Chapter 40
Blood slowly dripped from the long gash on his arm, running from near the elbow to the wrist. Although he presented a smile to all the people watching him, deep inside, Master Kong was cursing the fool he considered his disciple. They had discussed that he would receive a wound on his arm, but he hadn't expected it to be so long. The pain and the flowing blood almost made him faint, but he had to hold on and endure.
Master Kong didn't think twice and immediately took the pill so he could heal the wound on his arm. As expected, when the pill's outer skin melted, a warm feeling washed over him, making him feel so good that a moan almost escaped his throat.
People gasped in amazement as they witnessed a miraculous thing. The long wound on the chief alchemist's outstretched arm began to close on its own, visibly healing before their eyes. In a matter of about 20 seconds, the wound was gone, and not even a scar remained. This made everyone, especially the elders, drop their jaws. Almost everyone was stunned. Healing pills were not new in the cultivation world; almost everyone carried them. But they didn't have this kind of absurd healing effect. At most, if a chief alchemist took a high-grade healing pill, a wound of that length would close in 10 to 20 minutes at best. Only top-tier healing pills could heal a wound in a matter of minutes. But this was their first time seeing a low-tier healing pill have this kind of effect, and everyone was now contemplating the future prospects of this kind of medicine.
While everyone silently contemplated the sight before them, the school head was a little confused. This wasn't what the report said. She had already received a report from Elder Ao that a formula had been stolen from the inter-school tournament and that the culprit was Xing Meng. But she didn't have any evidence, and she wasn't that alarmed because Elder Ao had said the formula might be incomplete. But now, what she was seeing was a very potent medicine, and it seemed Master Kong was able to finish the formula on his own.
"No wonder he was called the chief alchemist, even though his personality is a little despicable," the school head said to herself.
"As you can see, my fellow alchemists, this is the healing prowess of the pill I created," Master Kong said with a smug look on his face.
"Master Kong is truly the chief alchemist."
"He truly lives up to his name and position."
"Yeah, he should be the one to be called the Saintly Alchemist, not Elder Duang. Hehe…"
"Haha, truly great! No matter who it comes from, as long as it's from our Floating Lotus Alchemy School, it's just the same. Our school's name will once again soar to great heights."
The people close to him in the tribunal hall began to sing praises of Master Kong and his accomplishment, which was like music to his ears. With his talent and contribution to the alchemy world, whether he did it honestly or by cheating, he didn't care. As long as he could hear those praises, it was all worth it.
Xing Meng, on the side, also had a smug look on his face as he glanced around. Then a thought suddenly entered his mind.
"Wait a minute… I was the one who acquired the formula. Why is this old master of mine taking all the glory? This is too unfair, right? I should be the one standing there."
He began to imagine himself standing in front of the crowd while they cheered for his accomplishments. He started to bask in that glory. He also imagined tons of girls kneeling at his feet. He especially wanted the heiress of the Roc's Eye merchant group, Susu Ling, to be one of those women. With her family background and money, he would be able to live a good life.
Unknowingly, Xing Meng began to develop a deep hatred in his heart toward his master, as his mind started to sway toward the dark side. As he looked at his master, he clenched his fist. He wanted this glory, too. It wasn't only his master who concocted the pill; he had his hands in it, too. So he decided to speak up.
Master Kong suddenly felt that something was wrong with his disciple as Xing Meng walked toward him. Then he saw the greed and ambition in Xing Meng's eyes that were very familiar to him.
"What are you doing?" Master Kong asked in a low voice to the approaching Xing Meng.
"Master, you wouldn't be thinking of hogging the entire glory, would you?" Xing Meng replied in a normal voice.
"Shhh… Keep your voice down. We can talk about this later, you brat!" Master Kong scolded Xing Meng in a low voice.
Everyone in the hall had a questioning look at both master and disciple. And some with a knack for gossip had a glint of craftiness in their eyes. Then, suddenly, before everyone could react, a woman's voice from the top middle seat sounded.
"What is this junior trying to say?"
Everyone turned their heads toward the school head and saw a smile on her beautiful face while she looked inquisitively at the master and disciple pair. Her gaze was more focused on Xing Meng. Then everyone also began to look at the two in the middle.
"School Head, please pardon this disciple of mine. He is just too unruly and has disturbed this alchemy tribunal. I promise to discipline him thoroughly later," Master Kong said, glaring at Xing Meng.
He didn't expect that the brat would be so impetuous and greedy for fame that he would defy his own master. So he thought of giving him a hard lesson and would throw him out of the school. He even thought of silencing the little brat so he would stop wagging his tongue to who knows whom. But before he could feel assured, the school head stood up, and an angry look appeared on her face.
"Student Xing Meng… What do you mean by what you have said? Do you also have a hand in making this pill?" the school head asked with authority.
"School Head… This…" Master Kong quickly responded.
"Shut it! I am not asking the chief alchemist!" The school head shouted with a domineering tone.
All the elders nodded their heads and had a mocking look in their eyes toward Master Kong. They were sure that there was something wrong with the master and disciple duo.
"Replying to the School Head and the esteemed elders. The truth is…" Xing Meng said, glancing at his master.
"You better not screw this up, or I'll have your head," Master Kong whispered with a threat.
Upon hearing this, Xing Meng smirked. He knew that their master-disciple relationship would end today as he would take the center stage himself and claim all the glory. So he sneered at his master's words and just nodded his head.
"Everyone, you all know who I am. Though I'm just a student and not as good as my master, I was able to discover something from my research," Xing Meng said, which made Master Kong's eyes go wide.
