Chapter 149: Eve of the Trial

Ye Tinglan had a pseudo-position at the Alchemy Academy this year, and Meng Li naturally had to arrange an office for her, but she didn't come often; she only had a few classes a month.

Fortunately, she was here today.

A-Nuo pushed Lu Xingzhou to the office in one go. Ye Tinglan raised her head from a pile of alchemy research materials and looked at Lu Xingzhou, who was pale, strangely: "What's wrong with him? He usually looks arrogant, did he eat laxatives today?"

A-Nuo said anxiously: "I don't know. Master has been in pain there since morning, and I couldn't see any problem even after taking his pulse. Please help take a look, teacher..."

Ye Tinglan squinted at her: "Not calling me old woman anymore?"

A-Nuo apologized with a smile: "Teacher, you are the only teacher I recognize at the Alchemy Academy!"

Ye Tinglan continued to scan Lu Xingzhou: "Why didn't you let the teacher who lectures you take a look on the spot?"

A-Nuo said: "Because my Master only recognizes you as a teacher!"

"I still like the way you were arrogant and domineering in the beginning." Ye Tinglan reached out leisurely and took Lu Xingzhou's pulse.

After a while, her expression changed: "There is no illness here."

A-Nuo wanted to speak but stopped.

Wait a bit, if she still can't say anything, then scold the old woman.

Ye Tinglan asked: "How does it hurt? Tell me."

Lu Xingzhou had no way to say it directly, so he could only deliberate and say: "It feels like someone has cast a curse on me from a distance, attacking me continuously through the air."

"No, there is no sign of being cursed." Ye Tinglan thought for a while: "I'll try to help you temporarily isolate the influence of the substances that separated from your body on yourself."

After she finished speaking, her slender fingers flicked lightly, and a soft light shield flashed. Lu Xingzhou blinked and suddenly sat up straight.

"It's okay?"

"It's okay." Lu Xingzhou was overjoyed: "Lady is truly a top grandmaster, effortless!"

"..." Ye Tinglan was silent for a moment, her eyes full of suspicion: "If you are looking for an excuse to see me, that's quite a failure."

Lu Xingzhou was not cursed; Ye Tinglan never thought that the one he was hit by was her own move, and it was just the good disciple practicing repeatedly in the room...

"Looking for an excuse..." Lu Xingzhou was stunned: "How could you think so, Lady?"

Sheng Yuanyao said... Ye Tinglan didn't say so, just sneered: "Everyone else knows to call me teacher, why do you keep calling me Lady?"

"Don't you women all hate being called teacher?"

"What kind of ignorant person is that?"

"I can't explain this to you..."

Ye Tinglan said coldly: "Alright, since you are fine, go back and listen to the class."

"That..." Lu Xingzhou hesitated.

"What?"

"Since I'm here, can you make a gesture of helping me treat my legs, Lady?"

Ye Tinglan said: "Finally tired of sitting in the wheelchair?"

"It's just that in class today, the teacher said that a trial will be organized in a few days. I always feel that such a moment is under the gaze of everyone, and there is a high risk of exposing that my legs are healed. I need to plan ahead."

Ye Tinglan was silent for a moment and nodded: "You seem unreliable, but in fact, your thinking is delicate and cautious. Some achievements before can be understood. It's just that you should put more heart into the right path..."

"How is my heart not on the right path? I read alchemy books until midnight last night." Actually, he was kept awake by being pulled.

"But before that, were you dating the Pei family girl? Dugu Qingli broke in directly when she challenged, and many people saw it."

Lu Xingzhou: "..."

Ye Tinglan said this, and she was really hating iron for not becoming steel: "With such talent, your future is limitless. How can you do these messy things just a few days after enrollment? Being fascinated by female color at a young age, what prospects can you have in the future!"

Lu Xingzhou was clearly being scolded, but there was no resistance in his heart, but a rare feeling of being moved.

This really felt like an elder feeling heartbroken for you... I haven't experienced this in my life.

He finally sighed: "Teacher..."

Ye Tinglan was stunned. He wasn't willing to call her teacher before, why did he suddenly call her that after being criticized a few times?

But she heard Lu Xingzhou continue: "A-Nuo and I both want you to be our mentor. I don't know if you are willing to accept us?"

"Not accepting, get out."

The master and disciple were confused.

Didn't this teacher take the initiative to say she wanted to accept them before? Why was she bombed out now that he proposed it?

Playing hard to get?

Ye Tinglan said coldly: "I am a first-grade alchemist. There are countless people who want to choose me as a mentor. Do you think I can't do without you? If you want to study deeply with me, then perform well in this trial, and I will consider recording you."

Of course it was playing hard to get. She came to the door to accept disciples, but these two were acting high and mighty. On the contrary, she wanted to assess them, and they knew how to cherish it, right?

Lu Xingzhou asked: "Can I ask what the nature of this trial is?"

"Most alchemists sit and refine pills, rarely training, which is actually very biased. It's fine if you haven't reached the top three grades; what you lack is nothing more than control, flame temperature, and understanding of medicinal properties... But the higher you go, the more specific each has its own characteristics. For example, when refining certain pills, inner demons arise; or ghosts condense, snatching pills from the furnace; or attracting poisonous insects and beasts to attack the alchemist... There are countless such things."

