Chapter 724: Excavating Inheritance and Poaching People
At the foot of the brilliantly capped Splice Mountain, there was a small town – Graft Town.
Great Master Fan Sheng Za Zhong left behind five magic plants here; they were the Fountain King Lotus in the city center, the Gold Star Vine on the north side at Splice Mountain, the Pepper Tower on the south side, the Withered Claw Tree on the west side, and the Green Umbrella Tree on the East Side.
After Magician Cai Jing, Da Bei, Zhong Bei, and the others arrived at Graft Town, they were mainly focused on inspecting these five magic plants.
Their alchemy laboratory was set up in the south side Pepper Tower.
Pepper Tower had already been remodeled into a sunroom.
The roof’s glass was a silver level alchemy module, known as the sunlight collector.
After sunlight was gathered, it could focus the light on the magic plants in the room.
Green vines extended from the Pepper Tower’s walls, at each tip of the vines grew a pepper as large as a banana.
The long peppers were bright red, and on their surface, there was a person’s face.
These faces had closed eyes, as if in a deep slumber. Some even had open mouths and snored.
Cai Jing carefully observed a pepper, using a magic line brush from time to time to fill in the gaps in the magic circuits on the peppers’ surface or carve a new magic rune.
With the sound of footsteps, Magician Da Bei walked into the top floor.
“A bit gentler, do you want these peppers to explode with your noise?” Cai Jing transmitted to Zhong Bei, rebuking, “If a chain detonation of this many peppers happens, this town will be blown to kingdom come!”
Magician Da Bei grumbled, “Can you stop fiddling with your peppers all day long?”
“We’ve been in Graft Town for a long time already, yet we still haven’t found any trace of Great Master Fan Sheng Za Zhong’s inheritance!”
“Can you focus a bit?”
Cai Jing looked up and glanced at Da Bei, then glanced back down and continued to maintain the micro-formations on the peppers, saying, “In that case, what’s your plan?”
“We have already rummaged through Graft Town and turned it upside down, not just once, but five times!”
“But we have gained nothing.”
“These five magic plants might be the clues Fan Sheng Za Zhong left behind for his inheritance, that was the conclusion our investigation arrived at.”
“Now, I am in the process of trying to find clues from the Pepper Tower.”
Magician Da Bei shook his head, “I’m only seeing you utilizing the Pepper Tower to grow your magic plants! Don’t blame me for reminding you, if this continues, we will have nothing to present to the Alchemy Guild.”
In the wake of each passing day of zero progress, the pressure on Magician Da Bei multiplied.
At the time, he went looking for Master Cai Jing’s help to counterfeit potions to attack the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ magic medicine business. This resulted in an unexpected turn of events that led to them joining up with Cai Jing on Flower Skirt Island and excavating Great Master Fan Sheng Za Zhong’s inheritance.
Despite Qian Xing’s attack, they got through that daunting experience without a mishap with a teleportation formation and escaped.
Since then, the two of them reached an agreement. Through Magician Da Bei’s recommendation, Cai Jing successfully joined the Alchemy Guild.
·
The Alchemy Guild greatly valued Great Master Fan Sheng Za Zhong’s inheritance and gave the mission of excavating his series of inheritances to Cai Jing, Da Bei, and Zhong Bei.
According to the clues, they surmise there were two suspicious places, one of which they picked. Graft Town. The outcome up until now was that they never found the inheritance.
Cai Jing sighed, “Then there is nothing we can do. We’ve already done our absolute best.”
“We suspected two places, one is here, and the other is Tranquil Hill. Do you know where Tranquil Hill is?”
“This small town is actually our only option.”
He was under less pressure than Da Bei.
Although the two were gold levels, Cai Jing was stronger than Da Bei. Regardless of individual fighting strength or alchemy mastery, it was the same for both.
He was also the main person in charge of exploring Great Master Fan Sheng Za Zhong’s inheritances. Da Bei was more like the person the Alchemy Guild dispatched to supervise him.
“Don’t be too impetuous, I feel you’re hotter tempered than the explosive peppers I am configuring.” Cai Jing shook his head, “Take it easy, partner. I was secluded on Flower Skirt Island for several years. How long has it been since we arrived at Graft Town?”
Cai Jing was strong and capable; he was not worried about the Alchemy Guild replacing him for the time being.
In the entire Alchemy Guild, no one comprehended Great Master Fan Sheng Za Zhong’s inheritances more than he, that was his greatest confidence.
To excavate the inheritance on Flower Skirt Island, he had spent several years on it. He had a lot of patience when it came to looking for the clues in Graft Town.
While Da Bei’s situation was far worse off than his.
