The most shameless alchemist in history

“There’s no need for that… By the way, Lance.” Dure shook his head, clearly focused entirely on the book, his eyes never leaving the pages. But then he seemed to remember something and turned to ask Lance.

"what?"

"Have you heard of Xu Yuan?" Du Lei asked him seriously.

"The Void Abyss? What kind of place is that?" Lance was completely confused.

"It's a... very special place. The environment there is harsh. There are no forests, no trees, no grasslands, no rivers. All there is is withered and decaying, stinking swamps, and terrifying smoke that could swallow people up at any time," Dure described the state of the Void to Lance.

"That sounds like a really scary place. But Dure, does such a place really exist in this world?" Lance scratched his head. Although he didn't quite understand, he could tell from Dure's description that it was definitely not a beautiful place.

"Maybe there is, maybe there isn't." Du Lei nodded first, then shook his head, it was unclear what he was denying.

“Even if such a place really exists, the environment here is so harsh that no one could possibly survive here, right?” Lance didn’t know why Dure would suddenly bring up this “Void Abyss”, but seeing Dure’s serious expression, he still chuckled and continued the conversation.

“There is indeed no one living here, but there is a kind of creature that rules that area… That doesn’t seem quite accurate; you could say they are ruled.” Dure kept correcting himself, because even he didn’t know what kind of place it was.

"Bio-creatures? Are they terrifying monsters? Only terrifying monsters can survive in terrifying environments, right?" In Lance's mind, only powerful creatures could rule harsh environments. According to Durei, the creatures of the Void Abyss must be exceptionally powerful.

“They are indeed terrifying creatures. They cannot survive in the Abyss, so they are always causing trouble in our world, trying to seize a piece of land where they can survive.” Dure nodded, finally reaching a consensus with Lance on this issue.

"Then aren't they just like magical beasts, enemies of us humans?" Lance was taken aback and came to this conclusion.

"Enemies? Lance, do you think they are inherently opposed to humans, destined to fight each other?" Dure asked rhetorically.

"Huh? Isn't that right? We've fought many wars against the monsters. Although I haven't read many books, I know that this long war has lasted for hundreds of years and is still going on now. Of course we are enemies." Lance didn't understand why Dure would ask such a question.

"A war that lasted for hundreds of years...humans...monsters...and creatures of the Void, all of this..." Dure paused here, lost in thought.

"Durey, what's wrong?" Lance asked with concern, noticing his strange expression.

But Dure did not respond to him again, still lost in thought, which was one of the strangest things Lance remembered about Dure.

Now, more than half a month later, when Lance and Dure appeared in this dark ruin, Lance naturally didn't associate this place with the Abyss or anything like that. To him, those were all too distant. His only concern right now was Dure's safety.

"Hey, Dure, are you really okay? It's so hot, I can't get close at all. Should we go find someone to help? No, Dure said that this matter must not be known to a third person. What should we do now..." Lance was caught in a dilemma.

He paced anxiously back and forth nearby, trying to help Dure, but he didn't know where to start.

"What to do, what to do, what to do... No, we absolutely can't sit idly by any longer, we have to do something. Huh, over there... someone's coming? No, it's not a person!" Just as Lance was at his wit's end, he suddenly noticed a shadow approaching from the outside.

His first thought was that someone was coming. Although Du Lei had told him not to let anyone know, the presence of someone meant more help. However, his anticipation vanished as the shadowy figure approached, because he realized that it was no one approaching.

Instead, it crawls on the ground, a monster with a dark green body and ferocious fangs!

.

285 Be sincere

In the real world, Lance panicked at the approach of the group of unknown dark green creatures, while Dure, completely immersed in his mental world, was not having an easy time either, because what he was facing was far more terrifying than Lance's opponent. The shadowy figure in front of him was huge, comparable to a small mountain.

If we trace back to the source and find out the whole story, Dure had seen the real body of this shadowy figure more than half a month ago. It was the Void Abyss creature that Musa and Jeff had sealed together. In fact, it is still sealed now, and its situation is even worse.

