Why was I so blasé about my bet with Gougou? Even if I could make Perfect Rank 1 pills relatively easily, making a dozen in a single night as only a Martial Disciple 2 would be challenging, wouldn’t it? Normally, maybe, but I had a secret ace. Spirit Fire Seed Mastery.


    After purchasing mastery over the Cold Mountain Fire, I gained insights and ideas I hadn’t even imagined before. One of the first things I did with it was infuse my body with the spirit flame to mimic the way most people used spirit fires. It would be completely dormant most of the time, and I would never consider using it when concocting pills privately, but if someone examined me, or I needed to perform some public alchemy, it was waiting there for others to see.


    I also learned that, since it was a Yellow rank spirit fire, it would have limited effects on concocting a pill above the Grandmaster level. Ruler tier pills needed Profound rank spirit fires. However, if I could reach six-star earth and water affinity, and I pumped in enough fire qi, the Cold Mountain Fire would be good enough for any Rank 4, Lord-level, pill. The affinities were a small problem, but it was fixable. To become a Pill King, I needed to look into getting a more powerful fire seed.


    Roadblocks kept appearing in my quest for a spatial fire seed, and a Profound seed for alchemy purposes was just one more, but the seed I wanted being held by a Formation Emperor let me be confident that it would all be worth it in the end.


    In the evening, there was no one on staff on the workshop floor, but members were still allowed to use the workshops. I picked an open room at random and went inside.


    The cauldrons provided by the Pavilion were all top-notch. They were a step above what I had in the sect, and I even noticed formation markings on them, but I didn’t know what that was for. I had never used formations in alchemy before, so I left them alone.


    Taking the first set of ingredients, I chucked them all into the cauldron without a care. I didn’t need to start a fire or heat it up. I didn’t really even need the cauldron. I just needed something to help contain the medicinal energy as I worked.


    I blasted out a wave of spirit fire, and in a second all the exposed toxins were gone on all three ingredients. Then, I used my wood affinity to peel open the medicinal energy, careful not to damage its structure, and expose the final bits of toxic energy. After a small wisp of fire qi, the herbs were completely cleansed.


    Before combining them, I spent a little time examining each herb. My qi vision had improved since the last time I studied low-level herbs, and I wanted to see if I could find anything new. I noticed small areas where the medicinal energy’s structure was not quite right. I hadn’t tried it before, but I reached out with my wood affinity and attempted to massage those areas back into perfect form. It didn’t work quite right, but the energy seemed to be slightly better. This experiment gave me a new avenue to look into for improving my Rank 1 alchemy, which was very gratifying.


    Worried that I would cause damage if I tried to do more, I merged the three energies and compressed them into a pill. It was a Perfect pill with 100.1% standard efficacy. Fixing those small imperfections might lead to only a small boost, but to me, any improvement was worth the effort.


    <hr>


    “Hey Gougou,” I said as I met the group at the alchemy floor’s receptionist desk.


    “What did you call me?” he growled, his forehead turning black.


    “Huh? What?” I asked. “Ready for the judging?”


    “Yes!” he snapped.


    “Great. Who’s going to be our judge?”


    “I will,” said Master Zhong with an imperious voice.


    “Lovely,” I smiled, “Why don’t you go first Gougou?”


    “Here!” he shouted, slamming pill bottles onto the counter. “Eight Superior Qi Gathering Pills.”


    Master Zhong picked them up one by one and examined them. “Five Mid-Quality, Three High-Quality. All have an efficacy above 85%, with some breaking the 90% mark. Extremely fine work for a Disciple Alchemist,” he praised.


    Gougou glared at me and snorted. “Give up now?”


    “En, your pills are quite good, but I think we should get mine appraised first. It’s only fair, right?”


    “Present your pills,” said Master Zhong before Gougou could speak again.


    I placed twelve pill bottles on the counter, and Master Zhong’s face darkened. He opened the first and examined it closely before returning it to the bottle. On the second pill, he spent twice as much time examining it. After the third pill, he stopped.


    “I declare Alchemist Gou the winner of this competition. As guarantor of the bet, I announce Martial Disciple Su banished from the Blue Wind Pavilion.” After this pronouncement, he knocked all my pill bottles onto the floor.


