Chapter 320: No Mistake?

The trust level between parents and children is typically around 60, and between spouses, it’s closer to 70. Any trust level surpassing these indicates a bond of life and death, an unwavering reliance on each other.

This kind of trust is unreserved; one would willingly die for it.

Such a level of trust is usually only seen between a 5-star master teacher and their students.

Jiang Chen had just declared it wouldn't exceed twenty when he witnessed this. It was as if he had been slapped; his face burned, and he stood frozen in place, mouth agape.

Taught for five or six days?

Who on earth has ever seen such a high level of trust after teaching for only such a short period?

If it's so high in such a short time, won't it exceed ninety after a few more years of teaching?

My god!

Even a 5-star master teacher couldn't achieve that!

Heart Scale 5.1, student trust 85...

This country bumpkin is truly unbelievable!

Ling Xiaoxiao's delicate body also swayed, feeling as though a thousand thundering hooves had just passed over her head.

Bringing students close to his own age, with little teaching experience—from every perspective, this young man seemed like a novice, completely clueless about the master teacher examination.

Yet, such a person, with minimal effort, achieved a trust value of 85 points!

It was both frustrating and maddening.

Mo Yu's mouth twitched even more.

She had long guessed that Teacher Zhang's result would certainly pass, but she never imagined it would be so utterly and incredibly impressive.

Keep in mind that the students she had trained for three years only had a trust level of 52, barely passing.

Even Mo Hongyi, hailed as the kingdom's greatest genius, only had a trust level of 55 with his students. Those students had been learning with him since they were seven and were only eleven at the time of their assessment.

To see students of that age having such a high trust level made people wonder if the Trust Hall itself was broken.

"Creak!"

The door opened, and Zhao Ya and the others walked out, looking slightly tired. They turned to look at the trust value displayed on the door.

"Sorry, Teacher..." they murmured, their faces full of apology.

They felt they already trusted Teacher Zhang implicitly; otherwise, they wouldn't have left their families to follow him. But when the test results showed only this much, they immediately felt embarrassed.

Seeing their expressions, everyone else felt another wave of immense shock.

Not only was the teacher abnormal, but the students were too. They weren't even satisfied with a trust level of 85! Why don't they just...

"Cough, cough!"

Seeing that the master teachers and apprentices were too stunned to speak, Master Wu recovered and cleared his throat.

"Trust level 85, first assessment passed! Now for the second stage: the auxiliary occupation hall assessment!"

He then looked at Zhang Xuan. "The auxiliary occupation hall assesses your auxiliary profession. Your auxiliary profession is Alchemist, and I need to remind you of something here."

"A regular alchemist assessment tests your alchemy skills; as long as you can refine a Grade-1 pill, you can be called a 1-star alchemist. The auxiliary occupation hall is different; it doesn't assess your personal understanding of alchemy, but rather... your guidance!"

"In other words, even if you're a 3-star alchemist, you won't pass if you can't provide guidance! As for your score, two things determine it: First, the quality of the pill refined after your guidance—successfully formed, plump, perfect, or with pill veins... The higher the grade, the higher your score. Second, the number of errors in your guidance. Errors will result in deductions; one wrong piece of guidance deducts some points, and so on. Do you understand?"

After Master Wu finished explaining, he specifically asked for confirmation.

"Understood!" Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

Although he was a 1-star alchemist, he had achieved it through pill debates. If he had to personally refine pills, let alone Grade-1, he probably couldn't even successfully refine half a pill. Guidance, however, was much simpler.

With the entire Alchemy Guild's collection of books from Tianxuan Kingdom integrated into his mind, even without the library, guiding the refinement of Grade-1 pills would be effortless.

"Good, go on in!" Master Wu waved his hand.

"Okay!" Zhang Xuan didn't waste words and stepped inside.

"Do you think he'll pass this round?"

"Master Mo even calls him teacher, so he must have some special skill in alchemy; he should be able to pass. I just wonder what his score will be."

"The score in the auxiliary occupation hall, like the trust assessment, is out of 100 points. Different professions have different requirements. For an alchemist, guiding the successful formation of a pill is only considered a bare pass, around 50 points. For a painting master, guiding the creation of a Two-Realm painting is also around that value."

"Yes, 50 points is a pass. When Master Mo Hongyi took the auxiliary occupation hall assessment for formations, his score directly reached 60, which was quite renowned at the time!"

"A score of 60 indicates an understanding of the auxiliary profession that surpasses a 1-star level. To have such ability while assessing for a 1-star master teacher... probably only a genius like him could do it!"

"This guy has a Heart Scale of 5.1 and got 85 for student trust, so I'm afraid... his score won't be low either."

"Indeed. However, personal alchemy skills are different from guidance. I think if he can exceed 55, that's already a high score!"

