Chapter 57: Chapter 57- Alchemic Formula Disease

On the Alchemy Pavilion Mountain…

Sol paused and sat down on a bench nearby. He was more than just mentally drained at this point. He had been walking for nearly three hours, but he could not find the place where his Master was staying .

He had asked around and found out there was a pavilion designated to the Headmaster of the Alchemy Pavilion on this mountain.

Sol could gather from his Master’s words and the fact that he had a Special Disciple Token for the Alchemy Pavilion, that the ’bastard’ his Master was talking about was the Alchemy Pavilion Headmaster. So, he figured his Master would be there. He also found out that this pavilion was in the Inner Mountain.

However, just as Sol thought it would be easy to find such an important building in the Inner Mountain, he quickly realized the Inner Mountain was huge. The disciple who told him to just head to the Inner Mountain was definitely messing with him.

’Could he not have specified the exact location?’

Sol tried asking around but all the Alchemy Disciples in the Inner Mountain were extremely strange.

They wouldn’t so much as look at him no matter how many times he called out to one. They seem completely oblivious to everything around them.

That type of focus actually scared Sol quite a bit.

But worse, it wasn’t just one Alchemy Disciple who was like this, it was everyone Sol met.

Sol looked up from his bench to watch an Alchemy Disciple rush by in a frantic state. He was muttering under his breath while his eyes were completely bloodshot. His disheveled hair and robes coupled with his current condition made it seem like he hadn’t slept for at least a week!

’Does this have something to do with what Brother Mar-Dule said before?’

As Sol was thinking this, he caught a glimpse of a disciple who wasn’t wearing the Alchemy disciple’s yellow robes.

This person was a young man that was dressed neatly in pure white Daoist robes. Sol also noticed that he wasn’t acting strange like the other Alchemy disciples, though he seems to be in a hurry somewhere.

Finally finding someone normal to talk to, Sol hurriedly got up and rushed towards this person.

“Ah, Senior Brother, wait!”

This young man stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Sol.

His expression was awfully cold, and he seemed annoyed at Sol stopping him.

“I don’t have time to help you, excuse me.”

“Ah, wait, Senior Brother I was just-”

Sol didn’t know when he’d see someone else who can help him, so he was panicking a little. This caused him to grab the person’s shoulder to stop him.

However, the response of this person was that he released a terrifying aura that made Sol’s body freeze. Figuratively and literally.

It felt like his body was just doused in an ice-cold river, Sol’s blood circulation froze, and he could feel something seeping into his bones.

However, not a second after this frigid aura began to invade his body from his hand on the young man’s shoulder, his bloodline energy violently reacted to the foreign energy by erupting with power and expelling.

White steam slowly began emanating from Sol’s arm and he hurriedly withdrew it from this person.

Sol rubbed his arm trying to relieve the numbness he was feeling. At the same time, he looked at this young man with caution.

He was extremely strong.

This young man was still coldly looking down at Sol, but if one look closer one would see a hint of shock in his eyes.

“If you try to stop me again then it won’t just end with that, I’ll imprison you for interrupting an investigation.”

After throwing that out, the young man then turned to leave, but Sol suddenly appeared in front of him.

“You-!”

The young man seeing that Sol actually dared to stop him again after his warning, was about to follow through with his threat. But Sol suddenly bowed his head and apologized.

“Senior my name is Sol; I’d like to apologize for interrupting your investigation. It’s just that I am a new disciple and I’m currently trying to find the Headmaster of the Alchemy Pavilion.”

Sol then took out the jade token that identified him as a specially recruited disciple of the Alchemy Pavilion.

Hearing Sol’s words and seeing the jade token with the name Young-Hwa on it, the young man’s face visibly changed.

“Oh, is that so, then go that way and then take one right and two left. The Headmaster’s Pavilion is the only building in the area, so you won’t miss it. If that is all then goodbye.”

