Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 144 Are all other alchemists this useless?
The people in the tavern looked at Sheng Yuanyao in her official uniform and their expressions twitched.

While gambling was not prohibited in the Great Qian Dynasty, no public officials openly gambled; others at least valued their image and reputation.

But if you look at her as a young master's son, she seems more normal... Everyone sees this female young master's son often; she's always around when there's gossip, so she's quite approachable. I heard she even served as the head of the Demon Suppression Division in a local area for two or three months. How could someone like her be the head of the division? Solving cases by listening to gossip? I also heard she made a great contribution... I can't even imagine it.

"Master Sheng, I heard that Lu Xingzhou saved you at Qingyao Garden and killed Ye Wufeng to avenge you, is that right?" an acquaintance asked with a smile.

The name "Qingyao Garden" now held a powerful allure for Sheng Yuanyao. Hearing it stirred her emotions, and she remained lost in thought for a while before finally uttering a soft "hmm."

To others, he seemed to have a rather arrogant and unruly attitude, as if he didn't care about anyone. Someone laughed and said, "When Lu Xingzhou made it onto the new talent list, he was just a seventh-grade alchemist, right? Now, a few months have passed. Even if he has improved, he's at most a sixth-grade alchemist?"

"What's wrong?" Sheng Yuanyao tapped the table: "Among young people, the level of alchemy master is generally much lower than that of cultivator. Cultivation can be done quickly with talent, but alchemy master requires such a huge amount of knowledge and experience, which must be accumulated over time. It cannot be solved by talent alone."

This is the truth. If we follow the requirements of cultivation, someone at the upper level of the seventh rank wouldn't even qualify for the list of rising stars. But if we follow the requirements of an alchemist, they would be eligible and would be ranked quite high.

"But Steward Sheng..." People were laughing: "Don't you know that Daoist Xuanqing and Daoist Hehui are already fifth-grade alchemists? I heard that if they're lucky, they can even refine fourth-grade pills. If they're incredibly lucky in this assessment and manage to refine a fourth-grade pill... tsk, the difference between a sixth-grade alchemist like Lu Xingzhou and them is just too great. Don't give away money for nothing just because of a favor."

"It's none of your business how I use my money. I'd be happy even if I threw it into the water." Sheng Yuanyao said this with a little heartache. Although there was spirit stone currency in this world, the value of gold and silver was not as high, but being able to take out five hundred taels of gold was definitely making her a rich woman. This was all her savings from so many years.

No matter what, we should go bankrupt to save face for Lu Xingzhou, right?

With a hint of worry, Sheng Yuanyao unconsciously headed towards Lu Xingzhou's secret chamber. She wondered how much of a last-minute cramming session Lu Xingzhou had actually accomplished… She hoped he wouldn't be distracted by that vixen again and neglect his training.

As soon as they arrived at the entrance of the secret room, they saw Lu Xingzhou being pushed in a wheelchair by Pei Chuyun, chatting and laughing as they left.

Sheng Yuanyao immediately exploded, grabbing Lu Xingzhou by the collar: "You owe me five hundred taels!"

Lu Xingzhou found it quite amusing: "What are you doing?"

"What kind of time is this to be all lovey-dovey with that vixen!" Sheng Yuanyao said angrily, "Have you been secretly rolling around with her inside all this time?"

"No, I haven't seen Chuyun these days either."

Sheng Yuanyao was in a slightly better mood and let go of her hand, saying, "Then what are you doing?"

"Neither Ah Nuo nor I know the way, so Chu Yun came to take me to the exam venue."

"Her? What do you mean she's familiar with me?" Sheng Yuanyao shoved Pei Chuyun aside. "Miss Pei came to the capital with you. I've lived here for twenty years. Do I need her to show me the way? Go away."

Pei Chuyun didn't argue with her, and stood aside with a smile: "Miss Sheng, are you really going to push him there in public? If others see it, it might damage your reputation."

