Chapter 1426 - 1427: Advancement exam

Liam flipped a token in his hand, which transferred a bit of knowledge into his mind. Apparently, living quarters here weren’t lavish towers or royal hotel rooms. No, they were caves.

Literally caves, crude, stone-carved hollows embedded into the sheer face of a cliffside that bordered the outer sect. No doors. No windows. Just formations hollowed out. “Third tier,” Liam muttered, half amused. “Of course it’s caves.”

Still, he didn’t complain. It was better this way. No distractions. No comfort to dull the edge of his hunger. Just him and the cauldron.

Liam settled in and meditated for the rest of the day, focusing on strengthening his soul. The next morning, he went back to the main reception desk.

“Chang Xuan is it?” The same clerk gave him an annoyed look. He then passed him a scroll and a small pouch. “Here is the recipe for the month. Your target is to make 2 sets of dozen potion vials. The purity has to be at least 50%. If a single one dips below that, it won’t count.”

“And if I don’t meet the quota?” Liam asked, already knowing the answer.

The man didn’t even bother to smirk. “You’re removed from the sect. Immediate revocation of entry permissions. You’ll be barred from returning under any identity or token. We don’t do charity here.”

Liam simply smiled and nodded. He then left for his cave.

The next morning, he returned. “What? Did you burn through all of your herbs in a single night? Heh. What did you think? I am sitting here every day just to hand you brand new sets of herbs every day? Do you think we are running some sort of charity?”

Liam did not respond. He silently took out the completed quota of vials and placed them on the desk. The clerk’s eyes instantly widened in surprise. “You finished the entire batch in a day?”

Liam only nodded. He refrained from correcting the guy. It had barely taken him an hour to finish the potion.

“Ughhh. Huh…” The clerk stammered as he started checking the potion quality. “These are impeccable. At least 70% purity.” He blurted out. He looked up and saw that Liam was still waiting there with the same smiling expression on his face. “I… I…”

Liam helped him out. “I am here for the next assignment.”

“Right.” The clerk hurriedly nodded. He then fumbled beneath the desk and pulled out another scroll and a new pouch. “Another assignment.”

Liam silently took the items and once again returned to his cave. The very next day, he was back. The clerk gulped. This time, he did not say anything unnecessarily. He didn’t bark, didn’t smirk, didn’t even blink more than necessary. His hands moved quickly, professionally, as he accepted the vials Liam placed on the counter.

Each one gleamed with a gentle luminescence, their liquid contents clear and vibrant, balanced to the point of harmony. The clerk checked them one by one. Once again, the purity of the potion was well above average.

The clerk gulped and looked at Liam again. “Next assignment?” Liam smiled.

The same event continued to happen for the next several days, and slowly, the name Chang Xuan started to become popular in the Hall of Emberlight.

By the end of the first week, Liam had returned five times, each time with perfectly brewed potions that exceeded expectations. Seventy percent purity became eighty percent. Then eighty-five. His worst vial still outperformed the best of his peers.

Whispers started spreading. At first, it was among the clerks. Then it reached the initiates. “Who’s that newbie in Sector C?” “He’s just third-tier, right? Then how the hell is he turning in elder-grade batches?”

Soon, a change happened. When Liam submitted the next set of vials, the clerk this time handed him a red-marked scroll. “The elders sent that one,” the clerk muttered, noticeably more respectful than before. “If you manage to concoct the potion, then you can take the advancement exam.”

Liam raised a brow, receiving the scroll and the pouch with interest. He was truly enjoying his time at Green Mountain. It was a simple life with nothing except meeting a small goal he had made for himself every single day.

For some reason, it felt relaxing and refreshing. Just the quiet bubbling of the cauldron, the scent of herbs in the air, and the satisfaction of control. Here, in this unassuming cliffside cave, Liam, or rather Chang Xuan, could lose himself in the purity of craft.

However, he still had responsibilities that he couldn’t shirk from. So just like all the other days, he carefully studied the recipe, fully understood the process, and concocted the potion. The first batch he made shockingly reached a purity of 90%. But he purposefully diluted it and then returned to the desk for yet another submission.

The clerk hurriedly received the vials and directed him to the exam halls. Apparently, the advancement required both practical knowledge and theoretical knowledge. Liam had no problems with either.

All these days, he had been slowly refining the souls of the two alchemists, and their knowledge was more than sufficient to answer all the questions in the exam. By now, he had fully assimilated most of their knowledge and made it his own.

Liam entered the exam hall where a single stone desk awaited him in the center, lit by a hovering orb of soft golden light. As he sat, the orb flared slightly and projected a long scroll into the air before him. Words etched themselves across it in glowing ink.

[Green Mountain Sect – Alchemy Theory Evaluation]

There was no pen. No paper. The test would be mental—read, think, and imprint your answers onto the scroll with your will alone. If your understanding was shallow, the scroll would remain blank.

The first question appeared.

“Describe the inverse reaction between Spiritroot Vine and Coldfire Lotus when subjected to a rotating flame array. Include all volatile compounds released.”

Liam’s mind sharpened.

He wasn’t relying on memory. He was relying on lived experience, albeit someone else’s. The soul fragments he’d absorbed had brewed these combinations dozens of times. He knew not only the right answer, but why it was the only one that would keep your cauldron from exploding into a frozen inferno.

Line after line, a glowing script began to appear in the air as Liam calmly answered each question. Some were obscure. Others tested creativity, asking for theoretical combinations never attempted. By the end, he had answered all questions to satisfaction.

The orb dimmed. The scroll vanished. Silence fell. Another pulse of light, and a jade emblem floated before him, etched with a stylized flame surrounded by three ascending rings.

[Second Tier Initiate – Green Mountain Sect]

Liam accepted the token, tucking it into his robes. And so, on his 33rd day of arriving at the Green Mountain, Liam was promoted from a measly third-tier initiate to a not-so-bad second-tier initiate.

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