The most shameless alchemist in history

Xia Yi naturally became the first teacher in Wenquan Village. At first, the villagers had doubts and were unwilling to send their children to Xia Yi to study. However, after someone tried it, the villagers found that Xia Yi was a really good teacher, and so Xia Yi's students increased.

After the children returned home, they praised Xia Yi highly. After a month, the villagers dispelled their concerns about Xia Yi. After two months, Xia Yi became a highly respected figure in the village. Every few days, villagers would bring good wine and meat to Xia Yi as gifts for this teacher.

"Oh, Teacher Xia Yi, you must accept this. Although it's nothing much, it's just a small token of our appreciation." At the entrance of a classroom that had been cleared out in the village, a villager was carrying fish to give to the young teacher, while a group of children were running around and playing behind him.

"How could I possibly accept this? As a teacher, I, Xia Yi, must set a good example for my students. How could I possibly accept your gift? This is unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable." Xia Yi waved his hand righteously, his noble character inspiring awe.

"These are all fish I just caught. I broke through the floating ice on the river to get them. They'll be delicious if you take them home and stew them. Teacher Xia Yi, you don't charge us tuition, so what's wrong with giving you something? Otherwise, people will say that we people from Hot Spring Village don't know how to repay kindness."

The fisherman laughed and forced the fish into Xia Yi's hand. He then quickly beckoned a child playing nearby to come to him.

"Look at you... making it seem like I'm looking down on you if I don't accept it, which really puts me in a difficult position." Xia Yi looked troubled.

"Teacher Xia Yi, this is my son, Klu. Please take good care of him in the future. Klu, you must listen to Teacher Xia Yi. We're going back now." The fisherman turned and left with his child, leaving Xia Yi, who was still holding a fish in his palm, standing there.

"Goodbye and good riddance... Fish under the ice? Early winter fish are the freshest and most delicious. You're in for a treat tonight. Where's Du Lei, you little rascal? Where did you run off to?" Xia Yi watched the fisherman and his son walk away before picking up the fish to examine it closely, while shouting loudly.

"What's all the noise about? Can't you see I'm busy... Look for this passage in this book, you'll definitely find the source. Yes, that's it." Little Du Lei, who was explaining the article to other children not far away, replied impatiently to Xia Yi. Two minutes later, he slowly came over.

"Look what this is! We can have a delicious fish soup tonight. Take it home and simmer it slowly over low heat. Hehe, it's been a while since I've had fish soup. I almost forgot what it tastes like." Xia Yi handed the fish to Xiao Dulei with a friendly smile.

"Where did you get this from? Xia Yi, don't go too far. You're the teacher, but you're always slacking off and making me explain things to other students. That's bad enough, but you also expect me to cook for you when we get back. Am I not busy enough?" Du Lei said irritably.

"I'm giving you a chance to practice, and this is also your tuition fee," Xia Yi said with a smile.

"Training? I'd rather not have that kind of training opportunity, and as for tuition and stuff... I'm already being generous by not charging you for accommodation, and you still want to charge me tuition?" Du Lei retorted irritably, his patience being tested over the past two months.

Otherwise, he would have been driven to his death by the man in front of him.

"Really? Since you're so principled, then you don't want to drink fish soup tonight?" Xia Yi wasn't angry at Du Lei's repeated questioning; he simply pointed to the fresh fish in his hand and asked.

"Well... I just remembered I have some things to do. Don't block my way. And this is for me!" Du Lei snatched the fresh fish from Xia Yi's hand, then carried the fish away with his head held high and chest out.

"I'm really looking forward to the fish soup tonight! Oh, and remember to add lots of chili peppers, it has to be really spicy!" Xia Yi reminded Du Lei as he walked away.

"I don't know anything, I didn't hear anything." Du Lei waved his hand and left without looking back.

After leaving the school, Du Lei returned to his home, which was an abandoned warehouse in the village. Compared to the dilapidated warehouse two months ago, the warehouse two months later had been completely renovated, and even the leaky parts on the outside had been repaired.

Even the inside was kept spotless. This wasn't because Du Lei was particularly fond of cleanliness, but because Xia Yi required Du Lei to clean every day. Du Lei initially refused, as he didn't want to be bossed around by that guy of unknown origin. However, that guy always managed to find something to blackmail Du Lei with.

For example, they might refuse to let you see that book or explain that article to you if you don't clean it properly today, and so on.

Du Lei had no choice but to bow to the evil forces time and time again. Over time, he also managed to tidy up the messy warehouse. As Xia Yi's reputation in the village grew better and better, villagers would come to deliver things every few days. In no time, the warehouse was full of things, and he had no worries about food and clothing.