Sheng Yuanyao said, "Miss Pei has been such a pure and noble lotus flower in the capital these days. Aren't you afraid of pushing her out and being seen by others?"

"After all, I was once the young master's maid," Pei Chuyun said with a grin. "At least before he left, it was normal for me to give him a nudge... So, is Miss Sheng also a maid?"

Sheng Yuanyao immediately let go of the handle.

Ah Nuo stood tall with her chest out and stomach in, taking up the wheelchair seat.

True victory does not require fighting.

The group strolled out the door and headed straight for the examination hall. Sheng Yuanyao casually asked, "How long are you going to keep sitting in that wheelchair? Don't you get tired of pretending?"

Lu Xingzhou said, "I pretended to be lame before, not only because I wanted to trick people, but more importantly, if I had cured my leg before going to the capital, wouldn't that mean I could also cure Shen Tang's leg?"

Sheng Yuanyao was stunned, her scalp tingling: "I hadn't considered that."

Lu Xingzhou nodded: "Yes, if it's you, it's normal."

Sheng Yuanyao: “?”

"Therefore, the only time I can stand up openly in public is after I have sought treatment from a high-ranking alchemist in the capital, or after I have studied at the Alchemy Academy. With this pretext, I can stand up openly."

Ah Nuo hung her head, her victory was short-lived.

The assessment was conducted over three days. The first day was a written exam, which followed the same question format as that day, testing theoretical knowledge in medicine and pharmacology, as well as some regulations concerning medical practice and drug use. These past few days, Lu Xingzhou had been studying, but he was frantically cramming for the latter, poor judges of the underworld—when had they ever been in charge of the laws of the Great Qian Dynasty…?

His current cultivation is far from reaching the level of spiritual cultivation; at most, it makes his mind clearer and his memory better, far from the point where a single sweep of his divine sense can imprint everything in his mind. These past few days have been incredibly difficult for Lu Xingzhou, truly bringing back memories of the days when he desperately memorized for the college entrance exam... Fortunately, there weren't many relevant legal provisions, and he managed to memorize them.

The civil service examination was held at the Imperial Academy, where soldiers were stationed outside to guard against unauthorized personnel, making the event extremely serious.

Regardless of whether you're a noblewoman from the Pei family or a second-generation member of the Demon Suppression Division, the little demon girl and the melon girl were all barred from entering. However, they were allowed to bring their attendants. These attendants had nothing to do with the written exam; they were for the later alchemy process. It was permissible for alchemists to have attendants assist them with chores like picking herbs and fanning the fire.

Ah Nuo proudly pushed her wheelchair into the venue amidst the envious gazes of her two older sisters.

Entry required a local recommendation letter, so there was no need for a body search; a special device scanned for cheat sheets, making it simpler and clearer than a body search. Each person was assigned a private room for the exam to avoid interference, and the room was also monitored by special devices.

The solemn atmosphere made Lu Xingzhou feel more serious, but also very satisfied. The stricter and more solemn the atmosphere, the more importance it signified to the court and the public, and the higher its prestige. This was far more valuable than the little demoness's backdoor admission; she would be looked up to wherever she went. As he was organizing his writing materials, the door was pushed open, and a group of examiners entered to distribute the exam papers.

Lu Xingzhou spotted Meng Li at a glance.

Meng Li acted as if he didn't recognize him, placed a stack of papers in front of him with a straight face, and said in a very official manner: "Many of the questions this year were set by His Majesty himself, so do your best."

The exam paper was still sealed with wax. With the same reverence he had for the exam papers in Meng Li's house, Lu Xingzhou carefully opened the seal and almost burst out laughing.

Meng Li said back then that the difficulty of the exam wasn't as high as that test paper, and there was a good chance... If you had said "not that high" earlier, you meant that the knowledge level had dropped from the third rank to the fifth rank! The questions at the fourth rank level were all difficult!

Is this a level of assessment?
However... some of the questions here are quite interesting...

