Chapter 693: Xue Mei
Xiao Yan slowly walked into the Alchemist Association which occupied an enormous swath of land with Hai Bodong. The noisiness behind him was gradually cast aside and a faint medicinal fragrance spread out from the place, causing one to feel relaxed and happy.
The current Alchemist Association was much more powerful and prosperous in terms of ability and numbers compared to three years ago following alchemists repeatedly joining them during these three years. At the very least, there had seldom been such large human traffic within the association back then.
Hai Bodong needed to perform some preparations after entering the association. Hence, he merely told Xiao Yan the location of the meeting before leaving by himself.
Xiao Yan still possessed some feelings toward this Alchemist Association he had parted with three years ago. Back then, he had experienced a great medicinal refining competition that was extremely tough for him. However, he was at most considered a tier 3 alchemist who could refine a tier 4 medicinal pill when he participated in the competition back then. However, now he was a tier 6 alchemist who could be compared to Pill-King Gu He! This improvement was not a small one…
Xiao Yan’s gaze looked in all directions before pulling Zi Yan, whose face was also filled with curiosity, as they slowly walked to the transaction area. If one had good perception and was lucky, one might be able to find quite a good thing in such a place. The ‘Skyfire Three Mysterious Change’ of Xiao Yan was something that he had luckily obtained from this place.
Xiao Yan walked into the transaction area with Zi Yan. The vendors seemed endless and the black mass of human heads caused Xiao Yan to let out an exclamation. Following the growth of the Alchemist Association during these three years, the size of the transaction area had greatly expanded.
Xiao Yan’s sweeping gaze suddenly paused just after he entered the transaction area. He was somewhat stunned to see a figure that was as white as snow not far away.
The figure was wearing a white dress while her long hair was emitting an icy-cool that was just like snowflakes. This somewhat familiar figure caused Xiao Yan to recall the disciple of Frank whom he had met in the Black Rock City when he was training in the Jia Ma Empire three years ago, Xue Mei.
Xiao Yan gained quite the positive feeling for Fu Lan Ke back then. That old man had helped him out quite a bit. Although this was because the latter wanted to persuade Xiao Yan to participate in the Alchemist Grand Meeting, he did not have any ill intentions. This girl who had an ice-cold snow-like character also gave Xiao Yan quite a good impression.
“I wonder how have they been these three years?” This thought flashed across Xiao Yan’s heart, but he did not take the initiative to go over and strike up a conversation. After looking at her from a distance, he withdrew his gaze from that snow-white figure. He pulled Zi Yan along as he slowly walked through this transaction area with a fierce human flow.
Not long after Xiao Yan had joined the human flow, Xue Mei who had bent her body to study a medicinal ingredient turned her head around. She seemed to have sensed something. The exquisite, ethereal snowy-mountain-like face carried some uncertainty, causing the surrounding human traffic that was coming and going to involuntarily slow their footsteps. Their gazes looked at her somewhat greedily.
Xue Mei knit her eyebrows slightly in the face of the surrounding gazes. She immediately slowly entered the human crowd before disappearing.
Xiao Yan pulled Zi Yan and walked along the small path filled with vendors. His gaze repeatedly swept across those vendors. Perhaps it was because his horizons had widened but he was unable to find a single thing that could interest him after spending ten plus minutes.
“All of them are broken lousey goods…” Zi Yan smacked her mouth and muttered. The Yaowan which she usually ate were all refined from considerably rare medicinal ingredients in the eyes of an ordinary person. An ordinary medicinal ingredient was no different to garbage in her eyes even if it was somewhat uncommon in this market.
Xiao Yan was also helpless in the face of this. It seemed that wanting to find a treasure like the ‘Skyfire Three Mysterious Change’ in this place really did need to rely on luck.
Since there was no gains, Xiao Yan finally gave up that kind of hope after roaming a little longer. He helplessly shook his head toward Zi Yan. Just as he was about to leave, a commotion occurred not far in front of him. Occasionally, there was even loud enigmatic laughter.
Xiao Yan was usually uninterested in being an observer to such things. Hence, he merely raised his eyes before turning his body and prepared to leave. However, just as he turned his body, a clear furious voice was transmitted from the crowd, one that caused him to pause.
Xiao Yan’s gaze passed through the gaps in the crowd and faintly saw a snow-white figure. He waved his hand toward Zi Yan and said, “Looks like I can’t just walk away like this…”
Once he said this, he pulled Zi Yan’s hand and quickly walked toward the area where the commotion was located. A moment later, he squeezed into the crowd and swept his gaze over the disturbance within.