Although Du Lei is still young, he has been living independently for three or four years and is very good at things like washing clothes and cooking. He returned to the warehouse, which had been divided into several rooms, namely bedrooms and kitchens, all of which were the result of Xia Yilai's work.

This transformed the abandoned warehouse into a fully equipped house, so that no one would guess it was a warehouse.

He skillfully started a fire and set up the pot. Even this brand-new pot was a gift from the village blacksmith. Although only two months had passed, Du Lei felt as if he had lived through another world because the difference between Xia Yi's appearance before and after his arrival was too great.

"I don't know what's wrong with everyone. What's so great about that guy? He just knows a few words. Why are you all fawning over him? Don't you realize that he's a despicable and shameless person at heart? You want chili peppers? I'll poison you instead!"

As Du Lei sipped the soup, he cursed under his breath. He harbored deep resentment towards Xia Yi, who bullied him almost every day.

"But if I put poison in it... wouldn't I suffer too? Let's just forget about it. That shameless guy will get his comeuppance sooner or later." Du Lei put the prepared fresh fish into the pot to simmer, and added some wild vegetables and spices.

Some of these things were given to him by the villagers, and the rest he found in the mountains. To be precise, Xia Yi led him to find them in the mountains. During the search, Xia Yi taught Du Lei to identify various medicinal plants. He knew each plant like the back of his hand and had a deep understanding of them.

"Back on the mountain, he was quite eloquent, talking about the effects of this herb and the functions of that flower. He spoke so convincingly, I don't know if it was true or not, maybe he was just fooling me. Such a strange guy... what is he doing here?"

Du Lei had been pondering this problem for two months, but he still couldn't come up with a solution. It wasn't that he hadn't asked Xia Yi, but the latter always managed to evade the question, leaving Du Lei helpless.

"Oh, it smells so good! Is the soup ready yet? As expected of Du Lei, your soup-making skills are truly superb. I can smell the aroma from this far away. It must be delicious." Just as Du Lei was frowning, Xia Yi's voice came from outside the door.

He walked in and stopped in front of the soup pot, fanning the rising steam from the pot into his nostrils with both hands.

"It's not ready to drink yet. It will be more flavorful in a while. Don't rush it." Du Lei glared at Xia Yi, then collected his thoughts and skillfully held the soup spoon, adding a few more mushrooms to enhance the flavor. These were mushrooms he had picked earlier that day in the nearby woods.

"Huh? Do we have to wait? I can't wait any longer." Xia Yi's eyes were full of anticipation.

“That’s right, we still need to wait, add some more seasoning… it’s ready.” Du Lei found a bowl, ladled the fish soup into it, and handed it to Xia Yi.

"Is it finally okay? Let me try it... Ouch, it's so hot, it's burning me!" Xia Yi couldn't wait to pick up the bowl and start drinking the soup, but the scalding heat made him cry out in pain, which made Du Lei both annoyed and amused.

"I'm telling you, you're an adult, why are you always like this? The soup isn't going to grow legs and run away by itself. It's so hot right out of the pot, can't you wait a little longer?" Du Lei said irritably, serving himself a bowl and sitting down at the table.

"I can't wait any longer," Xia Yi suddenly said calmly, his smile fading.

"What did you say?" Du Lei was stunned, not quite understanding Xia Yi's meaning. Xia Yi seemed to have a hidden meaning in his words.

"I've been waiting here for two months, I can't wait any longer. Tomorrow, I'm going into the mountains," Xia Yi said casually, putting down his bowl.

.

What did 410 say?

Dure felt he was losing sight of reality. He tried countless times to clear his mind and stay calm. He sorted out the sequence of events and remembered that he was supposed to escort Miss Winry to Rock City with Kotetsu and the others. They had started from Maple Leaf Academy.

Of course, Miss Winry and her group started from Frost City, the capital of the Snow Kingdom. Dure himself joined halfway through Maple Leaf Academy. There were two people who joined halfway through, and he was one of them. Bailing was the other. Their journey to escort Miss Winry was not smooth.

Because they encountered an accident before even leaving Maple City, when Winry's carriage nearly overturned into the river, they parted ways with Serena, who was escorting them, to ensure Winry's safety. Kotetsu then led them along a side path across the border, which should have been safer.

However, when they arrived at Nightmare Mountain, they were attacked by ghostly spirits, and even Miss Winry disappeared. In order to escape this terrible mountain, Dure and his companions decided to completely eliminate the ghostly spirits, and for this purpose, they ventured deeper and deeper into an unknown cave.

