Chapter 30: Fourth Rank Alchemist

Long Feng slowly raised his right hand and dark purple flame suddenly appeared above his palm. The surrounding temperature instantly rose.

Everyone in the room sensed this unusuality and turned their head to see it. They could clearly sense the terrifying destructive aura hidden inside it.

The examinees nearest to Long Feng subconsciously took half a step backward.

"So terrifying..."

"It isn’t spiritual flame, but strange flame!"

Shock and envy instantly appeared in their eyes.

Every alchemist dreamed of obtaining a special flame. Not only did it greatly increase refinement speed, it also improved pill quality.

Many rare pills couldn’t even be refined without one.

One disciple exclaimed in shock, even Elder Xu’s calm expression finally changed. His aged eyes stared fixedly at the flame dancing above Long Feng’s palm.

"This aura... what a powerful Beast Flame."

Although Beast Flames weren’t as precious as Heaven and Earth Flames, they were still incredibly rare. Even among Fifth or Sixth Rank Alchemists, very few of them possessed one.

Yet, a mere Third-Rank Alchemist actually controlled such a powerful flame.

The elder couldn’t help but carefully observe it.

But Long Feng ignored everyone’s reactions. This was already expected. His expression remained calm.

With a gentle wave of his hand, Hell Python Flame entered the cauldron.

Boom!

The black cauldron instantly became scorching hot. The speed far surpassed the other examinees.

Without wasting another second, he picked up Golden Spirit Grass and throw it inside. The instant it entered the cauldron, his powerful soul force immediately enveloped it.

He had to carefully controlled his flame’s temperature.

Within moments, the herb dissolved into pure emerald medicinal essence, not a single trace of impurity remained.

Then he threw all thirteen herbs in the cauldron one by one.

Long Feng’s movements were smooth and flowing, every action seemed natural. There wasn’t the slightest pause.

His soul power continuously monitored every medicinal essence while simultaneously controlling the terrifying Beast Flame with astonishing precision.

The two abilities perfectly complemented each other.

The advantage of the Soul Dominating Seal gradually became apparent.

Its refined soul control allowed Long Feng to manipulate every strand of medicinal essence with incredible accuracy.

His soul perception far surpassed ordinary Fourth-Rank Alchemists, even the slightest fluctuation inside the cauldron couldn’t escape his senses.

Elder Xu watched from the side silently.

The more he observed, the greater the surprise within his heart became.

Although Long Feng’s cultivation wasn’t particularly high, his alchemy foundation was astonishingly solid.

As time slowly passed, the gap between Long Feng and the other examinees became increasingly obvious.

The remaining disciples were still carefully refining one medicinal essence after another, afraid of making even the slightest mistake.

Meanwhile, Long Feng had already completed the purification of all thirteen herbs.

Within the black cauldron, thirteen masses of pure medicinal essence floated quietly.

His hands continuously formed seals. One after another, the medicinal essences slowly merged together.

Tiger Strength Pill wasn’t a complicated pill.

Its greatest difficulty lay in balancing the violent medicinal properties of the Golden Spirit Grass with the gentler herbs.

An ordinary Fourth-Rank Alchemist would have to proceed carefully.

However, the Hell Python Flame naturally possessed a destructive characteristic.

While destructive toward impurities, it also perfectly suppressed the violent medicinal nature of the Golden Spirit Grass.

As a result, the fusion process became unbelievably smooth.

Buzz—

A deep humming sound echoed from within the cauldron. The surrounding spiritual qi slowly flowed toward it.

The remaining disciples glanced toward Long Feng before quickly withdrawing their gazes, envy appeared in many of their eyes.

They were still purifying herbs, yet Long Feng had already reached the final stage. The difference was simply too great.

Nearly half an hour later, one disciple finally completed his refinement. Soon after, another disciple followed behind and refined his pill.

The hall gradually became filled with the fragrance of medicinal pills.

However, Long Feng had already extinguished his Hell Python Flame. He calmly stood beside his cauldron with his hands behind his back, quietly waiting for the others.

His relaxed appearance made several disciples feel even more depressed.

The time it took them to refine a single pill, Long Feng could have probably refined two.

"This is the power of a Strange Flame."

"As expected, it’s every alchemist’s dream."

Someone sighed inwardly. Without such a flame, competing with Long Feng in speed was almost impossible.

Another quarter of an hour passed. Finally, the last disciple completed his refinement.

Elder Xu slowly walked toward the nearest platform.

"Time’s up. Now, put your pill upon the table and I’ll check if there’s sufficient medical properties in the pill."

One by one, the examinees respectfully handed over their jade bottles.

Elder Xu examined each pill carefully. His standards were extremely strict.

"The medicinal essence is unstable. Failed."

"The pill contains excessive impurities. Failed."

