Chapter 145: Are All Other Alchemists This Useless?

The people in the tavern looked at Sheng Yuanyao in her official uniform, their expressions twitching.

Great Qian does not ban gambling, but public officials do not openly participate; others still care somewhat about their image and reputation.

But treating her like a young master's daughter makes it seem normal... everyone sees this young master's daughter often; wherever there is gossip, she is there, quite approachable. I heard she previously served as the head of the Demon Suppression Bureau in a local area for two or three months; how could someone like her be the head? Solving cases by listening to gossip? I heard she even achieved great merit... I can't imagine it.

"Director Sheng, I heard Lu Xingzhou saved you at Qingyao Garden and killed Ye Wufeng to avenge you, right?" an acquaintance asked with a smile.

Those three words, Qingyao Garden, held magical power over Sheng Yuanyao now; hearing them made her heart surge, and she only "Hmm"ed after losing focus for quite a while.

To others, this looked like a bit of a reckless demeanor, as if she ignored people, so someone laughed, "When Lu Xingzhou entered the Newcomer List, he was only a seventh-grade upper-stage alchemist, right?... Now several months have passed, even if we count his progress, at most sixth grade?"

"So what?" Sheng Yuanyao tapped the table: "Among young people, alchemist skill levels are generally much lower than cultivation levels. Cultivation relies on talent and can be practiced quickly, but alchemists require such a massive amount of knowledge and experience; it must be accumulated over time and cannot be solved by talent alone."

This was the truth; if judged by cultivation standards, a seventh-grade upper-stage alchemist had no qualification to enter the Newcomer List, but by alchemist standards, it was acceptable, and the ranking was not low.

"But Director Sheng..." people were all laughing: "Don't you know that Daoist Xuan Qing, Daoist He Hui, and others are all fifth-grade alchemists? I heard that if they are lucky, they can even refine fourth-grade pills. If luck explodes during this assessment and a fourth-grade pill is refined... 啧, the gap between Lu Xingzhou, a sixth-grade alchemist, is truly too large; do not, out of gratitude, give away money for nothing."

"My money, how I use it is none of your business; even if I throw it into water, I am willing." When Sheng Yuanyao said this, her heart also felt a little sting; although this world had spirit stones as currency, the value of gold and silver was correspondingly not that high, but being able to pull out five hundred taels of gold made her definitely a rich woman; this was emptying all her savings from so many years.

No matter what, even if it meant going bankrupt, she had to give Lu Xingzhou some face, right?

Sheng Yuanyao, with a bit of worry, unconsciously walked towards Lu Xingzhou's secret room. She didn't know how effective Lu Xingzhou's last-minute cramming had been these days... Don't let him be seduced by that fox spirit again and neglect training.

Just arriving at the secret room door, she saw Lu Xingzhou being pushed in a wheelchair by Pei Chuyun, chatting and laughing as they came out.

Sheng Yuanyao exploded instantly, grabbing Lu Xingzhou's collar: "You pay me back five hundred taels!"

Lu Xingzhou found it very funny: "What are you doing?"

"What time is it, and you still have the mood to be all lovey-dovey with that fox spirit!" Sheng Yuanyao fumed: "Have you been secretly rolling around with her in there all these days?"

"No, I haven't seen Chuyun these days either."

Sheng Yuanyao's mood improved slightly, and she let go, saying: "Then what are you doing?"

"Neither Ah Nuo nor I know the way well; Chuyun came to take me to the examination hall."

"She? She knows the way? What nonsense!" Sheng Yuanyao shoved Pei Chuyun aside: "Miss Pei came to the capital with you; I have lived here for twenty years; do I need her to guide me? Go, go, go."

Pei Chuyun did not argue with her, smiling as she stood aside: "If Young Lady Sheng really pushes him out in public, others seeing it might damage his reputation."

Sheng Yuanyao said: "Miss Pei has been a high and pure lotus in the capital these days; are you not afraid of being seen pushing him out?"

