Chapter 234: The Legend of the Alchemy School
For the entirety of his walk back to the Western Point, Bai Yunfei was in a daze. He simply couldn’t believe what had happened to him today.
Was he….really now a disciple to the previous headmaster, Zi Jin? A fellow junior with the current headmaster?
Despite that, elation ran rampant through his head. Him; a disciple of the previous headmaster! Zi Jin was without a doubt a ‘master’ far worthy of being called a master than Kou Changkong. Even if Zi Jin had retreated for a long time, he was still far more knowledgeable than Kou Changkong!
As the headmaster of the school, Kou Changkong would need to spend plenty of time on the management of the school. He also had plenty of disciples so time spent per disciple would be much shorter for teaching purposes.
But Zi Jin was different. He had been in seclusion in the Northern Point and wasn’t involved in the affairs of the school. There wasn’t a need to teach the first disciple, Kou Changkong, the second disciple had no part in this, and the third disciple Jiang Fan was currently abroad and gaining some experience. This left Bai Yunfei as the only one that’d need to be taught the art of crafting!
What Bai Yunfei could learn wasn’t just limited to the art of crafting either. Zi Jin was a Soul King, meaning that he could impart several bits of knowledge on training to Bai Yunfei.
“I have to go to the Northern Point tomorrow….” Bai Yunfei muttered to himself on top of his bed. “I’m a Soul Ancestor now, I wonder what I’ll learn from master? Would I be able to craft earth tier soul armaments now?
“I should prepare myself to learn tomorrow!”
The next morning at the right half of the Northern Point.
A small bamboo forest adorned the landscape here. And within this forest was a simple-looking pavilion. But behind this pavilion was a tremendously large courtyard.
Two people could be seen standing in the courtyard; an elderly man and a young man. It was Bai Yunfei and Zi Jin.
Bai Yunfei had been demonstrating his proficiency with the Secrets of Firebending and the newfound strength he had as a Soul Ancestor for Zi Jin, who nodded in satisfaction. “Very good, Yunfei. You’ve managed to do this well with the Secrets of Firebending in such a short amount of time. That much shows how much you’ve understood the mysteries behind the elemental fire. If you were the average soul cultivator, this level of understanding would require the strength of a mid-stage Soul Ancestor….”
“Master praises me too much….In all honesty, master. There was a….a problem when I became a Soul Sprite. It’s only because of the fireseed spirit mushroom I ate that I’m able to understand the elemental fire a lot better than others….” Bai Yunfei spoke honestly to Zi Jin.
“Oh? A fireseed spirit mushroom? You had such a precious item to help you?” Zi Jin remarked. “Was this given to you by Ge Yiyun of the Fate School?” He questioned.
Bai Yunfei was startled by the question, leaving Zi Jin to smile, “There’s no need for you to be surprised. When you joined our Crafting School, we made sure to look into your background. We know all about your adventures in the Azure Cloud Province. It was a required investigation, so I hope you won’t think too much about it.”
Bai Yunfei knew that there wasn’t a point in being unhappy about this. Just thinking about it, he knew that it was because of Hong Yin’s assistance with the fireseed spirit mushroom that he was able to get over the initial problem. Of course, the only reason why there was a problem to begin with was because of his excessive usage of the Upgrade Technique.
“Ah, so it was Hong Yin who helped you. That makes sense….an item like that is easily findable in the Soulbeast Forest.” Zi Jin nodded his head sagely without pressing the question anymore.
Suddenly realizing something, Bai Yunfei shook his hand so that he took out the spirit mushroom from the two killer brothers.
“Master, your student came across this on my travels, I’m not too familiar with it, however. Perhaps master knows….”
Zi Jin’s eyebrows rose up on his face, “A wind spirit mushroom? Those are exceedingly rare as well. This one, in particular, isn’t the same as the fireseed spirit mushroom you ate, but it’s nearing a thousand years in age at the least. If eaten, this’ll definitely provide a good boost to your training. As a medicinal herb, it has plenty of applications. However, only a soul cultivator with the wind affinity would have the greatest benefits when using it. Any other soul cultivator would only see a limited effect.”
“Eaten? You can eat it?” Bai Yunfei asked.
Zi Jin nodded, “For precious herbs like these, many people eat them directly. There are a few other simplistic ways to compound it. Unfortunately, the once glorious Alchemy School was hurt heavily from the Unifying War two thousand years ago. From there, they faded away into the analects of history. It’s been a thousand years since their last appearance.”
