Chapter 149

Chapter 149: Celebrating Early
Elder Wang also sensed Mu Ye’s presence and hurriedly stood up.

“Mu Ye is late. According to the rules, she has automatically withdrawn from the assessment. It should not count!”

“Stop talking nonsense! The assessment has not started yet. Mu Ye is not considered late!”

“Elder Lian, you cannot show favoritism just because Mu Ye is your disciple. You are looking down on the sect rules!”

“Elder Wang, I am not showing favoritism to my disciple. You are the one being selfish!”

While Elder Lian and Elder Wang were arguing fiercely, Yu Zhao and Mu Ye raced all the way to the Sect Plaza.

Mu Ye nodded at Yu Zhao, then leaped up and landed on the alchemy platform beside Wang Qian. She raised her voice and said, “Number four hundred thirty-nine, Mu Ye, present.”

Unwilling to accept it, Wang Qian pointed at Mu Ye and shouted, “Elder Luo, Mu Ye is late. Her qualification for the assessment should be canceled!”

Elder Luo glanced at him and spoke in a calm tone: “Did I announce the start of the assessment?”

Wang Qian was stunned.

He shook his head.

Elder Luo ignored him after that. He turned to the high platform and cupped his hands. “Sect Master, elders, all Alchemy Hall disciples have arrived.”

“Hmph.”

Elder Wang snorted heavily.

Elder Luo had always been on good terms with Elder Lian. It was obvious that he was protecting Mu Ye, letting her slip by.

Still, it was fine. If Mu Ye did not appear and his son Qian got the Young Sect Master position, it would definitely cause many people to talk behind his back. Only by defeating Mu Ye during the assessment could Qian win the title with a clear conscience.

Sect Master Wu Sang nodded with a smile. Elder Luo turned around at once and said, “The rules for this assessment are the same as before. It will last for five days. The final judgment will be decided together by the Sect Master and the elders. I now announce that the Alchemy Hall disciple assessment has officially begun.”

As soon as he finished speaking, all the disciples on the alchemy platforms began to move at the same time.

Yu Zhao looked at Mu Ye, who was already fully focused on the assessment, and secretly let out a breath of relief.

[That was close. I almost did not make it.]

Three days earlier, Mu Ye had already finished her cultivation, adjusted her state, and was preparing to give her all in the assessment.

But plans could not keep up with changes.

Maybe it was because she had built up enough over time, or maybe the Five Venoms Pill was a perfect match for Mu Ye. Not long after she stopped doing alchemy, she suddenly gained a new insight. She did not even have time to tell Yu Zhao before she rushed to take out her alchemy furnace.

When an alchemist is refining pills, the biggest taboo is being disturbed. Yu Zhao was burning with anxiety, but she did not dare to break off Mu Ye’s alchemy by force.

Fortunately, Mu Ye did not forget that something even more important was waiting for her. She finished her alchemy at the very last moment and finally did not miss the assessment.

Yu Zhao was just about to find a quiet corner to watch when she suddenly felt a burning gaze fall on her, as if it wanted to melt her.

She frowned and looked over.

A slightly worn, yet also pleasantly surprised face came into view. It was Fang Cheng Lang.

Yu Zhao was speechless.

Four words flashed through her mind: [Like a lingering ghost.]

Her first thought was that Fang Cheng Lang was secretly investigating her again.

But when she remembered the state he and Cui Jue had been in when they parted, she roughly guessed why Fang Cheng Lang would appear here.

The poison made by Yao Wu Jicould probably only be cured most safely by alchemists of Greenwood Sect.

Greenwood Sect was also the closest sect to Marsh Forest. As long as the poison had not turned Fang Cheng Lang stupid, he should have thought of coming here for help.

Suddenly, Yu Zhao found it funny.

In her past life, for the sake of a tiny, almost worthless favor, she had been like an empty shell without her own thoughts, chasing after Fang Cheng Lang and the others every day, wishing she could stay with them all the time.

