However, this time it wasn't a queue, but an exam!
There were many temporary structures set up in the plaza. Inside each structure was a table, and on the table was a test paper. Mo Qi was guided by a soldier into one of the rooms, where he sat down at the table and began the exam. The time limit was one stick of incense.
Since most people had been sent back in the first two rounds, not many people entered this stage for the exam, only a few.
Mo Qi could feel the rustling sound of writing around him. Several people were also writing furiously.
However, it was impossible to cheat using his Heavenly Eye, as each room was equipped with a formation.
Mo Qi took a look; they were all question-and-answer questions.
Such as how to control the heat? How to ensure the purity of raw materials? How to refine petrification pills? What are the medicinal pills for combating enemies? How to refine them? What raw materials are needed to refine thunder pills, and so on.
For Mo Qi, these questions were all second nature.
He quickly finished writing and submitted his paper, then exited the room to wait outside.
The examiner was an old man with a white beard, Master Zhong.
Seeing that Mo Qi was the last to arrive but the first to submit his paper, he couldn't help but show a look of disdain: he must not have been able to answer and submitted a blank paper.
But when he opened the test paper, he was stunned. Mo Qi had filled the entire paper, and for one question he couldn't fit his answer, he had written on the back.
The副考官 (fù kǎo guān - assistant examiner) was also very surprised: "This, this is just random scribbling, isn't it? How could he write so much, and so quickly? When I was taking exams before, this was how it was done; if you couldn't answer, you'd just write a lot of nonsense, with the principle of filling the empty space."
Master Zhong nodded: "Yes, I looked at one question, and it was indeed random scribbling."
Then he continued to read, shaking his head: "What is all this writing? It's all random scribbling, zero points!"
He then angrily threw the test paper aside.
After everyone had submitted their papers, Master Zhong began grading. He first wrote a zero on Mo Qi's paper, then looked at the other papers and finished grading them quickly.
According to regulations, after announcing the results to those waiting outside, he had to submit the test papers and results to the chief invigilator, Grand Tutor Mao.
At this point, he asked the assistant examiner to go out and announce the results, while he himself packed the test papers, preparing to report to Grand Tutor Mao.
However, at this moment, the impatient Grand Tutor Mao came over himself.
"How is it?" Grand Tutor Mao asked urgently.
"Not good," Master Zhong shook his head. "They are all half-baked, not a single one passed, and there's even a zero."
"Zero?" Grand Tutor Mao found it unbelievable. "Even if you scribble randomly, you shouldn't get zero. Are you being too strict?"
"Not strict," Master Zhong shook his head. "Not strict at all. He is completely clueless and just scribbled here. It's strange if this can get points."
As he spoke, he handed Mo Qi's test paper to Grand Tutor Mao: "Look, is this scribbled?"
Grand Tutor Mao looked at the first question, "How to control the heat": "There is no need to deliberately control the heat. All pills have a critical point. When the critical point is reached, there will be a pill formation reaction. At this time, you only need to stop the fire. The rest depends on the alchemist's observation skills. Taking out the pill at the appropriate time will achieve superior quality."
"Damn, this is the insight of a master who has reached the pinnacle of alchemy! The saying 'the highest art is appreciated by few' probably means this. And these two fools actually gave it zero points!"
"How to refine petrification pills?" Not only did he provide a detailed refining method, but he also listed all the raw material names, and the combination of these raw materials was seamless, as if it were a divine stroke, as if these raw materials were born for refining this pill. How did he come up with this formula? He's simply a peerless genius!
"These two idiots didn't realize that this is the best method for refining petrification pills. And the best answer they have is ten times inferior compared to this."
The third, fourth, and fifth questions were all like this. It was because their understanding was too shallow that these two fools misjudged it.
Master Zhong also sought credit from Grand Tutor Mao: "Grand Tutor Mao, look, if I hadn't reviewed it carefully, I would have let this kind of person slip through. Fortunately, I have a solid foundation in alchemy, and those who try to muddle through can't escape my eyes in the end."
"You incompetent fool, you almost delayed an alchemy genius. Perhaps he is the one who can solve the princess's problem. Do you know your crime?" Grand Tutor Mao suddenly roared.
Although Master Zhong didn't know why Grand Tutor Mao was angry, he was still stunned and knelt down with a thud: "Your Excellency, please calm your anger!"
"You... you're making me so angry! How could I have hired such a foolish person as the chief examiner? Get out!"
Master Zhong stood there, as if it were snowing around him.
"What exactly happened?" he asked tremblingly, yet somewhat unwillingly.
"I'm telling you, you wouldn't understand anyway. In short, you graded a perfect score of one hundred as a zero!"
Master Zhong instantly turned to stone!
At this moment, the assistant examiner announced the results outside. A total of several people, all scoring in the thirties, forties... not a single one passed. Everyone felt particularly ashamed, but when they heard Mo Qi got zero, they all burst into laughter. Although it was like the pot calling the kettle black, they felt proud that the hundred steps were not theirs.
