I Have Medicine

Chapter 596 - (Failed Medicine) Failed pills, failed pills, more failed pills

Testing one’s inner energy cultivation was much simpler. Just like in many other places, all you had to do was stand in front of a giant pillar and channel your inner energy into it, causing the pillar to react in a specific way.

Gu Zuo came to the pillar and happened to see someone channeling their inner energy into it, sending a beam of light shooting up.

Soon, the pillar’s color changed from red to orange, to yellow, to green, and then slowly stopped at a deep green, looking as if it were about to transition to a light blue.

Red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue, and purple represented the seven major realms, from Xiantian to Royal Realm. Above that, the Cosmic Realm was silver, and the Lesser Emperor Realm was gold. The Greater Emperor Realm was a level that this pillar couldn’t even test.

Regardless, this pillar spanned nine major realms, making it one of the most comprehensive “machines” for testing internal energy. Only powers at least at the Silver-ranked, like Longque Academy, could use a pillar with such a wide range.

When Gu Zuo was in the Ten Ultimates Sect, he hadn’t sought out such a pillar to test himself. Now, at the Longque Academy, he could finally give it a try.

‘Xiantian, Immortal Realm, Atomic Realm…’ Gu Zuo thought to himself. The color he should show was just a normal yellow.

After the person in front of him finished their test, Gu Zuo took a step forward and stood before the pillar.

He wasn’t particularly nervous, but he still took a deep breath and channeled all of his inner energy into the pillar at once!

In the next moment, a light flared up, and the pillar instantly turned red!

It then changed to orange and then to yellow. Before long, the yellow became more and more intense, and it looked like it was about to stabilize… when suddenly, the yellow light, which hadn’t even reached its densest point, abruptly turned green! But then, it jumped back to yellow! Then back to green!

Jumping back and forth like this, the light on the pillar kept flickering between yellow and green.

Gu Zuo: “…”

‘It’s not a little star. Why is it flickering like this? I don’t get it.’

‘Is the pillar broken?’

‘Atomic Realm is yellow! Why is it jumping to green? What’s going on?’

This scene also surprised the onlookers.

They had never seen a situation like this…

Gu Zuo frowned and turned to look at Gongyi Tianheng.

Gongyi Tianheng was deep in thought when something suddenly occurred to him.

[Ah Zuo, it’s likely that the quality of your inner energy has already reached the Ascendant Realm.]

Gu Zuo was stunned.

[The quality of my inner energy?]

Gongyi Tianheng smiled.

[Before, I absorbed fragments of chaotic energy, and the quality of the inner energy in my Qi Sea surpassed everyone else’s. Since I’m like this, you naturally are too.]

Gu Zuo took three seconds to process this, and his face suddenly flushed.

Then, he used his strong self-control to force his face to return to normal.

His big brother having a higher quality of inner energy made sense. But for his own inner energy to have improved in quality, wasn’t it because of that one time with his big brother…?

This kind of thing didn’t really need to be said!

Gu Zuo silently turned back and pulled his hand away.

‘Okay, I’ll just listen to what these people decide.’

Standing next to the pillar was a man in a purple robe, who was clearly very knowledgeable. Unlike the others’ surprise, this man simply glanced at the pillar and said, “His inner energy cultivation is at the Atomic Realm, but the quality of his internal energy is at the Ascendant Realm.” Seeing that some of the onlookers were still confused, he said in a deep voice, “It’s simply because a thick accumulation has made the quality of his inner energy surpass his cultivation realm. This has happened before, so why are you all so surprised?”

When he said this, the onlookers all retracted their gazes.

That’s right, among martial artists, such a situation was not uncommon. Many prodigies’ strength would exceed their own cultivation realms, allowing them to fight opponents in a higher realm.

It really wasn’t that strange.

However, these people didn’t think about it too deeply.

While similar situations were common among martial artists, even for prodigies, it was more common to cross minor realms. It was extremely rare to be able to fight across major realms. This only happened to those who, like Gongyi Tianheng, had great fortuitous encounters and possessed such an unusual kind of strength. As for pharmacists, it was completely unheard of. They didn’t need to use their inner energy for combat, so the matter of their inner energy’s quality surpassing their inner energy cultivation—even just by a minor realm—was unheard of.

But at this moment, everyone’s doubts were suppressed. Only the man in the purple robe looked at Gu Zuo a few more times.

At the same time, the onlookers’ surprise at Gu Zuo’s inner energy cultivation was significantly reduced.

While it was not common for a pharmacist of Gu Zuo’s age to reach the Atomic Realm in Longque Academy, it was not unheard of. Compared to the unique nature of his psyche cultivation, this wasn’t as attention-grabbing.

However, no one ridiculed him. Gu Zuo considered his own strength to be “not so great,” but in reality, he was still considered excellent, even in Longque Academy.

Gongyi Tianheng, who had already known this, had a smile on his face as he watched Gu Zuo being highly regarded.

His Ah Zuo no longer needed to hide himself. He could finally radiate his own unique brilliance.

