The most shameless alchemist in history

Not only that, the dagger he had been holding to defend himself against the gorilla had disappeared, replaced by a small crossbow that was only about half an arm's length long. This made the girl, who had heard the sound and was about to turn around and mock him, pause for a moment, not understanding what he meant.

"That crossbow...right, it was when he was knocked away, before he even landed, that he took it from his right arm. But with just a crossbow, it can at most pierce a monster's hide. To think you can use such a weapon to fight a monster is just wishful thinking."

The girl was somewhat surprised that Dure could quickly draw his crossbow to fight, because no normal person would carry such a weapon. Although she had only caught a glimpse of him, she carefully recalled Dure's movements. Besides surprise, she felt more disdain and annoyance.

"Being able to pierce the skin is enough, woman. Stop getting in my way. Now is the time for me, Du Lei, to show my skills. Get out of the way immediately and don't be fooled by my handsome figure. Hehe, you big guys, just bring it on!" Du Lei shouted.

While still lying on the ground with his back against the snow, he rolled away to dodge the attack of the demonized gorilla. At the same time, he quickly adjusted his posture, pushed out a second crossbow bolt from the mechanism, and fired it swiftly. The girl was certainly a little angry at his reckless actions, but for the time being, she could only retreat.

"I've already told you, no matter how many of these crossbow bolts you fire, even if you turn it into a pincushion, you won't be able to inflict a fatal wound. The real hindrance is you... Hmm, what's going on? The magical beast actually fell down, shot down by mere crossbow bolts? How is that possible?"

The girl gathered her strength again. With her superb swordsmanship, she had no intention of standing idly by. She was looking for the best opportunity to strike and defeat her enemy. If it weren't for the fact that the guy was mixed up with the four demonized gorillas and that a hasty strike would kill him as well, she would have already made her move. She scolded Du Lei to leave quickly.

Just as she was labeling Du Lei as "causing trouble," she was surprised to find that the mutated gorilla that Du Lei had shot with an arrow had suddenly collapsed to the ground. This was hard for her to believe, because the defensive capabilities of magical beasts were outstanding, and the arrow had only hit its arm. It shouldn't be like this.

"Hehe, it's too early to be surprised. This is just the beginning, it's not over yet." Du Lei was excited. Taking advantage of his small size, he calmly passed under the ribs of the demonized gorilla. His movement kicked up a flurry of snowflakes, and the gorilla immediately launched a counterattack.

But after retreating to a cherry blossom tree and leaning against it, Dure fired another arrow, hitting the third mutated gorilla. He quickly climbed the tree, and the last mutated gorilla, which had been successfully attracted, angrily circled under the cherry blossom tree, trying to find Dure's location.

Just a few seconds later, Dure, holding a crossbow, hung upside down from the top of a cherry blossom tree, rested the crossbow on his right arm, aimed accurately at the gorilla's back, and fired. With a "thud" as the gorilla fell to the ground, he had taken down the last demonized gorilla.

"Mission accomplished. I only warmed up a little before it was over. How boring. What, were you mesmerized by my agile figure?" Du Lei walked over to check on the several demonized gorillas lying on the ground and kicked them a few times, but they didn't react at all, which surprised the girl.

"There's not a trace of magic energy emanating from you, and you're using an ordinary crossbow, not a magical weapon. How could you possibly defeat them all?" The girl looked at Dure with disbelief; it was all too incredible.

Defeating the demonized gorilla was not difficult for her at all; she could do it cleanly and efficiently in an instant. However, she was able to do this because of two things: her own powerful magical energy fluctuations and the specially made demonic sword in her hand.

Combining these two points, even though she is young, she can challenge multiple high-level magical beasts on her own without being at a disadvantage. However, this young man in front of her does not possess either of these two basic elements, which is simply against common sense. She simply cannot find the secret.

"Woman, you're asking me how I know? If you want to know the answer, just give me a kiss, and I'll tell you. How about that? A good deal, right?" Du Lei had just won a brilliant battle and was quite pleased with himself. He pointed to his cheek and leaned in, completely self-righteous.

"What a load of rubbish! Tell me, there's still a score we haven't settled with you yet!" The girl was enraged by Du Lei's shameless request. She swung her fist and smashed it into his head, instantly creating a bump the size of a thumb. She looked extremely fierce.

"Waaah, I was just joking! Don't be so joking! If you want to know the answer, just go and see for yourself!" Du Lei groaned, clutching his head. If anyone else had dared to treat him like this, he would have definitely lost his temper. But as the girl said, he was in the wrong.