"Someone actually got zero!"
"His face is thick enough, daring to take the exam without understanding anything!"
"How did they figure out it was zero? Even if I wrote randomly, I wouldn't get zero."
"..."
Mo Qi knew that it wasn't that he was incapable, but that no one understood his level.
Therefore, he didn't care about this score at all. So, after hearing the score, he turned and left directly. There was no need to linger, nor to argue, as arguing wouldn't clarify anything.
But just as he was about to step out of the gate, an old man with a white beard chased after him, panting: "Who is Mo Qi?"
Mo Qi stopped abruptly and turned back: "I am, what's wrong?"
"Oh. Fortunately, it's not too late," Grand Tutor Mao ran up in three quick steps and grabbed Mo Qi's hand. "You alchemy genius, I've caught you."
The old man, who was thousands or even tens of thousands of years old, suddenly displayed the demeanor of a child, which made everyone a little uncomfortable.
Mo Qi felt his skin crawl and quickly withdrew his hand: "Sir, please speak directly if you have something to say. Don't touch me."
Grand Tutor Mao didn't feel he had lost his composure at all and continued to jump around: "You, you scored one hundred."
Everyone around was stunned: "Didn't you just say zero? How did it suddenly become one hundred?"
"Is there some foul play?"
"What foul play!" Grand Tutor Mao glared back at them. "It's you who don't understand, including the chief examiner. I've already fired him. Look, can you answer such a perfect paper?"
Saying that, Grand Tutor Mao took out Mo Qi's test paper and displayed it. Two people were genuinely curious and ran over to crane their necks to watch. Grand Tutor Mao took this opportunity to vent his excitement, explaining to everyone with trembling hands: "Look how clever and perfect this answer is. According to your understanding, it would probably be like this and like that, but he..."
Mo Qi frowned, had this Grand Tutor Mao forgotten the main business?
Fortunately, a guard next to him led the way: "Please follow me."
Mo Qi followed him to the back.
He was a little anxious now, not expecting that completing this bounty would take so long. Xiao Yi and Sun Qian must be getting impatient. What if something dangerous happened?
But as things stood, he had come this far, and he felt that the task was about to be completed. He couldn't just give up now!
Under the guidance of this soldier, he entered a palace. To his relief, on the front wall of this palace, he saw the bounty formula.
After only a few glances, he understood immediately: it was the Myriad Poison Pill!
A medicinal pill that could detoxify, capable of removing the toxicity of most poisons!
Only the last ingredient was missing. Mo Qi picked up his brush and wrote it down: Goose Top Red!
As soon as he finished writing, a team of fully armed men appeared around him, surrounding him.
A general-like figure stepped forward, with some anger on his face: "How dare you! Do you know who this medicinal pill is meant to save? You're just writing nonsense here?"
Mo Qi felt bewildered: "I don't know who you're using it to save, but I'm not writing nonsense."
"You still say you're not writing nonsense? You're not the first person to break in here, but the previous person also wrote the same thing. The medicinal pill they refined had no effect. As a result, that person was killed by us." the general said.
"That's your problem then. Who comes here would write it like this for the Myriad Poison Pill. You provided the information, so why blame others when it has no effect?" Mo Qi said neither subserviently nor obsequiously.
"Myriad Poison Pill?" the general was stunned for a moment, then shouted, "You're talking nonsense even when you're facing death! This is the Immortal Severing Pill to treat the Immortal Severing Disease."
Immortal Severing Disease is an incurable disease in the immortal realm. Those who fall ill will have the spiritual energy in their soul sea automatically condense, forming small spheres, which then spread throughout the body, causing the body to gradually rot until death.
"Immortal Severing Pill, as the name suggests, is a pill that causes immortals to die. It cannot cure the Immortal Severing Disease," Mo Qi said.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up: "So, the person who wrote the formula didn't dare to write this Immortal Severing Pill, but instead wrote Myriad Poison Pill. Although it couldn't cure the disease, it wouldn't kill people either. Most importantly, the person who wrote the formula could escape unscathed."
The general initially thought Mo Qi was talking nonsense, but after hearing his later words, he felt they made sense.
Because the Heavenly Horizon Elder who wrote this formula should have known all the contents of the formula, and deliberately said he forgot an ingredient and needed a bounty, while he himself absconded during the bounty period.
"Then what medicinal pill do you say can cure it?" the general asked tentatively.
"No pill can cure it!" Mo Qi said decisively.
"What?" the general drew his sword.
Mo Qi was fearless: "Killing me is useless. You've looked for so many people. If it could be cured, it would have been cured long ago. Why wait until today? You know in your hearts whether it can be cured or not. Why create more bloodshed?"
"Alas," the general put away his saber. "You won't be able to leave today no matter what. If I let you go, the people outside won't let you go either. They let you in, but they never intended for you to leave. Because of Princess Zi Luo's secret. No one can know."