Next, Gu Zuo went to test the third thing.

With the excellent results from the first two tests as a foundation, even though this third test required him to move to another hall, the people who had watched the first two tests also followed him, wanting to see how much skill Gu Zuo had in the practical art of medicine.

Among them were some students who wanted to befriend this clearly extraordinary pharmacist. They saw Gongyi Tianheng and knew that Gu Zuo already had a companion, but making a friend was always a good idea, right? What’s more, a student who kept company with such a pharmacist must also be quite remarkable. After all, why else would a pharmacist accompany him? No matter what, it was a worthwhile endeavor.

Of course, these students didn’t rush forward.

For one, Gu Zuo was about to be tested, and they didn’t want to disturb him and affect his score. Secondly, they were being cautious because even if the first two tests were extraordinary, the most important thing for a pharmacist was still the third test.

As for this third test… they were already convinced that Gu Zuo’s skill level was nothing short of exceptional. But what if there was an unforeseen variable? They had to watch with wide eyes to decide how much sincerity to invest.

And for this third test…

For Gu Zuo, this was the least of his worries.

The location for the third test was a side hall.

Inside this hall was a transparent room that contained a pharmacy pit, a medicinal cabinet, a pill furnace, and other items used for pharmacy.

However, there was one catch: everything a pharmacist did during the test would be visible to others. Therefore, pharmacists often used ordinary techniques to concoct ordinary pills, simply to prove they had reached a certain skill level.

This was a reflection of Longque Academy’s open-mindedness.

Many factions hid their pharmacology techniques, and their pharmacists often only concocted pills in private rooms, except for during major pharmacology competitions. They feared their techniques would be spied upon and learned, thus damaging their faction’s heritage.

But in reality, unless a pharmacist had extremely high innate talent, it was impossible for an ordinary person to learn their techniques just by watching them a few times. Even gleaning a few insights was rare. Yet, those factions were unwilling to let others even gain insights. In contrast, for a pharmacist to improve quickly, they needed to constantly watch others’ techniques, gain insights from them, and build upon their own experience to master their own primary techniques and become a true master of their craft.

The Longque Academy, however, had compiled a vast number of pharmacology experiences into books and stored them in the Pavilion of Medicinal Texts. All pharmacists could access the appropriate floors to read them, based on their own abilities. The pharmacists here didn’t have to constantly hide their skills. Instead, it was common for masters at the Pill King level to publicly concoct pills and teach, helping to cultivate the countless pharmacists who came to the academy for advanced studies.

Thus, it was only natural that the test room was transparent.

Gu Zuo was not bothered by this.

He glanced at the transparent room and confidently walked in. His posture and demeanor were so calm and collected that he carried the air of a true master. But a closer look revealed that his posture bore a slight resemblance to Gongyi Tianheng’s, which made Gongyi Tianheng smile.

Gongyi Tianheng recalled that whenever his little pharmacist got nervous, he would mimic the people around him. Before, he would mimic Senior Brother Xu Lingxiu, but now he was mimicking him, which was quite amusing.

However, Gu Zuo’s current demeanor wasn’t so much an imitation as it was an influence from Gongyi Tianheng. He resembled Gongyi Tianheng by a small measure, but the other eight parts were all his own confidence.

This was a complete change from his former rigidity.

After entering the room, Gu Zuo flipped his hand, and a wisp of reddish-orange flame fell from his fingertips onto the pharmacy pit, burning quietly.

The onlookers’ pupils contracted. “It’s a different flame!”

‘This young person, at such a young age, actually has a unique flame in his possession. Is this from a lucky encounter, or does he have a powerful background?’ But the crowd was not foolish. They knew that since he was using it openly, he likely had the ability to protect it. They weren’t greedy or short-sighted, and the flicker of desire in their eyes quickly vanished.

Then, they saw the youth flick his sleeve, and a massive pill furnace landed on the pharmacy pit. His movements were light and effortless, like flowing clouds or running water, with an indescribable rhythm.

The next moment, they saw the youth take out several herbs and methodically process them. He then tossed them, one by one, into the pill furnace with a graceful motion, without a single hitch.

Some of the pharmacists present held their breath, completely engrossed in the sight.

Then, the youth turned his wrist, and between two fingers, he held a bead radiating power. Those with sharp eyes immediately recognized it as a third-level primordial beast core!

Suddenly, they grew curious.

‘What is a third-level primordial beast core for?’

Immediately after, they saw the youth process the third-level primordial beast core and toss it into the pill furnace. The youth’s movements were still elegant, but before he could even perform a few hand seals, a loud boom echoed from inside the pill furnace. The concoction had failed!

Pharmacy couldn’t always be successful, and it was even harder to succeed in front of an audience.

Therefore, this test was a timed one, lasting for two hours, rather than a test of the number of attempts.

The onlookers then saw the youth go through the exact same process again, but unfortunately, he failed again. He tried a third time, but it was still a failure. Then came a fourth and fifth time…

They all failed.

Everyone: “…”