"After all, I was the Young Master's maid," Pei Chuyun said with a grin: "At least for this part before going out, it is quite normal for me to push him... so is Young Lady Sheng also a maid?"

Sheng Yuanyao immediately let go of the handle.

Ah Nuo puffed out her chest and flattened her stomach to occupy the wheelchair-pushing position.

True victory needs no struggle.

The group leisurely went out the door, heading straight for the examination hall. Sheng Yuanyao asked casually: "How long do you plan to keep sitting in this wheelchair? Don't you get tired of pretending?"

Lu Xingzhou said: "Before, pretending to be lame was not only because I wanted to trap people; the most important point is that if I had cured my legs before coming to the capital, wouldn't that mean I could also cure Shen Tang's legs?"

Sheng Yuanyao was stunned, her scalp going numb: "I never considered that point."

Lu Xingzhou nodded: "Hmm, if it were you, that is very normal."

Sheng Yuanyao: "?"

"So the timing for me to stand up openly in public must be after seeking help from a high-grade alchemist in the capital for treatment, or after further studies at the Alchemy Academy. With this reason, I can stand up openly."

Ah Nuo hung her head, her victory fleeting.

The assessment was conducted over three days; the first day was the written exam, that is, the problem-solving mode of that day, testing theoretical knowledge such as medical principles and pharmacology, as well as some regulations regarding medical practice and medication. These days, Lu Xingzhou studied books, but the latter was the one he was cramming for more desperately; poor the Judge of the Underworld, when has he ever cared about Great Qian's regulations...

Current cultivation is far from reaching the level of the soul and spirit; at most, the mind is clearer and memory is better, far from the point where a sweep of spiritual sense can imprint everything in the mind. These days had been terribly hard on Lu Xingzhou, truly dreaming back to the days of the college entrance exam when he memorized books desperately... Fortunately, the relevant legal articles were not many, and he managed to chew through them.

The written exam hall was at the Imperial Academy, and there were actually troops outside maintaining order, intercepting idlers, extremely solemn.

Whether you are a noble lady of the Pei family or a second-generation member of the Demon Suppression Bureau, the little fox spirit and the gossip girl were all blocked outside and not allowed to enter; instead, allowing attendants was permitted. The attendants had nothing to do with the written exam but were for the subsequent pill refining; it was within the rules for alchemists to have attendants assist with miscellaneous tasks like sorting herbs and fanning the fire.

Ah Nuo pushed the wheelchair into the hall with great pride amidst the jealous gazes of the two older sisters.

Entry was based on recommendation letters from local areas; there was no need for body searches, as magical treasures scanned for hidden cheat sheets, simpler and clearer than body searches. Everyone was assigned an independent room for the exam to avoid mutual interference, and the rooms also had magical treasures for surveillance.

This solemn atmosphere made Lu Xingzhou feel much more grave, and at the same time very satisfied. The stricter and more solemn it is, the more it means the attention of the court and the country, and the higher the value. This is much more valuable than the little fox spirit's backdoor entry into school; wherever he goes, he will be looked at with higher regard.

Just as he was organizing his brush and ink, the room was pushed open, and a group of examiners entered together to distribute the test papers.

Lu Xingzhou saw Meng Li at a glance.

Meng Li acted as if he did not know him, his face stiff as he placed a pile of papers in front of him, stating very officially: "This year, many questions were personally created by Your Majesty; perform well."

The papers were still wax-sealed. Lu Xingzhou, with the awe he felt for Meng Li's family test papers back then, carefully unsealed them and looked, almost laughing out loud on the spot.

Meng Li had said back then that the difficulty of the assessment was not as high as that paper, and the chances were great... You should have said earlier that "not that high" meant dropping from third-grade knowledge to fifth-grade! Fourth-grade level questions were all major questions!

Is this an assessment of the same level?

But... some of these questions are quite interesting...

