The Silly Alchemist

“??” The young martial artist was still fighting to kill but very soon realised the robbers had suddenly stopped. He could finally catch his breath.

He was almost dead himself. If they’d carried on, he would probably meet the god of death in a few more minutes!

Huff… Huff… The young martial artist was panting to recover.

“You said a hundred thousand gold coins?” A very high-position person appeared among the robbers before Ye Lang.

“That’s right. A hundred thousand gold coins. If you think it’s too little, I’ll throw in more!” said Ye Lang cheerfully.

“More?”

It was chaos. Everyone was talking among themselves. A hundred thousand! They couldn’t even imagine having riches of this scale.

Spending so much effort to rob one person didn’t earn them more than a thousand- and they couldn’t rob every day either.

Although there were passersby every day, most of them had already been robbed by other robbers so they either had no money on them or were an extremely powerful group of people whom their team couldn’t defeat.

That was why a hundred thousand was equivalent to a few years’ time of robbing. And also a few years of good luck.

Of course they wanted it!

“Come, eat some medicine. Don’t die or I would’ve spent my money for nothing!” Ye Lang walked to the youth’s side, tossing a pill while examining him.

This young martial artist was wearing tattered clothes- and they were bloody- he must have been a poor man!

Ye Lang drew this conclusion, though he’d forgotten that this person had just gone through a full-blown fight and he didn’t always look like this.

However, Ye Lang didn’t care much about it. A rich prince or a poor man- he would’ve still saved the martial artist because he was in a good mood and wanted to squander some money in exchange for this person’s safety.

“…” The youth stared at the pill, hesitating. He didn’t want it.

He had to be cautious. The young martial artist didn’t know who Ye Lang was- what if he wanted to harm him? Therefore, he shouldn’t take the pill.

“What are you waiting for? Or are you saving it? It’ll be fine. This medicine might be very precious to other people but it’s not even worth talking about to me. Swallow. Hurry up,” said Ye Lang casually. He thought the youth didn’t want to eat because the medicine was too rare and precious.

“Uh…” He hesitated again, then swallowed the pill.

If Ye Lang wanted to harm him, then why would he waste his time? If Ye Lang hadn’t stopped the fight, he would’ve died anyway. He was no longer afraid, so he swallowed the pill.

Very soon, he realised his decision was… Wrong!!

“This medicine… Is poisonous…”

He felt like a fire was starting to burn within his body, and everywhere started to hurt. He started to scold Ye Lang, pointing at him. He must’ve been poisoned!

“Poison? That’s not possible. I gave you the Shiquan Dabu pill, it’s the most powerful medicine out there. As long as you’re not dead, even the most serious injuries will recover. That might just be the medicine working!” Ye Lang shook his head, denying the possibility of poison.

“Really? Maybe it’s a sign of recovery?” The martial artist was apprehensive. He’d also heard of powerful pills having side effects that felt something like that.

However, after some time, he was very certain it wasn’t a medicine’s side effect!!

“Fuck! You traitor! My hands are turning black!! You said it was some medicine’s side effect but obviously you poisoned me!!” roared the martial artist in rage. Everyone could see his body slowly turning black. He was definitely poisoned.

“Hmm… How could it be…” Ye Lang was also confused. He took the bottle of pills out to read its label. “I did give you the Shiquan Dabu pill… Perhaps your body’s a little odd, or… Hmm… Wait, this is…”

Ye Lang stared at the bottle, stunned. The martial artist recognised the bottle as the one Ye Lang had taken the pill from.

“It’s black…”

“What? Stop talking nonsense and give me the antidote!! If I die, I’ll haunt you forever!!” shouted the man again, he was already lying on the ground.

“It’s not nonsense, Black Poison Pills is what it’s called. After consumption, the body turns black- the darker you become, the more the poison has penetrated your body. When you turn as black as coal, then that would mean you’ll be dying soon. Just like what’s happening to you now, you’ll turn into coal in about a minute…” explained Ye Lang as he examined the man’s hands.

“…” Everyone fell silent. They didn’t know what was going on at all. Ye Lang had just spent a hundred thousand gold coins to save this person, but he’d just (probably accidentally) poisoned him too.

“Give me the antidote!!” The martial artist was very direct. Unlike some people, who would first ask if there is an antidote, wait for an answer, then ask for it.

This way, he’d get the antidote if there is one. If there wasn’t, then well, nothing mattered.

“Here you go!” Ye Lang gave him another pill.

The martial artist swallowed the pill, then said, “I hope you’re right this time!”. He knew he might not even have the chance to swallow this pill if he spent more time asking questions.

“I am. Although there isn’t a specific antidote for Black Poison, this detoxification medicine will help you excrete most of the poison,” nodded Ye Lang.

The youth heaved a sigh, but very soon he realised he’d heaved the sigh a little too early.

He realised he was still as black, and there was a rumbling in his stomach…

“Does your antidote even work? I’m still black, and my stomach feels awful!!” grunted the youth.

“That’s very normal, you haven’t excreted the toxins yet. Go detox. And stay far away…” said Ye Lang, pinching his nose.

Pfft…

The youth farted. It smelled like toxic gas.

He pointed at Ye Lang, “You’re a bastard, I’ll remember you!!” Then, he ran far away to start his detoxification process.

“You don’t have to remember me. I’m just in a good mood today, you don’t have to repay my kindness!” shouted Ye Lang.

Repay his kindness? More like revenge!