At this moment, Xue Mei was quietly standing in the middle of the crowd. However, that normally somewhat overly white, exquisite face of hers was filled with anger. There were a couple of men in alchemist robes standing a short distance in front of her laughing as they looked at her pretty furious flushed red face. They repeatedly emitted bursts of laughter.
“Aoba, don’t go too overboard! Don’t think that you can be this arrogant just because your teacher is an Elder of the association!” Xue Mei’s delicate finger pointed at the man who was the leader and furiously roared out.
“Hee hee, Xue Mei, the one with the highest bid gets the goods in this transaction area. Since I am able to offer a higher price than you, it is only natural that this thing is mine. Even if you were to refer this matter to the association head, he would not be able to do anything to me.” That man who was wearing a tier 2 alchemist badge on his chest merely laughed in the face of Xue Mei’s rebuke. After saying this, he turned his head to the vendor owner and shouted, “I will offer fifty thousand gold coins for this ‘Icy Fire Snake Scale Fruit’. Are you selling it?”
That vendor owner was startled when he heard Aoba’s cry. He immediately rejoiced in his heart. Although this ‘Ice Fire Snake Scale Fruit’ was somewhat rare, it was at the very most worth twenty thousand gold coins. It was unexpected that this prodigal person was actually willing to purchase it at double the price. Naturally, there was no reason for him not to agree.
Xue Mei’s pretty face was green as she looked at Aoba who was tossing the ‘Ice Fire Snake Scale Fruit’ in his hand with a proud look. She clenched her silver teeth but was completely helplessly. She had recently undertook a retreat for a period of time and had just left the retreat today. Coincidentally, she saw this medicinal ingredient that she needed to refine a medicinal pill. She had just agreed on the price with the owner of the stall when this hateful person appeared like a ghost.
This Aoba had once tried to woo Mei Xue because of her beautiful appearance. However, the latter was currently a tier 3 alchemist. Hence, his attempt at wooing her naturally ended in failure. However, a failure might be a failure but this stalker finally became extremely displeased after being publically rejected by Xue Mei a couple of times. He repeatedly changed his tactics to find trouble with Xue Mei, causing her to be very irritated. Moreover, his teacher had quite a good refining ability and had long since been promoted to an Elder position despite having just joined the association recently. His position within the association was quite high and he formed cliques using that status. Other than the association head and his deputy, the one with the highest authority within the association was Aoba’s teacher. Hence, Mei Xue did not dare to attack and hurt this fellow despite feeling extremely annoyed.
However, Xue Mei had clearly underestimated the abomination of this sticky candy. Her tolerance had caused Aoba to take any advantage he could get. He would come and look for trouble at every opportunity. The situation today was not the first time this had happened.
Xue Mei inhaled a deep breath of air. She looked at the increasingly hateful and arrogant face of Aoba before clenching her teeth. Given this situation, she could only give up on this ‘Ice Fire Snake Scale Fruit’.
Xue Mei’s eyes were ice-cold as she stared at Aoba before turning around to leave. A laugh suddenly sounded within the crowd just as she was turning around, “One hundred thousand gold coins to purchase this ‘Ice Fire Snake Scale Fruit’.”
Everyone was startled when this laughter sounded. They immediately turned their gazes and saw a black-robed, young man who was pulling a little, purple-haired girl beside him. Some people involuntarily threw him a pitiful look. Was this fellow new? He actually dared to embarrass Aoba?
This laughter also caused Xue Mei to turn her head around to look at the black-robed, young man. That somewhat familiar face caused her to be startled. A moment later, she finally recalled this young man who had left a deep impression on her.
“You… haven’t you been…” Xue Mei was stunned as she looked at the black-robed, young man. She gasped but the words that had reached her mouth were hurriedly swallowed upon seeing the surrounding audience.
Xiao Yan smiled and walked out from the crowd. He observed Xue Mei for a moment before laughing, “Is grandmaster Frank well?”
“Teacher is fine…” Xue Mei nodded. She immediately pulled Xiao Yan’s robe and softly said, “Didn’t you leave the Jia Ma Empire? Leave quickly, don’t offend these people…” Since Xue Mei was in a retreat, she was completely ignorant of the matter during these past two days that had become the greatest news of the Jia Ma Empire. She merely knew that Xiao Yan was a target of the Misty Cloud Sect and would definitely be in deep trouble should he discovered by the Misty Cloud Sect.
“Oh, yo, why? Do you want to act like a hero rescuing a damsel in distress?” Aoba’s face gradually became dark after Xiao Yan spoke his first word. He let out a strange laugh and immediately tightened his grip on the ‘Ice Fire Snake Scale Fruit’ as he coldly laughed, “This young master has already bought this thing. You should just roll off to one corner. I advise you not to meddle in another person’s business. Otherwise, you might be able to enter the capital, but you won’t be able to leave it…”