Chapter 1730: All Daos Lead to the Truth

After seven hours, only Elder Liu and Deacon Li remained in the hall. Not a single disciple had appeared.

In his stone room, Li Yan was staring intently at twenty-plus herbs in the air. Over a day had passed, and he had only identified twenty-three herbs. As for whether his identifications were correct, that would only be confirmed by Elder Liu and the deacon after he emerged. However, based on his own judgment, he was about eighty percent certain of the herbs he had placed in the storage ring.

After watching the twenty-plus herbs for a while, Li Yan closed his eyes again.

‘My limit is twenty-three. For the remaining herbs, my chance of success is less than forty percent for three of them. For the rest, it’s only ten or twenty percent, or I might just have to guess. This is the true extent of my current ability…’ Li Yan thought. He had intended to test his true level, and it seemed he couldn’t even identify half of the fifty herbs. Furthermore, mistakes might exist among the twenty-three he had collected, further lowering his actual score.

Thus, in the remaining time, he had to employ other means…

Li Yan was certain that even after using other methods, his success rate would only rise to about sixty or seventy percent. However, this change was already significant.

When he was preparing for the spirit pill disciple assessment, he hadn’t just studied the basic pharmacopoeia; he had also read a vast number of other herb books. When reading them, he would use his previous experience to memorize and integrate the information, distinguishing herbs by their effects, leaves, and stems. This was a common method for sect alchemists; otherwise, how else would they gain experience?

During this process, Li Yan would naturally seek out real herbs and demon beast bones to identify them. Occasionally, he would go to the spirit fields at the front of the inner valley. He would often stay there for several days to make his recognition of actual objects more clear and solid. While observing, he would not only use his Divine Sense but would often pour his magical power into his eyes to see things his sense might overlook.

One time, after pouring his Kui Water magical power into his eyes, everything became much clearer. At the same time, the spiritual energy emanating from the herbs in the field became visible as drifting mists…

Li Yan hadn’t paid much attention to this at first, as it was a normal phenomenon. He focused on the herbs, looking at the different patterns on the flowers, leaves, and stems to verify the descriptions in the books. Only when his eyes began to ache did he stop to rest.

Suddenly, he froze. At that moment, his mind was racing with thoughts, and he hadn’t immediately withdrawn the magical power from his eyes. By accident, he noticed the environment around the herb. Previously, his attention had always been on the herb itself, but this time, he noticed something new.

This wasn’t something seen by his eyes, but rather a sensation of different changes in the rules of heaven and earth while standing by the spirit field. These were changes in the laws of Earth and Metal. The Earth element was stronger, with Metal element laws cycling within it. These Metal power fluctuations cycled around the Earth laws in a regular pattern, while more Five Elements rules appeared in the vicinity, operating in various ways.

He realized the difference in these two elements was caused by that particular herb. Like a living being, it possessed its own internal cycle of heaven and earth. That herb indeed possessed the Earth and Metal properties, with Earth as the primary one; it was a material frequently used to refine body-tempering pills.

When he discovered this, his mind, which had already been immersed in the path of alchemy, was flooded with thoughts. The properties, shapes, and functions of all sorts of herbs and bones were easy to memorize for a powerful cultivator. But identifying them at a glance required rich experience, which couldn’t be gained overnight. One had to constantly handle various raw materials and refine pills; only through constant use would one become perfect. Finding the right materials was the most difficult part when cultivators went to markets, as they had to verify both the authenticity and the age of the materials.

In this world, not only were there nearly identical materials, but there were also many unscrupulous merchants who used deception to gain huge profits. Li Yan, since he wanted to refine pills, naturally had to identify the truth of materials, which was also a difficulty for him.

‘This… this is an induction of the Five Elements. If a normal cultivator were here, they might not see this. Even cultivators with Earth and Metal spirit roots, though they could sense the fluctuations of those elements from the herb, wouldn’t be able to sense how those two properties differed from the surrounding laws of heaven and earth. The Earth and Metal properties here are different from the surrounding spiritual energy; they cycle independently but are integrated into the Five Elements of this world…’

Li Yan quickly understood. Simply put, because he possessed all five spirit roots and practiced the laws of the Five Elements, he saw things others couldn’t. He immediately took out several herbs and bones and sat down cross-legged on the spot. After ensuring no one was watching, he activated the Five Elements Chaotic Wind, which allowed him to better sense the different fluctuations of the laws in that area.

After careful testing, Li Yan was delighted to find that as long as the description of a herb or bone was detailed—especially its functions and properties—he could use his senses to match the description and identify it with lightning speed. However, identifying demon beast bones was much harder. It depended on when and how the beast died and where it died, which caused its bones to show all sorts of strange symptoms.

But using the power of the Five Elements to identify herbs definitely improved his accuracy. After all, alchemy had been passed down for who-knows-how-long, potentially dating back to ancient times. Thus, the records of all types of herbs were innumerable. Over the ages, descriptions of a single herb could reach over a thousand words, even extending to its behavior in different pills.

