The Silly Alchemist

“Cough, cough. Alright, that’s enough. Ye Lang, sir, why did you ask for their name? Do you want to take revenge?” said Edward, changing the topic. He was afraid he might go insane if they continued the conversation.

“No, why would I want to? They’re not even worth it! I don’t have the time to, anyway!” answered Ye Lang with a wave. They were puny characters in this story, no one worth spending his time on.

“Then why did you want their name?”

Ye Lang smiled, then calmly replied, “If we meet another group of robbers, I’ll tell them I gave my hundred thousand gold coins to the Dianfeng ‘Psychos’. They’ll let us go and hunt the other group down instead!”

“…” Edward gave him a long look, as if in understanding.

A hundred thousand gold coins. This was the equivalent of releasing a bomb onto the world of thieves and robbers here. It’d trigger a huge frenzy- a gold rush!

This storm could potentially suck many people in, maybe even cause unimaginable changes to the region. What changes?

We’ll just have to wait and see!

“This way, we’ll be able to quickly pass through and arrive at Sheng City a little earlier!” continued Ye Lang.

“Sheng City? Why?”

“I want to participate in next year’s—no— this year’s ranking competition!” He’d had the sudden realisation that he had entered the new year. ‘Next year’ was now ‘this year’.

“You too? What academy are you from?” asked Edward in surprise.

“I’m… Why should I tell you? What do you want?” Ye Lang suddenly turned defensive. Somebody once warned him not to reveal too much information about himself.

Ye Lang? If there weren’t ten thousand Ye Langs in the mainland there would be at least eight thousand of them. Who’d know this Ye Lang was THAT Ye Lang?

However, even if he hid his identity, many would still know who he was. There was only one Ye Lang who could casually pay someone a hundred thousand gold coins!

“Well… I’m also one of the participants. That’s why I had to ask,” coughed Edward, exasperated.

Ye Lang examined him, then huffed with disgust, “So you’re surveying your opponent, seizing me up. That’s not very ethical of you!!”

“…”

…

Along their journey, the three of them met many robbers, all quickly redirected away. At the same time, news of the Dianfeng Gang receiving a hundred thousand gold coins started to spread.

There was initially no good reason for the rest to take the gang’s hundred thousand gold coins, but Ye Lang told them that he’d paid for the protection fees of every gang in the mountains- so everyone had a right to the money!

Also, Ye Lang even said that he’d personally defeated the Dianfeng gang so that money was definitely given to them voluntarily!

Many people could confirm this. They confirmed that Ye Lang and the two definitely had this capability. Edward was an expert martial artist while Little Xin was an incredible, peculiar fighter herself!

The thief community came alive with this news!!

A hundred thousand gold coins and everyone had a right to it. This was a ticking time-bomb! It was so powerful everyone forgot everything else.

Ye Lang, the instigator of this frenzy, never cared for the whole thing though. He didn’t even know what happened to these robbers in the end!

It was an afternoon half a month later. A carriage slowly came to a stop in front of the most popular hotel in Alexandria, a huge city in the Ai La Empire.

Although the horse carriage wasn’t very luxurious, nor was it very eye-catching, no one would ever assume the people inside were regular commoners- because anyone who dared stop here would never be a commoner!

Then, this seemingly normal carriage piqued interest. The people there had seen too many luxurious carriages around, so this was something new.

Everyone nearby looked up out of habit to see who was going to step out.

“Oh fuck, what is that? Why is his skin black?!”

“Woah, that man must be very healthy!”

“…”

The first person to step out of the carriage was a dark-skinned youth. No, not, dark-skinned, more like coal-black-skinned!

If this man appeared at night, no one would even see him!

He was of course Edward. Ye Lang and Little Xin were also in the carriage. After leaving the mountains, Ye Lang quickly found a carriage because he didn’t like riding. It was exhausting.

“Little Black, so this is the biggest and most luxurious place in town? Jewel Moon Palace?” asked Ye Lang, looking up at the hotel after getting off the carriage.

Based on Ye Lang’s personality, he would always choose the most expensive, most luxurious place to live whenever he visited a city. Edward understood this too, hence his quick suggestion for him to stay here.

Edward seemed to be very familiar with Alexandria. He had to keep asking for directions in the previous cities, but he didn’t need to here. They went straight to the hotel.

“Don’t call me Little Black, I’m Edward!!”  protested Edward. Ye Lang had recently taken delight in calling him Little Black, after his skin.

It sounded like something you’d name your dog!!

That was what Edward told Ye Lang, but Ye Lang said, “But I’m talking to you, not a dog.”

Afterwards, Edward had to force himself to put up with it. He couldn’t stop Ye Lang. Unfortunately, that one time Ye Lang saw a little black dog, he’d literally called the dog Little Black too!

Ye Lang nodded, “Alright! Little Black, let’s go! Little Black!”

“…” Edward wanted to beat Ye Lang up to teach him a lesson but gave up when he saw Little Xin.

It wasn’t because he felt like he couldn’t beat Little Xin. He understood that if he were to fight Little Xin, the consequences wouldn’t feel very good- and the fight might even last more than half a day before they could determine a winner.

The Jewel Moon Palace lived up to its reputation, for everything inside oozed with luxury and elegance. The shiny golden foyer might have been a little too cliché for some, but many people liked it a lot.

Then again, many people would consider cash money another cheezy, cliché extravagance- but liked money anyway. Hence, cliche wouldn’t necessarily mean no one would like it. Instead, they liked it because it was a cliché!

Let’s not forget that a cliché is used one something that is overused- why would it be overused if people didn’t like it in the first place? Therefore, people only call it ‘cliché’ because they couldn’t afford it, as if it was beneath them.

If someone asked Ye Lang if it was a little too cliché, his answer would definitely be…

‘Of course it is! I am a walking cliché myself!’

Everyone has a cliché side, a side where they’re like everyone else. On the other hand, they have something unique to them too. We’re all unique individuals after all- even if you’re a walking cliché!