Chapter 10 Punishing the Villain

The person who arrived was known to Long Chen, and not only Long Chen, but few in the Imperial Capital did not know him. He was the president of the Alchemist Association—Master Yunqi. "Master President, this kid suddenly came to cause trouble, I will chase him away right now," the old man said hastily upon seeing Master Yunqi. Long Chen's eyes shifted, pretending to be grateful, and said, "You are Master Yunqi? That's great! Long Chen is grateful for your life-saving grace." Originally, Yunqi's expression was displeased, but upon hearing Long Chen's words, he was taken aback and could not help but ask, "Child, are you mistaking the person?" "Mistaking? No way, absolutely not," Long Chen shook his head, pointing at the old man, "My mother spent over a hundred thousand gold coins through this master to buy a Tiger Bone Pill from you, which healed my injuries. I am truly grateful!" Upon hearing this, the old man's face changed drastically, and Yunqi's expression turned cold as he looked at the old man and said, "Guan Cheng, what is going on here?" "Master President, don't listen to his nonsense..." Guan Cheng hurriedly explained. "Oh? Why aren't you admitting it? The people from our Alchemist Association are truly noble and do good deeds without leaving their names. However, you sold my mother a defective Tiger Bone Pill, which is an undeniable fact," Long Chen sneered. Although Guan Cheng kept signaling him with his eyes, Long Chen pretended not to see. Old man, do you think my Long family's money is that easy to swindle? Guan Cheng was an old member of the Alchemist Association, originally a disciple of Master Yunqi, but he had no talent for alchemy. However, he worked diligently by Master Yunqi's side for decades, and out of pity, Master Yunqi gave him a position as a steward in the Alchemist Association to help manage some miscellaneous tasks. Sometimes, the useless pills he made would be handed to Guan Cheng to deal with. The normal process was that these useless pills would have their useful parts excavated and mixed with some medicinal liquid; the useless pills would not be sold to the outside. This relates to professional ethics; if it were to be spread that Master Yunqi actually sold useless pills, it would become a laughingstock among his peers. Master Yunqi sighed and looked at Guan Cheng, saying, "You’ve been with me for decades, you know my temper. Go on, never come back again." Guan Cheng's old face turned pale, and a trace of unwillingness flashed in his eyes: "Master..." "Go," Yunqi waved his hand lightly, saying indifferently. Guan Cheng almost collapsed on the ground. Yunqi's one sentence was equivalent to expelling him from the Alchemist Association. An originally high-ranking steward suddenly became nothing, as if he aged more than ten years in an instant. "Hey, I say, don’t pretend anymore. You’ve been swindling out there for so many years, making black-hearted money that you couldn’t spend even if you died. Why act like a pitiful worm?" Long Chen said disdainfully. This old man, as a steward of the Alchemist Association, had been very close to some princes. He didn’t know how many benefits he had reaped over the years. Looking at his face, Long Chen felt a wave of disgust. Guan Cheng's face turned angry, a trace of resentment flashing in his eyes, but he said nothing, lowering his head and slowly leaving. Watching Guan Cheng disappear, Master Yunqi shook his head and said to Long Chen, "Young man, thank you. Otherwise, the old man would still be kept in the dark." "Hehe, this old man swindled our family into bankruptcy. I did it on purpose as revenge; no need to be polite with me," Long Chen smiled. Master Yunqi was somewhat surprised, saying, "Hehe, this kid is straightforward, not like a cunning and treacherous person. Not bad." "Hehe, how could this little thought of mine hide from the elder? Since it can't be hidden, I might as well act like a good person," Long Chen shrugged and smiled. Master Yunqi couldn't help but chuckle. For many years, everyone had treated him with utmost respect, and it was the first time someone spoke to him like this, which felt very interesting. "Kid, you didn't come to my Alchemist Association just to report a case, right?" "Of course not, I'm here to assess the alchemists," Long Chen replied, stretching out his right hand. Whoosh! A small flame sprang up to his fingertip. To leave a deep impression on the master, Long Chen slightly moved his finger, and the flame danced up and down on his fingertip like a playful monkey. "Good control." Seeing the flame, Yunqi nodded slightly. At this age, being able to condense Dan Fire was already quite good, but Long Chen's subsequent actions caused him to be slightly moved. The control over the power of flames mainly comes from the strength of the soul power. Long Chen's flexible use of this method indicated that his soul power was significantly stronger than that of ordinary people. However, what he didn’t know was that Long Chen was hiding his true abilities. If he were to display the ancient secret technique from his memories, who knows if it would scare this master in front of him. "Very good, your soul power is indeed stronger than ordinary people. You are a promising candidate for alchemy," Yunqi nodded. Upon hearing this, a stone in Long Chen's heart fell. It was better to keep his strength reserved as much as possible. "Come on, I’ll take you to test it out," Master Yunqi said, leading Long Chen away. Looking at the two departing figures, the people in the hall who were refining medicinal materials with Dan Fire were dumbfounded. "What the heck, no need for an assessment, just directly went to the test?" "How could this be? He can't be a relative of Master Yunqi, right?" "What relative? That kid is just the well-known waste Long Chen from the Imperial Capital, isn't he?" The dozen or so people in the hall had come to assess the alchemists today, but according to the rules, they needed to purify a herbal