The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

Xiao Fan supported her shoulders and said, "Mother, can you walk by yourself?"

Su Wanqing wiped away her tears and stood up.

"Although Mother was imprisoned for many years, her cultivation level has not been damaged."

Xiao Fan sensed the aura emanating from his mother; she was at the seventh rank of the Yin Realm. Although her cultivation level wasn't high, it was still remarkable that she had achieved her current level after being confined in a secret chamber for eighteen years.

"Please come with me." Xiao Fan took off his night clothes and draped them over his mother. "Let's go."

The mother and son walked quickly uphill.

The four guards outside the hidden door were still unconscious. Xiao Fan didn't delay and led Su Wanqing through the artificial hill, following the path they had come from, to the wall behind it.

Everything is going smooth.

However, just as the two climbed over the east wall and were about to leap out of Guanlan Garden, a cold laugh suddenly came from behind them.

"It really is here."

Xiao Fan turned around and saw a middle-aged man dressed in a black robe standing on an ancient pine tree in the courtyard.

The middle-aged man had a handsome face and an elegant demeanor. He held a folding fan in his hand and had a faint smile on his face.

However, the aura emanating from him gave Xiao Fan an extremely dangerous feeling.

His cultivation level has reached the ninth rank of the Yang Realm!

"Second Prince." Xiao Fan recognized him at a glance. "Didn't you go to Qingzhou?"

The Second Prince, Zhao Jun, slowly descended from the tree, lightly tapping his folding fan, and said, "This was deliberately leaked. I knew you would come knocking on our door after the Zhao family falls."

He looked at Su Wanqing standing behind Xiao Fan, his smile growing even brighter: "Miss Su, it's been many years, you're as charming as ever."

Su Wanqing's face was pale, but she still steeled herself and stood in front of Xiao Fan. "Zhao Jun! If you have the guts, arrest me and let my son leave!"

"Mother, don't be anxious." Xiao Fan reached out to shield his mother. "Your Highness, please speak freely."

Zhao Jun closed her folding fan, her smile fading considerably: "Xiao Fan, you're quite clever. I tolerated your father's investigation of the Zhao family back then. I tolerated you destroying the Zhao family. But tonight, you broke into my house and kidnapped my people. I can't swallow this insult."

"So?" he asked back.

"So, I'm giving you two choices." Zhao Jun held up two fingers. "First, you submit to me. I will take good care of your mother and make her an honored guest of mine. Second, neither you nor your mother will be leaving this wall today."

Xiao Fan was slightly taken aback, then laughed.

"Your Highness, what do you say?"

Zhao Jun's pupils contracted: "You'd better think this through. With only a fourth-grade Yang Realm cultivation, you won't even last ten moves."

"Ten moves?" Xiao Fan's smile deepened. "I admire Your Highness's skill. But has Your Highness considered that since I dared to come, how could I not have a backup plan?"

He held a jade talisman in his hand.

A golden beam shot straight into the sky, exploded in the night sky, and transformed into a phantom image of a phoenix spreading its wings as if about to take flight.

Danta sent out a distress signal!

Zhao Jun's expression changed slightly as she looked into the distance.

On the other side of the capital. On the ninth floor of the Pill Tower. Gu Yuan roared, his voice like thunder.

"Dare to injure the chief disciple of my Pill Tower? Kill him!"

Several powerful auras were rushing towards Guanlan Garden at an extremely fast speed. The one in the lead was none other than Jiang Yuanji, an eighth-grade alchemist, who exuded an unfathomable aura.

Zhao Jun's expression changed drastically. Although he was a prince, he dared not openly oppose the Pill Tower. Especially now that the Zhao family had just fallen from power and the court was in turmoil, a conflict with the Pill Tower at this time would not benefit him at all.

"Well done, Xiao Fan," Zhao Jun sneered. "You're even more cunning than your father."

Xiao Fan clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Your Highness is too kind. We will take our leave now and visit you another day."

He helped Su Wanqing climb over the wall.

Zhao Jun stood in the backyard, watching their figures disappear into the night, and involuntarily crushed the folding fan in her hand.

"Xiao Fan, you just wait."

Xiao Fan was in a secret room in the Pill Tower.

Su Wanqing sat on the futon, holding the hot tea that Xiao Fan handed her, and silently shed tears.

Eighteen years in prison have made her more haggard, and there are a few more strands of white hair at her temples, but her eyes are still bright, revealing the joy of surviving a calamity.

Xiao Fan knelt down and gently held his mother's hand: "Mother, don't worry. From now on, no one can lock you up."

Su Wanqing put down her teacup, reached out and gently stroked his face, inch by inch, as if she wanted to make up for all the time lost in the past eighteen years.

"You look just like your father. Exactly the same."

"My father..." Xiao Fan paused for a moment, then said, "I have found his remains and buried them in the back mountain of Danta."

Su Wanqing's delicate body trembled, she lowered her head, and tears streamed down the back of her hand.

Xiao Fan didn't urge her, but simply stayed by her side in silence.

After a long while, Su Wanqing finally raised her head, wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, and forced a smile.

"Fan'er, it's been eighteen years. How have you been? Has Grandpa been treating you well?"

"Grandpa is very good to me," Xiao Fan said. "Don't let his bad temper and harsh words fool you; he never backs down when it matters."

Su Wanqing nodded in satisfaction. "When I brought you out of Medicine King Valley back then, we were all alone and destitute. He took us in and let us live with the Xiao family. If it weren't for him, my mother and I would have starved to death on the way."

"Mother, what did my father do to offend the Second Prince? Why did he arrest you?"

Su Wanqing's expression changed slightly, and after a long while, she finally spoke these words.

"What your father is investigating is not just the Zhao family's underground alchemy room," she whispered. "That mad prince Zhao Jun not only cultivates evil arts himself, but also secretly raises a group of assassins who feed on soul-devouring beasts."

These assassins felt neither pain nor fear; they only obeyed his orders. After your father learned of this, he wrote a secret memorial, intending to present it to His Majesty, but unexpectedly, someone betrayed him, and the memorial fell into Zhao Jun's hands.

"And then?" he asked.

"Later, Zhao Jun plotted to frame the Zhao family, making them scapegoats, while he himself was the mastermind behind it all. Your father was trapped in the underground palace by Zhao Changkong until his death, and I... the reason he spared my life was to use me as a hostage to prevent the people of Medicine King Valley from finding your father's whereabouts."

Xiao Fan gritted his teeth, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

Zhao Jun, our feud isn't over yet.

"Mother, don't worry, I will settle this score with him one day."

Su Wanqing shook her head, anxiously grabbing his hand. "Zhao Jun is a prince, wielding military power; he's not easy to deal with. What you need to do now is improve your cultivation as quickly as possible. I've waited eighteen years already; a few more years won't make a difference."