Lei Tian Lu
“Eight years old!?”
“Hahaha!”
When the white-robed man heard how old Zheng-Fu was, he laughed loudly while making a demeaning face towards Zheng-Fu and then he said, “Eight years old? It means that even though you started to read herbal plants books since you were in your mother’s womb, you still wouldn’t have enough time to remember enough to pass the test. Do you know how much you need to get to pass the test?”
“At least a thousand herbal plants, brother!”
“That’s right. Even I got only three thousand herbal plants after ten years of study.” The white-robed guy said while looking too proud of himself…
“Three thousand!”
Everyone who was witnessing the harassment got excited after they heard that the white-robed man could remember up to three thousand herbal plants and wrote them all down on the test papers…
“You’re indeed very good, brother alchemist.” Zheng-Fu continued to stay calm unlike others and cupped his fists to show that he admired how capable the white-robed man was in a bid to steer away from any trouble…
“Of course. So, you know that the test is not something to play about. It’s too hard for a kid like you, so I think you’d better leave.” The white-robed man continued to brag. He rushed to come back to the test area because he heard that a kid was participating in the test too. He wanted to check out who the kid was. But when he got to the test area and found out that there were still many people waiting to take the test, he used the opportunity to brag loudly to let everyone there know how well he did in the test…
“Tsk! Only three thousand! And you wanted to brag about it!”
All of a sudden, there was a voice coming from behind the white-robed guy saying things to demean the white-robed guy’s brag. It was from a young man sitting not so far away from the group. This young man was a fine-looking young man. He was about 15-16 years old…
“What!?”
“What did you just say!?” The guy in a white robe widened his eyes with anger. He turned to that young fine-looking man instantaneously to ask about what he said to him…
“That’s Master Lei Tian Lu, isn’t it!”
“What!?” Master Lei Tian Lu, the young alchemy genius? Is that him!?”
“That’s right! He came from a very powerful clan. His clan is the second influential clan among the five influential clans around this area.”
*Gulp!*
The guy who wore a white robe had to gulp down when he heard from others about the young man who just looked down at him. The white-robed man was hesitant because the Lei Clan was the second most influential clan among the big clans around there…
“Do you have a hearing problem?” Lei Tian Lu asked the white-robed man…
“No…no…no Master Tian-Lu. My hearing is perfectly fine, sir.” The white-robed man quickly changed his attitude and tried to implore Lei Tian Lu instantly. The two admission guys who bullied Zheng-Fu earlier also followed suit. They all came from an insignificant clan, so they had to shut up…
Amid the chaos, all of a sudden, the grey-robed man who took Zheng-Fu to the test room earlier rushed out from the test room and walked towards Zheng-Fu with a serious facial expression. When he reached Zheng-Fu, he said, “Dear young master! You’ve passed the first test. I came to take you to the next test. Are you ready to come with me?” The grey-robed man said in a polite tone to Zheng-Fu…
“Passed!?”
“Passed the test!?”
Everyone could not help but be startled and develop unrhythmic heartbeats when they heard that Zheng-Fu passed the first test. The people who looked down at Zheng-Fu earlier made weird faces because they felt ashamed for doing so. They did not even know if they were going to pass the test, but could not resist demeaning Zheng-Fu anyway. That was the reason why they had to hide when they heard that the boy passed the test. The face of the white-robed guy, particularly got twisted and uglier than anybody’s because he was extra nasty to Zheng-Fu…
“That boy passed the test man. I can’t believe it. He is only eight years old, but he could pass the memory and comprehension test on herbal plants.”
“Tsk!”
“It’s more like he almost couldn’t make it!” The white-robed man still did not want to believe in Zheng-Fu’s capability. He had to believe that the boy passed the test, but still wanted to look down at him. So, he tried to say that Zheng-Fu probably got the right answers just enough to pass the test. The grey-robed man heard what the white-robed man said. So, before he took Zheng-Fu to the next test room, he stopped walking and then turned to look at the white-robed man and then said…
“Let me tell you that this very boy could write down more than 10 thousand kinds of herbal plants in the test.” The grey-robed said and then turned back and took off…
“What!?”
“A thousand kinds of herbal plants!”