    Gougou began laughing nastily. “Fool. If you don’t have the ability, don’t make a bet. Get Out!”


    “Oh? I lost?” I asked. “That’s surprising. That’s your official judgment as a Guest Master Alchemist of the Blue Wind Pavilion?”


    “Yes,” Master Zhong said in a firm voice. “This competition is over.”


    Suddenly, a voice sounded from the stairwell. “A competition, is it? Sounds interesting. Tell me about it.”


    WuJing walked out of the stairwell and smiled at everyone.


    “Manager Chen,” said Master Zhong. “This disciple agreed to a bet and lost. As such, he has agreed to be banished from all Blue Wind Pavilions. I was simply announcing the final results.”


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    “I see,” said WuJing in a concerned voice as he slowly nodded his head. “This was an alchemy competition and he presented pills of lower quality? That would indeed be a loss.”


    “His pills made it clear that he is no alchemist,” confirmed Master Zhong.


    WuJing turned to me. “Well, what do you have to say? Are you leaving?”


    “If that’s his official and unbiased judgment as a Guest Master Alchemist of the Blue Wind Pavilion, I have no choice.”


    “Indeed,” agreed WuJing, looking back at Master Zhong.


    Everyone stood there for several moments, no one willing to be the first to move.


    Master Zhong’s face darkened further, and a frown crept onto his face, but he didn’t say any more.


    “Well,” said WuJing eventually, “since we are all here, I may as well take a look at the pills these two concocted. What do you say?”


    “It’s not necessary,” I interjected before anyone else could reply. “Master Zhong is clearly unbiased in his decisions, so I must have lost.”


    “Nonsense,” said WuJing, “I wouldn’t dare question the Master, but I would like to see what you two are capable of.”


    Without waiting for a response, WuJing stepped over and started looking through Gougou’s pills. After reviewing them all, he nodded. “With twelve sets of ingredients, you concocted one pill we can sell in the Pavilion. Not bad for your age. With hard work, you may have a future.”


    “Thank you, Manager Chen,” Gougou said with a smirk and a bow.


    “Hmm, Alchemist Su’s pills seemed to have fallen onto the floor.” WuJing bent down and picked up a pill bottle. He examined the pill, returned it, and placed the bottle carefully on the reception desk.


    He slowly examined one pill after another. After the last one was placed back down, he spoke again. “I see. Quite interesting.”


    Again, we all stood there for several moments without anyone willing to move. This time, it was Gougou who broke the silence.


    “Do you need someone to show you the way? Get out!”


    I smiled at him.


    “Master Zhong?” asked WuJing, allowing the other man to begin. When he didn’t speak, WuJing continued. “What was the bet, exactly?”


    Master Zhong cleared his throat. “Each person was to take twelve ingredients. They were to return the pills concocted with those ingredients and the person whose pills had the higher total value would win.”


    “And?” asked WuJing.


    “Disciple Su violated the rules and did not return pills made with the ingredients he was given.”


    “Really? Why do you say that?”


    “These couldn’t possibly have been made with normal herbs. He must have had a Master Alchemist concoct them using herbalist-grown ones. That is my official judgment as the officiator of this competition.”


    “Hmm. And you want to banish a member of the Blue Wind Pavilion based on that judgment?” WuJing’s voice turned a little cold.


    “No… no,” said Zhong, his eyes widening. “He agreed to the bet and cheated. I do not wish to banish him, that is what he agreed to.”


    “Su Fang. Did you cheat?” WuJing glanced at me.


    “No,” I smiled.


    “Bullshit!” screamed Zhong, his composure finally breaking. “I couldn’t have made pills of that quality with even the best herbs. There is no way some yellow-haired brat could!”


    WuJing nodded with a straight face. “Alchemist Su, how should we handle this?”


    “In Master Zhong’s fair and unbiased opinion, there is no way I could have made these pills with the herbs provided,” I said, stroking my chin thoughtfully. “I could make another one in front of everyone.”


    “What?” growled Zhong.


    “I could, but then, where would I put my face?” I asked with an honest expression. “To ask a member of the Blue Wind Pavilion to prove his honesty? That’s not just slapping my face, but the face of the Pavilion. I think Manager Chen should make a decision for me here.”


