At dusk, Chu Feng, the grandpa that saved me, returned home looking rather weary. The basket he carried behind his back was filled to the brim with herbs.

Chu Yao immediately told him what had transpired with me. Chu Feng was naturally happy and agreed to take me in as a disciple. Any further actions that w.a.n.g Ying would take to stop Lin Mu Yu from staying was useless. From Lin Mu Yu’s point of view, w.a.n.g Ying must secretly harbor a crush on Chu Yao. But how could a person like him be suited for the innocent Chu Yao?

I silently promised to protect Chu Yao. I wouldn’t go out of my way but whenever I can, I’ll show Chu Yao how w.a.n.g Ying isn’t suited for her.

……

Starlight scattered across the backyard. Numerous stalks of Calming Spirit Flowers s.h.i.+ne brilliantly amidst the black baked gra.s.s. The unique characteristic of these flowers was that they would only bloom at night and emit a pleasant scent. The whole backyard was filled with the scent of Calming Spirit flowers, soothing the spirit of nearby people.

A group of apprentices including Lin Mu Yu and Chu Yao sat in the yard memorising the characteristics of herbs.

A young apprentice Luo Kai suddenly asked, “In another three days, the Alchemy Conference will be held. Master, since our Bai Ling Medicine Shop does not offer high level medicine, we’re not going to partic.i.p.ate right?”

Chu Feng released a sigh. “Yes, we are probably not going…”

w.a.n.g Ying replied, “Master, Shen Yu Medicine Hall’s star apprentice, Hua Wan has already mastered Level 5 Alchemy techniques and has officially been promoted to Expert Alchemist…”

Chu Feng was shocked. “This fast? That kid is only twenty-four years old. To become an expert alchemist at such a young age…”

Chu Yao indignantly said, “Shen Yu Medicine Hall is overly wealthy and has the entire city’s government in their backpocket. They have easy access to even Level 7 and Level 8 herbs. Our Bai Ling Medicine Shop can only use up to Level 5 herbs so naturally, there’s no comparison. If we had their resources, I…I could also…”

She seemed to have lost confidence to continue speaking but she nevertheless pursed her lips, appearing rather angry.

Lin Mu Yu thought she looked rather adorable. He asked, “Chu Yao Jie, what does being an expert Alchemist entail?”

“You don’t even know this?” w.a.n.g Ying mocked Lin Mu Yu. He probably felt that such a person did not deserve to stay in the medicine shop.

Chu Yao glared at w.a.n.g Ying before she patiently explained, “Ah Yu, the profession of Alchemist is split into several levels which are determined by the Capital’s Alchemism division. All Alchemists are categorised into one of six levels. The first is Apprentice, followed by Alchemist, Expert Alchemist, Master Alchemist, King of Alchemists and finally, G.o.d of Alchemists. As such, Apprentices can only use Level 1 and 2 herbs, Alchemists can use Level 3 and 4 herbs, Expert Alchemists can use Level 5 and 6, Master Alchemists 7 and 8, King of Alchemists 9 and G.o.d of Alchemists 10. Understand?”

“Yeah, thanks Chu Yao Jie!” Lin Mu Yu nodded before he looked at Chu Feng and asked, “So which level is Grandfather at?”

Chu Feng appeared slightly embarra.s.sed as he said, “This old man was born in poverty so I am only considered an Expert Alchemist.”

Chu Yao replied, “At Bai Ling Medicine Shop, Grandpa is an Expert Alchemist and can handle up to a maximum of Level 5 herbs while Senior w.a.n.g Ying and I are Alchemists. The others are considered Apprentices.”

w.a.n.g Ying laughed coldly. “Some people haven’t mastered even Level 1 Herbs. I’m afraid we can’t even consider them Apprentices.”

Chu Yao glared at w.a.n.g Ying before she pressed her lips together and said angrily, “Ah Yu, come with me to the herb storage. I’ll teach you Alchemism right now.”

Chu Feng worried asked, “Ah Yao, can you do it?”

Chu Yao turned around and puffed out her chest, full of confidence. Under the moonlight, her snowy white skin was extraordinarily beautiful. “Of course I can!”

The storage room was filled with various kinds of herbs.

