Ninth In the World

“I am fine with it,” Di Jiu said and saluted immediately when he saw the examiner looking at him.

The three alchemy masters that had come for the test along with Di Jiu and the two examiners looked oddly at Di Jiu after they heard what he’d said. The cultivator with the full beard looked at Di Jiu with mockery. He had seen many people like Di Jiu, who were all fastidious but incompetent people. They would be dumbfounded when they saw the questionnaire.

The examiner did not waste his breath. He just nodded because Di Jiu had said that he was fine with it. The examiner raised his hand and five sets of questionnaires landed in the four people’s hands. Everyone had one questionnaire, while Di Jiu had two.

Di Jiu took a look. There was a total of 100 questions on the first test paper. The questions involved identifying immortal spiritual herbs and describing the uses of certain herbs as well as elixir formulas.

The second test paper only contained one question about concocting the Mystic Essence Elixir. This elixir was a third-grade immortal pill. The main herb in it was the Rootless Floating Plant, and there were more than ten supplementary herbs. This pill was also the most widely-used third-grade immortal pill and it was suitable for Immortal Lord cultivation.

The three other people only received the question about concocting the Mystic Essence Elixir. They could pass the test by refining the elixir within four hours.

No wonder the rest of them looked at him in a weird way. Under normal circumstances, the participant would need more than four hours just to complete the first test paper, not to mention the challenge of refining the elixir within this limited time. Furthermore, a typical elixir master would need close to four hours to refine the pill.

Di Jiu only had a total of four hours. Hence, it was natural for the others to judge him.

“In order to pass the third-grade elixir master test, at least one-quarter of the elixirs have to be middle-grade immortal pills. Junk pills cannot exceed one-third of the total number of pills. The cut-off point for passing the theory test is 90 marks. Anything less would equal failure in the test.”

After the examiner on the left had finished his sentence, he looked at Di Jiu again. “You will not be able to pass the grade-three alchemy master test, even if you refine the pill, should you fail your theory test.”

“I understand,” Di Jiu said once again.

The rest of the people shook their heads speechlessly. “Under normal circumstances, participants only need to obtain at least 80 marks to pass the grade-one alchemy master test. Having to obtain at least 90 points in such a limited time is literally making matters worse.”

“The test starts now.” The examiner raised his hand and overturned the hourglass after he had finished explaining the rules.

The three other alchemy masters walked towards the separate furnaces. The herbs used for refining the pill had been placed next to each furnace.

Di Jiu could only walk to the other side and start answering the questions.

All the questions were extremely simple for Di Jiu, except for the last elixir formula question. Di Jiu was different from the others. Unlike the other alchemy masters, he did not need to think very long before he could answer the questions. His understanding of the Book of the World increased as his cultivation experience increased. Although his understanding of the book was not thorough, the parts which he had studied were sufficient for him to cope with the grade-three alchemy master test.

Di Jiu completed all the questions except the formula of the elixirs within half an hour.

The examiner had said that the passing mark for the test was 90 marks, and the full mark on Di Jiu’s paper was 100. Hence, Di Jiu had initially expected all the questions to be worth one mark each and total up to 100 marks. Actually, the first 99 questions were worth one mark each, while the last elixir formula question was worth 11 marks.

In other words, the full mark for the theory test was 110 marks.

The combination of the elixir formula was an elixir used to break arrays. To be honest, this was the first time Di Jiu was seeing an elixir formula used for defeating arrays.

The mainstream thought process involved using an explosive elixir to bombard the Dharma array. Such an elixir would work no matter the intention of the examiner. As long as the elixir could destroy the array, nobody would care about the type of elixir used.

Di Jiu did not have such a formula. Although the question asked the participant to break a level-one Immortal Confinement Array on the surface, Di Jiu was a grade-seven Immortal Array King. Hence, he did not want to use a common method like the explosive elixir to break the level-one array.

Of all the herbs given, the abalone shell could be used to refine a strong Grade-One Immortal Pill that could explode on its own. Di Jiu did not use it at all. Instead, he used the Mist Dispel Grass as the main spiritual herb and created an elixir which could expose the core of the Confinement Array. When the elixir was activated by the spiritual force and the immortal essence, a cloud of mist would erupt. The center of the array would be clearly visible after the mist cleared away.

