Shocking the Nine Heavens With My Sword-Chapter 577 - 556 Certified Pharmacist Title (2/3)

Moonlight King was certainly not an expert in the Immortal Realm, but the fact that he could serve as a gatekeeper in Hai Immortal City showed just how wealthy and profound the Pharmacists Association was.

In any industry, a monopoly means rolling in wealth, especially since pills are an indispensable necessity for cultivators!

The Pharmacists Association had the clout to back up its standing, and even its gatekeepers were impressively formidable.

Zhou Heng gave a slight smile and said, "My name is Zhou Heng, and I’m here to certify my Pharmacist title!"

"Do you have a recommending Pharmacist?" As soon as the gatekeepers realized Zhou Heng was there for Pharmacist certification, they immediately became more courteous, knowing that even a One Star Pharmacist was not someone they could afford to offend.

Zhou Heng shook his head. Did the certification for a Pharmacist really require a recommender?

"Then which Pharmacist did you apprentice under?" the gatekeepers asked again.

"Self-taught!" Zhou Heng said, thickening his skin.

"Pah!" From within his Dantian, the Fire Divine Furnace immediately spat out and silently cursed shamelessly.

The courtesy on the gatekeepers’ faces vanished instantly. This guy was just some outsider; it was likely he, like most impassioned youngsters, thought he could become a Pharmacist just after a few days of learning alchemy!

The youth nowadays really aim too high!

"Come with me!" one of the gatekeepers said. Although Zhou Heng was unaffiliated, the Pharmacists Association had its own rules: anyone could come to certify their Pharmacist title—as long as they paid. Whether they passed was another matter.

The gatekeeper led Zhou Heng and the other two into a room where a sneaky-looking old man was dozing off. The gatekeeper knocked on the table and said, "Wei, someone wants to certify for Pharmacist, please proceed with the formalities!"

The old man suddenly woke up, rubbed his nose, and looked at the three of them. "Are all three of you certifying as Pharmacists?"

"Just me!" Zhou Heng pointed to himself.

"Did you previously have a Pharmacist title?" the old man asked.

"No!"

"Then, the processing fee and material costs all add up to one thousand Lower Grade Immortal Stones!" The old man quickly stated, stretching out his hand.

"Eh, aren’t you going to ask me which grade of Pharmacist I intend to certify for?" Zhou Heng asked, a bit puzzled.

"Nonsense, you didn’t have a Pharmacist title before. Do you still want to apply directly for a Two Star Pharmacist?" The old man looked at Zhou Heng even more strangely.

"Ha ha!" The gatekeeper burst into laughter. He was obviously mocking Zhou Heng’s overconfidence. Thinking he could climb so high in one step!

The Moon Shadow Saintess and Yang Lanxin’s faces turned red with embarrassment. Their husband was making a fool of himself!

But Zhou Heng was unconcerned and said, "Doesn’t the Pharmacists Association have any regulations preventing directly certifying as a Ten Star Pharmacist?"

Thud!

The old man and the gatekeeper both choked. This young man was truly daring: Ten Star Pharmacist! How many Holy Pharmacists were there in the entire Immortal Realm? He hadn’t even grown all his fur yet and was already fantasizing about becoming a Holy Pharmacist, not fearing losing all face with such ludicrous talk.

"There is indeed no such rule! But generally, people start as a One Star Pharmacist and work their way up step by step. You have to be down-to-earth when you’re building your career," the old man earnestly advised Zhou Heng.

The old man had good intentions, but Zhou Heng didn’t take them to heart and just smiled, saying, "Since there’s no rule against directly certifying as a Ten Star Pharmacist, then me applying to be one is also within the rules, right?"

"That’s true..." The old man intended to advise Zhou Heng further, but seeing the determination under his smile, he knew it would be in vain. Young people like him were full of ardor and would not turn back until they hit a wall.

Well then, let him hit a wall hard enough to learn to do things realistically and properly!

"Young man, this is just a branch of the Pharmacists Association in Wild Horse City, and we don’t have the qualification to certify a Ten Star Pharmacist. At most, we can do Three Stars!" the old man said with a laugh.

"Three Stars will be just fine, it’ll do!" Zhou Heng nonchalantly said.

Thinking about it made sense. To become a Ten Star Pharmacist, one must be capable of refining Tenth Grade pills, and the higher the grade of the pill, the higher the grade of the materials required. How could the minor Xihai City have them?

How could this guy be so arrogant!

It seemed to him that becoming a Three Star Pharmacist was as trivial as picking up a small stone from the ground.

The old man and the gatekeeper both felt a hint of annoyance, but since Zhou Heng was just a bit audacious and didn’t necessarily deserve to be confronted over his overly optimistic view, they decided it was best to let him try and face reality head-on.

"If you want to certify as a Three Star Pharmacist, then so be it. But the material costs and processing fees are much higher. You will need to pay fifty thousand Lower Grade Immortal Stones!" The old man said expressionlessly, obviously too tired to persuade this naive young man any further.

That’s exorbitant!

Even though the materials for refining Three Grade pills were expensive, they shouldn’t cost that much!

No wonder the Pharmacists Association was so rich. Just from certifying Pharmacists alone, they must accumulate an immense amount of Immortal Stones every year!

Selling twenty Green Brilliance Pills had earned Zhou Heng sixty thousand Lower Grade Immortal Stones, but purchasing materials had also cost nearly thirty thousand. Along with a bit of Immortal Stones he had previously, in total, he had just under forty thousand.

Zhou Heng had no choice but to borrow a bit from Yang Lanxin.