medicine first, and only after meeting the standards could they proceed to the next test. However, Long Chen directly skipped this procedure, which left them furious, but helpless. Here was the Alchemist Association, a supreme place, and no one dared to let out a fart; they could only swallow their frustrations. In a basement of the Alchemist Association, Master Yunqi pointed to a crystal in front: "Unleash your flame." Long Chen nodded, extending a finger, and the flame condensed at his fingertip, slowly touching the crystal. On the crystal, several patterns appeared in succession. Master Yunqi said lightly, "The Dan Fire is of the yellow level, lower grade. It barely qualifies." Dan Fire is divided into four levels: heaven, earth, mysterious, and yellow, with each level having top, middle, and lower grades. Long Chen's Dan Fire was self-condensed, neither beast fire nor heavenly fire, so it was very normal for it to be of the lower yellow grade. After that, he took Long Chen to a pool in front. The pool was only half a foot deep, and the bottom was filled with hundreds of crystal-clear beads. "Channel your soul power and see if you can make the beads float to the surface." The pool in front was not a real pool; the water was called True Soul Mercury. When Long Chen carefully touched the water, he found that it instantly magnified his soul power tenfold. Long Chen felt much more at ease. Currently, his soul power still couldn't achieve telekinesis, so it seemed he had overthought it. As the soul power circulated, several beads slowly floated to the surface under its influence. However, Long Chen suddenly noticed Master Yunqi staring in shock at those beads. Oh no, I’m going to be exposed. Long Chen hurriedly released his soul power, channeling his spiritual energy to make his face go pale and appear as if he was about to collapse, creating a false impression of soul power exhaustion. "Master... Am I considered qualified?" Long Chen asked, panting a bit. "Mysterious level, it's actually mysterious level," Master Yunqi murmured, seemingly oblivious to Long Chen's performance. After a while, Yunqi finally noticed Long Chen had already collapsed on the ground. Long Chen's acting skills were absolutely at the level of a leading actor. Not only did his face turn as pale as paper, but even his eyes were somewhat vacant, showing signs of excessive exhaustion. "Very good, your soul power is indeed extraordinarily strong. You are a talent worth cultivating; we’ve stumbled upon a good seed this time," Yunqi smiled slightly. Long Chen's eyes brightened upon hearing this: "Master Yunqi, I really want to learn alchemy. I wonder if I can become your registered disciple?" Yunqi shook his head and said, "I dare not accept you. Just focus on your practice; I will give you an opportunity in the future, an opportunity to step into the pinnacle of alchemy." Seeing Yunqi refuse, Long Chen awkwardly smiled: "I mainly want a title. That way, when I go out, no one will dare to bully me, right?" Yunqi was taken aback and then laughed heartily. Long Chen's straightforward personality made him both amused and exasperated. For many years, he had never encountered such an interesting youth. However, Long Chen's extraordinary soul power made him very optimistic about Long Chen. "Don’t worry, I will give you an alchemist badge shortly. Who would dare to bully you?" Yunqi laughed. Long Chen couldn't help but be overjoyed. Generally, to enter the Alchemist Association, one had to first assess their alchemist qualifications. After completing the assessment, they would have to wait a year before they could take the alchemist qualification test. Alchemists were merely entry-level; that had made countless people envious, but alchemists were formal alchemy cultivators. "With your current Dan Fire and soul power, refining alchemy may still be a bit difficult, but within a year, you will definitely be able to refine alchemy properly. I’m just granting you this early, it’s not a violation," Yunqi laughed. Long Chen felt grateful. Although he could look down on anyone concerning alchemical skills, he had to admit that Yunqi was a respected elder. Master Yunqi personally made a badge for Long Chen and also gifted him an alchemical cauldron and a set of alchemical robes. The materials for the alchemical robes were extremely luxurious, with a Dan Star pattern woven on the chest, which was the symbol of an alchemist. The cauldron was crafted from Li Copper and Red Gold, with refined materials and a more reasonable design. It was far superior to what Long Chen had bought before. Besides those two items, what surprised Long Chen was that Master Yunqi also gifted him a space ring. It was a very magical ring. As long as he inputted soul power, he could open the space inside and store items at will. That was a luxurious item worth hundreds of thousands of gold coins, something Long Chen had never dared to think of before. Upon inputting soul power into the ring, he discovered that there was a space about a foot square inside, leaving Long Chen extremely grateful. Master Yunqi informed Long Chen that with the badge, Long Chen could purchase medicinal materials at the Alchemist Association at half price and could also freely study all the predecessors' alchemical insights. Long Chen suddenly felt like a country chicken that had jumped onto a branch to become a phoenix. He bought a large batch of Fengfu Dan medicinal materials and some other herbs at the Alchemist Association. When Long Chen stepped out of the Alchemist Association, he felt as if he had become a different person in and out. He went in worthless and came out worth millions, with his back straightened, able to look down on others with his nose. Long Chen returned home with a full harvest. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Bao'er waiting at the entrance. Upon seeing Long Chen, she directly grabbed him and walked toward the lady's room. As soon as they entered, Long Chen was stunned, his heart racing uncontrollably.