Chu Yao lightly said, “The most important technique of Alchemism is extracting the useful sections of a herb. For example, a stalk of Silver Line gra.s.s only has a tiny portion – a few grams that can be used in making medicine. Alchemists call this Essence. The first thing we must do is to improve the extraction of Essence. As the level of herbs increases, extraction becomes more difficult and hence the skill that an alchemist requires increases.”

As she spoke, Chu Yao extended a pale hand and took a deep breath. Her palm was surrounded by a softly s.h.i.+ning green light. She said softly, “Refining hand. Using the inner energy of your body to extract the Essence of various herbs. This is the first step of your study.”

Refining hand, this was the most fundamental technique of Alchemism. Lin Mu Yu didn’t know this technique but he knew that he had mastered another kind of technique, the Sublimation Hand. That was the reward he received when he became a Alchemism Grandmaster. Sublimation Hand was able to more thoroughly absorb the essence of a herb, destroy impurities and hence improve the quality of the resulting medicine.

Chu Yao saw Lin Mu Yu’s doubt and shook her head. She said, “Then first look at what Senior is doing!”

As she spoke, Chu Yao opened her palm. She softly exclaimed as the stalk of Silver Line gra.s.s started to tremble. Under the Refining Hand’s guidance, the leaves and silver roots of the Silver Line gra.s.s started to peel off. Under the naked eye, it was nearly impossible to see the green-coloured Essence that was slowly beginning to flow as it was absorbed by Chu Yao. Approximately a few minutes later, a small lump of green powder appeared on the center of Chu Yao’s palm, the so-called Essence of the Silver Line herb.

Chu Yao turned around and smiled slightly. “This is probably is little difficult. But as long as you focus all your inner energy onto your palm before concentrating on understanding the origins of a herb, then the moment you capture its essence you can extract it!”

Lin Mu Yu stood silently by the side, staring at a stalk of Silver Line gra.s.s. Indeed, as he examined it for about half a minute, the main components of the herb was slowly unveiled before his eyes. Small particles appeared on the leaves and the silver roots. This was Essence!

He cheered silently and slowly extended his hand towards the Silver Line gra.s.s as he started up his Sublimation Hand.

But when nothing happened, he began to be somewhat worried,

At his side, Chu Yao gently said, “Ah Yu, no worries. Take your time. Inner energy is something everyone should have since energy is a mystical power the Heavens granted to us people.”

Lin Mu Yu didn’t speak. Instead he continued to propel the energy within his body. Finally, a trickle of energy appeared within his being, flowing slowly towards his fingertips. Immediately afterwards, his body emitted a pale green light. This feeling was familiar. It was the Sublimation Hand!

Shhaashaa……

The Silver Line gra.s.s started to tremble under the guidance of his Sublimation Hand before the components began to peel off. Speck by speck of Essence began to congregate on Lin Mu Yu’s palm. After about two minutes, a small lump of Essence silently lay on the center of his palm!

“Eh?”

Chu Yao’s mouth dropped open as she stood, dumbfounded. Every Alchemist would eventually be able to master the Refining Hand. But she had never met a person who succeeded on his first try. She herself had practiced for almost a month and failed over a thousand times before she had finally mastered the technique!

“Ah Yu……” Chu Yao shook his shoulder, blinking her big eyes repeatedly. “You…Is this really your first time practising Alchemism?”

Lin Mu Yu wasn’t sure how to answer her. It was certainly his first time in this world but he had done it countless times back in the game. He had even constructed Level 10 herbs, much less this kind of pathetic Level 1 herb. So he answered, “It’s definitely my first time here…”

Chu Yao was overjoyed as she hurriedly yelled, “Grandpa! Grandpa! Quick, come here and look at this!”

Chu Feng thought that something had gone wrong so he quickly entered the room only to find Lin Mu Yu and Chu Yao standing there. He worriedly asked, “What has happened, Ah Yao?”

Chu Yao pointed at a lump of Essence in a plate and said, “Look, look! Ah Yu learnt to use Refining Hand and attempted it once!”

“Is that so?”

Chu Feng was still in doubt. He naturally could not believe that a person could master Refining Hand successfully on his first try. It had simply never been done in this kingdom. Even those who were respected as G.o.d of Alchemists needed at least one to three days to master it. Chu Yao was already fairly proficient to be able to master it within a month whereas other less accomplished apprentices usually took three months. As for the even less accomplished people, they would never master it within their lifetime.

