Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Inscrutable Alchemy Dao Level
"Muu Xue, what a coincidence. The young man we happened to meet the other day is actually a High-Level Teacher at the Academy." Feng Ling sat beside Muu Xue, turning her head to whisper, her beautiful eyes unable to hide her surprise.
"I know, right? Who would have thought someone so young would be a High-Level Teacher at a thousand-year-old academy?" Muu Xue sighed, her face filled with deep disappointment. ’For someone so young, how high could his skill in the Alchemy Dao possibly be?’
Aside from Muu Xue, nearly everyone else was thinking the same thing.
But, fooled by his appearance, they had forgotten a crucial fact: how could Mingxin Academy, with its thousand-year legacy as a cornerstone of the nation, make such a low-level mistake?
"This class will last for two hours. You may ask about anything you don’t understand regarding the Alchemy Dao." Qin Ya looked out at the thirty-seven students below and spoke calmly.
’An open-ended lecture on the Alchemy Dao?!’
Many students frowned. Any teacher who dared to hold a class this way was, without exception, supremely confident in their own skill. Within the Academy, no one besides a few Special-Level Teachers had ever attempted it.
’This young teacher is too arrogant.’
"Hmph. Absurd." A sullen-looking young man snorted. He had been displeased from the moment he first saw Qin Ya, and hearing such a declaration, he could no longer suppress it.
"Oh?" Qin Ya’s expression was unperturbed as he looked at the young man. "I know many of you doubt me. But since I am wearing these robes, I am your teacher. Have you never learned the principle of respecting your teacher?"
"Respecting the teacher?!" The young man sneered. "A teacher’s role is to impart knowledge and resolve confusion. If you have that ability, I will naturally call you teacher. But if you don’t, what right do you have to call yourself one?"
"You are welcome to test me!"
With a light flick of his sleeve, Qin Ya stood unruffled, radiating the aura of a true master. The sight made many of the students’ eyes light up.
Their eyes lit up. ’His skill aside, just this bearing alone is a rare sight. He is worthy of the title of teacher.’
"Fine. If you have the skill, then what’s to stop me from calling you teacher?" Seeing Qin Ya’s composure, the young man was now eager to test him.
"Question: What is the effect of combining Emerald Heart Grass with Earth Dragon Root?"
"It reduces dryness, purges internal heat, and calms the spirit."
"Another question. There are twenty-one refining techniques for the First-Grade Elixir, the Jade Spirit Pill. Which technique is the fastest?"
"Refining with the Fire Cloud Technique is the fastest, but it has the lowest success rate. However, if you supplement it with a Cloud Sea Lotus, your efficiency will be greatly enhanced."
The young man’s eyes narrowed. His gaze on Qin Ya was now completely devoid of contempt. Although his questions were basic, they were incredibly obscure. Even some Third-Grade Alchemists might not have been able to answer them.
"Another question—"
The young man started to ask another question, but Qin Ya cut him off sharply. "Enough. There’s no need to ask any more of these basic questions, lest you waste everyone’s time. Ask something you actually don’t understand."
"Fine." The young man didn’t waste any more words. "I’ve recently been studying the Second-Grade Elixir, Nine-Flower Jade Dew. This Jade Dew can be taken internally or applied externally and is used to heal common internal and external injuries. But the Jade Dew I refine is ineffective when taken internally, and applying it externally causes the patient’s skin to have an allergic reaction. What’s happening?"
Everyone was slightly startled to hear this. They hadn’t expected this young man was already striving to become a Second-Grade Alchemist by attempting to refine a Second-Grade Elixir. Even Muu Xue couldn’t help but shoot him a surprised look.
She was also familiar with Nine-Flower Jade Dew. It was one of the easier Second-Grade Elixirs to make. At her current level, she was fully capable of refining it. Not only could this Jade Dew be used to treat injuries, but it also acted as a perfume, making it incredibly popular among the women of the Imperial Capital. She herself often refined it for sale.