"What an ungrateful guy. If you go over and look, well, these mutated gorillas aren't dead, they're just asleep." After Du Lei's reminder, the girl walked in front of him, squatted down to check the gorillas' condition. She had originally thought that he had killed all the magical beasts.

Upon closer inspection, however, it was discovered that all four gorillas were breathing evenly, and some were even snoring, indicating that they were asleep.

"That wretched woman, how dare she hit me! I've never been hit by a woman before in my entire life. Unforgivable, absolutely unforgivable! I'll let you taste my specially made sleep arrow. I guarantee it will kill you instantly, and then I'll drag you to a secluded grove of trees, hehehe."

Dure has never been a magnanimous person, and he has always believed in the principle of taking revenge on the spot. While the girl was looking down to check on the condition of the mutated gorilla, he immediately raised his crossbow, aimed at the girl's back, and planned to take her by surprise.

"Hmm, there's a murderous aura. Who is it?" The girl, who had been intently observing with her head down, suddenly turned around. Her left hand gripped the hilt of her knife tightly, and her murderous aura startled Dure, who was plotting how to deal with her. Seeing the danger, Dure abruptly pulled the trigger and fired an arrow.

"Quickly lie down! Who's hiding over there acting so suspiciously? Huh? I clearly saw someone over there just now, but where is he? Did I see wrong?" Du Lei jogged forward a bit, ran behind the cherry blossom tree, and pretended to be checking someone out, feigning confusion.

"Did you also sense that murderous aura? Strange, that murderous aura was still there just now, how come it suddenly disappeared without a trace? Did you use some method to erase the trace?" The girl was not surprised by Du Lei's arrow, because Du Lei fired it behind her.

"That's right, not only did I sense murderous intent, but there was also a figure. It was right here, how did it disappear? That was close! I almost got spotted by her. Luckily, my reaction time was fast enough, otherwise she would definitely have killed me. How can a girl be so fierce?"

Du Lei pretended to cooperate with the girl, and after going around behind the cherry blossom tree, he smoothed his chest and recalled the golden eyes in the girl's eyes. This made him feel terrified. He had just walked through the gates of hell.

"Have they already left? There have been too many people in the village lately. Sure enough, they all came for that. I must be careful. I still have things to do. I can't die here." The girl noticed that the murderous aura around her had completely disappeared and confirmed that it was safe before slowly sheathing her sword.

"By the way, how exactly did you do that? How did you put these magical beasts to sleep? Did you cast a hypnotic spell on the arrows? But you didn't show any magical fluctuations, so you shouldn't be able to cast a hypnotic spell." The girl walked over to Dure and continued to ask, quite curious about this question.

"It's sleeping grass," Du Lei told her directly, without hiding anything.

"What is a sleeping grass?" The girl, who knew nothing about plants, suddenly became interested.

"It's a plant that grows nearby. It has hypnotic properties. After picking the sleeping grass, you dry it, grind it into powder, and apply it to the arrowhead. As long as the arrowhead makes a wound, allowing the sleeping grass powder to enter the bloodstream, it will have a hypnotic effect. Do you understand?" Du Lei explained casually.

"No wonder you said earlier that it would be enough to just pierce the skin. So that's what you meant. But I didn't expect that someone who looks so silly could actually be so proficient in pharmacology. You're practically an alchemist." The girl nodded thoughtfully.

"Ha! What do you mean by looking stupid? I can't pretend I didn't hear that. I was the one who saved you just now, otherwise you might have been taken away by these mutated gorillas, and then... you know what happened. You should be grateful and offer yourself to me, but instead you're cursing me."

Dure expressed his protest. Despite his young age, he has never lost a verbal battle and is known for his meticulous and argumentative nature.

"Idiot, even if you don't make a move, I can easily take care of these gorillas. Don't use your barren brain to think about things like a toad eating swan meat, okay?" The girl retorted, and as she said this, she remembered her previous expression, her cheeks flushing.

"I knew you were looking at me strangely. So you've been eyeing this swan. Well, your self-assessment is pretty accurate." Du Lei took two steps back, looking utterly smug.

"Who's the toad and who's the swan? Forget it, I'm too lazy to argue with an idiot like you. We should go back now, or they'll worry." The girl gave up arguing with Du Lei, realizing that winning against such a scoundrel wouldn't bring her any benefit.

She immediately turned to return to the inn; she had run away on her own, and her companions were probably frantic with worry by now.

