Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“280 points. That should be the top scorer for this examination,” Zhao Dengming announced with a smile.
Even though Meng Wuyou and Mu Yan found Zhao Dengming condescending, they had no choice but to admit that Kang Lu’s results were genuinely quite impressive.
Even if Fang Lin fails this examination, he’ll certainly succeed the following year. By then, his results will certainly be even better than Kang Lu’s. Meng Wuyou sneered in his heart.
Kang Lu returned to his original seat slowly. Pride shone on his face. His supporters were delighted as well as if they were the ones that passed the examination. Kang Lu’s success in becoming an official disciple meant that his supporters would greatly benefit too. In the most direct manner, the official disciple, Kang Lu, would be the backer of his supporters.
Hypothetically, with an official disciple as a benefactor, it was enough to exercise full control over the junior alchemy disciples.
The rest of the junior alchemy disciples gazed at Kang Lu reverently one by one. After this examination, Kang Lu would become an official disciple. By then, the disparity between these junior alchemy disciples and him would be even greater. In fact, they would be worlds apart!
There were also quite a number of people that looked at Fang Lin with a sympathetic gaze. After all, the conflict between Kang Lu and Fang Lin was no secret. Now that Kang Lu had soared through the roof in a single attempt, Fang Lin’s future situation would be way tougher.
Lu Xiaoqing glanced at Fang Lin with a worried expression. However, he acted as if he was oblivious. His expression remained calm as before and he even seemed to be smiling.
“How are you still managing to smile? Kang Lu is about to become an official disciple!” Lu Xiaoqing chided softly.
With a smile, Fang Lin replied, “I’m about to become an official disciple too. Why should I be afraid of him?”
Lu Xiaoqing was stunned for a moment. His expression revealed that he was extremely confident about becoming an official disciple. It felt like he had turned into a completely different person.
However, she kept her thoughts to herself. Fang Lin’s words were truly absurd. ‘How could anyone possibly become an official disciple after just one examination? Even if you are a genius, could you be even more impressive than the geniuses in the history of the alchemy sect, Fang Lin?’
Although Lu Xiaoqing refused to believe that, she could only pray for a miracle at this very moment. Otherwise, Fang Lin would be stuck in a very difficult position due to Kang Lu’s influence after becoming an official disciple. Despite Elder Meng Wuyou’s protection, Kang Lu’s influence after becoming an official disciple would be immense. Moreover, he had a wide network, so it would be difficult for Meng Wuyou to protect Fang Lin.
The examination continued. Fang Lin’s order number was more than 900, so it would take a while before it was his turn. He started dozing off because he had nothing else to do.
Halfway, the second person who managed to score more than 270 points emerged. He was the second person to become an official disciple in this examination after Kang Lu. His score was only 272 points. Even though it was not the top score, the person was entranced with delight. If he was not in the alchemy altar, perhaps he would have leaped up in excitement earlier.
“Wang Wenshan, you did very well. Your hard work for the past three years has been worth it,” Elder Meng Wuyou praised.
Wang Wenshan was an old disciple that had sat for the examination thrice. This was his fourth year now.
“Thank you, Elder!” Wang Wenshan was overjoyed. Many junior alchemy disciples congratulated him with the intention of sucking up to him.
Fang Lin opened his eyes to dart a look at the situation. After that, he continued to close his eyes and dozed off. After a long while, it was finally his turn. He stood up and joined his batch of junior alchemy disciples to walk toward the private rooms.
Everyone gawked at Fang Lin with all sorts of looks. The four elders on the stone platform were watching him closely as well.
The private rooms were located not far away from the alchemy altar. A hundred stone doors were erected before the rooms. The hundred disciples that were sitting for the examination could choose to enter through any one of those doors as they wished without any limitations.
While Fang Lin chose a door casually and walked through it without any hesitation, the rest of the disciples paused for a moment before they passed the rest of the stone doors in succession. After all the disciples had entered, the stone doors closed. Streams of light could be seen shimmering on the stone doors.
Fang Lin stood inside the private room. It was not a spacious room and there was nothing inside.
Just as he felt puzzled by the scene, the room brightened all of a sudden. Soon afterward, a medicinal herb appeared before Fang Lin’s eyes.
“What is this plant? What are its characteristics? What are its medicinal properties?” A cold muffled voice was heard in Fang Lin’s ears.
He understood it now. So, it turned out that the examination was carried out in such a manner. At once, he answered quickly. There was not the slightest moment of pause or hesitation.
After the medicinal herb before his eyes transformed, the same three questions from earlier were repeated. At a glance, Fang Lin immediately answered them.
That was the format of the examination. Different types of medicinal herbs appeared continuously, and three questions were assigned to the participants in a go for three hundred times consecutively.
Every private room was soundproof. No matter how loud a person was, his voice could not be heard by anybody else. As a result, there was no need to worry about hearing each other’s answers.
Fang Lin answered in an exceedingly rapid manner. He was so swift that he almost answered instantaneously the second the questions were asked. The difficulty level of this examination was truly too low for him. As an Extreme Alchemist, he should not be allowed to live anymore if he could not even pass an examination of this extent. He might as well hang himself.
He continued to answer over 200 questions, leaving only less than 50 more questions before the examination was completed. Fang Lin began to ponder in his heart. Should he answer all the questions correctly?
