Pretenses, So Tiring!

"Then I shall be speaking…"

After figuring out the situation, Su Yin was no longer awkward.

Instead, he revealed a sincere smile.

Seeing him agree, Chen Xiaoyue was speechless.

Alchemist Ming Yu clearly wanted to put this fellow in his place. This so-called "comment"… You are someone who knows nothing and is even only seeing Alchemy for the first time, are you even qualified to make a "comment"?

He clearly wants to embarrass you!

At this point, you just have to apologize sincerely and it'll be over!

In the end, not only you refused to compromise, you even cooperated with what he wanted!

You're really thick-skinned!

"To think that Elder Shen who had so many outstanding disciples gave his jade token to a fool instead of those remarkable disciples of his…" Chen Xiaoyue shook her head as she sighed in her heart

Alchemist Ming Yu also didn't expect the other party to agree. After faltering for a moment, he revealed a contemplative smile. "Then, I'll be listening to your enlightening remarks!"

"Mm!"

Knowing that this was a test, Su Yin no longer concealed himself.

Walking over to the front of the tripod furnace in a few steps, he picked up a Spirit Gathering Pill that had just been refined. Then, he took a light sniff. In an instant, the various medicinal properties of the pill appeared in his mind.

"I'll begin with Prescription!"

Both hands behind his back, Su Yin paced slowly. For some reason, although he appeared to have no cultivation base. He seemed to have a bearing that made it hard to look directly at him.

Like an Immortal, like a Sage.

"Prescription—as its name implies—is the sorting and matching of medicinal herbs to allow the efficient mixture of various medicinal properties from all sorts of medicinal herbs. Since this is the refinement of Spirit Gathering Pill, ample spiritual aura is naturally the main premise!"

"Earlier, you have used a ten-year-old Qin Driftwood. Its spiritual aura was the most abundant, so it should be the so-called principal herb of your concoction!"

"Yes!" Alchemist Ming Yu initially didn't want to reply, but the presence of the other party seemed to coerce him into nodding his head in reply.

"Qin Driftwood—the more spiritual aura it absorbs, the heavier it becomes. Since this is a ten-year-old Qin Driftwood, its spiritual aura is mostly concentrated at its roots…"

"If you want to take advantage of this attribute to efficiently draw out the greatest effect, you should've used its roots in the prescription. But you've used everything that was above the roots instead, so I'll give you a bad rating for it!"

"The Nine Fragrance Flower is sweet in flavor, strong in nature. It is most suitable to be used as an enabler of the Green Viola's properties, but you used it on the Qin Driftwood…"

"As a result, you've wasted 17% of its spiritual aura, causing the effect of the ten-year-old Qin Driftwood to regress into something similar to an eight-year-old Qin Driftwood… I'll give you a bad rating for it!"

"Royal Incense is rarer than all the herbs you've used. If I were to make a guess, then it should be the most expensive one among all the medicinal herbs in this concoction. However, this particular herb prefers water, but you've placed it directly into a scorching furnace."

"As a result, 61% of its medicinal properties were lost. What's more, the remaining properties that it had were neutralized by the lilac. If you had soaked it in water beforehand, all of these could've been avoided!"

"You've used four taels of medicinal herbs, but half a tael would've been enough! You've wasted the herbs! You've thrown money away, so I'll give you a bad rating for it!"

"The medicinal properties of the Silver Wood Grass are concentrated in the leaves, its petals have some toxicity in it, and you also did not pluck off the petals before refining it…"

"Although this toxicity will not affect any users of the pills, it still caused 7% of the medicinal herb's spiritual aura to be lost! This is yet again, a bad rating!"

"… bad rating!"

"… bad rating!"

…

"Bad rating!"

Su Yin spoke so fast that he became akin to that of a machine gun. He continuously spat words after words. The other party's prescription was just too bad it deserved a thrashing.

Furthermore, watching the other party's actions made Su Yin want to puke. Knowing that this was a test, he no longer had any misgivings and he spoke as honestly as he could while pacing around the tripod furnace.

Within a mere two minutes, he had picked out 17 to 18 points of error.

"This…"

Chen Xiaoyue was staring at Su Yin with widened eyes.

She had thought that this fellow was a fool, yet right now… She felt as if her jaw was about to fall onto the ground.

She might not be an alchemist, but after having stayed in an alchemy house for several years…

She had come to understand quite a bit in regards to medicinal properties, and medicine theories.

With her knowledge, she actually couldn't find any problems with what the other party had said!