"You are not just sealed away now. Having escaped the Abyss, you have come to an exit in the real world, which is the underground of the Ash Tower. I think the purpose of building the Ash Tower was not some beautiful story of a prince and princess, but to suppress the passage between the real world and the Abyss."

Du Lei was facing the threat of the Void Abyss creature head-on. It should be noted that the two were not even in the same league in terms of size, and the oppressive feeling and boundless fear that the other party brought were not something a normal person could withstand. If this were to happen to an ordinary person, they would probably have fainted from fright long ago.

But Dure knew very well that this was not the time to be dominated by fear. He had things to do, otherwise he wouldn't have come here knowing what was going on. He calmly analyzed the situation and grasped all the details, which was why he was so confident at this moment.

“But with the collapse of the Ash Tower, the barrier suppressing the passage will also disappear. Jeff had already prepared a backup plan for this. Once the Ash Tower collapses, the barrier will break down, just like the fuse of gunpowder, completely blasting the passage apart.” Durei paused and continued.

"Although Jeff could have chosen to blow up the tunnel from the beginning, he didn't, which means that blowing up the tunnel would have had significant consequences and caused a lot of trouble. He wouldn't have made that choice unless it was a last resort. Anyway, he's gone now, and I can't ask him about it."

"However, there is an obvious consequence to the collapse of the passage: you, who are sealed in the real world, will be unable to return to the Abyss. And since there is no place for you in the real world, you will soon be completely annihilated. Moreover, the way you die will not be easy; you will be forcibly squeezed between the two timelines."

Dure was well aware of the predicament he faced with the terrifying Void creatures on the opposite side, and calmly explained his situation.

"So what? What does this have to do with you?" After a long silence, the creature from the Void Abyss finally let out this sigh.

His tone was much weaker than before, and there was no doubt that what Dure said was true; it hit him where it hurt.

"Our relationship is that I hope to get your help. I will give you a safe haven where you can survive. You can live in my crystal bottle and avoid being squeezed between the two spaces and turning to ashes. But at the same time, you must behave yourself and not cause any trouble."

Du Lei had made plans before coming here, and even under immense pressure, he remained calm and composed.

"You're just a mere human, do you really want to negotiate with me?" The other person looked down at Dure with a superior posture, and the distance between the two instantly closed.

Only when you zoom in can you see how enormous it is; Dure's entire body is smaller than its nose.

"It's not that I want to negotiate with you, it's that you have no conditions to negotiate. Don't stubbornly persist. This is the only option you can take." Du Lei responded coldly, not intimidated by the other party's imposing manner. He knew that the other party was bluffing.

"Who says I have no choice? I can kill you and take your body, and I can still survive in this world, can't I?" The Void Abyss creature was aggressive and could easily crush Dure into dust.

“There are two points here.” Dure seemed to have anticipated this, speaking slowly and deliberately.

"What two points?" The creature from the Void Abyss became interested.

“First, if what you’re saying were truly feasible, you wouldn’t have the patience to ramble on with me for so long. Second, I’ve read the relevant records of the Void Abyss, the scroll Jeff left me. Although it’s in an ancient language and extremely difficult to translate, a small but crucial section has already been deciphered.” Dure spoke clearly and logically, showing no fear of the Void Abyss creatures.

"What key information?" the Void Abyss creature pressed.

“You cannot occupy the body of the dead for too long. At most, you need to choose a new body after one day. If there is a gap in the time, you will quickly decay until you are reduced to ashes. Do you know what this means?” Dure did not hide anything.

What does it mean?

"It means you're afraid to take risks," Dure calmly stated the key point.

Why are you afraid to take the risk?

"Because once you risk killing, and killing one after another, you will quickly attract the attention of high-level magic users. You may be very strong, and it may take Jeff and Musa working together to seal you away, but no matter how strong you are, you can't withstand the encirclement and capture of a large group of magic users."

"so what?"

“So a reliable container is the best option. You stay put and I’ll let you survive here. It’s a win-win situation for us,” Dure suggested again.

