Chapter 455

"Disciple Zhao Chunhe, twenty-one years old, has studied alchemy since childhood, and now has learned to refine Blood-Qi Powder, decoct Body-Tempering Soup..."

Having studied alchemy since childhood, and at twenty-one only knowing how to refine Blood-Qi Powder and decoct Body-Tempering Soup—is such a shameful thing worth showing off as capital?

Elder Changchun immediately labeled this person a waste and threw his apprenticeship application to the side.

In his view, such a person was even worse than those who had never come into contact with alchemy; those who hadn't could still gamble on talent.

Someone who was twenty-one and only knew how to decoct Body-Tempering Soup was undoubtedly a complete waste.

"You have already looked through these apprenticeship applications; are there any promising seedlings?" Elder Changchun said.

"Yes!"

Sun Jian stepped forward and pulled out a few apprenticeship applications: "This one called Jiang Yuan can already stably refine Qi Gathering Pills; his alchemy can be considered to have entered the door.

This one called Han Feng is the fourth of the Ten Elites of this batch; he reached Marrow Cleansing when his three-year Outer Sect term expired and won first place in this year's Outer Sect competition.

He was recruited by the Ding family and studied alchemy with the Ding family's alchemist for a year; now his success rate for Qi Gathering Pills has reached nearly eighty percent, and his alchemy talent is not bad.

This one called Zhang Jing—his father is an alchemist, and now his refining of Qi Gathering Pills has reached four pills per furnace."

Elder Changchun listened and was very satisfied with these people.

Especially that Han Feng; his martial arts talent was not bad, and he hadn't expected his alchemy talent to be good as well. After studying for only a year, his success rate for Qi Gathering Pills actually reached eighty percent.

As long as he was trained a little, he would be a true alchemist, and his talent was better than the other two.

"Why is this Xu Yang not a promising seedling?"

Elder Changchun suddenly said: "Reaching Marrow Cleansing when the three-year term expires—his martial arts talent is not bad, and he has studied pharmacology. If cultivated, he might achieve something."

Sun Jian hurriedly said: "Master, you don't know, this Xu Yang is from a farming family and was not recruited by a large family like Han Feng.

His so-called study of pharmacology is just buying some elixir formulas at the Myriad Treasures Pavilion and pondering them himself."

Hearing this, Elder Changchun frowned.

Although he was not an old stubborn like Danyang of the aristocratic faction and did not discriminate against the disciples' origins, he also knew that it was almost impossible for someone from a farming family to become an alchemist.

Medicine King Peak had some discounts on the price of medicinal materials used by alchemists for practice, but the bulk still had to be paid for by the disciples themselves; it was not provided for free by the sect.

So people without a background didn't even have the money to buy medicinal materials for practice, so how could they become alchemists?

"With such talent, focusing on martial arts might achieve more; alchemy is putting the cart before the horse."

Splitting the already limited money for alchemy would only delay the progress of his cultivation.

Alchemy not only burned money but also took time.

Gathering herbs, cultivating spirit herbs—these all took a lot of time. Without a force behind to support him, it was almost impossible to achieve anything.

Almost without hesitation, he threw Xu Yang's apprenticeship application to the side.

It wasn't that he didn't look down on Xu Yang's talent, but he felt that he shouldn't be distracted by learning alchemy.

After looking through all the apprenticeship applications, he screened out one more person, combined them with the four people Sun Jian introduced earlier, and decided to take these four as disciples.

Time passed slowly, and three days arrived quickly.

Early in the morning, everyone who had submitted apprenticeship applications gathered at the foot of the four peaks; most of them looked uneasy, and only a small portion were confident.

Soon, a disciple from Beast King Peak came down first, holding a booklet and beginning to call names: "Chen Yu!"

The first one called was Chen Yu, ranked ninth among the Ten Elites.

Chen Yu ran out from the crowd with a full smile and walked behind this Inner Sect disciple.

He called more than a dozen people in a row, including Zhang Yong, but until the end, he did not call Sun Tao's name.

"Junior Brother Xu, am I really that bad?" Sun Tao was dispirited, his tone full of unwillingness.

Even if he had the courage to risk his life at Beast King Peak, they didn't want him.

Even if he submitted an apprenticeship application to other peaks, the result wouldn't change, and it would be the same result even if he waited a few years.

Unless he reached Marrow Cleansing, or spent money to pull strings, it was impossible to be admitted to the Inner Sect.

His martial arts path could almost be said to have reached its end at a glance.

At twenty-two or twenty-three, originally an age full of hope, he was dealt a head-on blow.

"Senior Brother Sun, human effort is the decisive factor; you are still young and still have opportunities," Xu Yang could only comfort him like this.

Without unexpected opportunities, Sun Tao's martial arts path for this life was basically like this; with his talent, it was almost impossible to rely on himself to reach Marrow Cleansing.

Beast King Peak's rejection of him was not without basis.

Once martial arts reached this realm, one could no longer look purely at resources; one also needed talent.

