The Sword God of the Universe

Chapter 527: Chapter 527: Identifying Medicinal Herbs

Before the white-robed elder’s words had fully ended, a thin martial artist descended from the highest step of the stairway plaza.

”Please, Pill Masters participating in the competition, come forward and exchange your entry tokens for number plates!” the martial artist shouted loudly to everyone.

Jing Yan glanced at Zhou Shangyun, who smiled and nodded at him.

Subsequently, Jing Yan and the other Pill Masters representing Youhai Commerce advanced toward the front.

At the same time, a large number of Pill Masters emerged from the crowd, obviously all prepared to participate in this Alchemy Grand Ceremony. Jing Yan glanced around, estimating indeed over a thousand Pill Masters were taking part.

Exchange of entry tokens for number plates was a swift process. Jing Yan also exchanged his token, given by Zhou Shangyun, for a milky white number plate with vermilion numbers on it, number sixty-six.

In a moment, all the Pill Masters participating in the Alchemy Grand Ceremony had their number plates exchanged. The emaciated martial artist who had leaped down from the stairway plaza also flew back.

”Pill Masters holding competition number plates, please ascend to the next stairway plaza!” the voice of the white-robed elder echoed once more.

Jing Yan followed the crowd, leaping upwards.

On this stairway plaza, there were many long tables arranged, each covered with a piece of silk.

”The Alchemy Grand Ceremony has now begun, Alchemist Jing Yan, and the first task is medicinal herb identification,” Qiu Fang, standing beside Jing Yan, said in a low voice.

He wasn’t sure whether Jing Yan was familiar with the process of the Alchemy Grand Ceremony; however, after some thought, he decided it was best to mention it. Just in case Jing Yan wasn’t aware of the procedures, informing him now would at least give Jing Yan some preparation time.

”Medicinal herb identification?” Jing Yan looked toward Qiu Fang.

Hearing the tone of Jing Yan’s voice, Qiu Fang was certain Jing Yan indeed did not know the procedures of the Alchemy Grand Ceremony.

”That’s right. The first task is to identify one hundred Spirit Grasses. Only Pill Masters who pass the medicinal herb identification to a satisfactory level can progress to the next stage. The second is pill identification, with the third stage being alchemy. If one can pass the third stage, then they can essentially make it onto the Pill King List for newcomers,” Qiu Fang said with a hopeful look in his eyes.

He was only a Fifth Rank Alchemist, with almost no chance of making it onto the newcomers’ Pill King List.

Over this period, he had learned much from Jing Yan’s queries about Alchemy Dao and respected Jing Yan immensely now, almost to the extent that he respected his mentor Ximang.

”Understood, thank you Alchemist Qiu Fang!” Jing Yan nodded.

”Pill Masters, please select your respective medicinal herb identification tables according to your numbers!” the white-robed elder announced loudly once again.

Jing Yan and the other thousand-plus Pill Masters began to move. Jing Yan quickly found the purple long table marked with the number sixty-six and stood in front of it.

Once everyone was standing in front of their respective tables, the voice of the white-robed elder was heard again.

”Please, all Pill Masters, remove the silks from the tables in front of you!”

”Rustle!”

All Pill Masters uncovered the silk from their tables, revealing the various Spirit Grasses to their sight.

Each long table heaved with exactly the same types, one hundred in total. Aside from the Spirit Grasses, there were also paper and a pen on each table.

On the paper, squares were drawn out in four rows, with twenty-five squares in each row.

With just one glance, Jing Yan knew that the squares on the paper corresponded to the arrangement of Spirit Grasses on the long table. It seemed that the first task of medicinal herb identification was to write the names of the various Spirit Grasses from the long table into their corresponding squares on the paper.

”The first task of the Alchemy Grand Ceremony, medicinal herb identification! Each Pill Master has one hundred types of Spirit Grass on the table in front of them. What you need to do is identify each kind of Spirit Grass and then write the name of the grass into the corresponding square. The duration for the first task is two hours.”

”Now, begin the herb identification! Note, before the end of herb identification, no Pill Master is allowed to communicate with another Pill Master. If anyone is found to be in breach of this rule, they will be directly disqualified from participating in the Alchemy Grand Ceremony,” the white-robed elder declared sternly.

After the white-robed elder finished speaking, all the Pill Masters immediately picked up their pens and frantically began to write the names of various Spirit Grasses on the paper. However, their writing was as quick as their pauses.

In less than a third of the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, many Pill Masters stopped writing, furrowed their brows, and displayed worried expressions.

”What is this thing?”

”Is this also a Spirit Grass? I’ve never seen it before, it looks like a mineral!”

”Damn it! I can’t believe there are three consecutive Spirit Grasses that I don’t recognize. How is this possible? I’ve seen countless types of Spirit Grasses at the trade center; how could I not recognize these?”

One by one, the Pill Masters became flustered, urgently contemplating in their minds.

The Spirit Grasses arranged on the long table were indeed easy to recognize at first. But with a total of one hundred types, the difficulty sharply increased after the twentieth. Even Pill Masters from families and commerce bodies frowned deeply.

Given the limited time, they could not afford to waste too much time on a single kind of Spirit Grass. When unable to recognize a Spirit Grass, they had to temporarily bypass it and try to identify the next one.

However, many found themselves bypassing one after another, even skipping over more than ten types in succession.

These Pill Masters could not remain calm!

They felt that the difficulty of this year’s Alchemy Grand Ceremony seemed to have increased a lot. These Pill Masters, all under a hundred years of age, naturally could not have participated in the previous ceremony. Yet most of them had connections, and they had some understanding of the previous ceremonies.

Many Pill Masters knew that in the last Alchemy Grand Ceremony’s first task of medicinal herb identification, most of them were able to successfully identify over seventy types of Spirit Grasses. However, in this year’s first task, even identifying fifty types seemed quite challenging.

Jing Yan stood in front of the long table, his gaze sweeping over each Spirit Grass.

Gradually, his breathing quickened.

”Golden Light Grass?”

”Stone Fruit?”

”...”

Jing Yan’s eyes grew increasingly bright. He wasn’t very concerned about the earlier Spirit Grasses since they were relatively common and not highly valued. However, the latter Spirit Grasses, even though Jing Yan had never seen many of them before, could be identified thanks to the records within the Qiankun Pill Path. Without such records, he would not have been able to identify them.

Yet, he understood the value of these Spirit Grasses. Especially the last several dozen, each was invaluable and normally impossible to obtain.

Jing Yan couldn’t help but feel some admiration in his heart; Pill Country truly deserved to be the Holy Land of Alchemy Dao on the Heavenly Origin Continent, to be able to present so many rare Spirit Grasses all at once. Tsk tsk, it would certainly be delightful if he could take all these Spirit Grasses into his own possession.