Finally, one of the other alchemists, an old man with a long beard spoke up.

  "Now, now. Calm yourself." he said. "As the two of you have agreed on, this is a refiablishment, so let's nue here."

  But the young man pulled out a red jade and activated it with a pulse of qi. It began to glhtly aically.

  "Hmph," he harrumphed. "He cimed to be a disciple of an elder, but cks any identification seals! And of course, what elder would accept a servant as a disciple?"

  "You actually called for seforts..." the old man frowned. "There was o take it that far."

  "Impersonation is a huge matter. You expect me to let a criminal be?"

  Baiyun was stunned.

  What in the world was going on? Guan Qiang really had accepted him as a disciple! Did the elder not give him a "disciple seal" because he was a servant, or because he fot? Either way, he was genuinely in trouble! He began to sweat slightly.

  "How are you so sure I don't have a seal?" Baiyun asked finally. "Wait, I'll sear my bag and show you!"

  He didn't sehe young man reag into his ste bag, so it was clearly a baseless accusation.

  Baiyun came up with a qui. He was going to rummage through his bag and "realise" he fot t his seal with him. Then, he would panid demand to be taken to the Martial Temple, to firm he was Guan Qiang's disciple.

  The young man sneered.

  "I'm not surprised a servant like you is so g in knowledge. Let me educate you," he said. "A disciple seal is not a physical object. It's imprinted on your body, much like the servant seal you have on your left hand!"

  Baiyun's heart sank. If a servant seal was so visible, then perhaps that was why Guan Qiang didn't imprint the seal. It ossible the elder didn't want a servant walking around with his disciple seal, fearing loss of face.

  He quickly tried to defend himself.

  "Wait. I'm still a very new disciple, so it's possible Elder Guan Qiang didn't have the time to-"

  "Hah. No time to imprint a seal? You don't even realise how ughable your words are!" the young man spat. "You think every elder has the time to lear of formations merely to imprint a seal? Fool, disciple seals are imprinted with elixir formations! If you truly were a disciple of Guan Qiang, he would have given you a body refining elixir with his disciple seal in it!"

  Baiyun's face went bnk.

  Ah. So, this i was self-inflicted...

  He suddenly felt indignant. How was he supposed to know? Guan Qiang old him! He had zero knowledge about formations, so he merely mistook the elixir for a defective product choked with impurities!

  This was the fw of diviouch... it was limited by what knowledge he had.

  And formations in elixirs? He had never heard of such a thing in his past life. If pg formations into elixirs was a on thing, he would have at least dabbled in the field a little. Some success was found engraving seals and formations into pills in his old world, but it was deemed rgely impractical.

  Could it be that this mortal world had a unique alchemical path? It wasn't on, but sometimes mortal worlds had creative iions that even the upper worlds were ignorant to. For a moment, he grew excited by that possibility, until he realised this wasn't the time for that.

  "What's wrong? Where did all your attitude go?" the young man sneered. "Are you going to cim you lost the elixir?"

  The man began to ugh, uo ceal the glee in his eyes.

  The old alchemist shook his head. The other alchemists didn't seem to approve of the pest's duct either, but none of them intervened.

  Baiyun was furious.

  The other alchemists were all sane and reasonable people, so why did he have to be so unlucky, to have arrived on the same day as a deranged kid who only wao funt his superiority?

  But he mao hide his anger, his faeutral as he walked off. He tio browse the store, looking at the ingredients all around. Attention seekers hated being ignored more than anything. Even if his arrest was set in stone, he wasn't going to let that bastard have the slightest speck of satisfa!

  "Hey! Where do you think yoing?" the young man shouted.

  Baiyun had only touched the dispys of the fire herbs earlier, but he was now brazenly running his hands across every case possible, activating diviou each of them. It was as if he was sent here on a sole mission: to leave as many fingerprints on the gss cases as humanly possible!

  "Stop dirtying the gss!" the young man was furious.

