Legacy of Hatred

Some feats crossed any kind of language, skill, or knowledge barriers, scenes that embodied meanings grander than words could ever express.

Greatness was an abstract concept, but it had taken physical form, shocking literally everyone but one person on the scene. Actually, she experienced immense awe no matter how many times she had witnessed it.

Grace was the only one in the entire world who had seen Liam’s recent development as an alchemist, the phase that had started after being imprisoned in the battle cages.

While not every day, Grace had spent over half a year watching Liam concoct. Usually, that continuous exposure would have made one blind to gradual improvement, building some tolerance to its shock value, but Grace didn’t belong to that category, both because she was utterly addicted and because Liam was just that good.

Liam’s performance had been beyond spotless, down to his very breathing and blinking. Everything about his being had followed the concoction’s rhythm, becoming indistinguishable from it.

The dichotomy between Liam’s feral face and his empty eyes, his steady but automatic gestures, had further enhanced the experience, but everything had started from something much simpler.

Somehow, even the most ignorant expert on the scene knew the concoction would have succeeded from when Liam had placed the log under the cauldron, the impossible precision of that basic gesture giving it a sense of inevitability.

Perfection had a name, a status, and even a Kingdom, but the balcony had shown a different version of it, achieved through endless repetition, sweat, and tears. There just was no room for doubt. The impossible fame was true. As long as Liam sat behind a cauldron, an alchemical product would come to be.

Grace had long since worn a proud smile, the most genuine she could ever muster, but her darkened lips parted when she felt Colleen’s gaze. Her fellow merchant was standing at her side, and she didn’t even need to look at her to know which face she was making.

There was no need to be a Qilin to feel greed.

"One day," Grace announced, her green eyes still on the balcony. "After the history books have been written and the biographies have been contested and settled upon, you’ll all be certain that the greatest honor in your lives was witnessing Master Black Qi in his early years."

That wasn’t an exaggeration, not in Grace’s mind. She had told Liam as much, but her conviction ran far deeper. Hers was the greatest man in the world, one who used his inborn gifts to push himself beyond what anyone else could endure, which was exactly why he would become the best.

Grace had never voiced that thought, but she believed even the Dragon King was inferior to Liam in that regard. After all, Perfection couldn’t have known the desperation of weakness, which was why Hatred would swallow it one day.

It was the only aspect where Grace believed she was better than the more talented members of her Clan. Geniuses didn’t know struggle. They couldn’t learn from failure, and the bitterness of defeat was the greatest fuel in the world.

But Liam was different. He was a true genius, the one above them all, as well as the most defeated. The odds were so stacked against him that the smallest step forward demanded the most revolutionary improvements, making it impossible to predict how mighty he would be at the end of his journey.

Even Grace couldn’t predict that. It was impossible to imagine. She only knew she would accompany Liam every step of the way, enabling him to the full extent of her being, eventually gaining first-row seats to his final magnificence.

If Liam asked, Grace would even make him King of a new Kingdom, placing a crown carved from the bones of Perfection on his head herself.

"Lady Grace," Colleen called, but failed to add anything else since Grace immediately rejected her.

"No," Grace cut Colleen short. "You can’t have him. Every drop of sweat, blood, or seed my beloved has belongs solely to me."

Grace finally glanced at Colleen, her glare preceding the threat that followed. "And if you think about cutting me out, my beloved will teach you the true meaning of revenge."

Colleen’s mask didn’t waver. She was a merchant after all. Even Grace’s strange happiness during her threat wasn’t enough to make her falter.

"Then," Colleen said, smiling, "Shall we discuss your wares? I’ll also offer favorable prices if you are willing to share other aspects in which your Dao partner excels."

"My Lady Chief," Grace giggled, hiding her mouth behind her hand. "Many of those aren’t for a lady to speak about, and you’d accuse me of boasting."

"Oh, Lady Grace, I long for nothing else at my age," Colleen chirped, wearing an identical stance. "May I convince you with a few jugs I’ve saved for special occasions?"

"If Lady Chief insists," Grace chuckled, and Colleen echoed her laugh. The two seemed perfectly happy, but anyone hearing them got goosebumps.