What the grey-robed man just said made everyone roar again. Some of the applicants there wanted to bang their heads against the wall when they heard that an 8-year-old boy could write down more than 10 thousand kinds of herbal plants in the first test. They wanted to believe that it was a lie…
The white-robed man felt like he was losing strength and wanted to collapse. The whole thing that he had thought about and done to Zheng-Fu was merely something that he did to bury himself. He looked down at others for far too much and thought that he was above everyone else. This very thing turned to bite him completely badly. The other two admission guys did not know how to take in all that because they also bullied Zheng-Fu horribly. They could only gasp…
The grey-robed guy actually withheld the truth that Zheng-Fu could write down all 36,000 kinds of herbal plants, all of their names, characteristics, and qualities. He did not want to tell everyone the whole truth because he did not wish to create chaos in that room. The grey-robed man got tremendously excited by Zheng-Fu too. He knew Zheng-Fu’s test result because he joined the three Elders when they checked Zheng-Fu’s answer papers…
“Brother alchemist, may I ask you something?”
“Go ahead. What do you want to know? But first, call me Kong-Chang, from now on. No need to call me a brother or anything.” The grey-robed man said to Zheng-Fu and smiled at him…
“Yes, brother Kong-Chang. Well, I would like to know the scores of the test that I just took.”
“Hahaha! The scores? You’re a genius for an 8-year-old boy. You have an extraordinary memory. You could actually remember all the herbal plants in the book. Are you a walking Fundamental Book of Herbal Plants?”
Zheng-Fu hearing that, scratched his head with utmost shyness. He never thought that he could do that much…
“You’re being too kind, brother. I just like reading. I guess that’s why I can remember everything in the book. Wait! Why is your robe different from others, brother Kong-Chang?”
“I guess you don’t know. The thing is, different alchemists are on different levels. That’s why we wear different colors of robes. They are something like this; 1. The Alchemist Assistant (white robe), 2. The Beginner Alchemist (grey robe), 3. The Intermediate Alchemist (green robe), 4. The Advance Alchemist (blue robe), 5. The Master Alchemist (brown robe), 6. The Great Guru Alchemist (yellow robe), 7. The Immortal Alchemist (red robe), 8. The Divine Alchemist (gold robe), and 9. The Devil Alchemist (black robe).”
“Each alchemist level produced different flame colors. 1. The Alchemist Assistant; white robe, colorless flame, 2. The Beginner Alchemist; grey robe, red flame, 3. The Intermediate Alchemist; green robe, green flame, 4. The Advance Alchemist; blue robe, blue flame (able to produce poisons), 5. The Master Alchemist; brown robe, orange flame (able to produce poisons), 6. The Great Guru Alchemist; yellow flame (able to produce poisons), 7. The Immortal Alchemist; red robe, purple flame (able to produce poisons), 8. The Divine Alchemist; golden robe, golden flame (able to produce sacred pills), 9. The Devil Alchemist; black robe, black flame (able to produce deadly pills).”
Kong-Chang went ahead and explained to Zheng-Fu about the levels of alchemists out there, while he was taking Zheng-Fu to the second test room…
*So, brother Kong-Chang and Master Sue-Wu are on the same level. The Elder I met earlier is at the advanced level.* Zheng-Fu tried to contemplate what Kong-Chang explained to him. Then he realized that the three stooges earlier were merely assistants. They were not even real alchemists yet…
“When you pass the first test, you’ve become a part of the Association of the Alchemists automatically. But you’re in as an Alchemist Assistant, alright boy?”
*So, I’m now assistant like that white-robed guy?*
“And if you pass the second test, you’ll receive a plaque saying that you’ve become a beginner alchemist like me. But I have to tell you that the second test is not that easy to pass. Even though you could remember all the herbal plants in the book, it wouldn’t help. The second test is all about mixing real herbal medicine.”
“Yes, brother Kong-Chang. I myself never thought that I could pass the first test. I’m just very interested in making medicine. To get to this far already made me happy.”
“Great!”
Kong-Chang’s negative attitude toward Zheng-Fu had now gone. Right now, he only saw the boy’s strong determination in alchemy and his true capacity. In the beginning, he never thought that a boy this young could achieve this much…
Squeak!
