The Geared Immortal

Chapter 34

In one of the stages in the arena, there stood a wooden table. On that table lays 3 pill containers, and surrounding this table are all the elders who acted as judges for the alchemy contest. They are to test the efficacy of each of the pills presented. The container follows the color of the pills and below it is a piece of written information about the pills in them.

The first one is a green pill, which Xing Meng claimed to be his original creation. He called it the 'heavenly touch pill', the effect of the pill is to numb the mind and would cause the user to not feel any pain in the span of an hour.

When the elders saw this they were shocked. This is a new pill, with this pill a soldier can fight without worrying about his wounds and would be like berserkers in battle. It is a very powerful pill for those who are on the battlefield. It can also be used to treat someone with heavy injury so that they would not feel the pain.

"Truly an amazing pill. He is surely a prodigy of our school. Haha. The chief alchemist would be too proud once more with this disciple of his." And elder praised.

But on the face of Lu Hao Duang, a sneer appear. Clearly, he is familiar with this pill as he already saw this in one of his travels. The true name of this pill is the 'mind-numbing pill' which affects the mind of a person so that he or she could not feel any pain. The reason why this pill is not well-known is that it was banned by the empire a long time ago for its side-effect. If one would take this pill more than 3 times, they would be addicted to it and would always crave for the pill. Lu Hau Duan decided that he would reprimand Xing Meng later, and not in front of these many people so as to save the face of the chief alchemist of the school.

Then they checked the second pill, which was made by Susu Ling. It is an improvement of the basic 'spirit gathering pill', to be able to turn this normal pill into a high-grade pill is truly amazing. Those at the late-stage gold core realm are the ones who should only be able to make this kind of pill, as one should have enough control on spiritual sense and Qi to be able to control its pill formation.

"She was able to make 3 high-grade pills while in the primary-stage of gold core realm. How monstrous is her control in her spiritual Qi? I'm guessing that she's almost at the level of that child Qin Lou." Hu Ao commented.

"A good seed too, I never noticed her before." A female elder said on the side.

"Umn… she also has the background to support her." Another one chimed in.

Then they excitedly checked the curious pill which Qin Lou made. And they were too amazed at the clarity and the aura of the pill.

"If I can't see the golden aura of this pill, I would have suspected that this is a sky-grade pill."

"Yeah, and how come that this gel thing can hold such liquid inside. Would it break immediately when eaten?"

"I think so too, there seem to be traces of spiritual marker in them. I think if it is dropped in saliva this pill, it will melt right?" an elder suddenly asked as he looks at Qin Lou who nods her head.

All the elders had a sudden understanding of the gel container which is new to their eyes. Every one of them had a desire to experiment on the gel container and can't wait to use it in their pills. But then their heated curiosity was doused when Lu Hao Duang said something.

"The container might be a viable replacement for forming a pill, but it has its limits. One of it is that it cannot contain solids and highly concentrated elemental medicine." Lu Hao Duang pointed out some facts.

Upon hearing this everyone had an enlightenment and agreed. But still, if this is so, then just making the basic alchemical concoction is enough. If an alchemist has the success rate of only 20% when forming a pill, with this his 20% would become 80% unless he's a failure in refinement. So the only thing that an alchemist should concentrate on is the refining to be able to make a good pill.

"Little lass, this pill doesn't have any description in them. What is this pill called?" Hu Ao asked looking at Qin Lou.

Qin Lou glance at Shin Jiao who nods his head. This made Hu Ao and Lu Hao Duang knit their brow in confusion. But they didn't mind this as they know both master and servant has a good relationship. When Qin Lou saw that Shin Jiao agrees with a nod, she took in a deep breath.

Before entering the contest Shin Jiao told her his plan. When she heard the name and the effect of the pill they are concocting she showed a horrified face. What stuck in her mind was the word, rapid-cell regeneration. It was a new word for her, but when Shin Jiao explained its meaning her heart was shaken. Although this pill would not let a person grow a new limb when cut. But the rate of healing in one's wound when taken of poured into is truly terrifying.

Twenty seconds…

That's how fast a knife wound would heal, at most it would take a day for one pill if there are truly too many wounds in the body. Qin Lou didn't know that this is the run down version of the regrowth serum that Shin Jiao had discovered. If she was able to process it with full ingredient then it would be called regrowth pill. But since the pill forming failed and only used 3 drops of the Ganoderma extract, they would just call it 'Rapid Haemostatic pill'.

"Seniors we call it 'Rapid Haemostatic pill', its main function is to rapidly close any wound in the body within 20 seconds after taking or pouring the pill in a wounded part of the body. The pill would stimulate the blood in the body to rapidly close any external and internal wound. If the wound is too heavy, a person can take two but not more than 5, as it will not have the same effect with more pills taken." Qin Lou explained.

When she finished her explanation, all the elders are dumbfounded. What is this heavenly pill? 20 seconds. What does that mean? If an army could carry at least 5 of these pill per soldier, then everyone would be fearless. As long as one is alive, even a fatal wound can be healed within 20 seconds. That is a truly terrifying medicine, although there are also some pills that would act like Rapid Haemostatic pill, they are not as domineering as to heal a wound in just 20 seconds.

"Then after healing, what would happen next?" Hu Ao curiously asked wanting to find out the side effect. They would not believe that this kind of heaven-defying pill would not have any side effect.

"Umn… Well… there is actually a fatal side effect… it is that the pill would be in effect inside the body for around 20 minutes. So if a poisonous object enters one body, it would be fatal as the wound will automatically close itself within 20 seconds. Other than that, I think there is nothing else. Your body will be back to normal after 20 minutes." Qin Lou replied while thinking.

