Hidden genius: Black belly snake

Tang Yue held the thin green jade slip in her hand and peered in curiously. This was the first time she had laid her hands on a pill formula.

The formula in itself was not pretty complicated. It was a relatively simple formula with just about ten ingredients.

Except for one or two, all the steps included in the concocting procedure was also very straightforward.

After glancing at the formula, Tang Yue calmly walked over to the cauldron allocated for her use and took a note of all the ingredients provided for her.

Here as well, there were no hidden twists or unexpected traps. Everything was straightforward.

In short, this test seemed to simply gauge the disciple's abilities, aptitude, and common sense with respect to pill concoctions.

As long as one was able to add one plus one and give the answer as two, one would be easily able to clear this test.

Tang Yue nodded in understanding and settled in her spot. This would be her first time concocting anything and she was visibly excited about it.

As for the background noise and commotion, she couldn't care less about it. Losers always had the habit of whining and it was not within her limits to change such a universal principle.

Opposite her, Marvin as well settled down, but with a constipated look on his face.

He went through so much trouble to ensure his first place, and now he had to go through these additional tests. How unfair!

Tang Yue's calm countenance only further enraged him. How did the damned snake even get first place?

The disciple exam might be easy to pass but it was very difficult, in fact near impossible to get all the answers correct.

Even he, Marvin, dared to cheat in the exam only because of his special status as the grandmaster's son.

Otherwise, he would have purposefully answered a few questions incorrectly so as to not arouse anyone's suspicions.

So how the heck did the dumb snake manage to answer everything correctly?

Marvin racked his brain on this unnecessary question while only cursorily glancing at the pill formula in his hands.

It was just a simple concoction, so he was not really worried about it.

Back home, he had witnessed and even assisted his father in performing far more intricate and complex concoctions.

So he was far more concerned about Tang Yue's performance in the exam rather than this low-grade alchemy test.

Marvin irritatedly racked his brain for a long time before something suddenly struck him.

Wasn't this damned snake sitting right beside him during the exams??

Did she by chance take a look at his answers? Marvin's thin elegant eyes bulged like boiled eggs as he seriously considered this possibility.

The more he thought about it, the more it seemed feasible.

Marvin's raw anger shot through like an arrow.

Here he was having to scheme so much just so he could get his first place, but the damned snake effortlessly copied from him and took it away from? This won't do at all!

He grimaced angrily and spoke in a loud voice, enunciating every single word.

"Ha Ha. Princess, I didn't know that snakes had such good eyesight! Beasts are indeed blessed with good physique."

His words boomed amidst the crowd loud and clear, with his accusations crystal clear.

Of course, his other partner in crime didn't let go of this opportunity and immediately responded.

"Ha Ha. Indeed. Some people are just too lucky!" Master Dranuk winked and shrugged his shoulders.

Several other disciples and Master alchemists as well quickly caught onto the point and everyone remembered how Tang Yue was sitting next to Marvin.

They all had an awkward expression on their faces. Now that they thought about this, the snake consort had very obviously cheated on the exams.

What other possibilities could there be?

Tang Yue smiled. She had more or less expected something like this to happen.

But she didn't respond to the taunts.

Unless and until someone directly pointed towards her and officially accused her of cheating, she decided to not bother with this nonsense.

Marvin chuckled at her miserable plight and added more fuel to the fire. "You can copy my scribblings but good luck copying my concocting methods. Hmph."

"Bah! Let's first wait for the princess to produce her flame!" Dranuk chuckled.

Without an affinity to the fire elemental, Tang Yue could at most remain a trainee alchemist all her life, an insect he could crush at his feet.

What's even the use of all this ruckus?