Chapter 418: Supreme Pill Forging Guild

"The rankings, huh?" Yi Chen muttered under his breath as his eyes glimmered with interest.

From the titbits of information he had received from the system and the ones he got from talking with and listening to other people, he was somewhat aware of the entire ranking system of pill refiners by now.

However, he still had no clue how these rankings were established. That’s the very reason that the moment Elder Hong Lie mentioned those words, he subconsciously leaned forward a little.

"There are four rankings under which all Pill Refiners are categorised," Elder Hong Lie held up his four fingers in the disciple’s direction and said the very next moment, "The lowest is called the unranked; all the Pill Refiners who fall in this category are referred to as Pill Apprentices.

The rank after that is Tier 3, Tier 2 and lastly Tier 1 in that order, with Tier 1 being the highest. Each of these four ranks is further divided into three parts: Basic Grade, Mid-Grade and High Grade."

Elder Hong Lie paused a little to check everyone’s faces, which were still looking at him with patient eyes, clearly indicating that what he had just said was something most of them were already aware of.

"Then..." the smile on Elder Hong Lie’s face widened at their receptiveness as he continued, "Aren’t you all curious as to what criteria one needs to fulfil to attain these rankings? Let me answer that doubt now. To become a Pill Apprentice, the very first thing you need to do is to develop a basic understanding of simple herbs, their formulations, how to process them and lastly, how to develop a simple pill at the end of it.

Once you’ve developed this base knowledge, you go and register yourself as a Pill Apprentice in the Supreme Pill Forging Guild’s branch, which is in the capital city. You’ll have to go through a basic test, and once you clear it, you will finally become a Pill Apprentice."

Elder Hong Lie said with a cheery smile, seeing the expression of various disciples in the room brighten the moment he told them the path they needed to follow.

With a light cough, he continued the next moment, "As for the rest of the ranks, it’s something which you’ll naturally get to know after you’ve become a Pill Apprentice, so rather than explaining it in detail as I did for Pill Apprentice rank, I’ll just go over it briefly before finally starting today’s theory classes."

Hearing Elder Hong Lie’s words, although disappointment could be seen on many disciples’ faces, they still nodded their heads in acknowledgement.

"Alright then." Nodding the next moment, Elder Hong Lie continued, "For a Pill Apprentice to become a Tier 3 Pill Master, their knowledge of herbs should surpass a hundred thousand formulations, and along with that, their Pill efficacy should have reached 90%.

For a Tier 3 Pill Master to become a Tier 2 Pill Grand Master, they would need to surpass the threshold of knowing five hundred thousand different pill formulations, accompanied by having a 95% efficacy in their refinement process. And finally..."

Elder Hong Lie paused, relishing everyone’s expressions filled with anticipation, and continued,

"To become a Tier 1 Pill Supreme Master, one needs to have knowledge that surpasses a million pill formulations with a refinement rate that is not less than 99%."

"...A Million Pill Formulations?!"

"...You’re bothered by a million? Even a hundred thousand is a stretch here!"

"My god...wasn’t Pill Refining supposed to be only resource intensive? At this rate, my brain will run out before my money does!"

"Yeah... Pill Refining, I’ll skip on it."

The moment Elder Hong Lie paused, several murmurs burst forth in the entire classroom as many started questioning even the possibility of anyone being able to learn so many formulations in the first place.

"Hahaha," Hearing their mutterings, Elder Hong Lie let out a light chuckle, which managed to subdue the previous commotion and drew everyone’s attention back towards him.

"It’s only natural for you all to feel so overwhelmed by the sheer number of things you would need to memorise. However, as your cultivation grows in the Qi Absorption Stage and in the higher stages, your spiritual sea also expands, and thus your capacity to retain knowledge increases severalfold.

Moreover, as Pill Refiners, you’ll be forced to practice a single formulation multiple times before you can finally form a pill using it, so most of the time those formulations get imprinted in your mind just as basic alphabets do over a period of time."

Elder Hong Lie said with a relaxed smile, which made several disciples reconsider their earlier evaluations.

Seeing that he had taken care of this small matter, Elder Hong Lie clapped his hands to draw everyone’s attention and finally started with the main content of today’s theory classes.