  Baiyun suddenly spotted a case belled "Moonlight Oysters", selling for 57000 tokens per kilo. His eyes twitched. It was the same type of mushroom as the one Guan Qiang had taken earlier!

  If it was that precious, shouldn't he at least have received a little more than 5 tokens?

  "You think you just walk away? Hah, even if you teleported to the outskirts at this very moment, they'd still catch you in no time!" the youth shouted.

  Baiyun tio tour the shop, the pest as well as the old alchemist following. Perhaps the old alchemist was worried the youth would get violent.

  That possibility didn't worry him too much. Alchemists weren't often good melee batants, and he doubted the kid would use spells in such a delicate area. Well... not that Baiyun was oo speak. Any bat ability he had right now solely relied on his heightened reflexes.

  But as he ran his hands absentmindedly across one of the cases, he suddenly paused.

  Primordial essence?! What was that doing here? Even in the realm he used to live in, where any ant could topple the mightiest of cultivators here, that was unbelievably rare!

  Within the gss case was a small white seed surrounded in a faint grey mist, bck stains coating the gss from within.

  "Uified Seed weighing 2100.03 kg. 70,000,000 tokens.""Obtained from an odd meteor that fell on the 8705th year, on the isnd of Huiyao. Funally iructible, unharmed by heaven-grade ons and teiques. Emits a toxic substance dangerous to even Soul cultivators."

  For o was something Baiyun could reise.

  This was the seed of a ic World Tree, a stra that could only be found hurtling through space. ic Trees billions of years old were the size of ps, an endless sea of tree trunks woven aangled amidst each other, covered in tless branches and leaves. Every ten thousand years, adult ic Trees would spit a hail of seeds into the vast expanses of space like a meteor shower.

  The people of his old world had never found an actual ic World Tree. They had only heard tales of them from a records, their existence proven solely by 5 doted ic Seeds.

  One seed was refined into an incredible pill aen by the patriarch of the Undying Body sect. He was overwhelmed by the qi and unceremoniously exploded moments ter. That day, thousands of his disciples broke through from the primordial qi that nourished the very nd of their sect.

  The sed attempt to refihe seed resulted ihe same story.

  At st, amidst uainty, the third seed was bought by the Lihai sect who refi into the heart of their grand array. They bragged their sect was the first to subdue the seed, and for a hundred years, they held onto that cim. On the 101th year, the ey of their sect detonated.

  His world finally learnt their lesson. Whatever you do with ic seeds, always expect them to explode. If they did not explode, that only meant they had yet to explode! All future seeds were used as onry from then on, with a slight caveat that didn't matter right now.

  Baiyun gnced warily at the seed. If it were to go off, it would wipe the WanLi off the face of the p. No, with how frail mortal worlds were, he wouldn't be surprised if it reduced the entire p into smithereens!

  To think such a dreadful thing would be found in a random alchemy workshop... Well, at the very least, he had never heard of an untouched seed exploding. The cultivators that attempted to scratch the seed had no idea how lucky they were; it was a rare instance of weakness being a blessing.

  Baiyuhis was something he would have to e back for iure. It was simply too dangerous to leave unattended.

  "You'd been staring at the seed for quite a while, huh? Does it i you?" someone said.

  It was not the pest who asked, but the 2nd alchemist who tagged along, an old man with a serene smile and a pair of silver gsses.

  "I'm just looking.” Baiyun said.

  He resumed running his hands across the cases, then paused once more.

  "Oh?" he mused.

  "Immortal Brimrose, 2000 tokens per kg."

  Within the case was a set of beautiful flowers arranged like a bouquet, their translut petals resembling fmes frozen in time. But what was even more beautiful to Baiyun was the intense Fire Spirit essehat radiated off it.

  "Finally found what you were looking for?" the bespeckled man asked.

  "Well, you could say that, but-"

  Before Baiyun could finish his words, the old man took off his gsses and turned around. A strange creaking sound could be heard as his body shuddered, his height lessening by half a head.

