by Tinalynge
“Since they won’t let us be, why not let them capture me?” Xue Wei asked suddenly. “I will not be killed instantly as I don’t have much they’d want if I’m dead, and if they have me without another fight, they will let the rest of you go.
“I will make some formations and some pills, and after accepting these, you will go to to the Gu and Yuan families and prepare to overthrow the Baili family when you have advanced sufficiently.
“I can make a few Rainbow Pills if I get the materials needed,” Xue Wei continued, and while the expressions of his friends changed when they heard him say that he could make Rainbow Pills, the other two were just confused.
“Rainbow Pills?” they asked with uncertainty. The Rainbow Pills were the most outstanding pill on Chang’an, but it was not that well known on Yan Dalu.
“They are outstanding magical pills which either increase your Qi, your spiritual energy or enhance your physical strength,” Bai Tianyi said. “They will increase one of those three at random, but it will be a massive increase; at least one breakthrough should happen, if not two or three.”
“Such a wondrous thing exists?” Gu Bing’er was shocked when she heard it, but she quickly regained enough composure to accept a note from Xue Wei which contained the ingredients needed.
Looking at the ingredients, she frowned. She had always thought that pills only required herbs to be crafted, but these pills also required precious gems and ores.
Still, if one was able to achieve at least one breakthrough with each pill, then the excessive materials were worth it.
“We will have enough materials to make ten at least, and twenty at most,” she said. Xue Wei nodded his head; it was not likely for him to make much more than that, as it not only took a long time to make these pills but unlike other pills where he could make a batch at a time, he could only concoct one Rainbow Pill at a time.
Chapter 33 - Different Species
“Ten-to-twenty Rainbow Pills will also be quite a big treasure,” Xue Wei said proudly “They can provide a rather outstanding benefit to the people consuming them, and I believe that the Gu and Yuan families will be capable of outmatching the Baili family when the last of the Sky Knight Pills and Rainbow Pills have been consumed.
“I think I will be able to stay in their dungeons for a week, maybe two, but more than that and even I will start to have trouble hanging on to my sanity,” Xue Wei said cautiously. “So within two weeks, you will have to bolster your strength and get ready to fight back.”
“Big Brother, are you going to leave Luoluo?” Luoluo looked at Xue Wei with big eyes filled with worry, but Xue Wei just squatted in front of her and rustled her hair.
“Big Brother needs to go on a trip for some time. In the meanwhile, Uncle Xiao will look after you. If anything, you can always complain to Big Brother about him when I come back, and then I will scold him, okay?”
The girl had unshed tears in her eyes that she had tried hard to keep in check, but it eventually won, and a single tear fell down her cheek.
She did not understand what torture meant, nor did she understand what exactly was going on; all she knew was that Xue Wei needed to leave for a short while and that she would be without him—something that made her deeply upset.
“Big Brother promises to come back?” Luoluo asked with a pitifully small voice.
Xue Wei smiled as he gently wiped away her tear and rubbed her head, “I promise.”
“This is important?” she continued bravely, and Xue Wei smiled as he nodded his head. “Uncle Xiao will look after me and make sure that nothing bad happens?” she added, looking more confident.
Xue Wei once more said yes as he gave a glance towards Lin Xiao, who looked appalled by the thought of having to look after the kid for so long, but when taking a moment to consider alternatives, he understood this was the best solution.
“Is it safe though?” Bai Tianyi finally asked cautiously. “You already killed quite a few of their people. What if you are mistaken and they won’t try to gain your knowledge, but directly try to kill you in vengeance, then what?”
“They are the most influential noble family within Yan Dalu. Do you really think they will kill off someone who is of such value to them?”
“If you had killed my son, then I would tear you apart, no matter how valuable you are,” Lin Xiao agreed, with Hei Gou nodding as well and both of them looking quite worried.
Hearing their argument, Gu Bing’er could not help but snort. “You guys come from another continent, you do not understand anything about how the fights are here, in the noble families.
“Although he has killed a direct descendant of the Baili bloodline, there are many direct descendants, and there’s also a power struggle between them for the higher positions within the family.
“They will consider the fact that Xue Wei can elevate their family to greater heights, and they will feel that the weak Baili son died for the sake of the benefit of the family.”
Hearing Gu Bing’er’s understanding of the situation placated the others somewhat, and Xue Wei felt that was essentially the same kind of reasoning he had come to.
Yuan Bailong was not comfortable with the way things were going, but he could do nothing else than to fight by his fiancé and Xue Wei’s side.
Hearing him say that he would allow himself to be caught by the Baili family was something that he had never expected. He had not thought that Xue Wei would accept this way of handling them.
It was obvious that he would be mistreated in the Baili family, did he not fear torture? One has to remember that this was Yan Dalu, a place filled with spiritual energy and the torture methods usually focused on the soul and invading the mind.
Wounds to the soul were many times more serious than an injury to one’s body. A soul injury required some rare herbs and pills, or to consume a rather substantial amount of soul power to be healed.
