Standing atop the star phantom phoenix, Zi Yang looked around curiously as wind rustled his hair and caressed his cheeks.

Flying in air has always been a man’s dream – Zi Yang was no different in this regard so he really had a novel feeling in this regard.

The star phantom phoenix was also very considerate and had condensed a spirit protection cover around her back to allow comfortable sitting without the fear of being blown away by the winds.

Looking at the gradually widening distance from the ground as they seemed to turn into tiny specs of dust, and the surrounding phantoms of galaxy – Zi Yang could not help but exclaim:

“Auntie Dark Void, this phoenix seems quite rare. It seems as if we are traveling in a Milky Way!”

Dark Void was as stern as always.

She lightly said, “Young Lord, you can call me Dark Void.”

“Alright, Auntie Dark Void.”

Dark Void rolled her eyes and continued answering, “Yes, Xuanjin condenses star light and star power through her wings and the phantom is the spillage of that power which you see.”

Zi Yang’s eyes brightened.

Star power is also a unique resource which can used for body strengthening purposes. For a moment, he even considered if he should take a few beakers and stick that on Xuanjin’s tail feathers to collect the leaked star power.

Even though Dark Void did not hear any comment from Zi Yang, she still roughly guessed what he might be thinking.

She could guarantee that even Baize would not know Zi Yang’s thrifty and opportunistic nature as a businessman as well as she does.

This kid must be thinking of condensed star power.

“Don’t worry. I will ask Xuanjin to condense a few essence bottles of star origins. You can use those to initially condense stars in your beast master space.”

Zi Yang was jolted awake after hearing this.

Oh yes, it can be used for condensing stars too.

Dark Void caught this anomaly too. He looked at him weird. Did she guess wrong?

The kid was not thinking of the star origin?

Before she could think further, Zi Yang answered, “thank you, Auntie Void”

Good.

This kid now even directly called Auntie Void – even her title was shortened.

She urged Xuanjin to run faster lest she couldn’t help but want to smack the back of his kid once today.

It was only in the late afternoon that they arrived.

The test was scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m.

They still had hour left before that. But to ensure smooth procedures, candidate usually enter the examination hall half an hour prior.

Both he and Dark Void acquiesced that he goes to the test center earlier and familiarize himself.

They landed at the city entrance and he saw that an old man in official clothes as already waiting for them here.

They chatted for a minute and then everyone went to a guest room housed by the local potion master association.

The accommodation was neither average nor splendid, neither poor nor lavish – it maintained the dignity of the potion maser association, stressed how they valued Dark Void but still did not slow servitude.

Zi Yang liked this – neither humble nor arrogant.

In the guest room, Dark Void introduced, “This is the provincial head of the potion master association. He condescended to come here to preside over the test after Master Meng’s recommendation.”

“Madame Dark Void is overly praising. Hello, I am Zhong Min. I will preside over the exam. Meng Yijun praised you highly and I have also seen your potion preparation videos as potion apprentice.”

Zi Yang bowed to the old with respect – both his age and achievement in vocation deserved it.

“Good evening, sir, I am Zi Yang…”

As he spoke, a long-lost memory emerged in his mind as he repeated the words ‘Zhong Min’ and ‘provincial potion master’ in his head.

He was surprised by the memory, so much so that instead of continuing with the standard “Please take of me”, he blurted, “You are the one who posted ancient tree leaf body lotion formula”

Realizing the he misspoke, Zi Yang quickly apologized.

Then he explained, “I asked a question on how to use ancient life tree’s leaf to make up for body’s origin, you explained the use of fire and water resources to make a body lotion with it.”

Zhong Min then remembered this small incident which was too small to even consider an incident. He did not expect that the one was asked the question would become someone with a connection with Void Empress’ s attendant.

It was a help.

No matter how small, he could build on this relationship.

As time went, it the last half an hour to the exam.

“Madame Dark Void, Zi Yang – should we go now? It is advisable to enter the exam hall half an hour prior.”

