Chapter 40

Gong Dongling first refined the Foundation Establishment Pill she was most familiar with. She succeeded on the first try, so the remaining set of materials did not need to be used. She placed the pill into the brocade box for inspection. This seemed to be a magical artifact capable of testing finished pills and automatically determining whether they qualified.

Since she could only refine the second pill after the test results came out, Gong Dongling stood quietly before the alchemy furnace and waited.

Unexpectedly, before she could begin refining the second Heavenly Fragrance Pill, a figure walked straight behind her and reached for her operating table.

Before Gong Dongling could react, she discovered that her remaining Golden Silkworm Ice had been taken. After taking it, the other person turned to walk back to his own station without even greeting her.

Startled, she lifted her head and met the eyes of an unfamiliar face. The other party was candidate number 20, the one seated closest to her.

When Gong Dongling had entered earlier, she had accidentally glanced at him. That male cultivator did not seem to be taking the same level exam as her. His prescriptions and materials were piled up like a mountain, and he looked especially overwhelmed.

The male cultivator met Gong Dongling’s gaze, yet remained unmoved. When he saw that the initial-rank section on Gong Dongling’s table was completely empty and that she had no alchemist level at all, he even lifted his chin slightly and revealed a rather smug smile.

“Don’t you have your own materials? Why did you take mine?” Gong Dongling’s eyes showed not the slightest fear as she lifted her gaze and looked over coldly.

“Aren’t you already done? What do you care whether I take it or not?” he said lightly, as if all the materials rightfully belonged to him. His tone was especially arrogant, and a trace of impatience flickered between his brows.

The male cultivator even looked Gong Dongling up and down with an especially stolen contentblatant gaze. He only felt that although her appearance was ordinary, her figure was not bad. Unfortunately, her face was not good-looking enough and could not enter his eyes.

He thought, why waste words with her? Perhaps she had deliberately called out to him just to attract his attention. After all, he was graceful and elegant in appearance, and he was about to become a high-grade alchemist. Who knew how many female cultivators favored him?

Gong Dongling suddenly smiled, as if she had finally understood. “Oh—so both your chances failed, and that’s why you ran over here to steal like a petty thief.”

“You! I merely made a hand slip during the first attempt and put in both stalks of Golden Silkworm Ice at the same time. As for you, you haven’t even passed the initial-grade alchemist exam, yet you dare point fingers at me?”

Sure enough, the male cultivator was provoked. What he hated most was hearing others belittle his alchemy skills. The moment he heard it, he grew anxious.

“It’s fine. In any case, you won’t pass today’s high-grade alchemist assessment either. Once I finish refining my second pill, won’t we be at the same level? Same thing.” Gong Dongling glanced calmly at the slowly burning incense stick on number 20’s table, and her smile deepened.

The incense on her own table had stopped because she was in the testing period, but number 20’s was still counting down.

Anyway, it wasn’t my time being wasted. Take as long as you like.

“You haven’t even taken the initial-grade exam and directly came to take the middle-grade exam. How ambitious. I’m just afraid you don’t have that ability.” The male cultivator gave a strange, mocking laugh. “No matter how much you pester me, I won’t like that ugly face of yours. Stop trying to attract my attention. It’s disgusting to look at.”

Gong Dongling froze, then remembered that it was because of her disguise. She was also choked by his peak confidence. Only after a long while did she hold back her laughter and say, “Fine, I won’t pester you. Can you return the Golden Silkworm Ice to me?”

“Return it and—”

He blurted it out, but before he could finish, he braked in time. Remembering that if he really returned it, he would definitely fail the high-grade alchemist exam, he quickly changed his words. “Why should I listen to you? Since it’s in my hands, it’s mine. You want it? Come grab it.”

Seeing how shameless he was, Gong Dongling was not angry at all. She turned around, flicked her hand, and quietly swiped a small glass bottle filled with liquid material from the table.

She walked straight up to the male cultivator, pretending with her empty hand that she was going to snatch it back. While the other party nimbly defended himself, she suddenly poured the liquid over the Golden Silkworm Ice.

After doing all this, Gong Dongling shook the glass bottle in her hand and smiled even more innocently. “Oh my, my hand slipped.”

