The most shameless alchemist in history

"Pah, don't talk so disgustingly. Who wants to die with an old geezer like you? Even if I die, it will be after I've made great achievements on the battlefield, and I'll die drunk in the arms of a beauty. Besides, I haven't even shown my true skills yet, so I won't fall down so easily. Come on!" Duanmu roared.

He flicked his spear, stomped his right foot heavily backward, sending the snowflakes scattering. His narrow eyes narrowed slightly, his body taut like a drawn bow. The wind whipped his coat, and a large number of undead were swept into the air by the evil dragon.

Standing in Duanmu's position, he could clearly see the spirits of the dead being swiftly sliced ​​into pieces by the icy wind, which was like a sharp blade in the snowstorm, leaving only scattered white bones. Terror was spreading, despair was approaching, and he was prepared for the worst.

012 I won't indulge you.

In the snow-covered mountains at night, the most precious things are nothing more than a safe place to shelter from the wind and snow, and a wisp of fire in the boundless darkness. Fire can bring warmth and light, and it can also bring something called hope. But for Nan Yin at this moment, there is only guilt.

Du Lei returned carrying a bundle of firewood. He brushed the wind and snow off his clothes and plopped down on the ground. The fire on the pile of firewood crackled and burned, illuminating the surrounding scene. It was a cave that was a little over a meter high, less than two meters wide, and only three or four meters deep, barely enough for two people to squeeze into.

It's more accurate to call it a snow cave rather than a mountain cave. The two ran wildly and were about to be caught by the blizzard when Du Lei rolled into the snow cave in time and pulled Nan Yin in with him. The two barely escaped the blizzard's attack.

"Luckily, I had the foresight to go into the mountains early and dig several solid snow caves near the sealed cave to use as hiding places. I also prepared fire and kerosene, otherwise we would have been doomed. Hey, eat something to replenish your strength so we can enter the cave tomorrow."

Du Lei took out some dried meat from his pocket and handed a piece to Nan Yin. This kind of dried meat was made by the villagers themselves after hunting in the mountains near the village. After they obtained the game, they cut it into pieces and dried it. In order to preserve it, the dried meat was cut into long strips, each weighing two or three pounds. When eating it, you had to cut it off with a knife yourself.

"What's wrong with you? I'm talking to you, why are you ignoring me? I'm your savior, how can you treat me like this?" Du Lei was a little angry when he saw that Nan Yin didn't come to pick him up and looked depressed. He immediately questioned her with a stern face.

"I won't eat this stuff that's been taken from a dead person." Nan Yin turned her head to the side. The fire crackled and popped, the red flames illuminating her profile. There was no trace of relief at surviving the ordeal on her face, only deep worry.

"Fine, don't eat it then. We're in the Snow Ridge, a place where you could die at any moment. I'm not like your two lackeys; I won't spoil you like they do. Eat it or don't." Du Lei had no patience to comfort Nan Yin. He threw the jerky on the ground and started cutting and eating it with a knife.

“Duanmu and Grandpa Teng are not my followers, they are my very important companions. They could have chosen to stay in the Phoenix Kingdom and surrender to the new emperor, and they would not have had to suffer with me. Yet they still traveled thousands of miles to come here with me. Do you even understand this?” Nan Yin suddenly became furious.

She immediately drew her sword and stabbed at Du Lei, splitting the jerky he was holding in two. Even in such a confined space, she was able to accurately strike her target and move freely. Clearly, she had undergone rigorous training in swordsmanship, unlike Du Lei, who had learned the unorthodox methods on his own.

"That's a real shame." Du Lei lowered his head and picked up the other half of the jerky that had fallen to the ground, holding it in his hand, in response to Nan Yin's question.

"What did you say?" Nan Yin did not put down the knife in her hand. She did not quite understand the meaning of Du Lei's words, so she immediately asked.

"I mean, as a country bumpkin like me who has lived for thirteen years and has never left the area within a few dozen miles of the hot spring village, unlike you who have traveled thousands of miles, or who carries such a heavy sense of mission, I don't understand anything. All I know is that you will starve to death if you don't eat."

