comparison, Qin Dongcheng was indeed the youngest.

Noticing this, the surrounding Chore Disciples became much more enthusiastic. Such a young Alchemy Apprentice, provided nothing goes wrong, has a high probability of becoming an Official Alchemist in the future.

Unlike many of them, for whom being an Alchemy Apprentice is likely the end of the road, they naturally held Qin Dongcheng in higher regard.

Qin Dongcheng realized that he was still standing out a bit too much.

If not for the threat of demons, he wouldn't have taken the exam so early, but for the sake of safety, this bit of attention was nothing.

Compared to the Alchemy Apprentices cultivated by large families and major powers, his age was not considered old.

After waiting for about half an hour, a middle-aged alchemist came out and led them into the alchemy room designated for the exam, where dozens of alchemy furnaces were already burning.

"Each person gets a cubicle with a table, chair, and alchemy furnace. The examination consists of a written test and an alchemy test. While the earth fire hasn't fully heated up yet, finish the papers on your tables first, then proceed to the alchemy assessment."

"You cannot have more than three errors on the written test, and during the alchemy portion, you cannot fail more than four times for each type of pill. Only then will you pass the examination."

After everyone was seated, the middle-aged alchemist quickly explained the rules. As long as they passed, they would become Official Disciples of the Five Elements Sect.

Once he finished speaking, everyone hurriedly flipped through the papers in front of them and began to answer.

Qin Dongcheng took a quick look and found that the questions were not difficult. Some asked about the properties of medicinal herbs, some about alchemy techniques, and others about methods for healing the sick... Authentic Alchemy Apprentices and alchemists must master not only the planting and harvesting of herbs and the refining of pills but also the art of healing.

Only by mastering all three can one be considered a qualified alchemist.

The Five Elements Sect follows the path of orthodox alchemy, unlike many places that only pursue pill refining and rarely delve into other aspects, with some Senior Alchemists not even knowing how to heal the sick.

That would not be acceptable in the Five Elements Sect; merely mastering pill refining is likely insufficient to pass the relevant assessments.

Because of this, alchemists certified by the Five Elements Sect's Cauldron Hall generally hold a higher status, far exceeding those certified by other powers.

As an Official Alchemist, Qin Dongcheng was qualified in all these areas, even surpassing some Official Alchemists.

This test paper was something even an Alchemy Apprentice could pass, let alone him. He spent only the time it takes to drink a cup of tea to finish answering everything.

To avoid getting too perfect a score, he intentionally wrote one answer wrong.

Next was the pill refining. Qin Dongcheng chose the Blood-Replenishing Pill and the Golden Wound Pill. After these days of practice, his success rate for the Blood-Replenishing Pill had been raised to about fifty percent; in other words, he succeeded once every two attempts.

Moreover, he could refine more than three Blood-Replenishing Pills each time, and his efficiency far exceeded his previous performance, catching up to what other alchemists could produce in several attempts.

As for the Golden Wound Pill, his success rate had also reached about forty percent. Out of ten attempts, he could succeed more than four times, which also achieved profitability and provided a handsome return.

Succeeding once in about four attempts was not a difficult task for Qin Dongcheng, but for most Alchemy Apprentices, this success rate was not low at all. The surrounding apprentices were already whispering.

"Wasn't it one success out of five attempts to pass before? Why has it increased to one out of four now? It's one less chance than before."

"It's said that because there have been too many people coming to the Cauldron Hall for examinations lately, they increased the difficulty. After all, the Cauldron Hall is one of the top halls in our Five Elements Sect, so increasing the difficulty is normal."

"The rules were changed a few days ago. Now, the difficulty of passing the exam through alchemy and medicine-making has increased significantly. You guys must not have done your homework in advance."