After about two hours, she finally put out the fire of the alchemy furnace.Gu Xijiu stopped what she was doing and slowly opened the lid of the furnace. She looked inside and then pushed it towards Jing Lanyao, "Please examine it personally."
Jing Lanyao looked inside. He blinked a few times and looked again. He ended up examining the pills very closely for a while. Then, he used his sleeves to fan and cool the pills. This was so he could put the pills in his palm and observe them thoroughly.
The spectators were also looking at the glittering green pills of different intensities. They could not help but hold their breaths at the scene.
Some experienced alchemists were already calling out, "One level-five pill, two level-four pills, two level-three pills and two wasted pills!" Their voices were filled with disbelief.
The people gasped, one after another. They turned their attention to Gu Xijiu.
The quality of this mysterious alchemist was comparable to Master Jing"s. Who was she exactly?
The people had been questioning her ident.i.ty since her last outstanding performance. They were trying to find out who she really was.
Some had speculated that she was actually Jing Lanyao in disguise based on the quant.i.ty of the pills that she had made and her stubbornness. They thought that the master must have been putting up a show, as he could not use his true ident.i.ty to sell the pills. It was suspected that he had run short of spiritual stones.
Since Master Jing had presented himself now, who could this mysterious alchemist be? Could she be one of the other few alchemists? The only flaw here is that they had not heard of any other alchemist who possessed such a high capability in their alchemy. Who was she?
Their eyes lingered on Gu Xijiu.
They wished their vision were able to penetrate through the long robe and reveal her true ident.i.ty.
Jing Lanyao turned his attention to Gu Xijiu and finally asked, "Who exactly are you?"
"You"re not ent.i.tled to know who I am," said Gu Xijiu, calm and collected.
Qian Lingyu was tensed, but he stood up for Gu Xijiu and said, "Exactly, everyone comes to the night market wearing a long robe and a mask to conceal their true ident.i.ty. Thus, if we"re not willing to expose ourselves, you cannot force us to."
He began putting the things together, "Alright, now that we"re done with both of the alchemies, we can pack our things and leave."
"Hold on!" Jing Lanyao took a step forward and placed his palm on the alchemy furnace. He fixed his eyes on Gu Xijiu and said, "Is there any reason why you find it hard to disclose your ident.i.ty?"
Gu Xijiu smiled. She then crossed her arms and said, "Nothing, I am just obeying the rules here."
Jing Lanyao frowned, but immediately started guessing her ident.i.ty, "Are you, Brother Qiu?"
"Brother Jing, I am here." One of the men in the crowd took off his mask. He was the Brother Qiu that Jing Lanyao had called out.
Jing Lanyao frowned again. Just when he was about to start guessing again, Alchemist Qiu already began to talk, "Brother Jing, there"s no need to guess anymore, all of us are here."
He waved at the crowd. Three other men then emerged from the crowd and took off their masks. They were the remaining alchemists from the alchemy hall. All the alchemists from the Tianju Hall were there. There was no one left.
Tianju Hall did not allow any outsiders to move in. Everything would be recorded in the books even when there were some occasional stays.
Although the people present were wearing long robes and masks, all of them were the internal staff members of the Tianju Hall.
Now that all the alchemists from the Tianju Hall were present, the one standing in front of them was clearly not one of them. Therefore, who was she exactly?
Could she be a spy that was harboring evil intentions? The people started to get closer and closer as they were trying to prevent them from leaving.