Chapter 254 "No Chance?"

云苔毫不犹豫地按下了绿色按钮……
One grade!
居然是一品丹药！
云苔选择的居然是一品丹药！
贵宾席上所有的伸长了脖子的人都缩了回去。
*Cough*... A clear sigh of disappointment can be heard.
Lancang Ming's comforting hand covering the ink jade ring on his left ring finger quietly moves away, revealing his right thumb.
"Why are they so excited?" many ordinary people who are unaware of the truth also wonder. "A junior pharmacist should naturally choose to refine a first-grade pill. If she were practicing in normal circumstances with a mentor by her side, she might attempt to challenge refining a second-grade pill. But in today's situation, I believe choosing to refine a first-grade pill is the most prudent choice. It shows self-awareness, understanding that she definitely won't pass today's round. Instead, she came to experience the atmosphere of the examination room. Just by looking at today's exam questions, it's clear that even refining a fifth-grade pill doesn't guarantee passing the assessment. Not choosing to refine a fifth-grade pill would definitely lead to elimination. After all, in such a large-scale pharmacist competition, for a first-grade pharmacist to pass the first round is already remarkable. Moreover, she's so young, her future is limitless..."
旁边这位是皇城常驻人口，他拍了拍对方的肩头：“兄弟，你不会刚从魔兽森林的中心禁区出来吧？连她你都不认识？”
"Even if we don't know each other, we should still have some discernment. Just by looking at her position, one should be able to guess that she is not an ordinary person." The person after her added.
"I thought she was some unseen little princess."
"You actually guessed half of it right. It's not a princess, but the daughter of a marquis."
... Why does that sentence sound so awkward? And it seems off-topic, or am I missing something?
"But how does her choice of refining a first-grade pill relate to this? Why are you all so disappointed?" In this fellow's opinion, alchemy relies on real skills, and having a prestigious background is useless in this competition. Instead, it makes one feel that with such a good environment and resources at their disposal, they can only be a beginner-level pharmacist. This, my friend, is embarrassing for their family.
"Don't speak, everyone stop talking, someone is asking a question ahead."
"Yuntai, are you really not choosing to refine a fifth-grade pill?" Zhanyi's originally gentle tone became even softer.
他这么做严格地讲其实已经有些违规了。丹方的难度选择本就是考核的目的之一。如果是其他的一品药师选择炼制一品丹，没有人会觉得奇怪，甚至会觉得这是理所应当的。因为现今的珍贵药材已经越来越少了，所有药师学徒学习的第一堂课就被告知要珍惜药材，随意浪费药材是有罪的。
But now the alchemist who is refining the elixirs is Yun Tai!
Everyone is waiting for her to create miracles on the competition stage, but they were disappointed.
"Yes," Yun Tai responded without hesitation. At the same time, she looked at Vice President Zhan with confusion. Is there a problem? She clearly heard the previous question, where the difficulty level of the elixir ranged from first to fifth grade. Could it be that she misheard? Can she only refine a fifth-grade elixir?
很显然再说下去就非常不合时宜了。詹毅涂咳嗽了一声，清了清嗓子：“现在请大家再次按红色按钮，抽取丹方。”
云苔按了一下，一看，笑了，她的运气不错，居然按出一个‘6’来，真是一个好兆头。
“再补充说明一下。如果你们对药材的质量有所不满的话，可以提出置换的要求，但仅限于同样年份的同种药材，而且仅有三次置换的机会。”在工作人员进场分发一个个小包裹的时候，詹毅涂在前台说道。
“这话不是摆明着提醒他们药材有问题，要看仔细吗？”水雪丽不解地问道。
“上次比赛已经有过这个考验了，这次就算詹会长不说，大家还是会仔细检查的，与其如此，还不如大方地先讲出来，反而给人一种有恃无恐的感觉。”水鸿炎解释道。
“又或者药材根本没有问题，詹会长这么一讲，大家本能地先入为主，认为药材有问题，却偏偏找不出来……”水鸿轩一摊手，结果可想而知。
"Too cunning." Shui Xueli commented.
"Well, you can't say that. People who have absolute confidence in themselves are basically not affected by such tricks." Shui Hongyan commented. Got it.
“这大概就是云苔说的所谓的心理战吧。”水鸿轩评价了一句。
“不止这些，药师炼丹都会选择静室，可你们看今天少了什么？”铭清提醒道。
No mute cover!
