"Nothing out of the ordinary..."
After turning away the discipleship applicants along with the group of returning elders, the gates of the Goddess Alchemy Palace closed once more. Though their faces were full of reluctance and fury, they left peaceably enough — it seemed the display of Hui'er's strength had been mistaken for the new standard among the Palace's current disciples.
Combined with how the disciples stationed on the second floor had managed to stop several major factions from brawling without giving them any chance to resist, it only fueled even stranger rumors spreading further than before.
"Senior Sister, wait for me!"
"Little one, if you don't hurry up, the snacks you had your eye on will be gone before you get here."
The disciples, who had worked hard all day, gathered together in the reception hall, every one of them present. Whatever role each had played that day was told and retold with great relish. They sat together around the dining table without any regard for status. For sisters who had weathered hardship together, no one bothered dwelling on position or duty during a moment of rest.
An abundance of food and drink had been ordered in today from a well-known restaurant in the city. Both Bai Fanxian and Luo Qingyan agreed there should be some kind of celebration for the girls, a small reward for all their hard work. Even so, the entire cost of the meal did not come close to matching even a fraction of the profit the Palace had made that day.
The disciples were all laughing and enjoying themselves, but in the corner of the room, Bai Fanxian was running the most meticulous qi examination she could on Hui'er's body. She had already heard the full account of Hui'er's strange behavior that evening from Tang Yeye and Su Lin.
"How strange..."
Bai Fanxian murmured and tilted Hui'er's head gently to one side, and the girl offered no resistance. Hui'er tilted her face up, staring at her lady in confusion.
"Is something wrong with my body?"
From the look on Hui'er's face and the way her eyes shone, it was clear she was not lying.
She genuinely could not remember anything from that moment earlier today!
Tang Yeye hugged her sister anxiously. In the moment Hui'er had struck, both the atmosphere and the feeling she had sensed from her had been utterly different from the Hui'er she knew.
As if she had been someone else entirely...
"..."
Bai Fanxian studied her young disciple's face. She had noticed for a while now that ever since Hui'er arrived in this Myriad Demon World, she occasionally showed strange symptoms, drifting off as though her mind was not fully present. But Bai Fanxian still could not confirm exactly what was causing it. Perhaps it was this dimension.
This city.
...Or maybe it was the Goddess Alchemy Palace itself that was triggering this behavior in Hui'er!
"..."
Bai Fanxian looked, hesitant, at the fire pearl that Hui'er had brought back and kept carefully worn at all times. She seemed on the verge of saying something, but in the end bit her own lip lightly to hold herself back.
No...
The fire pearl showed no reaction at all. She had already confirmed that much herself. Even though part of her wanted to test a few more things, it was probably better not to confuse this child any further.
Hui'er was still Hui'er, whatever the case.
"It's probably just from not getting enough rest... Eat well and sleep more for a while..."
In the end, Bai Fanxian said nothing more. She watched as Tang Yeye dragged Hui'er off toward the dining table the instant she heard her lady's words, the sisters already seated there more than happy to welcome the pair with heaping plates of snacks until Tang Yeye's grin split ear to ear.
Bai Fanxian watched the scene and let out a long sigh. Stories of the past should not burden those who were still here. She turned to Su Lin, who was quietly sipping her fruit juice, and asked.
"Where did Luo Qingyan go?"
"The Empress is receiving a guest in the back garden."
"That Greybeard Alchemist person?"
"Yes. That elder seems to be a friend of the previous Empress."
"Hmm... If he causes any trouble, just send him away."
Bai Fanxian rose and slipped away quietly. If she stayed at a gathering like this, the girls would not be able to enjoy themselves fully out of deference to her. And so she left behind one final remark, utterly unfazed by the Greybeard Alchemist's reputation, leaving Su Lin with nothing to do but manage a strained smile.
Send away the Greybeard Alchemist, a man most factions revered and would have loved to recruit.
Only Lady Bai could ever say something like that!
.
.
.
For all that Bai Fanxian had said, who would have thought the Greybeard Alchemist really was causing trouble for Luo Qingyan at this very moment!
...though only the "mildly troublesome" kind.
"Just tell me! Who really refined that medicine?"
"I already told you, it's medicine passed down from a previous generation..."
"Ho-ho... I don't believe that! I knew your master better than most. If she really had medicine like that stashed away, there's no way she wouldn't have shown it off to me."
"Maybe my master wanted to keep it a secret..."
"Even if she truly wanted it kept secret, you wouldn't have let the Palace nearly collapse before you finally used it."
"...So you already knew about that?"
"..."
"That's one of the two reasons I came back to this city..."
"..."
"Little one... why didn't you come to me for help?"
After a moment of back-and-forth, the mood suddenly settled. The Greybeard Alchemist stroked his long beard and sighed, staring at Luo Qingyan, who could only offer a faint, helpless smile.
"Well, you'd vanished for years. Besides, you shouldn't be dragged into a mess like a sect's power struggle."
"...Heh. Master and disciple, truly cut from the same cloth."
The old man gave a small huff, as if displeased, but Luo Qingyan knew perfectly well he was just as worried about his old friend's Palace as she was.
"You don't need to worry anymore. The Goddess Alchemy Palace is doing just fine now... and it's going to flourish beyond anything you've ever seen."
"...Ho... Because of whoever refined those Grade-6 medicines, I take it."
"..."
