Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

The Divinity was left speechless about what to say. Momo's words made sense on their own, but when he looked at the greater picture, they were absolutely meaningless.

How could you call a new pill a replacement for the other ingredients? It was something entirely new, after all.

"I cannot accept this," the man said. "These ingredients won't be considered as being wasted, but I won't consider it as replacement either."

Momo raised an eyebrow. She felt a chill go through her body, fearing that she had made a mistake. She would have to start all over again if this really didn't count.

"Are you sure, senior?" she asked. "I have done as I was asked to."

"Your job was not to create a new pill, but to replace 3 ingredients," the man said.

With the Divinity doubling down, she wanted to stop her prodding, but she had to keep going. She took a deep breath and asked, "Senior, the requirement of the test was not to replace 3 ingredients exactly but rather to replace 3 ingredients to pass. And as you can see, I have replaced more than 3 ingredients. If you only wish to count 3, then you may choose any of the 3 from the plethora of ingredients I just replaced."

The Divinity took a moment to stare down at Momo before saying, "Young lady, this matter is not for contention. I have made the verdict, so that will be the end of it."

Momo's face fell at the moment. Was she really going to have to redo it all over again? Start anew 5 hours after everyone else?

"If you have any other ingredient you wish to ask for, you may do so—"

"I want someone else's verdict on this." Momo found herself practically shouting out the statement before she could fully realize what she was even saying.

The Divinity paused, stunned for a moment, before narrowing his eyes in a look of dissatisfaction. "You wish someone else's verdict?" he asked.

"Yes," Momo said, taking a moment to gather herself. She had poked the bear, so she might as well fight it. "My Master, Alchemist Dawnblade, did the same thing for his Replacement competition where he replaced all the ingredients at once. The 12-ingredient recipe was switched with a 9-ingredient recipe, and the Alchemy God himself accepted it as a replacement."

"If you say that this is not allowed, then my master's attempt back then should have been voided as well. Since it was not, and since the Alchemy God made the decision to accept it, I ask that you reconsider it to accept it. If you still do not believe it to be correct, I ask that you involve the Alchemy God in this matter. If he tells me that this is not allowed, then I will do as he says."

Momo could feel her heart in her throat at the moment, beating so hard that it was booming in her ears. Still, she did her best to appear calm in the face of a Divinity. Offending a Divinity was perhaps not the best idea she could have gone for, but that was all she could do to change his verdict around.

The Divinity wanted to say something. He felt disrespected by Momo at the moment, but if he acted on every little intense emotion, he wouldn't have lived long enough to become a Divinity. He took a moment to calm himself and went through her arguments with as much unbiasedness as he could muster at that moment.

After some contemplation, he found that what she said made great sense.

"One moment," he said and moved to the side before pulling out a medallion.

Momo waited in silence for an entire minute when she saw something move out of the corner of her eyes. Her Demon Eyes were great at catching movement that regular eyes could not, so turning around toward the spot where she saw something move, she found the Alchemy God standing still.

The white-haired man was smiling ear to ear, looking down at Momo.

A surge of nervousness went through Momo at that moment. Never before had she seen this man so close to her. Even in the hall, he had stood pretty far away.

"Like master like disciple, I hear," the Alchemy God said as he walked toward Momo. "Your master has taught you quite well in these past few decades. Perhaps even helping you exceed him in some areas."

The Divinity walked up to him from the side and handed over the pill. The Alchemy God took the pill and looked through it.

"Shoddy work," he said after a glance. "Is this your first time making this pill?"
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It took Momo a moment to realize he was talking to her. "Ah, yes!" she said, before hurriedly adding, "Your Majesty."

"And you didn't use a pre-existing recipe?" he asked.

"No, Your Majesty. I made a pill to replicate the effects of the recipe you provided. I replaced all the ingredients in them to create this," Momo answered. Her heartbeat was only getting faster and faster now.

The Alchemy God took his time looking through the pill. "Young lady, would you mind reciting the recipe for this pill?" he asked.

"I can, Your Majesty. But the recipe is not perfect yet, is that okay?" she asked.

"Just tell me what you used."

Momo nodded and repeated the recipe just as she had used it to make the pill. Even as she said the recipe, she could find multiple flaws in them that she could adjust to get at least 50% on the pill. But since she was being truthful, she relayed all the good and the bad.

"That is all, Your Majesty," Momo said in the end after explaining the entire recipe.

The Alchemy God closed his eyes and went through the recipe. In just a matter of seconds, he could see the sort of pill those ingredients would create and the exact type of effect the pill would have.

The pill in the end was the same as the one he had used for this test. A smile broke out on his face again as he wondered something.

"Tell me the truth. If this were perhaps a cultivation pill or any other pill, would you have done this?"

Momo wondered what he meant for a moment before shaking her head. "I only made this because I'm good with antidote pills, Your Majesty," she answered.

"So in a way, you got lucky," the Alchemy God said.

Momo nodded.

The Alchemy God had to make a decision now. "One can argue whether you replaced anything or not," he said. "If they are replaced, it is only on technicality, and a verdict on technicality depends entirely on me in the end."

Momo felt she needed to say something here. Try and get him to see the right of way. "Your Majesty, I did—"

"But…" the Alchemy God said suddenly, cutting her off. "Since it is a technicality I have accepted previously, I cannot go back on my own words. Your Master's pill was accepted, so will yours."

He handed the pill over to the Divinity and looked back at Momo.

"Congratulations, young lady. You have passed."