The Strange Flame Rekindles in Battle Through the Heavens

Chapter 50 Alchemist Guild

After getting dressed, Xiao Yan left the inn and, as he did so, asked the innkeeper for directions to the Alchemist Guild.

Following the route he had learned, Xiao Yan headed towards the Alchemist Guild. After many twists and turns, he finally found an extremely large building at the intersection of several streets, which was perpetually shrouded in a faint fragrance of medicinal smoke.

Above the towering gate, the five ancient characters of the Alchemist Guild, written in a flowing, elegant style, shimmered with a pale silver light, making them particularly eye-catching.

This is the third largest power in the Gama Empire after the Yunlan Sect and the Gama Royal Family. However, the Alchemist Guild is different from other powers. The alchemists in the guild are not keen on power and struggle, but are focused on researching alchemy techniques. Therefore, the Alchemist Guild is more like a public organization.

This place serves as the headquarters of the alchemists of the Gama Empire, commanding respect even from the imperial family. After all, the alchemists residing within this building bring immense wealth to the empire. The empire's development and foreign wars are inseparable from the assistance of these alchemists.

Standing outside the gate, Xiao Yan looked up at the imposing alchemist headquarters and couldn't help but exclaim, "It truly lives up to its reputation as the leading alchemist headquarters of the Jia Ma Empire! It's magnificent!"

As soon as Xiao Yan stepped into the gate of the Alchemist Guild, he smelled a faint medicinal fragrance that was refreshing and pleasant.

The area within the Alchemist Guild is extremely vast, roughly divided into three regions: southeast, west, and north.

The hall on the east side is the trading area, where many square platforms made of granite are neatly set up. Behind those platforms sit some alchemists dressed in long robes, and on the platforms are various kinds of medicinal herbs, as well as jade bottles, scrolls, and so on.

Xiao Yan glanced south and saw that there were many cauldrons burning fiercely, and some high-level alchemists were refining medicine there. Around them, there were many low-level alchemists who were learning from their experience.

The west hall was much less crowded than the other two halls. There were even guards standing in the corridors, suggesting that only alchemists of a certain level were qualified to enter.

Although the location of the alchemist assessment has not been found, it is most likely in the south, since the furnaces are still burning there.

Xiao Yan headed directly to the south side of the hall. When he reached the alchemists who were refining medicine, he joined the lower-level alchemists and apprentices in observing the advanced alchemists' techniques for controlling the heat. However, after watching for a while, Xiao Yan realized that some of their techniques were even inferior to his own, and he immediately lost interest. With the alchemy master Yao Lao present, why would Xiao Yan be foolish enough to imitate others' alchemy methods?

Xiao Yan asked the person next to him about the location of the alchemist assessment. The person casually pointed behind him, and Xiao Yan followed the direction of his finger to see a middle-aged man sitting behind a table, idly twirling a pen in circles. Because the profession of alchemist is very rare, naturally very few people come to take the assessment.

After thanking him, Xiao Yan turned and walked towards the middle-aged man.

"Go away! This is where alchemists are assessed. If you want to play, go somewhere else." The middle-aged man saw that Xiao Yan was dressed simply and didn't even have a basic alchemist apprentice's robe, so he assumed that Xiao Yan was there to play.

"Uh... I'm here to take the first-grade alchemist exam!" Xiao Yan said helplessly.

"Participating in the First-Grade Alchemist Assessment? Where's your mentor?" He glanced behind Xiao Yan and asked in confusion.

"Ahem, my mentor told me to take the assessment on my own," Xiao Yan said awkwardly.

"Alright then! Since your advisor isn't here, a letter of introduction from your advisor will do. Please state your identity information first, and I'll write it down." The middle-aged man picked up a pen, preparing to record Xiao Yan's identity information.

"A letter of introduction? I don't think I have one. Does that mean I can't participate in the alchemist assessment without a letter of introduction?" Xiao Yan touched his nose, somewhat embarrassed.

"What? You don't even have a letter of introduction! Are you kidding me? Get lost! It's a good thing you're a teenager, otherwise I would have had the guards throw you out." The middle-aged man felt that he had been tricked by the teenager in front of him and was furious.

Upon hearing the middle-aged man's shout, the apprentices and junior alchemists who were learning alchemy techniques all looked in the direction of the sound.

"This boy must be crazy to want to become an alchemist!" Everyone thought the boy was insane, since he was only about fifteen years old and had come to participate in the alchemist assessment alone.

"This young man must have heard that becoming an alchemist can lead to meteoric success, transforming him from a nobody into a phoenix. After all, becoming an alchemist is every cultivator's dream, but it's not that simple."

As everyone knows, to become an alchemist, three conditions must be met. First, one must have strong soul perception; otherwise, one cannot even control the temperature of the flames, let alone refine medicine. However, out of a thousand cultivators, at most one will have sufficient soul perception.

The second condition is even more difficult. One must possess the fire attribute, with a slight wood attribute mixed within it. Only the wood attribute can neutralize the raging heat of the flames. This condition is only met by those whose souls have mutated, and such people are one in ten thousand.

As for the third point, you absolutely need a mentor to guide you. After all, without a mentor's hands-on teaching, you could spend decades just studying those prescriptions on your own. The techniques for controlling the flame, the properties of each medicinal herb, and the control of the heat all require a mentor's personal guidance.

Seeing that this young man didn't even have a mentor and was so young, the crowd naturally didn't believe he could become an alchemist. As for Xiao Yan's claim that his mentor hadn't come, they clearly didn't believe it. It wasn't something shameful; why wouldn't he come? He obviously didn't have one.

"If I could refine a first-grade pill right now, would I not need a mentor or a letter of introduction?" Xiao Yan asked, seeing that the middle-aged man was starting to try to get rid of him. He offered the most direct solution.

"Fine, fine! If you can actually refine a pill, even the lowest-grade Power-Gathering Pill—forget Power-Gathering Pill, let's just say you can refine the lowest-grade Rejuvenation Powder—then I'll consider you qualified for the assessment, and I'll even apologize to you." The middle-aged man was amused and angry, clearly not believing that Xiao Yan could refine it.

The other onlookers also shook their heads, believing that the boy simply did not have that ability.

Xiao Yan no longer hesitated, took out the medicine cauldron from his storage ring and placed it on the ground, and then took out a set of medicinal materials to refine the Power Accumulation Pill.

Seeing the young man directly take out a medicine cauldron, the middle-aged man's expression finally turned serious. After all, medicine cauldrons weren't cheap; they weren't something ordinary people could afford. Then, seeing the young man take out three kinds of medicinal herbs—the very herbs needed to refine the Power Accumulation Pill—his heart became even more uneasy.

"Could this kid really be able to refine a Power-Gathering Pill? That's too unbelievable!" At this moment, the middle-aged man's thoughts began to change. He really hoped that the young man could refine it directly, because that would show that the young man had an extremely strong talent for alchemy.

(End of this chapter)