Inside the Formation.

After the Purple Spirit Sect’s vicious attacks, there were little more than a dozen Demonic Cultivators remaining. They did not kill all of them. They still kept a few of them around because they wanted to interrogate them.

After all, they needed to know how and why Demonic Path got involved in the Three Sects’ Trials.

“Ahem.” Xiao Hong cleared her throat slightly, before speaking ‘shyly’, “After you’re done with your interrogation, can Senior Brothers and Sisters leave a few of these Demonic Cultivators alive after the interrogation? I want to use these people for my Pill experiments.”

Gu Ran’s mouth twitched violently, ‘There it is again! That oddly terrifying ‘shyness’!’ The last time she was ‘shy’ was when she was standing over the mangled corpse of an intermediate Tier 3 Demon Beast - one she had beaten to death with her bare fists!

One of the disciples, who wanted to do nothing but slaughter these bastards who had killed his best friend, was just about to speak up when he heard. But upon hearing the reason, he shut his mouth instantly.

This ‘glorious’ job of being a Pill Tester was actually one of the most horrific punishments.

Every time an Alchemist creates a new product or Pill Recipe, they have to test whether it is safe for human consumption - much like Clinical Trials back on Earth. Except their side effects were far more horrific. And Alchemists go through numerous trials before they can conclude it is indeed safe for human consumption.

Every iteration of a new recipe held many problems - so much so that these ‘recipes’ might as well be considered poison, and a Third Class ticket to the Netherworld. Why Third Class? Because the ‘journey’ was rather ‘uncomfortable’.

If someone consumed these ‘pills’, it would cause so many horrific side effects that death might be a luxury for them. Side effects like your guts randomly spilling out of your stomach; eyeballs suddenly turning inside out; nose hair growing obscenely long in the wrong direction and clogging your sinuses and then your throat, leaving you unable to breathe, talk or eat; blood turning into literal poison; and Heaven-forbid, the ‘third-leg-shrinkage’ or even the ‘third-leg-disappearance’! 

And these were all relatively minor complications.

As for the major complications? Some were so horrific that even some of the more cruel cultivators felt disgusted.

This was why becoming a guinea pig for an Alchemist’s Trials was one of the most cruel punishments that the Sects had in store! In the Purple Spirit Sect, it was considered a punishment only below that of being imprisoned in the God Sealing Tower.

But, indeed, using these bastards as Pill Testers… Hahaha! It was the perfect punishment!

“W-Wait a minute, aren’t you an Array Formation Master?” The only other Formation Master - the one who had been sceptical of Xiao Hong’s deduced Array Formation - scratched his head in confusion.

“Oh, I am a Grade 2 Alchemist as well - I got my slot in this Trial due to my status as one.” Xiao Hong continued, fidgeting with the corner of her clothes. “Actually, I’m not really a certified Array Formation master. I just learnt Array Formations on the side…”

A chill went down the spines of those who were listening! 

Good Heavens! Did we just trust an uncertified Array Formation Master?! Did we really entrust a dabbler in Array Formations with our lives?! 

The Purple Spirit Sect’s disciples felt incredibly stifled!

Certification was extremely important! Very few people would trust uncertified Alchemists, Formation Master and Artefact Refiners. To trust such people, you’d either have to be really, really ignorant or really, really desperate! 

Uncertified Alchemists could be selling you the wrong pills that could poison you!

Uncertified Array Formation Masters could cause critical damage to the things you want to protect!

Uncertified Artefact Refiners could waste the precious materials you gathered painstakingly and run away - leaving you hanging; poor, devastated and angry! They would not have to take responsibility for wasting your precious materials. And you would have no one to blame but yourself. 

The Purple Spirit Sect’s disciples felt incredibly fortunate that this Junior Sister of theirs was not a scammer.

But wait a fucking moment! She’s already a Grade 2 Alchemist, but she also had time to learn Array Formations? Moreover, it was at least at Grade 2! Add on to that the tremendous proficiency of her Spell Art and Movement Techniques and her Body Cultivation…

What kind of monster is this girl?! The Formation Master and other disciples started doubting their lives. They were all disciples of the Purple Spirit Sect, after all. Their talents were the best of the best among countless others. Otherwise, they would not be at the Purple Spirit Sect!

