Qin Yuan looked at the ingredients.
This was much harder.
Not because he could not do it.
Because there were more variables.
His Spirit Sense spread outward.
Fine Control Talent Activated.
Spirit Sense Activated.
Focused Perception Activated.
Medicinal Pattern Recognition Activated.
The world narrowed.
The scent of bitter root.
The faint oily shine on a petal.
The coldness beneath a red powder.
The needle-like Spirit Qi inside a beast marrow crystal.
The wrong sweetness from a bottle that looked harmless.
Qin Yuan moved.
He did not rush.
But he also did not hesitate.
One tray became cooling herbs.
One became warming herbs.
One became circulation herbs.
One became stabilizers.
One became poisons that could be medicinal in controlled amounts.
One became materials unsafe for beginners.
Elder Su watched his hands.
They were steady.
Not slow.
Not showy.
No wasted motion.
He picked up a blue leaf and placed it beside a black root.
"These two cannot be refined together below Mid Common control. Their energies twist."
He moved a golden powder away from a green crystal.
"This powder is mislabeled by appearance. It looks like Sun Grain Ash, but the smell is sharper. It should be Firefly Bone Dust. It conflicts with Wood Marrow Crystal."
He lifted a sealed bottle.
"This is diluted venom."
Elder Su's lips parted slightly.
Qin Yuan placed it on the poison tray.
"Useful for numbing meridians, but only after three rounds of neutralizing."
He looked up.
"Should I continue with exact names or just properties?"
Elder Su stared at him.
"Exact names."
Qin Yuan nodded.
Then he named them.
One after another.
Cleanly.
Calmly.
Like he was reading a shopping list.
By the time he finished, the strictness on Elder Su's face had finally cracked.
Not fully.
But enough.
She walked to the trays herself and inspected them.
Every placement was correct.
Not almost correct.
Correct.
The few questionable placements were not mistakes either. They were advanced interpretations.
Elder Su took a slow breath.
"Elder Mu told me you were abnormal."
Qin Yuan said nothing.
"He understated it."
Qin Yuan looked at the furnace.
"Is there a fourth test?"
Elder Su looked at him sharply.
"You still want another one?"
"If there is one."
"Most youths would be relieved."
"Relief doesn't improve anything."
For the first time, Elder Su truly smiled.
It was small.
Cold.
But real.
"You're strange."
"I've heard that."
"Good. Strange survives longer than proud."
She turned toward the black ceramic furnace.
"Then let's see if strange can refine under pressure."
The furnace lid rose.
A ring of red formation light spread across the floor.
The room's temperature changed instantly.
Heat gathered around the furnace.
But it did not spread evenly.
It rose and fell in pulses, forcing anyone controlling the fire to adjust constantly.
Elder Su placed three ingredient sets on the table.
"High Common Rank pill. Stabilized Blood Strengthening Pill. Used by low-level Warriors after muscle tearing and blood-force exhaustion."
Qin Yuan's gaze sharpened.
Warrior pill.
Different structure.
Different demands.
Elder Su continued.
"This recipe is harder than anything in your exam. Not because the pill rank is high, but because Martial alchemists often fail when refining for Warriors. Vital Force is heavier than Spirit Qi. It is less elegant. More violent. If you treat Warrior medicine like ordinary cultivation medicine, the pill becomes useless."
Qin Yuan nodded.
That made sense.
Elder Su's eyes locked onto him.
"You get one attempt."
Qin Yuan cupped his hands.
"I understand."
"Begin."
The furnace fire rose.
Qin Yuan acted.
The first herb entered.
Then the second.
Then a vial of thick red liquid.
The moment the blood essence touched heat, the furnace shook.
The fire wanted to surge.
Qin Yuan pressed it down.
Not too much.
Just enough.
Fire Mastery Talent Experience +0.63
Fine Control Talent Experience +0.58
Pill Mastery Talent Experience +0.71
The liquid inside the furnace churned.
Warrior medicine was different.
That became obvious immediately.
Cultivation pills were like guiding mist through channels.
Warrior pills were like wrestling a living beast into a cage without breaking its bones.
The medicinal force resisted.
It wanted pressure.
It wanted compression.
It wanted impact.
Qin Yuan's Spirit Qi moved around the furnace, forming thin threads.
Elder Su stood to the side, no longer pretending to be casual.
She watched every movement.
Qin Yuan lowered the fire.
Then increased it sharply.
The blood essence thickened.
The herb liquid tried to separate.
He rotated his Spirit Qi and cut between the two forces, not severing them completely, but forcing them to grind against each other.
Elder Su's eyes widened.
That method was rough.
Dangerous.
But effective.
The furnace hummed.
Qin Yuan added the stabilizing powder.
Too early.
Elder Su almost spoke.
Then stopped.
No.
Not too early.
He had heated the blood essence faster than standard, so the timing had shifted.
The powder dissolved perfectly.
The furnace vibration calmed.
Elder Su's mouth closed.
A few breaths later, Qin Yuan's forehead showed sweat.
