Story 9 - Nothing Bad Ever Happens at the Alchemy Convention (11)

Story 9 - Nothing Bad Ever Happens at the Alchemy Convention (11)

Ooooo, that bitch. Violet noticed that Little Spring wasn’t going to mess up, so she decided to force the issue. Knowing her, even though this looked bad she likely had an excuse prepared, one that would make herself look good.

At this point, whether the kid could save this batch, or had to waste it, this would show how effectively he could overcome errors. Considering how he often did everything perfectly within his first few tries, he hadn’t had many opportunities to practice fixing mistakes like this.

I glared at Violet.

She smirked back at me as if she’d already won.

To his credit, Little Spring didn’t panic. Instead, he lowered the temperature, calmly grabbed the Five Ices Yin Root to counteract the extreme yang in the Crimson Peach Flower, and tossed it in.

The cauldron shook harder, nearly toppling over on its pedestal. The kid put together a series of hand seals that perfectly hid some of the newer ones I’d taught him. With that, the near explosion came to a halt, and I almost wanted to applaud, except that I knew that something that would have been a perfect pot was definitely spoiled.

He used a hand seal to slowly raise the fire and agitate the concoction.

After adding the last few ingredients, the kid hooked his thumbs together to form the hand seal that shaped the pills. Then he pointed two fingers at the cauldron, then back at himself, replicating the gesture I had demonstrated earlier, forcing the pills out and over to him. With a flourish, he caught them in a jade bowl.

While I hadn’t had much experience with the Seven Circles Breath Expanding Dan, I had created it a couple of times before. The pinnacle version was supposed to be a clear, dark sapphire. This batch was nearly all bright cerulean with only two pills being a medium blue. That meant that almost all of them were low-quality.

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Little Spring stared at the bowl like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Violet’s pill beast shifted on her shoulders, and she stroked its head to get it to stay still. She glanced down at him with a smirk, then clasped her hands behind her back. “Do you understand what you’re lacking?”

Did she seriously just say something a con artist protagonist posing as an old master would? And to the goddamn main character of this fucking universe?

Little Spring looked like he wanted to yell at her, but instead, he very calmly said, “Are you saying that I don’t know how to manage mistakes? That if something happens I’ll have to scramble to fix things but because I haven’t practiced overcoming mistakes I’ll fail?”

That sly bitch must have realized something I already knew: that because Little Spring almost always did everything perfectly, he wouldn’t have enough experience fixing mistakes. At least not before they blew up in his face. Because of this, I had shown him several techniques to save batches and protect cauldrons. Those techniques were why my beautiful cauldron didn’t explode. But since the kid absorbed knowledge better than a jade slip, I focused more on teaching him the next pill or technique.

Violet might be the most selfish, self-centered malicious narcissist I knew, but I couldn’t underestimate her. Even when I thought I knew what she was doing, I would find that she’d actually done something else entirely. The number of times she had completely overturned my thought process was more than I could count. It was the reason she’d always beaten me in my past life. Every. Single. Fucking. Time.

But in this one, even if I had to receive 800 cuts, I would make her ass take 1000.

***

While I watched Little Spring, I used my split mind technique to watch Bright Flame concoct the Calming Heart Yin Yang Pill. Mostly to make sure he wasn’t purposefully fucking up... because I trusted Violet as far as a mortal child could throw her.

He’d done very well so far, and it was at a point in his process where he’d need the solution to the Five Leaves Break Down. But he hesitated.

Shit. If he didn’t act soon, his concoction would really fail. I couldn’t allow his want to keep his method a secret, and ruin his batch of pills.

“Just use it,” I said. “The solution will be out soon, anyway. It’s only right that the person who invented it is the first one to demonstrate it publicly... Whether the cultivators here can figure it out later depends on their comprehension and luck.”

Bright Flame grinned, then moved his hands into a series of simple back-and-forth gestures before adding each of the leaves as a cultivator normally would.

Perfectly done. No issues.

I smiled. “As the inventor of this technique, take pride in it. Never let anyone tell you that someone else invented it.”

The child winced but nodded.

He looked relieved. ::Thank you, Senior Lin! I’ll try not to take it personally.::

I paused. ::I don’t know what she gave you to let her take credit for your work but, whatever it is, I hope it’s worth it to you.::

::If there was something like that, then it certainly would have been.::

Well, I’d let this child keep his secrets. I just hope he was bleeding that bitch dry in exchange for stealing partial credit.

“So,” Noxious continued, “I have to consider — are the things she did to help Bright Flame even worthwhile?”

This asshole was basically claiming that the three main lessons I taught the child were bullshit. If that was the case then, of course, it would seem like I didn’t do much.

“Meanwhile,” the unorthodox cultivator gestured to my rival, “Fellow Alchemist Violet Pill here took a student who seemed too perfect for reality, and showed him that never making mistakes also had its consequences. It’s a lesson that he’ll be able to use throughout his long life.”

Little Spring scowled. “My sister has gone over how to mitigate errors.”

He shook his head as if saying that the kid didn’t know what he was talking about.

“I believe Fellow Alchemist Violet Pill deserves both lecture spots for thinking so far into the future.”

Lina nodded. “One judge says Violet Pill Fairy is the winner. Who would like to go next?”

White Lily stepped forward. She glared at Noxious Fangstrike. “Believing that Violet’s lesson is better than Lin’s is nonsense.”

He looked at her, amused. “Is it though? There seem to be several in the crowd who believe otherwise.”

Those people and there were more of them than I thought, nodded.

That didn’t stop White Lily from glaring at them until they turned their heads.

“Alchemist Lin’s logic comes from the creator of Logical Alchemy, Immortal Zhenren Sword Within the Light of Virtue, her master. Does anyone here claim to have better logic than Immortal Zhenren?”

Well, I might, but I did consider him my alchemy master, so I’d show him some face by not speaking up.

Noxious shrugged. “While he was famous, he was never able to take a disciple until now. How useful could that logic be when it’s impossible to teach it to others?”

“It helped Ruthless Divine Medicine, my colleague, increase his realm from Golden Core to Nascent Soul.”

“It may have worked for him, but who’s to say it would work for anyone else?”

Look at him move those goalposts. At this rate, he’d strain a verbal muscle.

“And all Violet did was teach Little Spring something he was already aware of. I would not consider that an excellent lesson at all.” She crossed her arms under her chest. “At this point, I believe that Fellow Alchemist Lin deserves both lecture spots.”

“Oh my,” Lina said. “That makes one for Alchemist Lin and one for Alchemist Violet Pill.”

“I’ll go next!” Blazing Lion said. Her fluffy yellow ears twitched, but she stared at me like she was on a warpath and I was an enemy general.

Of course, I doubted this obvious side character could spout anything unexpected.



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