While the crowd was discussing, Bai Xiaochu clenched his teeth as he chose to ignore the bunch of Zhou Xinqi admirers. Right before he made his way toward the arch, suddenly, a silhouette appeared in the distance. Within a blink of an eye, it reached the public arena. The silhouette was that of a young lad who had very messy hair, but his eyes were bright and lively.
“I, Han Jianye, have kept myself in seclusion for seven years and I have finally acomplished mastery over herbs and plants. Now that I have come out of seclusion, not only do I intend to be promoted to a medicine apprentice, I intend to be the first medicine apprentice in this examination!” he said proudly. In a flash, he abruptly rushed straight toward the arch.
Elder Xu did not take notice of him and kept his eyes closed as usual, however, one by one, the people in the surrounding were astonished when they heard Han Jianye’s name.
“Who is Han Jianye? I have never heard of his name.”
“Based on his age, he should be an outer sect disciple from seven to eight years ago… his wish to become the first medicine apprentice is too difficult to achieve.”
When the crowd was still restless, Han Jianye walked towards the arch. He had a proud expression and was full of confidence as he stepped into the arch. At the instance he stepped into the arch, there was a sudden rumble and another set of notes echoed.
One, two…, five, six, seven… Before the crowd could even react, an eighth note echoed from the pill furnace.
Elder Xu’s eyes opened in a flash. When he looked at the young lad, he showed a smile, and in his eyes, there was a look of praise directed at Han Jianye.
“Fifth volume of herbs and plants, third volume of spirit beasts. Not bad!”
Han Jianye was elated. He cupped his fist to bid farewell to Elder Xu and turned his body to take a glance at Du Lingfei and the others. He was full of himself, and after flourishing his sleeves, he chose to seat cross-legged beside the most central pill furnace.
At this moment, one after another, everyone in the crowd inhaled deeply and exclaimed in surprise.
“Only when a person has fully mastered herbs and plants and has attained mastery of the third volume of spirit beasts will eight notes sound out!”
“Now it does not seem as impossible as when Han Jianye said he wanted to be the first medicine apprentice in this examination!”
Bai Xiaochun felt indifferent from what he saw, but he found it strange when he saw how surprised the crowd was.
“Isn’t it just the third volume of spirit beasts, why are these people making such a big fuss out of it?” Bai Xiaochun, being shocked, asked Xu Baocai. He recalled there were thousands of people that had attained mastery of the third volume of spirit beast stone steles, and even if it was the number ten stone steles, there were already hundreds of people that have surpassed it.
Xu Baocai rolled his eyes, deep down in his heart, he despised Bai Xiaochun but dared not to reveal it to him in person. Xu Baocai coughed dryly and began talking.
“Senior Bai, you don’t understand. It is difficult to attain mastery of the fifth volume of herbs and plants and to achieve the same for spirit beasts is even more difficult. If one achieved the sixth volume, people would be envious of that achievement; to have reached the eighth volume will naturally lead to people being surprised and awed. Do you think everyone is as exceptionally talented as Zhou Xinqi and that Little Turtle? Let’s not even talk about them; out of the thousands of disciples in Scented Cloud Mountain, there are less than fifty who have attained mastery of the fifth volume herbs and spirit beasts!”
“Of the fifty, all of them are dragons among men. If you take a look at those stone steles in the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion, even though there are many names on it, in reality, in that thousand-year-old name list, there are quite a few names of cultivators that are already Inner Sect disciples. What is left on the steles is the rank they attained during their youth!”
“In addition, for this kind of promotional examination, it only requires a person to produce the fifth note, but there is someone that joined the examination only after he was able to produce the eighth note. It is evident that he wants to be the number one medicine apprentice and earn five thousand contribution points.” Xu Baocai finished his sentence with a scornful tone that was belittling Bai Xiaochun. However, Bai Xiaochun was not concerned about it at all, instead, he looked elated at Xu Baocai and asked.
“Just now you mentioned that Zhou Xinqi and the Little Turtle are exceptional talents. Are they really that formidable?”
“Of course, especially the Little Turtle who really surprised people. He is the first in a thousand years to be ranked first on all ten stone steles. Senior Bai, please allow me to advise you to not bite off more than what you can chew.” Deep inside his heart, Xu Baocai despised Bai Xiaochun even more. Right after Xu Baocai