The Imperial Martial Pill Venerable

"Hmm, your refining technique for this Feather Spirit Pill is correct, and the fusion of ingredients has reached seventy percent. However, the heat control was insufficient, and your handling of the final ingredient, the Phoenix Tail Bamboo, needs to be improved."

"This Feather Spirit Pill of yours... your handling of the ingredients is acceptable, and your heat control is at a passing level. But during the final condensation, you neglected to gather the Pill Qi, causing the elixir’s efficacy to diminish."

"Unacceptable. Heat control, ingredient processing, the steps... all aspects are failing. The only commendable part is the purification..."

On Xianyun Peak, several hundred students stood in neat rows, each holding a golden Feather Spirit Pill. As Qin Ya passed each person, he would point out their shortcomings and explain them.

’Such a scene would have been unthinkable in his past life. A dignified Pill Venerable, deigning to personally instruct hundreds of students who were still basically toddlers in the Alchemy Dao?’

’They’re terrible.’ Qin Ya’s brows furrowed. The students’ skill level was far worse than he had anticipated; their refining of a First-Grade Elixir was riddled with flaws. Suddenly, his brow relaxed slightly.

"Eh? This elixir was refined quite well."

"Whether it’s the technique, heat control, steps, or the handling of the ingredients, it’s practically flawless for a First-Grade Pill. With this level of skill in the Alchemy Dao, I imagine you must already be a Second-Grade Alchemist."

Qin Ya looked up, his eyes meeting a stunningly beautiful face tinged with delight. "Muu Xue, your attainments in the Alchemy Dao have already reached the Second Grade, and you’re not weak even among them. Having you refine a First-Grade Elixir is a bit of a waste of your talent."

"From now on, I’ll test you separately."

Upon hearing this, Muu Xue’s eyes lit up. She said joyfully, "That would be wonderful. Thank you, Teacher Qin."

"It’s nothing. It’s just a teacher’s duty," Qin Ya said with a smile. It seemed he was already settling into this role quite well.

"Teacher Qin, come take a look at mine." At that moment, a curvaceous figure sidled up to Qin Ya, her body pressing so close a faint fragrance instantly wafted into his nose. A helpless look appeared on his face.

"Gong Yu, that’s enough."

Qin Ya chided softly. The curvaceous figure before him was the same woman who had flirted with him during his first class. Her name was Gong Yu, and she was a disciple of the Gong Family, one of the Imperial Capital’s Four Great Martial Arts Families.

After learning that Qin Ya was a High-Level Teacher, she hadn’t held back in the slightest. On the contrary, she had doubled down, finding all sorts of excuses to flirt with him in class, much to his exasperation.

Seeing Qin Ya’s cold expression, Gong Yu looked as if she had been frightened, her eyes welling up with tears as she put on a pitiful and endearing act.

Although they knew she was faking it, the male students around them couldn’t help but feel a surge of protectiveness. If the person before her weren’t Teacher Qin, they probably would have already dragged him out for a savage beating.

"Can you stop pretending?" Qin Ya said, exasperated.

Hearing this, Gong Yu gave a playful smile. Her expression changed faster than one could flip through a book. She took out a Feather Spirit Pill and handed it to Qin Ya, smiling. "Teacher Qin, this is the Feather Spirit Pill I refined. Please have a look."

"Oh, this was refined quite well," Qin Ya said, a little surprised.

Hearing Qin Ya’s praise, Gong Yu smiled smugly. Just as she was about to say something more, she suddenly heard Qin Ya add, "Although it can’t compare to the one Muu Xue refined, it’s still better than most of the other students’."

Gong Yu’s face fell instantly. She shot Qin Ya a mournful glance and said, "Teacher Qin, do you know how annoying you are?"

After speaking, as if in a fit of pique, she abruptly snatched the Feather Spirit Pill from Qin Ya’s hand, walked to the side, and stood there without another word. This left Qin Ya completely baffled.

’What’s wrong with her? I was just complimenting her.’

Seeing Qin Ya’s confused expression, Muu Xue and Feng Ling exchanged a look and burst out laughing. "Heh, Teacher Qin, don’t mind her. She’s just mad at herself."

Next, Qin Ya looked at the work of the other students. By normal standards, most of their Feather Spirit Pills could be considered Middle Class. But by Qin Ya’s standards, not a single one of them, besides Muu Xue, even reached Middle Class.

Of course, Qin Ya’s standards were too high to be used as a proper measure. Even so, he was still very dissatisfied.

"To be honest, aside from a few people like Muu Xue, Xiao Yi, and Gong Yu, the rest of you aren’t even worth my notice."

As soon as he said this, most of the people present sighed in dismay, utterly dejected. "Gods, I’ve refined it over ten times."

"And it’s still not good enough? His standards are so high."

"This makes no sense. I thought I did a pretty good job."

"Teacher Qin, aren’t your expectations a bit too high?"

"Yeah, you have to remember, Muu Xue is a Second-Grade Alchemist! How are we supposed to compare to her?"

Hearing this, Qin Ya frowned slightly and said in a cold voice, "A First-Grade Elixir is the most basic of elixirs. If you can’t even refine it well, how can you possibly become an outstanding Alchemist?"

Taking out the Primordial Heaven Qi Furnace, Qin Ya flicked his sleeve and announced, "All of you, watch closely. I will personally refine one for you."

’He’s going to perform alchemy himself?’

The crowd was instantly energized, their gazes fixed on Qin Ya with rapt attention. They knew his skill in the Alchemy Dao had to be incredible, otherwise he couldn’t have become a High-Level Teacher at the Academy. But none of them had ever seen him perform alchemy with their own eyes. Now, they finally had the chance.

"Watch closely."

With an indifferent wave of his hand, a pile of ingredients for refining the Feather Spirit Pill appeared. It was clear he had planned to give a live demonstration all along; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been carrying these ingredients with him.

He took out several ingredients—Spirit Cloud Flower, Black Snake Gallbladder, Baojiu Mushroom—and began to smelt them. At the same time, Qin Ya’s voice rang in the students’ ears.

"’The smelting order for Spirit Cloud Flower, Black Snake Gallbladder, and Baojiu Mushroom is not the same. The amount to be smelted also differs slightly. The Black Snake Gallbladder has a cold medicinal nature, so it requires...’"

"’Next, the harmonization of the Seven-Star Vine and Flying Insect Hide requires the help of the Autumn and Winter Grass. You must be especially careful with the heat control during this step...’"

"’When grasping the heat control, you must pay attention to the timing. The Feather Spirit Pill has a gentle medicinal nature. If the heat is too high, it will destroy the balance...’"

Qin Ya’s alchemy was like flowing clouds and moving water—natural and seamless. It was a delightful and breathtaking sight. As he refined the pill, he explained each step, allowing the students to cross-reference his actions with their own usual process for refining the Feather Spirit Pill. They instantly felt as if they were being enlightened. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

’So that’s how it is. No wonder I always felt something was off with my heat control. It turns out my technique was wrong.’

’When I was refining the Flame Fruit, I always felt something was wrong but could never figure out why. So this was the problem.’

’He’s incredible. Just watching him refine a pill once makes me feel like my grasp of the Alchemy Dao has greatly improved. It’s simply unbelievable.’

Muu Xue’s eyes shimmered with a brilliant light. She had originally thought that the Feather Spirit Pill she had practiced refining dozens of times was already perfect, but now, that idea seemed like a joke.

Watching Qin Ya perform alchemy, she finally realized that her own process still contained some insignificant flaws. However, those flaws were enough to lower the quality of her elixirs by an entire grade.