Although Da Bei was an Alchemy Guild Elder, he wasn’t Shuang Lian, Hua Ni, or other elders with real power.
There were a great many people that could replace him, come to Graft Town, and supervise Magician Cai Jing.
Da Bei didn’t want to let this go, he understood thoroughly that if this mission was completed on his watch, his contribution would be massive. This was a significant chance for someone like him who had no talent.
The Alchemy Guild had urged him repeatedly, so Da Bei was more anxious than Cai Jing.
He was clear about the fact that the guild headquarters’ people also took a fact to this excavation mission and started to use their contacts in succession. They couldn’t touch Cai Jing, but they could dig out Dai Bei and take his place in the hole.
Da Bei bitterly tried to persuade, “I can understand we can’t find any clues. But the crucial thing is that general headquarters doesn’t understand that.”
“Lord Cai Jing, you have already joined the Alchemy Guild and are no longer a loner. You are enjoying Alchemy Guild funds and facilities, you must reciprocate those somewhat.”
Seeing Cai Jing’s head lowered and silent, Da Bei looked around a bit, then simply stated honestly, “General headquarters already has many veiled criticisms, we need to give them something that will shut some people up. No matter how…minorly forged the progress is…”
“So long as it stuffs those people’s mouths, we can be at ease for a time.”
Cai Jing sneered to himself, he already saw through Da Bei’s situation and also knew what his motives were right now.
Cai Jing was just about to say something when suddenly, hurried footsteps could be heard.
Thump, thump, thump.
Magician Zhong Bei pushed open the door, and ran into the top floor.
Cai Jing looked gloomy and almost wanted to explode.
Da Bei’s heart jolted, he reprimanded his own beloved son on behalf of Cai Jing, roaring, “Idiot, you’re doing it again! Don’t you know this place needs silence? If these explosive peppers are roused, it will cause a chain explosion that will destroy the entire town!”
“So, sorry!” Magician Zhong Bei waved his hand, looking pleasantly surprised, “There is an important matter that just happened. A stranger paid a visit and said he has a clue to Great Master Za Zhong’s inheritance!”
“Oh?” Da Bei and Cai Jing were astonished.
The two glanced at each other and promptly left the top floor.
Going down the stairs, they came to the third floor parlor. On the way, they inquired Zhong Bei of the mysterious visitor, but Zhong Bei didn’t know much about them.
Not long after, the three saw the mysterious visitor in the parlor.
It was the dragonman youngster.
No, to Cai Jing and the two others, the young man looked like an unfamiliar gold level snow elf magician.
“May I ask what your distinguished name is? You hold a clue to Great Master Fan Sheng Za Zhong’s inheritance? How did you know that was our objective this trip?” Cai Jing directly inquired.
The snow elf youngster looked serene, he icily and arrogantly sized up Cai Jing and Zhong Bei, not endearing at all.
The young man calmly stated, “You turned over Graft Town five times, and have come up empty handed. I have a clue you want.”
“I have come to collaborate with you.”
“Collaboration?” Cai Jing pursed his brows, he didn’t have a good first impression of the snow elf youngster.
A smile floated onto Da Bei’s face, and his attitude was much more cordial than Cai Jing, he probed, “Sire, might you be a member of the Alchemy Guild?”
The snow elf youngster waved his hand, “That is not important, first let me see whether you have the qualifications to work with me.”
“If you aren’t qualified, then it is a waste of time discussing it with you.”
Cai Jing’s brows wrinkled tighter, coldly taking measure of the snow elf youngster, “How will you calculate qualifications, do you want to test us?”
The young man was expressionless, “This is indeed a test. I will test you all at once, and don’t you want to test me too? Come to the dueling arena.”
It had to be said that this proposal conformed with the Ice Sculpture Kingdom’s culture.
Duels permeated each facet of Ice Sculpture citizens’ daily lives. Before negotiations began, to confirm qualifications a duel was held, a common occurrence.
Cai Jing and Da Bei glanced at each other, then they both looked at the snow elf youngster and nodded simultaneously.
Cai Jing said, “Then let’s go to a dueling arena!”
Although Graft Town was small, it had five dueling arenas.
They picked the largest one with complete facilities, then set up a private duel with no spectators.
The snow elf youngster and Cai Jing faced each other.
Da Bei was far weaker in combat than Cai Jing, so the latter was the only choice for this.
Da Bei was presiding, and after counting down, he roared, “Let the duel begin.”
There was only one person in the large spectator gallery, Magician Zhong Bei.
Da Bei ran back to stand behind Magician Zhong Bei.