Du Lei flicked away the long knife that Nan Yin was pointing at him with his finger. He continued eating the jerky, showing no intention of provoking Nan Yin, let alone apologizing to her. His attitude stunned Nan Yin. She had only needed an outlet for her emotions, but it was like hitting soft mud.

"They'll be alright, right?" Nan Yin slowly sheathed the knife, curled up in a ball with her arms wrapped around her legs, and asked in a choked voice. She tried to suppress her emotions and appear strong enough, but now the two people who had always been by her side were gone.

In a strange land thousands of miles away from her homeland, no matter how resolute her heart was, she was still just a thirteen or fourteen-year-old child. She would be afraid, she would be terrified, she would be bewildered. The firelight devoured the branches, burning fiercely, but she felt a bone-chilling cold.

"I know those two are very powerful, more powerful than most of the mercenaries in the village, but no matter how powerful a person is, they are insignificant when facing the power of nature. Have you ever seen how terrifying the snow mountain is? Those undead that crawled up from the ground were all lives swallowed by the snow mountain."

Du Lei shook his head. He originally wanted to say something more realistic, but seeing Nan Yin's sorrowful appearance, he held back.

"I didn't want anything to happen to them. If only I hadn't been so willful in coming to find the Star Stone," Nan Yin said, lost in self-blame. She seemed not to have heard what Du Lei said. She still considered the accident involving Duanmu and Old Man Teng as her own responsibility and couldn't forgive herself.

"I read in a book that star stones are magical things that contain magic. Different star stones have different properties. Some can control fire, some can control lightning, and some can give people the special ability to become invisible or even fly. They are very precious."

Du Lei tried to divert Nan Yin's attention by asking about the Star Stone, since everyone who had recently flocked to the hot spring village was there for the Star Stone hidden in the North Mountain Cave. Du Lei's knowledge of the Star Stone was limited to what he had read in old books.

“You’re only half right.” Nan Yin interrupted Du Lei, gently shaking her head. She knew far more about Star Stone than he did.

"What do you mean by 'half'?" Du Lei asked immediately, seeing signs of Nan Yin's emotions easing, continuing to divert her attention.

"What you're talking about is the power of a complete star stone. A complete star stone is indeed very powerful. Some possess elemental power, while others have other special powers. They are ever-changing and have always been something people dream of. However, in most cases, the star stones that people discover are incomplete."

Nan Yin corrected Du Lei's words without intending to hide anything from him, since these were basic common sense, not some mysterious secret.

"How is it incomplete?" Du Lei became interested and took this opportunity to try to get more information from Nan Yin.

"Starstones are called starstones because alchemists believe they are formed from fallen stars. Each star has a unique power. For example, the Star of Flame possesses the power of flame. When the Star of Flame was destroyed and fell to the ground, it became the Starstone of Flame."

Nan Yin received an excellent elite education from a young age and is very knowledgeable about Star Stones; otherwise, she wouldn't have traveled so far to explore them.

"I've read in books that starstones are formed from fallen stars, but since each starstone possesses a unique and special power, why do they become incomplete?" Dure was puzzled by this question, and of course, this wasn't the only thing that puzzled him.

This was the second time he had heard the term "alchemist" from Nan Yin, and it piqued his interest once again. However, Du Lei knew that one cannot become fat in one bite. He needed to figure out the matter of the star stone first before asking Nan Yin anything else, and it also depended on whether she was willing to tell him.

"Because stars break during their fall, just like when you throw a stone and it hits the ground, it will crack. Isn't it normal for a star to break into pieces during its fall from the sky?" Nan Yin explained in detail, using a stone as an example.

"I see. So, if a whole starstone falls, it will split into countless pieces. In that case, its power will be incomplete?" Du Lei nodded thoughtfully. Although it was the first time he had heard of such a thing, his comprehension was quite good.

"That's right. When a starstone falls to the ground and breaks into many pieces, the core piece possesses a certain degree of primordial power, while the other fragments only have amplifying power. For example, the core of the Flame Starstone can directly generate the purest flames."

