The test results began to be reviewed. It was not very easy. Tang Hua recruited other professors to help him, which was not too difficult, as he was the head of the Alchemy Department and his influence there was unparalleled.

  While the three professors were busy checking the results, he was engrossed in a book and sipping expensive wine.

  “Den Chu, eight points, rejected, a total disaster,” said the woman with long hair but masculine features.

  “Guanting Zhong, thirty-two points... The best result so far,” said a man dressed modestly but with a visible chest. Being half-naked in an alchemy lab didn't seem like the best idea, but no one commented on it. No one was exactly sure why he wasn't wearing a shirt.

  Hearing this, Hua Tang looked up from his book and, irritated, downed the entire glass of wine in one gulp, setting it down heavily on the table.

  “If thirty-two points is the best result, then this academy has gone to the dogs,” he said with obvious exaggeration. “I don't think I'll find anyone worthy of being my student this year either.”

  The half-naked man felt offended by his words. Although Hua Tang was the head of the alchemy department, he was in charge of the curriculum and teaching alchemy at Cloud Academy. So he felt that his words were also directed at him.

  “Senior Tang... Those are unfair words. The requirements are too high, even the oldest participants are still children,” he replied uncertainly. “I'm afraid that not even the three of us would get a perfect score.”

  The woman with masculine features agreed with his words. “Brother Mu Lim is right. Only Senior Tang could get a perfect score.”

  Hearing her words, Tang laughed loudly.

  “Hahaha! The requirements are as they should be!” he replied, his expression changing from laughter to anger in an instant. “I don't need useless trash, but someone who has a chance to become a great alchemist.”

  Despite his words, none of the three took him very seriously. Such people did not exist. There were geniuses, but... even they had their limits. A perfect score was unattainable. Although no one would dare say it out loud, Tang should lower his requirements.

  The three professors continued to evaluate in silence. Finally, the man who had been silent until then suddenly let out a sound of astonishment.

  “Hmm? What's the matter, Brother De?” The woman asked with slight interest.

  “71 points...” he said.

  Hua Tang got up from his seat and approached the man. “Show me that.”

  He took the results in his hand and began to read, while the rest watched with curiosity.

  “For the first task they identified twelve out of twenty-one ingredients... Hmm, the second and third are acceptable. The fourth... An interesting approach, we still need to test it on animals, but I think it has potential. Besides, the performance itself is not important, but the correct way of thinking. The written part is almost flawless.”

  “Oh, they sound like a good candidate for a student,” said the woman with a smirk.

  “Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Lei. It's alright, but it could have been better,” he replied harshly.

  The woman rolled her eyes, knowing that regardless of the results, it would be impossible to completely satisfy him. “So whose results are these?”

  Man named Ning De, sitting next to her, replied: “Her name is Nadine Albrecht...”

  The woman was clearly a little surprised. “A mage?”

  “I heard of her. Her parents were mages, but she's a cultivator,” replied a half-naked man named Mu Lim. “She's extremely talented. That's not a problem, is it?” He asked, looking at Hua Tang.

  Hua Tang thought for a moment after learning the identity of this person.

  “Nadine... Hmm, mages aren't very well regarded...”

  “But she's a cultivator,” Lei interjected, rolling her eyes.

  “You know what I mean,” he replied. “Even if she's talented, if I accept her, many people will look down on it. Even her name is foreign, which shows that her family hasn't assimilated. That's a bad sign.”

  “She has no family,” Mu Lim said. “How many pure-blooded mages' descendants are in academy? Hmm? Ten? Twelve? Compare it to thousands of pure-blooded cultivators and dozens of half-bloods.”

  “That's true. There aren't many descendants of mages at our academy, but I don't understand what you're getting at, Junior Lim,” replied Hua Tang. “Just being the descendant of a mage is one thing. They are still acceptable. But not changing your surname... Hmph! The sect's elite detest such people!”

  “What I mean is that the academy doesn't like to accept mages. So the fact that she's here means that her talent is so great that the academy made an exception for her. That's very rare.”

  Hua Tang understood this well and realized that few could achieve such results. If it were only about him, he would accept her as a disciple without hesitation, but…

  “I've heard similar stories. Businesses that went bankrupt after hiring mages. The customers disappeared,” he replied quietly.

  “Oh, you're not worried that you'll go bankrupt because of a few extremists, are you?” Lim replied. “Your alchemy workshop is the best in the whole city.”

  “It's true, I won't go bankrupt. But among what you call extremists, there are many wealthy people. I'm afraid I could lose a large part of my income.” He said, “If only she had changed her name by marrying someone from the sect... She would have been accepted, at least to a minimal extent.”

  Stolen story; please report.

  “So it all comes down to money...”

  “I have to take care of my own family. Is this girl's talent so good that I should lose tens of thousands [mu] a year on her? I don't think so.”

  “In that case, I'll take her!” said the half-naked man. "I don't care that much about money."

  “Wait a minute!” The woman suddenly stood up, halting his enthusiasm. “I don’t agree that a deviant like you should become this young lady’s master. I am much more suitable!”

  The man, who had been sitting quietly until now, also chimed in. “You two are too impulsive to be good masters. I am more appropriate…”

  “Enough!” Tang suddenly interrupted them. “For now, she will move on to the next stage. If I decide not to officially accept her, then you can argue about it.”

  The three of them were surprised by his words, as they understood very well that Senior Tang had no intention of accepting this girl as a disciple. So why did he allow her to participate in the second stage? Why give her false hope? None of the three liked this.

  “That's enough, get back to work.” He commanded imperiously, and the three professors reluctantly obeyed his order as he continued to enjoy his wine.