Had he… had he really made out so much from that performance?

How was this possible?!

Alchemist Ming Yu was a Level Three Alchemist. He might not be the most capable among Elder Shen's disciples, but he surely wasn't weak.

With the Spirit Gathering Pill that even apprentices could refine, he would've already refined them for at least 700 to 800, or maybe even a thousand times over the decades that had passed.

No one had ever said anything against Alchemist Ming Yu's methods, but why was it that in the eyes of this fellow—everything that he had done seemed to be wrong?

"Are his words… correct?"

Chen Xiaoyue was no longer able to resist her curiosity. She turned and looked towards Alchemist Ming Yu who stood nearby. Then, she saw that there was a pale look on his face and his figure was shivering non-stop.

Being a Level Three Alchemist, Chen Xiaoyue's judgment as a mere service staff obviously couldn't hold a candle against the former. Sure, she was somewhat knowledgeable, but she couldn't thoroughly understand whether Su Yin's words were correct. However, Ming Yu could.

Recalling Su Yin's words, Alchemist Ming Yu deliberated accordingly. Soon, he discovered that there was nary the slightest error in every word that Su Yin had said so far!

Could it be that he was really right?

I have made dozens of mistakes in refining Spirit Gathering Pills that even apprentices could accomplish? I also made so many mistakes in my prescription?

Alchemist Ming Yu's body was stiff.

He felt as if all his years of diligent study had gone to the donkeys. He felt as if the beliefs that he had always held as the truth was about to collapse at any time.

"I shall stop here!"

After mentioning a tenth of the problems that were in the prescription, Su Yin held his chin and fell into deep thought. "After saying so much, it should be enough!"

"I just want to be able to pass the test, it's not for the sake of showing off…"

"In any case, before I have a cultivation base, I'd better be more low-key.".

Su Yin thought for a while and discovered that the problems he had pointed out were the most basic and easiest problems to identify. They should be enough to satisfy the other party's demands in the test, and furthermore. He also wouldn't seem boastful.

Su Yin heaved a sigh of relief. He lifted his head and looked to the alchemist who was nearby.

"These are problems in prescription, as for kindling a flame…"

"I don't know much about this part, but I am a chef and I often kindle a flame to cook!"

"I still know a little about it!"

Su Yin then went on. "This tripod furnace is made from green manganese steel…"

"It is able to bear strong flames of over two thousand degrees Celsius."

"Even though the temperatures of the charcoal fire that you have made using true essence was indeed high, the flames were just too scattered…"

"A large amount of the heat generated from the fire had dissipated into the surroundings from the tripod furnace. As a result, the furnace didn't manage to get sufficient heating for efficient refinement, so this is also a bad rating!"

"While changes did occur in the flames as you input your true essence, the speed at which they did so was too slow. As a result, several problems appeared in regards to the temperature of the tripod furnace. This is also a bad rating!'

"… bad rating!"

…

After successively naming the seven most obvious points—embarrassment and shame showed on Su Yin's face.

"Regarding the fire, I really don't know much… I only caught these few points!"

"…"

With their mouths agape, Alchemist Ming Yu and Chen Xiaoyue wanted to die.

You don't know, but you still found so many negative points?

You're a chef? What in the world? Has that got anything to do with kindling a flame to refine pills?

While they were shocked beyond words, the youth's voice continued.

"As for the subsequent refinement, I still know a little. Despite never refining any medicinal herbs before, I know quite a bit about medicinal properties and potency, I know how to blend them for the sake of efficiency!"

"So, for this segment, I caught 120 fishy points. How about this? I will first talk about the 20 more obvious ones…"

In reality, he had made out more than 200 mistakes.

But in order to keep a low-profile, he cut it by half then only highlighted 20 of them…

Even though he had chopped them down to a tenth, it must still be enough if the negative reviews that he had just given earlier were added on top of them.

Of course, he intentionally mentioned that there were more than a hundred mistakes because he didn't want the other party to fail him. If the other party found his findings insufficient, then he would be able to smoothly point out the remaining hundred.

That way, the revelation also wouldn't feel so abrupt.

Sigh, catching too many problems is troublesome too!

Su Yin sighed.

It was only at this moment did he finally understood the hard work of Wu Yuan and the others.

They clearly knew that he wasn't someone special, yet they had to work with him and put him on a pedestal. What's more, they even had to pretend as if they had been enlightened, and delighted with his words!

Pretenses, so tiring!