Wang Ming had a calm expression on his face as he silently observed the herbs in front of him, according to the knowledge he received when he bought the Alchemy Techniques, the ones which had no duplicates or any form of similarities were easy to identify without relying on the sense of touch and smell
Wang Ming quickly wrote the names of the herbs on the blank paper which he could identify with only his sight, Ning Chu who had been silently staring in Wang Ming's direction was thoroughly pleased by his action as he moved to identify the one which had a duplicate
' As I thought, he was easily able to identify them, and now let's how he deals with the other' Ning Chu thought to himself when he saw Wang Ming moving to the next herb
On the other hand, Yang Jia was stunned and frustrated that Wang Ming could identify the herbs before her
' How can he identify them so fast, is he really that talented?' Yang Jia questioned in her mind with frustration
Wang Ming who had no way of knowing what the others were thinking had his complete focus drawn to the two herbs in front of him
In front of him were two identical white plants which consisted of red leaves with black marks on them, one small red-colored berry which was the same size as a small marble was sticking to the stem of each plant
' Sigh, there are so many kinds of plans similar to his but ... I can still shorten them down' Wang Ming said as he started caressing the stem and other parts of the plants with his hands and recorded every detail he felt with his hand
' It feels a bit more slippery than usual' Wang Ming started browsing down his options and he was left with 9 of them the other 7 were not present in the room but had two which could be any one of the 9 herbs
Wang Ming leaned forward toward the plant which was inside a small flower pot made out of pure spiritual clay to take a sniff, he tore one of the leaves from each plant and brought one of them close to his nose before taking a sniff
' Ugh, what the fuck' Wang Ming cursed inside his mind when a strong pungent scent assaulted his nostrils as he inhaled the smell of the leaves, the other red leaf also had the same kind of smell which helped him narrow down his option even further, he immediately eliminated 4 possible identities from the 9 options he narrowed down and was left with 5 option to choose from in his mind
" Now, time for the taste testing" Wang Ming reluctantly brought one of the leaves in front of his mouth and pressed it against his lips, before parting his lips to allow the leaves to invade his mouth
" Ugh, too sour" the sour taste from the leaves forced Wang Ming to close his eyes as a few droplets of tears dripped from them, he made a funny-looking face at the moment, Wang Ming quickly swept his eyes across the crowd, and breathed a sigh of relief when no one saw the funny looking face he made just now but unknown to him two people saw this from another room through a treasure
The taste of the other leaf was also the same which brought the options he had down by another number
Then Wang Ming proceeded to move his hands toward small circular berry that was attached to the stems, he gently plucked them with each of his hands to avoid damaging the fruit
After he plucked them he tossed one of them inside his mouth and he started slowly chewing them, he had expected the fruit to be bitter or sour but the berry turned out to be completely sweet and had a pleasant aftertaste lingering inside his mouth. He grabbed the other fruit and pinched it tightly as it got crushed between his fingers, and blood-red colored juices coated his fingers and palm like the other one, he brought one of his fingers in front of his mouth which was coated with red juices and gave it a slight lick with his tongue
' Hmm, it's a bit less sweet than the previous one and does not have any lingering aftertaste... well I think I can identify them now but let's perform one more test before reaching a conclusion' Wang Ming thought to himself as he eliminated one more option from his mind and was left with only two possibilities
Wang Ming tightly clutched the terminal bud of each of the two plants and pulled it out of the flower pot until the root which was hidden beneath the soil was visible to the naked eyes
One of the root caps of the plant was stained with deep red blood color while the other one was the same color as the rest of the root, the plant which had its root cap stained with red color had some root hairs at the end of the lateral root while the other did not have root hairs
" As expected one of them is the mud blood plant while the other is the comprehension plant" Wang Ming mumbled to himself
The mud blood plant was one of the main ingredients used by Alchemists to make low-grade pills that helps to refine the bloodline of a cultivator while the comprehension plants are used to create pills that are taken by Cultivators who needs to comprehend a specific technique, it helps them to increase their focus during the time of comprehending a technique
' Luckily, I had the knowledge transferred to me or else I would have failed to identify such rare herbs' Wang Ming thought to himself before writing the answers down on the paper
' Oh, he has finished' Ning Chu's eyes locked onto Wang Ming as he saw Wang Ming closing his eyes after he rested the pen on the table
' What he has already finished this quick, damn it' Yang Jia cursed inwardly when she saw Wang Ming close his eyes while she was still struggling to solve the 41st question
Wang Ming silently sat down in his place as time slowly passed until Ning Chu announced the end of the exam
" Alright everyone stop whatever you are doing now, your time is up" Ning Chu announced loudly which caused everyone to raise their voices in panic
" What time is up, I have not finished answering the questions yet"
" How the hell did one hour pass so quickly, I have not even answered half of the questions yet, I will fail for sure, damn it"
" Sigh, at least I was able to answer more than half of the questions, there is still a chance I will advance to the next round"
All sorts of murmurs could be heard among the crowd, some of them were dissatisfied with the lack of time, some were nervous while others were radiating with confidence
" Silence, everyone leave your papers on the table and wait outside for the results" Ning Chu said loudly as everyone obediently left the room slowly
After everyone left the room, Ning Chu ordered his two bodyguards to collect the papers while Ning Chu walked toward the place where Wang Ming was sitting
" Let's see if you could answer all the questions, correctly" Ning Chu murmured to himself as he started checking the answers that Wang Ming wrote on the paper after some time a look of shock appeared on his face
" Amazing, he answered all of the questions correctly, and he even solved the question that most Alchemist fail to solve during their starting journey in the path of Alchemy, heck, I have met so many 3-star and even a few 5-star Alchemist, none of them claimed that they had solved all the questions in the first round correctly" Ning Chu said with amazement in his voice
" Ning Chu, you brat listen to me" suddenly an elderly voice brought him out of his thoughts
" Eh, Hall master, why are you contacting me all of a sudden?" Ning Chu asked Zhang Zhi who was communicating with him through voice transmission
" I have been observing the exam hall through one of my treasures with Yang Baihu who has been recently been promoted to a 3-star Alchemist" Zhang Zhi informed
" What, the old man got promoted" Ning Chu said in surprise
" Who the hell are you calling old?" Yang Baihu's angry voice resounded through the voice transmission
" You" Ning Chu replied with a smirk
" Old your head" Yang Baihu replied angrily
" You two stop, listen I have been observing that young man called Wang Ming and have decided that he can skip the second round and directly advance to the final round after discussing with Yang Baihu, you bring him to my office, and I will personally take his test" Zhang Zhi said which stunned Ning Chu
' Hmm, maybe he wants to recruit him after the test' Ning Chu thought to himself that the Hall Master might want to recruit him to Alchemy Hall so that the reputation of their Alchemy Hall increase among the Alchemy Community
" Alright, I will bring him to you" Ning Chu said as the voice transmission was cut off
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