973 Storm, Shards, and ...

"What do you think? We will win, right?" the sect master asked the grand elder and the female ancestor.

"We can't just ignore the possibilities that the other sects to have disciples that have reached a very high cultivation base," the female said. "You know how it is, these new folks are very good at cultivating."

"That is true, but still, with young Yu Ming by our side, we should do good," the grand elder said.

"Whatever, we have a more pressing problem. I still can't find an antidote for the young girl. Sigh, I was too lax when I should have been very careful," the female ancestor said.

"Even the Nether Poison sect didn't have anything?" the sect master asked.

"No, they do have a recipe for the antidote, but not the antidote itself. As for the recipe, they're lacking ingredients," the old woman said.

"Sigh, if only we hadn't ignored alchemy as much, we could have—"

"No," the grand elder said. "We cannot let Alchemy flourish. That's how we bring our own downfall."

"But how, grand elder? None of you ever explain why and simply keep on telling me to continue the tradition," the sect master said. "At least tell me why I am doing what I'm doing."

The grand elder sighed and the old woman shook her head as well. "I pray you never have to learn why," she said.

"Anyway, I should go ask the Heaven's Frost sect if they have any—"

The woman paused midway as the aura in the air changed a bit. Not only her, the other two realized something was happening as well.

The three of them suddenly walked outside and saw a storm brewing in the sky that was otherwise open all around it.

The dark clouds flashed with lightning as if the heavens were angry at something. The three of them simply couldn't figure out what.

Unknown to Alex, there was a storm brewing outside that was mimicking what was happening in his room as well.

The clouds floated at the ceiling, crackling with lightning while Alex sat there confused.

'What is happening?' he thought. The pills were ready, but for some reason, Alex knew he couldn't interfere with them just yet.

At least. That was the vibes he got from looking at the miniature storm inside of his room.

"Alex, get—"

"Don't come near me." Alex put his hands to the side to stop Liz from approaching. "You will get caught up in the storm."

"What?" Liz looked up at the storm too and a familiar feeling came to her as her eyes went wide. "That's… that's the storm that brings the lightning tribulation, isn't it?"

Liz herself had to go through lightning tribulation when breaking through to the Saint realm, so she was very familiar with the storm.

"How is there a tribulation going on in here?" she asked.

"I don't know," Alex said with some fear and curiosity in his voice. "I've never come across such a thing in the 15 years I've been doing Alchemy."

However, he did have a guess.

The heavens didn't act for no reason. He had either done something that he shouldn't have, like use Immortal Qi in a world where there wasn't any Immortal Qi.

Or, the more possible one, he had reached perfection and the heavens were putting forth an obstacle in his path.

Since he was making a pill at the moment, Alex couldn't help but be happier with the result. If his assumption was correct, then the pill inside the cauldron was surely a 100% harmony pill.

Just as he was getting happy about it, the lightning crackled once more, grabbing his attention. Alex looked up just in time to see the lightning fall.

At the same time, the lightning stuck in his room, and the same lightning struck down from the storm outside as well.

Alex watched as the bolt of lightning zigged and zagged its way until it reached his cauldron. He watched as the massive bolt struck it hard, lighting up the gold and green on the cauldron.

As he watched, Alex saw the lightning branch its way around the cauldron and his cauldron cracked.

"No…"

Alex suddenly felt horrified as the explosion sent out the shards of his broken cauldron all over the room, hitting him in multiple places, and even cutting him at some.

Liz quickly slowed down time around her and used the opportunity to dodge the shards that would have otherwise hit her.

Alex struck the wall due to the shockwave and fell to the ground. His wounds healed immediately and he got back up.

"No," he thought as he watched the many pieces of his cauldron that were spread throughout the room.

"Master…" he couldn't help but feel hollow as he watched the one thing that was given to him by his master break into a hundred pieces.