Looking at the blazing fire in front of her, Nan Yin still used the Flame Star Stone as an example, because it was the easiest for people to understand.

"But the fragments outside the core star stone, although they are also star stones, are obviously not as powerful as the core star stone. They produce flames with impurities. Although they are much stronger than ordinary flames, they cannot compare with pure flames. However, they can upgrade ordinary flames."

Nan Yin paused for a moment before continuing to explain. Her mood had been quite low, but after saying a series of things, she relaxed considerably.

"Upgrade from ordinary flame?" Du Lei raised another question, as this was the first time he had ever heard of flames being divided into many types.

"Of course, flames are divided into many levels. Higher-level flames can control lower-level flames. Is that hard to understand?" Nan Yin asked.

"By the way, some flames are crimson, and some are ghostly green. Is that what makes them different levels?" Du Lei quickly realized.

“You can understand it roughly like that.” Nan Yin nodded, confirming Du Lei’s conjecture.

"So how can an incomplete star stone be turned into a complete star stone? Is it by collecting all the fragments? Wouldn't that be a huge undertaking?" Du Lei continued to ask, drawing on his similar experience.

"To obtain a complete star stone, you must find the core piece, and then use it as a foundation to continuously devour fragments of the same attribute, gradually absorbing power to become complete, and eventually turning it into a complete star stone. Of course, if you are lucky enough, you may find a complete star stone in one go."

Nan Yin patiently explained, answering almost every question Du Lei had.

"Does a complete star stone mean that there is a high possibility that a complete star stone is hidden in the cave in the North Mountain?" Du Lei pondered for a while and immediately came up with a surprising answer in his mind, looking at Nan Yin in astonishment.

"Based on the seven-colored pillar of light that has appeared above the sealed cave these past few days, as well as the strength of the sealing barrier, what is hidden in the North Mountain cave, even if it is not a complete star stone, is definitely the core part of a star stone." Nan Yin nodded and gave her judgment.

"A complete starstone, huh? Heh heh, so you can die in peace now."

The raging flames suddenly went out, and before Nan Yin could react, Du Lei lunged at her.

013 Rules are agreements among living people.

This scene came extremely suddenly. Nan Yin, who had just calmed down a bit, was caught off guard and knocked to the ground by Du Lei. She instinctively wanted to cry out, but Du Lei tightly covered her mouth. Her second reaction was to draw her knife, but Du Lei's leg pressed down on her arm.

This made Nan Yin feel extremely desperate. She could foresee a disastrous scene about to happen. Unwilling to surrender, she bit Du Lei hard and then pressed her hand against his lower abdomen, causing him to visibly shrink back and experience a spasm in his abdomen.

Nan Yin had received various martial arts training since childhood and was very skilled in anti-grappling techniques. However, even though Du Lei suffered repeated serious injuries in a short period of time, he still held Nan Yin down firmly, making no sound, and kept pointing his finger at the entrance of the hole, making a shushing gesture.

This puzzled Nan Yin, who couldn't understand what Du Lei was up to. But then she heard a voice coming from outside the cave. She remembered that the words about killing her hadn't come from Du Lei, but from someone outside the cave. She looked at the cave entrance suspiciously and cautiously approached.

"Hey, I paid you to help me retrieve the star stones from the sealed cave. How can you do this after paying such a high price? This is against the rules. Do you just want money? How much do you want? Name your price, and I'll give it to you, as long as you let us leave here."

Amidst the rustling snow, a middle-aged man resembling a wealthy businessman retreated continuously. More than a dozen corpses lay scattered on the ground. These were unlike the undead that Du Lei and his companions had encountered before. The nearby snow was stained with crimson blood, creating a dazzling and shocking scene.

Beside the wealthy businessman were four or five men who looked like mercenaries, all of whom appeared extremely terrified. On the other side, a tall man in a red bodysuit was approaching, but from Du Lei's angle, he could not make out the man's facial features.

Because at this moment, he and Nan Yin were huddled in a narrow snow cave. To prevent being discovered, Du Lei had sealed the entrance of the snow cave beforehand, leaving only a few small holes to allow air to circulate. At this moment, he and Nan Yin were lying on the ground, looking at the situation outside through the small holes.