It did not take long for both of them to reach the second test room. There were a lot of medicine mixing bowls all over the place. There were some people in the room too. When Zheng-Fu stepped into the room, the people in there could not help but turn to look at him…
“A kid!?”
“What is he doing here?”
The people in the room felt very curious when they saw Zheng-Fu, like what the people outside of the association building felt towards the boy. However, they turned back to their own medicine mixing bowls after staring at Zheng-Fu for a short while. They thought that Zheng-Fu’s presence had nothing to do with them anyway…
“Some of the people you see here came directly from the first test. Some of them are already at the assistant level and came to take the test. We are open to letting applicants take medicine-making tests three times a year. If you blow all three chances, you have to wait until next year.”
“Yes, sir!”
Zheng-Fu nodded to show that he understood Kong-Chang’s explanation. His face was filled with meaningful determination. As the two were conversing about the test, Zheng-Fu noticed the young fine-looking man who stopped the white-robed man who was trying to demean Zheng-Fu earlier. This young man walked towards Zheng-Fu with a calm facial expression. When he finally reached Zheng-Fu, he smiled at him and said…
“Greetings, little friend! It’s nice to meet you. I’m Lei Tian Lu. What’s your name?”
“Tian-Tang Zheng-Fu!”
“Are you from the Tian-Tang Clan?”
Lei Tian Lu asked while smiling at Zheng-Fu. He started to check out Zheng-Fu from top to toe because he had an impression that Tian-Tang Clan was a martial arts clan. He never thought that anyone from that clan would want to learn to become an alchemist…
“Yes, brother. I’ve come from Tian-Tang Clan.”
Kong-Chang also felt surprised to learn that Zheng-Fu came from the Tian-Tang clan because the clan was one of the five powerful clans in the area. Even though the Tian-Tang clan ranked the least influential among the five, it was still a powerful clan. Lei Tian Lu, on the other hand, was someone that Kong-Chang was familiar with because he was an alchemy genius. He was superb even though he had just recently come to take the test to officially become an alchemist…
“Alright guys, choose your mixing bowls! Every bowl has the same quality, so you could choose any of them because it won’t help make any difference. We have all the right herbal plants for the formulas that you will choose to mix.” Kong-Chang said while pointing his finger to the big board that had many medicine formulas posted all over it…
The board contained the medicine formulas from the first rank to the third rank. Most applicants tended to choose to make the pills that belonged to the first-ranked or the second-ranked formulas. Anyone who chose to do the first-ranked formulas must produce at least five kinds of pills in that level. They would have to do two types of medicines if they chose the mid-leveled formulas…
“Thank you so much for your explanation, brother Kong-Chang.”
“No problem! You go ahead and make your choices. You must know that the test time begins once you step into this room. And you all have only two shichens, alright?”
“Yes, sir!”
Both Zheng-Fu and Lei Tian Lu started to walk towards the board to choose the formulas. There were plenty of mixing bowls left, so they chose to go for the formulas first…
“Which formulas are you looking for, little Zheng-Fu?”
“I have to tell you this is the first time that I’ll have a chance to make medicine. I have never done it before.”
“Your first time!?”
“Then why did you come to take the test, if you have never made any medicine?”
“It’s because I just want to see if I would be able to produce one successfully.”
“Just want to see!?”
“Hahaha!”
Lei Tian Lu could not help but laugh out loud. It is not a demeaning laugh though. He just thought that Zheng-Fu was funny. He never thought that he would hear something like this from this boy. Come to think about it, Tian-Lu realized that Zheng-Fu was still young, so he must be thinking like a regular kid…
“I really like you, Zheng-Fu. You don’t look hesitating at all, even though this is your first time. Why don’t you ask me anything that you don’t understand? I’ll tell you everything that I know.”
“Thank you very much, brother Lei Tian Lu.”
After finishing talking to Zheng-Fu, Lei Tian Lu walked off to grab a formula that belonged to the third rank and two formulas that belonged to the second rank, then he walked to one of the medicines mixing bowls in the room. When he reached the bowl, there were two white-robed men walked towards him and gave him the ingredients that he needed according to the formulas that he chose. He would have two chances to make it or break it…