The First Alchemist - Chap 41

Chapter 41 - Beginning of A Legend

Chem Au was sick to his stomach. He wanted to run away.

The tournament began. All of the participants had left the waiting area and were now surrounding the field where they would fight. Two names were called up each turn, and only one walked away victorious.

Chem Au felt less and less confident with each passing match. He saw cultivators fighting each other with amazing strength and speed. They fired off their powerful skills, sword energy flying everywhere, and massive explosions seemingly shaking the ground. And the worst part of it all was when a village kid like him was called to the field and getting crushed almost immediately. Chem Au just knew that he was going to end up like that. That was why he thought it was hopeless.

And then his name was called.

With hesitant feet, Chem Au walked onto the field. Just awhile ago, the dirt field looked small and not that impressive, but the moment he stepped on it, everything seemed to grow in size. The field seemed to stretch to eternity and the voices of the crowd sounded louder. And then there was the pressure. He could feel a huge pressure bearing down on his shoulders.

Despite all this, he tried to stay calm, telling himself it was going to be okay again and again. There was a chance that he would end up with an opponent who came from a weak village like him. These were just the preliminary rounds. He could handle this.

And then his opponent’s name was called.

“Huo Shan!”

The crowd roared at that name, covering the entire tournament grounds. Huo Shan walked onto the field. He was wearing shining, red armor that reflected beautifully in the sun. But that was nothing compared to the sword he carried on his back. It was a dark crimson color and was nearly as large as he was. It was obvious that Huo Shan was the son of a rich noble.

Chem Au's heart sank at the sight of his opponent. It looked like he wasn't going to make it past his first match.

After the cheering died down, Huo Shan looked at Chem Au and could only laugh. He couldn't believe how lucky he was. His first opponent was a poor village kid that could only afford leather armor, a plain shield, and a crappy sword. "With such a pathetic opponent like you, seems like this will be an easy win. How about you make this quicker for the both of us and step off the stage?"

Chem Au's fist wrapped tightly around the hilt of his sword. He was nervous, but he also had his pride.

Huo Shan laughed again. "Oh? Did I hurt your feelings? I'll tell you what. If it makes you feel any better, I'll give you a free hit, then you can tell your friends that you managed to land a hit on me. How does that sound?"

That was it! Chem Au’s profound energy erupted, which he channeled into his sword. He hadn't been sitting on his ass for the past year. He had learned new things and had gotten stronger. His strength could definitely compare to the cultivators of this city.

"Soaring Crane Skill - Second Layer!" he shouted. He swung his sword and a white crescent light shot out straight towards Huo Shan.

"Oh, his profound strength is at the twentieth level? And he also knows a skill?" Huo Shan was surprised. Villager kids were usually weak, with the strongest of them only around the fifteenth level. He had no choice but to quickly grab his giant red sword from behind his back, and swing it.

His sword slammed into the white crescent, cutting it in two until it dissipated into nothing. It looked as easy as cutting through a soft breeze.

Chem Au looked shocked. He had seen desolate beasts resist that skill before, but never this easily.

"Now let me show you a real skill! Volcanic Fire Skill!" Huo Shan couldn’t afford to go easy. His sword glowed red with fiery energy, which he slammed into the ground. The ground cracked apart in a crooked line towards Chem Au, fire erupting like hands coming out of the ground.

White light wrapped around Chem Au's legs as he jumped out of the way.

"Good!" Huo Shan said. "I'm glad that you didn't die with just one attack. Now I can enjoy myself a little longer." He slammed his sword into the ground again and again.

Erupting lines of fire shot straight towards Chem Au, who barely dodged it one after another. But the last one managed to hit his left shoe. The leather shoe quickly burned away, singeing his foot. Chem Au shouted in pain.

Huo Shan threw back his head and laughed. He had nothing to worry about.

Eventually, Chem Au quieted down. Honestly, the heat from the fire was painful, but he had shouted more in shock than in pain. Could it be? Did the Hard Earth Pill his little brother had given him a few months ago also made him resistant to fire? If so, then that was something he could use against his opponent.

Chem Au quickly formulated a plan. He knew that a long range attack wouldn't work, so he had to get closer. White light wrapped around his legs again as he ran towards his enemy.

Huo Shan looked surprised. That damn fool was actually running towards him. Well, let him come!

"Volcanic Fire Skill!" he slammed his red sword into the ground again, trying to hit the weak village boy.

Chem Au managed to dodge the flames for a little while longer, but when he got too close, escaping the flames completely was no longer an option. He placed his shield in front of him. It was too small to protect his whole body, but at least it was as tough as his little brother said it was. The shield managed to block some of the flames.

