Mission: Seduce the Master!

Xie Qing was slightly intrigued by the new guest. She asked one of the elders to conduct an investigation and report back to her.

Later in the evening, she received a brief report that revealed this young man was a disciple of the inner court of the Sect of Heavenly Sword.

"Hm? Surprising, I thought he was at least a disciple of the main court or even an elder," mused Xie Qing.

A dangerous and powerful aura emanated from Xie Qin, making it difficult for her to breathe in his presence.

She was extremely curious. If he was a disciple, he was no older than a hundred years old, which indicated his relatively young age.

So, he was less than a hundred years old, which was already an astonishing fact. To have such power at such a young age was undoubtedly a rare talent, and Xie Qing was impressed.

"There aren't many cultivators at the Soul Nascent stage in the Sect of Heavenly Sword," pondered Xie Qing, surprised: "And he's not an elder, but just a disciple of the inner court? How fascinating..."

She wanted to get to know this genius better.

***

The next day, Xie Qing set out to explore the sect alone. He couldn't wake up Xie Meiling, despite his efforts, leaving him with no choice but to sigh sadly.

His main reason for coming to the Sect of Nine Pills was to learn a bit about this business. At the very least, he wanted to learn about different types of herbs and maybe even alchemy.

The sect taught for a fee, which was good news. Of course, they only taught the basics, but even that was valuable in the outside world.

Many major sects had a monopoly on training alchemists, and if you wanted to become someone significant, you would first have to join their exclusive circle.

This was a time-consuming and tedious process, so the existence of the Sect of Nine Pills was a lifesaver.

The training took place in the Pavilion of Knowledge, which had ten floors. Apart from the first floor, the rest were divided into categories.

For example, on the second floor, they taught how to identify and select herbs, on the third floor, they taught how to evaluate pills and detect poisons, on the fourth floor, they conducted basic alchemy lessons, and on the fifth floor, they taught advanced alchemy.

The remaining four floors served as warehouses and personal rooms for the staff.

"I would like lessons in basic alchemy, pill evaluation... in short, everything that's available," said Xie Qing to the girl sitting at the registration desk.

"Yes, of course," she smiled and then quoted the price: "All four courses will cost 150 Spiritual Stones. The lessons will last a week, and until then, you will receive a student token for the Pavilion of Knowledge."

"Alright."

Xie Qing handed over 150 Spiritual Stones in the form of one large spiritual stone and the remaining amount in a spiritual stone the size of a ping-pong ball.

The girl carefully took the payment, counted it, and nodded. She pulled out a token template from a cabinet and activated it with swift movements.

"Please infuse your Qi into it," she said and smiled.

Xie Qing nodded and infused his Qi, activating the token, which glowed blue for a moment and then faded.

"That's all. With this token, you can enter floors up to the fourth," said the girl, smiling friendly: "You can go to the lessons on the second and fourth floors right now, which last until the evening."

"Thank you very much."

After thanking the girl, Xie Qing took the token and put it in his pocket. He then climbed the stairs, entering the second floor, where he had to insert the token into a slot on the door to gain entry.

Click.

The door unlocked, allowing the young man to enter. Immediately, he sensed a sharp smell of herbs and paper.

At first, when he opened the door, many people turned their attention to him, and some of the girls in the room, who were also students like him, let out a surprised gasp.

"Ahem! Students, pay attention to the assignment!" interrupted the male elder, who looked at Xie Qing and pointed to an empty spot: "And you, you must be the new student. Sit down and open the textbook. Read up to page ten, and then I'll help you."

"Understood."

Xie Qing nodded briefly and sat down at the desk, picking up the encyclopedia and beginning to study.

It was even interesting because it helped the young man gain an understanding of the world and learn things that might be useful to him in the future.

If he didn't have enough pills to heal after a tough battle, he could make a few pills for himself at any time or find spiritual herbs that would speed up the healing of his wounds.

Xie Qing was attentive and had already absorbed the information up to page ten within ten seconds. However, since the instructor was still busy with other students, he continued reading.

After ten minutes, the elder responsible for teaching the students finally finished his tasks and approached Xie Qing, who was by then on the penultimate page.

Seeing this, the elder thought the young man was fooling around and remarked.

"Young man, I understand your enthusiasm, but first, read what I assigned to you, alright?" he said, addressing Xie Qing himself.

"Eh? Elder, with all due respect, I've already finished reading what you assigned," replied Xie Qing, blinking and looking at the instructor with a smile: "So, I decided to keep reading until you were free."

"Hm?!"

The elder let out a surprised grunt when Xie Qing said he had finished reading what was assigned.

"How is that possible?"

The elder frowned again, clearly not believing Xie Qing's words. Although it was only ten pages, the information there was so vast that it would take an ordinary person with average reading speed half an hour to read everything.

Therefore, the instructor, although doubting Xie Qing's words, decided to test his knowledge.

"Alright, then, to make sure of your knowledge, let me ask you a few questions," said the elder, taking the encyclopedia from Xie Qing's hands and asking: "Ready?"

"Of course."

Xie Qing nodded casually – he had memorized everything in the book, so it was no problem for him to answer a few questions.

"Good. Moon Silver Grass, name five uses," the instructor asked without hesitation.

"Moon Silver Grass has an unusual healing property, so the first method is to cut its stems and squeeze out the juice, which is applied to the wound," answered Xie Qing, and the elder nodded: "The second method is even simpler: cut the petals and crush them, then mix with the juice from the stems. Heat it so they blend and apply to the wound, which will be twice as effective."

"Very good. You're right," nodded the instructor.

Xie Qing then provided three more methods, and the elder was pleased. The following questions were also answered correctly.

"Blood Snake – a plant with the Yin attribute, used to create colorless poison..."

"Silver-winged Poisonous Lily..."

"Gray Gunpowder Rose..."

With each correct answer, the elder's expression became stranger and stranger, and upon discovering that Xie Qing had answered all the questions correctly, even those that came after what he had assigned – the man was shocked!

"C-correct..."

His voice stammered as Xie Qing gave a detailed answer to a question considered difficult even by novice standards.

Most importantly, the young man could only answer topics covered in the encyclopedia, so the instructor did not doubt that he had indeed learned everything.

"You... you haven't been here before?" the elder finally asked the question that bothered him, frowning: "Your knowledge is perfect, but I doubt it's possible to learn the entire book in such a short time!"

The other students, who at some point also paid attention to this situation, also expressed obvious skepticism. Some even frowned in annoyance.

Many thought that this young man had come here to show off and was now pretending to be foolish.

However, Xie Qing gave only a brief answer to all the questions.

"I registered only today, and I've only heard a little about alchemy," he said and handed over the token: "Here."

This was a student token. There was detailed information on it that only instructors and elders could see, and without wasting time, the elder examined the token.

In the end, his face showed shock. Indeed, Xie Qing had registered only today, and there was not even a chance that he had simply registered again... because there would have been information about it!

The elder had shown a somewhat exaggerated reaction, but it was understandable. If Xie Qing turned out to be not a fraud and a deceiver, but a potential genius, then he would not only receive a promotion...

"I'll be able to establish a connection with a potential talent!" thought the elder.