In the Fourth District, the East Victory District, the revelers had gradually dispersed, leaving only a few young people and tipsy adventurers unwilling to sleep on the streets.
Master Benet's carriage slowly drove into a seemingly inconspicuous three-story magic tower within the East Victory Academy.
An elderly man with white hair, but spirited, opened his arms to welcome him: "Benet, my old friend, how are you?" He was none other than Ramiel, the director of the East Victory Academy and a thirteenth-level divine mage.
Benet's permanently frozen face softened slightly: "I've come to seek your help with something this time."
Ramiel was not surprised: "I had already guessed. With your temperament, you wouldn't come to see me for no reason. Tell me, what difficult situation have you encountered?"
Benet promptly said, "The matter concerning the Solomon Demon Pillar formula has been exposed. I want you to send someone to protect me on my way back to the guild headquarters."
Ramiel was taken aback: "How did this happen... Wait, let me arrange it." After a brief moment of contemplation, he called a servant, "Go and summon the heads of the Warrior and Mage departments to my chamber."
Ramiel said to Benet, "Rest for a while, I'll take care of things. You can set off in the morning." Benet nodded. He and Ramiel had an extraordinary bond, and there was no need for formalities.
Before long, the two powerful department heads were summoned. Elgado, the head of the Warrior department, was sixty years old, but still had a full head of brown hair, appearing as robust as a lion on the savanna. He wore a simple coarse linen robe with a wide leather belt around his waist and black iron wrist guards.
On the other hand, the head of the Mage department, Aungnar, seemed much more delicate, his tall and slender figure looking as if a gust of wind could blow him away along with his mage robe. However, no one would underestimate the second most powerful mage in the East Victory Academy after Ramiel. He was said to be just a step away from becoming a thirteenth-level divine mage.
These two are Rameer's confidants, and the candidates for the successor of the dean.
"Master Benarth!" The two were summoned at this time, and they both guessed that something important had happened. Seeing the Dean of the Codex here, they were both surprised.
Rameer briefly explained the situation, then said, "Your team will escort Master back to the Alchemist Guild headquarters early tomorrow morning."
Elgado patted his chest, "I'll go personally. Angnar, you arrange for a few mages to help me." Angnar was not in good health, and such a long journey was clearly not suitable for him. He didn't argue with Elgado and nodded, saying, "I'll assign my best three students to you, and I'll also draw seven excellent students from the Mage Department for you."
Elgado grinned, "Great! Hahaha..."
Rameer was still worried, "Elgado, bring more people with you. This matter is not trivial. What you may face may be ambitious nations on the continent!"
Elgado couldn't smile anymore, "Dean, rest assured. I will select twenty outstanding fighters, which should be enough. They wouldn't dare openly attack the Dean of the Alchemist Guild, would they?"
Rameer nodded, just about to give some more instructions, when Benarth, who had been sitting quietly all along, suddenly changed his expression. Rameer asked in surprise, "Benarth, what's wrong?"
The Dean of the Codex suddenly stood up, "Such powerful dark alchemy power, be careful!" As he spoke, a faint purple light mist sprayed from a ring on his finger, forming a shape of a pointer. The pointer swayed at his fingertip and slowly pointed to a room upstairs.
Benarth asked in a deep voice, "Whose room is that?"
Rameer knew this old friend of his very well and knew he wouldn't speak without reason, "It's my granddaughter's room." Benarth said, "You come with me to take a look. You two stay here and be careful!"
The two old men cautiously went upstairs. Benarth gestured, and Rameer knocked on the door worriedly, "Victoria, are you asleep?" The door opened, and a cute girl in a long-haired magic rabbit pajamas, wearing a pointed velvet hat, asked drowsily, "Grandpa, what's the matter? I still have class tomorrow..." Benarth suddenly pulled Victoria inside.
"Ah—" Victoria fell to the ground, exclaimed, but Rameer didn't care about his granddaughter, and hurried inside.
The purple light mist pointer formed into a doll's head among the pile of fluffy things on Victoria's bedside.
"Old friend, what's going on?" Rameer asked as he followed in. Benarth's face changed drastically, "A disaster doll!"
"What!" Rameer was also shocked. He was the dean of the five major martial academies on the continent and had seen and known a lot!
Almost simultaneously, the two old men ran out together. Benarth found a pair of glasses from his storage ring and threw it to Rameer, "Put these on!"
