Chapter Forty-One: Posing the Question! Seeking the Moon Pass Nie Kong and Miao Ge looked up to see two more figures entering from the side hall door.

They were two young men, both around twenty-three or twenty-four. One was of average height, with a rugged appearance, his facial lines hard and distinct. The other wasn't exactly handsome, but his eyes were exceptionally sharp, like a drawn sword, his gaze flashing with the cold light of a blade.

The stir they caused in the side hall upon arrival was in no way less than the sensation caused by the four women—Miao Ge, Tai Ji, Ru Jie, and Ye Xinlian—entering together.

Nie Kong poked his neighbor Miao Ge’s shoulder and asked with a smile, “Senior Sister Miao Ge, these two must also be experts from the Medicine Heart Hall, right?”

Miao Ge pursed her lips and shot Nie Kong an annoyed glance. “I don't know if they’re experts, but they’re definitely higher ranked than you.”

With that, Miao Ge frowned slightly and muttered with some confusion, “Weren’t Feng Biao and Jiang Liu sent out on an errand? How are they back so quickly for the monthly assessment? Are they also vying for those rewards this time?”

“Feng Biao, Jiang Liu?”

Nie Kong couldn't help but smile. “The stocky, big one on the left must be Feng Biao, and the other, more slender one, must be Jiang Liu?”

Miao Ge covered her mouth and chuckled, “You’ve got it completely wrong. The big, stocky one is Jiang Liu, and the other one is Feng Biao.”

Nie Kong was momentarily speechless. “It would be much more fitting if they swapped names.”

“Tell me about it.”

Miao Ge smiled sweetly. “They are both Third-Rank Spirit Apothecaries and have been in the Medicine Heart Hall for two years. Given their strength, they actually could have entered the Inner City last year, but they were bitten by spirit beasts during their training at the Heaven Wolf Vein and were laid up for a while, missing the Six Halls Grand Competition then. If nothing unexpected happens this year, Feng Biao and Jiang Liu will certainly be two of the Medicine Heart Hall disciples entering the Inner City.”

Nie Kong studied Miao Ge and teased, “Senior Sister Miao Ge, I suppose you, Tai Ji, Ru Jie, and Ye Xinlian will be the other four?”

Miao Ge snorted, “What about you? Are you one of them too?” “That’s hard to say. Perhaps we can indeed accompany each other to the Inner City.”

Nie Kong laughed heartily, then abruptly shifted the topic. “Senior Sister Miao Ge, you just said Feng Biao and Jiang Liu are going for the rewards in this monthly assessment. Could you give me a hint so I can broaden my horizons?” As he spoke, Nie Kong felt a touch of envy; disciples as excellent as Miao Ge received such good treatment—they could see the assessment roster and even know the rewards for the monthly assessment in advance.

“What? Are you interested in them too?” Miao Ge asked with a playful smile.

“Of course. Even if I can’t get them, it’s good to know about them.”

“I’m just not going to tell you!”

A hint of mischief flashed in Miao Ge’s eyes, and the upturn of her lips carried a triumphant smile before she turned and swept away gracefully.

Nie Kong chuckled. Women truly were not to be slighted easily. He had only mentioned seeing the small jade tablet on her chest that exposed her identity, and now she had taken offense. Although he hadn't gotten an answer from Miao Ge, Nie Kong’s mind began to churn. Whatever had Miao Ge, Feng Biao, and Jiang Liu so interested couldn't be ordinary things. Perhaps a few rare medicinal herbs?

Thump!

A resonant chime echoed, and the buzzing side hall suddenly fell silent.

Then, the grand door leading to the main hall burst open, and the Medicine Heart Hall disciples closest to the entrance began filing in one after another. As Nie Kong followed them into the spacious hall, he found that nearly two hundred low tables had already been set up, each equipped with cushions and various implements.

In a moment, all the Medicine Heart Hall disciples were seated.

Nie Kong scanned his surroundings and found that the four seats immediately surrounding him—front, back, left, and right—were occupied by Ru Jie, Ye Xinlian, Tai Ji, and Miao Ge. He felt somewhat puzzled; there should have been three male disciples sitting near him. Had he imagined it?

He glanced over quickly. Miao Ge was staring straight ahead, expressionless, while Tai Ji slyly winked at him. Nie Kong instantly realized it wasn't his imagination playing tricks; Miao Ge and the other three women had swapped seats specifically to sit next to him.

No need to guess, this had to be Miao Ge’s idea!