Zi Yang nodded to show his agreement.

Dark Void, on the other hand, turned to his and said, “Zi Yang, you can go with Zhong Min, I will meet you here at the same time to return.”

Before anyone agreeing, she had already merged into the void and vanished.

“Teacher Zhong Min, please.”

Zi Yang requested with hands clasped as Zhong Min obliged.

It took only a minute of walk from the guesthouse to the potion master association.

He saw the building looked solemn as if the potion master here screaming to shoo way negligent and carefree species among the living. The architecture was mixed with elements of oriental and western design.

There was an oriental tiled curved thatched roofs which symbolized order, control, width and nature, as they were laid in fixed designs and intricate angles to allow proper exposure of sun and relief from rain.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Along with it were elements of western design which were the prominently integrated glass tubes which were formed into beams, columns, arches and sky scrapers at some places.

He did not know why there were so many hollow glass tubes integrated into different shapes in the design, but the they sure looked beautiful.

“The architect of this building is good, so these glasses should be of more use other than just providing view.”

Zi Yang subconsciously murmured.

Zhong Min was leading the way, was surprised that a young boy could have such insight.

“Why do you think the architect is good?”

Zi Yang replied confidently as he pointed the roles of various architectural features and their role in optimizing air flow, sunlight, heat, rain and cold.

Even though his Ph.D. in archaeology is a waste now. Can he not even identify the features of ancient Chinese designs?

But he did not know that what he thought too light of, was not something most teenagers could understand in such detail.

This led to Zhong Min ranking him a little higher because of this.

‘Maybe this kid has a talent in architecture too’, he mused.

Finally, they reached the exam hall.

Since this was an emergency test, he was the only candidate for the examination.

In a huge hall filled with apothecary work desks, Zi Yang chose one and waited for the examination.

After a while, the invigilator came in.

It was young woman dressed in workplace formals. She walked to Zi Yang’s workstation and handed him a glass bowl.

“Candidate Zi Yang, this glass bowl contains multiple questions, you need to pick one.”

Zi Yang understood. It was picking a question at random. He picked a small ball from the glass bowl and opened the small ball to see the question.

The white paper was unfolded slowly and on it were the words – “Prepare the twin spirits potion”

Ah. Liquid of empath morphs.

Zi Yang knew this potion – It allows a beast master to turn into get attuned to his/her beast’s emotions, life, habits and thoughts.

It is exactly putting oneself in someone else’ shoes.

It is a double edged-sword.

While it allows a beast master to empathize with their beasts, it can have an impact on their personalities if they are not strong-willed and are affected by their beasts.

Even if the effect wears off after a period of time, there is no knowing if some drug-induced habits or actions would not become permanent if not consciously controlled.

It is called a twin spirits potion, which is also an allusion to this tendency – one person may have two contrasting tendencies or spirits.

After looking at the name of the potion, the invigilator guided, “the potion materials can be found in the cabinet at the back of the room. You have two hours for the test. Good luck.”

Without giving any time for questions, she left.

Zi Yang also went to the back and started picking the ingredients required to make the potion.

In a room beside the test center, several potion masters were sitting crowded around a huge monitoring scene.

If people did not know better, someone would suspect they were watching lewd movies – that was the amount of passion and enthusiasm this group showed.

“Really, a prodigy from our town got the attention of Madame Dark Void?”

“What is so special about this kid? My grandson is pretty good too, I ought to introduce him to Madame Dark Void while she is still in town.”

“Sure, like that dumbo could shine!”, snarked an old man.

“Who said that? Come out and fight with the old man!”

In a second, the group viewing turned into a kerfuffle.

The old man who shouted to fight had already summoned his beast and geared up for a fight. The other old man was not to be defeated and was on the verge of summoning.

Seeing the old man summoning his poison attributed beast, the other potion masters cursed scoundrel.