The snow elf youngster and Magician Cai Jing didn’t rush to battle.
The snow elf youngster was calm and unruffled, “Magician Cai Jing, I heard you are good at deploying magic plants. You best take out your special skills, otherwise I will defeat you easily, you don’t want to regret it.”
Cai Jing sneered angrily at the young man’s arrogance. He narrowed his eyes, and knowing the gravity of the situation, he bit his teeth and said, “Then you shall get what you wish!”
Summoning spell – Ascending Dragon Grass.
With a short magic staff in his hand, he raised his arm, activating a magic formation, and directly unleashing the spell in the staff.
The summoning formation instantly formed in the air.
A moment later, space violently fluctuated, and a thicket of grass several meters tall was summoned into the dueling arena.
The Ascending Dragon Grass shook its slender grass stalks like it was dancing gracefully.
The grass tips were very pointy, glistened with metal luster, and were as sharp as spear tips.
Spatial magic – Space Holes.
Magician Cai Jing’s magic ring on his hand flashed, activating the spell loaded in it.
A second later, the dueling arena’s space undulated fiercely several times as a large amount of pitch-black holes appeared.
These holes weren’t that big and were concentrated around the Ascending Dragon Grass and the snow elf youngster.
The Ascending Dragon Grass’ tips entered these space holes, and a moment later, crossed through space and extended out of the space holes near the young man.
Ten grass tips stabbed at the snow elf youngster together.
The young man wielded his long magic staff.
He pressed the bottom of the staff on the ground, triggering its installed defensive magic.
A moment later, a water ball formed around his body.
The grass tips thrusted into the thick water ball, and for a moment, it was hard for them to pierce through.
Under the snow elf youngster’s spiritual control, the water ball’s surface surged with streams of water. The flow accelerated, forming a whirlpool that firmly sucked all of the grass tips into it.
The snow elf youngster began to chant, and after a few brief words of magic, a chill began to spread.
The strong chill followed along the water ball, covered the Ascending Dragon Grass’ tips, then penetrated the space holes, and began to erode the Ascending Dragon Grass’ main body.
The gold level Ascending Dragon Grass was turned to ice in mere seconds, becoming motionless.
Da Bei and Magician Zhong Bei were both shaken.
The snow elf youngster’s defense and counterattack was quite sharp. In less than ten seconds, he suppressed the Ascending Dragon Grass instead.
“He only used two spells, one water type, and one ice type. But he used no less than four spell techniques. They were quick casting, simple chanting, spell stacking, and barrier casting.”
“The crucial thing is what made those spells so strong, his magic equipment or his bloodline?”
The father and son had some scope of insight, in just one round, they immediately understood that the snow elf youngster was a formidable caster.
Summoning spell – Frost Leaf Flower.
A large white flower covered Cai Jing’s body.
Summoning spell – Absolute Zero Birch.
Two towering birch trees stood at either side of Magician Cai Jing. These birch trees had very high ice resistance.
Spell – Giant Type Life Transformation.
A second later, the life transformation spell caused the Absolute Zero Birch Trees to pull out their roots to form giant feet and twist their branches together to form fists. The tree trunks looked like a person’s face as the trees finally turned into two giants.
The giants pounced from the snow elf youngster’s left and right
The young man had been maintaining his water ball barrier, and the water ball rolled, sliding him backwards.
It left behind a trail of ice, slowing down the pursuing giants’ steps.
The young man chanted, condensing countless icicles in the air.
Several hundred icicles shot down, striking the giant trees with clacking echoes.
The birch giants were gradually worn down and fell mid pursuit.
The young man began his counteroffensive.
Cai Jing moved while doing mobile casting and attacking.
Ice type magic that was shooting towards him or covered a certain range was mostly absorbed by the Frost Leaf Flower, greatly reducing their might. He was safe and sound.
Cai Jing’s summoned magic plants couldn’t cope with the snow elf youngster.
In the audience, Da Bei and Zhong Bei were unable to take their eyes away from this.
“Lord Cai Jing’s fighting style is very distinct. He cultivated his own summons, the magic plants have different functions, using them for attack, defense, and healing. Almost all of his spells are used to aid these magic plants and more easily display their power.”
“This mysterious snow elf magician is fairly traditional. He mainly uses various kinds of ice magic, and occasionally some water magic. He is definitely a special duty battle magician, casually grasping all kinds of casting techniques and his various spells are done as naturally and smoothly as breathing. Watching him fight simply is enjoyable!”
The young man and Cia Jing attacked each other for a short time, then when Cai Jing gradually couldn’t endure the strong pressure, he revealed a trump card.
He summoned a gigantic Morning Glory magic plant.