"That's interesting, but do you know that ordinary people simply cannot withstand the magic from the Void Abyss? This magic doesn't belong to any element in your world. Once you can't do that, all your ideas are just empty talk." The Void Abyss creature remained silent for a long time.

After thinking for a long time, he finally lowered his head and looked at Du Lei, no longer as fierce as before, looking like he wanted to devour someone.

“You’re right. I noticed the Void Abyss magic here before. Although it only existed for a short time and was sealed off by the barrier set up by Jeff, so even the academy didn’t know about it, it will dissipate soon if we leave it like this, right?” Dure said seriously.

"Rather than watching the Abyss magic vanish into thin air, we might as well make the most of it before it disappears. As for containers and such... I've never considered myself a normal person, so I don't mind giving it a try." Dure paused, seemingly nonchalant.

“I have to admire your courage. No human has ever made such a suggestion to me before. Even if the price of not being able to withstand the magic of the Void is death, you don’t care at all?” The Void creature reminded Dure.

"If I cared about that, do you think I'd still be here? So let's put aside our mutual probing, let go of our wariness, and be honest with each other." Du Lei smiled easily, showing no awareness of facing a life-or-death situation.

"How can one be sincere?" the creature from the void asked him.

"Get to the point, is our deal going or not?"

"make a deal!"

.

286 Abyss Magic Power

For Maple Leaf Academy, the Ash Tower has always been a forbidden area. The reason it is designated as a forbidden area is largely because a major event once took place here in history. As for what exactly happened here, the academy's traceable history is vague.

After Nono took Muna out of the Ash Tower, the academy naturally assumed that the reason the Ash Tower was designated as a forbidden area was because of Muna. Now that Muna was under the academy's surveillance and the Ash Tower had lost its function of sealing Muna, it collapsed and the academy no longer cared about it.

In the hazy night, the tower that once stood there was gone. No one cared about its existence or its destruction, and it was even forgotten in memory. If Lance hadn't followed Dure to the underground of the Ash Tower, he would never have remembered that there was such a place near the academy.

What he didn't expect was that there was a hidden world in the crater of the collapsed Ash Tower. However, he had no time to be amazed. In the pitch-black night, a large number of dark green monsters attacked. This startled Lance, and he had no choice but to bite the bullet and fight against these monsters.

"These wet monsters are disgusting. They look slippery, but they're surprisingly hard. Fighting them head-on is definitely not a wise choice, but if we don't, Dure is right behind us and they'll definitely attack. Wait, what's their target..."

While parrying the attacks from these dark green creatures, Lance looked at Dure behind him. At this moment, the scorching heat on Dure's body was gone, replaced by a bone-chilling cold. Even though Lance was three or four meters away from Dure, he was affected by the cold air.

Even a visible layer of frost formed on Dure's body, the contrast before and after making Lance very worried. But he knew that the only way he could help Dure at this time was to stop the monsters nearby from getting close to Dure, so he had to be on high alert.

"They're after Dure, aren't they? Those damn guys! I don't know what's going on with Dure, but judging from his appearance, he's definitely in the middle of a fierce battle. I can't back down here, so all of you, bring it on!"

Lance took a deep breath. Facing the horde of monsters that were charging at him, he remained fearless and delivered a powerful punch that sent one of them flying backward. Dark green liquid splattered everywhere, and in the pitch-black night, there were sharp screams and the sound of wind carried by his swinging fist!

Lance was outnumbered and surrounded, while Dure, still in a dazed state, was in a much more dangerous situation than Lance, because in the space-time rift that his mind had entered, he was frantically absorbing a huge amount of magic power.

Under normal circumstances, absorbing magical elements is not a dangerous thing, unless you are recklessly absorbing magical elements with the opposite attribute to yourself. However, your own magical elements will resist this, so it is usually impossible to do so. But what Dure is about to absorb is magical energy from the Void Abyss.

