The Urban Dao Child

Yue Jing set off waves inside the sect and Yue Lei Wang rode those waves outside the sect. Two days after the assessment completion Yang Dao received a message from his grandmother that his grandfather had started to rally people in Yue Jing's favor. This made Yang Dao very happy but he did not lower his guard. 

On the contrary, he advised Jenny to be more cautious of any and all underhanded means that Yue Jiren could use against them. His words made the lady realize the danger once more and she calmed down. This was not all, even those who supported Yue Jiren had a new point of view towards this seemingly mediocre daughter of their household.

Yue Jiren was not in the position of power because of his strength, but also his cunning. The man had always kept up with the status quo in front of the crowd, he treated Yue Jing like a jewel in his palm. When the results came out and people discovered Yue Jing's rank and result they showered him with praises as if this guy did all the work.

Yang Dao let the elders deal with the politics going on outside. He was busy these past two days. Elder Jing Shui had given him the task to master the potion making and then only will he become achieve the first milestone in the alchemy profession. 

Every profession had a rank level. The first level was just the beginning in any profession, and all ranks had a few requirements to complete. People will be tested by those on the higher rank levels to get their rank status confirmed and validated. The first rank of any profession was called, apprentice. 

The apprentice will deal with common material among the first grade and things that did not require them to use spirit energy to complete tasks of the relative profession. For example, making potions and ointments were the task of an alchemist apprentice. So, only when the Dao child could completely master the art of potions and ointments processing will he be called an Alchemy apprentice. 

The follow-up ranks were Master, Grandmaster, and Saint. A master could refine pills and cultivation tools of rank one to rank three. A grandmaster could refine the same from rank four to rank six. A saint could refine things from rank seven to nine. 

Yang Dao had no problem with such tasks, rather he enjoyed working like this. At this moment he was holding a cylindrical stone in his hand while he pushed and rolled it over a big coarse grinding stone. He was making a paste of a few herbs by grinding them on stones. An elder stood beside him to personally supervise the process. 

However, from start to end the man had not gotten a chance to speak. He only heard a grinding rough sound falling on his ears as he witnessed a jade-like boy working rigorously to make the paste. After a few minutes, Yang Dao asked, "Deacon Smith, please check if this paste is done up to the standard." 

The man leaned over and took a pinch of the paste and rubbed it between his fingers. Then he nodded and said, "Young Master, it is done well." 

Yang Dao smiled and using a thin ceramic tile collected all the paste in a bowl. Then he took another herb and placed it over the grinding stone. The deacon said, "Young Master, soothing spirit grass must be ground with the leaves of Spernia Flower in order for the two to make the mind-calming ointment. Why do you ground them separately?" 

Yang Dao smiled and said, "Deacon, the two herbs are put together on the grinding stone and grounded together to make sure that their enzymes blend together, however, the process is defective. The ground herbs hold on to the enzymes and do not let them spill out, however, the two herbs require different amounts of strength to be ground perfectly. If you exert more strength, the particles get damaged, I will show you. 

Then he began to ground the herb placed on the grinding stone slowly. The deacon was an experienced mand and he could notice the subtle change in the movements Yang Dao performed and also the strength he implied on the grinding stone. He opened his eyes wide in a stupor. He spend more than half his life doing these chores and never realized how a subtle change can make the process completely different. 

He was still a little skeptical about the effects the ointment will have. Yang Dao collected the paste in a different bowl and then meticulously put it into different portions of two pastes in the third bowl and began to mix them. To make the paste more smooth, he added a few drops of water to the bowl. 

He said while mixing, "Deacon, the two herbs, soothing spirit grass, and leaves of the Spernia flower work well together, however, if you increase the portion of soothing spirit grass paste by one part and decrease the other by the same, the effect increases tenfold." 

As he finished speaking his hands stopped as well. The boy extended the bowl in his hand for the deacon to check and said, "You can try it deacon." 

The older man took the cup in his hand and gave it a sniff. His eyes opened wide as the aroma from the ointment entered his nostrils. He could tell that this ointment was way better than the one before. He asked, "Young Master, how did you deduce this formula?" 

Yang Dao shrugged his shoulders and said, "The leaves of Spernia flower can be chewed raw to make your breath become slightly cold, they are at best mouth fresheners, however, soothing spirit grass can help the spirit energy flow in the body calm down. When the two things, the breath, and the spirit energy are calm, the mind calms down itself. 

This ointment can help people by calming down both, however, the aroma of the Spernia Flower leaves is higher than its raw form, if you put them in equal portions they overwhelm the soothing spirit grass's role in the ointment. Soothing spirit grass is a mildly aromatic herb. Thus, this formula. What do you think deacon?" 

The older man nodded and then he said, "Young Master, come along with me. We can test the effects of this ointment right away." 

The boy nodded and calmly followed the elder out of the workshop. The alchemy peak also had an infirmary, to help treat the wounded disciples on Supremacy. Although the populace here was mostly true disciples and prime disciples, some of them will suffer injuries in order to complete some tasks or sometimes while sparing with each other. 

Yang Dao was led by the deacon and the pair attracted some attention. Soon the two came to the infirmary and the deacon came to the ward where the injured were resting. Yang Dao found Amil lying on one of the beds. He was surprised, after all this guy had achieved the first rank in the assessment earlier. He asked, "How?" 

Amil blushed and said, "I posed in front of her, and she decided to take me a notch down." 

The 'she' in his mouth was none other than his girlfriend, Shakti. Yang Dao chuckled and said, "What happened that could not be healed with your pill stash?"

Amil said, "Her spiritual energy entered a wound and made me agitated. So I stopped circulating my spiritual energy and thus I came here yesterday. I cannot move my energy, otherwise, it gets agitated and it might injure me internally."

Yang Dao nodded and said, "I have something that might help you." then he gestured the Deacon to apply the ointment to Amil. 

The deacon nodded and walked forward, he said, "Please lay back, Prime Disciple Amil." 

Amil nodded and the deacon applied a dab of the dark green ointment on his nose. The fragrance entered his nose and Amil took a deep breath. After a few more breathes, he drifted into slumber land. While in sleep his calm spirit energy began to circulate, while slowly dispelling the invading spirit energy inside his body. 

The deacon found a few more disciples and applied the ointment to them and made them all feel relief in their condition. The Mind-calming ointment could be used for anyone, as it will make the person feel calm, a calmer person is easy to treat. The Deacon said, "Young Master, let us go to meet Elder Jing." 

The boy nodded with a faint smile on his face and the two people walked over to the third floor of the alchemy hall. Elder Jing Shui was talking to Yue Jing and Athena at the moment, when she saw the boy in white and blue robes walking inside the room with the Deacon in tow she raised her eyebrow. 

She asked, "Deacon Smith, what is the matter?" 

The deacon took a deep breath and described the whole scene to the lady. Jing Shui was shocked at first but when she sniffed the bowl in her hand she said, "I did not expect that your talent will be this terrifying Dao. Good job. I will get you the badge of alchemy apprentice in a bit."

Yang Dao scratched the back of his head and said, "You boast me too much elder." 

Jing Shui said, "You have no idea what you have done, my child. Do not worry, well I have something to tell you, good that you are here." her tone became solemn. 

The boy tilted his head and asked, "What is it, Elder?"

Jing Shui sighed and said, "We have a situation..."