"Now that I have already explained the Cauldron, let me ask you all a question. The class would become too dull without it, right? The one who successfully answers this question will receive 50 Contribution points."

Elder Hong Lie said while stroking his chin as all the disciples’ eyes, including Yi Chen’s, turned serious the moment they heard those words.

’Another question... let’s see what it is.’ Yi Chen thought expectantly as he subconsciously leaned forward, as if not wanting to accidentally miss even a single word from the question Elder Hong Lie was about to ask them the next moment.

"So here it is." Elder Hong Lie subtly nodded, seeing everyone’s competitive spirits, and asked, "What’s the second most important thing that is needed in order to refine a pill, with the first being the cauldron?"

The moment Elder Hong Lie stated the question, several hands came up the very next moment, flooding the view in front of him as he started pointing at a random disciple for an answer.

"Elder...it’s knowledge! Without knowledge, the pill cannot be refined!"

"No, there are always exceptions." Elder Hong Lie shook his head after hearing the answer and asked another disciple for the answer.

"It’s practice! If one doesn’t practice-"

"No, next person." Elder Hong Lie cut him off and gestured towards another disciple who, too, ended up saying the wrong answer.

Meanwhile, when Yi Chen heard the question, instead of raising his hand the very next moment to answer the first thing that came to his mind, he started mulling over the question.

’What’s the second most important thing...’ he repeated the question in his mind as the wrong answers given by the other disciples kept entering his ears one after the other.

The wrong answers aided his thinking process and helped him cross out the wrong possibilities in his head until there was only the one answer left.

’Yes! That must be the correct answer!’ he exclaimed inwardly the very next moment and energetically raised his hand the very moment another disciple was gestured to sit down.

’Oh?’ Seeing Yi Chen, who hadn’t raised his hand in the first place, enthusiastically raise his hand instantly caught Elder Hong Lie’s attention as he was looking for the next disciple to choose.

"You, what’s the answer?" he asked the very next moment while pointing at Yi Chen.

Seeing that he was instantly chosen, Yi Chen’s eyes brightened as he stood up the very next moment and answered, "It’s fire! The cauldron cannot create a pill without a fire underneath it."

Yi Chen stated with a confident expression, which caused many surrounding disciples to have a eureka moment, but having seen many rejections in the past, they still turned to glance towards Elder Hong Lie, not fully sure whether Yi Chen’s answer was the correct one or not.

The moment they did so, instead of the neutral expression that was leaning more towards that of disappointment, a bright smile appeared on Elder Hong Lie’s face as he nodded the very next moment, "Correct. The fifty contribution points belong to you."

"Thank you, Elder Hong Lie," Yi Chen said with a grateful smile the next moment and took his seat.

"As Yi Chen just said, the second most important thing needed to refine a pill is fire. If you don’t have a fire, there’s no way you’ll be able to mix the various herbs in order to form the pill. Therefore, once you take up pill refining, you will learn a great deal when it comes to controlling the fire..."

Elder Hong Lie had just said that part when he saw one of the disciples raise his hand to ask a question.

"Elder Hong Lie...then doesn’t it mean that the cultivators whose Qi nature is that of fire will have an added advantage?" the disciple asked with a subtle trace of frustration evident on his face.

"You’re correct." Instead of refuting his words, Elder Hong Lie directly accepted the fact and continued, "However, this advantage will only last till the Pill Apprentice stage, as beyond that, when one enters the Tier 3 rankings, the pills you would be refining won’t just require a regular fire.

A fire that is moist, a fire that rebuilds, a fire that expands, a fire that cools and a fire that destroys. The thing which you might have thought was a disadvantage soon ends up becoming an advantage.

Therefore, if you’re really interested in Pill Refining, I’ll always suggest that you and others look at the bigger picture."

Elder Hong Lie explained with a patient smile.

"I-I see..." The disciple’s eyes were filled with energy the moment he heard those words, as he immediately sat down, all fired up to learn more about pill refining.

Elder Hong Lie let out a soft chuckle, seeing his reaction, before shifting towards the topic of herbs used in the pill refining process.