The Morning Glory sprayed the magic medicine loaded in it.
This magic medicine was called Muddled Color, and it had a strange, yet potent effect of mixing energy.
The medicine sprayed onto the ice magic, immediately causing ice walls and ice arrows to collapse into balls of chaotic ice elements. When it sprayed onto the young man’s water ball, it nearly caused the water ball to crumble.
The snow elf youngster remained calm under danger, and laughed, “That’s more like it.”
The fiercer and more pressuring the fight was, the more efficient his magician experience would be.
Magic spell – Rapid Freeze Ray.
Magic spell – Flying Magic Mirror.
Ten magic mirrors with smooth and shiny surfaces spun like frisbees as they fluttered in all directions. Five or six Rapid Freeze Rays shot out, reflecting across the magic mirrors and diffracting into three rays. With one refraction, tiny Rapid Freeze Rays covered the entire dueling arena!
The light rays were far more numerous and complicated than the magic medicine.
The Morning Glory’s spraying was clearly weakened by the light rays, and under the swift barrage, was frozen into an ice cube.
Zhong Bei and Da Bei shifted their expression, both feeling things were far from good.
As both sides attacked each other, Cai Jing was obviously not a match. This was not a good omen.
Cai Jing did everything he could to counterattack, releasing all kinds of magic plans in turn, including the explosive peppers he was just cultivating.
These peppers were hurled and exploded with remarkable power, blowing up the snow elf youngster’s temporarily condensed giant ice wolf.
The young man immersed himself in the thrill of battle, becoming more proficient as the battle went on. As he used spells one after the other, all kinds of casting techniques were quickly polished to perfection in actual combat.
One had to at least be at gold level to put the young man under pressure.
To tell the truth, Cai Jing was not weak, he was an elite gold level. He was a great master counterfeiter, and before he joined the Alchemy Guild, he was a loner who had the skills to keep himself safe.
But as the fight continued, the young man was growing stronger. Cai Jing wanted to make a comeback, but from beginning to end, he was pushed into a downwind position. The more he tried, the more powerless he felt.
Large amounts of magic plants were frozen into ice blocks, and as Cai Jing strived to rescue them, many more magic plants were frozen.
The young man’s Bloodcore didn’t have any snow elf bloodlines in it; his form was just from deception divine spells. What was really amplifying him was the ice dragon bloodlines he had absorbed.
Through real combat testing, the bloodline boost turned out to be very good.
At least fighting someone like Cai Jing was no problem.
This allowed the young man to test how strong he was as a magician.
“That’s enough, let’s end it.” As soon as he saw Cai Jing had nothing left to reveal, the snow elf youngster waved a hand and did something big.
This was not magic, but a divine spell.
The divine spell’s vast power immediately swept across the entire dueling arena, blowing Cai Jing into the air, and nearly launching him outside.
The young man took the initiative to dominate, and Cai Jing landed onto the ground, looking quite unsightly.
Da Bei and Zhong Bei were dumbfounded.
When the young man used a divine spell at the end, its power and indescribable aura made it clear the young man’s mastery of divine spells was not inferior to his own magic.
As it turns out, during this long fight, the snow elf youngster only used half his strength.
Even Cai Jing couldn’t help but ponder, “If he used divine spells, how long would I last?”
By the time the snow elf youngster floated over to Cai Jing, the alchemist no longer was indignant about the young man’s arrogant look.
Cai Jing bowed his head in a magician’s etiquette, submitting cheerfully, “I lost, sire, your battle strength is extraordinary!”
The young man was happy.
In the Ice Sculpture Kingdom, as long as one was strong enough, they could convince others through a duel, this was quite convenient!
He said to Cai Jing, “You’re pretty strong too, you are qualified to work with me. I can give you the pertinent clues, that’s right, Great Master Fan Sheng Za Zhong’s inheritance really is in Graft Town.”
The snow elf youngster put on airs.
“In that case, what do we need to pay for it?” Can Jing inquired, finding it difficult to cover up his nervousness.
The young man’s mouth curled into a thin smile: “I want you to take part in this year’s Warm Snow Cup and help the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ Magician Yao Ma pass the second exam.”
“The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps?” Cai Jing was startled.
He knew of this mercenary corps.
Originally, Da Bei had found him to deal with this mercenary corps.
Cai Jin had neither malice nor a good opinion of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps. He knew the Alchemy Guild’s Magician Shuang Lian seemed to collaborate with this mercenary corps. And Shuang Lian had once given him a hard time, forcing him to take out Great Master Fan Sheng Za Zhong’s inheritance piece to keep the peace.
