Nian Youyu patted his forehead and said, "I'm getting old. There is indeed such a rule. Then let's start the assessment for the senior alchemist now!"
Zi Lingling nodded.
It was just a small assessment; she didn't even need to prepare.
Nian Youyu led her to a dedicated alchemy room.
Although the alchemy room was not large, it was enhanced with a medium-sized spirit gathering array to prevent alchemists from failing due to insufficient spiritual energy during the alchemy process.
"Miss Zi, may I be presumptuous and call you 'girl'?"
Nian Youyu, at this moment, no longer possessed the arrogance he had when he first came out.
Zi Lingling nodded and said, "Elder Nian, you are too polite. You are about the same age as my grandfather, so calling me 'girl' is not out of line." Suzan Novel Network
Nian Youyu nodded and said, "Girl Zi, although I am supervising this assessment, the questions are already in the question bank. We need to draw a question. Are you ready?"
Zi Lingling asked in surprise, "Question bank? Where is it?"
Nian Youyu smiled, touched the wall behind the alchemy room door, and a large screen-like object appeared on the wall.
On the big screen, words were clearly scrolling.
"Girl Zi, the question bank has been activated. Would you like to draw, or shall I draw for you?"
Zi Lingling was extremely shocked.
She had not expected such an advanced device to be here.
She paused for a moment before saying, "Elder Nian, please draw for me."
Nian Youyu nodded and casually pressed a control button.
The scrolling text gradually slowed down and finally stopped at the name of a pill.
Zi Lingling's expression was a little strange.
Nian Youyu also said with some embarrassment, "Well... Girl Zi, how about we draw again?"
Zi Lingling shook her head and said, "No need!"
Nian Youyu frowned and asked, "Are you sure you don't need to draw again?"
Zi Lingling nodded.
"However, this Three-Revolving Great Returning Pill is the most difficult of the advanced pills!"
Zi Lingling smiled faintly and said, "It's fine!"
What a joke!
She could refine the Nine-Revolving Great Returning Pill, so wasn't this Three-Revolving Great Returning Pill a gimme?
She couldn't even determine if her luck was good or bad.
If you said her luck was good, she drew the most difficult advanced pill; if you said her luck was bad, she drew a pill she was all too familiar with.
Nian Youyu said with some concern, "Are you sure? Even for me, the success rate of refining the Three-Revolving Great Returning Pill is only fifty percent."
Zi Lingling was inwardly overjoyed but said with a calm expression, "I'm sure!"
Nian Youyu said helplessly, "In that case, let's begin!"
He pressed the control button again, and a stone platform suddenly appeared on the ground, filled with various medicinal herbs.
Zi Lingling scanned them with her divine sense and selected the herbs she needed.
Then, she said to Nian Youyu, "Elder Nian, may I use my own cauldron?"
The reason she asked this was because there was already a cauldron in the alchemy room.
Nian Youyu nodded and said, "Of course, the cauldrons here are just spare ones."
"Alright! I'm starting!"
With a thought, the Nine Extremes Qiankun Cauldron flew out from the Goddess Palace and landed gently on the ground.
"What a good cauldron!"
Nian Youyu's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but praise.
After all, alchemists had two great skills: alchemy and recognizing cauldrons.
Zi Lingling smiled and began to warm the cauldron.
Of course, she didn't use her own fire spiritual power to warm the cauldron, but instead used Huang Yi's Phoenix True Fire.
"This is... an exotic flame?!"
Nian Youyu exclaimed.
This was not his fault for misidentifying it. The key was that Zi Lingling was too cautious. Before using Huang Yi's Phoenix True Fire, she had instructed Huang Yi not to reveal itself.
After all, an innocent man is often guilty when he possesses wealth.
Phoenix True Fire was something countless alchemists dreamed of, and Zi Lingling couldn't guarantee that Nian Youyu wouldn't become greedy.
Zi Lingling only thought about it and didn't speak.
Her hand seals changed, and she threw a handful of medicinal herbs into the Nine Extremes Qiankun Cauldron.
Her actions were as if she were an outsider who didn't know alchemy and was wasting precious resources.
Nian Youyu shook his head in disappointment, looking at the pile of medicinal herbs beside Zi Lingling with heartache.
Setting aside the fact that Zi Lingling was missing over a dozen types of herbs, simply throwing them into the alchemy cauldron like this almost certainly meant failure.
Just as he was about to remind Zi Lingling that alchemy couldn't be done like this, he noticed that the herbs Zi Lingling had just thrown in were actually being refined.
Moreover, each herb was refined to perfection, neither damaging its medicinal properties nor containing any impurities.
This was acceptable?
Nian Youyu felt as though his 150-plus years had been lived in vain.
Not only him, but even the president of the Alchemists' Guild couldn't achieve this level.
Under Nian Youyu's shocked gaze, Zi Lingling casually grabbed another handful of herbs and threw them into the Nine Extremes Qiankun Cauldron.
Nian Youyu's heart was in his throat.
This handful of herbs contained over ten types, and with the slightest mistake, all these herbs could be ruined!
However, this time, his worry was clearly unnecessary.
Zi Lingling skillfully refined this handful of herbs and then casually threw another handful in.
Slowly, Nian Youyu became numb.
He showed a wry smile, blaming himself for being more anxious than necessary.
The Three-Revolving Great Returning Pill was called the most difficult of the advanced pills, and it required over three hundred types of medicinal herbs.
For other alchemists to refine these three hundred types of herbs would take at least a day and a night. However, Zi Lingling finished refining all the herbs in less than half an hour.
Furthermore, each herb was refined to its utmost potential.
Zi Lingling's control of the heat was extremely accurate, not a bit more, not a bit less, everything was just right.
She perfectly maintained the optimal medicinal efficacy of the herbs and perfectly removed all impurities.
Perfect!
Too perfect!
Nian Youyu was utterly astonished.
Even if he performed the task himself, he couldn't achieve this result!
Nian Youyu had no idea that Zi Lingling simply threw the herbs in, and the rest was controlled by the Nine Extremes Qiankun Cauldron and Huang Yi.
Zi Lingling didn't even need to catch her breath before throwing all the refined medicinal herbs into the Nine Extremes Qiankun Cauldron.
Not good!
This would cause the cauldron to explode!
Nian Youyu wanted to remind Zi Lingling, but in the end, he said nothing.
A quarter of an hour passed!
No explosion!
Another quarter of an hour passed, and still no explosion.
Nian Youyu was getting restless.
He had never witnessed such a simple and crude method of alchemy before.
"Rumble!"
The Nine Extremes Qiankun Cauldron shook and then quickly calmed down.