But looking at the Essence in the plate, reality was right before his eyes. What shocked him more was that Lin Mu Yu’s extracted Essence was a lot smaller than Chu Yao’s. Chu Feng was also an expert at Alchemy and naturally understood that the reason for a smaller amount of Essence was due to the absence of impurities. The Silver Line gra.s.s that Lin Mu Yu used was similar in size to the one Chu Yao used but the size of Lin Mu Yu’s extracted essence was only one third that of Chu Yao’s. This was simply unbelievable!

……

Looking at Lin Mu Yu’s appearance, it was undeniable that he was only in his early twenties. But to show such talent at the Refining Hand! This was at least on the level of Master Alchemists!

“The Kingdom’s youngest Master Alchemist is already 52 years old…” Chu Feng simply could not understand. Could the youth standing before him be a prince from one of those wealthy n.o.ble families who had wandered into Cathaya City?

“Grandpa, Ah Yu’s really good, isn’t he?” Chu Yao happily asked.

Chu Feng smiled and nodded. Chu Yao was too innocent to understand just how groundbreaking this was. Chu Feng looked at Lin Mu Yu again and asked, “Ah Yu, could you perhaps attempt on other kinds of herbs? For example…this stalk of Steel-tipped flower?”

Steel-tipped flower was only a Level 2 herb but it had intense medicinal properties. The outer layer was impenetrable like steel. When collecting this herb, the roots must be dug up because ordinary herb-collection shovels are unable to break them off. This herb has made many an Alchemists give up in resignation. Using the Refining Hand to break off the first layer of the flower was definitely a nightmare!

Hence, in the Alchemy world, there is a proverb which goes “Peeling off a virgin’s clothes is as difficult as peeling a Steel-tipped flower.” This sufficiently displays just how difficult extracting the Essence of a Steel-tipped flower was, to the extent that even Expert Alchemists are reluctant to tackle this Level 2 Steel-tipped flower!

It was definitely a difficult task that Chu Feng had set for Lin Mu Yu. Even Chu Yao knew that only Expert Alchemists have the ability to refine Steel-tipped flowers.

“Grandpa, this…” She pursed her lips.

Chu Feng sternly said, “Ah Yao, be silent. Look at what Ah Yu is doing.”

Lin Mu Yu was a smart person and naturally could see through what Chu Feng was thinking. Actually, he also knew that to remain undercover, he would have to downplay himself. Hiding his potential would be the only way to avoid a later disaster. But it was in Lin Mu Yu’s nature to be a bit wild. He was neither accustomed to nor did he enjoy downplaying himself!

He walked towards the Steel-tipped flower and shouted softly. Once again, he concentrated his energy on his palm to create the Sublimation Hand. Upon opening his palm, streams of energy instantaneously dissolved into thin lines to guide the Steel-tipped flower. Lin Mu Yu was completely focused on this stalk of plant. He used his spiritual power to unveil the Steel-tipped flower’s major components. Actually he already knew that the Steel-tipped flower has a total of three layers. The first layer is steel, the second is rock and the third is wood. Underneath that was the real Essence. But it was impossible to use brute force to cut open the outer layers since once the outer layers are broken, the Essence inside would quickly disperse.

Close to a minute later, under the guidance of the Sublimation Hand, the Steel-tipped flower’s outer layer slowly cracked and fell to the ground. This was followed by the second layer. It took nearly two minutes to find the miniscule cracks on the stone layer and slowly remove it and lastly, it took three minutes to peel off the wooden layer. Finally, layer after layer fell onto the ground. The black-coloured Steel-tipped flower transformed into a green-coloured root. Using the Sublimation Hand, the Essence slowly gathered on Lin Mu Yu’s palm. After about ten minutes, the entire stalk of a rather large Steel-tipped flower was reduced to an sphere of Essence about the size of a quail’s egg which lay on Lin Mu Yu’s palm.

“Grandfather, is this it?” Lin Mu Yu raised the Essence of the Steel-tipped flower and smiled.

“……”

Chu Feng was completely dumbfounded and unable to speak. He knew that he had definitely acquired a treasure!