CHAPTER 21

For the final test, he had to make a rank4 pill. The management elder asked Mir to write him the name and quantity of the ingredients he needed, cauldron and water exempted. He wrote only two ingredients:

Asediknock Seeds Dough – 5Kg

Heliradios Sunflower Petals – 10

Then he handed back the paper to the management elder. This one frowned upon seeing its contents. This wasn’t any recipe he knew or heard of. He never had learnt about anyone making a pill from this dough. Originally, it is a dough made from wheat. Just what is in that kid’s head? He was so close to succeeding the impossible, why would he screw it up deliberately at the end. The management elder was standing still with the paper and Mir was fixing him. He could see that the elder was perplexed and probably thinking the ingredients were a child’s joke, that it was all a waste or something along those lines. He inadvertently sighed and the management elder came back from his thoughts. He looked in Mir’s eyes and asked him:

“Are you sure about this, little Mir? You are so close to success, why don’t you decide on a basic recipe, hum? If you don’t know any, elder here can tell you one! How about it? Won’t you reconsider?

-I won’t. This one is good enough.

-Little Mir, are those your final words?

-Yes, yes, my final words.”

The management elder sighed but handed the paper to the other elders after announcing the contents to the crowd of spectators. Most disciples weren’t herbal alchemist and didn’t know much about it, they only benefited from their works and used their products. However, they at least knew that herbal alchemy was mostly done with wheat dough. That was common sense. But this kid was going for a different dough, people started discussing. Some thought he was foolish, others thought it was his limits but some believed the kid might know a new or peculiar recipe. Either way, everyone was awaiting with excitement this last test.

On the VIP seats, the four old men were discussing Mir’s talent. The headmaster was approving of him previously but turned sceptic after he heard the announcement of ingredients for the last test. He turned to elder Lan and asked him:

“Is this one of your secret recipe or a recipe from his family?

-It isn’t one of my recipes. I only use wheat dough after all. As for his family, he only has his parents and before we met, they had been your average non-cultivator farmers.”

This made the three elders puzzled and as they looked with curiosity towards the arena, the challenge mountain elder asked elder Lan:

“Are you saying this is an original recipe he made?

-That’s what I believe, yes.

-Isn’t he too young? Just how long did he study herbal alchemy?

-He never did.

-…What did you just say?”

The old men couldn’t help but gasp after hearing elder Lan’s words. If succeeding in crafting a rank3 pill was already hard, just how difficult would it be to invent one and successfully make it? Regardless of the result of the third test, the three old men witnessing this show had very good impressions towards Mir. One needed guts to challenge a mountain, diligent work to pass the first test, talent in the domain to pass the second and finally abilities for the third. Yet, this kid was adding a second level of difficulty to the third test by trying his own recipe? And he was so young. He was going to be a promising student regardless of the result. The headmaster said to elder Lan:

“Make sure to nurture him well, he has a lot of talent. You sure picked a valuable disciple, I must apologize for my previous taunts, I was the one with eyes yet unable to see. This shall be a lesson to remind us: judging by appearance isn’t something we should do.”

After that, they kept discussing the prospects of Mir, the Herbal Mountain and the Burning Sea school. And finally, around an hour later, the elders came back to the scene with the materials for the third test. There was a cauldron, a ladder, water buckets, the martial fire engine and the two ingredients Mir asked for. It took time because the elders had to make the dough themselves. It is mostly wheat dough used in Herbal Alchemy so they don’t stock other types of dough. Mir went to the cauldron and placed the ladder there. Then, he turned to the management elder and asked:

“Elder, I can’t use the martial energy, can you help me with the fire and the water?

-I can follow your instructions as per the rules, yes.

-Then, can you fill the cauldron with water. Up to 1/3 please.

-Sure.”

The management elder took the bucket of water and one after another, versed their contents inside the cauldron. The water level soon reached 1/3 and stopped perfectly at the mark. The management elder was no doubt experienced. It is to be expected from someone of his position. As he saw this, Mir nodded in satisfaction. Having the older man work as he said, even if it was just filling a cauldron with water reminded him of his days as a corporate CEO, a time where he could order people around. This was an enjoyable time and he could only admit he liked to be in charge. After reminiscing for a few seconds, he asked the elder again:

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“Elder, can you light the fire for me? 867,5 degrees please.

-That is quite a precise instruction. Alright.”

The management elder channeled his energy into the martial fire engine and soon, a fire burnt under the gigantic cauldron. It was at the exact temperature of 867,5 degrees. And since it was an herbal alchemy tool, only the inside of the cauldron was being heated. Mir waited for the water to boil, then sent 1kg of dough inside and 5 petals of Heliradios Sunflower as well. As for the rest of the materials, they were Mir’s bonus. Since he could get free ingredients, why should he not do so? But if he had asked for too much, they might have refused his list of ingredients so he settled on this small amount for his bonus.