"I know you're trying to change the subject. Just tell me already who really refined them. You know how I am — I won't go telling anyone..."
"Whatever are you talking about? I haven't the faintest idea."
Seeing the young woman's stubbornly innocent expression and total refusal to admit anything, the old man scowled. Luo Qingyan laughed softly. Talking with the Greybeard Alchemist felt like sitting with an elder relative. There were very few people in the world she allowed herself to show this side of herself to.
"By the way, what's the other reason you came back to this city?"
To an outsider, a question like that might seem impolite. But the Greybeard Alchemist had just finished prying the truth about the medicine out of her moments ago, so between the two of them, if something truly could not be shared, it would simply get brushed aside — exactly as Luo Qingyan herself had just done.
"Ho-ho... In exchange for telling me who refined that medicine?"
"The tea's gone cold. Would you like some snacks?"
The abrupt change of subject made the old man let out an involuntary grunt from deep in his throat. But even without getting the answer he wanted, he went ahead and told his own story readily enough.
"Sigh... I came back because of King Jongliean."
"..."
"I already know. It's not your fault. His injuries were never anything Grade-5 or even Grade-6 medicine could have healed back then, anyway."
"Not even Grade-6?"
"That's right... They even sent someone all the way to Dawnbreak City to track me down. It seems his condition has gotten quite dire by now."
"..."
Luo Qingyan cupped her own chin, deep in thought. As someone who had once helped examine and prepare medicine to stabilize King Jongliean's condition, even though that role had since been taken over by the Wild Bloom Sect, he should not be deteriorating this quickly, should he?
What exactly was going on...
"Do you think it can be treated?"
"No way! That's exactly why I came looking for whoever can refine those Grade-6 medicines here."
"But didn't you just say..."
"Yes, I said even Grade-6 medicine probably couldn't cure King Jongliean — if it were an ordinary Grade-6, that is..."
"...?"
"Ho-ho. My eyes are still sharp. Among the Grade-6 medicine you sold off today, it wasn't all refined by the same person, was it?"
"I'd guess about four or five of those pills were your own work?"
"...!?"
Luo Qingyan's eyes filled with astonishment. It seemed the name Greybeard Alchemist had not been earned purely out of a love for medicine.
His skill was the genuine article too. Every pill in the world, even ones of the exact same type, carried subtle differences — a kind of hidden signature marking whoever had refined it.
"Some of those pills, I could sense a distinctly unique kind of perfection in them. In this whole life of mine, I never imagined I'd live to see medicine that pure."
The Greybeard Alchemist paused to catch his breath before pulling a sheet of paper from his sleeve.
"Perhaps whoever refined those medicines might be able to decipher this formula I found while passing through Starcloud City..."
"This is..."
Luo Qingyan scanned the text on the ancient sheet of paper. It was unmistakably an alchemy formula, but the ingredients and method described in it were so bizarre that even she could not make sense of them. She tried following along in her head, only to find that the end result, every single time, was nothing but a pointless explosion of the cauldron!
"...A restoration medicine?"
The one thing she could say for certain was that it was probably some kind of restoration medicine formula.
"You can tell too, huh?"
"Do you think this medicine could cure King Jongliean?"
"That depends on whether anyone can actually refine it."
The Greybeard Alchemist's answer left Luo Qingyan silent. The old man studied his old friend's disciple for a moment, then let out a soft sigh.
"Ah, well. Honestly, I don't care all that much either way. The debt I owe him isn't that great to begin with. Just handing over this formula is already more than enough."
"Whether he can find someone to actually refine it afterward isn't my problem... Ho-ho-ho."
The Greybeard Alchemist waved off the whole troublesome matter as if brushing away a burden, and it reminded Luo Qingyan all over again just how unaffiliated with any faction this old man was, and just how much he did as he pleased. It seemed the only reason he had agreed to come back to Moondrift City was to settle an old debt with King Jongliean, nothing more.
Thump thump thump!
Right at that moment, urgent footsteps rang out from outside. It was Mu Xia, who, after being granted permission, pushed the door open, her face pale as a sheet.
"Empress! Something terrible has happened!"
"Calm down first... What happened?"
Luo Qingyan flicked her wrist and let her qi, brimming with the stillness of nature, spread outward to calm Mu Xia down. Once the young woman had steadied herself, she spoke, stammering.
"There are strange rumors spreading through the city because of all the high-grade medicine we released for sale today..."
"..."
"They're saying we hoarded it away for our own benefit — that if we had handed that medicine over to the army before the war even started, the number of wounded and dead would have..."
"Ridiculous!"
Even Luo Qingyan, who had always kept a level head, wore a dark scowl now. Part of why the most recent war had gone so hard on them was that they had had to give away so much medicine, leaving the Palace with barely a single high-grade pill to spare for itself — and had that same shortage not cost the lives of several of her own disciples, tragically?
And they still had the nerve to call them selfish!?
The Greybeard Alchemist could feel the Ancient Sage-level pressure radiating off Luo Qingyan's body as her emotions spiked suddenly, causing the trees and herbs all around them to tremble in response. She fought to rein in the anger inside her, then turned to Mu Xia and said.
"...Don't tell Lady Bai about this yet. It's only a rumor. I don't want her worrying over it."
"Um..."
"...?"
"It seems Lady Bai already knows... Earlier, Senior Sister Su Lin told me she'd gone out walking in the city. I think she must have heard..."
"...!?"