Rameer cast a flying spell and the two of them flew straight to the roof.
Through the special glasses, they could see the Delson royal city under the starlight. Under the dark background, the city was dotted with increasing red dots, which were becoming more and more prominent.
The two took off their glasses together. Rameer's voice trembled, "Oh my, this is a disaster!"
...
It was still dark when Ge Zhen was awakened by the noisy sounds on the street. Dunk quickly ran in, continuously shouting, "Master, something bad has happened. You must go and see. Last night, all the nobles in the city suddenly fell ill!"
Ge Zhen was greatly shocked, a sense of foreboding arising in his heart. He grabbed his clothes, "Dinora, Solg Weylin, follow me!" Solg Weylin did not hear Ge Zhen's call, but instead heard the call of his love and happiness, so he couldn't have breakfast and jumped up to follow Ge Zhen. If any other dragon saw a dragon acting so "sycophantically" as to flatter a tiny human like this, Solg Weylin would lose all dignity among the dragons.
Dinora complained, "Weirdo, if you want me to help you fight, at least give me a decent weapon. How can I fight with this serrated sword..."
Ge Zhen rushed to the Rong Heng Trading Company at the fastest speed. He broke in directly. When a clerk tried to stop him, Solg Weylin summoned a six-legged leopard, which stepped on the clerk, with its tail still curled around another person - that was why Solg Weylin chose to summon it, because of its efficiency.
Ge Zhen rushed inside and found the conference room. The smell of olives in the air was almost undetectable. He said to Solg Weylin, "Move the table." The oval conference table weighed over a ton, but Solg Weylin agreed without thinking it was extraordinary. With one hand, he overturned the table, revealing the hidden passage underneath. Ge Zhen rushed inside, feeling the cold air, but the olives were nowhere to be found.
Ge Zhen's heart jumped. He had killed the dark alchemist last time. Could it be that besides him, there were others who could carry out such a large-scale ritual?
"Who are you, barging into my shop and molesting me, a weak woman?" Rong Chan stood at the door, wearing a light dress, a look of victimization on her face, her cheeks flushed, on the verge of tears, acting skillfully.
Dinora whistled, "What a beautiful little lady!" Ge Zhen angrily glared at her. Dinora didn't know what was happening to her, but suddenly she was a little bit afraid of him and shrunk her neck, "Fine, I won't compete with you. I already have Gronia..."
Ge Zhen looked at Rong Chan, "Where are the olives?" "Olives?" Rong Chan raised her eyebrows, "Sold out."
"Sold out!"
"Of course, sold out. Doing business means selling things. If someone buys them at a reasonable price, of course I'll sell them." Rong Chan answered, it was succinct, she took a few light steps, swayed her waist, and had already stood in front of Ge Zhen, a faint elegant fragrance entering Ge Zhen's nostrils. The alchemist had no way to react. Before he could find those olives, he would have been dragged to the General's mansion of the Royal City Guard.
"We're leaving!" Ge Zhen looked at Rong Chan meaningfully, unwilling to say.
Solg Weylin and Dinora followed him. The female warrior even flew a flirtatious look at Rong Chan before leaving.
Xiao Sa stepped forward, "Miss..." Rong Chan blocked him with her hand, with a full smile in her eyes, "This man seems a little different from others. He seems unmoved by me, but that's more interesting. Conquering him is more fulfilling!"
Dinora caught up from behind, "Weirdo, can you tell me what's going on?"
Ge Zhen sighed deeply, "Alchemy curse, disaster doll!" Dinora was shocked and thought of the chaos in the city today. She exclaimed, "This is a conspiracy. Starting from the plague in Wangshan City and Roringel City, this is a complete conspiracy!"
Ge Zhen looked at her, "You're not foolish, but as soon as you see a beautiful woman, you can't keep your cool..."
If he didn't find the olives, he couldn't break the alchemy curse. Ge Zhen spoke softly, unable to mobilize the entire city's army for a search. But as they walked through the streets, a fully armed group of soldiers rushed up and began searching house by house.
While Ge Zhen was speaking softly, Lord Benart was different. A single word from him made Emperor Meja IV's face change drastically, and he immediately dispatched the Royal City Guard to search the entire city.
...
