1923 Unexpected

Alex studied the recipe for the pill he was going to make, trying to see if he could improve it at all without wasting a single bit of the ingredient.

Had he had the ingredients for the Blank Canvas pill, he could've made this all so much better, but finding the ingredients had been quite difficult for him at this point.

Alex continued learning as much as he could about the recipe and the ingredients, using everything in his memories and inheritance to try and come up with a somewhat better recipe. But unfortunately, he simply did not have that level of understanding regarding Alchemy just yet.

He could make some guesses, but he would have to test to see if he was right or not, and that was simply too risky at the moment.

The best option was to follow the pill recipe directly and make absolutely no changes at all.

Due to the urgency of the request, Alex didn't even have the time to prepare the pill ingredients at all. He could have improved them with his Supreme Elemental Accord, but that would have to be ignored for now.

Alex began heating up Memory while he began following the pill recipe.

One by one, the ingredients went into the cauldron, moving around as per his instruction, which was fully from the recipe.

Alex took his time but also tried to not waste any time at all. He was in a hurry after all.

It only took him about 10 minutes to fully burn through the entire ingredients and turn them into their powdered form, and he then used his Vortex of Perfection technique to turn into as perfect a sphere as it could turn into.

A lot of the energy was going to waste, which Alex simply couldn't force into the pill. The structure of the pill simply didn't accept all of the energy and it had to unfortunately be wasted.

As he realized that the extra energy was a waste, something happened inside the cauldron that surprised him a bit. The extra energy inside the cauldron suddenly lowered a little as it was absorbed into the sides of the cauldron.

Alex was taken aback. This was the first time something like this had happened at all.

"Memory?" he slowly called out. "Did you just consume that extra energy?"

Alex waited for an answer.

A very low, vague, and almost mysterious response came from memory through their bond. It was a complicated answer, not different from a child trying to argue that they didn't do anything wrong and had only done it because they didn't think it would be necessary.

"I'm not angry, Memory. Just curious," Alex said. "Did you take away that Energy?"

Another soft response came back, this time a little more concrete. It was an affirmative response.

Alex smiled, fully jubilant on the inside. "You are growing then," he said. "I'll get you more energy to eat later."

His cauldron's spirit was beginning to take proper form. If Midnight began doing the same, he couldn't be happier.

Alex completed his pill-making session and opened the lid to a fragrant smell from inside, complete with a silver pill that fell into his hand.

'What a waste of ingredients,' he thought. He hadn't even had the chance to check just how the ingredients worked in different scenarios. At least that would've helped him the next time around.

He was also a little disappointed with the result of the pill being no more than 57% in Harmony, but what could he really do? He had made the recipe to perfection, so he couldn't be bothered to think about this more.

Alex left the room and found Bai Wanzhao sitting in the room they had been in before.

"Brother Bai, I've completed the pill," Alex said as he walked into the room. He found that Liao Xumei had long since left the room.

Bai Wanzhao stood up quickly and walked up to Alex.

"Good, you made it in time," he said. "There's still an hour and a little more before the rankings are set."

'So the rankings aren't set until the sun has set?' Alex wondered. He handed over the pill, which the man took, and used a pill tester to test it immediately.

Based on the change in his looks, Alex feared that the man did not like the pill at all.

"57?" he asked, looking up at Alex with a genuine look of disbelief.

"I did my best, brother Bai. But with a single set and the recipe you gave me, this is the best—"

"Excuses!" the man shouted, cutting Alex off. "I asked you to make me a pill that could help me and you— this is what you make me?"

"Brother Bai, I—"

"I thought you were good. That was why I asked you. If I knew that you were trash then I would've never employed you to make this," Bai Wanzhao said and pushed Alex aside to move out.

Alex felt anger bubbling inside of him but he held it in.

"Brother Bai, I did as you asked, and you accepted my services despite knowing the risk. You have no right to be angry right now."

The man stopped in his steps and turned around, his face fully darkened with anger.

"No right?" he asked. "NO… RIGHT?"

The wind took shape around him, forming into spears.

Alex immediately took out Midnight, ready to fight. True Metal Dao filled his sword, and the moment it did the man threw the spears toward Alex.

Alex let out his attack, instantly creating a slice that was so thin that it was invisible. And yet, when it struck the wind spears, it created a massive explosion with shockwaves that sent Alex flying.

His attack was strong, but it wasn't stronger than the man before him.

Alex struck a wall at the back and fell to the ground with his body groaning in pain. Not only was the shockwave from the clash strong, butthe man's spears had been stronger and had followed through with their attacks, striking Alex.

Thankfully, they had weakened enough that they only left him with broken bones and torn flesh, which healed as swiftly as he was damaged.

The pain still lingered as Alex tried to get back up on his feet. He felt hatred for the man in front of him like he hadn't since he killed the Dragon Emperor.

He wanted to kill this man as well.

However, when Alexactuallydid look to the front to continue the fight, he was surprised to find that the man had left already.

He looked around, using his senses, but the man was truly gone.

"Fuck!" Alex grunted and quickly ran out of the house, only to find out that the man had long since gone down to the valley, most likely for the poison training.

He would bein the midst ofElders.

"Damn him!" Alex murmured. He wanted to fight that man, even though it was very much a bad idea, but he wasn't able to at this point.

"Fuck! He didn't even pay me," Alex remembered in the end, which made the whole experience even worse. "I can't let him get away. I have to get him punished at the very least."