The next morning arrived, and Michael wasted no time heading towards the Alchemy Association. He needed to become an alchemist and didn't want to wait one month for the next exam. He had waited long enough.
Now that he had his first "volunteer" actively doing work, he needed to start giving him tasks after all. Well, he would not give the tasks himself; Iris was responsible for managing the situation inside, well... herself. And himself as well? It was weird.
Walking through the streets of the inner city, something felt off, though. The streets seemed emptier; the quiet atmosphere was even more silent. It felt like the whole city wasn't even awake, but as Michael looked and listened closer, he realized that there was more to the silence.
"Is the city doomed?"
"Is it all over?"
"Will we die next?"
Michael heard several worried, afraid voices from inside of the houses. Having seemingly heard about an incident regarding a mysterious rich person called Lan Rudong, a man not many people even knew about, but still a prominent figure due to his dignified residence.
People had seen an unextinguishable fire that somehow didn't spread but only burned down one house. On the next day, the place was surprisingly clean, and graves were erected. The most confusing thing, though, is that the graves somehow couldn't be touched at all.
Rumors had started to spread as no one knew what had truly transpired.
Michael, hearing these voices, didn't feel bad. Instead, a small smile spread across his lips. These people finally felt a portion of the fear people in the outer city carried on a daily basis. And after hearing about the next plans for the outer city from Iris this night, he felt even worse about the general population within the inner city discriminating against everyone outside, without even thinking about compassion.
...
Meanwhile, inside of the Alchemy Association, it seemed like a totally normal day. The news of Lan Rudong's passing and the inconceivable fire didn't cause any panic.
The Alchemy Association itself was a widespread organization that no one would target. Every cultivator needed pills after all, so who would willingly antagonize the organization that controlled the pill sales and alchemists across the lands?
Xidu Cheng sat in his usual office chair, but instead of working, he simply stared across his desk to the opposite wall, still thinking about yesterday's events.
He still wasn't sure about how to feel about Qiu Zhengyi's immense talent. Sure, he was happy for her, but he had his own pride as a seasoned alchemist, which was somewhat damaged after seeing a student achieve something that took him a lifetime to master in three mere years.
Putting these thoughts to the side, though, there was something else he felt but didn't dare to even seriously think about: regret.
With Michael's inhuman writing still engraved within his mind, he simply felt like he had missed a great chance. He had no idea what was written on the paper, yet it had to be something worth looking at. But now, Michael's test was ripped apart and thrown into the garbage.
He continued staring at a singular point of the opposite wall, trying but unable to concentrate on more important things, like the pills requested by the city lord or the newly promoted alchemy disciples. Xidu Cheng, though, simply couldn't get his mind off of Michael.
40 minutes passed by with Xidu Cheng simply staring...
I have to get it!
Xidu Cheng simply couldn't deny it anymore. He needed to act now, before Michael's writing would be gone forever.
Should I send someone to retrieve it out of the garbage? No, he won't know what exact pieces of ripped-up paper belong to Michael. What if he misses something?
Should I ask someone to deliver the entire garbage can to me? No, that would spread, and people might find out about it. What if someone intercepts him and gets Michael's notes for themselves?
In the end only one solution remained. I need to go myself!
Xidu Cheng slowly stood up and put some cloth over his head, hiding his face. No one can know!
Then he opened the door of his office and snuck out. He darted through several corridors, straight towards the outside space where the garbage was stored.
Almost there; now I only need to pass by the registration desk without causing any suspicion.
But just as he was about to get to his goal, loud voices led him to a completely new action.
"Just let me through; like I said, I passed the first two tests already and want to continue with the third. My answers already gave you guys enough; now let me just become an alchemist already."
"Letting you become an alchemist?? Do you think that this place is a joke?! You were already caught cheating, and now you want to shamelessly continue the test you abandoned yesterday? Get out before there are serious consequences!" a clerk said to the visibly annoyed Michael.
"Cheating? How would I even cheat? You are just making things up at this point. Just let me speak to one of the three alchemists here, and I will convince them to let me become an alchemist."
Before the clerk could answer, a sudden voice sounded from the left. "What is going on here?"
"Master Xidu?" The clerk looked at the disguised form of Xidu Cheng. Well, Xidu Cheng was known to be an oddball, so he didn't question the eccentric alchemy master. "Reporting: The mongrel who was found to be cheating in yesterday's exam is here and wants to continue the exam. I was about to throw him out," the clerk said with a mix of pride and annoyance.
"Throw him out?!" Xidu Cheng nearly shouted.
