Vol 2 Chapter 9: The Academy's Attention
"Let me see yours too."
"Yours is darker, though."
"Pleasure doing business with you."
Hidden Corner of Hidden Dragon City
Lin Jing and Xu Zhizhi met a few days later.
Upon seeing that Lin Jing had advanced the Hidden Dragon Arts to the second stage, marked by a blue seal, Xu Zhizhi couldn’t hide his envy. "I arrived here months ahead of you, tried all kinds of ways to make a name for myself, and yet, in just a few days, you’ve already caught up!"
After all, part of the sect's troubles was partially his responsibility.
"I know a bit about your sect’s situation," Xu Zhizhi said thoughtfully. "Blessings often come in disguise, but it seems your fortune might just be too strong for the sect to handle."
"Anyway, don’t worry too much! With your luck, you’re bound to revive the sect. Just make sure to seize the opportunities that come your way!"
"Even the heirs of great sects, sons of Nascent Soul cultivators, descendants of Soul Formation experts, or those with innate spiritual bodies don’t get special recruitment from the academy. But for those like us, chosen by a Cavern Heaven, the academy personally extends invitations. Do you know why?"
"Because cultivators who’ve entered a Cavern Heaven once are highly likely to enter it a second or third time! That’s an opportunity from the Celestial Realm, greater than anything else!"
"That’s precisely why I had to kill that Snow Plains Cultivator," Xu Zhizhi admitted. "Severing their fortune strengthened mine. That incident made me famous as well."
"So, Lin, you just need to seize your future opportunities. I’m certain you’ll become the revivalist of the Beast Taming Sect. I, Xu Zhizhi, have never misjudged anyone!"
"I’ll take your kind words, Brother Xu," Lin Jing said sincerely. "You scholars always know how to put things so nicely."
Xu Zhizhi gave a gentle smile. "We’re friends now. Let’s let bygones be bygones. If you ever need help, don’t hesitate to come to me."
"One last piece of advice, Brother Lin: these days, try not to go out much. And if you do, make sure to disguise yourself!"
"Your newfound fame will undoubtedly attract attention from academy students who want to boost their own reputation by challenging you!"
"I understand," Lin Jing replied. "Next, I’m heading to the library to study. What about you, Brother Xu?"
"I need to settle the spirit stone payments for those people I hired to spread my reputation," Xu Zhizhi said with a grin.
Hidden Dragon Academy
In a pitch-black hall, two rows of long stone tables stretched out. On them lay a dozen white stones, neatly arranged.
Suddenly, one stone began to glow. Shortly after, seven or eight other stones lit up, each radiating beams of light that formed vague shadows.
"The recruitment ceremony held once every five years is approaching. Who will serve as the chief examiner this time?" one shadow asked.
"Let’s have Ziwai do it. He recruited four exceptionally talented students for the academy this year. They can assist with the examinations," another shadow replied.
"How capable are these four? I heard a few monstrous talents will be joining the academy. Can those four handle it?"
"This is an excellent opportunity for them to make a name for themselves. If they fail to seize it, that’s their loss."
After parting ways with Xu Zhizhi, Lin Jing headed to the academy library.
There were only a few pages left in the Scripture of Alchemy, and today he planned to memorize them all. Understanding was secondary; committing it to memory came first. As the saying goes, read a book a hundred times, and its meaning will naturally reveal itself.
Inside the library, Lin Jing held the scripture in one hand, committing it to memory, while using his other hand to press his forehead with a Spirit Nurturing Spell to alleviate fatigue.
Whenever his qi ran low, he would pop a Replenishing Pill into his mouth.
"Creating an original pill recipe isn’t about conjuring something out of thin air," he mused aloud.
"Most ‘original recipes’ by alchemists are, at their core, improvements on existing ones. They build upon the work of predecessors, either adding, subtracting, or substituting ingredients, using different flames or techniques to refine a pill with a similar effect."
From Lin Jing’s recent study, developing a new recipe seemed both challenging and simple at the same time.