Huangqi Valley, being a top sect, had collected the strengths of various schools to bolster its own. Their descriptions of a herb’s properties were so detailed they even included its cycles and the influence of the environment on its potency. Thus, if a herb appeared before Li Yan and he had read about it in the pharmacopoeia, he could use the Five Elements rules as an aid to identify it in the shortest time by matching the image and the detailed descriptions.

Even Li Yan hadn’t expected his cultivation of the Five Elements to be used in such a way. Truly, all great paths lead to the truth. He felt that his second martial uncle must have known this method, but since such a “shortcut” wasn’t good for building a solid foundation, he hadn’t told him!

Now, Li Yan had identified twenty-three herbs through his own skill. He didn’t think this number would place him in the top ten of the second stage. Since he was first in the previous stage, he felt he should aim for a suitable rank in this one. This would prevent him from taking first in every stage, avoiding the attention of anyone who might be watching.

He couldn’t see the screen in the hall. But as long as someone entered the hall, he could listen to their results, get an idea of his opponents’ strength, and then give his own results. Thus, he needed to identify as many herbs as possible now. If he identified too many, he could simply swap some back into the large ring right before he left. He had to be identical in quantity to avoid suspicion.

Every detail mattered; Li Yan was always cautious. The stone room was monitored by Elder Liu and the deacon. Since he had performed brilliantly in the first stage, there was a high chance they were watching him. Thus, he couldn’t do the bait-and-switch in the room, but only on the way to the hall, and it had to be an equal exchange. If the number of herbs he presented didn’t match what they remembered him collecting, they would immediately suspect him.

Having decided on a plan, Li Yan quietly activated his Five Elements law and looked once again at the twenty-plus herbs before him. He hadn’t been able to pick the real one from this group before. The herb he was looking for was primarily of the Wood element, with very little Earth and Water.

Soon, he discovered that among these herbs, twelve had Five Elements fluctuations that weren’t the Wood-Earth-Water cycle. After a quick confirmation, he immediately eliminated those twelve.

Among the remaining nine, all had the Wood-Earth-Water cycle, but in four of them, the Wood element was not the strongest. He unhesitatingly pushed those four aside.

The three properties and the cycles of the remaining five herbs were extremely similar. But Li Yan wasn’t deterred; he wasn’t looking for every single difference between them, but rather the one that most closely matched the description in his memory…

In the hall, Elder Liu looked away from the light screen.

“The rankings in this stage have changed significantly!”

She couldn’t tell from the screen who was more accurate, but she could judge from the disciples’ expressions and the herbs they had collected. Many of the top ten from the first stage might only see a small fraction of their number remain in this one. On the other hand, some disciples who hadn’t shown their brilliance before might have a more solid foundation and might take the lead.

“Yes. That Li Yan has been stuck for a long time after collecting twenty-three herbs. This likely relates to his background; his overall foundation is still a bit thin. Yan Qingchen and Ming Qi are performing normally, having collected over thirty. The rankings behind these three have changed drastically; several Nascent Soul disciples are catching up.”

Deacon Li nodded in agreement. He also focused his observations on the top three from the previous stage. This stage tested foundations, so several Nascent Soul disciples caught their attention. However, these were just surface observations; collecting more herbs didn’t necessarily mean higher accuracy.

When ten hours had passed, people began to emerge from the stone rooms. Ming Yu and two people from Yan Qingchen’s side were the first to appear. Seven other disciples followed, including both Spirit Transformation and Nascent Soul cultivators. Among them, the person with the most collected herbs was someone from Yan Qingchen’s side who hadn’t been in the top ten in the previous stage. He was currently in the lead with fifty herbs collected and thirty-five identified correctly.

Ming Yu had collected fifty and identified thirty-four correctly, ranking slightly below that disciple…

As more people emerged, the process sped up. People like Liu Siyu appeared, and she eventually took the lead with thirty-seven correct identifications. This made Ming Yu sigh with helplessness; this woman was truly strong, beating her in both stages.

By this time, only three people remained in the stone rooms—the top three from the first stage. About half a minute later, Ming Qi emerged!

According to Elder Liu’s verification, Ming Qi had collected fifty herbs and identified forty correctly! This made Liu Siyu, standing not far away, furrow her brows.

‘She’s still stronger than me in this stage. Where did those sisters come from? If someone has this kind of alchemy, they should be somewhat famous among rogue cultivators. I’ve never heard of them; could they be from a very distant place…’

Liu Siyu was also very confident. Before coming, she had investigated all the participants. While others hadn’t noticed Li Yan, she had some information on him. In her eyes, she should only lose to Yan Qingchen. She hadn’t expected people like those sisters to suddenly appear; it didn’t match her intel. This meant these people had been deliberately keeping a low profile, hiding themselves perfectly. Each had great ambition, which had disrupted her plans and caused her to lose people in the first stage…

Elder Liu glanced at the light screen. The temporary top ten list for the second stage was already displayed. Only two people remained in the stone rooms.

“It seems the top three for this stage will still be these three!” she remarked.

Deacon Li didn’t comment, but his eyes moved back and forth between the two rooms on the screen. The disciples in the hall also watched the screen, their minds filled with various thoughts. The two overseers did not stop them.