"Yes, is there something wrong?" the clerk asked in confusion.
Xidu Cheng quickly cleared his throat. "No... no, not at all. Let me take care of the situation." Xidu Cheng turned to Michael. "Your name is Michael, right? Come with me; we will discuss what happened at yesterday's test."
"Ok," Michael simply answered and followed Xidu Cheng into his office.
Xidu Cheng sat down on his chair and started to look up and down Michael's frame.
Still wearing the slave-branded clothes, no notable features. What are his secrets?
"You said that you would show an alchemist something that would convince him to let you become an alchemist?"
"Yes, sir, please give me a chance." At this point Michael just wanted to get it over with, so he decided to be more agreeable.
"Ok then, I will give you one chance to concoct a pill. If the results are good enough to become an alchemist, I will use my power to try my best to get you an alchemist's badge, even though you skipped part of the test. Is that fine with you?"
Michael simply nodded.
"Good, then tell me the ingredients you will need to concoct your pill, and tell me the pill name."
"Sir, please just give me ingredients of your choice; I will then concoct a pill." Michael didn't want to choose the pill to avoid choosing something too easy or too complex, as he didn't know the requirements to become an alchemist.
Meanwhile, Xidu Cheng was left astonished by Michael's confidence. Then let's see if he is really a genius.
"As you wish."
Xidu Cheng went towards his private stock of ingredients and pulled out all ingredients needed for a Qi sense pill, the same pill Qiu Zhengyi had concocted during the exam, before laying them out before Michael.
"Please use these ingredients to concoct a pill. One tier one, medium-purity pill will be sufficient for you to become an alchemist," he said, smiling. I wonder if he knows the recipe.
He quickly searched Michael's expression, searching for any reaction, and indeed he found some signs of confusion on Michael's face. So he doesn't know...
"We will head towards a concoction room for you to use one of the alchemist furnaces we have there."
Xidu Cheng stood up, but seeing that Michael didn't move, he became even more certain about his suspicion.
"Just as a hint. The pill you are supposed to concoct with these ingredients is the Qi sense pill," Xidu Cheng said, smiling sympathetically. Maybe he isn't some otherworldly genius, but he is definitely still a talent worth nurturing.
Although Xidu Cheng was somewhat disappointed, he wouldn't fault Michael for putting unrealistic expectations on him.
"Oh, a Qi-sense pill? Interesting," Michael said, somewhat surprised.
Xidu Cheng's smile brightened. As he thought more about the whole situation, he was glad that Michael didn't know the recipe after all. Another genius like Qiu Zhengyi would make him question whether he himself was just a failure to begin with. One Qiu Zhengyi was much more acceptable.
"Do you want a new set of ingredients to concoct a pill, you know?" Xidu Cheng asked, wanting to give Michael another chance, but what Michael said next made him question whether Michael was really capable of concocting anything.
"No, these will be fine," Michael simply said. "Oh, and there is no need to head to a concoction room; I will just do it here."
"What?!"
"No need for new ingredients; just let me make a pill," Michael said.
Xidu Cheng really wanted to scold Michael, but in the end he simply nodded. If Michael wanted to make a fool out of himself, he might let him.
At this moment his whole excitement about Michael's written test had vanished. He even scolded himself for thinking so deeply about the words of a novice. In the end he seemed to be a fraud.
But as his trust was at its lowest, Michael's hands started to move, changing Xidu Cheng's world forever.
Michael simply moved his hand, and the unmoving ingredients started lifting in the air...
*Bang*
Xidu Cheng's door flew open with a bang, and Qiu Zhengyi rushed in with some stacked, glued-together papers in hand just in time to see what was happening in the room right now.
Most of the ingredients flew towards Michael's lifted hand before a sudden heat could be felt in the room. No visible fire, just heat.
Michael's hand quickly closed, and the heat intensified several times. Then he opened it; instead of crushed, unusable ingredients like one would expect, a singular pill had appeared on Michael's palm.
A fragrance of pure medical essence filled the room, which, combined with the comforting heat radiating throughout the room, made both Xidu Cheng and Qiu Zhengyi feel like they were in a cozy cloud, striving along the horizon by the warming summer sun.
Michael, meanwhile, simply put down the pill without any visible strain or surprise. "Is that enough?"
Xidu Cheng, shaking his head to come back to reality, looked at Michael and then at the pill and repeated this process back and forth for some time.
One look was enough to tell that this pill was more than a medium-purity tier 1 pill, so he simply nodded in a daze. In fact, he didn't even know anything about the pill.