"Father Fista, what's going on?" A group of soldiers burst into the Rongheng Trading Company, and Rong Chan's face turned cold. The old steward stepped forward, "Miss, the Emperor has ordered a citywide search, but we don't know what they're looking for."
Rong Chan felt a sense of uneasiness and thought "this is not good." Her demeanor didn't change, and she waved her hand, "Alright, since the Emperor has given the order, let them search."
After the guards searched every nook and cranny and left, Fista asked, "Miss, what about our antidote..."
"Stand down." Rong Chan said decisively. "Oh." Father Fista was in the dark about what was going on. He agreed and left. He closed the door behind him and remembered a voice in the shadows, "The alchemical curse has taken effect. Even if I tried to slow it down, they will still gradually die after three days. By not selling the medicine, aren't you letting them die?" Rong Chan's voice was cold and devoid of emotion, "The Emperor has grown suspicious. Selling the medicine at this time would undoubtedly inform Emperor Meja IV that it was we who cast the curse. Whether they die or not, it means death for me!"
"But what about the lives of tens of thousands of people?" Clos asked. Rong Chan suddenly turned her head, showing a very innocent smile, but her eyes had no trace of playfulness, and a cold light flickered, "Since when did a dark alchemist learn to cherish life? With your immortality, you are now concerned about these people's lives."
Clos slowly stepped out, and the darkness seemed to peel away from him like a giant cloak. The voice of the dark alchemist sounded calm, like a calm stream flowing under the night sky, "It's precisely because I am immortal that I understand the value of life even more."
...
The whole city was searched for a whole day, but nothing was found.
Ge Zheng knew what the result was without asking. His brows furrowed deeply. He secretly blamed himself for being careless at the beginning and should have destroyed the olivine in the secret room! But how could he blame himself for this? When the Imperial Guards rushed in, he didn't have time to destroy those things. Sometimes, some organizations indeed have a surplus of failures.
It was the darkest night in the entire history of the Delson Royal City since its establishment. Even inside the Imperial Palace of Nalder, only a few lights were lit.
Occasional screams could be heard in the sky above the city. The dark clouds covered the starlight. On such a night, the eerie screams made all the residents feel creepy. Everyone knew what had happened and it was clear in their hearts. It wouldn't be long before the entire city became a city of plague.
The royal city was closed for a day, and the garbage couldn't be taken out, and the supplies couldn't come in from outside. The Emperor ordered the use of war reserves. Although food and water were not a problem, the garbage and the waste of people and animals couldn't be removed outside. Fortunately, it was winter now. Otherwise, after one night, the entire royal city would have stunk to high heaven early the next morning.
"Master, the magic lamp is lit," Hones Dunke said. He brought a magic lamp for Ge Zheng. Ge Zheng suddenly brightened: "Under the lamp, it's dark!"
Ge Zheng quickly stood up, "Dinola, Solgweilin, come with me!" Ge Zheng rushed to Count Delkumont's mansion, gathered Delkumont's private guards, and marched mightily to the Hengrong Trading Company. Delkumont had gone all out. Now was not the time to consider the future. If those olivines couldn't be found, both he and the city would perish!
It was not easy to hide so many olivines. The large-scale search by the Imperial Guards of the royal city did not find them, which made Ge Zheng more confident in his judgment.
Under the lamp, the more dangerous place was safer. Those olivines had not been moved elsewhere; they were still inside the Hengrong Trading Company.
This time, Ge Zheng would not rush in like the last time.
The private guards of Delkumont were well-equipped. They barged in and quickly controlled all the assistants in the shop.
Then they rushed all the way to the innermost layer. Sure enough, a burst of arrow feathers came flying, and although the private guards were well-armored, they couldn't withstand the darting arrows of the elven archers and fell down instantly.
These private soldiers were all bought with gold coins. Delkumont was greatly distressed to see this. He roared and charged forward on Agnuda. Solgweiren released three magic beasts to cover Delkumont's charge, Dinola snatched a long-handled horse knife and killed like a wolf.
With their hacking and slashing, they completely cleared the obstacles.
Ge Zheng gave a loud order, and the soldiers quickly moved away the oval-shaped conference table, and he led the people to jump into the secret room, stomping his foot: "Dig down!"
The soldiers immediately found various tools in the shop - Hengrong Trading Company was worthy of being the number one trading company on the continent. They all pitched in and levered up the stone slabs, dividing into several groups to dig together.