Master Kong wasn't able to react immediately, as he didn't expect his disciple to be as thick-skinned as he was. So he was stunned for a while, but before he could recover, he felt that something was wrong.
"The truth is I was the one who discovered the formula. And then I showed it to Master Kong, but I never thought that he would shamelessly claim it as his," Xing Meng explained as he shook his head, his face showing an aggrieved expression.
Everyone was stupefied by what he said, and some who were at odds with Master Kong immediately expressed their contempt. They threw gazes of disdain toward the chief alchemist, who now had his head lowered.
"Student Xing Meng, what do you mean by this? Did Master Kong steal your work?"
"That's too shameless; he must be punished for this."
"I didn't know that Master Kong was such a thick-skinned man. Haha…"
"My eyes are truly open today; Master Kong is truly a great master… a master of manipulating people. Hahaha…"
"Yeah… Almost all of us nearly believed you there… What a nice and deplorable move… Tsk… Tsk…"
Hearing the comments from the people all around the hall, Xing Meng felt that he had gained something for himself. He knew that his master would be angry with him, but he was confident that the secret wouldn't be exposed. So he just kept his mouth shut, but the thing that bothered Xing Meng at this time was that his master wasn't moving. Could it be that he was too shocked by what his disciple had done that he was stunned into silence?
Then, not only him, but everyone slowly noticed that something was wrong with Master Kong.
"Master Kong, is something wrong?" the school head suddenly asked with worry in her eyes.
"Roar!!!"
Then, all of a sudden, they heard a loud roar coming from Master Kong, which startled everyone in the hall. Almost all of them couldn't believe that the dignified chief alchemist would act like a beast. The guards in the area quickly moved to a position to prevent anyone from getting injured.
"Arrrggghh!!! It's… too… hot! My body… feels like it's burning! Hot… very… hot…" Master Kong's words went from loud to slowly getting softer.
Then they saw that his body became soft, and he slumped to the floor like jelly. Then, with his last strength, his head turned to Xing Meng and threw an angry glare. But this was his last burst of strength as all the muscles in his body began to weaken. No one knew what was going on as they watched the once-proud chief alchemist who bullied those under him turn into a useless person. His body even began to thin as his skin started to stick to his bones, as if the muscles that once filled them were gone.
From the time he screamed to the time all his flesh disappeared, it only took about a minute. And everyone was truly dumbfounded by the event that no one was able to react for a while. Then, as if by reflex, all of them turned their gazes to Xing Meng, who started to tremble and felt his knees become soft like jelly.
On the other hand, Shin Jiao and the two women assembled with the group of students as they prepared to embark on the journey home. Shin Jiao felt truly excited as he would finally come to a cultivation city or town, as he hadn't had a chance to enter one since he had stepped into this world.
"Hey, mortal boy…" a female voice called him from behind.
Hearing this, he already knew who it was: Susu Ling. She would always call him this whenever she wanted to ask him something. It seemed she would do this to protect her dignity as a cultivator and an alchemist. As a proud woman, she always viewed herself as someone superior, but this attitude was only for mortals. It couldn't be helped as it was the norm in this world.
"Yes, Madame… How may I help you?" Shin Jiao replied while he bowed, lowering his head and putting one hand on his chest.
This made Susu Ling stunned, and a blush appeared on her face. The bow that Shin Jiao made looked like he was asking her for a dance or something.
"You… I just… Grrr… Come here." Susu Ling didn't know what to say as she stuttered and then just grabbed Shin Jiao toward a corner.
"I want to ask you something… about… about the thing that Qin Lou lost…" Susu Ling asked while looking straight into Shin Jiao's eyes.
"Why ask me this? My master is the one who made it," Shin Jiao replied innocently.
This made Susu Ling roll her eyes, as she didn't believe him. For the last two to three days that she had spent with them, it was clear that Shin Jiao also had a hand in that recipe. Plus, although everyone was looking at Qin Lou at that time, Shin Jiao had actually caught her attention. Those small and simple things he did made her curious about him, and this was confirmed when she spent time with them, and like the nosy woman she was, she had discovered this fact.
"Sigh, I…" Shin Jiao was about to deny everything.
"Please don't deny it. Although I know that you are good at a lot of things, I still admire Senior Sister Qin Lou for her talent and abilities. I'm just worried that someone would steal this from her," Susu Ling said with a sad expression.
"Okay, don't worry, the formula is actually incomplete. Although all the ingredients are there, only those at the Nascent Immortal realm can fuse them successfully, hehe…"
"What? Then how come Sister Qin Lou at that time was about to fuse them successfully before the furnace exploded?" Susu Ling exclaimed.
"Hmm… How did you know that?" Shin Jiao looked at her with suspicion.
"Hey, I'm not the one who made the pill furnace explode…" Susu Ling said with exasperation, as she didn't want Shin Jiao to have a bad impression of her.
"The reason why I know is that I always kept my spiritual sense on what Senior Sister was doing. I was truly amazed at her skills; she is really amazing."
"Jeez… a fangirl. Anyway, if they were to try and recreate that pill, it would have a severe effect. Instead of a healing medicine, it will turn into a very deadly poison that would consume all the flesh of the one who takes it, and only his bones will be left," Shin Jiao explained.
"What!? That's a very dangerous pill… If someone takes that kind of pill, they would die immediately. " Susu Ling gasped in horror.
"Haha… If they forcefully fuse it, they would suffer the consequence; that's not our problem," Shin Jiao shrugged.
"I guess Sister Qin Lou knows this, right? That's why she is not worried about it," Susu Ling said, feeling relieved.
"Hehe… that's the thing, she doesn't," Shin Jiao replied with a smirk.