Chapter 17: Great Alchemy Master Hua

Gu Ouyang finally came to. As he was lying on a rigid surface, he tried to get up by putting his hand flat on the floor. A jolt of pain coursed through his arm and he remembered his injuries. Looking down, he could see some bandages where his fingers used to be. The pain had subsided but the horror of losing some parts of his body had not. Trying to figure out where has, he suddenly realized. He was in a jail. Most likely, it was the prison ward outside Yinmen City.

While he was trying to get a hold of his own emotions, he heard footsteps walking down a stair. From the dim-lit corridor, two figures appeared. The first one he saw filled Gu Ouyang's heart with fright, City Lord Dun Mofan. Instinctively, he took a step back, even though he was beyond bars. But as soon as he saw the other figure, he regained some spirit, this was his grandfather Gu Lin.

However, the look on Gu Lin's face was terribly dark. It became even darker when he saw the hands of his grandson. Elder Gu had lost many people in his life and Gu Ouyang was his last family member, the son of his deceased daughter.

"City Lord, how is that a way to treat a prisoner?!"

"Calm down, Elder Gu, these wounds were inflicting in self-defense. I had nothing to do with them. You can not expect people not to protect their lives against an assassin, right?"

Elder Gu calmed down his anger. Before he could speak again, his grandson butted in. "Grandfather, help me! I am innoc..."

"Silence!" Despite his love for his grandson, Elder Gu was a sensible person. He knew that the accusations against him were mostly, if not entirely, true. The City Lord would never risk his reputation in such a way. Elder Gu was the head of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall Yinmen City branch. Accusing his grandson of attempted murder without very good reason would be disastrous for Dun Mofan.

"No one was killed, right?"

"Right..."

"City Lord, could you please overlook my grandson's stupid actions this time? I will be forever grateful to you." Gu Lin cupped his fists and even bowed down to Dun Mofan. He was humbling himself as much as he could bear. An attempted murder on an alchemist would warrant the death penalty. After all, the Emperor himself was very protective of alchemists in the Hongchen Kingdom, no matter how talented they were.

"Junior Gu, you should know that this is a terrible offense he tried to commit. You should also know how much I care for this little girl. How would you react if someone tried to kill your grandson? Would you accept it if I were to just let them go? Tell me, what would you have me do to someone who tried to poison and torture your family to death?" Dun Mofan had stopped addressing Gu Lin as 'Elder'. He was after all his junior. Dun Mofan was more than 300-years-old and Gu Lin less than a century old.

Those questions really shocked Gu Lin. His family had indeed been killed by poison many years ago. When the killer was found, the torments Gu Lin inflicted on them were legendary. He had tried to hide his involvement but City Lord Dun Mofan had known about this for a very long time, waiting for the right moment to use this information.

"City Lord..." Gu Lin dropped his head in defeat. "What do you want from me?"

"Ah, ah, ah! This one would never dare to tell you what you should do. If such an affair were to happen to me, I think I would want to take some time back from worldly matters. I mean, how could I administer a city, or even an auction hall, with that much pressure on my grandson?"

Gu Lin immediately understood what he was getting at. After a breath of hesitation, he asked again. "And who, in your opinion, would be better suited to take my responsibilities during my absence?"

"Ah, ah, ah! This one would not dare interfere in the way you run your auction hall. But I hear that this Ye Zhiyun lad is very competent. I'm sure he would be a great replacement. Temporarily, of course."

Gu Lin swallowed his pride. "City Lord is right. Maybe I should take some time off to take care of my grandson. I'm going to inform the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall that I petition for Ye Zhiyun to take over while I sort out my business."

"Oh! Junior Gu dares listen to my advice?! I'm really flattered." Dun Mofan opened the cell. "Since you'll be able to devote all your time to your family, I think I can let your grandson be under house arrest for now. And who knows how long it will be until we have enough time to hold a trial for him... We're really too busy recently."

Dun Mofan left the grandfather and his grandson alone. Gu Ouyang was not a total idiot. Of course he understood that the City Lord had used his life to evict his grandfather from the head of the Auction Hall. He wanted to say something to his grandfather but he did not know what. Keeping his head down, he followed behind him, dejected.

-

"City Lord, are you just going to let him free?!" Once again, Feng Yingyue was enraged.

"Ah?! Little Yingyue, this is just politics... And don't you think that Gu Ouyang was punished enough? He lost his fingers, he will be a cripple for the rest of his life."

"You!"

Cao Yun intervened. "Feng Yingyue, the City Lord is right. Moreover, I doubt Gu Ouyang came across this poison on his own."

"Well, we'll try to question him. However, he will probably not tell anything. Through the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, Gu Ouyang should have enough connections to get any poison he desired. But if you want my opinion..."

"It was Luo Jiang!" Cao Yun interrupted him.

"Most likely, yes."

"Luo Jiang?! Go arrest him then!" Feng Yingyue yelled at the City Lord.

"It's not that easy. We have no proof against him, and he is an alchemist. The Emperor is very protective of all alchemists, they're so rare and precious for the cultivators. If I were to accuse him without conclusive evidence, I would put my position in danger and the Huang family would use it against me. Luo Jiang would not suffer any punishment. He would even gain from it."

"Useless!" Once again, Dun Mofan was surprised by the way this little girl was behaving recently. "The poison was really cruel. And the wounds Chen Guo suffered were gruesome. I had to use some powerful balms to heal them." Unconsciously, she touched, almost caressed Cao Yun's arm where Gu Ouyang had pierced him.

None of that eluded Dun Mofan's eyes. Cao Yun tried to calm her down. In reality, he knew that it would turn out this way. Gu Ouyang had strong ties with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall after all. That's why he had an hesitation back when he was at his mercy. He could have killed him and resolved this grudge. But he would have made an even more powerful enemy with Elder Gu. And more importantly, he did not want the Drop of Wrath to control his temperament.