Lu Xingzhou understood: "So you need some environmental trials to let alchemists get familiar with these situations in advance?"

"Hmm, general alchemists need protection, which is what this means, and it's not just for guarding against external enemies. But we think that you can't rely entirely on others for protection; you also need the ability to respond yourself."

"Understood."

"In addition, low-grade alchemists can refine pills with ordinary fire techniques, and if it's really not enough, they can borrow earth fire. But the higher the grade requirement, the harder it is to find suitable earth fire. If you rely on yourself, what ability do your flames have? I'm afraid the medicinal effect won't even melt. Therefore, you need to practice special fire techniques, or seek special fire seeds, and refine your own unique flames."

"Can this be obtained in the trial place?"

"Maybe there is, maybe not. It depends on opportunity and wisdom." Ye Tinglan said indifferently: "Even if sects cultivate, there will be trial benefits. You have entered the Imperial Academy, so of course you won't just listen to lectures. But since it is an imperial thing, it naturally won't be given away for free, nor will it be shared equally. Whether you can get it depends on your ability."

"Understood, thank you for the pointers, teacher." Lu Xingzhou bowed.

This Lady Ye is also hard-mouthed. Saying "not accepting, get out," she was actually very expectant. These words were fundamentally what a mentor would say to their students. Who would tell you so much and so detailedly if they were ordinary people?

Anyway, whatever trial, now that the hair doesn't hurt, he is fearless.

Ye Tinglan said indifferently: "I need to inform you in advance that there will be no teachers following this trial, so as not to let you have a sense of reliance and lose the original intention of training. At most, there will be some secret guards, drawn from the Demon Suppression Division or the Holy Land. They may not be able to fully protect your safety, and it is not strange for accidents to occur."

Lu Xingzhou smiled freely: "I am not just an alchemist."

Ye Tinglan looked at Lu Xingzhou deeply. When he killed Ye Wufeng a few days ago, he had just broken through to the fifth grade. Now the fifth-grade lower stage was extremely stable, and he was about to reach the stage of rushing to the fifth-grade middle stage. How many days had it been?

Ye Tinglan had never seen such efficiency in cultivation, even with her extensive knowledge, unless he took pills. But Lu Xingzhou was clearly not taking pills; his foundation was very solid. How did this efficiency come about?

Lu Xingzhou naturally knew how his cultivation came about.

One was the energy reserve of the water and fire legs, which gradually absorbed and released more as the cultivation ceiling increased; the second was the result of his shamelessness with Pei Chuyun. Although the effect of that kind of dual cultivation was average, the number of times was still beneficial to both sides...

Otherwise, Pei Chuyun wouldn't have been having an illicit affair in the pond at noon and strolling in the wheelchair on the tree-lined path at night...

Besides being very comfortable and tasting the marrow, of course, it was for cultivation.

…………

"The Alchemy Academy is about to conduct its first trial." In a secret room, Huo Qi, the eldest son of the Huo family, was asking Daoist Xuanqing in front of him: "Do you have confidence?"

Daoist Xuanqing's expression was a bit gray: "I have pondered the test papers and the pills refined by Lu Xingzhou and his disciple these days... I am indeed not an opponent."

"Idiot, what the trial compares is not alchemy ability! One is the ability to deal with various special situations, the second is the opportunity to find fire seeds, and there may even be other strange treasures! That is the Demon Suppression Domain!" Huo Qi sneered: "If I want you to make Lu Xingzhou gain nothing in the trial even if you gain nothing yourself, do you have confidence?"

Daoist Xuanqing's face had a bit of ferocity: "I don't know about confidence, but I like this task."

Huo Qi glanced at him, a bit funny.

Jealousy makes people unrecognizable, sure enough.

Daoist Xuanqing asked again: "But the Fifth Young Master bought a murderer to kill Lu Xingzhou last time and failed, and the Emperor was furious. Does the young master still dare to plot against him? And the old man's side..."

"Of course I don't dare on weekdays." Huo Qi said leisurely: "But in the trial place, accidents happen frequently, and what happens has nothing to do with us. As for my father..."

He paused and sneered: "They finally threw away their unrealistic fantasies."

Originally, from the perspective of Huo Liancheng and Huo Xingyuan, Huo Shang still had a certain possibility of recognizing his ancestors, plus the factor of Shen Tang, so they hesitated and didn't want to do things too absolutely. Only these brothers of Huo Qi didn't want Huo Shang to return from beginning to end. The last time they bought a murderer to kill him, Huo Qi and Huo Jin did it privately behind the elders' backs.

But after repeated blows, the Huo family finally recognized that Lu Xingzhou would not compromise. This time, it was not Huo Qi messing around privately; behind it stood the consensus of the entire family.

Daoist Xuanqing whispered: "Since it is the old man's intention, then..."

Huo Qi knew what he wanted to ask: "Of course you won't be fighting alone. Someone will cooperate when the time comes. Making Lu Xingzhou gain nothing is just the lowest goal. If possible..."

He made a beheading gesture.

Daoist Xuanqing took a deep breath. Killing in the Alchemy Academy trial was a serious political event. Just thinking about it made his heart beat.

Huo Qi said again: "There will be no teachers in the trial, and even if there are, we will be responsible for settling them. Other than that, do you dare?"

Daoist Xuanqing's originally delicate face was twisted by jealousy: "Of course I dare."