Chapter 19: The Chores of Preparing Elixirs

Hearing the cold words, Dong Qing's shocked expression turned pale instantly.

"No, no, I wouldn't dare." Dong Qing's words were trembling.

It was only at this moment that she realized she was wrong, and terribly so.

Lin Yuan's strength far surpassed their expectations, she couldn't even tell when Lin Yuan had made his move. Just like the prodigy who stood out on the first day of the tournament, there was no difference.

Powerful, decisive!

She had seen so many of these opponents through the tournaments over the past few days. She had no way to defend herself against people like them. At this moment, she couldn't even imagine what kind of blow she would face if she made a move.

Understanding all of this, Dong Qing raised her hands, her forehead slightly bowed, and forced a smile on her rigid face to show friendliness.

"Did you qualify on the first day?" Dong Qing's tone was humble, like a small dog showing its belly, continually trying to please Lin Yuan.

"Hmph!" Lin Yuan snorted coldly, not answering.

This girl's initial impression on him was decent. But after her selection was completed, her arrogance and indifference, compared to her humble demeanor now, did not deserve any sympathy.

At this moment, sudden footsteps were heard from outside the door, and then two figures, one in gray and one in black, entered through the entrance.

"Lin Yuan, Dong Qing, Fei Run."

The gray-robed person held a roster and announced the three names, then scanned Lin Yuan and Dong Qing standing and Fei Run lying unconscious on the ground.

Afterward, the gray-robed person slightly retreated and nodded at the black-robed person.

"It's you three?" The black-robed person looked at Dong Qing and asked.

"Yes, sir." Dong Qing quickly replied.

"Then which one of you is Lin Yuan, and which is Fei Run?" The black-robed person glanced over Dong Qing and turned to Lin Yuan.

"In response, sir, I am Lin Yuan."

"What's with Fei Run? You do know fighting is prohibited outside the tournament, right?" The black-robed person's eyes carried inquiry and became somewhat sharp.

"In response, sir, it was just that Brother Fei was too excited after winning the tournament just now, couldn't help himself." Lin Yuan looked at the black-robed person with a righteous expression, then his face changed, showing some lament.

"Maybe Brother was too excited, and coupled with the uneven ground, he wasn't careful while walking and fell."

"Indeed, he did fall." He squinted his eyes, as if recalling.

"Dong Qing and I hadn't had time to warn him, and then this happened." Lin Yuan shook his head, pursed his lips, with a helpless look.

After Lin Yuan finished speaking, the scene fell silent for a moment.

Plop.

A tree seed fell from the tree in the courtyard, making a sound that was strikingly clear to the four of them.

"Is that the case?" The black-robed man stared at Lin Yuan for a good while, then turned to ask Dong Qing.

"Yes, yes." In Lin Yuan's calm gaze, Dong Qing stammered, speaking haltingly.

"Alright then."

Hearing the response, the black-robed person gave Lin Yuan a meaningful look.

"Follow me!" He finally instructed.

As they walked out the door, the black-robed person turned and gave a command to the gray-robed person.

"Make a note. The ground is uneven, report back to the Hall of Duties later."

"Additionally, Fei Run stumbled and fell unconscious; he will participate in the second batch allocation when he wakes up."

He was accustomed to such situations.

Successful candidates from the school selections were mostly young and impulsive; there was no chance quarrels wouldn't occur. As long as no one died, they were too lazy to intervene. Yet thinking about these stories brought a smile to his heart.

Every time during the selection, issues arose with the quality of the school buildings. The disciples of the elders in charge of duties were perpetually busy.

For example, a few years back.

Withering branches fell from trees, twisting people's necks.

Tiles dropped from roofs, breaking people's feet.

Even fallen wall dust prone the people down.

This year it was even more outrageous!

Thinking of this, the black-robed person stood still and gently tapped his foot on the smooth, blue stone-paved flat ground.

"The road is uneven. Ha! The road is uneven."

A trace of a smile crossed the black-robed person's face.

*

*

*

Lin Yuan and Dong Qing followed the black-robed person all the way to visit other courtyards, gathering a few more people.

Finally gathering about ten people, the black-robed person led them towards the deeper part of the courtyard.

Passing through many pavilions, towers, and the landscapes of ponds, mountains, courtyards, and forests, after about an hour, they finally reached their destination.

Now, on a plaza roughly the size of five football fields. At this moment, the plaza was a sea of people, the crowd bustling with activity. All of them were the young men and women who successfully passed this batch of selection. Many were extremely excited, constantly engaging in exchanges and inquiries.

At the forefront of the plaza stood a three-story temple-style classical pavilion.