Even Liam experienced a familiar chill from as far as the balcony, but Master Vermillion’s approach prevented him from inspecting the scene. The flamboyant man reached for the flask and lifted it to the sky, checking it for a whole minute, before looking seriously at Liam.

"Astonishingly spotless," Master Vermillion praised, his head snapping at his two disciples waiting below the balcony. "Bring me everything for a rank 3 healing pill."

The voices from the balcony echoed below. Visibility wasn’t the only thing the talismans enhanced, and a new wave of seriousness invaded the area. Even Colleen and Grace halted their plans, mostly because the former needed to give her approval.

After all, the matter involved a rank 3 alchemical product, meaning using rank 3 ingredients.

Colleen nodded when a foundation expert from her Guild sought her gaze, and everything moved forward. In but a few minutes, Master Vermillion was back behind his cauldron, ingredients that could start a far worse version of the fight for the Rainbow Roses arranged at his side.

’He is different,’ Liam recognized. Something about Master Vermillion’s vibe had changed. He was still too intense for the egoless stance Liam had learned, but there was a serious vibe to it now.

The concoction started right away, but Master Vermillion occasionally performed strange gestures, like waving his sleeve, lifting his arm, and uttering short cries. He seemed to be dancing, but Liam saw a different truth.

While peculiar, Liam saw utter immersion. It was superfluous to act like that. Actually, it was a proper mistake, but Master Vermillion was making it work, as the result eventually proved it.

"Ah!" Master Vermillion cried as he slapped his cauldron’s side, forcing the impurities out, before retrieving something from inside it. An intense herbal scent washed over the area as he lifted the single pill above him, earning him cheers from the audience.

A rank 3 product had been born under everyone’s eyes, something that most cultivators would never witness in their entire lives.

"Master Black Qi," Master Vermillion eventually called, offering the pill to Liam. He didn’t hesitate to seize it, studying it as his Master had taught him.

The rank 3 healing pill was indeed of great quality, but Liam felt something else in it, like an energy of sorts or a desire that could lead the product to have additional effects.

’Intent, huh,’ Liam thought, matching that odd feature with something he had read in his Master’s inheritance. ’Is that how branching experts create products that behave like living beings?’

"I apologize," Master Vermillion exclaimed when Liam gave the pill back. "I’ve been so inspired by your performance I had to show something worthy. Please, let’s continue concocting."

Master Vermillion’s apology was due to his cultivation level. That was a competition, but he had made something Liam couldn’t possibly make.

At least, that was what the world believed.

Liam fell silent for a few seconds, his eyes lowered, before a resolute word escaped his mouth. "Grace."

It only took that word for Grace to understand what Liam had in mind. She was the person closest to him, with little to nothing left to share. She also knew the two things Liam wanted the entire world to learn about, and the time to unveil one had come.

"Lady Chief, do you have rank 3 violet Rainbow Roses or rank 3 Devil’s Angelica?" Grace asked, knowing which ingredients Liam would want.

Colleen went serious. It was one thing for Master Vermillion, a branching expert, to request rank 3 ingredients, but Liam was a rooting expert. She might have accepted the unbelievable claim at the meeting, but Grace was asking her to put that priceless resource at risk now.

"The Merchants Guild possesses a few batches of Devil’s Angelica," Colleen revealed.

"Then, my beloved will also need ...," Grace listed a series of other ingredients for one of Liam’s original recipes.

Colleen somehow became even more serious. Things weren’t about refining a rank 3 ingredient anymore. It seemed Liam wanted to make a proper rank 3 product, which was impossible. It had to be.

And yet, when Grace looked back at Colleen, she felt intrigued. She relayed the order, and a ruckus unfolded when the ingredients arrived on the balcony, specifically in Liam’s hands. Even Master Vermillion didn’t know what he was seeing, but the surprises didn’t end there.

Liam set the field like he had done many times already. A thousand spirit stones fell from his ring, and he arranged them in the shape of an oval bed before summoning an additional cauldron.

"This is my Master’s creation," Liam announced, seemingly to the world. "Its name is compound concoctions."

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