On Ge Zheng's side stood the three people of Delkumont, all nervously staring at the soldiers' picks. It would be good if they found it. If they couldn't, not only would they not save the residents of the city and themselves, but they would also be blamed by His Majesty the Emperor. Emperor Mejef IV was not a broad-minded person, and now he must be furious and looking for someone to vent his anger.
Dinola was anxious and grabbed a soldier's pickaxe: "Let me do it!" The violent female warrior displayed extraordinary skill. Every time the pickaxe struck, it created a small pit. The pickaxe flew and the soil scattered everywhere, and the other soldiers helped her transport the soil.
The female warrior was like a tunnel boring machine and quickly dug a large pit about half a person deep. "Clang!" the pickaxe struck something, and everyone was overjoyed. Ge Zheng and the others crowded around. Dinola pushed away the soil at the bottom of the hole, revealing a large bluestone slab underneath.
A soldier cleverly handed over an iron pick, and Dinola chipped away at the stone slab. As soon as a crack appeared, a flash of fire suddenly erupted in the darkness. Ge Zheng shouted, "Quick, retreat!" He shoved Dinola aside and the Divine Punishment Cross landed in front of the crack.
The Flaming Fox slammed into the Divine Punishment Cross, causing Dinola to sweat coldly. Delkumont and Solgweiren shunted her left and right, quickly retreating.
A strong light lifted the stone slab, and Ge Zheng frowned: "The Mountain of Light? Why is it you again!"
Clos slowly rose from below, with a hint of an elegant smile on his lips: "I am very close to the Dark Lord, he asked me to come back and see what the Warlock's Sword from last time really is."
Ge Zheng sneered: "Alright, I'll let you see!"
A green-gold light orb kept spinning in his palm. Clos frowned: "This seems to be not..."
Without waiting for him to finish, Ge Zheng urged his true yuan, and the Alchemical Flying Sword appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye. Clos was greatly surprised: "So fast!"
"Dark God's Shield!" Clos erected a dark gray curtain in front of him. Ge Zheng sneered, and the Alchemical Flying Sword easily pierced through the Dark God's Shield, but then it was blocked with a "clang".
The gray curtain of the Dark God's Shield dispersed like smoke in the wind. Clos held a shield with a brilliant light, adorned with nearly a hundred high-quality magic crystal stones, continuously providing magical energy to a turtle-backed magical shield that floated on its surface.
Clos smiled triumphantly: "I guessed it right; this is not an instrument!" He shouted, "What exactly is this thing?"
Ge Zheng narrowed his eyes and smiled: "Do you think I will tell you?"
"I think you will..." With one hand wielding the shield and the Alchemical Flying Sword, the other hand slowly lifted, as if holding something heavy.
As the arm rose, eight different colored lights emerged from under the ground around his body.
"Flaming Fox!"
"Mountain of Light!"
"Devil's Touch!"
"Voice of Souls!"
"Blizzard River!"
"Spiritual Rock Axe!"
"Great Sun Wheel!"
"Falling Tide!"
Ge Zheng was startled: Last time, this kid struggled with controlling five instruments, how could he effortlessly use eight instruments this time! The eight lights swirled around Ge Zheng like a merry-go-round, making his Divine Punishment Cross seem alone and helpless.
Nevertheless, Clos felt a trace of sorrow: This was probably the greatest benefit the Lich gave him. His body's load capacity had increased countless times, even if he simultaneously unleashed eight instruments, it was no problem.
"Swoosh swoosh swoosh..." A series of wind sounds, and the eight instruments charged at Ge Zheng like a deluge. Ge Zheng cried out and dodged like a wretched donkey close to the ground.
With a glance, he casually tossed a few magic characters at the Flaming Fox.
"Puff!" The Flaming Fox was extinguished. Clos took three steps back, staring at Ge Zheng in astonishment. Ge Zheng chuckled and flickered a thread of ice flame at his fingertips: "After last time, I specifically researched your encryption mode for instruments. I've already found ways to crack the last few instruments you used."
Clos was greatly surprised, and looked down to find a crack on the ring of the Flaming Fox's ring, and it didn't respond when activated again. He immediately felt heartbroken. It was not easy to refine each of these instruments. Clos had also painstakingly refined ten instruments, and now that he had the upper hand, he was unwilling to let Ge Zheng destroy his hard work in vain.
