Alchemist Association

Xiao Yan got dressed and left the inn. As he stepped outside, he also asked the innkeeper for the location of the Alchemist Association.

Following the directions he had been given, Xiao Yan made his way toward the Alchemist Association. After winding through several streets, he finally found an enormous building at the intersection of several roads, perpetually shrouded in faint clouds of medicinal fragrance.

Above its towering gates, the five ancient, boldly written characters "Alchemist Association" glimmered with a pale silver light, making them especially eye-catching.

This was the Jia Ma Empire's third greatest power, after the Misty Cloud Sect and the Jia Ma Imperial Family. However, unlike other factions, the alchemists within the Alchemist Association were not keen on power or conflict. Instead, they devoted themselves wholeheartedly to studying alchemy, making the association more like a public organization.

As the alchemist headquarters of the Jia Ma Empire, even the Imperial Royal Family had to show it respect. After all, the alchemists living within this building could bring immense wealth to the empire. The empire's development and foreign wars alike could not do without their assistance.

Standing outside the gates, Xiao Yan looked up at the imposing alchemist headquarters and could not help exclaiming, "Worthy of being the leading force among the Jia Ma Empire's alchemists. What grandeur!"

The moment Xiao Yan stepped through the Alchemist Association's gates, he smelled a faint medicinal fragrance that refreshed his mind and spirit.

The Alchemist Association covered an extremely vast area and was roughly divided into three sections: east, south, and west.

The eastern hall was the trading and treasure-hunting area. Many neatly arranged stone counters made from granite had been set up there. Behind them sat alchemists in long robes, while the counters themselves displayed all kinds of medicinal ingredients, jade bottles, scrolls, and more.

Xiao Yan turned his gaze southward and saw many cauldrons burning fiercely. Some high-level alchemists were refining medicine there, surrounded by crowds of low-level alchemists learning from their experience.

Compared with the other two halls, the western hall had far fewer people. Guards even stood in the corridor, and it seemed that only alchemists of a certain rank were qualified to enter.

Although he had not found the location for the alchemist examination, it was most likely in the southern section. After all, that was where all the furnaces were burning.

Xiao Yan headed straight for the southern side of the hall. When he reached the alchemists who were refining medicine, he joined the low-level alchemists and apprentice alchemists in observing the high-level alchemists' techniques for controlling the heat. However, after watching for a while, Xiao Yan discovered that some of their methods were not even as good as his, and he immediately lost interest. With Medicine Elder, a grandmaster of alchemy, at his side, why would Xiao Yan foolishly study other people's pill-refining techniques?

Xiao Yan asked someone nearby where the alchemist examination was held. The man casually pointed behind him, and Xiao Yan followed the direction of his finger to see a middle-aged man sitting behind a desk, boredly spinning a pen in his hand. Since alchemists were extremely rare, naturally very few people came to take the examination.

After thanking him, Xiao Yan turned and walked toward the middle-aged man.

"Shoo, shoo! This is where the alchemist examination is held. Go play somewhere else." Seeing Xiao Yan dressed plainly and without even a basic apprentice alchemist's robe, the middle-aged man assumed he was there to fool around.

"Uh... I'm here to take the First-Grade Alchemist examination," Xiao Yan said helplessly.

"You're taking the First-Grade Alchemist examination? Then where is your mentor?" The man glanced behind Xiao Yan and asked suspiciously.

"Ahem, my mentor told me to come take the examination by myself," Xiao Yan said awkwardly.

"Fine, then. Since your mentor didn't come, a letter of introduction from him will do. Report your personal information first, and I'll record it." The middle-aged man picked up his pen, preparing to register Xiao Yan's details.

"A letter of introduction? I don't seem to have one of those either. Can't I take the alchemist examination without one?" Xiao Yan rubbed his nose and spoke somewhat sheepishly.

"What? You don't even have a letter of introduction? Are you messing with me? Get lost, now! Since you're still a youngster, I'll let it go. Otherwise, I'd have the guards throw you out." Feeling that the youth before him was toying with him, the middle-aged man flew into a rage.

Hearing the middle-aged man shout, the apprentices and low-level alchemists studying alchemy techniques all turned toward the source of the commotion.

"Has this kid gone mad from wanting to become an alchemist?" Seeing that Xiao Yan was only around fifteen years old and had come alone to take the alchemist examination, everyone thought he was crazy.

"He must have heard that becoming an alchemist lets one soar into the heavens and turn from a chicken into a phoenix. After all, becoming an alchemist is every cultivator's dream, but how could it possibly be so easy?"

As everyone knew, becoming an alchemist required meeting three conditions. First, one's soul perception had to be strong. Otherwise, one could not even control the temperature of the flames, much less refine medicine. Yet among a thousand cultivators, at most one person possessed soul perception strong enough to qualify.

As for the second condition, it was even more difficult. One had to possess a fire affinity mixed with a trace of wood affinity. Only wood affinity could temper the violent heat of flames. Only those with mutated souls possessed this trait, and such people were one in ten thousand.

The third condition was that one had to have a mentor to guide them. Without a mentor personally teaching them step by step, simply researching the formulas alone could take decades. Flame-control methods, the medicinal properties of each ingredient, and heat control all required a mentor's personal guidance.

Seeing that this youth had no mentor and was so young, no one believed he could become an alchemist. As for Xiao Yan's claim that his mentor simply had not come, they clearly did not believe it. It was not as though his mentor could not show his face. Why would he not come? He definitely did not exist.

"If I can refine a first-grade medicinal pill right now, then I won't need a mentor or a letter of introduction, will I?" Seeing that the middle-aged man had begun driving him away, Xiao Yan directly proposed the simplest solution.

"Fine, fine! If you can truly refine a medicinal pill—even the lowest-grade Strength-Gathering Pill... no, forget the Strength-Gathering Pill. If you can refine Spring-Rejuvenation Powder, the lowest-grade healing medicine, I'll consider you qualified to take the examination. And I'll apologize to you as well." The middle-aged man was so angry that he laughed. Clearly, he did not believe Xiao Yan could do it.

The other onlookers also shook their heads, believing that the youth had no such ability.

Xiao Yan no longer hesitated. He directly took a medicinal cauldron from his Storage Ring and placed it on the ground, then took out a set of ingredients for refining a Strength-Gathering Pill.

When he saw the youth take out a medicinal cauldron, the middle-aged man's expression finally became somewhat serious. Medicinal cauldrons were not cheap things that ordinary people could afford. Then, seeing Xiao Yan take out three herbs—the very ingredients needed to refine a Strength-Gathering Pill—his heart became even more unsettled.

Could this kid really be able to refine a Strength-Gathering Pill? That would be far too unbelievable! The middle-aged man's thoughts began to change. At that moment, he truly hoped that the youth could refine it, because that would mean the youth possessed extraordinary talent for alchemy.