Nine Yang Alchemy Emperor
Chapter 45 Pursuit

Chapter 45: Chapter 45 Pursuit

"You, the top idiot of our entire school, a piece of trash who scores a measly five points on exams, dare lecture me! You’re just humiliating yourself. Today, this young master will make you a fool in front of everyone!"

"Do you dare to bet that in today’s herb-collecting competition, whoever has the lower score must kneel in the school’s field and shout a hundred times ’I am an idiot’?"

Qiao Sheng, like a cat whose tail was stepped on, jabbed his finger at Chu Feng’s nose and cursed vehemently.

With a sinister smile filled with superiority, he threw down the gauntlet to Chu Feng.

"Ha! This is going to be fun. Our top freshman scholar is going to slap the face of the top failing student hard!"

"When the time comes, it’ll be hilarious to see Chu Feng, that idiot, kneeling in the field and yelling at himself for being an idiot!"

"I’m really looking forward to it! The leader of our class is going to make a move, and everyone from Class Five is going to get their faces smacked, resoundingly."

The students from Class One all looked at Chu Feng mockingly, eagerly awaiting his embarrassment.

"Oh dear! Teacher Xie Bing, the students in your class not only have poor grades, but they also have tiny courage! They don’t even dare to accept a challenge, truly a case of like commander, like troops!"

"How shameful!"

Teacher Ouyang Xiu, whose face was pockmarked, not only didn’t stop his own students from their unrestrained mockery and bullying of Chu Feng, but even joined in humiliating Teacher Xie Bing.

Xie Bing was so angry that her eyes shot fire, her delicate body trembled, and she clenched her silver teeth so hard they crackled.

But the thought of Chu Feng’s poor performance held her back, knowing that a moment of impulsive pride could harm Chu Feng.

Afterward, Chu Feng would have to kneel in the field and loudly declare himself an idiot, possibly never being able to hold his head up at the academy again.

"Haha, what’s the matter? Don’t dare to accept the challenge, do you?"

Ouyang Xiu became even more unrestrained, his bold gaze fixed on Teacher Xie Bing’s lovely face, nearly drooling.

Faced with the provocation from Qiao Sheng and the pressure from Ouyang Xiu, Chu Feng, the top failing student, made an astonishing move.

Proudly smiling, he said loudly, "Isn’t it just a herb-collecting competition? What’s there to be afraid of accepting!"

"Herb collecting is but one of the fifty-eight skills in the Alchemy Dao, and it’s the one with the least technical content. Only people like you with no real talent would show off such a skill that lacks technical content everywhere!"

Qiao Sheng was momentarily stunned, seemingly not expecting Chu Feng to actually agree.

"Good! Let everyone hear it loud and clear. Qiao Sheng and Chu Feng made a bet: in today’s herb-collecting competition, whoever loses has to kneel on the field and declare loudly a thousand times ’I am an idiot’!"

Qiao Sheng announced loudly to prevent Chu Feng from reneging later.

It was originally just shouting a hundred times, but now it increased tenfold to yelling a thousand times.

With absolute confidence in his victory, Qiao Sheng maliciously increased the punishment.

"Chu Feng, why are you so impulsive?" Xie Bing was worried. Although she sometimes wanted to chew Chu Feng out when she saw his exam scores, she cared about every student in her class.

Whether they were failing or excelling.

"Teacher Xie Bing, you really are more anxious than the Emperor’s eunuch! He’s already agreed to it himself; why are you still fretting over here?"

"Haha, I’m really looking forward to it! It’ll be quite a sight to see the student from your class kneeling in the field, cursing himself as an idiot!"

Ouyang Xiu laughed triumphantly, with the smug look of a petty person.

This man may have great teaching skills, but his morality was despicably poor.

Chu Feng said nothing further, as he simply didn’t deign to say another word. Qiao Sheng might be considered the top among other students, but in his presence, the Eternal Life Pill Master, Qiao Sheng wasn’t even qualified to carry his shoes.

If he wanted to kneel down and lick Chu Feng’s shoes, it would depend on whether Chu Feng agreed to it or not.

...

The students entered Medicine Mountain one after another. Each was given a Medicine Hoe and a backpack for storing herbs.

The teachers of the five classes taught their students how to identify and harvest herbs. After sufficient instruction, they let the students go deeper into Medicine Mountain to gather the medicinal herbs.

The academy designated a total of ten types of medicinal herbs for the students to gather this time.

Any of these ten types of herbs that are over a hundred years old can be harvested. If someone digs up the wrong herb, or if it isn’t old enough, points will be deducted, and they will be punished.

Medicine Mountain is not only vast but also very dangerous.

Chu Feng’s cultivation is very weak, merely at the level of a Third-tier Swordsman, ranking at the very bottom among all the students.

Even those who are slightly less skilled have the cultivation of a Fourth Rank Swordsman. The more outstanding ones have even reached the Fifth Rank Swordsman.

As one progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to advance in cultivation.

The real difference starts to show from the Fourth Rank Swordsman onwards.

After the Third-tier Swordsman, the difficulty of progressing rises exponentially.

The Fourth Rank Swordsman is a threshold, while the Fifth Rank Swordsman is a major threshold. If Chu Feng cannot create an artificial sword meridian, he might be stuck at the Fourth Rank Swordsman level for life.

An excellent Pill Master not only needs to be familiar with the appearance of medicinal materials and can easily identify their age but must also have a deep understanding of their growing environment.

Only in this way can one accurately dig up the desired medicinal herbs.

"Among these ten types of herbs, the most likely to be of high age are the Seven Stars Grass and the Bitter Flower Vine! Seven Stars Grass is a type of snake medicine, which can neutralize the toxicity of snake and insect bites, and it requires a very specific growing environment. It generally grows in damp and concealed places."

"Bitter Flower Vine is a parasitic herb that likes to grow on large trees!"

Chu Feng was very familiar with the first type of herb. He climbed up to a high place and surveyed the surrounding mountain area. After a careful examination, he quickly identified several locations where these two herbs might be found.

To prevent the situation where herb discoveries lead to grabbing and fighting, most students chose to act alone.

Or they paired up with close friends.

Although Chu Feng’s cultivation was not high, he moved with great agility through the mountain woods.

This was all due to practice. In his previous life, he had traversed thousands of mountains and rivers in search of alchemy ingredients.

To him, a Medicine Mountain like this one was no different from plain ground.

"Quick, keep up and don’t let that kid slip away!"

Liu Ping had long harbored thoughts of revenge against Chu Feng. He had now gathered more than a dozen people who were tracking Chu Feng, slowly forming an encirclement.

Chu Feng did not expect these people to dare to gang up on him right under the teachers’ noses.

By the time he was surrounded by them, it was already too late to escape.

If it were just Liu Ping alone, Chu Feng would definitely not run away. But with more than a dozen people on the opposing side, including two Sixth Rank Swordsmen, it put quite a pressure on Chu Feng.

"Chu Feng, today this Prince will surely cripple you!"

Liu Ping approached Chu Feng with a face full of resentment.

The dozen or so accomplices were also closing in step by step, tightening the encirclement.

"Kneel down!"

Having come before Chu Feng and thinking he had the upper hand, Liu Ping was confident that he had Chu Feng cornered. So, he didn’t rush to take action.

"Tell me, did you secretly switch our wine cups at the academy’s small tavern yesterday while we were drinking?" The thought of himself consuming his own poison and chasing after a mother pig around the pigpen filled Liu Ping with a murderous rage.