Even though it was easy for him to answer all of them correctly, Fang Lin was still slightly worried that his action would draw too much attention to himself if he did. Despite his tender age, he had lived through two lives after all. He was well aware of the ideology that being too outstanding would draw unwanted attention which could result in devastation.
However, he shifted his thought process once again. Was there a need for him to hide his talent anymore?
No. Fang Lin considered it for a moment seriously. There was no need for him to do that. If his performance was shocking enough, he would receive more and more attention from the others. Then, he could seize the opportunity to surprise those that harbored evil intentions toward him.
In his past life, Fang Lin had been bullied in the Alchemy Saint Palace too. However, he went out of control as soon as his talents and natural gifts were discovered. Those people that bullied him in the past had to cower and kneel before him in fear.
In this life, Fang Lin was not planning to suppress himself either. Since he had been a peerless genius shining with boundless radiance in his past life, then he would still shine just as gloriously in this life as before.
After he came around to the notion of excelling, Fang Lin’s doubts cleared up and he began answering the questions smoothly. It took him less than half an hour before he successfully answered all the questions. The stone door opened and Fang Lin walked outside.
Outside, he glanced at the rest of the stone doors that were still closed. It was apparent that the other junior alchemy disciples had yet to come out and he was the first to complete the examination.
Fang Lin smiled. Soon afterward, he returned to the alchemy altar.
“Isn’t that Fang Lin?”
“He’s out so soon!”
“It seems like he’s going to fail the examination.”
…
Upon noticing that Fang Lin had returned so quickly, everyone had different expressions. Some were mocking him, some were shaking their heads to themselves while some were sighing.
Zhao Dengming cracked into a cold smile. On the other hand, Meng Wuyou and Mu Yan had slightly sour expressions, especially the latter who had an exasperated look that her disciple had not lived up to her expectations.
Kang Lu stole a glance at Fang Lin coldly. The corners of his lips curled into a disdainful smile. From that moment onward, he assumed that Fang Lin was too weak to be his opponent. Fang Lin was but an insignificant nobody to him.
Sun Hao had a savage smile on his face as he felt smug upon seeing Fang Lin’s failure. Meanwhile, Lu Xiaoqing bit her lower lip. Even though she felt sad for Fang Lin in her heart, she still forced herself to smile at him.
The only person whose expression could not be deciphered was Old Man Zhou’s. He merely took a sincere glimpse at Fang Lin.
Fang Lin was stunned ever so slightly after noticing everyone’s expressions. Soon afterward, his lips curved into a smile as he became aware of the situation.
“Junior Brother Disciple Fang Lin, I wonder how did you do in the examination?” Kang Lu asked with a sardonic grin as he walked over. However, his smile was obviously filled with irony.
Fang Lin returned the smile. “I think I should have done quite well. Thank you for going through the trouble of worrying about me, Senior Brother Disciple Kang.” Upon saying that, he disregarded Kang Lu and returned to his original seat beside Lu Xiaoqing.
“Fang Lin, it’s okay. The first examination is just a training ground for the newly-initiated disciples like us. You’ll certainly succeed in the coming year!” Lu Xiaoqing consoled softly because she was worried that he would feel dispirited.
Fang Lin sniggered but did not bother to explain himself.
On the stone altar, Zhao Dengming looked at Mu Yan and Meng Wuyou’s expressions with an arrogant look in his eyes.
“I told you earlier that that boy Fang Lin is overly rash. He’s self-conceited and has no prospect of development,” said Zhao Dengming while shaking his head.
Mu Yan darted a cold look at Zhao Dengming. “Fang Lin’s natural talent still surpasses all the junior alchemy disciples.”
“So what if he is? Even if he’s any more of a genius, he can’t possibly become an official disciple in one attempt. I think that he’ll need three attempts at the very least. By then, the disparity between him and Kang Lu will be even larger,” Zhao Dengming said in a disdainful tone as he pursed his lips.
Meng Wuyou scoffed, “Many of our alchemy sect geniuses have been buried because of people like you. Perhaps Fang Lin would’ve already made a name for himself earlier if he were in the Thousand Medicine Sect.”
As soon as those words were spoken, Zhao Dengming’s expression changed drastically. He glared at Meng Wuyou in rage. “Meng Wuyou, what are you trying to imply there?”
Meng Wuyou looked at Zhao Dengming contemptuously, but he did not bother to continue the conversation. Because of that, Zhao Dengming had nowhere to vent his pent up anger, so he could only stand there with a dismal expression.
The rest of the junior alchemy disciples returned in succession in the time it took to burn two joss ticks. None of them had excited expressions and appeared remarkably depressed.
Meanwhile, on the stone platform, the four elders received the examination results of this batch of disciples, including Fang Lin’s. An array of unusual expressions flitted across their faces the very moment they saw his results, especially Zhao Dengming. His face turned ghastly pale instantaneously and his eyes were widened so much that his eyeballs almost fell out.
Mu Yan, Meng Wuyou, and Old Man Zhou were greatly startled as well. They stood frozen in a daze and were speechless.
The numerous disciples below also noticed the expressions of the four elders on the stone platform. However, they were puzzled because they had no idea what caused these four elders’ shock and surprise.
Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz!
At the same time, the four statues erected around the alchemy altar suddenly blossomed with piercing brilliance. It was so bright that it was akin to four small suns illuminating the sky over the entire Purple Glow Sect.
Every single person in the Purple Glow Sect raised their heads and looked toward the direction of the alchemy sect.