Alchemy Boy

"Tie Rong and I have already reached an agreement. Jiang Feng will still be staying in his old doghouse. You all remember what I told you to do, right?"

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In the apprentice courtyard, Xue Zhao gathered the apprentices before him. He stood with his hands behind his back, his voice low and vicious.

The apprentices immediately scrambled to proclaim their loyalty. Their faces were eager with anticipation, and cruel light gleamed in their eyes.

"Steward Xue, don't worry. We all remember! As long as he dares close his eyes tonight, we'll make sure he regrets it!"

"Exactly! We've been fed up with that brat for ages. This is the perfect chance to let off some steam!"

When people banded together to do something wicked, they always seemed to find an extra burst of enthusiasm.

The apprentices had long been seething with resentment over Jiang Feng's escape from the Slave Registry and his successful rise from the ashes. Every one of them wanted to drag him down from his high perch and grind him underfoot.

If they couldn't have a good life, then Jiang Feng could forget about having one, too.

"But, Steward Xue..."

Someone suddenly lowered his voice and cautiously interjected.

"What if one of us lets the secret slip? If that brat Jiang Feng gets wind of it and prepares in advance, the few of us might not be able to take him down..."

"A traitor?"

Xue Zhao knitted his brows. His cold gaze swept past the others and landed squarely on the smallest figure in the crowd. He curled his lips into a fake smile.

"Zhao Sen, you wouldn't go blabbing about this, would you? Jiang Feng might have the ability to get out of this place. You don't."

Under Xue Zhao's stare, Zhao Sen shuddered all over, his face turning several shades paler. He had indeed considered warning Jiang Feng, but now all he could do was shake his head frantically, not daring to utter a single word.

Xue Zhao nodded in satisfaction, then withdrew his gaze and surveyed the others. His tone held a reassuring confidence.

"As for whether you can beat him, don't worry about it. I've brought over a few experts from the Guard Hall to join tonight's operation. They'll make sure nothing goes wrong.

"Go ahead and do whatever you like tonight. As long as no one dies, there won't be a problem."

With Xue Zhao's assurance to back them up, the apprentices had no more misgivings. They rubbed their hands together, their ruthless eagerness quietly fermenting in the night, waiting for darkness to fall.

At noon, the sun blazed overhead, its bright light filling the courtyard of the Alchemy Hall.

Xie Shu stepped into Song Huai's courtyard again. From far away, he could already hear his old friend's familiar curses coming from the alchemy room.

"Are you all a bunch of stupid pigs? You can't even handle one little task I gave you! You'd be better off dead. You're just wasting food by staying alive!"

Xie Shu entered the alchemy room with a smile. At a glance, he spotted the white-haired old man jabbing a finger at two burly guards and berating them.

The two guards hunched their shoulders, looking aggrieved, but didn't dare breathe too loudly.

"Alchemist Song, why are you so angry? Helpers need time to train. No one's born knowing how to do this sort of work. It's only natural for mistakes to happen."

Xie Shu smiled as he tried to smooth things over.

Song Huai whipped around. When he saw Xie Shu, his anger didn't subside; it flared even higher. He didn't even spare the Medicine Hall's shopkeeper any courtesy, launching straight into a tirade.

"You've got some nerve, Xie!

"You were the one who sent Jiang Feng to me in the first place. I'd finally gotten used to having him around, and then you went and did what? You transferred him to collect herbs!"

He grew more agitated with every word, his face flushed red. He was clearly furious.

"No one could be more useless than you! I'd love to crack open your skull and see if it's full of nothing but shit!"

Xie Shu could only offer an awkward smile as he endured the scolding without a word. He was indeed in the wrong, so he stood there and took the full force of the old man's abuse.

After letting off steam, Song Huai waved the two assistants out of the room. Then, still fuming, he glared at Xie Shu and asked irritably,

"Shopkeeper Xie, what brings you here at a time like this? Don't tell me you came all this way just to get yelled at."

With a bitter smile, Xie Shu briefly explained the message from the Wu Family.

Song Huai didn't mince words. He laid down his bottom line, his tone hard and utterly inflexible.

"Five Blood-Qi Pills per batch, four batches a day. That's the absolute most I can promise you.

"If I make any more, I won't be able to keep the quality steady. The herbs will be wasted at a much higher rate, and I'd be lucky to get one or two pills from a batch."

He paused, then added,

"The other alchemists in the Alchemy Hall can only produce less than me, not more. Even so, we'll still fall short of the Wu Family's quota.

"I suggest you spend a fortune hiring Alchemists from outside. Otherwise, if this task can't be done, it can't be done."

Xie Shu nodded with a troubled expression, his voice full of weariness and helplessness.

"We have no other choice. But the Alchemists in Black Water Town have already been snapped up by the other Medicine Halls. Finding new ones on short notice won't be easy."

Song Huai hitched up his robe and plopped down on the cushion in front of the pill furnace. His tone was indifferent, as though the matter had nothing to do with him.

"That's for you, Shopkeeper Xie, to figure out.

"You can't expect me, an Alchemist, to go out and recruit people for you, can you? Am I supposed to stop refining pills?"

Xie Shu smiled and changed the subject.

"Alchemist Song, the Second Young Master's Barrier-Breaking Pill should be nearly ready by now, shouldn't it?"

Song Huai glanced at him and gave a cold snort, his tone tinged with displeasure.

"Shopkeeper Xie, you think far too highly of me.

"Although the Barrier-Breaking Pill is meant for Martial Apprentices in the Blood-Moving Realm, it's still a genuine second-grade pill. It's dozens of times harder to refine than a Blood-Qi Pill, and the process is extremely complicated. How could it be finished in just a day or two?

"I've spent the past two days purifying the auxiliary ingredients. If those two idiots hadn't mixed up the proportions just now, I could have prepared all the ingredients today and started refining tomorrow.

"But now, they've forced me to put it off by an entire day. How could I not lose my temper when I have to deal with a bunch of idiots who are always getting in my way?"

As he spoke, the anger Song Huai had managed to suppress began to rise again. He stared at Xie Shu, then abruptly changed tack and asked bluntly,

"What about Jiang Feng? Hasn't he come back yet? Does it really take that long to go out and collect herbs?"

Xie Shu's expression stiffened. He gave a dry cough, then answered with some embarrassment,

"Jiang Feng... came back yesterday. But he passed the Guard Hall's assessment, and he's now a guard for the Medicine Hall."

Before the words had left his mouth, Song Huai sprang to his feet and pointed at Xie Shu's nose, his voice rising sharply.

"You've got no sense of honor at all, do you, Xie?

"You promised you'd give him back to me when he returned, and then you went and sent him to the Guard Hall?

"Are you deliberately trying to make things difficult for me?

"Transfer those two stupid pigs out of my courtyard right now and bring Jiang Feng back! Otherwise, don't expect me to lift another finger to help you with the Wu Family's business!"

Xie Shu was taken aback by his reaction. He had never imagined Song Huai would be willing to trade two guards for Jiang Feng.

He remembered it clearly: when he had first brought Jiang Feng over, the old man had been thoroughly unimpressed and refused to keep him at all costs.

What had Jiang Feng done to turn the notoriously stubborn old man's attitude around so completely?

"Alchemist Song, please don't get upset."

Xie Shu hurried to placate him with a smile, his tone especially gentle.

"I came here precisely to ask what you thought. Jiang Feng himself is eager to join the Alchemy Hall. Would you be willing to take him on as an Alchemy Boy?"