Would anyone volunteer to enter a tiger’s den? Yuan Bailong had never seen anyone who would willingly do so before, but looking at Xue Wei, it seemed as if he was rather serious about this suggestion.
Sensing that he was serious, Yuan Bailong said nothing more. So after all the voices of disagreement were killed, they started forming a proper plan on what they had to do to free him once they were ready.
“This is a very risky plan,” Xue Wei summarized after they had finished discussing it. “And I am not sure how long I can handle, so the most conservative estimate is two weeks. I doubt they will kill me, but they might wear my mind down and turn me into a mindless doll.”
Xue Wei was speaking as if it was not himself that was going to be in this perilous position.
“It will be fine,” Bai Tianyi finally reaffirmed, “your kind have some defenses protecting their mind and soul. Don’t forget that your species is not something a weak human can compare to.”
Hearing this, the two from Yan Dalu were left flabbergasted. Was Xue Wei not a human? But he could not be a Primordial Beast either, as they were not that superior to humans, so what was he?
There were multiple races in this world—so many that it was impossible to say how many there actually were.
There were many different species of beasts. Then there were humans, and there were spirits, ghosts, demons, merfolk, centaurs, and chimeras.
While some of these species like spirits and ghost appeared naturally, the others are related to beasts and humans. It was the same in Yan Dalu as Chang’an.
“I cannot help but wonder where all these different races come from,” Yuan Bailong could not help but mutter, causing Bai Tianyi to turn to him, as he could tell what the puzzled man was confused about.
“Ghosts are those who have unfinished business in the world,” Bai Tianyi began. “When they die, their soul power does not vanish and instead lingers. It then starts absorbing heaven-and-earth essence until it can make a spirit body, and that is how they are formed.
“Spirits are different. They can be rivers, mountains, trees, herbs—even p
ills could become spirits. Anything that suddenly gained enlightenment, or was located somewhere with dense heaven-and-earth essence for thousands of years, and then gained sentience.
“Then the rest are actually made from the union of beasts and humans. When I began cultivating, these races were known as ‘halfbreeds.’ Back then, when all continents were still connected, humans and beasts could mate with one another. They lived in harmony with each other, and love between them flourished.
“Then one day, like a switch had been flipped, all children born between the two races would die. It became impossible to successfully mate with someone not from your own race all of a sudden, and as to why no one knows.
“As time went by, the halfbreeds became new races; some became demons, others merpeople. Some became centaurs, and others became multi-eyed citizens like yourself.
“It is hard to say what happened back then, but I saw how the races emerged. I imagine that something changed in the very lifeblood of the world. Even someone as strong as I was incapable of doing such a thing, so it must have been something that came from beyond our world.
“The four species of beasts, humans, spirits, and ghosts were the only original races in our continents.
“It is also why demons, for example, look like a mixture of a beast and a human. They have human bodies with beastly features such as horns, paws or hooves. They are different from Primordial Beasts as they cannot change between the shape of a human or a beast; they are stuck being a mix of them both.
“The same happened to centaurs. They are not able to change their figures; they are neither beast nor humans, and thus they are considered their own race.
“However, these races exist on different continents. Back before the land was split into many smaller continents, they decided to live in their own areas. They grouped up with their own kind, and thus they have been sequestered away from the rest of the races when the big split happened.
“That is why only humans and beasts live in Chang’an. Here in Yan Dalu, all the multi-eyed experts reside. On other continents, other races live. But it seems that you know a lot about the other races?” Bai Tianyi looked at Yuan Bailong who had been listening with rapt attention.
“No,” he admitted. “I have met a demon before. There was one with the latest delegation from the Demon Phoenix Continent. I did not think there were this many species of creatures in this world, but it makes sense when you say that they were halfbreeds before.”
Xue Wei was also listening with curiosity. He did not know much about many other races than beasts and humans, so he had never expected that once upon a time, mixed breeds were this common, while now they were nearly impossible.
After having talked for a few hours overall, Xue Wei finally returned to his pill room where he began concocting the pills for the Yuan and Gu families.
Although Xue Wei knew that he had to be fast in concocting the pills, he was also aware that it was a process that could not be rushed. If he tried rushing, then they would definitely be flawed or low purity.
He needed to give the concocting his full attention, especially when making the Rainbow Pills. They had to be profound grade, or they would fail, and the materials needed to make just one Rainbow Pill were so much that it would hurt his heart if just one failed.
Not long after, Xue Wei had made a few batches of Sky Knight Pills, Spring Powder Pills, Jade Flow Pills, and Star Sand Pills.
The Jade Flow Pills were made with a Jade Flow Flower as the main ingredient, and it has the medicinal properties of boosting one’s soul power absorption. It attracts all soul power in the air and allows for one to easier cultivate spiritual energy.
Star Sand Pills were a strange type of pill with a risky trade-off. To make them, they required Star Sand, a small, crystalline type of sand that sparkled like the stars. This type of pill would boost one’s battle strength threefold for the duration of an hour; however, once the hour was over, their strength would be incredibly weak for a full day afterward.
Originally he had not planned on making any Star Sand Pills, but after considering that they would go into battle, the pills could easily save their lives, so he decided to produce a few batches just in case.