What was she up to?

Nie Kong pondered silently.

Miao Ge, catching Nie Kong in her peripheral vision, noticed his eyes darting around and couldn't help the slight curve of her lips. She didn't actually intend to do anything—she just wanted to make the fellow speculate wildly and feel paranoid. As for whether Nie Kong’s distraction would negatively affect his assessment score, she didn't particularly care.

Having experienced the Alchemist Assembly Hall, Miao Ge knew very well that once this fellow truly settled down, it would be hard to affect him, even if all four of them sat beside him, or if lightning struck a hole through the hall. Otherwise, he wouldn't have remained oblivious for so long about who had been writing his drug trial results for him.

Creeeak! Creeeak!

With violent scraping sounds, the main hall doors slowly opened, and the Spirit Control City disciples waiting outside swarmed in. Before long, the perimeter of the hall was packed with a dense crowd.

However, no matter how noisy and rowdy they were outside, they became subdued upon entering the Medicine Heart Hall.

The only occasional sound in the silent hall was a soft thud. No one found this strange; those people must have accidentally looked up, become entranced by the illusion on the ceiling, and would wake up later. The Medicine Heart Hall disciples maintaining order would carry them aside and pay them no further mind.

Suddenly, a clear set of footsteps sounded, and several figures entered the hall. Leading them was Sha Yan, the Vice Hall Master of the Medicine Heart Hall. Following behind him were all the professors of the hall. Nie Kong noticed that the scoundrel Luo Ren was trailing at the very end.

“The assessment is about to begin!”

Nie Kong decided to stop dwelling on the intentions of Miao Ge and the three other beauties surrounding him. He calmed his mind and quickly suppressed the distractions in his thoughts.

Sha Yan settled into a cross-legged position at the front. After sweeping his gaze over the crowd, he gave a slight nod to a middle-aged professor beside him.

The middle-aged professor understood and loudly proclaimed, “Everyone, on the table before you is a seed of the ‘Dragon Whisker White Pigment Flower.’ Each of the two medicine boxes contains eighteen different substances. How you handle this seed and the thirty-six substances is entirely up to you to decide!”

Nie Kong looked down at the table and saw indeed a seed nestled between the two exquisite medicine boxes. It was flat and as white as ice and snow.

But this month’s assessment question was exceedingly strange: providing only one seed and thirty-six substances, without clarifying what they were to be used for—whether for alchemy or merging medicinal properties, for confirming their pharmacology and nature, or for combining them into a spiritual medicine formula?

Perhaps none of the above, or perhaps all of them, or maybe just one of them. If one guessed the questioner's intent incorrectly, it would surely be a complete loss!

No wonder they said the questions in these monthly assessments were bizarre; even the most outstanding disciples of the Medicine Heart Hall had stumbled in them before. The challenge presented today was a prime example.

Nie Kong discreetly glanced around and noticed that Miao Ge and Tai Ji were both frowning in deep thought. Almost all the Medicine Heart Hall disciples seated farther away were lost in contemplation, though one or two were still staring blankly at the middle-aged professor, seemingly having not snapped out of it yet.

The middle-aged professor surveyed everyone, pointed to the hourglass standing before them, and his tone suddenly deepened: “When the sand runs out, the assessment ends! Begin now.”

The hourglass was flipped over. Amidst the barely audible rustle of the fine sand, a continuous series of crack-crack sounds from the opening of medicine boxes echoed throughout the hall.

Seeing that the sand flowed quite slowly, Nie Kong estimated the assessment would last at least an hour and a half. Time was ample, which perhaps indicated the difficulty of this assessment. Generally, the longer the allotted time, the harder the question. Of course, there were exceptions; there was once a monthly assessment that only allowed fifteen seconds, yet it was equally difficult—though this was a rare anomaly.

As the boxes opened, various medicinal scents, some strong and some faint, wafted into the air. Nie Kong recognized thirty-two of the thirty-six substances in the boxes, having tasted them before; they were relatively common. As for the other four, this was Nie Kong’s first time seeing them.

After a brief moment of thought, Nie Kong took out a small pinch of one of the unfamiliar substances and placed it in his mouth to chew carefully. Although he vaguely knew the properties of all four new substances, it was better to taste each one personally to be safe—it wouldn't take long anyway.

Nie Kong, the "Medicine Tasting Maniac," could taste and discern the properties of drugs anytime, anywhere, but the other Medicine Heart Hall disciples didn't necessarily possess such skill.

