1928 Potential

The 5 people sitting in front of Alex, looked at each other with stern looks that lacked emotions. It was only the young male Elder who showed any sort of noticeable emotion as he simply shrugged in response.

"Well, there you have it," he said. "First Elder, I believe we are done here. He is not the person you are looking for."

Alex felt a sense of relief now that this elder had said as much, knowing that he would no longer be a potential murderer in the eyes of these higher-ups.

However, he hadn't anticipated the sheer blinded hatred the woman would hold against him.

"He could still be lying," the woman said.

Alex felt somewhat stunned, fearing that the woman had gone mad in grief. How else could one expect her response to a Heavenly Oath?

"He's lying?" one of the triplet sect masters asked.

"He just swore an oath," another one added.

"Yes, but he could still be lying," the woman said, turning toward the young male. "Didn't you say that he was a promising alchemist?"

The young elder frowned. "I was told as much by Elder Lan when he came to me to have this disciple work for him. Those were his words and his alone."

"But he did make my son's pills, which makes him at least a decent pill. And you know that these alchemists are not reliable. They have ways to hide the truth from even the heavens."

"You overestimate this young disciple," one of the sect masters said. He then turned to Alex. "We may have questions for you to answer later on. For now, you may leave, disciple Dawnblade."

Alex could see the woman seethe in anger, but in front of the sect master, she could only seethe and do nothing.

'What sort of trouble did I get myself into?' Alex wondered. 'Not only do I get beaten up by a man today, but he then goes and dies and leaves me to deal with the consequences of his death.'

Alex didn't let his frustration show on his face. Instead, he simply bowed toward the elders and took his leave.

He walked outside and found Liao Xumei sitting alone in her seat. The first-ranking disciple had seemingly left the hall already.

"Younger brother Dawnblade, are you alright?" she asked hurriedly.

"Yeah, I'm alright," Alex said.

The woman sighed in apparent relief. "I didn't think they would target you as a murderer when I said you were the last person to meet Brother Bai. I'm sorry, I didn't think much."

"That's alright," Alex said. Given the complaint he made against the man earlier that evening, people were bound to find out that he had been in conflict with the man.

Alex wondered if his complaint had been so thoroughly ignored because of who Bai Wanzhao was. Had his status as the First Elder's son protected him?

'No point in thinking about that now that he's dead,' Alex thought.

Alex thought he would be happy hearing about the unfortunate end Bai Wanzhao had received after attacking him, but he was more annoyed than happy.

He had died and left him with more unnecessary trouble.

'And now I have a First Elder who definitely hates me,' Alex thought. 'I wonder what she meant by Alchemists—'

"Young Dawnblade!"

Elder Lan entered the room and quickly walked up to him.

"Elder Lan."

Alex turned and greeted the man.

"Are you…" the man paused and looked around, seemingly taking in the information.

"Are you involved in young Bai's death?" the man asked directlyusinghis Spiritual Sense.

Alex nodded. "I was the person that made the antidote to the poison that killed him. My pillsapparentlydidn't work, soI was suspectedto have killed him."

The man looked at Alex for a long second. "Did you?" he finally asked.

Alex shook his head. "No, and I swore an oath tolet everyone know thatI didn't."

"That's… good," the man said. He put his arm around Alex's shoulder and pulled him away toward the stairs.

As they walked away,Elder Lan took out something and handed it to Alex.It was a talisman, which Alex noted was a communication talisman.

"If anything like this happens again, make sure to call me immediately," Elder Lan said. "I might not beofmuch help, but anything is better than nothing in these situations. You never know how quickly death comes for you. Young Bai can be a witness to that."

Alex nodded. "Thank you, Elder Lan."

"Don't mention it. I can't have a disciple with so much potential as youjustdie because of some internal conflict in the sect."

Alex looked at the Elder with a curious look on his face. "Do you think I have potential as an Alchemist?" he asked.

"Forget Alchemist, you have potential as a cultivator in general," the Elder said. "Anyone who can become an Immortal at the age you have is bound to have a high potential."

"Many people reach Immortal at the age I have," Alex said. "Most of the disciples in this sectasno older than me. Some might even be younger."

"Maybe," Elder Lan said. "But they didn't come from a lower world, youdid. They didn't have to cultivate in places with no Immortal Qi, youdid. They didn't peak in the cultivation realms of their world, youdid."

"An Ascendant Immortal always has much more potential than a regular Immortal of the Immortal worlds," the Elder said.

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Always?" he asked.

Elder Lan turned to look at Alex and gave an awkward smile. "Statistically, yes," he said. "But I suppose you shouldn't think of this as always being the truth."

Alex smiled. "I appreciate the words of confidence, Elder Lan," he said.

They arrived outside the Elder's Hall and Elder Lan patted Alex's back. "Go and rest now. I'll see you in 2 days when you start working officially."

Alex nodded. Just as he was about to leave, a thought struck himandhe stopped. "Elder Lan, could I ask you for a favor?" he asked.

Elder Lan stopped. "Sure, if I can," he said.

Alex brought out a talisman and handed it over to the Elder. "Could you prepare these ingredients for me? I wish to test if my mediocre pill was truly to blame for Bai Wanzhao's death," he said.

"Sure, I can do th—"

The man paused as his eyes fell on the talisman. He focused on the talisman for a few moments longer before a frown appeared on his face.

"What is this?" he asked.

Alex felt somethingwrong. "Recipe for the antidote to Nether Ice Immortal Poison," he answered. "What's wrong?"

The Elder waited for a while before answering. "This is not the recipe to an antidote for Nether Ice Immortal Poison.Thisis the antidote to Green Skull Infernal Poison."

Alex frowned along with the elder now. "But… that's the recipe Bai Wanzhao handed me today to make him a pill of. That is the pill I made him."

"Then that pill wouldn't work on the poison he ate," the Elder said asbothhe and Alex realized what this meant.

'Damn, even if on accident, I did kill him.'