After saying that, the young man went around Sol and hurriedly flee the scene. It seemed like he wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

But Sol was rather dumbfounded at his reaction. In actuality, he thought that if he apologized and mentioned that he was a new disciple who was just seeking help, the young man wouldn’t be so offended. Never did he think the young man would instead have such a drastic change in demeanor after he showed him the jade slip.

Sol glanced down at the jade token in his hand suspiciously before placing it back into his robes.

Before he followed the young man’s directions, Sol whispered.

“Little Zeel, are you okay?”

The frigid aura from the young man before was too terrifying, he wondered if Little Zeel was affected.

“Awoo!”

Little Zeel’s reassuring response quickly came.

“That’s good.”

Sol then began to head towards the Headmaster’s pavilion following the young man’s directions.

Soon enough Sol came upon a pathway that had a bridge leading towards a rather simple three-story pavilion.

Vines and other shrubbery were growing on the building, but instead of having a decrepit feeling, it felt like the building had become a part of the vegetation in the surrounding area.

A peaceful and calm feeling radiated from such a scene.

As Sol walked over the bridge, he glanced over at the small stream underneath.

Sol blink, a little taken aback by what he saw, or rather felt. His footsteps immediately paused.

“This isn’t water, this is Aether Energy, and it’s extremely pure.”

What looked like water flowing beneath the bridge at first glance was actually a liquefied form of Aether.

“Hm?”

It was because of this that Sol began looking around the area more closely and he found that the shrubbery and vegetation in the surroundings weren’t normal either. They were radiating extremely pure Aether Energy, meaning these vegetations were medicinal plants and ones of the highest quality no less.

Sol sucked in a cold breath of air and his mind buzzed at the sight. His Master never explained Alchemy to him, but he had read a few books on the subject. Even though they were extremely outdated and probably useless in this Era, he still understood that Alchemy was a costly profession.

The price of the materials one needed to concoct pills and elixirs was astronomical. If an Alchemist could not procure these expensive materials, then their progress in the world of Alchemy would stagnate.

So, most alchemists would find themselves living in poverty.

Though that was just one of the extremes of being an Alchemist. The other was that one could afford such expensive materials and would go on to concoct well-sought-after medicinal pills in the cultivation world. Those alchemists could make an absurd amount of money then.

It was because of this dichotomy that there was a famous saying in the cultivation world about the Alchemy profession…

’Become an Alchemist if you want to see yourself become poor but live as an Alchemist if you want to see yourself become wealthy.’

The saying itself was contradictory, but nothing else could describe being an Alchemist more than this could.

After staring at all the colorful but unfamiliar medicinal plants for quite a while, Sol finally decided to walk towards the entrance of the pavilion.

“Hello Senior Brother, my name is Sol and I’m here to… uhh…’

Sol tried to address the alchemy disciple who was standing at the door, but his words couldn’t help but trail off as he saw this young man who look around the same age as him, muttering to himself while biting his nails.

His eyes were red, and unfocused as he stared off into space.

“Are… Are you okay?”

Sol tried to ask, but instead of responding the boy merely turned towards him and blurted out words that he couldn’t comprehend.

“W-What? Green Silver grass? Fire Lily Essence? Wah-I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Sol was so frightened he hurriedly took several steps away from this boy.

After some time of muttering incomprehensible words, the boy seemed to reach a breaking point as he clutched his head and ran off screaming at the top of his lungs.

Sol stared wide-eyed as this happened, but then a cold chill went down his spine.

“This-Just what is this place? All the disciples here are crazy. Brother Mar-Dule really wasn’t lying to me. Perhaps there is some disease going around that’s affecting all the disciples?”

Sol’s speculation wasn’t that far off from the mark really, just that it wasn’t a normal disease but rather… an Alchemic Formula Disease.

Sol hesitated on whether to enter the pavilion. But after mustering up the courage, he raised his foot and walked towards the double doors before he pushed them open.

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