Muu Xue couldn’t help but shift her gaze to Qin Ya, a curious glint flashing in her pretty eyes. ’This question about the Second-Grade Elixir, Nine-Flower Jade Dew, should be enough to reveal the true level of this young teacher’s skill in the Alchemy Dao.’
If Qin Ya knew what Muu Xue was thinking, he would have scoffed. Trying to fathom the skill of a Pill Venerable through a mere Second-Grade Elixir was quite possibly the greatest joke in the history of the Azure Sky Realm.
"Nine-Flower Jade Dew... ineffective when taken internally, and causes skin allergies when applied externally?" Qin Ya’s eyes narrowed slightly. The required medicinal herbs, refining process, and fire control techniques for the elixir flashed through his mind as he began to deduce the cause from the effects.
If any other Alchemist knew what Qin Ya was doing right now, they would be utterly astounded, thinking him a Celestial Human. To attempt to deduce the entire refining technique just from its resulting effects...
The complexity of such a feat was simply staggering.
"When you processed the Sunflower, did you soak it in water? Also, the dew you collected... was it from a Locust Tree?"
Everyone turned to look at the young man. He frowned, thinking back carefully. Then, his pupils contracted. "How did you know the Sunflower was soaked in water? And that the dew came from a Locust Tree?"
No one could fathom the shock in the young man’s heart. ’I only described the elixir’s flawed effects, so how could he possibly know my refining process?’
"Then that’s the problem. Soaking a Sunflower causes it to secrete an acidic juice. You should have ground it into powder first..."
Qin Ya slowly pointed out several of the young man’s mistakes in the refining process. As the young man listened, his expression shifted from shock to confusion, and finally, to dawning realization.
"So that’s how it is... so that’s how it is." The young man’s eyes gradually brightened. He suddenly bowed deeply to Qin Ya. "Teacher Qin, I take back what I said. You are indeed capable of being our teacher."
Qin Ya nodded slightly. "What’s your name?"
"Xiao Yi, from one of the Four Great Noble Families of the Imperial Capital." As he spoke of his lineage, Xiao Yi lifted his head slightly with a touch of pride, and the other students reacted with appropriately surprised expressions.
Qin Ya, in contrast, remained impassive. "Oh."
’In this world, only the Martial Arts are eternal. Even the most powerful Noble Families will one day fall. Besides, as a Pill Venerable in his past life, what kind of family hasn’t he seen?’
’Just the other day, he’d run into Lu Chen from the Lu Family.’
"Do any of you have questions? Ask them now." Qin Ya looked out at the other students and said calmly. The students exchanged glances, and then another stood up to pose their own question about the Alchemy Dao.
This student asked about the First-Grade Elixir, the Dragon Tiger Bone Strengthening Pill. Coincidentally, Qin Ya had recently discussed this very elixir with High-Level Teacher Liu Qing. For him, this was no problem at all.
With just a few nonchalant sentences, Qin Ya brought the student to a sudden, clear understanding. Seeing this, the other students rushed to ask their own questions.
"Muu Xue, this young teacher really has some skill. His level in the Alchemy Dao might even be on par with yours," Feng Ling said to Muu Xue in amazement, her eyes gleaming with fascination as she watched Qin Ya.
"No. I’m not his equal," Muu Xue said, shaking her head.
Only now did she realize how wrong she had been—terribly, absurdly wrong. ’The level of this young man’s Alchemy Dao is something I can’t even begin to comprehend.’
Although the students were only asking about First- and Second-Grade Elixirs, Qin Ya’s performance was simply too uncanny.
’To deduce their exact refining process from just the question and then propose a precise solution... It’s as if he personally watched each of them during their attempts.’
’This was something that not even she could do. In fact, she was certain even Liu Qing, the Academy’s top Fifth-Grade Alchemist, was incapable of it.’
’A skill in the Alchemy Dao like that was almost... supernatural.’