If an alchemist aimed to create a recipe for a Soaring Pill that could make even a chicken or dog ascend to immortality, that would indeed be a fool’s dream.
This pill is unprecedented on the Tianyuan Continent, its effects extraordinary—something no alchemist from the lower realms could have created. It is undoubtedly an Immortal Pill.
However, if an alchemist only aims to create a basic Healing Pill, the task becomes much simpler.
With tens of thousands of spirit herbs possessing healing properties in the cultivation world, numerous versions of healing pills circulate in the market.
Even inconspicuous clinics in small towns dare to advertise "exclusive secret recipes" or "original formulas." This is because developing and refining low-grade pills truly isn’t difficult.
Some Grade-1 recipes even require only one or two ingredients, where the alchemist merely extracts their nutrients and forms them into pills.
What Lin Jing desired was a Foundation Establishment Pill designed for blood-refining methods, one that was neither exceptionally difficult nor overly simple.
It wasn’t too challenging because Foundation Establishment Pills were Grade-2 pills, and most sects had their own unique formulas tailored to their cultivation techniques. For example, the Demonic Dao Foundation Pill of the Beast Taming Sect had been studied to exhaustion by countless cultivators.
However, it wasn’t a walk in the park either. Lin Jing had only tried refining Grade-1 pills so far and had never attempted a Grade-2 pill. Refining Grade-2 pills at the Qi Refining stage was extraordinarily difficult—a feat typically reserved for prodigies of the alchemical arts.
Rumor had it that Ziling’er from the Pill Cauldron Sect had successfully refined one of the most challenging Grade-2 pills: a special Foundation Establishment Pill—the exact pill Lin Jing sought. Her success catapulted her reputation at Hidden Dragon Academy.
Of course, Ziling’er was a dedicated alchemist who had gained enlightenment in Bodhi Heaven, so her achievement wasn’t surprising. Lin Jing, on the other hand, was still a novice in the alchemical path.
"If I want to develop my own exclusive Foundation Establishment Pill, it obviously won’t be from scratch..."
"Instead, I’ll build on existing recipes, adding my own adjustments, experimenting repeatedly until either I succeed or I fail endlessly."
Lin Jing had already chosen a recipe from one of the alchemy books in the library: the Grade-2 pill, Beast Blood Pill—a body-tempering pill.
Although the alchemy books in the library didn’t detail any blood-refining methods, the Beast Blood Pill’s materials included various types of beast blood, making it a suitable focus for Lin Jing’s research.
In addition to the Beast Blood Pill, Lin Jing planned to study the recipe for the most common ordinary Foundation Establishment Pill used across the continent. Most sect-specific Foundation Establishment Pills were essentially modified versions of this foundational recipe.
"Now that I have the top-tier beast fire from the Dragon Carp, all I need is a high-grade pill furnace, and my preparations will be complete."
Slowly refining, slowly researching—what Lin Jing lacked least was time.
Surprisingly, the Hidden Dragon Arts' comprehension bonus wasn’t even Lin Jing’s greatest asset for developing pill formulas. It was his time.
Currently, Lin Jing could live for over a thousand years, his Pine Leaf Mouse for five to six hundred years. This was just during the Qi Refining stage! Even the Dragon Carp was quite long-lived; ordinary wild carps could survive for over a century, let alone a Qi Refining Stage Nine Dragon Carp with awakened Dragon Veins!
They were all long-lived beings—victory depended on who could outlast the others.
As Lin Jing exited the library, a look of surprise appeared on his face.
He saw a middle-aged man, scholarly in appearance, standing with a smile.
"Not bad! It’s only been a few days, and you’ve already stirred up quite the commotion," Mr. Cao remarked with a grin. "It seems you’ve adapted well to the rules of Hidden Dragon Academy. As expected of someone chosen by a Cavern Heaven. Because of your outstanding performance, the academy has decided to give you a chance to make a name for yourself!"