Another Bet With Zhu Ju

"Master, a new disciple seems to have cleared the trial of recognizing herbs."

"Hmm, maybe he was one of the people who wanted to impress the elder and prepared himself for a long time before deciding to join the Alchemy Hall. Next time, check the disciple's age first before reporting such a matter to me." A calm voice sounded, not impressed in the slightest by such news.

"No, no, what I mean by new disciple was disciples who just joined the sect this year."

"What!!?" The calm said broke into a surprise.

Not only there, but in many places where the elders of the Alchemy Hall reside, such scenes were also played out.

***

"Look, isn't that Wei Fang?"

"Yes, it's Wei Fang."

"Is the time up already? I thought it was still a bit of a distance away."

"No, it's still a quarter an hour away before the times up. Is he surrendered already?"

"It was such a waste that I supported him."

"Do you think he really surrendered?" One of the disciples suddenly raised a question.

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. What are the rules of the trial for recognizing herbs?"

"Isn't it just to grab an herb and say its name?" The other seems to be puzzled.

"Think again!"

"The herb then would disappear after you said a name..." Then it occurred to everyone.

"Yes, the herb would disappear no matter if the name you gave was right or wrong. What if Wei Fang already named all of the herbs?"

"This..."

"It was possible."

While the spectators were busily discussing what actually happened, Senior Qian lifted his head and looked at Wei Fang in surprise. But then his expression turned back to that of being lazy and indifferent.

"Senior Sister!" Wei Fang waved at one of the spectators before approaching her. "What are you doing here?"

Zhu Ju looked at Wei Fang in surprise, she didn't think the one who was competing would be him. "I just came here because of the commotion; I don't think it would be you."

"Anyway, did you have confidence to win? I heard the stake was six hours of pill chamber use. I remember your quot..."

Wei Fang hurriedly covered Shu Ju's mouth with his hand.

"Shhh!"

Seeing Zhu Ju nod her head, Wei Fang released his hand.

"Do you need me to lend you?" She whispered.

"No need; I am confident in winning." Wei Fang said with confidence.

Zhu Ju looked at Wei Fang with skepticism. She knew Wei Fang never learned alchemy before he joined the sect, nor did her master teach him anything. So the chance of him winning was incredibly thin; unless a miracle happened, he would most likely lose.

After all, even though it was just recognizing herbs and not refining pills or any other complicated technical work, it just happens that recognizing and memorizing herbs costs the most time if one wants to start in alchemy.

"You don't believe me?" Wei Fang raised his eyebrows.

Zhu Ju shook his head.

"Then, do you dare to bet?" Wei Fang said with a provocative tone.

"What bet?" Zhu Ju asked.

"If I win, you give me merit points equal to six hours of pill chamber use..." Wei Fang suddenly paused; he didn't seem to have anything that could arouse his senior sister's interest, and she even knew he didn't even have the capital to pay the bet with Hai Min if he lost.

"What if I win?" Zhu Ju asked.

After thinking for a bit, Wei Fang decided to bluff his senior sister, "If you win, I can give you special medicine."

"Special medicine?" Her eyes lit up.

"Do you really have it?" Zhu Ju asked, her tone full of caution.

"Do you think your junior brother was a liar?"

Zhu Ju just wordlessly stared at the door when Hai Min was located.

With such clear evidence in front of him, he couldn't refute that.

"Ahem, I didn't have one on me." Wei Fang paused for a bit. "But the next time I go out of the sect, I can give you one."

Zhu Ju thinks for a moment. Before Wei Fang entered the sect, he got healing ointment (lie). The next time he went out of the sect, he got something that could cure severed meridians. If he went out of the sect in the future, wouldn't he also get some sort of medicine?

The moment that thought emerged in her mind, he couldn't erase it from her heat. Even though her subconscious mind was telling her something was amiss, that thought just couldn't leave her head.

"Deal."

Wei Fang grinned widely. Twelve hours of pill chamber use were secured. With it, he could try to cultivate the Body Forging method.

Just as the two of them were whispering to one another in their own world, the other was in commotion.

"Did you hear what he was calling Senior Zhu Ju? It's senior sister; did I hear it right?"

"You also think so; I also heard it was Senior Sister."

"What are you two talking about? Why didn't you talk about how close the two of them were?"

"The problem here is that he called her a senior sister while Senior Zhu Ju called him a junior brother. Did you get what I meant? It means they are disciples under the same master!"

"You mean he was the disciple of Elder Zhao?"

"Of course!"

Just as the discussion began to heat up, several disciples in inner court uniforms suddenly showed up, which astonished them more.

"What are those big shots doing here?"

"What alarmed those big shots to come here?"

"Hey, don't you think they are walking towards us?"

"What are you saying? There's no way...."

His voice was cut off because he heard a voice behind him.

"Junior Brother, why did everyone gather here?"

It was one of the senior brothers who had just arrived who asked.

"Are you talking to me, Senior?"

"Who else?"

"Ahem, we were here to watch a match."

"A match?"

"Yes, two new recruits were comparing who could recognize more herbs in two hours."

"Oh, something like that happens? Then, who just came out of the test site?"

"It's him, Senior." He pointed towards Wei Fang.

"Thank You." He walked towards Wei Fang and ignored the man he had just asked.

But the man was not angry, but ecstatic instead. "Do you see that?" He looked around him. "I talked to Senior Zhang, and he even thanked me!" He was like someone who just shook hands with his idols.

"Hello...oh, Junior Sister Zhu, you are also here." He changed his words midway when he saw Zhu Ju beside Wei Fang.

"Hello, Senior Zhang, Senior Yu, and Senior Feng." Zhu Ju greets them, followed by Wei Fang.

"Is he your acquaintance, Junior Sister Zhu? I never saw him in the Alchemy Hall before."

"This is Wei Fang, my junior brother; my master accepted him as a disciple yesterday."

"Ah...it seems we are late."

"Anyway, what are seniors doing here?"

"You don't know? I thought you came here because of what your junior brother just did."

"What did he do?" Zhu Ju looked at Wei Fang. "I just came here for the commotion."

Thinking about Zhu Ju's personality, they didn't doubt her words.

"You really don't know?"

Zhu Ju just shook her head.

"Look at what you are saying; Elder Zhao was different from our master. Her criteria for choosing a disciple was never in line with common sense."

"You're right."

"So, what are you doing here, seniors?" Zhu Ju asked curiously about something that could make the three seniors come here personally.

"Hahaha, we heard that someone completed the herb recognition test with 100 percent accuracy. So we came here to recruit him on behalf of our master, but it seems we are too late."

"What!!?" Zhu Ju was surprised. Even she didn't think she could do it because the herbs in the test were not only low-ranking herbs but also high-grade and rarely seen herbs, so she didn't have confidence she could recognize everything. But someone had just done it. And the one who just came out of the test site was Wei Fang.

She looked at Wei Fang incredulously; she felt it was the first time she had gotten to know Wei Fang. "Junior brother, you really hide it so deeply that even me and master didn't know about your ability."

Wei Fang just smiled and said, "Don't forget to transfer the merit points to me later, Senior Sister." Thinking that his results could even make the elder want to take him as a disciple, the winner was already obvious.

Zhu Ju just glared in response; she regretted betting with Wei Fang. But she couldn't do anything; she didn't want to lose his dignity in front of his junior brother, so she could only transfer it later.

"Now that Wei Fang was already taken, we didn't have any business here." One of the seniors said regretfully as they left. 

"Take care, seniors."