"Master, I sense an aura on this Wu Anbang. It's somewhat similar to those puppets we encountered in the Illusory and Gloomy Mountain Range," Xiao Ying's words left Feng Yuqin stunned.
She blurted out, "You don't mean to say that Wu Anbang is a puppet, do you?"
"No," Hun Bing beside her shook her head. "I've checked. Wu Anbang is a normal person."
Xiao Ying also nodded. "His soul is intact, and everything about him is normal. It's just that I'm more sensitive to auras, so I detected it. The aura is faint, so he should have just come into contact with something."
"Did you find out any other information?" Feng Yuqin asked.
"Xing Zhuojia is an alchemist. This time, Xia Xuefeng recommended her to find a master. So there's not much useful information. But I always feel that there's something strange about their conversation," Xiao Ying said and then repeated their entire conversation.
After listening, Feng Yuqin gave Xiao Ying a strange look.
"Ma... Master, wh... what's wrong?" Xiao Ying felt a bit uncomfortable under this look.
"There are ten great families, eight major sects, and four major forces in the Inner Domain. Not to mention the other small families, just these twenty-odd major forces are quite powerful. And Wu Anbang's father is an elder in the Soul-Separating Sect. Do you think someone with such a background would contact a family like the Xia family for no reason? And he even accepted someone like Xing Zhuojia," Feng Yuqin said, also mentioning that Wu Anbang looked somewhat similar to Chu Xiaomian and her speculation about their relationship.
Then she compared the current status of the Wu family with that of the Xia family.
Although the Xia family is highly respected in the Outer Domain, in the Inner Domain, their family background is a bit lacking.
It's understandable. If the Xia family were really that powerful, they wouldn't have married Xing Mengyao from the Outer Domain as the mistress of the family.
"So, Master, do you think there might be some conspiracy in this?" Xiao Ying asked.
"It's not might be. There must be a conspiracy. The current strength of the Xia family is at most that of a small sect. They can't even make it onto the list of the ten great families. They are attached to Wu Anbang, or rather, the Wu family, and the Wu family is attached to the Soul-Separating Sect," Feng Yuqin's words piqued the interest of Xiao Ying and the others.
Especially the three little ones from the Mandala Valley. They had an inseparable affection for Chu Xiaomian.
Feng Yuqin was very busy back then, and most of the time, it was Chu Xiaomian who took care of them.
So their feelings for Chu Xiaomian were very deep.
Now that they knew about someone who looked like Chu Xiaomian, they needed to find out what was going on.
"Didn't you just say that Xing Zhuojia would go to the Alchemist Guild?" Feng Yuqin looked at Xiao Ying and asked.
Xiao Ying nodded. "Xia Xuefeng might take Xing Zhuojia to take the alchemist qualification exam."
Feng Yuqin narrowed her eyes slightly, stroked her chin, and thought for a moment. "Then I'll take the exam too."
Her current strength was not enough. The only things she could rely on were her alchemy and medical skills.
When Feng Yuqin went to the Alchemist Guild, she indeed saw Xing Zhuojia in the crowd.
The Alchemist Guild had a special day every month for qualification exams.
This was also the reason why Xing Zhuojia met Wu Anbang today.
After Xia Xuefeng told Wu Anbang about Xing Zhuojia's situation, Wu Anbang asked Xing Zhuojia to take the exam today.
To make her exam go more smoothly, he also told Xing Zhuojia a lot about the exam in the Alchemist Guild.
This made Xing Zhuojia and her brother feel flattered.
Since it was the Alchemist Guild, the first thing to be tested was, of course, alchemy.
Everyone had to register their information.
The alchemist exam started from the first level.
Most of the people who came to take the exam today were from the Inner Domain of the Mysterious Feather Realm.
So they would take the exam every time they upgraded. After all, it was an honor to quickly let everyone know their level.
But Xing Zhuojia was from the Outer Domain, and her strength was not enough after she came. So Xing Mengyao sent her to improve her strength.
She had just left seclusion recently, so she had to start the alchemist level exam all over again.
There were also three other people who needed to retake the exam.
The others were taking the exam from the middle level and were in the same group as Feng Yuqin.
Xing Zhuojia scanned the area around her. When she saw Feng Yuqin's extremely ordinary face, a look of contempt flashed in her eyes.
"Master, this woman is really annoying," Xiao Ying really disliked Xing Zhuojia.
"She is really annoying. She can't compare to you in anything, yet she dares to look down on you," Xiao Jin echoed.
"These five are the alchemy furnaces you'll use. For a first-rank alchemist, the time limit is one incense stick. For a second-rank alchemist, it's half a day..." the exam teacher introduced the rules to everyone.
After listening to the time rules of the exam, Feng Yuqin frowned as she looked at the alchemy furnace.
If the exam continued like this, it would take several days to reach the ninth rank, not to mention that she planned to take the exam for ranks above the ninth.
This was really a waste of time. She didn't want to waste all her time here.
She raised her eyes and looked at the exam teacher. "Excuse me, can this exam be taken continuously? Or rather, can I take the exam for all nine ranks in one go?"
As soon as Feng Yuqin said this, everyone looked at her as if she were a fool.
"What is this person talking about? She actually said she could take all the exams in one go?"
"All alchemists know that if you try to make pills in one go, your spiritual energy won't be able to keep up. She doesn't even know this basic fact. Could it be that she's not an alchemist at all?"
"If she's not an alchemist and still comes here to cause trouble, the Alchemist Guild won't let her off easily," some people began to gloat.
After all, one less person meant one less competitor.
Alchemists were very rare. Of course, the rarer they were, the more precious they were.
These people wished that they were the only ones taking the exam.
In this way, they could get more preferential treatment.
Xing Zhuojia looked at Feng Yuqin contemptuously. "If you're ugly, don't come out and make a fool of yourself."
Feng Yuqin gave her a cold look. "What does it matter to you whether I make a fool of myself or not? Have I eaten your family's rice or used your family's spirit stones? Does your family live by the sea? Why do you care so much?"
No one expected Feng Yuqin to be so good at retorting. Xing Zhuojia was caught off guard.
Feng Yuqin didn't care what these people thought. After retorting, she looked at the exam teacher again and asked, "Excuse me, can I take the exam for all nine ranks in one go? I don't care about the time. I only care about the quality of the pills. I'll take full responsibility for all the consequences."
Anyway, she was confident in her ability. Of course, she wanted to finish the exam as soon as possible without wasting any time.
Xing Zhuojia sneered. "Take responsibility? How can you take responsibility? Could it be that you're from some great family?"
As soon as she said this, everyone laughed.
After all, Feng Yuqin didn't look like she was from a great family at all.
Not only was she ugly, but there was also nothing about her that suggested she was from a great family.
The exam teacher didn't look very happy when he saw Feng Yuqin being so overconfident.
However, although he was unhappy, he was still a responsible person. "The guild's rule is that if someone takes all the exams in one go and fails midway, the difficulty of the next exam will be doubled. Are you willing to accept this?"