Seeing him enter the auxiliary occupation hall, everyone began to discuss.

The auxiliary assessment tests guidance, not personal ability. Many individuals talented in other professions came to be assessed but ultimately failed.

Although Zhang Xuan had surprised everyone greatly with his Heart Scale and student trust scores, many still didn't have high hopes for him in the second stage.

With a creak, the door closed.

Zhang Xuan looked inside.

It was a room about twenty meters in diameter, with a massive alchemy cauldron placed in the center.

"It seems the room changes according to the auxiliary profession!"

Zhang Xuan was a little surprised to see an alchemy cauldron immediately upon entering, but then he understood.

The auxiliary occupation hall changes its setting based on the examinee's auxiliary profession. Since his auxiliary profession was alchemy, it was natural for an alchemy cauldron to be there.

As he wondered how the assessment would proceed, a puppet walked over to the alchemy cauldron.

The puppet, made of unknown materials, looked exactly like a real person, except it was expressionless and lifeless.

In front of the puppet was a dense row of herbs, numbering forty to fifty different kinds.

"Greenleaf Palm-Severing Flower, Rootless Grass, White Orchid-Zhi... Is this to refine a Grade-1 Fortifying Pill?"

Looking at the herbs, Zhang Xuan recognized them.

With his understanding of alchemy, even without the library, he could tell what kind of pill these herbs were intended for.

As soon as he identified them, the puppet began to move.

Lighting the fire, heating the cauldron, mixing the herbs... The puppet's movements weren't particularly fluid, but they were orderly and precise.

"This won't produce a pill..."

Zhang Xuan shook his head after one glance.

Alchemy, like cultivating martial arts, uses the same herbs and steps, but different people will produce different results.

The puppet's sequence for placing the herbs was flawless, but unfortunately, it completely missed the nuances of herb interaction and timing. Refining a pill under these conditions would surely fail.

Sure enough, before long, the alchemy process ended. With a "pop!" the cauldron opened, and a puff of black smoke emerged.

Failure!

"Guide the puppet to refine the pill; if successful, you pass!"

A voice rang out.

It seemed the puppet's initial refining was for the examinee to observe carefully, identify the errors, and then easily guide it during the second attempt.

As the voice ceased, the puppet resumed refining, its steps identical to before, without the slightest deviation.

A normal alchemist couldn't perform two completely identical refinements. Only a specially refined puppet like this could strictly follow the steps.

"However, this is even better. A puppet, unlike a person, won't get distracted. As long as it's precisely instructed, it will certainly refine the pill!"

Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

When he guided Princess Mo Yu earlier, her distraction led to the cauldron exploding, almost resulting in a failed refinement.

Humans are emotional beings; joy or worry can affect the outcome of alchemy. A puppet, however, is different.

It will strictly follow commands without deviation. Thus, when refining pills this way, no mistakes will naturally occur.

"Ignite the fire half a breath slower, extend cauldron heating by four breaths, wait a moment, good, begin..."

Understanding this, Zhang Xuan smiled faintly. Standing still, he gave instructions sentence by sentence.

In the outer hall, everyone's gaze was fixed on the wall displaying numbers.

"He must have started giving guidance!"

Someone exclaimed.

"That's right! The auxiliary occupation hall assessment is different from the Trust Hall. The latter gives the score after the trust test is complete. In the auxiliary occupation hall, as soon as guidance begins, the score will be displayed. The more correct guidance given, the higher the score. If any errors occur, the score will be correspondingly reduced."

"This way, we can directly see the score and how he's giving guidance!"

"When Master Mo Hongyi was assessed for formations, his score continuously increased. There were only five instances of the score decreasing, meaning he made five errors!"

"Yes, I heard that when Hall Master Jiang was assessed for 2-star, there were seven instances. He only had five, which already set a record!"

"I wonder how this one will do!"

"Even if he's a genius, his Heart Scale is only 5.1, still a bit lower than Master Mo Hongyi's 6.0. I think there should be no fewer than ten errors!"

"I agree, at least ten instances!"

Everyone discussed animatedly.

"Look, the score is starting to increase!"

Another voice made everyone stop their discussions. They all simultaneously focused their gaze on the wall directly in front of them.

A number had appeared earlier and was slowly increasing.

"It looks good; it's continuously increasing without decreasing, which means no errors. This guy is exceeding our expectations!"

"No errors is just a matter of time. When guiding alchemy, who can guarantee everything is correct?"

"That's true..."

At first, everyone was chatting and laughing. But after watching for a while, their expressions all turned serious.

"It's already 40, and there hasn't been a single error..."

All the master teachers' eyes widened. They looked as if they had seen a monster.

At this point, the number on the wall had reached 40. There had not been a single instance of regression, meaning there hadn't been a single error from the beginning of his guidance until now!