Lu Xingzhou's fingers brushed over "Demon power permeates the blood, continuously decays, let's analyze the solution"; "Changes in the blood interfere with the heart and lungs, let's analyze it"; "Let's discuss the principle of blood generation"; "Let's analyze the feasibility of whole-body blood replacement and explain the reasons".

These questions are scattered in different places, and at first glance they don't seem special; they're just medical theory exam items. But if you look at them individually, you'll find that these questions are related and causally connected. It's rare for someone to set questions like this, and to deliberately scatter them.

By combining this information with the fact that the emperor had been hiding his unhealed injury, we can roughly guess what kind of injury the emperor had.

The demonic power seeped into the blood cells, causing continuous interference that could not be eradicated... Judging from these questions, some doctors were already trying to give the emperor a complete blood transfusion.

But no one dared to take such a risk, not even the emperor himself.

Asking students this kind of question will definitely not yield a solution, but young people have more flexible thinking, are not limited by established methods, and the best students have their own unique traditions, which may offer some useful insights.

This is a case of desperate measures being taken against young students... It's quite tragic.

Lu Xingzhou pondered for a moment, answered these questions first, and then turned to the other questions.

Inside the examination room, Gu Zhanting slowly entered: "How is the situation?"

Everyone quickly stood up and bowed: "Everything is normal at the moment. The candidates have already begun answering the questions."

Gu Zhanting's gaze fell on the "big screen" on the wall, which was divided into numerous sections, each displaying the situation in a different examination room.

Gu Zhanting immediately recognized Lu Xingzhou among the group of examinees and clicked his tongue twice: "Why is everyone else already writing, but he's still looking at the exam paper?"

One of the examiners said, "Lu Xingzhou may be sharp in combat and experienced in handling affairs, but he may not have much of an advantage in alchemy and medicine. He is so distracted that if we hadn't seen him enter, we would have even forgotten that he is a student who came to take the exam this year."

Gu Zhanting ignored him and stared at the "screen" for a while before Lu Xingzhou suddenly started writing.

Everyone quieted down and looked carefully, only to find that Lu Xingzhou was answering questions from different positions.

Gu Zhanting looked at two or three questions, and his expression changed slightly.

This person actually chose to answer the questions he set! Even Meng Li didn't know which questions he set!

Gu Zhanting took a deep breath: "Could this surveillance be made more detailed? I want to see the specific content of Lu Xingzhou's reply."

Meng Li bowed and said, "That's impossible. If an examiner had seen someone's answer like that, the subsequent graders would know whose paper it was, which would lead to cheating. Therefore, the monitoring magic weapon is designed not to see the details of the answers."

Gu Zhanting nodded, knowing it was for the sake of fairness, and didn't insist. However, his gaze remained fixed on Lu Xingzhou's room from beginning to end, without ever moving.

There are a lot of questions, several types of papers, and it can take a whole day to take the exam.

Lu Xingzhou picked up his pen and wrote quickly, filling the page in just over an hour. He then tossed the pen aside and asked, "Anuo, did you bring any food?"

The emperor and the examiners stared in disbelief as the little girl pulled out a large bag of pastries. While the other candidates were still scratching their heads and writing furiously, the teacher and student happily ate the pastries one by one.

"Master, can we leave early? Why is it taking a whole day to test such a small thing?"

"I don't think so... We're not allowed to go home for the next three days anyway, we'll just sleep here. Tomorrow, patients will be brought in to test our on-site medical treatment capabilities."

"What should I do? I'm so bored..."

"What do you mean, what to do? Practice your skills!"

"Oh..." A'nuo was quite dissatisfied: "It takes three days to set up such a small thing? I can answer all the questions here. Are all the other alchemists this useless?"

After finishing the pastries, the two casually tossed aside the oil paper wrappers, and the two of them, one big and one small, sat cross-legged, closed their eyes, and immediately entered a meditative state.

The group of examiners were dumbfounded. "You're here for a picnic?"
"Can she answer these questions?" Gu Zhanting waved his hand: "Go, give her a set of backup questions, and let her answer them for me!"

(End of this chapter)