The so-called Void Abyss is another special existence isolated from this world, and the magic of the Void Abyss does not exist in this world at all. Du Lei's current attempt is undoubtedly regarded as evil and heretical, but he originally did not have those extra concepts.

There was only one thing he was certain of: he had to get his hands on the magic, no matter the cost, and stop the crystal bottle from leaking!

"Little brat, are you ready? Using your lowly and ordinary flesh and blood to withstand the great magic from the Void Abyss, you might really die." In the darkness, a huge, ferocious and terrifying black shadow let out a hoarse laugh, the laugh carrying a hint of trembling.

"What preparations are needed? Don't laugh at me. I'm your only chance to survive here. You don't want to turn into dust, right? So put away your mocking face and pray that I won't be devoured by the magic of the Void Abyss. Come on, our journey of cooperation has just begun."

Dure could clearly sense a large amount of Void Abyss magic gathering nearby, and there was only one way for him to absorb the magic: to absorb the enormous thing standing in front of him. There were only two possible outcomes: either he would absorb the magic and everything would be fine.

The other, and most likely, scenario is that he is devoured by the other party, swept into the abyss, and completely vanishes into nothingness. The other party will also be wiped out by the compression of time and space. This would be a challenge for both sides, but both are willing to try.

With a loud shout from Dure, a hoarse, eerie laugh filled the air. The enormous black shadow, whose spine seemed capable of supporting the entire sky and whose stomp could make the earth tremble, suddenly darted into Dure's body. This was not an instantaneous event, but a long process.

For Du Lei, a mere flesh and blood, a being as insignificant as an ant, to bear such astonishing greatness was an incredible thing. Almost the instant the black shadow flooded into his body, his face turned pale and he let out a scream that tore his heart apart.

Even though he had been hunting in the snowy mountains since he was a child and thought he had endured enough suffering, he had never experienced such pain before. His body was being stretched open inch by inch, and every inch of his skin and every blood vessel felt like it was about to burst. His blood was about to boil.

But in the next instant, it seemed to freeze again. Every pore on his body was stretched open, as if countless needles were piercing into his flesh and bone marrow. But after piercing in, they did not pass through his body. If that were the case, it would be a relief for him.

But these needles pierced his bone marrow, tearing at his wounds relentlessly. In a daze, Dure seemed to see countless dark shadows forming countless ferocious demons, tearing at his body, trying to devour his hair, flesh, and bone marrow. He was desperate and terrified, trying to struggle.

He wasn't as strong as he thought. After all, no matter how much preparation he made, when that moment actually came, he realized that the pain was far beyond what he had imagined. He screamed, it mocked, and laughter and heart-wrenching cries blended together.

He knelt on the ground, his clothes began to tear, his fingernails dug into the earth, his nails filled with dirt, and blood seeped out from under his nails. The veins on his arms bulged, and he clenched his teeth, blood dripping from his teeth onto the ground, drop by drop.

His arm became almost transparent, and you could see something desperately flowing through his blood. His heart was beating faster and faster, as if stimulated by something. It was like a balloon, rapidly expanding, and you didn't know when it would burst completely!

"What a reckless and willful guy!" In a daze, Du Lei heard a voice that was neither familiar nor unfamiliar.

He wanted to hear it more clearly, but he could no longer hear it.

He lost consciousness and fainted.

.

287 Breaking Through the Encirclement

Lance hadn't expected to be attacked in the ruins, but he wasn't annoyed at following Dure into the ruins. On the contrary, he was quite glad, because Dure had no way to protect himself in this situation. If Lance hadn't been there, Dure would have been attacked by these dark green monsters.

As for the outcome of the attack, Lance didn't want to think about it, nor did he dare to. More and more monsters were attacking him, and he felt increasingly overwhelmed. Several times he wanted to take Dure away from this dangerous place, but he remembered Dure's prior instructions and dared not act on his own.

When he saw the hourglass finally let out its last grain of sand, and just then Dure collapsed, Lance couldn't care less. He immediately rushed forward, hoisted Dure onto his shoulder, and charged towards the exit, not wanting to linger there for even a moment.