He wanted to abandon everything else just to study it right now, but remembering Michael's wishes, he wasted no time. With this one move, Michael's word had become law for Xidu Cheng.
He wasn't a fraud; he wasn't a talent. His papers weren't just an interesting study. Michael had become something not measurable with common sense. Michael had become unfathomable.
"I will immediately speak with alchemist Mao Gong to hand over your alchemy badge right away," he said before running away in excitement. Determined to fulfill Michael's every wish.
Qiu Zhengyi wasn't faring any better herself. She couldn't keep Michael's disqualification out of her head, so she had gone through the garbage during the early morning and put together his entire test. With the results shocking her to the core.
She had stormed to Xidu Cheng's office with her findings but never expected to be rewarded by witnessing a scene akin to a magic show. A magic show that she knew was real and somehow not magic.
A pill concoction without a cauldron or pill furnace was unheard of; she simply couldn't fathom what had just happened.
Right now, she just stared at the pill, standing as close before it as possible. Meanwhile, Michael just stood in place, waiting for Xidu Cheng to come back.
This weird formation lasted for some time, with Qiu Zhengyi asking a question every other minute while needing the in-between time to digest the implications of each answer in a constant daze.
"What pill is this?"
"It calms your mind."
"A calming pill?"
"Well, not quite; it's a worse version of a real calming pill?"
"Worse?" This pill looked more effective than any pill Qiu Zhengyi had ever seen.
"Yeah, I didn't have the right ingredients for a real calming pill."
"How did you make it then?"
"Just improvised."
"Improvised?" Qiu Zhengyi just kept staring, not quite sure how one could improvise making a pill.
"What is the purity?"
"Don't know. Around 95% - 100%."
Qiu Zhengyi didn't ask more but stared even more intensely at the pill. She couldn't identify if Michael was speaking the truth, but she was somehow sure that he did, even if the words that he spoke made her lose her mind.
95% - 100%? A perfect pill?
Every pill above 90% purity was called a perfect pill, but a pill such as that was said to be nearly impossible to concoct. As far as Qiu Zhengyi knew, there has never been a perfect pill within the whole country, and that would be the first one.
She herself had produced a pill of 74% purity, but it was widely known that pill purity, although it mostly depended on the skill of the alchemist, had a hard cap: 85%. Even if the best alchemists in the continent are concocting the most basic pills. No one can achieve over 85% purity. That was a law she never questioned. Not until now...
A pill like she saw before her was simply a dream. A dream of breaking an unbreakable barrier, a dream of witnessing history.
Before Qiu Zhengyi could ask anything about the concoction process, the thing that, even through all the amazing things about the pill itself, was the one single thing she was most perplexed by, the door opened once again, and Xidu Cheng came back.
As soon as he came back, he bowed deeply. "Sorry, Master Michael, Mao Gong didn't accept you as an alchemist. He sent me away without even hearing your impossible feat."
Now it was Michael's turn to be baffled. "Why? What happened?"
"He simply said that your case was already handled and done. Then he told me if I were to show him the pill, he would kick me out for disobeying him. I'm so sorry."
Mao Gong... The father of Mao Ping, or what?
Michael was still in shock but before long simply shook his head. "It's ok, you tried. Then I will leave now." At this point he was done. Mao Gong, who was apparently the father of Mao Ping, would not let him become an alchemist, but there were always other opportunities.
Michael simply turned towards the door and started walking. "Michael, won't you take your pill with you?" Qiu Zhengyi asked.
"You can have it," Michael said casually. "I can't sell it anyways without becoming an alchemist." With that, he closed the door and left.
Xidu Cheng and Qiu Zhengyi, meanwhile, just looked at each other in shock. Michael had just demonstrated a miracle right in front of them, yet he still didn't become an alchemist? And then he simply accepted it, while leaving his miracle behind for them. Just who in the world was he?
"Mater Cheng, we can't let this happen!" Qiu Zhengyi said loudly after some time. "Mao Gong is going too far with this."
"You are right, but what can we do?"
"You know what?" Qiu Zhengyi paused before she continued speaking. "I will confront him. I will show him the pill, and if he still says the same nonsense, I might as well just quit. He is not qualified to lead me in alchemy if he can't even value a superior master like Michael."
...
Meanwhile, the seemingly calm Michael was fuming inside. "Mao Gong? The father of that idiot? My entire plan is ruined just because of some family feud or what?"
"Like I said, just enforce your goals with violence and not through the conventional way. This time though, why didn't you simply show Mao Gong the pill or the same demonstration as Xidu Cheng?"