Dure remembered clearly that there was an underground palace at the deepest part of the cave, and inside the palace was an altar. After Leopard Tail climbed onto the altar, he lost his mind and attacked them. In order to turn the tide, they found the source of the power controlling the terrible barrier of Nightmare Mountain, which was the box.

Without hesitation, Dure decisively shot the box with a crossbow bolt, revealing the green orb inside. It was the power of the orb that caused them all to hallucinate. Dure didn't know what kind of hallucinations Hu Che and the others were experiencing, but his own hallucinations were very clear.

He witnessed firsthand how his young self hunted in the snowy mountains and how he encountered the man he had dug out of the snow. In his hallucination, time seemed to pass very slowly, and Dure almost forgot the concept of time. Scene after scene of the past replayed before his eyes.

He couldn't even tell if it was a hallucination, a memory, or if everything he experienced was a dream, or if he was still that little boy.

“I remember… that fish soup was the last meal Xia Yi and I ate together. That night he seemed to say a lot of things. What did he say? I need to get closer, I need to hear what he said…” Du Lei saw the scene before him, a scene that appeared in his memory.

However, contrary to his memory, he remembered that Xia Yi had said many things to him. Although several years had passed, Du Lei was always very confident in his memory. Under normal circumstances, he should have been able to recall them, since he was very dissatisfied with Xia Yi and was always complaining.

But in reality, he knew very well that Xia Yi was a very important person to him, but he couldn't remember the important words that this important person had told him, which gave him a particularly bad headache. Now that he had the opportunity to see the scene from back then again, he got very close and tried to hear it more clearly.

"What's going on? There were sounds just now, I could hear them talking, but now I can't hear them anymore? And the picture... why is it getting faster and faster? What's going on? No, no, no!" Du Lei quickly noticed the abnormal situation.

He could only see Xia Yi and his younger self moving their mouths. Even though he was standing right next to them, he couldn't hear what they were saying. He tried to figure out what they were saying by recognizing their lip movements, but the scene was getting faster and faster, as if time was speeding up, which left him somewhat bewildered!

"Stop, stop, stop right now!" Du Lei tried to turn time back to normal. He desperately wanted to know what Xia Yi had said to him that night. It was the night before Xia Yi left for Beishan, and also the last time he saw Xia Yi.

But the more Dure tried to control time, the faster the images moved. Soon Dure felt dizzy and disoriented. He could see and hear nothing. He clutched his head, completely frantic, on the verge of collapse, until a ray of light appeared in the darkness.

"Hey, Dure, what's wrong with you? Wake up! Hey, Dure, are you alright?" Just as Dure was struggling in a nightmare, someone was shaking him frantically beside him. Dure barely opened his eyes, feeling more tired than ever before.

"Who is calling my name? Who is it? Are you... Miss Winry? No, Miss Winry should be missing. Are you Ghost in disguise? You've already been exposed, yet you still play these pointless tricks. Now that I'm in your hands, you... kill me."

Dure opened his eyes and saw Winry's face. He chuckled. He could roughly guess what had happened. Under the influence of the green orb, they had all fallen into a terrible hallucination and lost their ability to fight.

The ghostly figures lurking in the shadows had been waiting for this moment. They chose to appear at this time precisely to kill them all.

"Mr. Dure, please calm down. It's me, Wen Li. I really am Wen Li. I'm not some ghost or spirit, and I won't kill you. Wake up! Look at me and Bai Ling. We're all here." Wen Li became anxious upon hearing Dure's words and kept explaining to him.

"Really Miss Winry? And... Bailing? No, what's going on? Weren't you all missing?" Du Lei was about 70-80% awake after hearing Winry's words. He looked around and saw that Bailing was indeed right next to him, waking up Kotetsu and the others one by one.

Everyone, including Kotetsu, Leopard Tail, Bee Sting, and Ape Arm, collapsed to the ground. Kotetsu was the first to wake up, his eyes somewhat dazed.

“There were some unexpected events during the trip, but Mr. Du Lei and Mr. Kotetsu, you were worried. Fortunately, Miss Bailing was there. Under her protection, I was safe and sound. It was Miss Bailing who escorted me here.” Wen Li pointed to Bailing.

She herself found it difficult to explain the whole story, so she could only ask Bailing for help.

“Miss Winry…it’s the real Miss Winry, there’s no mistake, not an imposter. I’m so glad you’re alright. It was my fault for putting you in danger before!” After regaining consciousness, Kotetsu immediately recognized that the Winry in front of him was the real deal, without a doubt.