"Hey, don't go! Oh right, you still haven't told me what an alchemist is." Du Lei remembered the new term she had just mentioned and immediately chased after her to ask.

"Don't even dream about it, you toad. Alchemists are such noble and glorious beings. Even if you cultivate for another hundred years, you will never become an alchemist. Goodbye, never again." The girl waved without turning her head, and her figure gradually disappeared into the distance.

"Tch, as if I want to see you. Alchemists do sound pretty cool, but what exactly do they do?" Dure pondered, resting his chin on his hand, but couldn't figure it out for a moment. He could only hang his head, retrieve the crossbow bolt, and prepare to leave.

004 There aren't many people this kind-hearted anymore.

The moonlight slanted down from the sky, illuminating the snow-covered ground. Beside the steaming hot spring, the young Du Lei, stepping on the arm of the demonized gorilla, used all his strength to finally pull out the last arrow. These arrows were not easy to make and could not be wasted.

"Mission accomplished. So you gorillas, of all people to mess with, you had to come to our hot spring village to cause trouble. Don't you know that I protect the hot spring village? Now you're tasting the bitter fruit. But that woman was too arrogant. Sooner or later she'll fall into my hands, and I'll make her suffer."

Du Lei had just been mocked by the girl, and with nowhere to vent his anger, he took it out on these mutated gorillas. Just then, a patch of firelight slowly approached from not far away. It turned out to be the men of the village wielding hoes and shovels, surrounding them, looking for the shadow of the monster that had invaded the village.

"Hey, where are those monsters? Hurry up and come out, let's see how I, Black Wind, teach you a lesson! Hmm, I can't see a single one, Du Lei. Don't be afraid, with me and Copper Mountain here, we brothers are united, our strength can break metal. What do we care about these demons and monsters? They can all go to the side!"

A tall, thin boy carrying a rusty iron sword charged forward first. He held the sword in one hand and a torch in the other, looking around. His imposing manner was as if he wanted to challenge a monster to a fierce battle. Anyone who saw his righteous and awe-inspiring appearance would give him a thumbs up and praise him as a young hero.

"Come on, you're talking about brothers working together, oh, and their strength can break gold. I think they're too thin even to be used as toilet paper, let alone break gold. As soon as something happened, you ran away faster than a rabbit." Du Lei interrupted the boy named Black Wind in time. If you were to rank them by their shamelessness...

So, Du Lei is undoubtedly the number one shameless person. He has done many things like cheating, swindling, and peeping at widows bathing since he was a child. The second place goes to Hei Feng, who has the face of a natural son. With thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a dignified appearance, he would be the protagonist wherever he is.

"Du Lei, you're wronging me. I just suddenly had a stomachache and needed to use the restroom, right, Tong Shan? Am I right?" Hei Feng frantically winked at the chubby Tong Shan behind him. In crucial moments, you need someone to vouch for you, and Tong Shan was the perfect choice here.

"Hey Black Wind, you just said you were going to get killed and should run away, but you've been hiding in the back the whole time. I haven't heard you say you had a stomachache." Copper Mountain scratched his head. He didn't have as many tricks up his sleeve as Du Lei and Black Wind; he was always straightforward.

"Ouch, my stomach is starting to hurt now," Black Wind said, bending over and pretending to be serious when he saw that Copper Mountain wasn't covering for him.

"Alright, alright, stop acting here. This isn't the first time I've met you. Anyway, everything's been resolved. There were four monsters that invaded the village, and we've taken care of them all here." Du Lei waved his hand, indicating that Hei Feng didn't need to keep up the act, which made the latter give an awkward smile.

"Durey, did you handle all of this by yourself? I thought magical beasts were all very powerful, but it seems they're nothing special." Kru, holding a torch, walked over, squatted down, and patted the mutated gorilla. A dozen or so people followed him, all curiously gathering around to watch.

"Oh, so-so. By the way, it seems the dosage of the sleeping herb was a bit too low this time. Who knows when they might wake up?" Dure was quite dissatisfied with Kru's nonchalant attitude, and he deliberately dragged out his words.

"What will wake up?" Kru, who had just touched the mutated gorilla, immediately pulled his hand back as if he had been electrocuted, and his expression changed drastically.

His action startled the already somewhat apprehensive villagers, and several of them stumbled and fell in the snow.

"Oh, just kidding. I personally prepared the dosage, so there's absolutely no chance of anything going wrong. They'll be sleeping like logs until dawn tomorrow, and I guarantee they won't wake up." Du Lei patted his chest to assure him, feeling particularly relieved to see Kru's still-shaken expression.

