While the commotion outside was growing worse,

SLAM!

The door to their pavilion opened with a bang as a familiar figure dressed in yellow and white came rushing in with a worried look on her face. Laura ran towards Zhen Shi and Myne with a much calmer Vivienne following her. Noticing that Zhen Shi was fine, and of course, Myne as well, Laura heaved a sigh of relief.

Laura and Vivienne had just returned from their trip to the Market Hall, only to find a great commotion outside the pavilion. Fearing the worst Laura had rushed in, despite Vivienne's attempts to calm her down. Laura had only relaxed when she noticed that they were safe. But noticing Zhen Shi who was in front of a freshly steaming dark black furnace which had obviously been used to artifice some item, her eyes glowed with understanding, as she noted the lack of this artifact.

Immediately her face contorted mischievously as she pointed at Zhen Shi, "Big brother, your actions have caused irreparable mental damages to poor Lance and the rest of the guards of our Lyon and Turnbull Market hall, will you take responsibility or shall we settle this amicably...?"

Hearing this, Myne calmly rested his hands behind his back and started to whistle calmly while looking at the central garden, after all this matter was 'completely unrelated' to him. Vivienne frowned her brows in suspicion and stared at Myne but didn't say anything.

Zhen Shi had been rather touched by Laura's worry, but hearing her mischievous words he immediately forgot about it as he calmly brought out that Scryer Crystal. Moreover, he was rather unhappy about this blame-shifting brother of his. Under Laura's ever-growing frown, he played around with the scrying crystal as he looked at the 'innocent' Myne. He began to whistle himself copying Myne's actions.

With a devilish grin Zhen Shi began wagging his index finger in front of Laura's face and spoke out, "Laura, Laura... my dear girl, you jumped to accuse me without any investigation of the matter. I find this unbelievably unfair! What if I 'accidentally' showed the contents of this scryer crystal to someone, in my sorrow, regarding the unfairness of the world?"

Laura was immediately caught by surprise and could only stutter, "You--you, shameles--" Zhen Shi grinned in victory as he continued, "Brother Myne was only showing me his artifact refining to teach me. And he simply threw it out just to show its power. So this matter is completely his fault, and I am the unjustly accused," and finished with a wronged face.

Vivienne began to laugh as her suspicions were proved correct, and said, "Sister Laura, I apologize for my husband's actions. Since Brother Zhen Shi says so, I am now sure of his crime!" She turned to Myne and eyed him dangerously.

Myne shivered as he turned to Zhen Shi with a frown and sent mentally, "Bro, how could you do this to me? Aren't we brothers?" Zhen Shi frowned as well, "Oi, grand mage bro, you let the blame fall on me first! Besides you're the grand mage, Merlin! 'Master of yourself'! If you can't take care of a little girl, aren't you useless?" and finished with a grin.

Myne grimaced helplessly but calmly turned to the expectant face of Vivienne and the uncomfortable face of Laura. Laura was willing to accuse that shameless Zhen Shi but was unwilling to do the same to this senior disciple Myne, who she had wronged first. As such, she was planning on putting this entire matter behind her, immediately after Myne explained himself.

Myne spoke out with an apologetic face, "I am indeed sorry, sister Laura. But you have to understand that was only a Grade 2 throwing knife."

This caused Laura to be astonished. Who the hell throws out grade 2 artifacts?

Grade 1 artifacts were mainly used by cultivators below the soul category. While grade 2 artifacts were completely sufficient until one reaches the soul deification stage! As such, Laura's reaction was rather sensible.

Laura gasped in surprise as she had a sudden realization and thought, 'Their master, Lord Myrden, must be truly amazing to have made his disciples think of grade 2 artifacts so poorly!' Her amazement only improved as she considered the fact that the weapon had been thrown across the pavilion and the refined bronze walls, while still being enough to greatly damage the soul formation stage guard, Lance, outside. And this weapon had been just refined mere moments ago!

Myne ignored her amazed face, after all, to him, a grade 2 artifact meant very little. He continued to speak proudly, "As such, I was rather disappointed in the fact that the pavilion walls were unable to handle my artificing lessons. And your soldiers as well, screaming over a mere flash wound. Tsk-tsk. How is this my fault? I simply thought too highly of your market hall..."

Laura who had been celebrating her luck for having come across these powerful fellow disciples, who would undoubtedly be helpful to her, couldn't help but frown at Myne's words. She couldn't help but think, 'This is our best guest pavilion! And it wasn't made to handle people throwing grade 2 artifacts at it. This elder disciple is just as shameless as that Zhen Shi.'

