Taking the Pellet Refining Exam.
1162 Words
Zhu Yuan followed the senior elder to the inner chambers of the examination hall, his steps watched by numerous old scholars and instructors who felt perplexed by the unexpected turns of the day.
"Presumptuous rascal! If he passes the masters exam then won't I have laboured in vain all these years." Elder Deng Yi voiced out the pain in his heart.
"Haha you never know Deng Yi. The later generations are meant to surpass the earlier generations. That's just the way of the world." Another elder scholar put forth his two cents.
"Hmmph... If only it were this easy."
"Haha.. That's nothing but a mere pipe dream. If he passes then I Deng Yi shall never step in these hallowed halls ever again. My time is better spent farming pigs and lettuce if that brat is to become a pellet refinement master." Deng Yi proudly declared patting his chest in defiance.
Senior elder Feng Xiao directed Zhu Yuan to stand in front of a huge door that was marked masters exam room. He went in to begin his preparations. After a brief period of time he beckoned Zhu Yuan to follow him in. They entered a huge spacious room and before them were three marble tables which had various items and assortments carefully arranged on them.
"The Pellet Refinement Masters exam consists of three sessions. Each session accounts for a specific area of expertise and one is required to pass each stage before proceeding to the next.
"We shall begin on this first table. On it I have placed ten different types of rare herbs that are vital in the way of pellet refinement. Before each herb is a sheet of parchment. You are to identify all these herbs by their distinct characteristics and properly name them. You have thirty minutes, esteemed young scholar. You may begin."
Senior elder Feng Xiao explained the first phase of the examination and moved back to give Zhu Yuan space and time to begin. He carefully observed the young Zhu Yuan who stood rooted before the table. But he yet to move after five whole minutes.
"Hmm.. Were my instincts wrong. This young brats calm demeanor shook my old heart. I was extremely excited to test out his skill personally."
What the senior elder could not fathom at that moment was that, the moment he was explaining the first stage of the exam to Zhu Yuan, Zhu Yuan had already identified all the herbs! He did not even need a single minute! What had Zhu Yuan worried was how he would put on a show to hoodwink this senior expert.!
Suddenly Zhu Yuan moved to the first herb on the table. His mind immediately shot forth a shirt pretext of information.
**Blue Scaled Ice Flower. Occurrence : rare , Use : To refine top ice attribute cultivation pills.*
Zhu Yuan began his show. He touched the ice blue cold herb, he held up against the light to see its hue against the sunlight. Then he set it down and scribbled briefly on the piece of parchment below it before moving to the next one.
** Yellow essence mountain grass. Occurrence : rare , Use : Used as a base to refine the yellow essence pellet for healing all types of ice type poisons and injuries.*
Zhu Yuan proceeded to pick up the various precious herbs placed in front of him in succession, putting up an expert show that could have won him an Oscar nomination. He deeply scrutinized, touched and turned over, sniffed and on other instances tasted the various herbs all the while putting on airs of a keen, distinguished serious scholar deep in the zone of pure knowledge.
Senior elder Feng Xiao's eyes bulged out in deep astonishment and he came closer at once. His eyes did not seem to believe the scene that played out in front of him as the young Zhu Yuan handled and wrote down each name and description.!
You see these herbs were extremely precious in nature and thus they were rarely seen by almost all the medical scholars in Red Eagle Town. They were only available to the top existences of the pellet refining world. For the scholars they had to rely on the knowledge and images written deep in the medical books and journals to try and compare and identify them.
But this brat handled them as if they were mere cabbages and lettuce out in the open market.! Rubbing and sniffing and even l*****g them!
But the answers he jotted down were unerringly accurate to the last letter. What did this mean? Was he this used to handling all these rare and precious herbs that he saw them as mere grass? And what was with his airs, and this unconcerned attitude he displayed??
Senior elder Feng Xiao recalled his first masters exam decades ago, how nervous he was racking his brains to determine which information coincided with the rare herbs. How he was afraid of even touching them. Seeing Zhu Yuan's casual rough handling and dropping of these rare items, a cold shiver went down his spine.
"Who exactly is this brats master!?"
"Ahem.. Esteemed senior. I have completed the first stage, I have to trouble senior to confirm this juniors humble efforts."
"cough... cough... Yes, let this old man have a look." Senior elder Feng Xiao woke up from his stupor and came to inspect Zhu Yuan's answers. They were all correct. Without an error or cancellation in his writing. He was correct and damn sure of all he wrote.
After a long period of silence. Zhu Yuan started to worry. Did he maybe overdo his act?
"Ahem... Esteemed elder."
"Oh... Pardon this old one. Your name was Zhu Yuan correct? You have answered all these correctly."
"There's not a single error. This... This is very rare even among the old master sages of our Red Eagle Town. And the way you handled these very rare herbs..."
"Are you used to seeing and interacting with them by any chance." His tone was one of disbelief.
"Err.. this. Yes. Master has a huge collection of these herbs in his secret depository. He introduced me to them from a very early age." Zhu Yuan immediately saw his mistake and recovered expertly invoking his 'unparalleled master' Old Man Yuan's name once again.
"Ah .... I see. So it was like this." Elder Feng Xiao nodded with deep shock and reverence. Red Eagle Town indeed housed many hidden dragons within its humble walls.
"Splendid, splendid. You did well young esteemed scholar. Come let's begin the next phase of the exam."
"But later on you must introduce me to your esteemed master. I would very much like to share a cup of tea with him hohoho..." Senior elder Feng Xiao laughed heartily as he patted Zhu Yuan's shoulder with affection.
"Hehe... err this junior will pass on esteemed seniors good intentions to master." Zhu Yuan laughed awkwardly scratching his head.
Thinking of the oblivious Old Man Yuan sitted with this very much intrigued senior pellet expert, he could only laugh bitterly in his heart.
"Oh boy." This day had truly taken a very awkward turn.
*****
- Writer
