Story 9 - Nothing Bad Ever Happens at the Alchemy Convention (13)

Story 9 - Nothing Bad Ever Happens at the Alchemy Convention (13)

“I don’t think Pill Saint Five Leaves Medicine will appreciate his long sought-after solution not getting a lecture in the main hall as it deserves. So, I’ll keep my original time slot.”

Ah, Violet pulled out her own Pill Saint. It was super effective. Lina froze for a whole second as if downloading information to her brain. “You mean the times you were supposed to get and not the mistake?”

Violet nodded.

Lina blinked. “As long as Pill Saint Five Leaves Medicine agrees to take responsibility for the Azure Pill Saint’s anger...”

“Do you think that Five Leaves Medicine is worse than the Azure Pill Saint?” Violet crossed her arms.

Lina showed her professional smile. “The Association has the highest respect for those masters who have reached the level of a Pill Saint. But since we’re allowing Alchemist Violet Pill to accept her original time slot, the Association will extend the same offer to Alchemist Lin.” Lina then turned to me. “Will you take the compensation or keep your original time slot?”

Well, my backing wasn’t weak either. It was only right for them to offer the same deal to me if they didn’t want to piss off the Indomitable Will sect. Actually, if I considered this situation diplomatically, I could tell that the Association was trying to not upset anyone too much. They were likely after an ending that all parties could agree on, even if neither party was particularly happy. Which showed that I shouldn’t have trusted them to not have their own agenda. Fuck.

As I considered my options, my eyes wandered over to Little Spring. Hadn’t he found something weird before all this shit went down? Actually, where was my cute junior, Enduring Flame, and his new Pill Saint friend?

It had been at least an hour since they left. They should have returned by now. Whatever. It wasn’t like they couldn’t have decided to go exchange notes or do some other thing. But their obvious absence reminded me of those Xianxia where the main character’s minor actions caused a major catastrophe.

Fuck. There was only one option. But first, there was something I had to do.

I clasped my hands behind my back and acted like the immortal master I was. “Before I answer you, I need to address Blazing Lion and Noxious Fangstrike.”

Those two looked at me so fucking smugly.

“Your logic is flawed and overly biased. Anyone who agrees with you should have their heads checked.”

They glared at me, along with one or two others. But a lot of the crowd appeared to agree with me.

I didn’t stop. “The insults you spoke toward my master have not gone unnoticed. You should not assume that the Indomitable Will sect is amused.” It was downright stupid to insult an Immortal like that even if they were subtle about it. Especially one from my sect. Frankly, after what they said, if our sects ended up meeting during an inter-sect tournament, mine would do its utmost to obliterate theirs. “Overall, I rate your judging abilities as one out of ten.”

Considering their furious faces, it was safe to say I had new mortal enemies. And I regretted nothing. Muahahaha!

Next, I turned to Lina. “I understand the position the Association is in. It must have been a difficult decision for them to make since — obviously — my lecture would not be inferior to the Azure Pill Saint’s.”

A few people in the crowd chuckled. I didn’t know what they thought was funny. I was definitely the superior lecturer here.

“That said, as someone so young, I will have many chances to speak on the Dao of Alchemy at future conventions. It’s only right that I allow such an old Pill Saint to use my time slot. I will accept the Association’s compensation.“

Lina’s professional smile became more real as if she looked at me like I was her favorite person. "Then—”

“Since,” Little Spring cut her off while glancing at her in apology, “Alchemist Violet Pill refused, shouldn’t all 200 high-tier stones go to my sister?”

A vein bulged on Violet’s forehead as she smiled condescendingly at the brat. “Impossible! Those were going to be split between us.”

Lina shook her head. “No, they were part of the compensation. You wanted to deny the Azure Pill Saint’s request, so the Association will not give you those stones... However, since Alchemist Lin has been so gracious, it should be feasible to increase her reward to include Violet Pill’s spirit stone allotment.”

Violet looked like she’d eaten something sour. Muahahaha! Priceless.

“I request all of this be written out officially, and a copy given to me as soon as possible.” Because there was no telling what those two Immortal Bone Creation Experts were getting up to while fucking around and finding outVisit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

Lina bowed. “The Alchemist Association will not forget.” Then she vanished.

Violet walked over to me and crossed her arms. “You’re a fool. Even if you have four lectures in the main hall, they will just stick them at the end of the day, making this gesture pointless.”

I smirked. “By the next convention, I’ll be so famous in the world of alchemy they’ll regret only giving me four time slots. And if they move locations to someplace with more seats, that will more than double the number of spirit stones I could have won here. I’m considering this as a long-term investment.”

I grabbed Little Spring and pulled him off to the side.

::I need you to tell me what you found earlier.::

He looked around as if considering that there might be eavesdroppers.

I rolled my eyes. ::Out with it, already.::

::Well, I saw two people who did not look like alchemists exchange something down a dark alley.::

::There could be many reasons for that. It doesn’t mean something suspicious is going to happen.::

He nodded. ::I knew you’d have that reaction. That’s why I didn’t tell you what it was.::

I wanted to rub my temples. ::You obviously found something large enough to call on our junior.::

::I did! And Senior Ghosty agreed with me.:: He handed me his necklace with the soul gem on it. ::Actually, he should explain it.::

::Senior Lin,:: the Nascent Soul’s old voice spoke in my head. ::We found something.::

He paused. When he didn't continue and I gripped the necklace tighter and waved it back and forth. ::What?::

::Hold on, let me start at the beginning.::

Couldn’t these two just say it already? What was with dragging it out?

::Little Spring followed one of the strange cultivators, but that guy turned out to just be an herb seller. We watched him for a while, thinking that he might do something suspicious, and that’s when I thought spotted someone who shouldn’t be here. A demonic cultivator from my past!::

Oh shit! If they were a demonic cultivator from this old ghost’s past, they must be an ancient and evil powerhouse. Possibly even an Immortal Ascension stage cultivator.

I immediately turned on my heel and faced toward where Four Directions Eagle was making our emergency exit. Fury that they hadn’t told me something so important increased my blood pressure.

Just before I took a step, he continued, ::But I was mistaken. It was just someone who looked like him.::

This motherfucker was doing this on purpose. I lifted the necklace to eye level and glared at Ghosty through the soul gem.

::Just get to the point.:: Was this shitty ghost trying to be the first man to cultivate the Dao of Narrative Tension?

::Well, I needed to mention him because to find out if he was the evil cultivator I recognized we had to follow him.::

::Ghosty..., are you telling me that you took Little Spring, a ten-year-old, to spy on a man who may have been an Immortal Ascension stage demonic cultivator?::

He cleared his throat. ::Ah. Well. He felt like he was only in Foundation Establishment. I also needed to check if it was him or not. This led us down another alley where I was able to see his face clearly. While he did resemble that cultivator, he was not the same person. But, while we were there we smelled the stink of rotten fish.::

::So something smelled... fishy?::

::Exactly! I had to ask Little Spring to investigate why there was a place on this island that stank like that.::

::I imagine that a large amount of fish was caught for the staff to eat?::

::At the alchemy convention?::

I shrugged. ::It’s not like spiritual chefs can’t come here to cook.:: This was getting us nowhere. ::Just tell me what you found before I go check for myself.::

::Well, we discovered a pile of fish rotting on the street as if they’d been discarded there and forgotten. But when we looked inside the storehouse where they likely came from to find out why, we discovered something horrifying.::