没有静音罩就表示药师炼丹的时候需要注意力绝对集中，一点不受外界的影响。要知道赛场的干扰可不仅仅只有来自观众席上的喧闹，还有来自炼丹失败者炸炉的声响，一个个离开的是身影极其容易挑动参赛者敏感的神经。
一份叠放整齐的药材和一卷丹方卷轴被迅速有序地放到了各位参赛者面前的青石台上。
等到所有工作人员退场。
“既然一切就绪，我宣布”詹毅涂轻轻一挥右手：“第二轮比赛现在开始。”
The sound of a ringing gong echoed.
云苔深吸了一口气，然后缓缓吐了出来。她拿起丹方卷轴慢慢展开，没有药名！居然是一张没有药名的丹方。
没有药名，就意味着她必须凭借这些药材和炼制的步骤猜出是哪一张丹方，要炼制的是什么丹药？只有猜出了要炼制的丹药，才能确认这张丹方的准确性。任何一点添加数量上的错误或是步骤上的颠倒都会导致最终的炼丹失败，选手出局。
云苔皱起眉头，忍不住偷偷扫了一下周围。附近的几位药师的脸色在看到丹方之后脸色都变了变，不过他们很快就收敛神情，恢复镇定。
Yuntai began inspecting the quality of the medicinal materials, comparing them with the prescription. The president straightforwardly reminded everyone that there were pitfalls here. If they didn't carefully inspect and got trapped at this step, they could only blame themselves. Yuntai had a habit of writing down the names, years, properties, and so on of the medicinal materials, which also helped him practice his memory skills.
一遍检查下来，不用看丹方云苔就发现了问题。其中两味草药天青麻和芜草药性犯冲，在融合的过程中会产生一种弱性毒素。如果放一起，基本上可以肯定是一炉废丹。当然解决的办法也不是没有。
The first method is to forcibly fuse the two medicinal herbs using strong spiritual power, and then extract the toxins. This requires extremely powerful spiritual power, and can only be accomplished by cultivators with a single type of spiritual power or by pharmacists of a higher grade, such as a fifth-grade pharmacist who can only refine first or second-grade pills. For Yun Tai, she can directly give up on considering this method, as her spiritual power is a passive defensive skill. Translation: The first method is to forcibly fuse the two medicinal herbs using strong spiritual power, and then extract the toxins. This requires extremely powerful spiritual power, and can only be accomplished by cultivators with a single type of spiritual power or by pharmacists of a higher grade, such as a fifth-grade pharmacist who can only refine first or second-grade pills. For Yun Tai, she can directly give up on considering this method, as her spiritual power is a passive defensive skill.
第二种办法就是剔除其中一味药。换句话说就是修改丹方！可这也行不通，按照詹毅涂会长刚刚说的比赛规则，必须依照丹方炼制丹药，如果说以不追求过程，只求结果来辩解，勉强可以将药材的分量和前后顺序糊弄过去，但少用一味草药那就肯定不能说是依照丹方炼丹了。
丹炉还没有拿出来，丹火还没有升起来，云苔已经感觉双颊发热，脑袋有些发昏，需要降温。
Bump, bump, bump, a majestic alchemy furnace gradually appears on the bluestone platform.
Teng, teng, teng, and little flames were also rising from the bottom of the alchemical furnace.
再看云苔，从戒指里拿出一块洒了清醒剂的湿毛巾，抹了一把脸，继续低头研究，看看能够炼制出什么丹药？
时间一分一秒地过去，全场除了云苔所有的药师都已经开始炼制丹药了。只有云苔在低头写写划划的。
“云苔到底在干什么？”云壕看着干着急，恨不能冲进赛场帮云苔炼丹。
水雪丽心里同样着急得不得了，双手紧紧拽着膝盖上的衣角，可听到云壕的话，她毫不犹豫地甩给了他一枚白眼：“急什么，炼制一炉一品丹只需要半个月时，现在可是有四个月时呢。”
“应该是云苔发现了药材有什么问题吧。”火炙安慰道。
“药材有问题，不是可以请求换吗？”云昭梅不明白地问道。会长之前都明说了药材有问题可以要求替换。
"You can only replace the same kind of medicinal material from the same year. But what if it's not the medicinal material itself that's damaged and losing spiritual energy, but rather an issue with the pill recipe?" Ming Qing questioned.
“丹方有问题？如果丹方有问题岂不是在场没有人可以成功炼制出丹药？”风毅杰叫道。
“如果精神力够强，强行成丹还是可以的，不过质量上会打折扣。”铭清解释道。
Mental strength...
So you're saying that Yun Tai has no chance?