And almost as if on cue, Zhen Shi spoke out, "And don't forget that the employees here like to accuse people unjustly. Aiya! My innocence, my purity... you have stolen it!" while playing the victim with an innocent and wronged face, but his hand holding the scryer crystal would rather strangely dance about...

Laura could only grin helplessly. I have dug my own grave!

But to her luck, Vivienne spoke out with a frown, "Do you two enjoy making poor girls feel helpless? It was obviously your fault!" and death raging in her eyes. Immediately Zhen Shi and Myne grew silent. They looked at each other and with an agreeing nod turned to Laura while shamelessly saying, "We just realized, it's not good to bully the juniors. So let's just forget this matter..." with a smile.

Laura stared at Vivienne with adoration in her eyes. My Angelic Sister! That master Myrden must be disappointed in these disciples while being proud of only you!

But suddenly a rather innocent-looking middle-aged guard walked into the doorway of the now open pavilion. Zhen Shi eyed this soul formation fellow who was holding onto the tattered metallic remains of a shield and a familiar-looking knife. His lower body was covered in bloodied bandages.

He grimaced in pain as he bowed to Laura and the rest. He spoke out with pain in his voice, "Lady Laura, we have searched everywhere. There were no signs of any intruders..." He gasped suddenly and bit his lips as if he was being impaled by a sword. With sweat falling down his face, he continued speaking, "I apolog--apologize for this failure." Laura silently turned to Myne and Vivienne, letting them know that they could take care of this matter as they wished.

Myne smiled and walked forwards while eyeing this guard's bloodied legs and spoke out, "Brother Lance right? Those daylight assassins are truly heartless. They attacked us within this pavilion and in our retaliation, my knife missed and struck this fellow brother. Aiya! Those daylight assassins are my worst enemies, and thus I am grateful for this brother's help. Still, I ask for your forgiveness in having dragged you into this matter..."

Zhen Shi and Laura gasped at his shamelessness. But Vivienne shooke her head helplessly...

The ignorant Lance nodded while holding out the dark silver knife and spoke out, "If I was able to help out this elder brother and fulfill my duty, then I suppose my wounds are not so useless," with a look of genuine conviction and satisfaction.

Seeing his innocent and gullible face, even Myne felt guilty at this point. As such while pushing back the knife towards Lance he spoke out, "As a reward, I'll let this brother keep the dark silver knife. I hope it'll be sufficien--"

But Lance's eyes teared up making Myne worry that maybe Lance was in horrible pain. But in actuality, this Lance was a rather pitiful fellow with a horrible childhood and had only known deep betrayal and sorrow. He was unable to cultivate beyond the soul formation stage and would spend the rest of his life as a mere guard. As such this simple and 'unconditional' gift from Myne meant the world to him!

Thus to Myne's relief, Lance started to cry tears of joy saying, "My Elder brother! Thank you! You are the first person to give this useless guard such a valuable gift!" and jumped forwards to hug Myne. However, his wound acted out in an explosion of blood and bandages, causing him to trip over in pain. And in the end, he hugged the surprised Myne's legs, while rubbing his blood, tears, and snot all over Myne's trousers and legs while crying loudly.

Myne was flabbergasted. No! Just let go-- you're dirtying my handsome aura! But how could he say this out loud or even use force on a wounded man?

Zhen Shi and Vivienne couldn't help but start to laugh at this. But under Laura's strange and condescending look they coughed and calmed down. After all who would laugh in the face of the wounded?

Laura mentally sent out some commands and several awkward moments later, during which Myne had been struggling with the bloody and tightly hugging Lance, while Zhen Shi and Vivienne had been struggling to hold their laughter under the disapproving but still lightly smiling face of Laura, several guards walked in with a stretcher. They pulled apart Lance's tight hands holding onto the struggling Myne and put him on to the stretcher. Myne heaved a sigh of relief as he hurried to brush off the blood.

While still spewing blood all over the stretcher, Lance looked at Myne in adoration and spoke out with painful gasps, "Big brother, thank you for today. I'll cherish this gift forever. If in the future you need to use my backside again, just say the word. Next time, I won't even need a reward. Today was that blissful for me..." while gripping tightly onto the gift; the black silver knife.

Myne's eye twitched ಠ_ಥ as he worriedly eyed the rest of the guards. FUCK! Lance, could you have worded that differently? Even if I explain now, it'll only make things worse!

Zhen Shi and Vivienne finally broke out in a cacophony of laughter. Even Laura couldn't help but grin with a smirk seeing Myne's flabbergasted face.