In this life, she had broken free of that inner demon. She avoided her old acquaintances like poisonous snakes and scorpions and tried her best to distance herself from them. Yet they acted as if they were possessed, insisting on tangling with her, ties cut yet still messy.

Whenever she thought about how, after she finished refining her life-bound dharma artifact and returned to the sect, she would have to meet these people again, all of Yu Zhao’s good mood vanished.

Fang Cheng Lang had no idea that his appearance had brought trouble to Yu Zhao.

He only knew that he was very happy.

Happy from the bottom of his heart.

Being able to meet Yu Zhao in Greenwood Sect was a complete surprise.

He really wanted to rush down from the high platform and tell Yu Zhao that he and A’Jue had not been doing well at all recently, that they both missed her very much, and that A’Jue had been in a coma from the poison all this time. Before he passed out, A’Jue had kept calling her name.

But Fang Cheng Lang could not do it.

He had owed Yu Zhao too much before.

He could not speak to Yu Zhao as if he had every right to and make any requests of her.

At the same time, there was an even bigger worry deep in his heart.

He did not know what kind of reaction Yu Zhao would have if he told her about A’Jue.

From everything that had happened before, it was clear that Yu Zhao’s decision to break with them was very firm.

If even A’Jue being poisoned and falling into a coma could not move Yu Zhao, then he really could not think of any other way to repair the bond between Yu Zhao and them.

For the first time, Fang Cheng Lang felt an emotion called cowardice.

He lowered his head, his back slightly bent, his whole body wrapped in a sad and powerless gloom.

No one noticed that anything was wrong with Fang Cheng Lang. Everyone’s attention was focused on the Alchemy Hall disciples taking part in the assessment. The future Young Sect Master of Greenwood Sect was about to emerge from among them.

The two who drew the most attention were, of course, Mu Ye and Wang Qian.

Right now, both of them were doing their preparations before starting alchemy. They were taking various spirit herbs out of their storage space and placing them on the alchemy platform in order, while also controlling their spirit flames to warm up their alchemy furnaces.

“Judging from the dozen spirit herbs Wang Qian has taken out, he is planning to refine the Fire-Toxin Purging Pill,” one elder said, starting his analysis.

The Fire-Toxin Purging Pill was one of the more common third-grade pills in Greenwood Sect. It could clear leftover fire poison from the body and was very suitable for alchemists and artifact refiners who dealt with spirit flames all year round.

Another elder clicked his tongue in wonder and said, “The difficulty of refining a Fire-Toxin Purging Pill is not especially high among third-grade pills. Elder Wang, can you tell us why Wang Qian chose to refine a Fire-Toxin Purging Pill?”

Elder Wang smiled in pride. “You will know in a while.”

Seeing how confident he looked, the elders all knew Wang Qian must have some hidden move prepared. Their curiosity was stirred.

“Elder Lian, the pill Mu Ye is refining seems a bit unusual.”

At that moment, another elder spoke with a sigh.

Everyone turned their eyes to Mu Ye again and saw that the spirit herbs on her alchemy platform were not the common kinds normally found in Herb Hall.

The muscles between Elder Lian’s brows twitched hard.

She knew very well that the pill Mu Ye had originally prepared for the assessment was the Essence Stabilizing Pill. Changing pills at the last minute was a big taboo.

“Huh, these spirit herbs look like the ingredients for a Five Venoms Pill,” one elder said.

The “five venoms” in a Five Venoms Pill were not fixed. As long as one could find five kinds of poisons that complemented each other and matched them with some other materials, the pills refined from them could all be called Five Venoms Pills.

“It really does look like a Five Venoms Pill. Why would Mu Ye refine that kind of pill?”

Among all pills, poison pills were the most disliked and the cheapest. There were very few alchemists who specialized in refining poison pills.

A gloating light flashed in Elder Wang’s eyes.

Zhao Liang must have swapped out the spirit herbs Mu Ye needed, so she had been forced to change her pill formula at the last moment.

With only one month of practice, thinking she could still beat his son Qian like this was nothing but wishful thinking. It looked like he could start celebrating for Qian ahead of time.