Lu Xingzhou's fingers brushed over "Demon energy penetrates the blood, causing continuous decay; analyze the solution"; "Changes in the blood interfere with the heart and lungs; analyze"; "Discuss the principle of blood creation"; "Analyze the feasibility of replacing all the blood in the body and explain the reasons."

These questions were scattered in different positions; at first glance, nothing special could be seen, just items for a medical principles assessment. But looking at them together, one would discover these questions possessed relevance and causality; few people would create questions this way, and they were specifically scattered.

Combining the information that the Emperor has been hiding an unhealed injury, one could roughly guess what injury the Emperor had.

Demon energy penetrates blood cells, causing continuous interference, unable to be eradicated... From these questions, it seems some doctors have already been attempting to replace the Emperor's entire blood.

But no one dares to take such a risk; the Emperor himself does not dare.

Asking students such questions will definitely not yield a solution, but young people's thinking is more active, not limited by established methods, and the outstanding ones have their own special inheritances; perhaps they can propose some useful references.

This is like a desperate doctor seeking help even from young students... quite tragic.

Lu Xingzhou pondered for a moment, answered these questions first, and then turned to the others.

In the main examiner's room, Gu Zhanting walked in slowly: "How is the situation?"

Everyone hurriedly stood up to pay respects: "Currently, everything is normal. The candidates have already started answering the questions."

Gu Zhanting's gaze fell on the "large screen" on the wall, which was divided into countless blocks, each displaying the situation of different examination halls.

Gu Zhanting recognized Lu Xingzhou from the crowd of candidates at a glance, making a "tsk tsk" sound: "Why has everyone else started writing, but he is still looking at the test paper?"

An examiner then said: "Lu Xingzhou might be sharp in combat and experienced in handling affairs, but he may not have a significant advantage in alchemy and medicine. This person has so many distractions; if we hadn't seen him enter, we might have even forgotten he was a student participating in this year's assessment."

Gu Zhanting ignored him, stared at the "screen" for a while, and then saw Lu Xingzhou suddenly start writing.

Everyone fell silent and looked closely, only to discover that Lu Xingzhou was picking questions from different positions to answer.

Gu Zhanting read two or three questions, and his complexion changed slightly.

This person was actually picking the questions he had set to answer! Which questions he had set, even Meng Li did not know!

Gu Zhanting took a deep breath: "Can this surveillance be more detailed? I want to see the specific content Lu Xingzhou is answering."

Meng Li bowed and said, "This cannot be done. Because if an examiner were to look at someone's answers like this, the subsequent grading would know whose paper it was, leading to cheating. Therefore, the preset of the surveillance treasure cannot make the answer details clear."

Gu Zhanting nodded, knowing this was for fairness, and did not press further. He simply kept his gaze fixed on Lu Xingzhou's room from start to finish, not moving it at all.

The volume of questions was huge, with several types of papers, designed to make people test for a whole day.

Lu Xingzhou picked up his brush and wrote with a swish-swish sound; in just a little over an hour, he filled it completely, threw down the brush, and said, "A Nuo, did you bring food?"

The Emperor and the examiners watched in stunned silence as the little girl pulled out a large bag of pastries; while other candidates were still scratching their heads and writing furiously, the master and disciple ate happily, passing pieces back and forth.

"Master, can we leave early? Why does this little thing require a day of testing?"

"I reckon not... These three days are already not allowed to go home; you sleep right here, and tomorrow patients will be carried in directly to test the ability to treat on-site."

"Then what do we do? It's so boring..."

"What do we do? Practice cultivation, of course."

"Oh..." A Nuo was very dissatisfied: "They set up three days for such little things? I can answer all the questions here; are all other alchemists this useless?"

After the two finished the pastries, they casually tossed aside the oil-paper wrappers, sat cross-legged with eyes closed, and immediately entered meditation.

A group of examiners stood with mouths agape: Are you here for a picnic?

"Can she answer the questions here?" Gu Zhanting waved his hand: "Go, give her a set of backup questions; let her answer them for me to see!"

(End of this chapter)