"He would've found an excuse." Michael shrugged his shoulders. "If someone wants to believe something, he will find infinite excuses. It doesn't matter if there is conclusive evidence; he will just continue to act in his best interests."
With that, Michael headed back home. This world wasn't so different from his home world after all.
...
"You too, Qiu Zhengyi?!" Mao Gong shouted.
"Yes, take at least a look at the pill before judging."
"I won't. Even if you show me a pill now, I won't accept it as his. Now either move on or quit. We don't need alchemists speaking up for outer city rejects found guilty of cheating."
Qiu Zhengyi took out the pill in rage, but Mao Gong didn't even look at it. He simply turned around and walked away.
He had already sent a message across to the higher-ups regarding the ban of the cheater Michael during the last alchemist promotion test; even if Michael had really produced a pill of sufficient quality, Mao Gong would no longer accept it.
His own reputation was more important than some random outer-city alchemist, and admitting to a mistake during the recruitment of new alchemists was something he would not allow. In fact, the better the pill, the more he needed to get rid of Michael.
"Sure, I will leave then! I always knew you were a power-hungry, passionless person, but I never imagined you would even disrespect alchemy to this degree." Qiu Zhengyi simply said before storming out. Like father, like son.
Mao Gong wanted to turn around and apprehend the disrespectful girl, but after some considerations, he shouldn't meddle with her unknown background. Risk aversion was important to maintain his standing. As for the loss of Qiu Zhengyi? Mao Gong didn't care; she would need to come back to the Alchemy Association sooner or later. Where else would she learn more?
Xidu Cheng, seeing Qiu Zhengyi leave just like that, was conflicted himself and chased after her. "Hey, Zhengyi, where are you going? What are you going to do now?"
"Me?" Qiu Zhengyi turned to Xidu Cheng and smiled. "Isn't it obvious I will..."
...
Meanwhile, Michael arrived back home somewhat disappointed. His entire plan to sell pills and use Lan Rudong as a harvesting machine was falling apart. Yes, he didn't need money now, but if he wanted to travel the world and not rob people, he would need a safe source of income.
He wanted to enjoy his life after all, and the ability to afford anything he wanted to was among the things that would make him happy.
Michael opened the door to the small wooden house of Kaishi and Tianfu that was getting even more cramped. Now that Lan Shi and the girl from Lan Rudong's house, namely Y, were occupying it, he had slept on the table last night.
Now though, what greeted him confused him greatly.
Kaishi and Tianfu were both kneeling on the ground, and as soon as Michael came in, they kowtowed.
"What's going on?" Michael said, confused.
"Michael, no, Master Michael. Please accept us as your disciples, servants, or whatever it takes. We beg you, please teach us how to become strong enough to protect ourselves," the siblings said in unison.
"What?" Michael asked in surprise. "First get up and stop kneeling."
"No, please don't reject us," Tianfu said with some fear in her voice. "We know that we are deeply indebted to you, but please let us become your servants to pay you back, and let us do whatever you need from us."
"What are you talking about? I won't let you become my servants. You don't need to beg me for anything. You are not indebted to me. You want to become cultivators or what?"
"Yes please, please become our master," Kaishi answered.
At this Michael thought for a few seconds before speaking.
"You know, I won't stay here forever; I will travel the world."
"Please let us come with you." Both of them said together.
Michael sighed. Originally he wanted to give them money and protection through the pill sales and another charm and then leave them alone to let them live happily together, far away from the deathtrap that was the outer city. But it seemed like they wanted something else: "If that is what you really want, then..."
*Knock, Knock, Knock*
Suddenly a knocking sound came from the door Michael had just entered, interrupting Michael's words.
He reached behind him and opened the door just to see two more people kneeling in front of him.
Right now, behind him, Kaishi and Tianfu were still kowtowing, while in front of him Qiu Zhengyi and Xidu Cheng were on their knees.
"Alchemist Master Michael, please accept me as your alchemy disciple," Qiu Zhengyi and Xidu Cheng asked in unison.
Between the pairs of kneeling people, Michael was simply thinking about his past decisions. "Is this situation my fault? Did I overdo it?"
"I guess," Iris answered, also sounding unsure. "It seems like even though we are in a cultivation world, the people don't really know too much about it."
Michael just sighed. "Well, I guess it can't be helped."
He turned to Qiu Zhengyi and Xidu Cheng and was about to speak before a sudden shrill scream came from inside, startling everyone around. Especially the poor Y, who had been timidly listening to the worship these people had for the person she had called a liar to defend Lan Rudong.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!"
Lan Shi had woken up.