“The Alchemy School? Two thousand years ago?” Bai Yunfei asked, “Unifying War? Is that the one…”
“Correct. It was the war that brought the Tianhun Continent together.” Zi Jin answered Bai Yunfei’s question with a smile. “Over two thousand two hundred years ago, the continent was in chaos. Countries dominated every aspect of the continent, and warlords vying for supremacy lurked every corner. A single person rose to prominence to lead a small kingdom into battle. Even the greatest empire at the time, the Daqin Empire, was completely engulfed by them. In the end, he managed to unify the continent and named it the Tianhun Continent!
“At that time, that man was the strongest. None other could hope to match him, and so he was known to be the strongest man in history!
“This man was the founding empire of the Tianhun Continent, Wu Tianhun!”
Zi Jin paused here to take a breath. “The Alchemy School as the name implied, was a school that specialized in refining all sorts of medicines. Their ability to concoct pills robbed away the world of its special nature and was magical beyond all else. And if made with precious herbs by a skilled alchemist, their effects would multiply many times over! They could make pills for every situation, and some of them were said to be capable of reviving the dead or allow a person to breakthrough a bottleneck with ease!
“Of course, with such an existence, there would be plenty of parties that’d want ties to them. Ultimately, these ties became knots, and knots led to strangulation. The Alchemy School were ruined in the end, and legends say that the last headmaster of the school destroyed all knowledge they had on pillmaking. The remaining students all ingested a sacrificial pill that killed their enemies when they themselves died!
“In the end, only a few remaining students were able to flee from the school. They tried to reform the school in hopes of reforming their past glory, but it was to no use. They faded away from the world of soul cultivators along with their arts….
“There have been several former students that left behind their secrets on the art. And with each appearance, the entire continent would fight amongst each other for it….Five hundred years ago, there was a rumor of a pill that could help one breakthrough to become a Soul Emperor was spread around the continent. This led to several schools getting involved for the pill, including the Soul Refining School, the Wind Lightning School, and the Five Elements schools were involved, resulting in the loss of a Soul King for each party! The other schools in the conflict were hurt as well. Even our Crafting School was pulled into the mess….In the end, the Tianhun School stepped into the affair and stabilized the issue. No one knows where the pill was left to, or even if the pill is real or not….”
Zi Jin stopped here; it seemed as if talking about this subject had left the man with some sorrows. A barely inaudible sigh escaped from his lips before Zi Jin smiled and waited for Bai Yunfei to digest the information.
There was a misty look in Bai Yunfei’s eyes as if he was savoring what Zi Jin had explained to him in his mind.
Never did he think that the wind spirit mushroom he had in his hand would have such a startling ‘history’ tied to it.
What Zi Jin said wasn’t some sort of ‘secret’. But Bai Yunfei hadn’t a good understanding of the world of soul cultivators, so when he heard this story, he was very shocked.
“A powerful man with no equal, unification of the continent….the Alchemy School, pillmaking, and the death of several Soul Kings….” Bai Yunfei thought to himself before finally coming back to his senses. He didn’t know why, but the story Zi Jin just told him had gotten his blood pumping.
Noticing that Bai Yunfei was fully aware now, he smiled, “Well then. The stories and matters of the world of soul cultivators will come to you with time. You should work on getting stronger. When you do, you’ll be able to experience the vastness of the Tianhun Continent. Grow strong, travel, and experience what treasures the world has to offer you…”
Putting away his thoughts, Bai Yunfei spoke in determination, “Yes, master. Your student understands.”
“Good.” Zi Jin nodded. “Then let’s return to the main topic. Since your proficiency with the art of crafting has gotten to this point thus far, let’s have you craft another soul armament and see.”
But when Bai Yunfei didn’t move from his spot, Zi Jin grew curious, “Whats wrong?”
“Er…I….” Bai Yunfei was slightly embarrassed to respond. “Master, my crafting cauldron was destroyed that day….and I’ve no more ingredients left….”
Zi Jin was surprised, but laughed straight afterward, “How did I forget such a thing…”
He shook his hand to summon forth a crafting cauldron from his space ring. As soon as it appeared, Bai Yunfei could see that it was glowing a bright red and violet color.
“This cauldron is known as the ‘Lighting-fire Cauldron’. Your master used this a long time ago, and now, it shall be yours!”