Clos raised his hand and recollected the Mountain of Light, Devil's Touch, Voice of Souls, and Blizzard River, leaving behind the Rock Axe of Spiritual Rock, the Bright Sun Wheel, and a haggard green Falling Tide.
"Only with three instruments, I could still beat you!" Clos said confidently.
Ge Zheng felt relieved. He had been extremely busy lately and didn't have much time to crack the encryption mode of Clos. It was only by chance that he managed to crack the simplest Flaming Fox. He hadn't expected that a casual remark would make Clos take it to heart and recollect the four instruments.
Ge Zheng's pressure decreased greatly, immediately manipulating the Ten Cross Punishment and Clos's Battle as a whole.
The Alchemy Flying Sword was extremely sharp. On Clos's magical shield, slim blue magical energy was constantly being consumed, quickly depleting half of the energy of hundreds of high-grade magic crystals.
Ge Zheng suddenly flicked his finger, and the Alchemy Flying Sword "swooshed" back. Ge Zheng cursed in his heart and suddenly peculiar magical characters flew between his hands. He forcefully sprayed out his true element, pressing the peculiar magical characters into the flying sword, causing a faint red glow to immediately flow on the sword.
Clos frowned, "What's this?"
Ge Zheng pointed, and the Alchemy Flying Sword roared, blocking the Rock Spirit Axe. Clos sneered and looked at Ge Zheng disdainfully.
However, the reality greatly exceeded his expectations. The "Warlock's Sword" cut the Rock Spirit Axe in half, causing the axe to break into two yellowish pieces that quickly melted away. Clos looked down and saw that the ring of the Rock Spirit Axe had been broken in half.
"Damn, I'll compete with you!" Clos was deeply distressed, holding up his shield and charging forward. Ge Zheng laughed loudly, "Hahaha… Are you forgetting again?"
Clos was stunned, "What?"
Before he could understand what was happening, the Alchemy Flying Sword slightly paused, then "swooshed" through his magical shield, and a sword tip shimmering with green and golden light pierced out from behind him.
The Alchemy Flying Sword retracted with no blood on it.
Ge Zheng made a gesture, and the flying sword spun around and condensed into a green-golden sphere in his palm.
Clos's eyes revealed the same shocked expression as last time, "This can't be possible…"
Ge Zheng was using the Swordmaster's Way of Sword Control. Since spiritual techniques could be infused into the flying sword to increase its power, then alchemy attacks should also be able to be infused.
This was just a guess by Ge Zheng, but to his surprise, the experiment happened to succeed. The Alchemy Flying Sword immediately gained dual attributes, not just a physical weapon, but also an alchemical artifact.
When he cut the Rock Spirit Axe, Clos should have realized that the Alchemy Flying Sword had gained the attributes of an artifact. However, he made the same mistake as last time. The previous time, he used an artifact to resist physical attacks, but this time, he used physical defense to resist alchemical attacks.
After the incident, the Royal Guards rushed to the scene. Ge Zheng had ample time this time to collect his spoils of war. Ten rings quickly fell into his storage space. Despite Clos having magical rings on all his fingers, Ge Zheng still patted his body and found two storage rings.
When the private army of Delmon finally arrived, Rong Chan had quietly escaped. Equipped with the coins extorted from the Duke Maris, the private army was well-equipped, and she had mistakenly thought it was the Royal Guards who had arrived.
The Royal Guards didn't play a significant role in the whole event. However, the General of the Royal Guards was unwilling to accept this and personally interrogated the captives of Rong Heng Trading Company, which unexpectedly turned out to be a major success: the old steward Fista confessed to the existence of a batch of new antidote, which was very likely the remedy.
With these antidotes, Ge Zheng wouldn't have to work so hard.
(…)
At the city gate passage, Principal Ramir held Master Benat's hand, reluctant to part ways, "Old friend, take care!"
Ramir said, "If one day you don't want to be the steward of the Code anymore, make sure to come to our Dongsheng Academy. I'm worried about the lack of strength in the alchemy department. In terms of magic and martial arts, I'm not afraid of the four major academies, but it's just the alchemy department that… sigh!"
Suddenly, Master Benat said, "There is an excellent alchemist in the Delson Royal City. Haven't you noticed?"
Volume VI: Master Ge's Lectures