The Origins of the Formless, an S-rank Alchemy Item (Part 1)

Li Ming stared at Su Bai as though he were a pervert. After a long while, he said:

"I'm not worried about you getting killed. I'm worried about you getting killed while wearing women's clothes. For the first, I'd shed a few crocodile tears, like a cat mourning a mouse. For the second, you'd fucking ruin the good name I've built up all my life. If people found out the Suzhou Grave Keepers had a cross-dressing big shot like you, how could I ever show my face in the jianghu again?"

Su Bai spread his hands helplessly.

"What else could I do? I was desperate too! There's a billion-dollar bounty on my head. Now everyone I see looks like they want to stick a knife in me. The best thing I could think of was to put on a skirt and slap some powder on my face."

"You little punk, you've really got no prospects."

"Prospects won't put food on the table. Being alive beats being dead!"

Li Ming was so exasperated that he laughed. "If you're so afraid of dying, how did you dare drag those two silly girls into the fight yesterday?"

Su Bai rolled his eyes. "You already know they're silly girls, so why ask me? Qingxue was easy enough to fool, but Chu Ning's as stubborn as a mule. Could I have stopped her?"

After a moment of silence, Su Bai softened his tone and continued:

"At the time, I thought, since I couldn't stop her, I'd just have to grit my teeth and charge in. If I died, I died. That was better than selling out a teammate. Besides, she'd saved me so many times, and she has such a great figure, and her legs are... ahem. I mean, she's a good girl. A good girl."

Li Ming snorted, shook his head, and tossed a document envelope onto the table. "Remember getting that S-rank evaluation last time? There are three rewards for it. One of them lets you make a request to headquarters. I've drafted an application for you. Take a look and see if there's anything wrong with it. If there is, don't ask about it. Just sign."

Su Bai was struck speechless.

There was so much to complain about that he didn't know where to start.

He opened the envelope. Inside were eighteen full sheets of A4 paper, densely covered in writing.

Of the eighteen pages, seventeen were written in Su Bai's voice, sucking up to the higher-ups. Line after line said things like, "Thank you for your hard work, leader," "Leader, come visit Suzhou when you have time, and I'll make sure you get the full package, start to finish," and "Whatever you need, leader, just give the order. I, Su Bai, will work like an ox or a horse for you and die ten thousand deaths without complaint." It read like some lovestruck creep desperately licking the boots of the goddess he was chasing. Su Bai's scalp went numb as he read.

After seventeen pages of flattery, the last page used three brief sentences to ask headquarters for permission to use the Formless.

This wasn't just selling his dignity cheap. It was grinding his own face into the dirt. No wonder Li Ming had told him not to ask about any problems.

"The Formless?"

Su Bai frowned slightly. After hesitating for a while, he signed his name, put the papers back in the envelope, and handed it to Li Ming. Looking up, he asked, "What does this thing do?"

He didn't mind the flattery being written in his name. After all, face was the cheapest thing in the world. What concerned him more was what the Formless actually did, if Li Ming was willing to humble himself so much to apply for it.

Li Ming put the envelope away. "Before I answer that, let me ask you a little question. Do you know anything about the origins of alchemy in Great Xia?"

Su Bai nodded slowly. "During my three days off, I briefly looked through some books on the Transcendent field. I gained some understanding of all three major Transcendent systems."

By "briefly looked through some books," he meant exactly 328 books, covering, among other things, everything Great Xia knew about the Transcendent systems.

By "gained some understanding of all three," he meant that he had not only committed every word in those books to memory, but had also brought the three systems together and organized them in detail.

The benefit and drawback of hyperthymesia were one and the same: you could never forget any scene you had ever seen. Your memory was like a camera that could never run out of storage, with every detail of every past image visible as clear as day.

The concept of Transcendent Alchemy was simple too.

After any Transcendent creature died, its bones, hair, and flesh, all nourished by its bloodline, possessed certain Transcendent properties. The higher the original owner's bloodline rank, the greater those properties were. With a little refinement, they could be crafted into many wondrous items and weapons.

For example, the bone sword Chu Ning had given Su Bai had been made from a rib taken from a gigantic fourth-rank Transcendent creature. Because the creature's Oracle had a "burning" effect, the bone sword refined from its rib carried a certain "burning" property.

Another example was the red-backed spider Li Ming had beaten to death. Its Oracle was Dustless, and Dustless's sole property was "boiling."

Its eight legs could be stripped of their impurities, leaving their essence to be crafted into bone swords, bone sabers, bullets, firearms, and so on, all with the "boiling" property.

Transcendent Alchemy was a simple but highly practical discipline.

Of course, Su Bai would never show off his knowledge in front of Li Ming. Keeping a low profile as a person and an even lower one in his actions was in keeping with his customary caution and composure.

Li Ming nodded and said softly:

"Five months ago, a third-rank Transcendent creature called 'Thanatos' launched a surprise attack on the alchemy division under the Tomb Sweepers' headquarters. It killed many researchers working in the field of alchemy, and even killed two third-rank Transcendents stationed to guard the Tomb Sweepers' headquarters.

"The Tomb Sweepers and the Grave Keepers are brother organizations. We've always stood together against our enemies, and two of our own brothers also fell to Thanatos. We had to avenge them, so our headquarters ordered the captains of the Grave Keeper squads stationed in each city to gather in Tianjing immediately.

"I left as soon as I received the order, but I'd only just boarded the plane when I got a call from Section Seven. That was when I learned Thanatos had already escaped Tianjing and was heading toward Suzhou. My orders were to intercept Thanatos at all costs and wait for reinforcements. We were to hold it for five hours."

Hearing this, Su Bai felt wild waves surge in his heart.

Although the Tomb Sweepers were not particularly strong in combat, their contributions to Great Xia were of epic proportions. Their organization was no less important than the Grave Keepers.

Yet Thanatos had dared to attack the Tomb Sweepers' headquarters?

And the thing had actually managed to pull off the surprise attack, killing two third-rank Grave Keepers in succession?

Across the whole world, the highest bloodline rank Transcendents could currently reach was the third rank. The number of third-rank Transcendents in all of Great Xia could be counted on ten fingers.

Thanatos's fighting power and nerve were truly terrifying.

Yet Section Seven had sent Li Ming and the Suzhou Grave Keeper squad to intercept such a terrifying Transcendent creature? Wasn't that obviously sending them to their deaths?!

Su Bai ventured, "Captain Li, did you go?"

"We did." Li Ming let out a long breath and smiled. "Section Seven's intelligence was spot-on. We managed to intercept Thanatos along its escape route. Then... Old Gu and I had one hell of a fight with the thing. We fought for three whole hours."

Unable to contain his curiosity, Su Bai pressed, "Did you win?"

"No." Li Ming waved a hand and said:

"But we didn't lose either.

"Old Gu went down first. That bastard had dozens of broken ribs and lay on the ground like a fish hauled ashore, his mouth opening and closing as he spat up bloody froth. He looked like he was about to die, and I bawled my eyes out. It's embarrassing to say, but I was well into my thirties, with snot and tears streaming down my face like a little kid's.

"After Old Gu went down, I had to take up my saber and go at it alone. I fought Thanatos again, and seven or eight hours had passed, but there was still no sign of the reinforcements from headquarters. I was furious, but by then my eyes were red with killing. How could I care about any of that? All I remember was swinging my saber, swinging it, and swinging it again.

"In that battle, every bone in my body was broken, and a huge hole was punched in my belly. My guts came spilling out like toothpaste being squeezed from a tube. I don't know where I found the will, but I somehow held on. Unfortunately... in the end, I still let Thanatos get away."