But this conflict was mainly between Cai Jing and Shuang Lian. In fact, the conflict wasn’t that deep, and it didn’t hinder Cai Jing one bit from agreeing to this request.
“And you?” The snow elf youngster looked at Da Bei and Zhong Bei.
The father and son glanced at each other, forcing a smile one after the other.
Originally, because Zhong Bei’s supervision was lacking, Bu Quan had joined the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps, leading to a string of events. Now, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps was coming into their lives once again.
The mysterious and formidable snow elf magician requested that they work with the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps.
Cai Jing had already agreed, so Da Bei and Zhong Bei had no choice but to pick collaboration too.
Both sides signed and agreed to an auspiciously light collaboration contract, the snow elf youngster then used a divine spell to create another layer of insurance.
“Now then follow me.” The youngster secretly led the three to Jia Bing’s residence.
“So, it was actually in Jia Bing’s alchemy room!” Da Bei and the others obviously knew what this place was.
At the time, after Zong Ge won his 3 v 1, he and Zi Di accelerated their trip to clandestinely come to Graft Town to plunder Jia Bing’s alchemy laboratory.
Before departing, the two noticed Great Master Fan Sheng Za Zhong’s secret inheritance door. They tried their best, but the door wouldn’t open. As there wasn’t an opportunity at the time, they gave the door the classic combination of Deceptive Disguise and the Anti-investigation and Prophecy spell before leaving.
They left just in time, as not long after, the duelists dispatched personnel over. Because Jia Bing guarded the secret of the inheritance, never disclosing it to anyone, the duelist didn’t find it.
Cai Jing and the others had searched Graft Town a full five times, and so long as those spells still existed, based on their own strength, they would never find it.
As the three wore expressions of utter incomprehension, the snow elf youngster lightly wiped the secret door with his hand, undoing the magic and allowing it to appear.
The three were utterly excited, Cai Jing even more so, nearly throwing himself at it.
He reached out to caress the secret door, his voice trembling, “That’s right, this is another one of Great Master Fan Sheng Za Zhong’s inheritances!”
Don’t be fooled by how calm and leisurely he was with his peppers, as a matter of fact, he valued this series of inheritances more than Da Bei.
Because his strength and alchemy research both revolved around magic plants. Great Master Fan Sheng Za Zhong’s inheritances were extremely helpful to him.
While Da Bei had limited strength and talent, this inheritance strengthened him only minimally. What Da Bei truly valued was the Alchemy Guild’s calculated contribution and merits after this mission was accomplished.
“First conceal this information, wait until we open the secret door, then we can tell the higherups,” said Da Bei.
After discovering the secret door, he was no longer anxious. On the contrary, he was extremely vigilant, afraid that on the eve of success, the Alchemy Guild’s higherups would transfer him away.
Cai Jing straightened his body, his eyes still fixed on the secret door, sighing, “I want to open this secret door, but it isn’t easy, and it will take a long time.”
It had taken a lot of effort to open the first secret door. Touching this secret door didn’t even provide the barest threads of information on how to open it. It would require meticulous study to create a grafted magic plant the secret door would approve of, and that would take a lot of energy and time, along with constant attempts.
Cai Jing looked at the snow elf youngster, “First I will help the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps pass the second exam. That matter is more urgent.”
Da Bei looked grave.
Helping the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps would not be simple. How was Da Bei not unaware that the Alchemy Guild and the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps were in a bet, and that the truly powerful Elder Hua Ni was in the process of suppressing and attempting to eliminate Yao Ma (Zi Di)?
Nowadays, if the three people wanted to help Yao Ma, then their status and renown in the Alchemy Guild would be immensely impacted.
But the dragonman youngster shook his head, “If I could say I could help you solve this secret door in half a day, what would you think?”
Cai Jing, Da Bei, and Zhong Bei were simultaneously dumbfounded.
Zhong Bei was incredulous, subconsciously retorting, “How is that possible?”
Cai Jing was bewildered.
Da Bei was the most meticulous researcher, while at the same time lacking the talent, unable to know from experience how hard it was to open the secret door, therefore, he was the first to react, “Sire, what do you want to do?”
The snow elf youngster thought out what Cang Xu said, repeating those words, “In fact. I can do much more for you.”
“For example, a higher position in the Alchemy Guild. Don’t you want the same power and position as Hua Ni?”
Da Bei’s heart beat wildly, Zhong Bei’s mouth fell open.
Cai Jing locked his brows tight, his mind rising with alertness. He gazed at the snow elf youngster, “I know the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps is backed by an arms merchant, you were dispatched by their backer!”