Xue Wei spent the whole night working on these four kinds of pills, constantly improving his alchemical proficiency as he completed the batches.
When the next day arrived, Gu Bing’er and Yuan Bailong arrived once more, this time bringing with them the materials for the Rainbow Pills. Xue Wei exchanged the other pills he had concocted with them, after ensuring that he had also kept a few for his own friends.
After that with ingredients in hand, he once more locked himself up within the pill room, where he put his full attention towards creating Rainbow Pills. The Gu family had brought materials for seventeen pills while the Yuan family only had the materials for fourteen, a slightly higher amount than they’d originally anticipated, as the families had scrambled to get as much as they could after hearing how powerful the pills were.
He failed three times in total, so after handing fifteen pills to Gu Bing’er and thirteen to Yuan Bailong, Xue Wei got ready to begin the next step of his plan.
However, before he had the time to go, he was reminded that he was no longer caring for just himself and thus he spent a day accompanying Luoluo, playing games with her and telling her stories, before putting her to sleep for the night.
Only after spending the day with his new little sister did he leave the house, a knowing smile plastered on his face.
Chapter 34 - Capture
As soon as Xue Wei left the house, he felt his senses tingling. He spread out his perception and sensed that a rather substantial number of experts were trailing him.
Looking around, Xue Wei found that there were a lot of people walking on the streets again, yet none of them dared to get close to him. All of them looked at him with fear evident in their many eyes.
It was clear that everyone knew that Xue Wei had killed the Baili members without even showing the slightest hint of mercy. This was frightening and something that they could not accept with their views on murder.
Those who previously had looked down upon him, or bad-mouthed him and his friends for being show-offs from another continent did not even dare to look him in the eye.
“This is troublesome,” Xue Wei sighed. “They will not come out and drag me away in front of all these people.” As he mused to himself, Xue Wei was starting to walk towards the forbidden area again.
The forbidden area was the best place to fight without being noticed. Not many went there, and it was quiet; it was the ideal place for a confrontation.
From what Xue Wei had sensed when spreading out his perception, he could tell the experts were all stronger than him, though most likely it was only a batch of Sky Knights that had been sent out.
Even if Xue Wei were capable of killing one Sky Knight that specialized in spiritual energy, it would become difficult when there were multiple present. Even though he believed in his ability to escape them all on his own, he also understood that if the Baili family failed in capturing him, then they would change their tactics. There was even a possibility of them moving on Luoluo and his friends, and this thought alone was enough to make him feel bloodlust rise from within.
No one should touch his friends or family. They were his reverse scale, the one thing that could make him lose all his rationality.
As he reached the area in front of the Forbidden Area, Xue Wei stopped in his tracks and turned around, “Come out and play, wherever you are,” he called out in a whimsical tone. Not long after, the people who had followed behind him suddenly appeared out of the shadows, one after another.
So far, the people that had tried to deal with Xue Wei were all students at the academy, and their ages were not too dissimilar from Xue Wei’s, being youngsters beneath the age of twenty.
But now things were different, the people who appeared were clearly at least a decade older.
The leader of
this group was different from the previous leader too. Although he walked with the same arrogant confidence as the previous leader had when they first arrived, there was a cold gleam in his eyes. This made Xue Wei understand that this man was not as naive as the other, nor did he doubt that this man would kill if need be; in fact, he had the aura of someone who had killed before.
Sensing the actual killing intent that the man exuded, Xue Wei was rather intrigued. On a continent like Yan Dalu, where murder was as frowned upon as it was, how was it that this Baili person had managed to kill before?
“Mister Xue, we have tried inviting you plenty of times, but it seems that our sincere and gracious offers have been belittled by you and even caused us to suffer some significant losses,” the leader began talking, his voice cold like ice and his eyes not showing any sincerity at all—instead a fierce expression flashed within.
“I see, I am sorry, but I did not sense such gracious sincerity earlier, perhaps you sent the wrong person to negotiate with me,” Xue Wei said mockingly. Although he planned to go with them, he was not intending to work with them, so there was no reason to try and save face.
“I do apologize for their rude behavior, but Mister Xue, you could also have been more forgiving. To directly kill the people we sent was not a very polite gesture.” The man did not lose his cool when he heard Xue Wei’s antagonistic answer; instead, he continued to speak and even turned it around so that Xue Wei was the one at fault.
Sensing that this man was in a completely different league than his previous opponents, Xue Wei felt the urge to battle boiling in his blood, but he pushed it down and forced himself to remain calm. Now was not the time to confront him.
“We are both smart people,” Xue Wei answered. “If they had not pressured me, I would not have done something so final to them either, but it seems that currently the Baili family and I are doomed to wander on opposite paths.”
“That is not certain,” the leader cut in, a smile on his face, yet a smile that did not reach his eyes which remained as icy cold as before. “Why don’t you follow me back to the Baili family to discuss the possibilities of working together? If you say no, then we have no other option than to invite your friends. I heard a little bird sing about you having a cute younger sister that would surely have a pleasant time with us.”