Although the male cultivator did not know what Gong Dongling had poured onto it, he knew that purity was the most important thing in alchemy. Materials absolutely could not be contaminated by anything else. Otherwise, that whole batch of materials would be directly ruined.

“You want to die?!” He glared at Gong Dongling through gritted teeth, so angry that he threw the Golden Silkworm Ice onto the ground and stomped on it several times, crushing it to pieces.

“Ah, but what I poured was only water. You were the one who crushed it yourself. How can you blame me?” Gong Dongling continued striking where it hurt. “Also, your incense is almost burned out. Oh, sorry. I forgot you don’t even have the materials anymore, so of course there’s no need to continue the assessment.”

The male cultivator nearly spat out a mouthful of blood. He bared his teeth and brandished his claws, ready to kill Gong Dongling, but the instant he saw someone approaching from ahead, he stopped his movement. Like a face-changing opera performer, he immediately put on a hypocritical expression and pointed at Gong Dongling in accusation. “She interfered with my assessment and destroyed my materials!”

Gong Dongling turned her head and saw that several staff members from the high pavilion had somehow arrived before the two of them. When they spread apart and revealed the face of the last person, she was startled. It was actually that lingering ghost, Mu Chenlin, again!

By reflex, she almost lowered her head, but in the next second, she restrained herself.

After all, she was currently disguised. Without the veiled hat, no one could see her original appearance at all. On top of that, the robe she wore was a basic white style, the kind found all over the street. Was she really afraid he would recognize her?

With this thought, Gong Dongling did not hide. Instead, she met the gazes of the group and shrugged. “He’s stepping on my materials while accusing me. Is that reasonable?”

“She poured an unknown material on—”

But before he could finish speaking, Mu Chenlin impatiently interrupted him.

“He is the alchemist you said had hopes of reaching high grade?” Mu Chenlin’s face darkened slightly, his disappointment obvious.

As he spoke, Mu Chenlin passed by Gong Dongling and looked her over for a moment. His gaze lingered on that white robe for two seconds. Seeing that she was merely an unfamiliar face, he did not care and withdrew his gaze.

“My first high-grade pill has already been completed. The second one only missed the time because of her interference. If you are willing to give me another chance, I will definitely show my abilities properly to this honored person.” The male cultivator had naturally noticed that Mu Chenlin was the one with the highest status among them and directly pleaded with him.

The expressions of the others also became awkward. Moreover, high-grade alchemists were indeed precious. They also wanted to smoothly do him a favor. Perhaps in the future, they could benefit from this high-grade alchemist’s glory. So they advised,

“Although we do not know who started their dispute, that female cultivator has no rank and does not look like she came to refine pills properly. Perhaps she came here specifically to cause trouble. Why not let him try once more? Besides, Mr. Mu, is your side not very short on high-grade alchemists?”

Gong Dongling immediately picked up his words.

“If rank is the basis your association uses to treat pill cultivators differently, then I think pill cultivators no longer need to come here for assessments. After all, those who come here to be assessed are all pill cultivators you look down on and think aren’t refining pills properly. Naturally, they can’t compare to this high-grade one.”

These words drew sidelong glances from the surrounding pill cultivators who had finished their assessments. Most of them had come to take the low-grade or middle-grade exams, and clearly, they had also been included in those words.

Before Mu Chenlin came over, he had already listened to a long stretch of the conversation from over there and understood the cause and effect. He knew this pill cultivator’s ability had not reached that level at all and had not the slightest interest in him.

“Enough. A branch steward should not have this kind of quality. Besides, no matter how short on manpower I am, I do not need a pill cultivator who accidentally puts in two portions of a material because of a hand slip. You all continue. I’ll take a casual look around myself.”

His words were practically slaps to the faces of both the steward and the male pill cultivator. For a time, the atmosphere grew awkward.

But just then, by sheer coincidence, Mu Chenlin suddenly caught sight of the Foundation Establishment Pill Gong Dongling had finished. His steps paused.

He remembered the Foundation Establishment Pill that woman had shown him in the black market last time. For some reason, he suddenly wanted to pick this one up and compare the two.

This pause made Gong Dongling’s whole body tense as well. In the next second, she watched Mu Chenlin’s hand reach toward the Foundation Establishment Pill inside the brocade box.

