Chapter 386 – Bonus Marks
The words immediately gathered the attention of the crowd, causing them to listen attentively.
Leng Jianxiong and Lin Xiaoyu’s hearts unconsciously skipped a beat while their bodies turned tense. Furthermore, Lin Xiaoyu clenched her fists tightly, causing blue veins to pop out on their surface.
Zheng Kun suddenly spoke at that instant, “Junior Brother Qin Nan, with your talents, scoring a full mark is definitely not a problem for you, right?”
After being defeated by Chen Ying, Zheng Kun felt incredibly unpleasant, but he could not find a way to unleash his anger, thus he purposely uttered the words to Qin Nan.
As expected, his words caused many of the disciples’ face to be filled with disdain.
Full marks?
He should be happy if he managed to score ten!
Chen Ying would not give up on such opportunity to mock Qin Nan as well, as she further added fuel to the fire, “Zheng Kun’s words are on point. Qin Nan, you are the first one ever in the history to have the two Sacred Areas fighting each other to claim your possession. I’m afraid that in addition to scoring a full mark, you would be able to deduce all sixty-three effects of the herb!”
Deduce sixty-three effects of the herb?
Many of the disciples almost burst out laughing.
This Chen Ying was so harsh with her mocking. If Qin Nan were able to identify sixty-three effects of the herb, the sun would most likely rise in the west![1]
“Is that so?”
Qin Nan let out a calm smile, showing no intention of defending himself.
As a matter of fact, same as the crowd, Tie Mu would be impressed if Qin Nan were able to score ten in the first part of the examination. However, when he checked the answer sheet, his heart felt like it had been electrocuted.
How was this possible!
How had Qin Nan managed to do it!
Could he be cheating?
That’s even more ridiculous!
“Qin Nan…” Tie Mu was stunned for a moment, before he finally spoke with a slightly hoarse voice.
The voice immediately grabbed the attention of the crowd. Although they were expecting Qin Nan to score low, they were still interested in knowing his actual result!
“Full marks!”
The two words served as a thunderous blow.
Full marks?
Qin Nan had obtained full marks?
At that instant, Chen Ying, Zheng Kun, Leng Jianxiong, Lin Xiaoyu, and the crowd of disciples were left with blank expressions. They even doubted if they were experiencing an illusion.
Qin Nan… scored full marks?
“Sixty-three effects were identified. He will be exceptionally rewarded with an extra five marks!”
It was as if Tie Mu had used all his energy just to announce the result.
BANG!
The crowd could only feel their brains receiving a great blow as if someone had struck their brains with a giant hammer.
Sixty-three effects thoroughly identified?
He managed to deduce all the effects?
Custodian Tie Mu, what kind of joke was that!
Qin Nan, a disciple of Duanmu Peak, was able to identify all the effects of the herb?
Apart from the top geniuses of Caomu Peak, nobody was able to achieve such a result in the fourth-grade Xing ranked Pill Alchemist examination in the past!
“HAHA.” At that instant, Qin Nan burst out laughing while bringing his fists together facing Zheng Kun and Chen Ying, “Guys, you are seriously something extraordinary, able to predict my result accurately!”
PA! PA!
The words served as two giant slaps to the faces of Zheng Kun and Chen Ying.
What had they been saying before?
It had now turned into reality!
“Impossible!” Zheng Kun let out a scream, “He is cheating! There is no way he could identify all the effects!”
Tie Mu glared at him with a pair of cold eyes after hearing the words.
Zheng Kun could feel his heart being filled with an icy aura, while his face turned pale after he came to a realization.
Cheating?
Whose answer did he copy?
It was more likely that they had copied Qin Nan’s answer instead!
At that instant, the crowd of disciples finally collected their thoughts, as their faces were filled with astonishment.
“What the f**k! What just happened?”
“You gotta be kidding me! A disciple of Duanmu Peak managed to identify all sixty-three effects of the herb and outmatched Chen Ying?”
“This is f**king insane!”
“……”
The disciples completely lost their ground as an uproar broke out among them.
Everyone knew that Qin Nan was a disciple of Duanmu Peak, who had not visited Caomu Peak after joining the Qinglong Sacred Area a month ago. However, such a layman had achieved a result that surpassed Zheng Kun and the genius Chen Ying!
Did that mean that this Qin Nan was an expert in Pill Alchemy before joining Duanmu Peak?
Meanwhile, Chen Ying finally recovered from the shock. Even though she was wearing an unpleasant expression, her tone remained icy as she spoke, “Qin Nan, don’t get ahead of yourself. You were only able to do so with the help of your eye-technique! Let me remind you that the second part of the examination is about pill-refining, and you will surely lose!”
The words immediately awakened the disciples from their astonishment.
They had completely forgotten about this—even if Qin Nan had no knowledge in Pill Alchemy, as long as he mastered a powerful eye-technique, he could still identify the effects of the herb, which had nothing to do with his pill-refining skill.
The thought caused them to let out sighs of relief.
“That makes more sense!”
“Shit, I was almost scared to death.”
“HAHA, no wonder, so it’s only because of his eye-technique!”
“……”
The disciples finally returned to normal. They would never believe Qin Nan was an expert in Pill Alchemy. No way, it’s too shocking if that was the truth, since his strength in Martial Arts is already that overwhelming. If he also possessed a great talent in Pill Alchemy on top of that, he was no doubt an obscene genius!
How would that be fair to the remaining cultivators in contrast to his talents?
“Huh? What right does a loser like you have to question my talents?”
Qin Nan replied in a cold tone.
Chen Ying felt her throat sticking, while her face reddened completely due to her anger.
That being said, she could not find any words to rebuke him!
Tie Mu gave Qin Nan a thoughtful look. He could not help but admit that although this guy was behaving smugly, he did have outstanding capabilities.
“Hopefully he will be able to learn his lesson in the second part of the examination, and survive the humiliation.”
Tie Mu mumbled to himself. He then straightened himself and uttered a roar, “Alright, keep your voices down. The second part of the examination starts now! In this part, you will be given a total of ten different herbs, including White Fungus Tree, Eastern Han Fruit… You will be using these herbs to refine your pill using the cauldron in front of you. You have an hour’s time, and you only have three attempts! The examination begins now!”
After saying this, Tie Mu flicked his finger, causing three sets of herbs to land before each participant.
“Junior Brother Qin Nan, congratulations on scoring full marks in the first part of the examination. I’m really impressed by your outstanding eye-technique. However, good luck in this round. I hope that you will be able to score a better result than mine!” Despite Zheng Kun’s attempt to set up a trap for Qin Nan, he ended up getting beaten by Qin Nan, causing his face to turn dark while his tone turned vicious.
“Hehe, Senior Brother Zheng Kun, although your skill in pill-refining is only average, your ability to predict my results is definitely fascinating.”
Qin Nan immediately snapped back at him.
“You!”
Zheng Kun’s expression changed tremendously as his eyes spit fire. Following it, he clenched his teeth to suppress his anger.
“Qin Nan, in this second round, I’ll let you know the difference between our capabilities!”
Zheng Kun snapped in his heart.
[1] TL Note: This is a common saying in Chinese when referring to something impossible.