Upon hearing her explanation almost all the elders were slacked jawed. This is not a side effect, it is a hidden trump card. One can imagine being unstoppable in battle with this pill. Upon hearing this Elder Ao quickly made his move. He grabbed Qin Lou and asked her to come with them, this was supported by the rest of the elders. It's was as if they are protecting a very valuable treasure. They knew that if this recipe would be exposed a large commotion would happen in the whole Empire. Many would seek out and kidnapped this young genius, so they just rushed in to protect her.

"Truly a good seed. I can't believe she discovered and finished something that I have been researching for a long time now." Lu Hao Duang said to himself.

But there is something that's bugging him all this time. He can actually feel something mixed in the concoction. Something that he himself could not see. Then his eyes went to the figure of Shin Jiao, a mortal servant who had a smile on his face. But Lu Hao Duang brushed off that idea in his mind as no matter how special Shin Jiao is he's is but a mere mortal.

"Sigh, I guess I've caused her trouble this time. Hopefully, she would cherish this opportunity and take hold of her dream." Shin Jiao said to himself as he started to pack the things they used.

…

Meanwhile, in a hidden entrance of a secluded valley. A solitary figure of a woman nonchalantly walks, following a particular path. The woman seems to be young judging from her built but her cultivation has already reached the middle-stages of a gold core realm. It looks like she just made a breakthrough as her aura seems to be still stabilizing. Her head is covered with a hood made of beast leather, which shadowed and hid her face.

The clothes she is wearing is a little tattered, and it looks like she's been fighting with some beasts while traveling. But curiously, although her clothes are ripped and unkempt even her hair disheveled still her body has no trace of wound or even a scar.

When she reached the hidden entrance, two people suddenly jumped out and appear in front of her. Then they bowed in courtesy as her cultivation is higher than them.

"Senior, this is the entrance to the Lotus sect. We are afraid that we may ask you to tell us about the purpose of your visit." One of the youth said with his head still lowered.

A sound of a sneer came out from inside the hood. Then she lifted her jade-white hand and the two young men felt that their movement was restricted. The woman just waltzes in and approached the barrier protecting the entrance of the valley.

"Senior please, don't offend our Lotus Sect. We have no enmity with you." One of the young men suddenly shouted.

The woman didn't reply as she just approached the barrier and chant a spell, then the barrier opens by itself.

"How did she know how to deactivate the barrier? Shit, we need to warn the sect."

When the woman enters, both the youth was release and gained their movement back. One of them suddenly grabbed a sound transmission talisman and send an alarm to the sect.

Inside a large and luxurious hall where everything seems to be like a heavenly palace above the clouds, stood 8 people wearing a white and blue robe conversing with each other. On their backs, an emblem of large of a lotus flower can be seen. These people are the elders and the sect head of the Lotus sect.

While these people are discussing something, a frantic footstep suddenly can be heard entering the hall.

"Elders, sect head we have a problem… there is an intruder in the sect." a youth wearing a blue robe suddenly announced as bowed his head and kneeled on one knee.

"What! Who dares trespass our sect?" an elder suddenly shouted.

"I'm not sure, elder… but according to the juniors watching the entrance, it's a woman… she seems to be young but already in the middle-stage of gold core realm."

"Are you certain about this?" the sect leader asked in a deep voice.

"Yes, he is certain…" a melodious young voice suddenly interrupted them.

Everyone's attention suddenly went towards the floating figure of a young woman which gradually approaching them. What surprises the group of people is that the robe that the woman is wearing, is one that a core disciple would wear in the Lotus sect.

"Who… are you?" this time a woman in the group of elders asked with some suspicion in her eyes.

"It seems that the master has forgotten about this disciple." The woman replied as she took off the leather hood covering her face.

"Cherry Lao!" almost every one blurted her name.

But before anyone could say anything else. Cherry Lao's figure suddenly blurred and appear in front of her master. Then a muffled sound echoed through the hall and the figure of a woman came flying through and crashed on a wall.

"That is what you deserve... my master." Cherry Lao said as after that punch she can't control her feelings anymore and two beads of tears slowly trickled down her cheeks.

Everyone was dumbfounded by this scene as no one noticed how Cherry Lao moved. This is one of the moves she learned from watching Shin Jiao and besides that she became stronger because of the medicine he gave her on her travels and ever since she cut off her feelings towards him, her cultivation increased. Though it hurt her feelings she endured just to be able to take back what she had before. In her heart, she promised that if ever she would see him again she would help him one time as repayment for what he did for her and for the feelings they once had for each other.

…

Meanwhile, after the alchemist took Qin Lou away. Shin Jiao became idle as all he did was roam around the small village camp. There are still 4 days before the students would return to the city of Er, and Shin Jiao wanted to follow them and to go to a big city and experience the feeling of being in a cultivation city.

"I wonder when will these people act? It's been a day now that they are following me. I'm getting bored already, come on the act now!" Shin Jiao thought as he is trying to scold those people in his mind.

Behind is a group of 5 people who have been tailing him for the whole day. As a person with some experience in espionage, he experiences a lot of kidnappings and threats in his life. So by instinct, he already knows what's going to happen, but he won't stop it from happening. He is feeling bored with nothing to do at this time so why not go with this charade.

And so that afternoon Shin Jiao was taken away by a group of a thug like people. And it seems that he was taken to a secluded place while his head was covered with a cloth. They didn't expect that a mere mortal could use a spiritual sense and so, Shin Jiao was able to know where they are. But to his surprise, he actually saw a familiar face.. This is the one they call the alchemy prodigy and genius of the Floating Lotus alchemy school, Xing Meng.