Gong Dongling pressed down on the brocade box and looked back into Mu Chenlin’s eyes. To cover her nervousness, her altered voice sounded especially cold and distant. “May I ask what the matter is?”

“Isn’t this a finished product meant for testing? Is manual spot-checking not allowed?” [stolen content]Mu Chenlin sensed Gong Dongling’s inexplicable hostility toward him and also focused his attention on her, looking her up and down.

“My report has not come out yet. It is not convenient to conduct a spot check.” Gong Dongling still insisted on not letting him see it.

But the moment her words fell, the true inspectors of the assessment jumped down before the two of them. Naturally, they were all trying to please Mu Chenlin, whose mood was poor. So they put on ingratiating smiles and advised Gong Dongling, “Don’t worry. This has no effect. Spot checks are a required part of the process. We ask the immortal lady to cooperate with our daily work.”

“There must be something wrong with her pill! She cheated, which is why she won’t let you check it!” the male pill cultivator immediately fanned the flames. Although he himself had lost all face, he would only feel satisfied if the other party became like him.

Since all these people said so, continuing to hide it would only cause suspicion. Gong Dongling had no choice. She slowly released her hand, yet kept her gaze fixed on Mu Chenlin’s movements and expression.

Mu Chenlin smiled with modest courtesy, but the movements of his hand were even faster.

He directly picked up the pill and looked at it. The instant he touched the pill, he did not feel the usual resistance of spiritual power against his palm when holding a pill. It was almost exactly the same astonishing feeling from last time.

In other words, this pill was very likely the same as the finished product refined by that female alchemist, containing no spiritual power.

His sharp gaze instantly shot toward Gong Dongling. He only felt that this person absolutely had some connection to that female cultivator. Perhaps they were even the same person.

This suddenly made Mu Chenlin remember that the woman did not have an alchemist certification. In that case, it was not impossible for her to come now and take part in the assessment.

But whether she was or not, he had lost one last time. This one had to be placed under the Read on BaiLianTalesDemon Realm’s control first.

Seeing his reaction, Gong Dongling’s heart went cold. It seemed she had still been recognized. Although she did not know how, this pill must have had some strong characteristic of hers, which was how she was exposed.

She steeled her heart. So what if he recognized her? She would just deny it to the end.

The male pill cultivator at the side was unusually excited. So this person was no good either. She had finally been caught. He could not wait to mock her. “I told you there was something wrong with her! Hurry and have the Pill Cultivator Association permanently ban her from taking certification exams!”

The others began discussing among themselves, but Mu Chenlin alone remained unmoved.

“Have you met me before? Otherwise, why are you so guarded?” Mu Chenlin narrowed his eyes and questioned Gong Dongling.

The moment he spoke, however, everyone froze. Shouldn’t this have been a stern interrogation?

“No. I only want to pass the assessment as soon as possible and do not want to invite unrelated trouble.” Gong Dongling still maintained that cold, unapproachable manner, showing not the slightest emotion on her face.

Seeing that she refused to admit it, Mu Chenlin smiled slightly. “It is fine if you do not admit it. In any case, what I have my eye on is this pill, not you as a person. I wonder if this pill cultivator has any intention of cooperation. We happen to need a stable supply.”

The moment he said this, the surrounding people burst into an uproar. Who did not know that Mr. Mu was a major new shareholder of the Alchemist Association? He held immense wealth and was extremely generous. The prices he offered pill cultivators were four or five times higher than outside. Whoever could become his supplier, even if they did not get rich overnight, would definitely make a huge profit.

They had originally thought the person Mr. Mu needed [stolen content]would definitely be a rare prospective high-grade alchemist like number 20. How could he extend an olive branch to a young pill cultivator who had not even passed the initial-grade exam?

When the male pill cultivator heard this, he felt as if his face had been slapped hard again. This result was impossible for him to believe. Without waiting for Gong Dongling to speak, he was the first to jump out. “She isn’t even a proper pill cultivator yet. How could the pills she refines possibly be what you need? Honored one, did you perhaps see wrongly?”

Author’s Note:
Senior Sister directly went all sarcastic and struck him right where it hurt.