On the other hand, the guards with the stretcher were from a completely different area. As such, they were unaware of the knife attack. All they knew were that there was a fellow guard with a heavily 'wounded' backside which was literally bleeding, another man who the soldier was thanking for a 'blissful' time, a valuable grade 2 knife as 'payment' and spectators who were laughing at this matter. They immediately 'figured' out the matter and stared at Myne with judging looks, bringing Myne's worries to reality. However, some of the soldiers seemed to be looking at him with enticing, impressed glances and shining eyes. After all the 'reward' was pretty good...

Seeing this Zhen Shi and Vivienne laughed even louder while wiping off tears from their eyes. Even Laura joined in as Myne palmed his face in exasperation. The stretcher with the grateful Lance who was still speaking out words of thanks, was taken away as the soldiers continued to stare at Myne either with judging or enticing looks. One even winked at him as they left...

Zhen Shi was the one who was laughing the loudest and he even sent mentally to Myne, "Looks like the guards will be extra friendly to you from now on...!"

Myne grimaced angrily and flicked his fingers as he muttered, "Just fuck off, kid! Take the furnace and these materials," and materialized several bags. He continued to speak out with gritted teeth, "It's Vivienne's turn now. So I'm taking a break," and immediately vanished leaving a lightly sparkling blue flame, which too flickered away momentarily.

Even after he disappeared, the laughing trio struggled to stop. But in the end, they did, albeit rather difficultly. Laura turned to look at Zhen Shi with a victorious grin, "Shameless Elder brother, did you see that? That is what happens to people who mess with this missy here! Even your elder brother was unable to escape! Scared yet? Will you apologize and destroy that evidence now?" and shouted with a pleased look.

In fact, Laura was obviously completely unrelated to this matter. It was exactly what it seemed to be; A wacky series of random events led by fate. She was simply acting tough to hopefully scare Zhen Shi...

But Zhen Shi laughed out loud, "Laura... Laura... Little Sister Laura. How can you keep underestimating us fellow students like this?" He grinned confidently as he wagged his index finger in her face, as he brought out the same Scrying Crystal. He spoke out, "In addition to the previous evidence, I now have another one confirming in your own words that you were responsible for embarrassing my senior brother!"

Laura was frozen in place. Uhh... The teachings of this Master Myrden are indeed profound!

Laura lowered her head in defeat, "I was just joking Elder Brother. It was just a joke..." Zhen Shi nodded in understanding and confidence, "As long as you understand..." while playing about with that same scryer crystal.

Even Zhen Shi was impressed with the power of scryer crystals. He made a mental note to get some actually working ones from Myne!

Laura hurriedly shook her head in a helpless grin and spoke out, "Well, I'll be on my way. Feel free to contact us at any time. I'll be here later to give you more information regarding the appraisal competition."

She waved her hand with a playful grin and walked away from the pavilion.

🥘🥘🥘🥘

Moments later...

Vivienne shook her head with a helpless grin and spoke, "You should let that poor girl get a win sometime. She was worried about you a lot, you know?" Zhen Shi spread his hands helplessly with a slight grin. Vivienne laughed and while eyeing Myne's furnace and materials said, "So this incident... Let me guess, Myne was nervous about his 'furnace spirit taming skill' and threw the knife to show it's power and make you less suspicious?"

Zhen Shi nodded with a smile and asked, "So... what is wrong with that skill?" Vivienne smiled mischievously, " I'm not sure myself. You should ask Myne or just figure it out yourself with experience..." Zhen Shi was rather nervous at this cryptic answer but was unable to ask further as Vivienne continued to speak, "Anyways I'm here to teach you pill refining," while sitting down at the previous spot and gesturing Zhen Shi to do the same. Zhen Shi followed suit and pushed aside the Blacksmithing tools and materials to the side to make space.

Vivienne noted his actions and said, "You should put away those items first..." and suddenly asked with a frown, "I know I owe you a spatial treasure, but don't you already have one? I mean where do you put that bow and strange musical box?"

Zhen Shi scratched his head helplessly, "Uhh... It's complicated..." while thinking, 'System this is your fault!'

System: "..."

Vivienne nodded with an almost knowing grin, and said, "Well, alright. Let's just begin the lesson! First off, Little Bro, I suppose that idiot hubby of mine started you off on a simple knife while using furnace spirits and all his refining skills?"

Zhen Shi nodded with a confused look. Vivienne shook her head and said, "Well it is almost impossible to get furnace spirits to manifest before you become a Grade 3 blacksmith and some blacksmiths don't even use them in the refining process. I admit that furnace spirits are important for mastering the furnace, but there are masters who don't use them at all," and her face grimaced playfully, "but this 'master of ours' is actually engrossed with taming furnace spirits. Furnace spirits are, in the end, almost the same as using pure spiritual energy. It is just a different way of handling ingredients and the process."

