Alchemy Master

Chapter 1068, The Deed Is Done

Translator: Silavin

Even the Elf Race dared not position themselves against the united front of the Myriad Races!

“Little Brother, you think too highly of us old things… I fear we are beyond the reach of lending you any aid.”

The old men exchanged glances. Though they burned with the desire to taste that Top Tier Divine Immortal’s Intoxication once more… even if only a single, miserly cup, their survival naturally outweighed that temptation.

They knew, with the clarity of their many years of experience, that interfering in the affairs of the Human Race was a line not to be crossed. To agree to assist a man who hailed from the Human Race, one who might, by some thread of fate, be entangled with the Saints Heavenly Manor, was to risk dragging the entire Elf Race into a storm from which there might be no return.

One misstep, that was all it would take.

Upon receiving their refusal, Qin Yichen stared for a moment, blinking once. He then broke out a wry smile.

“Seniors, you have misunderstood. Though this Junior does indeed come from the Human Race, the purpose of this visit is not to draw you into an alliance with my Race.”

His expression carried some awkwardness. He had thought of this before but he was not so naive as to believe that a few jars of Divine Immortal’s Intoxication could achieve such a thing.

At those words, the tension in Fiery’s face and those of his three companions eased a little. Yet the vigilance did not vanish from their eyes.

In fact, if not for the Top Tier Divine Immortal’s Intoxication, they would have slipped away long ago.

“I just need only a small favour from all of you, and everything here shall be yours.”

A sweep of Qin Yichen’s sleeve brought forth twenty jars, each filled to the brim with Divine Immortal’s Intoxication. All these materialising before him like he was conjuring out their greatest dream.

*Siii…*

The moment those jars entered their vision, the raw hunger in their eyes blazed without restraint.

If it not for some last thread of reason, that whispered to them this young man was a burning brand that they should not touch, they would have lunged forward immediately.

Even so, not once did the gazes of those four old men drift from those jars.

Two of them had already lost the battle against their salivary glands. There were drool tracing undignified paths down the corners of their mouths.

Qin Yichen did not mock them for it. These old men basically treated alcohol as their very meaning of existence. Yet, they had still managed to preserve some rationality in the face of Top Tier Divine Immortal’s Intoxication. That alone was worthy of respect, on some level.

And more than that, it told him something of their character. They had not made some reckless promise under the influence of such temptation. Likewise, they had leveraged their identities to seize by force.

Had he wandered into the company of some of the more brutish Races, he would likely have been left without even his undergarments.

Even as their eyes remained fixed on the Top Tier Divine Immortal’s Intoxication, the four old men weighed on the situation.

They had clearly seen it. There was no way Qin Yichen could have been carrying such a large volume of Top Tier Divine Immortal’s Intoxication on his own body. For it to appear with a single gesture of his sleeve, there was only one explanation: he possessed a Space Ring.

Storage items of that calibre, even within the Elf Race, were held only by the Royal Family. The rarity of such things was clear to them.

“What do you need us to do? I will say this first, we old dogs have our limits. Do not expect too much of us.”

After a long silence, Fiery swallowed hard and posed the question.

“It is simple. I want to meet the Elf Queen.”

Qin Yichen smiled, his tone carrying the ease of a man discussing the weather.

The words landed like a blade striking stone though.

The haze of intoxication that had still clung to the four old men evaporated in an instant. Their expressions hardened. They now looked grave and guarded. They thought through the weight of what had just been said.

Their eyes shifted from the jars to Qin Yichen himself, as though they might see through his intentions from the lines of his face.

They could not though. Whatever he was hiding, he had masterfully concealed it.

He stood in front of them with unhurried calm, like an old friend paying a simple visit. It was as though requesting an audience with the Elf Queen was no different from asking for directions.

“Little Brother Qin, this favour… We cannot grant it.”

The old Light Elf shook his head with a stiff smile and a long exhale.

The Elf Queen. What manner of existence was that? Even these old men, with their status, rarely laid eyes upon the Elf Queen. As for outsiders, who among the Foreign Races held the standing to request such an audience, save for the Supreme Experts of the top tier Races?

Qin Yichen’s brow creased.

From Avril’s situation, it was not difficult to surmise that there was friction within the Elf Race’s upper echelons. And if Little Ling’er was to have any chance of accessing the Life Scripture, the only path was to ask the Elf Queen.

Without so much as a meeting, this entire journey had been for nothing. He was not some merchant, content to bask in the honour of merely existing within the Elf Race’s borders.

“Wait. I believe there may be a way to arrange it.”

Just as a shadow of disappointment crossed Qin Yichen’s features, Fiery’s eyes sharpened, as though a memory had surfaced from beneath the wine.

“You mean…”

“Yes! How did I not think of it sooner! Little Brother Qin and his Top Tier Divine Immortal’s Intoxication are more than enough to earn a place at that banquet!”

The other three had their palms struck their foreheads in unison. Their voices were now rising with sudden excitement.

“That banquet…?”

Qin Yichen blinked in bewilderment.

“Haha! Little Brother Qin, we just need to get you in front of the Elf Queen, right?”

Fiery slapped his thigh with a thunderous crack of laughter. The others wore matching grins.

Qin Yichen, though uncertain of the specifics, gave a single nod.

“Then it is settled! We guarantee you will get to see the Elf Queen. As for these…” Fiery’s grin broadened, “we shall not stand on ceremony.”

Without so much as a visible movement, Fiery swept all twenty flasks of Top Tier Divine Immortal’s Intoxication into his possession in one fluid motion and bolted for the door.

“Fiery!”

“You shameless bastard! Stop!”

Before the other three could even register what had happened, Fiery was already through the door and running.

Furious roars shook the walls of the vast residence. Chaos erupted. A spectacle of flailing fists and thundering kicks set the entire residence into uproar.

Perhaps out of fear of shattering the precious jars, Fiery’s condition this time was a lot better than in the previous ‘battle’.

Even so, one against many, within mere moments Fiery was once again huddled in a corner with a bruised and swollen face, clutching desperately to the single remaining jug in his arms.

Two lines of aged tears slid down his blackened and bloated cheeks, and his pitiable state was enough to move even Heaven itself.

In that moment, Qin Yichen finally grasped the full meaning of the saying that ‘calamity only finds those who court it’. In that instant, Fiery embodied that truth to absolute perfection.

After dividing the Top Tier Divine Immortal’s Intoxication amongst themselves, the three old men still cast murderous looks at the jug Fiery was clinging to with his life, their expressions conveying, with perfect clarity, that had it not been for the sake of their ‘great brotherhood’ spanning several thousand years, they would have snatched that remaining jug and split it evenly as well.

“Little Brother Qin, you have our thanks. Until we meet again.”

With that, the three old men offered Qin Yichen warm and genial farewells, making no further mention of the Elf Queen.

Qin Yichen took no issue with this. He understood that since Fiery and the others had agreed so readily, the matter of meeting the Elf Queen was as good as settled. He simply did not yet know under what circumstances that meeting would occur.