Cultivation: From Menial Laborer to Immortal Venerable

He barely managed to save the pills.

However, out of the ten Pigu Pills that were originally of standard quality, one was completely ruined, and the remaining nine only reached the level of inferior pills.

"Fortunately, I brought dozens of spiritual grain seedlings with me to refine the Qi Induction Pill, otherwise I would have really failed this time!"

Zhou Xun cried out in relief.

After calming down slightly, Zhou Xun began to suspect the reason for the sudden eruption of the Earth Fire.

Recalling the look Wei Shangyi gave him, Zhou Xun could roughly guess the truth of the matter.

However, there was still one thing he couldn't figure out: how did Wei Shangyi guess that he would be assigned this particular Alchemy Room?

Zhou Xun took out a bag from his embrace and took out the spiritual grain seedlings it contained.

He then circulated the Ningshun Sutra, extracted the essence from each one, and integrated it into those nine ruined inferior Pigu Pills.

Visibly, the Pigu Pills infused with the essence of the spiritual grain seedlings continuously improved in quality, reaching the standard level.

In this way, Zhou Xun upgraded six Pigu Pills to the standard level.

The remaining three continued to maintain their inferior pill quality.

Based on Zhou Xun's understanding of the others, six standard quality pills were enough to place him in the upper ranks.

After tidying up the Alchemy Room and waiting for a while longer, ensuring that someone had already left, Zhou Xun finally opened the door with the Pigu Pills.

As Zhou Xun emerged, a warden immediately stepped forward.

"You're Zhou Xun, right? Give me the pills you refined. After Elder Lin personally appraises them, they will be ranked according to their quality. You can wait over there!"

"Yes, Warden Liu!" Zhou Xun bowed and handed the medicine bottle containing the Pigu Pills to the middle-aged warden.

Afterward, he scanned his surroundings.

He wasn't the earliest to finish; over a dozen people were already waiting after completing their refinement.

"Brother Zhou, you're finally out! How many pills did you refine this time?"

As soon as Wang Erniu saw Zhou Xun, he eagerly came over.

"Six standard quality, three inferior quality!" Zhou Xun revealed everything.

"Brother, with this result, you're definitely in the top fifteen!" Wang Erniu said happily, clapping his hands.

Zhou Xun nodded and chatted casually with Wang Erniu.

His gaze, however, drifted towards Wei Shangyi's location, the Alchemy Room Yi-17 that originally belonged to him.

Wei Shangyi waited patiently for half an hour before starting to refine the Pigu Pills.

Warming the cauldron, condensing the medicinal liquid.

Everything went smoothly.

Wei Shangyi was full of confidence.

"As long as I successfully refine the Pigu Pills this time, coupled with Warden Lin's mediation, the apprentice position will be within easy reach!"

To ensure the smooth growth of Wei Shangyi, the future family alchemist, Wei Shangli once again approached Lin Ruochang.

He offered a generous gift.

Finally, he received Lin Ruochang's promise that as long as he successfully refined the Pigu Pills, he would use his recommendation quota for apprentices.

With a certain alchemy talent, spiritual root aptitude that was upper-middle grade, and his full support, an alchemy apprentice could be arranged.

Of course, this would be outside the fifteen quotas for this session.

Wei Shangyi was refining methodically.

At the same moment, Lin Hongjiu saw Lin Ruochang off.

He took out the Earth Fire Token and aimed it at the Earth Fire indicator for Wei Shangyi's Alchemy Room.

A magic formula was cast.

Almost without delay, the Earth Fire beneath Wei Shangyi's cauldron erupted.

The Pigu Pill liquid, which Wei Shangyi had not yet fused, could not withstand the strong heat and instantly scorched, emitting a burnt smell.

And Wei Shangyi, the moment the Earth Fire erupted, realized what had happened.

Then he watched helplessly as the liquid in the cauldron was destroyed.

"Lin Hongjiu, you son of a—!"

He had calculated everything, so why did it still end up like this?

His refinement had failed!

And he had failed at the third step!

With his skill, he should have succeeded!

"I hate this!"

Wei Shangyi gritted his teeth, his face turning pale with anger.

This outcome meant he was no longer qualified to be an alchemy apprentice.

Even with Warden Lin's full recommendation, Lin Zhishan and Grandmaster Yun Ku would not agree.

Someone who couldn't even refine a basic pill was not eligible to be an alchemy apprentice at the Danbao Pavilion.

"Could it be that I, Wei Shangyi, will truly end up as a spiritual qi orderly?"

The thought of being an orderly made Wei Shangyi unable to accept it.

He had extraordinary talent, destined to be superior to others, to become a noble alchemist, to reach Foundation Establishment, and even to achieve a True Core!

"I am not willing to accept this!"

Refining Pigu Pills was extremely simple; usually, a batch could be made in half an hour.

Even for those who were not proficient, an hour was sufficient.

Thus, not long after Zhou Xun emerged, the remaining dozen or so people also finished their refining one after another.

Only the door to Alchemy Room B-17 remained tightly shut.

After a quarter of an hour, there was still no sign of anyone coming out.

Lin Zhishan walked over and inquired with the warden responsible for drawing lots:

"Who is inside? Why haven't they come out yet?"

"Reporting to Elder, it's Wei Shangyi inside. I don't know why he's still in there!" the middle-aged warden replied with a hint of respect.

"Tell him to come out. It's been over an hour, and he still can't refine it. Waiting longer won't help!" Lin Zhishan frowned.

"Yes, I'll go do that immediately!" The middle-aged warden responded, then roughly banged on the alchemy room door.

"Wei Shangyi, hurry up and come out, the assessment is over!"

Wei Shangyi was currently slumped on the floor of the alchemy room, looking dejected.

Hearing the sound, Wei Shangyi scrambled to his feet and muttered to himself:

"No, I still have a chance. Warden Lin is my elder brother's wife's brother. I'll go back and find my brother, and there will surely be a way!"

As he spoke, a glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes.

Seeing that the door took so long to open, the middle-aged warden showed a slight dissatisfaction and impatiently said:

"Why so slow? Hand over your pills."

"I failed to refine it!" Wei Shangyi said bitterly.

"I understand!" The middle-aged warden glanced at him and immediately realized that he hadn't managed to refine a single Pigu Pill.

Then, without looking back, he went to report to Lin Zhishan.

Thus, all thirty prospective apprentices who participated in the assessment had completed their refining.

After about fifteen minutes, Lin Zhishan had finished appraising all the pills.

Then, he ranked everyone according to the number and quality of the pills they had refined.

In the courtyard, Lin Zhishan stood at the front.

Zhou Xun and the other prospective apprentices stood in a line, waiting for Lin Zhishan to announce the results.

"The six-month cultivation assessment concludes today."

"All of your pills were appraised by me personally, and the rankings were also determined by me personally, so there can be no mistake."

"Now, I will announce the list of alchemy apprentices who have passed the assessment."

"The first person is Wang Erniu, who successfully refined nine pills, all of which are genuine products!"

"The second person..."

It wasn't until the seventh position that Zhou Xun heard his name.