Zhen Shi frowned at these words and thought, 'SHIT! Wouldn't I have been forced to ask Myne for help if I thought that I was unable to manifest furnace spirits? That bastard...'

Vivienne continued to speak, "But furnace spirits come with the advantage of improving your spiritual power,r by increasing the number involved in the process and thus enables you to do more. But it has a disadvantage; The involvement of many manifestations with different spiritual natures and different levels of cultivation will influence the quality of the product causing slight discrepancies. Thus the usage of furnace spirits is looked down upon in the higher tier refining world. But, even while looked down, Myne was a renowned master blacksmith, who stuck to his beliefs. On the other hand, I'm only a washed-up herbalist and a 'fake' alchemist. So follow his advice, but take his wacky ideas at arm's length," finishing with a smile, with a hint of regret in her eyes.

Zhen Shi eyed her with a concerned look. But stayed silent.

Vivienne smiled and continued, "Well my lesson will be slightly different from Myne's. And don't expect my lesson to have a wacky ending like his! I was at first a herbalist, who practiced to become an alchemist. And I mean both types. I trained to become the common pill refining alchemist as well as the much less popular type of alchemist, focused on changing the nature of metals and other materials..."

Zhen Shi's eyes gaped at this, he had not been expecting the western version of Alchemists to pop up suddenly.

Vivienne heaved a sigh as she looked at the ever-flowing rocky stream under the afternoon sunlight, with water dancing like shining pearls. Vivienne spoke silently with a nostalgic look, "I was born with a body suitable for understanding the law of water. Thus I made quick strides in cultivation and in understanding the law of water. Thus the law I obtained after the soul sacrifice was obviously the Law of Water, as well."

"My entire life I had grown up under the care of Mistress Nimue as my Mother, Queen Diane, curse her for trapping me and Myne, was too busy being the Queen. Mistress Nimue was a renowned alchemist, who was able to master dual opposing laws. She mastered both water and fire! When she apprenticed me who had a natural body of water, she had great hope for me and my future, as I would be able to master one of her laws very easily. But the law of water is extremely unsuitable for pill refining. Thus during my entire apprenticeship, I was unable to actually practice or even attempt to refine a pill. Even though she said it did not matter, even though she said that I could master multiple laws that oppose each other, just like her, I was unable to get over the roadblock of Water.

And in the end, when I sacrificed the soul and my law descended, it was completely water. There wasn't a hint of room for another. Even though she said it was fine, I knew that she was disappointed. But now... I have a second chance," finishing in almost a whisper.

She hurriedly stopped as she noticed Zhen Shi's quizzical face and said with a grin, "Forget it. It's just a lady's nonsensical ramblings."

Zhen Shi stifled his curiosity but nodded in acceptance. Vivienne nodded thankfully and continued with a hint of nervousness, "Initially, I was not planning to refine pills myself, and was only going to instruct you. But now... I feel like maybe I should. Since I lost the water law, I should be able to utilize fire and make pills now. But if I begin, just like that bastard husband of mine, I'll use all of my refining skills. As such, the lesson would be more difficult for you..."

She suddenly paused and spoke out hurriedly, "Or maybe I'll just postpone my attempt and instruct you?"

Zhen Shi hurriedly shook his head. Although he had been unaware of this matter, he could sense that this was an important moment for Vivienne and thus wished to be supportive. So he spoke out, "I usually learn best when its the most complex," with an encouraging look. Vivienne nodded at him thankfully, but nervously...

She flicked her hand and manifested a light green cauldron with the engraving of countless trees and vines, "This is a grade 3 alchemist cauldron, with a rather unique build. It enshrouds the law of life and has the added effect of nourishing ingredients. It was extremely expensive and wasn't even supposed to be sold, but Laura was able to get us an insane discount on top of what you already earned at the Golden Bridge, and I even felt like I was taking advantage of Laura. Granted we're broke now," and finished with a stifled laugh.

She continued, "Since it is based on the element of life, it should be very suitable for your Undying Flame; the symbol of rebirth." She flicked her right hand causing a strange red and white flame to manifest instantly heating up the entire room. Her eyes flickering she spoke out, "This is the Conflicting Dragon Flame," and true to its name the red and white seemed to be in a perpetual war, with red and white flames eating each other but always to be replenished.

Zhen Shi's eyes glowed as he noticed this, and Vivienne continued, "This was a gift from my mistress Nimue. She had mastered the dual laws of fire and water and gifted me this in the hope that I would too. But even in her death, I was unable to use it, due to my Law of water," finishing with a light sigh. "But now... I can," she smiled lightly and continued, "This flame on par with your undying flame in power, but will be more powerful right now due to the difference in our cultivation."

