Bronze-Badge Alchemist

Day had not fully broken when Chen Chong and Zhang Yide were already waiting in Pine Roost Hall.

Morning mist shrouded the mountainside, and the stone steps outside the hall were damp. The Hundred Treasures Pavilion's driver arrived on time. As soon as a streak of fish-belly white appeared on the horizon, the rumble of wheels over paving stones drifted up to them.

The two loaded the goods onto the carriage: several wooden crates, not particularly heavy, but their corners were reinforced with iron, and their seals bore the Pine Roost Sect's vermilion stamp. Chen Chong and Zhang Yide climbed aboard as well. The carriage was spacious and held little cargo, so even sitting opposite each other, they did not feel cramped.

Soon, Zhang Yide was regaling him with everything he had seen and heard in Commandery City along the way.

Zhang Yide had grown up in Commandery City. His family owned a shop selling sundries and cloth, and they made a decent living. Apparently, his master, Luo Yu, had once bought things at their shop, and repeated visits had led to an acquaintance.

Later, the shop had fallen on hard times, and Zhang Yide's father had run up a debt. Luo Yu had stepped in to lend a hand.

Zhang Yide had then gone up the mountain and become Luo Yu's disciple. Ostensibly, he was there to learn a craft, but he also helped with miscellaneous chores to repay the kindness.

Zhang Yide's mouth never rested. He went from discussing which bun shop in Commandery City was most generous with its filling to which alley housed the best blacksmith, then moved on to the time he had been caught stealing offerings of fruit at a City God temple fair as a child.

Chen Chong listened, occasionally offering a word