"The fusion is acceptable. You pass."

...

His voice remained calm. Yet every judgment determined the examinee’s hard work.

One disciple after another lowered their heads in disappointment. By the time Elder Xu reached the eighth platform, only three disciples had passed. The others stood there with bitter expressions.

Finally, he stopped before Long Feng. Opening the jade bottle, he took out the pill into his palm.

A faint crimson pattern naturally appeared upon the Tiger Strength Pill’s surface.

Its fragrance was considerably richer than the previous pills, even the medicinal aura surrounding it felt denser.

The elder silently observed it for several breaths, before a smile finally appeared on his usually stern face.

"Excellent."

The single word immediately attracted everyone’s attention.

Elder Xu slowly raised the pill for everyone to see.

"Observe carefully. This is a proper Tiger Strength Pill."

Everyone immediately looked over, several disciples couldn’t help widening their eyes.

"What beautiful pill patterns..."

"The medicinal fragrance..."

"It’s much stronger than ours."

The remaining disciples looked toward Long Feng with expressions full of envy.

"Thank you for your guidance, Elder." Long Feng cupped his fists slightly, but Elder Xu scoffed off.

"You earned it yourself."

Then he turned toward everyone and announced.

"The Fourth-Rank Alchemist Examination has concluded. Out of ten examinees, four have successfully passed."

As his words fell, several attendants immediately entered the hall carrying jade trays.

Upon each tray rested a silver alchemist badge.

There was only one change in this one compare to the previous badge, that’s this one bore four shining golden stars.

This is the symbol of a Fourth-Rank Alchemist.

The attendants distributed the badges to the four successful candidates.

Long Feng took his badge. His previous Third-Rank badge was collected and replaced with the new one.

The moment he attached it to his robe, several disciples looked toward him with admiration.

From this moment onward, Long Feng’s status had risen considerably.

Within the Azura Heaven Sect, a Fourth-Rank Alchemist possessed authority comparable to many ordinary elders.

Whether inside or outside Medicine Peak, few disciples would dare offend such a person.

The unsuccessful examinees quietly sighed before leaving the hall one after another.

The remaining four successful candidates also respectfully bowed toward Elder Xu before preparing to leave.

After leaving the examination hall, Long Feng returned to the main counter.

The same female disciple who had registered his examination was still there. Seeing him approach, she immediately stood up.

Long Feng handed over his identity token.

"I wanted to enter inner section of alchemist library."

The female disciple took the token and checked the information recorded on it.

When she saw the newly registered Fourth-Rank Alchemist status, a trace of surprise appeared in her eyes.

"Congratulations, Senior Brother."

She returned the token respectfully and pointed toward another passage.

"Follow that corridor. There will be an elder verifying your alchemist badge at the entrance."

"Thank you." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

Long Feng turned and walked away.

He had no intention of returning to his courtyard yet.

Now that he had become a Fourth-Rank Alchemist, there was something he needed more than another cultivation session.

Knowledge.

After all, no matter how talented an alchemist was, he couldn’t refine pills without knowing their formulas.

Even the best cook in the world couldn’t prepare a dish if he didn’t have the ingredients.

The same principle applied to alchemy.

His current collection of pill formulas was still pitifully small.

He possessed some private formulas and had learned several basic ones during his time in the sect, but compared with the vast number of pills existing in the cultivation world, it was far from enough.

Especially Fourth-Rank formulas, he had very few. The Alchemist Library was therefore exactly what he needed.

The library was located in a quieter section of the Alchemist Tower. Unlike the main hall, hardly anyone spoke here.

A faint fragrance of old paper and medicinal herbs filled the air.

At the entrance stood an elderly disciple responsible for checking identities.

Long Feng showed his Fourth-Rank Alchemist Badge.

"You may enter the inner section."

The library was much larger than he had expected.

Bookshelves stretched in every direction, each filled with jade slips, ancient books, pill records, herb manuals, and alchemical notes.

The entire library had been divided into several sections.

The outermost area contained information available to lower-ranked alchemists. The deeper sections required increasingly higher alchemist ranks.

Previously, as a Second-Rank Alchemist, Long Feng could only enter the outer section.

Now that he had become a Fourth-Rank Alchemist, he finally had access to the inner section.

"This is much better."

Long Feng walked between the shelves. He picked up the first jade slip and his spiritual senses entered inside.

Three Hundred Rare Herbs and Their Medicinal Properties!

Many information immediately flooded into his mind.

Long Feng quickly absorbed the information before placing the jade slip back. He moved to another shelf.

This was exactly what he needed.

He continued reading, one book after another.

There were records of rare spiritual herbs, pill refining techniques, methods of controlling flames, notes left behind by previous alchemists, and even some complete pill formulas.