She threw the flame on to the green pill cauldron instantly causing a strange mixture of red, white and green to manifest. As the flame rippled the engraving of trees and plants seemed to shake about in the wind. Zhen Shi was sure that this was a very important event for Vivienne, and was worried that maybe Myne should be here to support her. He had tried to mentally contact him but had been unable to sense his aura, leaving him with no choice but to give up.

Vivienne heaved a nervous sigh as she flicked her hand causing four herbs to appear. Zhen Shi immediately identified them with his appraisal skill, and so spoke out, "That is Athelas, Bowtruckle, Kelpie and... Crimson Ninroot?" Vivienne looked at him with praise and said, "Indeed. These are the basic ingredient used here in the central plains for the grade 1 healing pill. Knowledge of the herbs and their substitutes are very important as different herbs are present in varying rarities in different areas. After all, pill recipes are important methods discovered through countless attempts of alchemists before us, to minimize the use of ingredients and maximize the efficacy of the pill."

Vivienne was gradually calming down, as she spoke about alchemy. She waved her hand covering all the ingredients in the red-white flame, "First we will heat the ingredients and extract their essence. This is a tricky part as you need to use different temperatures for different ingredients to maximize the extracted essence." Zhen Shi nodded in understanding as Vivienne continued, "Pill refining also may involve furnace spirits, but, my mistress didn't use them. So it's up to you..."

Moments later she extracted the pure essence of the ingredients and gathered them within the cauldron. She flicked both of her hands in a trance-like motion, immediately burning up the remains of the ingredients into fine particles and combining the ingredient essences simultaneously. With another wave of her hand, the fine particles were added into the mixture of essences.

She smiled nostalgically, "That was something, my Mistress always instructed me to do. To never waste a single part of any ingredient and to use even the essenceless ingredient husks; which people consider useless." Now, completely free of nervousness and with a light smile she spoke out confidently, "This was her first personal technique, Ashes to Ashes!" and combined her hands in a strange sign.

Immediately, the particles of the ingredient husks glowed with a bright aura and the ingredient essences with a darker aura. They beautifully complemented each other as they mixed in a whirlpool of darkness and light, within the purple cauldron. The Conflicting Dragon Flame intensified causing the darkness and light to combine in a mystical way, and the pill cauldron to reverberate. Deep within the flickering conflicting flame one could see the light shadow of an ever-growing endless forest.

Vivienne's face was the picture of happiness and satisfaction as her one regret was washed apart with her success. With a blissful smile and teary eyes, she spoke, "The pill embryo has formed successfully, it is only a matter of time before the pill is formed. During this time, alchemists would generally add their personal touch to signify their creation or a signature if you will. What I will do is rather unorthodox... but extremely effective."

Vivienne flicked her free hand causing a strange white caterpillar to appear, "Mistress Nimue was at heart a herbologist and was well-versed in all that had medicinal effects. The use of creatures in pill refining is only practiced distant lands with a lack of basic ingredients. Thus it is looked down upon by most of the benevolent masters as barbaric and demonic. Demonic cultivators use similar practices to improve the grade of their pill by the sacrifice of lives and souls. Thus using this technique is an act of treading the fine line between benevolence and malevolence."

With a calm look, she manifested the red-white flame on the body of the white caterpillar. The caterpillar glowed with strange divine light and immediately burned apart into small white particles. A terrifying yet gentle presence was exerted within the pavilion. Zhen Shi's eyes widened as he felt this powerful aura and aether.

Vivienne continued speaking with a far-away look in her eyes, "That was a divine silkworm, which was my Mistress's first gift to this useless disciple. She had hoped that I could use it on my first pill. But I was never able to live up to her expectations... until today!" and with a look of sheer conviction, she moved her hands into another strange sign. This caused the powerful divine particles to swirl about in the daylight, as if they were happy at this turn of events, and surround the almost completed pill. As these particles grew closer to the pill, a strange resonance reverberated throughout the pavilion and the central garden.

The stream stopped flowing, the plants in the garden stopped moving, even the sun stopped shining on to the pavilion.

Immediately, thousands of these particles appeared within the pavilion, creating a picturesque scene. Zhen Shi was spellbound.

The divine particles swirled and dance about happily, as if in celebration of liberation and formed a torrent centering on Vivienne. These particles were slowly pulled into the pill, which formed the strange shadow of a white silkworm behind it. Vivienne calmly spoke out with her eyes full of tears and satisfaction, "This was her second and final personal technique, Dust to Dust!"