Chapter 108: Meng Yan
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Frappe
"What?"
"We are official apothecaries, and you, a mere apprentice, dares to claim that you are able to point out our mistakes?"
"What are you putting on an act for? We apothecaries have numerous means up our sleeves. Putting aside whether you can point out our mistakes, if you can even recognize the method we are using to forge pills, we can consider it your win!"
Upon hearing Zhang Xuan's words, everyone exploded once more.
An immature brat dared to claim that he had the ability to see through their forging methods and flaws just by seeing them forge a pill before him?
"Is he mad?"
At one side, Ouyang Cheng and Wen Xue felt frenzied.
At the very most, one could only ask some remote questions in Pill Debate. As long as one was well-versed in the knowledge of pill forging, much of it could be rationalized and inferred. However, to point out one's forging method and the errors in it?
Pill forging was just like a person's handwriting; there are ten thousand different types of handwriting for ten thousand different people. Even for the same pill, there were at least a thousand different methods of forging it. The movements in each method were profound and intricate and a slight difference in their motions could mean an entirely different forging method.
Furthermore, each and every pill forging methods that were able to be passed down through the generations were the blood, sweat, and tears of innumerable people and had been refined countless times toward perfection. It might not be entirely perfect, but at the very least, these apothecaries had been using it daily and never found anything off about it.
Even if a 3-star apothecary were to be here, it would be hard for him to point out the errors in it!
This wasn't just a mere rise in the difficulty anymore, it was an overturn of the rules, raising the difficulty to the heavens!
If an apprentice apothecary undergoing a Pill Debate was equivalent to the difficulty to three-digit addition and subtraction, what Zhang Xuan proposed was equivalent to Goldbach Conjecture!
The difficulty wouldn't just increase, it would be increased to an unimaginable level!
[Brother, are you sure you aren't jesting?]
Wen Xue looked at him as though she was looking at a monster.
Yesterday, he wasn't even sure about the existence of a book collection vault in the Apothecary Guild and he didn't know what books he had to read for the apprentice apothecary examination. Yet, today, he suddenly became an expert, putting on airs here. If she didn't witness it personally, she might have thought that he was afflicted with dissociative identity disorder.
Even though a human's personality changed over time, it should be impossible for such a massive change to occur in a person in a single day!
Even if he wanted to act cool, there should be no need for him to play it so big!
"Why? You dare not agree? Are you afraid that you will be embarrassed after I point out your errors? Or are you afraid of being humiliated when I point out your forging method?"
Ignoring their stares, Zhang Xuan chuckled lightly.
He had already contemplated over the matter and came up with a solution for passing the Pill Debate.
Even though he was done looking through the basic tier book collection vault in the Apothecary Guild, there was still a certain level of difficulty for him to successfully pass the Pill Debate.
After all, there were so many apothecaries assessing him and it was hard to tell whether they might have capabilities beyond that of the books. They might come up with questions beyond what was written in the books!
If he failed to answer their question, it would be an immediate loss!
Since that was the case, he should find a way to prevent them from bringing up such problems.
In other people's perspective, to determine a forging method and pointing out the flaws in it through watching how a person forged pills was much more difficult than undergoing a Pill Debate. However, Zhang Xuan possessed the Library of Heaven's Path, which allowed him to easily see through the flaws of others. What was nigh impossible to others became an absolutely simple task before him, only requiring reading word-by-word off a book.
An apothecary forging pills was equivalent to a fighter executing his battle technique, a book would be compiled by looking at it.
Thus, Zhang Xuan intentionally drew aggression from the others to incur their rage. After which, by behaving contemptuously, the others would definitely think of him as arrogant and agree to it.
As long as they agreed to this method of examination...
[Hehe, once you all agree to it, everything else will be a piece of cake. Witness as I play you all to your deaths!]
"Since you are looking for excitement, we will fulfill your request!"
"Indeed, since you are adamant on acting cool, we'll see how you cry afterward!"
As he expected, the crowd immediately exploded yet again after his taunting.
Every single of them was tempted to pay greetings Zhang Xuan's eighteen generations of ancestors and all of his kin.