    WuJing considered, then looked at Zhong. “You stake your reputation on the fact that it is impossible for Alchemist Su to concoct these pills with normal ingredients?”


    At this point, Zhong was in a tight spot, but he was already riding a tiger. “Yes,” he finally said.


    “Great, that makes things simple,” smiled WuJing. “Su Fang, you will be given one set of ingredients. Concoct a Perfect pill with more than 100% standard efficacy or you will be expelled from the Pavilion. If you are successful, Alchemist Zhong will lose his position as guest alchemist.”


    “Understood,” I said with a bow. Zhong’s face contorted in rage.


    We waited as YuLin left and gathered ingredients. When she returned, everyone followed me to the room I had used the previous night.


    “How dare you use Master Zhong’s workshop!” shouted Gougou.


    I glanced at him, then looked at WuJing. “Are the workshops reserved for certain people? I wasn’t aware. There are no signs.”


    “No,” said WuJing, shaking his head. “Workshops can be used by anyone.”


    “Interesting.” I didn’t look back again.


    After entering the room, I walked up to the cauldron, and everyone else circled around. Deciding not to use my spirit fire, I lit the burner below the cauldron and began heating it. I put on a show of being a perfectly normal Disciple Alchemist.


    Once I was ready, I chucked everything in at once.


    Gougou began laughing. “He doesn’t even know how to make a simple pill!”


    I turned and gave him a look of pity.


    Without wasting time, I melted the ingredients and burned off the toxins. Then, I carefully exacted the small bits remaining in each herb. Finally, I tried once more to heal the energies and enhance their efficacy.


    Once my pill was finished, I examined it. Perfect pill, 100.3% standard efficacy. I was getting better.


    I didn’t remove the pill from the cauldron. Instead, I let WuJing do the honors to ensure everything was above board.


    “As guarantor of this competition,” said WuJing, “I announce Alchemist Su as the winner. Master Zhong will be stripped of his guest alchemist title and Alchemist Gou is hereby banished from all Blue Wind Pavilion locations.”


    “WHAT!” shouted Gougou.


    “You can’t do that!” shouted Zhong, “My uncle—”


    “Please contact him for me,” said WuJing with a smile, “I’ll be happy to explain everything and let him decide on the appropriate course of action.”


    Zhong and Gougou both tried to speak again, but WuJing looked at me.


    “Shall we talk in my office?” he asked.


    “Sure,” I grinned.


    <hr>


    “His uncle might cause you problems, you know?” said WuJing once we were alone.


    “Yeah, I know,” I said shaking my head, “but I still feel that was the right way to handle it. I needed to quickly establish my prestige here, and those two offered themselves up freely.”


    “You aren’t wrong, but just be careful. Zhong is a Martial Master, and his uncle is a Grandmaster. They’ll probably send Gou after you first since his cultivation is a bit higher than yours, but if you beat him up, they’ll just keep coming. Without a Grandmaster’s protection, you won’t last forever.”


    I sighed. “Nothing is ever easy. Hiring a Grandmaster bodyguard long-term isn’t an option for me at the moment. Can the Pavilion provide protection if I need to go out?”


    “Yeah, but it still costs. Your pills are the best I’ve seen from a Disciple Alchemist, but that won’t be enough to afford a Grandmaster.”


    I considered for a bit. “I should be able to make Rank 2 pills in small quantities. It will be difficult with my limited qi pool, but I might be able to manage it. By the mid-Disciple levels, it will certainly be possible. I plan to take my time advancing, but worst case, I’ll just hole up in the Pavilion for a year or two.”


    WuJing tapped his fingers on his armrest. “There is another angle to consider here. We’ve just expelled one of the few on-call Master Alchemists we had at this branch. No one should blame you for it, but they might. If we can’t fulfill orders because Zhong is gone, there will be trouble.”


    “I can cover anything for Rank 1,” I said with confidence. “Rank 2 will be trickier, but if something urgent comes up, I have ways to handle it if absolutely necessary, but I would rather not use them. Let others handle what they can, but if something is about to slip through, I’ll take care of it.”


    WuJing gave me a serious look, then nodded his head sharply.