Below the pavilion were platforms on three levels, each platform composed of nine steps of stairs. At the center of the topmost platform stood a massive bronze cauldron placed directly in front of the pavilion's main entrance.

Under the arrangement of the black-robed person, Lin Yuan stood below the first level of the plaza.

"Impressive! Magnificent."

At this moment, he looked up at the brilliantly lit pavilion, praising in his heart.

Looking down, about ten people stood on the highest platform. Five stood each on either side, divided by the large cauldron.

"It's that inner sect senior sister seen this morning." Among them was a woman, whom Lin Yuan found very familiar. Under her gaze, his muscles tightened, increasing the pressure immensely.

He had a deep impression of this.

The second platform had even more people, about two to three hundred, also symmetrically divided by the large cauldron.

"Dong."

A bell rang from the pavilion above.

The crowd instantly fell silent, the scene becoming somewhat quiet.

"Silence."

A silhouette emerged, an elderly person with a vigorous spirit, hair slightly gray. Those piercing eyes on his calm face were extremely striking, staring intently as if shooting light beams, making it hard for anyone to look straight at him.

"Look, quickly. That's Elder Yu, Elder Yu. It's the Transmission Hall..." someone whispered, but Lin Yuan listened intently.

Without waiting for Lin Yuan to listen carefully, Elder Yu spoke in a somewhat aged voice: "Today, I congratulate the new disciples of the school for overcoming formidable opponents and standing out. As I preside over the school allocation today, you must carefully consider and make the right decisions."

Elder Yu meticulously explained the various attentions to note after entering the school and then announced that everyone could start making their choices.

Following that, the disciples on the top introduced the classifications of disciples within the school.

There was learning martial arts like fist techniques, leg techniques, and palm techniques, which were indispensable. In addition, one must undertake chores like disciples, learning related auxiliary cultivation techniques such as alchemy, arrays, forging, etc.

From these introductions, Lin Yuan understood.

Currently, his status was that of a newly initiated chore disciple. Either you have special abilities, a high enough martial arts cultivation level, or a good father, only then can you become an elite disciple.

The basic requirement for becoming an elite disciple is to train Qi-Blood, skin, bones, and muscles to the Great Achievement Realm.

After reaching the Great Achievement Realm, one can start condensing the essence, and upon completion, can be promoted to an Inner Sect Disciple.

"No wonder that senior sister's gaze alone made me feel immense pressure." Lin Yuan thought silently, "The gap between those who have condensed essence and those who haven't is huge, otherwise with my Qi-Blood cultivation, I wouldn't feel such a sense of danger."

"However, no need to rush, entering the school to cultivate quietly, with the aid of the nine chapters, I will also rise step by step."

"Even higher." Lin Yuan was full of confidence in this.

"Thus, martial arts are essential for all disciples to practice, myself included. In the four major cultivation directions of Qi-Blood, skin, bones, and muscles, with the help of the nine chapters, all I need is to quietly accumulate Qi-Blood."

"Currently, my dilemma is that the accumulation of Qi-Blood is too slow. I need elixirs to speed up the accumulation of Qi-Blood."

"Moreover, to train bones and muscles to the perfect realm, the nine chapter deductions also require elixirs."

"Instead of searching around to buy elixirs, it would be better for me to learn the Alchemy Technique myself. At that time, I will no longer be troubled."

With this thought, Lin Yuan didn't hesitate.

"Join the Alchemy Hall!"

After registering, Lin Yuan completed his status change, becoming a chore disciple of the Alchemy Hall.

Then, waiting until midnight, after all disciples were allocated, he followed behind the gray-robed person, all chore disciples of the Alchemy Hall. The gray-robed person meandered for about another hour, arriving at the final destination at the foot of a mountain.

A small house about the size of three rooms.

The small house was situated on a very extensive small hill sparsely scattered with the houses of various chore disciples, with significant distances between them.

"Probably need to shout to let the other side hear my movements here." Lin Yuan stood outside his house, looking at the nearest brightly lit small house, estimating in his heart.

"But that's good too, to avoid disturbances."

After some tidying up, Lin Yuan sat on the bed looking around his small house, secretly breathing a sigh of relief.

"It's finally settled in."

"After half a month, I can go to the Hall of Duties to receive a portion of Qi-Blood powder!" A hint of joy crossed Lin Yuan's face, "Let's see how effective the Qi-Blood powder is."

On his way to the small house, Lin Yuan had already inquired about the general distribution time of the Qi-Blood powder. Chore disciples can receive a portion of the Qi-Blood powder every month. But the Hall of Duties had just distributed it a couple of days ago. To receive it, one would need to wait until the next distribution.

Lying on the bed, Lin Yuan gazed through the window at the distant starry sky.

With anticipation, Lin Yuan fell into a deep sleep.