  Around and around his body twisted, twitg horrifyingly, until finally, he morphed into a middle-aged man with a moustache, now dressed in a uniform with "Veiled Garden" stitched onto its back.

  "I was a shop attendant in disguise!" he decred, adjusting his gsses.

  Baiyun and the pest stared at him bnkly.

  "Cheh. It's hard to impress ahese days." he clicked his tongue. "Now, exactly how much did you want to buy?"

  Baiyun wasn't really sure what to say. The man didn't eve him finish his statement, that he was o penniless!

  He thought hard for a moment, then pointed somewhere into the case. A stray piece of flower anther had fallen from one of the flowers, lying ft at the bottom of the case.

  "...what if I wao buy just that tiny piece?" Baiyun asked with twitg eyes.

  For some reason, he could n himself to say he had oered the shop with 5 tokens. He didn't really uand why, but he felt like it would hurt his pride.

  The attendant ughed loudly.

  "Haha! Very funny.How about 4 tokens?" he joked.

  "Attendant, you 't possibly be hum this servant?" the pest asked.

  The bespeckled man turo the young man and wagged his finger in disapproval.

  "You really made a mess for me here! This servant here is probably an errand boy sent by a busy Elder to fetch a herb. Why else would a servant be in a pce like this? Of course he wouldn't have a disciple seal, because he isn't a real disciple!"

  "Ah!" the youth gasped in realisation. "Tsk... this still doesn't sit right with me."

  Baiyun stood there speechlessly. It seemed like a misuanding was turning out in his favour. He still had a way out!

  "Respected attendant, you are right!" he said with a smile, then turo the pest. "You o call off the Enforcers now, uan Qiang will be very displeased by you obstrug my duty!"

  "What! Who do you think yetting a big head just because you're an errand boy?" the pest shouted angrily. "This arm jade doesn't work like that. It 't be called off!"

  Baiyun's eyes began to twitch again.

  Okay. It seemed like that didn't work out. His mind raced for a solution, but for now, he decided to try to cover the holes iendant's misuanding.

  "Attendant, the elder only asked me to check if Immortal Brimroses were in stock. But he did request for me t back a small piece, just to make sure I found the right herb." he said. "So... I really am buying just that..."

  The pest and the attendant stared at him in silence. Baiyun really hoped his stretch of a story would be bought.

  "The elder will e ba a ter date." he tinued his lie brazenly.

  "I-I see," the attendant said.

  Baiyun got the feeling the man was suppressing his annoyance. But he pulled out 4 tokens with an awkward smile.

  "So..."

  The attendant sighed deeply and tapped the gss case, disabling the seal on it. Then he lifted it up and tossed the small flower ao Baiyun.

  "There, take it."

  "Thank you!"

  As Baiyun hahe 4 tokens to the attendant and stuffed his new purchase into his bag, suddenly, the loud sound of a door smming against a wall echoed.

  "There's the suspect!" a loud yell came.

  Two enforcers in grey robes charged into the room, their eyes fixed on Baiyun. One picked him up with both hands like a child would a doll, unleashing his qi sense.

  "Lack of apprenticeship seal firmed. Apprehending the suspect!" the enforcer yelled.

  The attendant a watched as the enforcer iion tossed Baiyun over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, before charging right out.

  Baiyun pointed a middle fiowards the pest at the st sed, and a shout came from the workshop.

  The enforcers ran faster than galloping horses, rag across the streets. A few surprised pedestrians turo look as they ran right past, stirring up quite the wind.

  Before long, they arrived at a fort of iron. On its gate, a pte read "WanLing Prison". The enforcers marched into the prison and past a ter, then down a flight of stoairs.

  The first thing Baiyun noticed was the pitch darkness and ck of cold air. They had entered a long narrow underground corridor, both walls lined with prison cells with bck bars. Hundreds of unwashed inmates were here, but thankfully, their status as cultivators spared the prison from overwhelming stench.

  The hiiced... this pce was free from the surveilnce of spirits!