Xiao Hong just continued, seemingly oblivious to the incredulous stares and still ‘shy’, “Thankfully, my talent in Formations is not bad and I managed to deduce a rudimentary Formation in time.”

… Talent is ‘not bad’? Rudimentary Formation? Can you mind your words a bit?! If your talent is ‘not bad’ then our talent is downright shit, ok?! 

If that was a ‘rudimentary Formation’ doesn’t that mean the Array Formation we’ve used and refined for generations now is only moderate?!

The only Formation Master’s vision darkened and he nearly fainted! Today, he had finally come into contact with the ‘Dao of Humblebrag’. And, to say the least, he was dazzled!

Gu Ran’s mouth twitched as he watched Xiao Hong low-key show off. He had a strange feeling that this girl was actually enjoying the shocked and incredulous gazes. No, he was sure! 

Just look at that barely suppressed smirk, she’s definitely enjoying it!

Gu Ran quietly added a ‘vain’ tag to Xiao Hong’s file.

And indeed, just like Gu Ran thought, Xiao Hong was definitely enjoying it! Normally, these people, whose talents were the best among the best in the continent, would not even look at a pleb like her! But now, these proud ‘Sons and Daughters of Heavens’ gave her looks of admiration, surprise and envy. It was a great feeling!

“Anyway, can I keep them?” She gestured to the captured Demonic Cultivators, who shook their heads so vigorously, they might just unscrew their heads!

Gu Ran fell into thought for a while before nodding, “Well, after we’re done with them, we’ll give some to you.” 

“Thank you, Senior Brother!” She thanked Gu Ran happily. 

The whole conversation was carried out smoothly as if they were a pair of siblings discussing who gets to watch TV rather than living, breathing people.

‘Phew, thankfully, they agreed, otherwise, getting test subjects would be a real hassle.’ Xiao Hong thought.

Actually, she did not need them for Pill Testing at all. She had no intention of creating new Pills just yet. Moreover, when her system said Grade 2 Alchemist, it meant she could even create Grade 2 Pill Recipes. By the standards of the system and the Super Factions, being an Alchemist meant one had the ability to both refine and create new Pills of their rank.  

It’s just that over the long history of the Cultivation World, Alchemists have created innumerable Pill Recipes with all sorts of effects, leaving the Alchemists of today very little space for creativity. Almost any useful Pill Recipe they could come up with has likely already been created by some Alchemist centuries ago. 

Without some truly out-of-the-world inspiration, it was unlikely they would come up with something new and effective.

And it wasn’t like they had the chance to improve the existing Pill Recipes, because those had been refined by hundreds of people, thousands of times. There was not much Alchemists below Grade 4 could do other than concoct pills using Pill Recipes that were already available. However, any Alchemist with the slightest ambition would still try their best to create new pill recipes - in preparation for the future when they had achieved Grade 4 or above. Even if they were utterly useless and a waste of resources.

In this world, there is no ‘only super knowledgeable and super powerful people can create new Pill Recipes’ bullshit. No, every single Alchemist must have the ability to create new pills - even if it was utterly useless. It was one of the tests required by the Sect for the Grade 3 Alchemist certification. 

No, she wanted the Demonic Cultivators because they were the perfect test subjects for her experiments.

Test subjects for when she deduced a proper Array Formation that could allow her to cultivate beyond the Limit of her Talent. 

Of course, there was no way she was going to test it out on herself directly! There was only one of her. If she messed up, she would essentially cripple herself for life! So she figured it was better to be cautious and find some guinea pigs to test it out on. 

And now, she finally had the test subjects. Xiao Hong thought inwardly, ‘Heavens reward the hard-working!’ Had she not stayed back and had chosen to escape, she would not have received this perfect gift of guinea pigs. At least, she would not get them so quickly.

***