"Rules? Rules are agreements between the living, but they're completely invalid for the dead. Actually, I'm not that interested in star stones, but I smelled blood and followed you here. Thank you for bringing me here."

The man's voice was varied, thin and sharp, especially the trembling syllables in his guttural voice, as if he was suppressing his inner ecstasy. His red outfit was particularly eye-catching in the snow, and the pointed high-heeled leather boots he wore were quite rare, making him look incredibly alluring.

"You're kidding me, saying you're not interested in star stones? If you weren't interested in star stones, why would you go on a killing spree and kill so many people, Kashu? I'm warning you, don't do anything stupid. If you dare to kill me, you'll face endless pursuit once you leave the snow mountain."

When the middle-aged businessman couldn't reach an agreement with the dangerous man, he resorted to vicious threats. In fact, he wasn't exaggerating at all. He worked for a large guild, and if Kashu attacked him, it would be a provocation against the guild and would inevitably provoke a frenzied retaliation.

"A hunt, huh? Sounds pretty good. Since you brought me here to participate in this interesting killing game, I'll give you a choice. Guess which card I have in my hand." The man's voice was very penetrating, sending chills down one's spine.

He held a card between the index and middle fingers of his left hand. From Du Lei's position, it was roughly visible that it was a playing card, but he couldn't make out the suit. The man held the card face down to the middle-aged businessman, asking him to guess the card's face. His every move exuded a powerful aura of authority.

"Don't you understand what I'm saying? Who wants to play a boring poker game with you? Go kill him! I don't believe he's really that strong. After killing so many people, his magic power must have been exhausted. Go and take this guy's head!" The middle-aged businessman shouted, pointing at the man named Kashu.

He simply couldn't bear the immense pressure; such an action was tantamount to a desperate gamble. At his command, the few surviving mercenaries rushed forward without hesitation. They weren't just doing this for money; at this moment, they were risking their lives.

"What a pity, you made the wrong choice. Let me tell you the answer. This is a Joker card wielding the Grim Reaper's scythe, so..." As several mercenaries rushed up, Kashu didn't dodge or evade, but chose to stand still. He slowly flipped the playing card over.

"Hmm!" Nan Yin, who was hiding in the snow cave, almost cried out in surprise when she saw Kashu waving playing cards and rushing forward in the dim firelight.

Fortunately, Dure reacted quickly and covered her mouth tightly. With the howling wind, her voice was successfully masked, and a nauseating, sweet-smelling odor soon filled the air, blowing into their nostrils with the strong wind. Several mercenaries collapsed on the spot.

"What? They're all at least eight-star mid-level mercenaries, and Seta even has two-star high-level strength, yet they couldn't withstand a single move from you, Kashu? You were definitely hiding your strength. Is your true strength only Steel-level?" The middle-aged businessman trembled as he saw the blood-dripping playing cards.

The guy in front of me, named Kashu, was a mercenary he had gathered before setting off to find the Star Stone. At that time, his strength was only at the mid-level of the five-star level, which was neither high nor low. However, the middle-aged businessman was in need of manpower at the time, so he didn't pay attention to that and brought Kashu to the snow mountain.

Aside from avoiding contact with other mercenaries and being somewhat eccentric, Kashu was otherwise unremarkable throughout the journey. However, after leaving the hot spring village, and especially after experiencing the blizzard, his entire demeanor changed drastically. He began a frenzied killing spree, slaughtering all the mercenaries.

"Coo coo coo coo, want to know my true strength? Why not ask the Grim Reaper? Maybe it knows." Kashu held the murderous ghost card in his hand, looking down at the middle-aged businessman with a superior posture. He was already over 1.8 meters tall, almost 1.85 meters.

The short, fat, middle-aged businessman plopped down on the snow again. Kashu kept his eyes half-closed, and the sharp light reflected from his eyes was enough to make people shudder. This was not the look a normal person should have. Seeing that all his guards had been killed, the middle-aged businessman crawled backward in fear.