Although Yang Lanxin knew that Zhou Heng could refine Green Brilliance Pills, she had only heard it from him and had never witnessed it. The title of Pharmacist was too rare and precious, and with Zhou Heng aiming to directly certify as a Three Stars Pharmacist, she really lacked confidence in him!

Ten thousand Immortal Stones wasn’t a huge amount, but it was still half of the Yang family’s monthly net income — definitely not something that the wind could blow in!

Forget it, just consider it a lesson for Zhou Heng!

Yang Lanxin painfully took out ten thousand Lower Grade Immortal Stones to make up the required amount for Zhou Heng.

Since the procedures were completed, Zhou Heng was taken to the Pill-Refining Room. Only he could enter, and throughout the process, someone from the Pharmacists Association would supervise to prevent any cheating.

The certification for a Three Stars Pharmacist was actually quite simple, just required the refining of three types of Three Grade Pills within the set time. Of course, a certain Pill Success Rate must also be reached, the lower the tier of the pill, the higher the required success rate.

For example, a One Star Pharmacist had to reach a success rate of over fifty percent, while for a Ten Stars Pharmacist, succeeding in producing a single Tenth Grade Pill from a batch was considered a huge success! Generally, producing one out of ten batches was already considered passing.

The Pill Success Rate required for a Three Stars Pharmacist needed to be above forty percent. The materials given to Zhou Heng, based on quantity, should yield roughly twenty pills per batch, which meant at least eight pills must be successfully refined to pass.

However, not only the people from the Pharmacists Association but also Yang Lanxin and the Moon Shadow Saintess did not believe Zhou Heng could even refine a single pill.

Especially the Moon Shadow Saintess, her understanding of Zhou Heng was far beyond others. This guy had never even learned alchemy in the Mortal Realm and had only been in the Immortal Realm for a short while, how could he now refine Three Grade Pills?

No, what this guy actually wanted to refine were Tenth Grade Pills, it was just that there weren’t the materials for him to do so here.

Sigh, who knows what sort of ridicule he’d be subjected to later!

But to the two women, Zhou Heng was their man. They could ridicule him, but they would never allow others to do so! The two stunning beauties suddenly turned into fierce tigresses, glaring angrily at everyone around.

The pill-refining process was supervised by someone from the Pharmacists Association. The higher the Pharmacist rank to be certified, naturally, the higher the status of the representatives they would send. However, because Zhou Heng’s actions were seen as nearly ludicrous, the Pharmacists Association only sent an apprentice to supervise, one who didn’t even possess the title of a One Star Pharmacist.

Zhou Heng, however, didn’t care at all. Reality was the best counterattack; as soon as he produced the pills, he would slap everyone in the face.

He took out the Fire Divine Furnace; the Pharmacists Association allowed the use of one’s own Pill Furnace and firewood — a pharmacist would surely be most adept with their own equipment, and the control over the fire was a matter of minute differences with immense consequences.

Zhou Heng placed the materials in a circle around him, and according to the rules of the Pharmacists Association, he had a total of three days.

He knew nothing about pill-refining, so after a pretense of processing the materials, he threw all of the first batch of Revitalizing Pill ingredients into the Fire Divine Furnace.

"Kid, you actually used me to deceive the Pharmacists Association into getting a title; that’s so shameless!" The Fire Divine Furnace, like the Black Donkey, was annoying to the core. Even though it knew that saying such things was asking for trouble, it couldn’t help but let its sharp tongue loose.

No, not a verbal tongue but Divine Sense; it goes to show how deeply ingrained its annoying nature was.

"Less nonsense, more work. Later on, I’ll find you some Spiritual Fire to consume!" Zhou Heng said. The so-called Emperor doesn’t stint his soldiers food; he couldn’t always threaten the cheeky furnace, hence he had to offer it some incentive.

The Fire Divine Furnace’s favorite thing was Spiritual Fire, much like a lascivious man’s love for beautiful women.

"Kid, those were your words, don’t you dare deceive me!" True to form, the Fire Divine Furnace immediately perked up, looking eager and gleeful.

"Refine the pill!"

With Zhou Heng’s promise secured, the Fire Divine Furnace began to energetically refine the pills.

It might be annoying, but when it came to alchemy, it was even mightier than any Holy Pharmacist. In just a few minutes, it transmitted a Divine Sense fluctuation to Zhou Heng indicating the pill was successfully refined.

Zhou Heng opened the Pill Furnace to see a whopping twenty-three pills!

Based on the quantity, the materials were only supposed to yield twenty pills, so why were there twenty-three? He immediately understood; the normal yield of twenty was probably in reference to Holy or Heavenly Pharmacists, but what status did the Fire Divine Furnace have?

It overshadowed Holy Pharmacists!

If that was the case, him refining twenty-three pills was not surprising at all.

Zhou Heng placed the Revitalizing Pills into a prepared Pill Bottle and then took the second batch of materials to start refining the Ice Frost Pill. This too should yield twenty pills, but the Fire Divine Furnace managed to produce twenty-four.

Finally came the Moon Nourishing Pill, which was supposed to be ten pills per batch, but the Fire Divine Furnace still outdid itself, resulting in eleven successfully refined pills.

That’s a wrap!

Zhou Heng tapped on the door of the room with three Pill Bottles in hand.

What, it’s finished already?

The supervising Pharmacist Apprentice was startled and looked at Zhou Heng through the Formation. He could see directly into the Pill Chamber, but the reverse was not possible.

It had only been half an hour, and it was over?

The apprentice naturally didn’t believe Zhou Heng had finished, but if he managed to ruin all three batches of pills in half an hour... that did require some skill, right? How ignorant would one have to be?

But Zhou Heng had emerged, and according to the rules, it was now time to inspect the pills. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)