Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

"You're quite popular, senior," Alex said. "Not even senior Yao got this much of a greeting from the people."

"It's less about popularity, and more about sister Yao being slightly unapproachable due to her look," she said. "They see an old woman that they know is strong and try not to bother her if possible. Still, I'm sure she gets a lot of greetings too."

Alex nodded. She wasn't wrong.

They walked through the streets of the city as they made their way towards the insight pavilion.

Alex had wanted to go there alone, but the seniors insisted on at least one of them going along for his protection, so he had let her come along.

"Aren't you excited to take your pill, senior?" Alex asked. "I'm sure you could've let me come here alone while you improved your spiritual sense."

"Haha, you're not getting rid of us that easily," Liang Shufen said with laughter in her voice. "Besides, I don't have earth spiritual root, so that pill is useless to me."

"Oh, I see," Alex said. He quickly used his Demon Eyes to check, and as she had explained, she did not have any muddy brown colors around her. He did see quite a lot of blue, however.

"Then I'll try to make the water pill as soon as I can, senior," he said.

"Oh, that will certainly help me a lot," she said, not realizing that his words weren't coincidental at all.

They soon reached the pavilion and Alex walked in. He asked to see the one that managed this pavilion and waited for the old, bald man to come down to stairs.

The man came down not even 10 seconds later, surprising Alex, and behind him was a slightly younger man who looked like he was 40 years old at best in mortal years.

The bald man stepped aside and let the middle-aged man walk up front.

"Sister Liang, it has been a while," the man said with a small bow.

"Oh, little brother Zhu! I didn't realize you had come back to the city," she said. "I wasn't expecting to see you here today."

"Certainly my presence won't ruin your day, would it?" he asked with a small smile.

Liang Shufen chuckled as well. "Don't try to be cheeky now," she said.

The man laughed and looked at Alex before giving him a greeting with his hands cupped. "You must be the famous Alchemist Alex. I've seen your faces too many times in the recordings, but they fail to capture all of your handsomeness," he said.

"Your words are kind, senior," Alex said.

"This is Zhu Shaofan," Liang Shufen explained. "The owner of the Insight pavilion."

"Ah!" Alex exclaimed when he heard that. "My apologies, senior. I'm ignorant and didn't know who you were."

"You aren't ignorant," the man said. "I simply like to stay out of the public's eyes. I never cared much for the public's perception of me. Besides, with the establishment I have managed to create, I've come to learn just how troublesome it can be to have your information so easily available for others."

Alex nodded. These past couple of months he had been slightly regretful of giving away his image to be spread throughout the continent in hopes of finding his father.

That was what had made it so easy for the assassins to target him.

If he was given the chance to do it all over again, he would certainly still do it just for the sake of finding his father, but he would be careful to use some other faces in most public scenarios.

"So, what are you guys here for? Are you looking for something?" the man asked.

"I have a package bought to gather information monthly, I am here to get it," Alex said.

"Oh," the man turned towards the bald man that was staying to the side. "Please set it up for our little friend."

"Right away, senior," the old man said and walked away.

"Let me treat you to some tea while we wait for it to be prepared," the man said and took them upstairs.

They sat down on some fancy chairs and started drinking tea. Alex was a little surprised by the taste of the tea and realized that he was actually drinking coffee.

"Where did you find this?" he asked.

"The black tea? I found a group of people making these and took the product from them. It doesn't have any nutritional value to a cultivator, but it does taste quite good with some sugar in it," he said as he drank.

Alex nodded. He wasn't really a coffee drinker back when he was a mortal, but the times he did, he remembered liking it.

"So, when did you come back?" Liang Shufen asked.

"Uhh… about a month ago, I believe," he said. "Brother Gong was there to greet me when I came."

"I see," the woman said. She sensed his aura and smiled. "You've grown quite strong too."

"Haha, yes I have," the man said. "And it is all thanks to little brother Alex here. I've bought a few of his pills and they have been immensely helpful in recent times."

"I know, right?" Liang Shufen asked. "We must have done something right to have such a blessing fall on us."

"Indeed," the man said as his smile disappeared a bit. "But I doubt our bad deeds will ever be outweighed."

"They will," Liang Shufen said. "At least, I believe they will."

The man smiled again. "Ever the optimist you are, sister Liang," he said.

They talked for a few more minutes about a few more stuff, of which Alex only understood half. Then, the old man came with the prepared talismans and handed them over.

"Alright, you got your thing. We should return now," the woman said.

Alex nodded and stood up to leave.

"Young brother Alex, I wanted to ask you something," the man suddenly said.

"Yes? What is it, senior?" he asked.

"So, there's been a rumor spreading recently that I wanted to ask if it's true or not," the man said.

Alex's eyes narrowed when he heard that. Had the assassination attempts on him become public knowledge now?

"I hear that you won't be making pills indefinitely, is that true?" the man asked.

"Oh, where did you hear that senior?" Alex asked.

"There are rumors that the Alchemy Association won't be holding the quarterly event with you, and with you being here, I'm worried that is true," he said.

Alex sighed. "I'm afraid that it is, senior," he said. "I won't be making pills for a long while."

"I see, that's a shame," the man said with a downtrodden expression. "I was looking forward to it as well."

"He can't help it," Liang Shufen said. "The Dark Phoenix assassins are after him."

"What?" the man's eyes narrowed. "Those bastards are after him?"

"Yes, so we can't help but hide him here," the woman said. "As a result, he won't be making pills for the public for a very long time."

"I see," the man said with conflicted emotion.

Alex was simply surprised that the woman was giving out the information so freely. Shouldn't the knowledge of him being a target from those assassins be hidden or something, at the very least from the literal owner of the biggest information trading agency in the goddamn continent?

Going around giving away the information was telling the assassins that he knew who they were and that they were after him. That would certainly give them the advantage and let them know that he had killed two of their members already.

"So you are protecting him, huh?" the man asked.

"Yes, that's all we can do for now. Going after those bastards would be useless after all. Who knows who they even are?" the woman said.

"That is true," the man said. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Little brother, I might not be able to help protect you, but I should be able to still help you."

"Oh, and how is that, senior?" Alex asked.

"Give me some time. Maybe a couple of weeks or maybe even months. I will gather the most comprehensive piece of information about the Dark Phoenix I can, especially their assassins, and hand it over to you," he said. "Even if it won't help you fight them, you should be able to not get caught off guard."

"Oh!" Alex thought when he heard that. He had thought of buying information on them, but he was trying to not give away information that he knew they were after him. But, if he got it through a middleman, that would certainly be helpful.

"Thank you, senior. I will really appreciate it," Alex said. "In return, please let me make a few pills for you. Just tell me what you want and I will have them prepared within the week."

"Really?" the man was excited. "I just need the cultivation pills and maybe a few healing pills that's all."

Alex nodded.

"Also," the man continued. "Don't worry about your information leaking. As of today, I will keep a tight grip on your information. Anything that hasn't already been shared will no longer be shared around."

Alex gave a grateful smile. "That would be truly helpful, senior."