"No…" he said as he quickly scanned the room to see a hundred pieces. He pulled them all together and pilled them in front of him.

"Alex honey, are you okay?" Liz quickly walked up to him and searched him for wounds.

"No, I'm fine," Alex said in a daze as he looked at the pile of his broken cauldron.

The storm above him was dissipating, but he couldn't give it any thought at all. All he could think about was the cauldron and his master.

"What happened to the pill?" Liz asked all of a sudden.

"Pill?" Alex got back from his shock. "Right, the antidote."

He quickly searched and found a pill in the pile of metal. Fortunately, it was intact, so he quickly brought it out and looked at it.

"98%?" he was a little confused. But, now was not the time.

"Eat this, aunt Liz. This should heal your leg," Alex said and gave it to her.

Liz nodded and without hesitation ate the pill. She let go of the frozen time around her leg and the intense pain assaulted her again. However, this time around, the purple ankle slowly lost its color as it return to becoming her normal skin.

In the meantime, Alex searched for the other pill that should have been in the cauldron. However, he couldn't find it.

What he did find were powders on the ground and a whole lot of elemental aura in the air that should have been in the pill.

'It was destroyed?' Alex thought.

Suddenly, the door burst open as the sect master, grand elder, and the female ancestor arrived to see what was happening.

As soon as they entered, they saw the broken shards of metal, the elemental aura in the air, and Liz with her healed legs.

"What happened here?" the old woman asked.

"Master, please don't get angry," Liz spoke up before Alex could. "He only did it to make an antidote for me."

The old woman only then realized that her disciple's wounds were gone. "What did he do?" she asked.

"He made me a pill, an antidote master. Can you forgive him, please?" Liz asked.

The old woman's eyes went wide as she turned toward Alex. "You are an alchemist?" she asked.

Alex sighed as there was no more reason to hide. He took the metal shards from the ground into his storage ring, and answered, "Yes, I am."

"That storm just now, you manifested it?" the grand elder asked.

"That was me too," Alex said.

The moment he answered them, both of the two elder's faces darkened. Surprisingly, they were not angry but rather horrified.

"You… You are an alchemist…" the old woman muttered, almost unbelieving of the words she herself spoke.

"TAI GUAN!" the grand elder shouted at the old woman and brought her out of her shock. "We need to move quickly."

"Yes, yes," the old woman said.

Before anyone could do anything, her hands moved and pulled Alex next to her. Then,  she quickly walked out of the room along with the grand elder.

"Master? What are you—"

"Stay back," the old woman shouted. "Don't follow."

"I'll go gather up a few spirit veins," the grand elder said and left.

"Senior, what is happening?" the sect master asked. He himself was very confused about the situation.

"Senior, please let go of me," Alex said and struggled, but the hold the woman had on him was on that he simply couldn't walk out of. Not even with his teleportation skill. Her Qi had properly wrapped around him and they were so strong that even the space around her was being affected.

"Shut up," the old woman said. "We don't have much time to save you."

"What?" Alex asked, but before he got an answer, the lady moved. The sect master followed behind her, very curious as to what she was intending to do.

She left the sect and moved west as fast as she could, but the sect master kept up with her.

"Senior, where are you taking me?" Alex asked. "Please let go of me."

"Don't struggle, boy," the woman said. "I'm trying to save your life here."

"Save my life? From what?" Alex asked.

"Not what, who," the woman said. "If we don't hurry..." She couldn't speak anymore.

"Who?" Alex asked.

The woman kept quiet. "I am taking you to the Teleportation formation. The grand elder will bring some spirit veins and we will send you to the Eastern Continent. You will be safe there."

"Eastern continent?" Alex was surprised.

Someone quickly caught up to them.

"How many spirit veins did you br—"

The old woman's voice froze when she realized that the person that had caught up to them was not the Grand Elder.

Alex send his spiritual sense behind him and caught a glimpse of the man.

What he saw in that glimpse… was madness.