While Nie Kong was testing the drugs, some disciples noticed the strange substances in the boxes and wailed internally, their faces becoming tighter and more furrowed.

If they couldn't even recognize all the substances, how could they complete this assessment?

They would have to guess blindly! But if simple guesswork led to success, wouldn't that grossly underestimate the intellect of Vice Hall Master Sha Yan and the professors?

These fellows looked as if they were facing a calamity, their faces squeezed into painful knots. In the end, they still had to pinch the substances and attempt trials.

Some disciples were shrewder than others. Upon finding unfamiliar substances, they didn't lament but started tasting immediately. Surely, any substance appearing in an assessment question wouldn't contain deadly poison, right? They tasted them with relative assurance; whether they could discern the properties was known only to heaven!

A minority of well-read Medicine Heart Hall disciples beamed with relief upon finding all the substances in the boxes familiar. Such assessments were most feared for introducing unknown ingredients, as discerning their properties or eliminating them would waste a great deal of time.

Others, unable to fully identify all the drugs, had already discarded the unknowns and were pondering what they could do with the remaining substances and the ‘Dragon Whisker White Pigment Flower’ seed.

“Huh? It can actually do this?”

After tasting the fourth unfamiliar substance, Nie Kong muttered under his breath, suppressed his surprise. The first three substances were ordinary, but the last one was rather special: it could promote plant growth and development. Its effect was very similar to urea from his previous life.

But in terms of efficacy, it was likely countless times stronger than urea.

“With a substance like this, and the seed of the ‘Dragon Whisker White Pigment Flower,’ then the topic of this monthly assessment...” Nie Kong’s mind sparked brilliantly. “Could it be that we need to use the drugs here to cultivate the ‘Dragon Whisker White Pigment Flower’ seed? Yes, it must be!”

If he had tasted it himself, he might have tested a few more substances for confirmation, but the properties were identified through his and Xiang Xiang’s combined use of the "Scent Recognition Technique," so there was absolutely no mistake.

Nie Kong joyfully slapped the table. As his palm connected with the surface, he realized it was inappropriate to make such a loud noise right now. He hastily retracted the force of the slap, but the elation in his chest only intensified. It was like writing an essay in his previous life: only after grasping the main theme could one begin writing! He took a deep breath, calmed his mind, and began to examine the other thirty-two substances carefully.

To successfully cultivate the seed, relying only on the last substance he tasted wouldn't suffice. Among the thirty-plus substances here, there must be others that could complement it and enhance its properties.

The properties of one drug after another flashed through his mind as Nie Kong pondered deeply. Formulating drug combinations followed the principle of "Sovereign, Minister, Assistant, Envoy" (Jun Chen Zuo Shi). In his past life, Nie Kong became a nationally renowned traditional Chinese physician, and besides his ancestral acupuncture techniques, he was extremely proficient in this principle.

However, what surprised Nie Kong was that almost none of the substances perfectly matched that one drug. There were eleven that could barely be paired up. Besides nine dried and processed herbs, there were...

“Could it be that I must forcibly merge their medicinal powers?”

Nie Kong recalled the scene during the first lecture when Sha Yan demonstrated "Double Dragon Playing with Pearls" to forcefully merge several substances. His heart suddenly skipped a beat.

But to be cautious, Nie Kong didn't act immediately. He scrutinized the properties of all the substances in the medicine boxes again. Only when he was absolutely sure did he make up his mind. He fetched his pill cauldron and placed a total of twelve substances into it one by one.

Forcibly merging medicinal power, he must use "Double Dragon Playing with Pearls"!

He hadn't expected that this refining technique, which he had just learned last month, would be immediately applicable in this monthly assessment.

Nie Kong felt secretly fortunate, yet he failed to notice that when Sha Yan saw him tossing the ingredients into the cauldron, a look of approval actually crossed his face.

Clink!

The lid of the cauldron settled gently. With a flick of his fingertip, the cauldron flew straight off the table.

As it descended from a height of two meters, two emerald-green flames erupted from Nie Kong’s palms, perfectly sandwiching the cauldron between the fiercely burning flames.

At almost the same moment, continuous crackling explosions sounded throughout the hall, and several bursts of flames soared up simultaneously.

For a time, the temperature in the hall seemed to rise noticeably. Seeing the sudden emergence of brilliant flames, sounds of gasps finally broke the silence of the hall.