"Please, please let me go, Kashu. I'll negotiate whatever you want. By the way, you're so capable, I can recommend you to that person. You should know that I work for him, right? You'll definitely gain his favor, and your future will be limitless."

The middle-aged businessman staggered as he crawled on the ground. Although he was completely dominated by fear, he still managed to force a smile, trying to grasp at a glimmer of hope. For someone who had experienced many storms, he was unwilling to die on the vast snow-covered mountain and turn into cold bones.

"The person behind you sounds impressive. He must have many experts around him," Kashu said, intrigued. He licked his lips lightly, his fanatical demeanor sending chills down one's spine. Crimson blood continued to soak into the white snow.

"So let me be your introducer. As long as you work for that person, you can get everything you want—fame, status, wealth—you can rise to the top of the world. That's something countless people dream of. So just die!"

The middle-aged businessman kept trying to lure Kashu with his words, attempting to lower his guard. Just as Kashu was pondering what he was saying with great interest, the businessman suddenly pulled out a gunpowder gun from his pocket, aimed it at Kashu's heart, and pulled the trigger. The gunshot was unusually muffled, shaking off a lot of snow.

"Hahahaha, Kashu, you think you can see that person? Don't you know who you are? What, you were so powerful, why are you lying on the ground, motionless? Weren't you trying to kill me? And look what happened, you still died at my hands, hahahaha! What?"

The middle-aged businessman was overjoyed at his successful attack. Kashu had indeed fallen to the ground from the force of that shot. He got up and spat. Although he was mediocre in combat ability, he had gotten to where he was today not by brute force, but by his brain.

He mocked the fallen Kashu without restraint, wanting to release all the emotions that had been suppressed in his heart. However, at this moment, Kashu, who had been lying on the ground, suddenly stood up, and stood up abruptly like a plank, without bending his knees.

"Oh my, not bad at all. You almost got hit. You think I'd say that? Just kidding. You think a mere gunpowder gun can hurt me? How interesting. So how should I punish your arrogant behavior?" Kashu twisted his neck.

The cracking sound coming from his neck sent shivers down the spine of the middle-aged businessman, who dared not look him in the eye.

"No, no, I don't want to die! No, please!" The middle-aged businessman turned and fled, trying to escape this dangerous place. That guy named Kashu was nothing short of a crazed beast, a killing machine, an absolute demon.

"Thump." Amidst the rustling snow, thick blood mist sprayed out, and the middle-aged businessman collapsed to his knees before he could even scream.

"Who will be the next prey?" Kashu looked at the playing cards still dripping with blood in his hand, and left the vast snowfield with a grin.

Large patches of blood were left on the snow, but the new snow was falling and would soon cover the bloodstains.

It was as if nothing had happened.

014 Totem from the Eastern Continent

Although a night had passed, Nan Yin was still troubled by what had happened the night before. There were two things that happened yesterday. One was that Duanmu and Old Man Teng, who had accompanied her on her long journey to the Western Continent, were swallowed up by a raging blizzard while trying to cover her retreat.

Another incident occurred when she and Dure were sheltering from a blizzard in a snow cave, they witnessed a man named Kashu unleashing a frenzied massacre. After counting by her and Dure the next day, they found that a total of eighteen mercenaries had died at Kashu's hands, a scene that she found hard to let go of.

"For the snow mountain, death is a normal thing. No matter how powerful or spirited you were in life, the snow mountain will not show you mercy because of these things. Whether it is dazzling blood or cold bones, they will soon be covered by the white snow. This is the final destination."

Du Lei looked at the frozen corpse on the ground and sighed softly. For him, who had made a living on the snow-capped mountains since childhood, this scene was commonplace. He often saw a finger suddenly emerge from the ground when he was digging through snowdrifts and casually grabbing a handful of snow to quench his thirst.

"I understand. I should have been prepared for this from the very beginning when I left the Phoenix Kingdom to embark on the journey to find the Star Stone. But I could have done something, I could have helped them, yet I chose to be a deserter." Nan Yin walked forward with a heavy heart, filled with self-reproach.