Then, they could only wait for the water to turn to vapor. Time passed. After an hour and twenty-one minutes, vapor began to form and escape from the cauldron. And finally, there was no more vapor inside. Under Mir’s command, the elder stopped the fire and after waiting for the temperature to be down, they went to see the result. It was as expected by Mir. There were ten pellets inside. They were circular and red with orange lines on them. The management elder took them and placed them on the table for everyone to see. Let alone Mir with his peculiar sight, everyone around were martial cultivator, their senses were sharpened. Even though they were seating in the arena and so, a few dozens of meters away, they could clearly see the number of lines on the pills. There were thirty-five of them. Not only did Mir pass the test, he made a pill better than required and ten of them at the same time. And they were unknown. A new type of pills! He had won the Herbal Mountain challenge. On this day and for the first time, a disciple of the Burning Sea School succeeded a mountain challenge.

After the management elder announced his success, it created quite the wave. The elders had to take Mir away quickly. There were tens of thousands of curious disciples watching, it was better to run from it so Mir wouldn’t be burdened. They ended up at the ground floor of the Herbal pavilion. Mir was surrounded by elders congratulating him. Elder Bu was the only one sitting in a corner not far yet not close, he had mixed feelings about this. After some time, elder Lan approached with two other old men that were previously with him. The elders made a path and respectfully bowed towards the two. Elder Lan approached in front of Mir and introduced the two:

“Little Mir, this is headmaster Song and this is the previous Tailor Mountain Grand Elder Fin. We came to congratulate you for your victory.

-It is an honor to meet you headmaster Song, elder Fin!”

The headmaster got closer to Mir and gave him a space bag, then he told him:

“Congratulations, little Mir. Inside this bag, you will find the special core disciple robe that you won. There is also a ten million golds card.

-What about a school token?

-…A school token?

-Yes. I did the challenge because elder Bu said I couldn’t buy and sell anything if I didn’t have one.”

After those words, everyone turned to an escaping elder Bu. Before he reached the door, he turned around with a fake smile on his face and said:

“How can I be of help elders?”

He was obviously going to suffer. And even though he is no coward, he knew he went against elder Lan’s orders and let’s not talk about the headmaster. He feared those stronger monsters. The headmaster laughed and asked Mir:

“Little Mir, did you really challenge the Herbal Mountain for a school token?

-Yes.”

This brought even more laughing to everyone this time. Except elder Lan and elder Bu. Elder Bu was feeling the cold emitted by elder Lan’s piercing gaze. At that time, the headmaster said to Mir:

“Well, why don’t you come with me, little Mir, there are still a few rewards to give you and we can make you a token on the way, how about it?

-I’d love to! Thank you, headmaster Song!”

As Mir was going out with Headmaster Song, elder Lan stopped intimidating elder Bu and was going to follow, but he was stopped by the headmaster’s spiritual message:

“Lan, you have to take care of Bu first and don’t forget that you brought back elder Fin!”

A spiritual message is a way to send words in the form of energy directly to someone. It is a way to communicate between martial artists without having strangers or enemies being able to listen in. Every martial artist can do that much. And as he received this transmission by the headmaster, elder Lan stopped following him. Then, he turned back to elder Bu with a ferocious look. This was enough to have elder Bu scream in fear and run for his life. Elder Lan cursed and was going to run after him when elder Fin placed a hand on his shoulders and said:

“Isn’t it fine? He might have gone against your orders but the result is not bad at all. You showed the whole school that you picked up a genius, you should be rejoicing instead.

-Ah…That’s not it. It would have been better for him to remain low-profile. Too much talent generates greed, jealousy and much more.

-You fear for your disciple, that is normal. But remember, this place wouldn’t be able to contain him for too long anyway if he is that talented. And, since he is now a core disciple, even with his age, he won’t be bullied or anything… inside the school, at least.

-What about outside? There are no disciples that stay entirely inside, he would soon have to go out, be it for missions or something else…

-You can’t protect him forever but, if I didn’t guess wrong, didn’t your disciple already planned for that by bringing in this second kid with him here and doing all this?

-What? You mean Okami? ...Mir might be smart for his age but to think things through this far ahead would be too much.

-Would it? Ahahah!”

In the meantime, Mir was walking with the headmaster. They went down the herbal mountain and began walking on the red bridges. They walked a few kilometers and arrived at a mountain further inside the school territory, Mir had never gone that far. As they closed in on the shore, the headmaster said:

“This is the Sculpture Mountain. There is only a grand elder here, there is his shack there.”

There was a small wooden house on the shore of the mountain. It wasn’t big but it might be like the training center, with compressed space. As he became curious about this shack, an old man appeared from the opposite side. As he saw the headmaster, he was quite surprised.

“Oh, headmaster Song! What brings you to my modest sculpture mountain? It has been some time since we last met.

-Indeed. But let us not waste both our times, you surely know why I came here.

-Yes, yes, as always: a new core disciple, is it? Who?

-Little Mir here.