“These people are fast! It’s only been about fifteen minutes, and they’ve figured out the topic of this monthly assessment. I’m still completely clueless.”

“Me too. I still can’t figure out what that ‘Dragon Whisker White Pigment Flower’ seed is used for?”

“Heh heh, you guys should look at who is starting alchemy right now! See those two? They are Jiang Liu and Feng Biao, both powerhouses in the Medicine Heart Hall. And those... those... those are Tai Ji, Ru Jie, Miao Ge, and Ye Xinlian. Not only are they beautiful, but their power is also formidable. And... who is that bastard sandwiched between the four beauties?”

“He’s using Wood Spiritual Power? Could it be a mutated Wood Spiritual Power? I’ve watched the Medicine Heart Hall’s monthly assessments so many times, and this is the first time I’ve seen a Wood Spirit Master!”

“I heard that ‘Medicine Tasting Maniac’ is also a Wood Spirit Master cultivating mutated spiritual power. Could it be him?”

“No way. He’s just a newly initiated disciple, a mere Second-Rank Spirit Apothecary. Why would he participate in a monthly assessment that is basically all Third-Rank Spirit Apothecaries? Isn't he asking for a beating? Or perhaps he’s bored with the Medicine Heart Hall and plans to be expelled when the final assessment results are tallied a year from now?”

Boom!

A massive sound reverberated through the hall.

The attention of those murmuring softly was drawn over. In the second row, two streams of fiery red spiritual power from Jiang Liu and Feng Biao each split off a small portion, forming a third stream that coiled upward, tightly wrapping around the pill cauldron suspended in mid-air.

Immediately following, the flames in the hands of Miao Ge, Tai Ji, Ru Jie, and Ye Xinlian also split into three. Three clusters of dazzling crimson firelight mingled with one cluster of azure blue luminescence, shining brightly and casting a magnificent, mesmerizing glow that captivated the onlookers.

“Three Stars Circumflexing the Moon?” Is this ‘Three Stars Circumflexing the Moon’?”

“What are they refining that requires such intense heat, that they are all using ‘Three Stars Circumflexing the Moon’?”

“Heh heh, that Wood Spirit Master is still using ‘Double Dragon Playing with Pearls’! However, his ‘Double Dragon Playing with Pearls’ seems different from the technique I’ve seen before. Not only is the shape more aesthetically pleasing and the flames more agile, but the firepower also seems stronger than what others used before.”

As the crowd watched in astonishment, more lights ignited in the hall, and quite a few more Medicine Heart Hall disciples began the alchemy process. However, the flames controlled by Feng Biao, Jiang Liu, Miao Ge, and Tai Ji showed further variations, and each one was different.

Jiang Liu’s three streams of fire power reverted to two, also using the “Double Dragon Playing with Pearls” technique. Miao Ge and Tai Ji’s fire power merged from three into one, one gentle and one fierce. As for Ru Jie and Ye Xinlian, one’s three streams of fire became weaker, while the other’s grew more intense.

As for Feng Biao, the fire power emerging from his palm first went from three to two, and then, a moment later, from two to one. However, his one stream of fire was very strange: a ball of flame detached itself from his palm and disappeared directly into the bottom of the cauldron, as if it had completely merged into the cauldron’s interior. After that ball of flame vanished, a new ball of flame rose from his palm. One after another, after every four bursts of flame, he paused slightly. Only when the cauldron had sunk halfway down could continuous streams of flame be seen shooting out from his palm—the situation was quite bizarre.

Six different methods of controlling fire power indicated that Feng Biao, Jiang Liu, Miao Ge, Tai Ji, Ru Jie, and Ye Xinlian were refining six entirely different medicines.

Author's Note: I originally thought I wouldn't have time to update Chapter Two today. But I managed it. I worked from 2 AM until 2 PM, producing fifteen thousand words. I’ve also prepared tomorrow’s update. The next time I go to the internet café will be the day after tomorrow. However, I won't have time to revise today. Revision would take at least an hour, and by the time I leave home for the café and return, it will be dark. There are many roadside graveyards, and I'm a bit scared riding alone at night. Dear readers, please bear with me for a few more days.

Thank you very much to all the brothers for the rewards, subscriptions, and monthly passes. Lastly, I still ask for a few more monthly passes. I am only a handful of votes away from the ones ahead. Brothers who have passes, please don't clutch them any longer. Thank you, thank you. Cough cough, you guys aren't waiting until my big release to vote, are you?

(The above does not count towards word count.)

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