"You should at least have a limit to your jokes. By the way, what should we do with these magical beasts?" Kru glared at Dure. If someone else had been fooling him, he would have been furious and lost his temper long ago. But since it was Dure, he could only grit his teeth and swallow his anger.

Because he had watched this kid grow up, and he had always been a vengeful person since he was a child, if he were to offend him carelessly, he probably wouldn't be able to sleep soundly. After glossing over the matter of being fooled, he began to ask about the way to deal with the demonized gorillas, there were four of them here.

"As for disposal, it's winter now, and this weather is perfect for making some cured meat. We peel off the skin, remove the bones, separate the meat, chop it into large pieces, and air-dry it. But I think I heard from those mercenaries that after a magical beast dies, a part of its body will turn into magical bones, which are materials for making weapons."

As he spoke, Du Lei pulled the village butcher over and gestured to the mutated gorilla's torso. In case the butcher didn't understand, he drew a detailed diagram of the mutated gorilla's dismemberment on the ground with a twig. The butcher nodded repeatedly, and Du Lei seemed to be teaching a student.

"What is a demonic bone? But Du Lei, I've slaughtered plenty of wild boars and deer, but I've never slaughtered a demonic beast before. And it's so big, with such thick skin, can I even cut it? Can I even eat its meat?" The butcher was still somewhat doubtful and asked with suspicion.

"I only heard the mercenary's general idea about demon bones. It seems to be a powerful part of the body that a demon beast is born from, such as claws or fur. I don't really understand it. Anyway, after you make your cut, if you see anything particularly hard, remember to save it for me. I still need it."

Du Lei gave a brief description, explaining that this was an area he wasn't yet good at, but he believed that once he figured it out, everything would be fine.

"As for dismembering magical beasts, I remember giving you some dried Bone-Eating Flowers before. Put the Bone-Eating Flowers and these gorillas together and let the Bone-Eating Flowers' gas evaporate for four or five hours. Their fur will soften, and you can then easily and happily make your cuts without any pressure."

"As for the meat quality, that's even simpler. Muscle tissue is composed of water and protein; the difference lies in the proportions and the presence of trace elements. After air-drying, dip it in soy sauce and chili, and you can eat it with a crunchy texture. You might even be able to taste the beef flavor. What's there to be afraid of?"

Du Lei patted the butcher, who was twice his age, and began to teach him his butchering experience. To outsiders, this would seem strange, since it is usually adults who teach children. This was completely reversed. But to the people of Hot Spring Village, it was perfectly natural.

"So that's how it is. No wonder you're the most learned scoundrel in our hot spring village, Du Lei. You know so much!" The butcher gave Du Lei a thumbs up.

"I can accept the title of 'most learned' without any guilt. As for the title of 'scoundrel,' you should take it back. I can't bear it. If you pay more attention to the newspaper and read more books every day, you can be one-tenth as smart as me. After all, you can't make up for innate talent."

Du Lei waved his hand arrogantly. His existence was something that the people of Hot Spring Village both loved and hated. They loved that the kid was clever and eager to learn. Apart from work, he spent all his time in the warehouse, searching through old, yellowed books that no one cared about, yet he read them with great interest.

"Oh right, Dure, there's one last problem. These gorillas aren't dead yet, they're just hypnotized. How am I supposed to attack them? What if they wake up and attack me?" The Butcher remembered the most important step; he didn't want to risk his life.

"Oh, I almost forgot about that. I'll bring you some paralysis grass seeds when I get home. Once you've paralyzed these gorillas, you can do whatever you want with them. Okay, there's nothing else here, everyone can go home now. Hart, wait a minute, I need to tell you something," Dure called out.

"Get these monsters out of here right now, I still have business to do. No, Dure, don't come looking for me, it's never good if you do." Hart, the owner of the mountaintop bathhouse, directed his men to carry the gorilla away and take it to the butcher's workshop to be made into cured meat.

But these gorillas were so heavy that it took more than a dozen people a lot of effort to lift them. Hart was not a local; he was a businessman who came to the hot spring village to invest in building bathhouses and hotels. He was also the richest man in the village and had fenced off the best mountaintop bathhouse in the entire hot spring village.

"Oh dear, Mr. Hart, your words make me sound like a jinx. It's so hurtful. You're a big businessman, and harmony brings wealth, right? Mr. Hart, haven't you ever wondered why the monsters attack your place instead of anywhere else?" Du Lei said with a smile as he leaned closer.