The Confinement Array could trap the cultivator because it restricted the movement of the cultivator. If the array core was exposed, the Confinement Array could be destroyed just by breaking or keeping the array core, which was much easier than making the array explode.

Di Jiu finished a four-hour test in half an hour.

“Ah…” The short and plump examiner on the right, who had not spoken previously, was surprised that Di Jiu had managed to complete the questions in half an hour.

“This fellow answered the questions really fast. I wonder how many questions he will get correct.” The examiner on the left laughed.

The test of the Elixir Association was very strict. Even the examiners could not use their spiritual force to check on the students once the assessment had begun. They could only observe what the alchemy masters were doing. Hence, they did not know how well the participants had fared.

Di Jiu placed the first test paper aside after he filled in his name. He walked to the fourth cauldron to refine the Mystic Essence Elixir.

The three other participants had started to remove the impurities from the elixir liquid in the cauldron by that time. However, Di Jiu was in no rush.

He had refined countless Mystic Essence Elixirs and he would not make a mistake, even if he did this with his eyes closed. His only concern was how to avoid refining special-class pills with many inscriptions.

It was not a wise decision to display competence in alchemy that surpassed one’s strength in the Gigantic Tripod Immortal City.

Di Jiu did not even need half an hour to refine a full cauldron of Mystic Essence Elixir. However, he did not dare do that. Thus, he cleaned the cauldron carefully, started the Earth fire, placed the herbs slowly into the cauldron, and then he pretended to check on it again and again.

Di Jiu started to melt the herbs and purify the medicinal liquid after wasting some time.

He forcibly used nearly an hour to complete what he could have done in a few minutes before he finally purified the medicinal liquid elixir. Di Jiu had the Book of the World, his physical body underwent nirvana using the Universe Membrane fragment, and he had even mastered many foundational orders. Hence, he could obtain nearly a 100 percent pure medicinal liquid.

He would not be able to refine a special-class nine-inscription elixir that did not contain any elixir poison if the purity of the medicinal liquid he obtained was not high enough.

Di Jiu deliberately lowered the purity of the elixir. However, even then, the purity of the medicinal liquid easily reached 90 percent.

When the purification process was complete, Di Jiu started to condense the medicinal liquid and use the Elixir Formation Art to form the elixir.

Time passed slowly, as this was the most torturous elixir-refining process Di Jiu had ever experienced.

Di Jiu started using the Alchemy Art when the four hours were finally about to be up. Just as he was about to bring 12 Mystic Essence Elixirs out, he saw that the maximum number of pills the three participants had was nine. Thus, he frantically crushed two of his pills and took out ten pills instead.

The Mystic Essence Elixir was a third-grade immortal pill, and a maximum of 12 elixirs could be produced in the cauldron.

“Time’s up. Stop!” the examiner on the left said as soon as Di Jiu put the ten Mystic Essence Elixirs into the jade bottle.

A cracking sound was heard from the cauldron of the alchemy master who had not brought out any elixir. He stood up with a pale face. It was obvious that he had failed.

Di Jiu submitted his test papers and the jade bottle and then sat aside as he waited.

The alchemy master with the full beard was very happy. He had taken out nine Mystic Essence Elixirs, which was an outstanding achievement for him.

Besides, he had refined four middle-grade elixirs and three junk elixirs. This was not even one-quarter of the total number of elixirs.

“Zhang Pingtai did not refine the Mystic Essence Elixir within four hours, so there is no mark awarded. Therefore, he did not pass the test,” the examiner on the left said calmly.

The tall and skinny man stood up with a pale face when he heard the examiner’s words. Then, he bowed before the examiners and left the place.

“Paer’fei has seven finished elixirs, but there is no middle-grade elixir. Hence, he did not pass the test either.”

The alchemy master in the grey clothes, who was sitting beside the alchemy master with the full beard, appeared much more relaxed than the previous candidate. It seemed as if he had known that he would not pass the test.

“Jue Yan refined nine Mystic Essence Elixirs, four middle-grade elixirs, three junk elixirs and some remaining pills that are low-grade elixirs. You have passed this test. Please come and collect your third-grade alchemy master certificate.”

After hearing the examiner’s words, the man with the full beard strode forward.