-

In Huang Longwei's study.

As the doors burst open, Huang Longwei was startled and immediately assumed a fighting position. From behind the door, the shape of his little sister Huang Cixi appeared and he calmed down.

"Little sister? Why do you barge in in such a brutal manner?"

"Were you involved?!"

"I do not..."

"Do not play dumb!" Huang Cixi was really enraged by this stupid older brother of hers and she had let go of all pretenses. "Were you involved in the attempted murder of the alchemist girl?"

"Why would I be..."

"Why?! Let me ask you another question, Brother. Who was it who told our father about a mystical pill that this girl was supposed to have?" Before he could answer, Huang Cixi asked him another question. "Do you perhaps know that there is another rumor? Apparently, the City Lord petitioned an alchemy institute to send a master here. Maybe Brother knows about it..."

Huang Longwei was silent.

"Nothing to say?! Isn't it strange that you suddenly introduced your alchemist friend to Father? Maybe you want him to be taken in by this master instead of the girl? Wouldn't it be great if your friend could study under an alchemy master? Wouldn't it be great if your friend could perform well during the next Alchemy Conference?"

Huang Cixi was calming down as she spoke and walked closer and closer toward he big brother. "So, let me ask you again, Brother. Were you involved?"

"No." Huang Longwei stopped playing games. "I'm pretty sure that Luo Jiang decided to do it on his own because of what happened during the auction..."

"Well, then. I suggest you control your 'friend'. All this ruckus is bad for our family. We're trying to find Lixin, we need calm and peace to achieve that goal. Are we clear, Brother? Put a leash on your dog!"

A fleeting spark in his little sister's eyes almost scared Huang Longwei. "Little sister, I assure you that I also want calm and peace for my business."

"Good!" She turned back. "Then, while you continue your 'business', I will keep attending to some small matters... like trying to find our missing brother!"

When the door finally closed again, Huang Longwei erupted and broke down his desk. He knew that his little sister was very smart but he had still been underestimating her too much. She had clearly seen through all of his plans.

-

In another room, Luo Jiang was even more enraged. He sat cross-legged and tried his best to calm himself with the medicinal essence of the Frozen Heart Pill that was still dissolving in his heart.

"This Gu Ouyang is useless! He could not poison them correctly! And he could not even kill a meager 4th-grade Mortal?! What a trash!"

His mind was absolutely chaotic. Circulating the cold medicinal essence through his bloodstream, Luo Jiang was barely able to maintain his sanity. There was something really strange with him. He stopped meditating and went back to his bed where the two women were laying, almost unconscious.

-

As the dust was settling after this all incident, Feng Yingyue and Cao Yun continued their routine.

Dun Mofan had sent many bodyguards to protect the couple. At first, he wanted them both to live in his mansion but the girl was adamant against it. She would not abandon her father's shop. She was even against the guards inside her shop, for she did not want them to disturb her time with Cao Yun. Finally, she agreed to have them outside the shop. Some of them were even stationed on the rooftop.

The two teenagers kept circulating the Yi symbol in their mind together. They had quickly realized that their progress was faster when they held each other's hand. Apparently, they were able to energize their mind through this connection and could go faster in their mind cultivation. Cao Yun had heard about this practice. It was called a dual cultivation. By fusing the dominant Yin of a woman and the dominant Yang of a man, both of them could gain huge benefits. Cao Yun was still young, and had rarely left his family mansion. Thus, he had no particular experience in this kind of matter.

For a week, nothing special happened. Luo Jiang was fuming in secret. Huang Longwei was trying to concoct many plans to outsmart his little sister who was still focused on her brother Lixin. In the Gu estate, Gu Lin was admonishing his grandson again and again, while still tending to his wounds. He even tried to get a medicine that could grow back limbs, but the price was astronomic, despite his remaining connections to the Hall.

Dun Mofan was very proud of his little manipulation. Right now, he had a loyal man at the head of the Auction Hall. What he did not know was that Ye Zhiyun was even more loyal to Huang Cixi. Effectively, she was now the head of the Auction Hall. Since Ye Zhiyun began to work there, he had feigned loyalty to Dun Mofan and always was fair to everyone. He was the perfect clerk. In reality, he was working for Huang Cixi from the get go. From a very young age, she had always been very smart. Ye Zhiyun had been trained by her to be perfect for this job. Knowing that her first brother and her father had many spies within the Auction Hall, she wanted one who would be loyal only to her.

-

Finally, a week had passed and something prodigious happened.

Above Yinmen City, two swords were floating high up in the air. They had arrived so fast that no one had even seen them appear. The two swords were floating above the City Lord's mansion. Dun Mofan left in a hurry and cupped his fists toward the sky.

"Dun Mofan presents his respect to the alchemy master."

Two figures fell from the sky.

The first one was an elegant woman dressed in red and dark blue. She had very long and light hair nicely tied behind her back. As she fell, she kept her composure and her right hand was pointing to the second figure. It was a little plump man who was visibly panicking. Despite being nicely dressed, his hair was disheveled and his clothes a little open. He was waving his limbs in the air as if he was trying to swim in the sky.

When they finally touched the ground, the woman who seemed to be in her late thirties elegantly put her foot down. The little guy closed his eyes and put his arm up to protect his face. When the impact did not happen, he looked down and saw that he was floating in the air just a little bit above the ground. No sooner had he let out a sigh of relief, the woman put down her right hand and he fell flat on his bottom.

"Master..." A small complaint accompanied his pitiful grunt.

"City Lord! I am Grand Master Hua Fenfei. I am here to examine your candidate."