  An area full of criminals seemed exactly like the sort of pce the sect would want to keep an eye on, but there was a simple reason for the ck of spirits. The walls of the underground prison were made of Unyielding Basalt, a spirit material with the property of abs qi. Any attempt to use spells or qi sense would be futile here, for the walls would disrupt and absorb it all.

  Baiyun could sehe armuards pulling him along were powerful body cultivators. The only sensible choice of guards, given the suppression.

  "Brat. This is your cell."

  The guard marched to a cell and ope with a loud creak, before tossing him in. With the bang of the door shutting and the jangle of keys, Baiyun was locked away. It was incredibly dark, but he could make out the faint silhouette of the prisoner oher side.

  All he had in the room was a simple prison bed, a thin mattress oal legs, draped by a ragged b.

  Baiyun had the stra mix of emotions at this moment.

  ...surely Guan Qiang would be informed of this and save him eventually? For now, he could only stay put and hope for the best.

  He was tempted to curse his misfortune for a brief moment, but shook it off. Agonising over such things wouldn't aplish anything.

  At the very least, he was freed from invasive spirit sense here and could operate iive privacy.

  He had been slightly ed where he'd coct the Qi Recharge Pellet i, but in a pce like this, he wouldn't be questioned for attempting to make pills.

  With the anther of the Immortal Brimrose, he now had all the required essences. It was a shame he cked the final ingredient, a reagent that could absorb qi, usually only a property of ores and minerals found deep underground.

  ...

  ...

  Baiyun looked around himself.

  Was that not what the very walls around him were made of? He could only ugh to himself at the sheer absurdity of the situation.

  He listened as the guards walked further and further away. Then he slowly ted to himself for several hours, until he estimated night time had e. There were no windows here, so he could not be fully sure.

  But Baiyu was his time to strike.

  He tore the b off the prison bed and tied it to the bars like a curtain. Then he flipped his bed onto its side as quietly as he could and lea against the bars of the prison, to hold down the b in case of sudden winds.

  The inside of his cell was now hidden from view. Baiyun nodded in satisfa.

  He reached under his robes to pull out his bag. Another example of the sect's negligenot even b to search him. Was it because they didn't feel the o search a servaher way, he wasn't pining.

  Baiyun took a hoe out of his bag, the closest thing he had to a pickaxe. He walked to the walls and pced his hand on them, activating diviouch to search for weaknesses. Undying Basalt was tougher than steel, but in the end, it was brittle, g the flexibility of metals.

  His senses washed over the walls, until a small crack caught his attention. Perfect.

  Baiyun adjusted his stahen smmed his hoe into it with all his might.

  g!

  It bounced off with a dull sound, a few sparks emitted. On the wall, the crack looked unharmed.

  Again!

  Baiyun swung at the wall relentlessly for the few hours. Each time, he struck the same spot with great precision.

  "Hehahah. Sounds like someone's attempting a prison break." an old raspy voice came from outside.

  "Tsk... 't eve a good night's rest here." a gruff voice grunted.

  Baiyun didn't pay much heed to them, fully absorbed in attag the walls. He was reminded of how he attacked the dying spider relentlessly in the dark, unwilling to give up.

  His hands began to blister and bleed, despite the improved physique granted by the Rock Ginseng Pill. His muscles ached and screamed, but he persisted.

  Hours passed.

  A faint crackle, a puff of dust. Baiyun's on bounced off the wall for the umpteenth time. The ground was coated in a thin yer of stone dust.

  Something told him it was now.

  He took a deep breath and took a few steps back.

  "Hah!"

  Baiyun shouted as he rushed at the wall, striking it with all his might, his stro hit yet!

  G!

  A loud strike, followed by a faint crumbling sound. A small k fell to the ground softly.

  Baiyun tossed his hoe to the side, the metal now deformed and crushed. His bruised and bleeding fingers shook as he picked up the fragment, a pieer than a pumpkin seed.

  He panted as he finally sat to rest, letting out a low ugh.

  At st, he had every ingredient for the Qi Recharge Pellet!

  LunaTheGhost