Chem Au ground his teeth, biting back the pain. The fire was practically melting his skin off and some of his leather armor was burning away, but he fought through. The moment he got close enough, he jumped out of the fire and sliced down at Huo Shan’s head.

Huo Shan shouted in panic, then rolled to the side so that Chem Au's blade only managed to strike his armored shoulder. When he got back on his feet, amazement plastered itself all over his face. There was a scratch on his armor. That village boy had managed to hit him!

Huo Shan pointed his sword at his opponent. "You!"

"Yes, me." Chem Au smiled. He had just learned something new. He had been so impressed by his enemy's powerful skill that he failed to see, until now, that his enemy was slow with his sword, otherwise he would have brought his sword up in time to block his strike.

With a lot more confidence, Chem Au prepared himself for the next attack, ignoring the burning pain throughout his body.

Huo Shan's sword glowed more red than ever. But before he was able to slam his sword down, Chem Au used his skill first and shot off a white crescent light at his enemy's head. Huo Shan froze for a split second, unable to decide whether to complete his skill attack or raise his sword up to block. In the end, he fell to the side, and his sword slammed to the ground haphazardly, erupting a wall of flames in front of him. Through luck, he managed to not get his head cut off, with the white crescent only hitting his armored arm.

Huo Shan got back up, but with the wall of flames in front of him, he had lost track of his opponent. He looked around, expecting the village boy to attack from the sides or from behind, never expecting to see what he saw next.

Like a demon, Chem Au walked through the wall of flames like it was nothing. It almost looked like his eyes were glowing red.

Stuttering with fear, Huo Shan swung his sword at him, but Chem Au raised his shield. Huo Shan almost laughed, expecting his giant sword to easily break through the ordinary shield, but he was stunned when he felt his sword bounce off, trembling.

Chem Au smiled. As fast as the wind, he swung his sword, aiming for Huo Shan neck.

“I surrender!” Huo Shan quickly shouted.

The sword stopped just in time. Chem Au dropped his sword, but that didn’t stop him from smashing his fist into Huo Shan’s face, causing him to fly backwards until he smashed into the ground. That was what he gets for practically burning his skin off.

All around the field, the fires died down, leaving only smouldering pits of smoke. The crowd around them was silent, stunned. This was a complete reversal! For the first time in this tournament, a village kid was able to beat the son of a rich noble from the city!

Very few of them applauded. However, that couldn’t be said for Chem Al and his group. They were cheering as loudly as they could. Someone from their village had won! And it wasn’t just them. Any of the spectators who came from a poor village were applauding as well. What they saw today was unbelieveable! It was so amazing that there were even a couple of village chiefs who were already eyeing Chem Au as a potential husband for their daughters.

However, most everyone else just shook their heads after accepting the outcome of this match. They looked at Chem Au, seeing how he could barely stand from the pain. He should be proud of winning this match, but he was definitely not going to win the next one, not in that condition.

Then out of nowhere, they saw an even younger village kid run up to Chem Au.

Chem Al slapped his palm on his big brother’s back. “You did it!”

“Ow!” Chem Au yelled.

“Oh, don’t be such a baby. It’s just some minor degree burns. Give me a second and I’ll fix you up.” Chem Al pulled his cauldron out of his bag.

This was the moment he had been waiting for! In front of everyone’s eyes, he placed a two hundred and fifty year old Aloe leaf into the cauldron, along with some other medicinal ingredients he took out of the bag. This was the reason why he had brought his cauldron instead of his already made pills, so that he could show everyone the power of alchemy.

The cauldron glowed as profound energy started swirling around it. The ingredients melted down and fused together until he had created the second tier medicine: Cleansing Water Balm.

The crowd watched, not knowing what was happening as they saw Chem Al rub this sort of green cream on Chem Au’s body, but when they saw how the patches of red burnt started to heal over, their pupils widened in shock. Soon Chem Au looked as good as new. No signs of any damage that Huo Shan had inflicted on him. He looked ready for his next fight.

Once Chem Al was done rubbing the balm on, he made a simple Soothing Yu Pill in front of everyone and gave it to his big brother. That should heal any other leftover pain and injuries.

Throughout all this, Chem Al smiled because he could see the entire crowd leaning forward to get a closer look. This was definitely getting their attention. However, it wasn’t just them he wanted to become curious about his pills. Chem Al looked up to the highest stands in the tournament grounds. Sitting there above everyone else was the City Lord.

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