Chapter 157: Chapter 157: Increasing Difficulty
Translator: 549690339
Li Chong finally woke up from his trance, he felt a hot fury across his face and wanted to cry but couldn’t.
His past pride was ruthlessly torn by Fang Lin time and time again, this time being the most severe.
Fang Lin’s performance in the pill formula examination was unprecedented, breaking all past records and will be recorded in the Pill Alliance’s history.
Compared to Fang Lin, he, Li Chong, was completely insignificant. If Fang Lin were the dazzling sun, Li Chong was but a tiny flame.
The elder from the Li Family saw Li Chong’s embarrassment, he knew his spirit was heavily burdened, his hatred for Fang Lin grew deeper.
“No matter, it’s just a single pill formula examination. There are still two examinations after this, you have plenty of chances to win back.” The elder from the Li Family comforted him.
Upon hearing this, Li Chong felt slightly better.
Exactly, this was just the first pill formula examination. There were still two more, and his strength was not in pill formulas.
“I, Li Chong, have been refining pills for ten years, I acknowledge myself to be peerless in the entire Qian Country. Just a mere Fang Lin, I am sure to trample him underfoot!” Li Chong muttered to himself.
Seeing that Li Chong had somewhat regained his spirits, the elder from the Li Family breathed a sigh of relief. However, his wariness of Fang Lin remained unabated.
Elder Su looked at Fang Lin, feeling more and more that this child was extraordinary, not only possessing the Shaking Three Mountains but also exceptionally gifted with pill formulas.
However, what he was more interested in was Fang Lin’s Shaking Three Mountains, always wondering how he could get it for himself.
After the pill formula examination, was the herb examination.
The rules were also quite simple, both were to go to the side hall and identify a thousand herbs within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn out.
If the number of errors exceeded ten, it would be considered a failure. If the time ran out without completion, it would also be considered a failure.
This herb examination was also testing the staple skill of a pill refiner. If control of the flames was inadequate, the chances of failure were high.
If one could rely on rote memorisation to pass the pill formula examination, the herb examination would require extensive observation.
Being familiar with herbs was a fundamental requirement for a pill refiner. If one was unfamiliar with herbs, how could they be expected to refine any good pills?
There were tens of thousands of herbs in the world, it wasn’t demanded that you recognise all of them, but at least most of the herbs used for refining second-grade pills should be distinguishable.
After a short rest, Fang Lin and Li Chong entered the side hall separately to take part in the second herb examination.
When Li Chong entered, he was full of confidence. He was rather accomplished in the field of herbs. He has spent five out of ten years in pill refining researching herbs.
It is no exaggeration to say that he is able to identify the majority of herbs used for refining second-grade pills.
Therefore, Li Chong is confident in this examination. He is confident he can defeat Fang Lin.
At least he does not believe that a mere seventeen- or eighteen-year-old boy would remember the properties of so many herbs. Without years of practice, it would be impossible to reach such accomplishments.
When Fang Lin walked into the side hall, there was already a woman waiting inside.
The woman appeared to be in her late twenties, her looks were neither exceptional nor unattractive. Her face was stern as if everyone owed her money.
Fang Lin stared at the woman’s face for a while, the woman immediately turned her sharp gaze towards Fang Lin.
“Impudent!” she rebuked, which shocked Fang Lin.
But Fang Lin immediately cringed, why is she being so fierce? She is nothing but a steward of the Pill Alliance. She acts as if she is very incredible, I only stared at you for a moment, didn’t I?
The woman saw Fang Lin still staring at her, a hint of disgust flashes in her eyes, and she turned and walked away.
Fang Lin was left standing bewilder in the same spot.
What’s going on? I am here for the examination, and you as a steward ran off? You are really irresponsible, aren’t you?
Fang Lin did not know what to do. But not long after, the woman unwillingly walked back in.
“I will take out one thousand kinds of herbs for you to identify, one by one. You have the time span of ten breaths to examine each herb. The examination ends when the incense has burnt out. If there are more than ten incorrect identifications, the examination is considered a failure.” The woman explained simply, seeming not wanting to waste any more words with Fang Lin.
Fang Lin nodded, indicating that he understood.
Seeing Fang Lin’s casual attitude, the woman disliked him even more.
Fang Lin saw that the woman kept looking at him with a repulsive gaze, he felt confused, why did this woman dislike him so much? He didn’t offend her, right?
Fang Lin naturally didn’t know, this woman was actually a steward of the Pill Alliance, but she was from the Li Family.
As a member of the Li Family, she naturally did not have a good impression of Fang Lin. Not taking it out on him on the spot was already quite restrained.
She was also puzzled at heart, why Elder Su asked her to conduct the examination for Fang Lin, wasn’t this making both of them uncomfortable?
But she was unable to defy Elder Su’s orders. Just now, when she went out, she was reprimanded by Elder Su and had to continue conducting the examination for Fang Lin unwillingly.
The woman waved her hand, and an incense stick started burning in the corner.
Without any delay, the woman took out a herb and placed it in front of Fang Lin.
Fang Lin didn’t even touch it, and immediately blurted out the name and properties of the herb.
The woman from the Li family was startled, but she quickly took out another herb.
Fang Lin again blurted out the answer, as though he didn’t have to think at all.
The woman from the Li family started to feel uncertain, but she continued to take out herbs for Fang Lin to identify.
In a short while, the woman from the Li Family was visibly shocked.
Out of the thousand types of herbs, while most of them were not yet identified, Fang Lin only needed to look once and he was able to state everything about the herb. There wasn’t any pause, which was really surprising.
The examination continued smoothly. The more the woman from the Li Family went on, the more shocked she became. The speed at which she took out the herbs became faster and faster, and she became more and more numb.
This is simply unbelievable! The woman from the Li family felt like she was in a daze. If this continues, it won’t take the time for a stick of incense to completely burn out, he will be able to complete the identification of all thousand herbs.
Of course, the premise is that Fang Lin continues at this pace.
The woman from the Li family gradually started to make plans. She really didn’t want to see Fang Lin pass the examination.
When the woman took out the eight hundredth herb, Fang Lin hesitated for a moment before giving the answer.
But the herbs that the woman took out afterwards were rarer than the previous ones. They weren’t herbs for making second-grade pills, but were used to make third-grade pills.
Fang Lin was clueless and thought these herbs were also within the examination scope.
In fact, to hinder Fang Lin’s examination, the woman secretly increased the difficulty by taking out plants used for refining third-grade pills for Fang Lin to identify.
But what the woman from the Li family didn’t expect was that even this couldn’t stop Fang Lin. In a blink of an eye, before the incense burned out, Fang Lin had already identified all one thousand kinds of herbs..