Chapter 7: The Alchemist's Stealth
The moon hung high over the Frozen Bamboo Peaks, casting long, skeletal shadows across the snow. Ye Jun stood at the edge of the precipice, looking down at the sprawling lights of the Azure Mist Sect. The assassin lay unconscious in the hut, bound by Frost-Fire Qi that would keep his meridians locked for at least twelve hours.
Ye Jun didn't go to Su Yan. He knew the rules of this world better than she did. To her, the Law Hall was a political obstacle; to him, it was a beast that would only stop when its throat was cut. Furthermore, the cauldron was humming—a deep, resonant vibration that signaled its hunger. To unlock the Third Chamber, he needed more than just meditation; he needed high-grade "Earth Essence," something usually found only in the vaults of the elite.
"If you want to grow a forest," Ye Jun whispered, his eyes fixed on a distant, unassuming stone building near the Law Hall, "you have to steal the best soil."
He didn't use the main roads. Instead, he channeled his new Qi into his legs, his feet barely whispering against the snow as he leaped from bamboo stalk to bamboo stalk. At the Seventh Level of Qi Condensation, the Law Hall assassins were fast, but at the Fifth Level with Frost-Fire mutation, Ye Jun was something else entirely. He was a blur of thermal distortion, his body heat masked by a layer of artificial frost.
The secret warehouse was disguised as a simple record-keeping shed, but Ye Jun's expanded senses caught the hum of a Vibrational Protection Array.
"A Fourth-Grade Earth-Bind Array," the cauldron's voice echoed in his mind. "Crude. To the blind, it is a wall. To the Alchemist, it is merely an unrefined ingredient."
Ye Jun knelt by the stone foundation. He didn't try to break the array; that would alert the guards. Instead, he placed the rusted cauldron against the shimmering air of the barrier.
"Drink," he commanded.
The rusted tripod groaned. The "Nine-Chamber" inscription on its side flared with a dull violet light. To the shock of any array master, the cauldron began to inhale. It didn't shatter the barrier; it sucked the spiritual energy out of the formation, refining the raw Qi into its own reserves. A small, human-sized gap opened in the warding—just enough for Ye Jun to slip through.
The interior of the warehouse was a treasure trove that would have made an Outer Court disciple lose their mind. Rows of jade boxes were stacked high, filled with Five-Element Herbs, Blood-Lingzhi, and, most importantly, crates of Spirit-Stone Marrow.
Ye Jun moved like a ghost through the aisles. He didn't take everything—that would be too obvious. He took the "Dross"—the slightly damaged herbs and the cracked spirit stones that the Law Hall officials ignored but which his cauldron could refine into pure essence.
As he reached the back of the vault, his golden spark flared. There, sitting on a pedestal of black obsidian, was a fist-sized chunk of Deep-Earth Amber. It was a Grade-5 material, rare enough to be used in the construction of a Foundation Establishment pill.
"Master... this is the key," the voice whispered. "The Earth that anchors the Heaven."
Just as Ye Jun's hand closed around the amber, the air in the vault grew heavy. The temperature didn't just drop; it plummeted into a void of absolute silence.
"It is a bold rat that dares to steal from the Law Hall's private larder."
Ye Jun froze. He turned slowly to see a man standing by the entrance. He wasn't an assassin. He was older, wearing the deep crimson robes of a Law Hall Magistrate. His eyes were like flint, and the Qi radiating from him was a physical weight—Level 9 Qi Condensation, only a step away from Foundation Establishment.
"Magistrate Zhao," Ye Jun said, his voice remaining level despite the pressure. "I didn't realize the Law Hall kept its best treasures in a shed. Is this on the sect's official ledgers?"
Zhao's eyes narrowed. "Dead boys don't file reports. You've been a thorn in Han Feng's side for too long. To think, the 'Dud' had such a hidden depth. No matter. Your flame ends tonight."
Zhao didn't draw a sword. He raised a hand, and the earth beneath Ye Jun's feet surged upward, turning into jagged spears of stone.
Ye Jun leaped, the Frost-Fire Qi erupting from his soles to propel him toward the ceiling. "You want to talk about depth?"
In mid-air, Ye Jun threw the Deep-Earth Amber into the air, but he didn't catch it. He held the rusted cauldron beneath it. The tripod's lid flew open, a vortex of violet energy swallowing the amber whole.
"The Third Chamber: The Earthen Forge... Unlocking!"
A shockwave of brown and gold light exploded from the cauldron. The warehouse shook, the stone spears Zhao had summoned crumbling into dust. Ye Jun felt a massive influx of power as the Third Chamber opened within his soul, granting him the Earthen Core Physique.
His skin took on a faint, metallic sheen. When he landed, the ground didn't crack; it seemed to bow to him.
Magistrate Zhao gasped, his own earth-attribute Qi recoiling in fear. "What... what kind of demonic art is this?"
"It's not demonic," Ye Jun said, his voice echoing with the resonance of a mountain. "It's alchemy. And you're just unrefined ore."
Zhao roared, his Qi flaring as he lunged forward, his fists encased in stone gauntlets. Ye Jun didn't dodge. He met the Magistrate's blow with his own fist.
BOOM.
The collision sent a ripple through the entire warehouse, shattering the jade boxes nearby. Zhao's stone gauntlets disintegrated. The Magistrate stumbled back, his arm trembling, his bones cracked by the sheer density of Ye Jun's new physique.
"Impossible! You're only at the Fifth Level!" Zhao screamed.
"The number doesn't matter," Ye Jun said, walking forward through the dust. "What matters is the quality of the fire."
Ye Jun raised his hand. A spear of Frost-Fire, now anchored by Earthen weight, materialized in his palm. It was a weapon of pure intent. Before Zhao could invoke a defense, Ye Jun lunged.
The spear didn't kill Zhao. It pinned him to the obsidian pedestal, the ice freezing his meridians while the fire scorched his dantian.
Ye Jun stood over the defeated Magistrate, his breath steady. He looked at the chaos of the vault. He had the amber, he had the chamber, and he had a warehouse full of evidence that would ruin the Law Hall's reputation.
But he heard the sound of distant bells. The fight had been too loud. The sect guards were coming.
"Master, the Third Chamber offers a new path," the cauldron whispered. "The Gate of the Inner World is now wide enough."
Ye Jun didn't hesitate. He grabbed as many high-grade herbs as he could reach, and then, with a thought, he vanished.
When the sect guards burst into the warehouse a minute later, they found only a pinned Magistrate, a half-empty vault, and a lingering scent of frost and cinders. Ye Jun was gone.
Inside the cauldron, Ye Jun stood in the newly opened Third Chamber. It was a rugged, mountainous landscape with a roaring volcano in the distance—the Earthen Forge.
He collapsed onto the warm, black sand, his heart racing. He was safe. He was rich. And he was stronger than he had ever dreamed. But as he looked at the growing garden in the First Chamber and the mountains in the Third, he realized something.
He couldn't stay a "servant" or an "assistant" much longer. He was building a world, and worlds needed a King.