"Leopard Tail, are you alright? Wake up!" Bee Sting immediately checked on Leopard Tail after regaining consciousness, and the latter also woke up shakily.

"What's wrong with me? Where am I? My head hurts so much, it hurts so much. I feel like I had a very long dream. And Miss Winry... Miss Winry, are you alright?" When Leopard Tail woke up, Dure was still a little alert and stood up abruptly.

However, Leopard Tail didn't seem to be in any abnormal condition and wasn't as frantic as before, which relieved Du Lei somewhat.

“I’m fine, I’m alright. How are you, Mr. Ape Arm?” Wen Li shook her head to indicate that she was alright, and then asked about Ape Arm’s condition.

"Mmm, mmm!" The ape patted its chest and gave a thumbs up to show that it was safe for the time being.

"It's so good that everyone is alright, but... where are we? When Miss Bailing and I came over just now, we saw that everyone had fainted. We were so worried." Wenli breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that everyone was there and safe.

"They all fainted? Oh right, Miss Winry, and Nightingale, didn't you... see anything strange just now, like the beads?" Dure immediately looked around. In his memory, they had been tricked by a green bead, which was why they had all fallen into the illusion.

Now he was searching for the whereabouts of the pearl, but found the sky empty and there was nothing there, which made him somewhat suspicious.

"Beads? What beads? We didn't see anything when we came in, just you lying on the ground." Wenli was a little confused; she didn't quite understand what Dure was trying to say.

"Look over there! That bead you're talking about, could it be that thing?" After waking everyone up, the lark pointed to an altar in the center of the altar, where something seemed to be on it.

“Let me see, that’s it… there’s no mistake, it’s it! We were just affected by the magic of the orb, which is why we were caught in the struggle of illusion. Strange, why isn’t it glowing now?” Bee Sting approached the altar and found an egg-sized bead on it.

After careful examination, she confirmed that this was the same one that had been floating earlier, but the magical power of the two was vastly different.

"Be careful, don't touch it!" Hu Che, who was standing next to Du Fengci, immediately warned him when he saw Du Fengci trying to touch the bead.

"What?" Bee Sting turned her head and glanced at Tiger Che, her hand already touching the bead.

"Click".

With a crisp sound, the bead in Bee Sting's hand suddenly became covered with cracks. All the cracks connected and shattered completely, which stunned Bee Sting. Not only Bee Sting, but everyone stared at this scene in disbelief.

"This...this...I didn't mean to..." Bee Sting realized he had made a mistake and panicked for a moment.

"It's alright. The reason this pearl didn't float and fall down is because it lost its original magical energy. Now that its magical energy is depleted, there's no point in keeping it. So what if it's broken? Miss Bee Sting, don't worry about it," Du Lei comforted Bee Sting.

“But…” Bee Sting knew that Du Lei was trying to comfort her, but she still felt guilty and couldn’t get over it for a while.

"No buts, let's just leave it at that. But... now that the precious pearl is broken, what about the Ghostly Shadow? Where did she go?" As the captain of the guard team, Kotetsu shook his head, signaling Beestaff not to think too much about it.

He knew that the shattered pearl could not be restored to its original form, and he also sensed that the magical energy within it had been depleted. Even if it remained in its original form, it would be of no use. Now, he was more concerned about the ghostly apparition.

.

411 Shattered Jewel

For Dure, what he had seen and heard before was nothing more than a long dream, or perhaps a brief pause while swimming upstream in the river of memory. When the clock was turned back on track, he returned to the altar deep within an unknown cave in Nightmare Mountain.

Although he was dealing with the matters at hand, and splitting up with Hu Che and the others to search for the Ghostly Shadow and strive to destroy her completely, his expression was still somewhat dazed, because he always had a knot in his heart. He always wanted to see that man again and say even a single word to him.

But after the man finished the bowl of fish soup, he left without looking back, braving the heavy snow to go up the North Mountain, and never came back. In his memory, after the man left, Du Lei went to the mountain valley of the North Mountain every day to wait, hoping to see a familiar figure.

Or perhaps when he was digging in the snow pit, he would dig out a living person from it. But over the years, this never happened. When he got older, he personally led people to Beishan. Most recently, he took a trio from the East to Beishan.

This journey to Beishan was fraught with danger and ultimately triggered the backflow of the lava lake, causing the entire Beishan to collapse. Beishan can no longer be seen, and no one will ever explore its mysteries again. However, the person who left many years ago has vanished without a trace.

"What exactly did he say to me that night?" Dureh pondered this question again, but still had no clue.