It wasn't just Sun Tao who was desperate; there were many others who had submitted apprenticeship applications to Beast King Peak but were not called by name.

That Beast King Peak disciple finished calling names but did not leave, waiting on the spot.

He still had to wait for people from other peaks to appear, and for those who failed their apprenticeship applications to submit them to Beast King Peak.

After another while, a disciple from Heavenly Authority Peak appeared and began to call names.

Du Chuan, Xie Zhan, and Qin Ze were all successfully admitted to Heavenly Authority Peak.

"On what basis can Qin Ze be admitted to Heavenly Authority Peak?"

Qin Ze's result in the Outer Sect competition was only in the top thirty, not in the top twenty. Seeing that he was successfully admitted to Heavenly Authority Peak, many people immediately refused to accept it.

"Qin Ze's result in the Qingyuan County martial arts examination was third place," Sun Tao said softly.

His current strength was not much weaker than Qin Ze's.

But because of Qin Ze's third-place result in the martial arts examination, he could be directly admitted to Heavenly Authority Peak, while he couldn't even enter Beast King Peak.

Soon, Sun Jian appeared and began to call names.

Li Chuyang and Han Feng were both successfully admitted to Medicine King Peak.

Neither Xu Yang nor Xiong Kun, the two Ten Elites geniuses, were called by name, and everyone looked at the two with surprise.

Medicine King Peak's conditions were truly harsh; the two who were in the top three of the Outer Sect competition were actually rejected, while some people with no fame were favored by the Elders of Medicine King Peak.

Although Xu Yang was also a bit unwilling, he was relatively calm in his heart. At worst, he would spend more in the future to seek elixir formulas; it wasn't that he must apprentice under an alchemist to learn alchemy.

"Brother Xu, if you really want to learn alchemy, there is also an opportunity at Blazing Fire Peak; it is not only Medicine King Peak that has alchemists," Jiang Fan said.

Xu Yang was suspicious: "How can one learn the method of alchemy at Blazing Fire Peak?"

Jiang Fan smiled: "The inheritance of the four peaks of the Profound Sun Sect is not only available to disciples of the four peaks. The difference is just whether you have a master's guidance or have to ponder it yourself.

Whether it is the art of weapon forging or the way of alchemy, they are all recorded in the Profound Sun Sect's Inheritance Tower. As long as you make contributions to the sect, you can go to the Inheritance Tower to learn what you want to learn."

Hearing this, Xu Yang became completely calm.

All he wanted was elixir formulas; this was actually better for him, as he could learn both the weapon forging method and the alchemy method.

Inner Sect disciples from Blazing Fire Peak also appeared; Jiang Fan and Lu Ren were both selected, and three or four others were also called by name.

Of course, except for Jiang Fan, everyone else had to complete assessment tasks to truly be admitted to Blazing Fire Peak.

The disciples dispersed.

"Junior Brother Xu, have you thought about what you plan to do if you cannot be admitted to Medicine King Peak?" Sun Tao reminded him.

Although Medicine King Peak had a Peak Master and four Elders, for Xu Yang, there was actually only Elder Changchun.

If even Elder Changchun wouldn't take him, the Peak Master certainly wouldn't either.

"If I cannot be admitted to Medicine King Peak, I will go to Blazing Fire Peak to forge iron with Brother Jiang."

Xu Yang naturally had a backup plan.

If one learned the art of forging weapons well, one's status would be no lower than that of an alchemist.

Moreover, he felt that the inheritance of weapon forging seemed even rarer than the alchemy inheritance; he had seen auctions at the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, but he had never seen anything related to weapon forging auctioned.

In fact, he had considered these two things for a long time before deciding to learn alchemy; what he hoped for most was to learn both.

"If you come to Blazing Fire Peak, I will help you find the Blazing Fire Peak Master and let him take you as a disciple."

Jiang Fan smiled: "My family has a good private relationship with the Blazing Fire Peak Master; I should be able to put in a good word for you."

Xu Yang shook his head: "No need to trouble Brother Jiang; it is not a must that I apprentice under the Peak Master."

He didn't intend to owe Jiang Fan this favor, and he didn't really want to apprentice under the Blazing Fire Peak Master; he had too many secrets, and it would be easy for clues to be seen.

Returning to the courtyard, Xu Yang thought about it, and in case he really failed in three days, he simply wrote another apprenticeship application and put it away, so that if he failed, he would have an apprenticeship application to submit to Blazing Fire Peak.

Medicine King Peak!

In a herb garden, a middle-aged man in a plain robe was wandering among the spirit herbs. Every time he walked before a spirit herb, he would raise his hand and cast a piece of cyan light.

After this cyan light fell upon the spirit herb, it was absorbed completely in an instant.

After the spirit herb absorbed this light, it actually looked a bit more spirited.

This person was none other than Elder Changchun of Medicine King Peak.

About an hour later, Elder Changchun had walked before all the spirit herbs, and his ruddy face also showed a bit of pallor.