  After an hour of testing, they reluctantly accepted three other people who barely made it to the next stage. All of them barely scored above fifty points. Hua Tang was extremely dissatisfied with this.

  “Oh, I have something interesting...” Mu Lim suddenly spoke up, his eyes brightening.

  At the same time, Lei Heng also spoke up. “As it happens, I have too…”

  These were some of the last tests they were checking, so Tang became interested in their words. “So how many points do your interesting cases have?”

  “Sixty-three...” Lei Heng said with satisfaction.

  “Ha! Then I won, Sung Haoyu... Seventy! One point less than Nadine Albrecht, but unlike her, he's from a proper clan!” he said, looking down on Lei with superiority.

  However, she just smiled. “That's a good score, but which year is he in?"

  He was surprised by her words. “In his fifth year, just like the rest of the candidates who made it to the next stage. You know that, why are you asking?”

  “My candidate only has sixty-three points, but... She's in her first year!”

  Silence fell, and the other three couldn't believe what she had said. Admittedly, her score was much worse than Nadine's and Haoyu's, but... If she really was a first-year student, it was even more impressive.

  “Are you kidding?” Mu Lim asked, moving closer to the woman to confirm her words with his own eyes. “May Shang... Where have I heard that... Ah. Yes. The genius from the Outer Court who reached the sixth stage before joining the academy.”

  “There are strange rumors about her,” Ning De suddenly interjected. “Some say she's a spy, and the Elders are hesitant about her...”

  “Nonsense,” Lei Heng replied angrily. “She was a guest at the Yun estate, the family home of the sect leader, for a year. Do you really think they didn't check her out? Elder Ze Yun would never have allowed her to be at Cloud Academy if he suspected her.”

  “Outer Court... Huh,” Tang Hua said. “Additionally, she also has mage blood... But at least her name is relatively normal.”

  “Her father is a cultivator, so at least she’s not from outside the sect. Unlike Nadine, no one can find fault with her.”

  “All right then, an interesting two, especially that May Shang…” He said approvingly, which surprised everyone. He wasn't the type to praise anyone. “They move on to the second stage.”

  Then he got up and headed for the exit. “That's it for today. You take care of the rest.”

  ───── ??☆?? ─────

  “Congratulations, May, you're getting a lot of attention. Apparently, you've made it to the second stage of the famous Alchemist's test...” Izzy said with a smirk, who she just happened to bump into as she was leaving the cafeteria after eating lunch.

  “Thanks, Izzy. How's Zhifang doing?” she asked with some interest.

  She shrugged, but seemed happier. Evidently, the relationship was having a positive effect on her, as she had become less hard-headed. It was a sign that she was beginning to mature.

  “Pretty good, although he's been annoying me lately, but... he's a good boyfriend.”

  May let out a sound of surprise. “I'm pleased to hear you're happy, but tell me, as I was wondering... Zhifang was with us earlier, so I didn't have a chance to ask...”

  “What is it?” She frowned, nervously correcting her dark blue hair.

  “I just remembered how you warned me about him…” She said quietly, not wanting anyone to hear them. “After all, you know… He’s a cambion and all that…”

  Izzy looked at her blankly for a moment, then chuckled.

  “Oh, that... Yes, I remember. I still agree with that assessment, but you know what? Love makes you stupid.”

  “Huh,” May replied, not expecting that answer. “However, since he's at Cloud Academy, it means the sect accepts him... After all, Yun Lin must have revealed his secret.”

  “Do they really accept him? Or do they just tolerate him because they have some purpose in doing so?” Izzy asked sadly. “They're certainly taking a big risk.”

  “Or maybe they just decided to leave him alone?” she asked.

  Izzy laughed, but May could see that it was a rather forced laugh.

  “Love hasn't made me that stupid, you know?” she asked, sighing loudly. She glanced upwards.

  “I can feel someone watching me. They're watching us, constantly. Zhifang doesn't know it, but I... I have sensitive perception.”

  “Oh? So...”

  “In short, they haven't left us alone, and they won't,” she replied sadly. “But that's not something you should worry about, May.”

  She didn't answer.

  “Well, anyway, goodbye, it was nice talking to you, but I have to go to class now,” she said after a moment, and after saying goodbye to her, she went on her way.

  May returned to class. She didn't see Zu or Peng Chen anywhere. She found this strange and hoped that nothing bad had happened.

  Yuan Yanwen who was sitting nearby. He was a rather strange person, if you can call him that. He was a fighting maniac, but he was quite friendly to everyone. He also got along well with Peng, which is why she turned to him.

  “Brother Yuan, do you know what happened to the twins? They're not here today,” May asked, hoping he would know something about it.

  “Oh, you don't know? It's a tragedy...” he said, and May's heart stopped when she heard that. She was ready for the worst.

  “What happened?” she asked in a trembling voice, but quietly, as Kun Yang was giving a lecture and didn't like to be disturbed.

  “They went to a funeral.”

  At that moment, May wanted to kill Yuan Yanwen. Why did he say it like that! She was really worried about the twins.

  “Oh,” she replied, pretending she wasn't affected. “Someone in their family passed away? It's nice that the academy allowed them to go home for the funeral.”

  The boy shook his head and brought his lips close to her ear to whisper something. He may have been a fighting maniac, but he was also a rumor-monger.

  “It was their cousin... But she didn't just die, she was murdered, and in an extremely brutal way, on their own estate.”

  May swallowed hard. Could it be a coincidence... She had to check it out.

  “Do you know when... it happened?”

  “Hmm, I'm not sure, but I think...”

  Damn, May thought.

  The date he gave coincided perfectly with the time when Zu Chen and Chunyang Hu set off on their mysterious mission. Was May really supposed to believe that it was a coincidence, or maybe...