His cultivation was still too low.
His control was monstrous.
His foundation was not.
The fire pulses pressed against his Spirit Qi, forcing his meridians to strain.
Qin Yuan felt the pressure.
He did not resist blindly.
Instead, he adjusted his breathing and allowed the strain to become rhythm.
Inhale.
Fire rises.
Exhale.
Qi narrows.
Inhale.
Medicinal force compresses.
Exhale.
Impurity burns.
Notifications appeared rapidly.
Pill Mastery Talent leveled up.
Fire Mastery Talent leveled up.
Fine Control Talent leveled up.
Medicinal Pattern Recognition leveled up.
Warrior Medicine Understanding Talent Unlocked.
Warrior Medicine Understanding Talent — Level 1.
Qin Yuan's eyes became clearer.
So there were specific branches.
Good.
The furnace lid trembled.
He raised two fingers.
Spirit Qi pressed down.
The fire folded inward.
The pill mass split.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
The furnace opened.
Six red-gold pills rolled into the jade tray.
Elder Su stepped forward instantly.
She picked up one pill.
Looked at it.
Tested it with Spirit Sense.
Then tested it again.
Her expression became complicated.
"All six are successful."
Qin Yuan wiped a faint trace of sweat from his brow.
"The quality?"
Elder Su looked at him.
"Five High Common."
She lifted the last pill.
"One Perfect Common."
Qin Yuan nodded.
Not bad.
Elder Su stared at him like he had said something offensive without using words.
"Not bad?"
Qin Yuan blinked.
"I didn't say that out loud."
"You thought it loudly."
"I'll be careful."
"No, don't be careful. Explain why you look dissatisfied."
Qin Yuan looked at the tray.
"The fourth pill had a slight instability during condensing. The fifth lost some medicinal force during compression. The second one nearly formed a surface crack, but the heat covered it. Only the last pill reached what I consider acceptable."
Elder Su slowly put the pill down.
She pressed two fingers against her forehead.
For one moment, she looked less like an untouchable Origin Core elder and more like a tired teacher who had just realized her student might break the curriculum by lunch.
"This is going to be annoying," she muttered.
Qin Yuan heard her.
He chose not to respond.
Elder Su looked up.
"I can't stay strict with you if you keep doing this."
"That wasn't my intention."
"I know. That makes it worse."
She sighed.
Then her expression changed.
The coldness remained, but it became sharper in a different way.
More focused.
More alive.
"Fine. Since ordinary testing is pointless, we'll do this properly. I'll teach. You replicate. If you fail, I correct you. If you succeed, I increase the difficulty. If you make me question my career, I'll pretend I didn't."
Qin Yuan nodded.
"That works."
Elder Su pointed to the furnace.
"First topic. Three-path medicinal compatibility."
Qin Yuan's eyes focused.
Elder Su raised her hand, and three lights appeared above her palm.
One pale green.
One blue-white.
One deep red.
"Martial cultivators refine Spirit Qi. Wizards refine mana. Warriors refine Vital Force. Pills can affect all three, but the same medicinal property behaves differently depending on the path."
The green light moved smoothly.
"Spirit Qi prefers circulation."
The blue-white light bent into rune-like angles.
"Mana prefers structure."
The red light pulsed heavily.
"Vital Force prefers pressure."
Qin Yuan watched.
Elder Su continued.
"A bad alchemist memorizes recipes. A decent alchemist understands herbs. A good alchemist understands medicinal force. A true alchemist understands how the patient's path changes the medicine after swallowing it."
Qin Yuan nodded slowly.
That was important.
Very important.
Elder Su placed three cups on the table and poured the same pale golden medicinal liquid into each.
Then she added three different catalysts.
One Spirit Qi catalyst.
One mana catalyst.
One Vital Force catalyst.
The first cup became smooth.
The second formed tiny geometric patterns.
The third thickened like blood.
"Replicate it."
Qin Yuan picked up the materials.
Three minutes later, he did.
More efficiently.
Elder Su stared at the cups.
"Again."
This time, she added hidden impurities.
Qin Yuan replicated it.
Again.
This time, she changed the catalyst order.
Qin Yuan replicated it.
Again.
This time, she used three herbs with conflicting natures and forced him to stabilize them.
Qin Yuan took five minutes.
Then replicated it.
By the end of the morning, Elder Su was no longer hiding her distress.
She sat at the edge of the teaching platform with one elbow resting on the table, watching Qin Yuan refine a medicinal liquid she had only demonstrated once.
"You know," she said, "most disciples need two weeks to understand this."
Qin Yuan adjusted the furnace fire.
"Two weeks with how many attempts?"
Elder Su paused.
"What?"
"If they try once a day, that's fourteen attempts. If they try ten times a day, it's one hundred forty attempts. Time is not the important number."
Elder Su stared.
Then she laughed.
It was short, surprised, and very different from her earlier coldness.
"You really are annoying."
"I've heard that too."
"From who?"
"Not many people say it directly."
"They should. It's healthy."