Chapter 139 “Master Longyue, the Old Urchin”
After being hit with the demonic ghost miasma and the needles in unison, the horned serpent that holds a lot of resemblance to a dragon was now immobilized. Then as if deflating, the once massive body starts to change under a bright flash of light. From the original five meters in length, the creature now shows its true form, a dog sized puppet beast.
Clank~!
The metallic sound alarms Ling Yue to something on the creature’s back.
“What is this thing?” Only now do Ling Yue realizes this horned serpent had been a fake all along.
“Ahhh~ my little horn!” In her moment of vigilance, a dwarf like figure scurries out from her side.
It’s a man of considerable age, but that stature can’t be any bigger than a small child. At the best the dwarf only reached up to Ling Yue’s chin. Then there are those wrinkles on the face. Criss-crossing along the skin, talk about an old prune.
After scurrying out from his hiding place, the elder literally pounced over to the puppet’s back and opened the latch shielding the mechanics inside.
Curious, Ling Yue sneaks a peak by tilting her head.
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It seems there’s a small compartment on the area in which the dwarf was fiddling with. Most likely the reason why the puppet could take on that massive appearance. A spot for a power source of some kind.
And then there’s that voice. Obvious the same one in which the serpent used to talk outside the tower.
“Whose bastard disciple is this. How dare you barge into my laboratory and make trouble! If it weren’t for my little horn running out of juice from the Dan pills, you think you would be able to be so presumptuous right now?” The old dwarf checks the compartment meant for the Dan pills and saw that there’s no damage to his puppet.
“I am a new alchemist here to report today,” exhaling a sigh of relief at the sight of the old man, Ling Yue can see that the dwarf was also an alchemist like herself. But when checking the emblem on the chest….
One, two, three… a nine on the cauldron mark!
It can’t be right? How can this tiny pipsqueak that’s no bigger than a child be higher rank than President Liao.
Twitching in her eyes, Ling Yue couldn’t resist shivering at what she’s done. Seems like she just offended some big figure.
“A newcomer? Humph, Dragon Saliva Needle and a Demonic Ghost Miasma, as if I would believe that lie when you carry around such high-grade weapons. Quit trying, I’m not going to be fooled. You must be a spy from an enemy nation and I’ll see to it you get sentenced immediately when I go inform the king in a minute.” The old man appeared annoyed all over as he jumped up and down like a brat flailing their arms up and down.
What an extraordinary old man to see through her things with only a glance. Especially the demonic ghost miasma because the stuff’s been refined with her spirit cauldron before. Generally, normal people wouldn’t be able to connect the dots now that the evil aura’s been removed from the miasma.
“Old-timer, please don’t misunderstand, I really am a newcomer from Glass City. Here, this is my recommendation letter from President Liao. I only intruded because…. Your little horn snatched me in here.” Bringing out the recommendation letter from her pocket, she hands it over to the elder.
Shooting a glance at the recommendation letter in the girl’s hand, the elder promptly had a change of face after recognizing the handwriting indeed belonged to his junior.
“Old Liao sent you? Then did you bring the hundred blue patterned Dan pills I ordered?”
It’s really a coincident if one had to mention it. As it so happens, this grumpy and jumpy elder standing in front of Ling Yue just so happens to be Master Longyu, the specified recipient of the order she needs to deliver.
Years ago back when they were both young, this Longyu and Old Liao had trained under the former president of the alchemist association in the capital, making them senior and juniors of the same master.
But due to their vastly different personalities, both brothers could never come to harmonious terms, thus causing their dislike for each other.
It’s not often they would interact with each other unless there’s something going on, but due to the matter with the Dan pills this time, the two brothers once again came into contact.
“So you are Master Longyu? Here you go, one hundred Dan pills as you ordered,” she hands the box carrying the pills over.
After opening the box, Longyu immediately poured half the content into the small compartment on the puppet’s back. Then in next second, the puppet came back to life and stood up from its dormant state.
Compared to before, the horned serpent now appeared even more energetic than it was prior to losing its power source, clearly thanks to the higher quality of the Dan pills concocted by Ling Yue.
As a nine-cauldron alchemist, Longyu have for many years stopped creating blue patterned Xuan Yin Dan pills for it’s beneath himself. As such, he prerequisite a batch from President Liao to save himself the trouble.
“Are these Dan pills all made by you?” In the letter written by President Liao, he’s made sure to mention the talented skills Ling Yue had in pill making and that she also managed to create a moon iron during the smelting conference.
Just as she’s ready to answer the question, their conversation was suddenly interrupted by a faint scent of something burning hitting their nose.
“Oh no, my Dan pills!” When Ling Yue intruded upon the room, Longyu just so happens to be in the middle of creating a new form of pill called “Super Strength”.
“It’s over now, this cauldron of pill is ruined,” annoyed with good reason, he’s been spending the last three day watching over the batch without rest.
At first he only wanted to have his puppet go shoo away the disturbance outside, never did he expect the dumb thing to bring the source of the noise to him instead.
“Old-timer, if you overbake the Dan pills you can add a dose of rejuvenation grass to the concoction. By doing so, you can recover around sixty percent of the batch from ruining,” she softly mentions this.
Rejuvenation grass was a common herb that one can easily find in any laboratory of an alchemist.
“What did you say, who told you that an overbaked batch can be saved by adding in some rejuvenation grass?” Longyu sounded doubtful in his voice, but he still does as instructed. Not long after the aroma returns to normal without the scent of char in the air.
When the lid was finally removed minutes later, things turned out as expected. Among the ten pills inside the cauldron, six remained intact while the last four was charred black. What did surprise Ling Yue though was that half of the successful pills inside had yellow patterns on it while the other three were blue!
As expected of a nine cauldron, they don’t disappoint.
“I read it from some ancient book,” she scratches her head guiltily. The truth was, the knowledge was from the codex Mr. Red Mist left behind and she only accidentally came across the information when skimming through the pages one day.
Be that as it may, Ling Yue never once practiced the trick. Since she only uses her spirit cauldron to make anything, there’s no chance of possibly overbaking her stuff.
“And what is that ancient book called?” Longyu didn’t quite believe her words and persists in questioning the girl.
“I only came across a remnant of a page. What is the name again? Hmm, oh yes, I think it’s called something Red Mist….” Knowing a lie would most likely not be enough to deceive this elder, Ling Yue decides to mix the truth with some lie. Her head tilts to one side with a finger touching her cheek, the perfect image of an innocent girl in deep contemplation.
“Can it be Immortal Alchemist Red Mist?” Hearing those two words, Longyu literally jumped into the air. His eyes sparkling like he found the rarest treasure in the world.
“I think that’s it, that’s the name,” she nods.
“Oh heavens, that must be the legendary Red Mist Codex. To think the legendary codex still exists in this world after so many centuries.” Longyue murmurs to himself as many thoughts moved through his head in quick flashes.