"Well..." Hart hesitated for a moment. He thought about it carefully. Fortunately, this monster attack did not cause any casualties, otherwise it would have been terrible.

"It's lucky I happened to be passing by today and took care of these monsters for you. What if I were gone one day and four or even eight more monsters showed up? What would you do then? If one or two more customers got hurt and your reputation was ruined, who would dare to patronize your place?"

Dure seized the opportunity, accurately assessing Hart's condition, and gradually encouraged him, making Hart tremble with fear.

"Dure, what's going on? Why are they attacking my bathhouse?" Hart finally couldn't help but ask.

"This is a problem with the feng shui. I recently read a secret book from the Porcelain Country in the East called Feng Shui. Wow, that knowledge is so profound. Just by changing the layout, not only will there be no more monsters causing trouble, but it will also attract customers and guarantee your wealth will roll in."

Dure spoke with such conviction that Hart, who had been fooled by him many times before and was determined not to believe his nonsense, was tempted again.

"How should the layout be changed?" Hart asked cautiously.

"Don't worry about that, leave it to me, Boss Ha. What kind of friendship do we have? Although helping you change the feng shui layout will be extremely dangerous and risk your life, I'm willing to risk it all for you, Boss Ha," Du Lei said, patting his chest with great pride, which moved Hart deeply.

"Alright, Dure, I'll leave this to you. Just let me know if you need anything. You're a true brother." Hart shook Dure's hand, tears of gratitude streaming down his face. What a wonderful person he was, willing to risk his life for his friend's business. He was practically a model young man of the new era!

“Boss Ha, since you’ve asked, I’ll take care of it for you. By the way, Boss Ha, the gap in the fence over there was broken by these gorillas. Considering we’re friends, I’ll fix it for you, and I’ll give you a friendly discount of 20% off,” Du Lei pointed to the gap.

"Okay, you can arrange it. I'll head back now. Sigh, Durei, I really misunderstood you before. I never expected you to be so considerate of me. These days, there aren't many people as warm-hearted and kind as you." Hart gave Durei another grateful look before leaving with peace of mind.

005 We must get our hands on it.

The commotion at the mountaintop bathhouse finally ended with a dozen villagers carrying the unconscious, demonized gorilla to the butcher's workshop. In the various inns throughout the village, many rooms were lit with oil lamps, clearly indicating that the tourists visiting the village had been disturbed from their sleep by this minor disturbance.

However, most of the oil lamps went out after a short while. The mere invasion of the village by low-level magical beasts was not enough to warrant their intervention. They had not come to this remote mountain village to do good deeds; the beams of light that occasionally appeared to the north of the village were their true purpose.

Just outside an inn on the west side of the village, a young man, probably in his twenties, wearing light black armor, paced anxiously back and forth. He was scratching his head with both hands, looking extremely frustrated. His black hair was quite rare, indicating that he came from the distant East. There was a long spear on the ground.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no! Miss is missing! I've searched the whole village, but I can't find her! Where could she have gone? Waaah! Miss, please don't let anything happen to you! What will I do if something happens to you? Oh, Miss, you're finally back! Where have you been?"

Just as the young man was getting anxious and didn't know what to do, and was about to go out and look again, a girl in a long black dress with a cold expression walked over in the moonlight. Upon seeing her, the young man excitedly shouted out, and his previously worried face suddenly lit up with a radiant glow.

"Duanmu, I told you not to worry. Miss just went out for a walk and will be back soon. You didn't believe me. Look, Miss is back. Come in quickly, old servant has prepared some black tea for you to dispel the chill of the night."

At this moment, the inn door creaked open, and a short old man, probably less than 1.2 meters tall, came out. He waved for the young man and girl named Duanmu to go in. The girl nodded slightly and went in first, while Duanmu pulled the spear from the snow and followed into the room.

"Hey old man Teng, with so many experts flooding into the village, how can I not be worried? Hey, Miss, you've used a knife. What's going on?" After complaining for a while, Duanmu quickly noticed that the slender long knife the girl was holding showed signs of being unsheathed, and immediately became suspicious.

"I only encountered a few mutated gorillas on the mountaintop. They were low-level magical beasts, nothing serious." The girl shook her head gently. She sat down next to the wooden table, where the oil lamp illuminated the surrounding furnishings. After all, it was a remote mountain village, with little decent furniture, making it seem rather simple.