“Put away your beast, Mu Gong. Do you want to kill us all with the poison breath in this closed room?”

“I swear, this scoundrel – he must be wanting to usurp the whole city’s potion master association for himself.”

“What a black-bellied man”

Even as Zi Yang had already picked all ingredients, the group was still quarrelling. In the end, it was still Zhong Min who stopped the fight.

“Stop jesting. The exam starts.”

In a second, everyone turned serious.

One of the examiners looked at the materials which Zi Yang had chosen and said disappointedly, “Ah, all that shines is not gold. He chose the wrong materials. The exam is already a failure. Let’s go.”

The other examiners were disappointed as well.

An apprentice of one the examiners asked his master, “Master, aren’t they all the right ingredients?”

Mu Gong was about to make fun of it, when he saw that the one who asked the question was a junior. So, he had to swallow it back.

But that did not stop him from laughing at it his mentor – the same old man who fought with him before.

He snarked and said, “Di Hao, your apprentice is asking something.”

Di Hao obviously understood his snarking, but he was tolerant towards his apprentice, so he answered patiently, “Xiao Yao, you’re confused because he chose mostly everything correct but two ingredients.

He did not choose mirage dragon’s whisker grass and moonlight essence.”

Other invigilators also nodded and gave input.

While they were arguing, Zi Yang had already brought the material on the table and filed in a request.

The typed requested in the nearby paced Novak tech-pad had already reached the invigilators’ screen.

With a ding, everyone looked on the screen and saw the words:

“Request nine-tailed-bloodline cat’s whiskers (2), poison sac of fire salamander, ice crystal essence of northern glacier.”

The room was silent for a minute. Seeing this, Zhong Min approved the request and looked at everyone meaningfully.

Most everyone understood the meaning in the look of the provisional head. Those who did not understand were normal staff and apprentices brought by the potion masters.

Mu Gong took a deep breath, “The kid is attempting to make a complete potion, isn’t he? That’s why he chose those extra materials and requested these.”

Zhong Min nodded.

“I understand the three materials he requested. After all, the first generation of twin soul potion used this and it can still be done – but why use those two replaced materials which do not fit in anywhere?”

Now everyone’s curiosity was piqued.

Finally, Zi Yang started concocting.

Light a beaker, Zi Yang added 5 ounces of unicorn liver ooze and half a kilogram of powdered tusk of one-eyed demon elephant.

He stirred it gently and used spirit qi to ensure a perfect mix without air bubbles and coagulation.

After the mix was completed, Zi Yang let it rest on low heat.

The procedure until now was standard. But what they witnessed next was different.

They saw the candidate take a live black-sea oyster and clean its insides except for pearls.

He then wrapped the poison sac and ice essences with a leaf. Most potion masters recognized the leaf as the leaf of bitter bamboo tree.

After wrapping them, he inserted them both in the oyster and covered it up. Finally, he placed the oyster in the vacuum tube.

After this, Zi Yang paid full attention to the solution mix in the beaker and kept using his spirit qi to prevent any sign of coagulation of the powdered tusks and kept stirring to make the two parts – one whole.

After the solution turned dark silver, Zi Yang added the flower extracts of seven kinds of dianthus crowns. Each one was added sequentially and after the color of the solution changed seven times.

Finally, the solution was mixed with the two whiskers of a cat with nine-tailed cat’s bloodline. The solution is once again stirred gently.

Until this step was complete, Zi Yang requested again – “a hair of the beast and the beast master who would use the potion.”

Seeing this request, the entire room which was silent and focused until now was set abuzz.

The twin spirit potion needs to be completed in one day and one night – as it needs to be imbued with moonlight essence and left under moon for a night for better integration and influence.

But this candidate seems to have skipped it directly and modified steps.

This can only mean two things – either a different version or improvement or a failure.

But see the calm and steady aura around this candidate – the potion masters leaned towards the first possibility.

With this call, the first potion master exam was slowly drawing to a close.