[Embarrassed your head! The heck that we would be humiliated!
We just fear whether you have sufficient capabilities to do so!]
The ten apothecaries' fighting spirit roused. If not in consideration of their identity, they would have charged forward to bash him.
"Since all of you have the guts to agree to it, then let's begin!" Upon seeing how he was able to settle the issue so easily, Zhang Xuan chuckled. Then, looking at Ouyang Cheng, who was standing at the center of the room, he said, "Guild Leader Ouyang, can we begin?"
"Err... Of course!"
He didn't expect a simple Pill Debate would escalate to this point. Ouyang Cheng felt helpless and frustrated. At this moment, he had no choice but to go along with it.
"May I ask which apothecary would like to go first? I am willing to offer you all free pointer!" Zhang Xuan flung his sleeves arrogantly.
The faces of the crowd flushed red in anger.
"I can't stand watching him act like this any longer. Allow me to teach this brat a lesson first!"
Finally, an apothecary couldn't hold in his rage any longer and stood up.
It was a middle-aged man in his forties. His face was slightly gray and his eyes glowed as though they were lanterns. With a single look, it was clear that he wasn't someone with a good temper.
"It's Apothecary Meng Yan!"
"Meng Yan's temper may be awful, but he’s a true 1-star primary stage apothecary. Given how he’s able to forge over a dozen kinds of pills, he isn't someone to be underestimated!"
"Indeed, a few of his apprentices even made it big. Furthermore, he has many kinds of forging methods. It is most suitable for him to make the first move!"
Seeing the middle-aged man stepping out, the rest of the apothecaries secretly nodded their heads in agreement.
How could there be any mediocre figures among the 1-star apothecaries? This Apothecary Meng Yan might not be the most capable apothecary among the group, but his skills were not the worst of the bunch. They would be able to see the capabilities of that arrogant fellow through him.
"Lad, I will start forging now. If you are unable to tell the forging method later on and point out the flaws in it, prepare to be punished!"
With a cold sneer, Meng Yan walked over to the cauldron.
He casually grabbed a few medicinal herbs from the shelves by the side, and by controlling his zhenqi, he induced the flame beneath the cauldron to become even more vigorous.
Xiong xiong!
The flames burned furiously off its fuel and a slight chiming sound resounded from the cauldron, as though it was a giant bell.
Huhuhu!
Stalks after stalks of medicinal herbs were thrown into the cauldron and under the high temperature, a unique scent of medicine floated into the air.
"This is pill forging?"
Zhang Xuan might have read quite a few books in the basic tier book collection vault, but this was the first time he was seeing someone forge a pill.
"Incredible!"
He couldn't help but be impressed by it.
In terms of cultivation realm, he was in no way inferior to the other party. However, the way how the other party threw the medicinal herbs into the cauldron so casually without the slightest hesitation or pause, and how every single stalk of medicinal herb was placed under optimal conditions for it to best unleash its medicinal properties, it was something he could not hope to match.
This required continuous practice over time.
He might excel in theories, but this didn't mean that he was capable of materializing it into physical actions.
After a moment of looking at it, after integrating the knowledge from the basic tier book collection vault and the analysis on them by the Library of Heaven's Path, Zhang Xuan soon realized that...
He was unable to discern anything at all!
He wasn't even able to see what forging method the other party is utilizing, much less see through the flaws in his actions.
No wonder everyone stared at him as though he had gone mad upon hearing his request. If even Guild Leader Ouyang, who wielded the greatest ability among the group here, was unable to see through his forging method and had a perplexed expression at this very moment, how could an apprentice apothecary possibly see through it?
"Flaws!"
After confirming that he was unable to see through it through the sea of knowledge he had accumulated, Zhang Xuan didn't hesitate any longer and he willed for a book to be compiled.
Weng!
With a loud explosion, the Library of Heaven's Path jolted and a book suddenly appeared in his mind.
Written inside were this Apothecary Meng Yan's pill forging method and the flaws in them.
"This..."
After taking a look, a bizarre expression appeared on Zhang Xuan's face.