Chapter 2

At this moment, Li Si no longer had any of the dignity of a prime minister. He struggled to crawl on the ground and, after great effort, managed to stand up, bowing deeply to Xu Fu. It was only because of the shock that he had momentarily lost his voice, otherwise he would have apologized to the grand alchemist. However, Xu Fu's face showed a hint of melancholy, and after a slight sigh, he said a cryptic sentence: "The emperor cannot go a day without a prime minister." After saying this, he waved his hand to call over his two disciples: "Prime Minister Li Si is unwell. You two will accompany his entourage back to Xianyang. Take good care of the prime minister on the way, and do not be the slightest bit negligent."

After dismissing Li Si, the chief alchemist, who had been kneeling on the ground, crawled a few steps and knelt before Xu Fu again, with a humble expression: "Grand Alchemist, your magic is truly divine, such skills have never been seen or heard before. With the Grand Alchemist here, why would the emperor need to seek elixirs from the sea? The Grand Alchemist is a living god in this world."

Xu Fu shook his head at the chief alchemist's fawning, then turned to look at his disciples and asked, "What about you? What do you think?" Apart from the three disciples behind him, the other disciples on both sides almost spoke in unison, "The Grand Alchemist's magic is profound and is a shocking and extraordinary skill."

Amidst the chorus of praise, a different voice suddenly emerged: "I thought it was some incredible skill, but no matter how impressive the means, it's still just an illusion." The person speaking was somewhat harsh, and his words were even more grating. For a moment, everyone's gaze focused on him.

Xu Fu did not recognize the speaker. He was a laborer responsible for carrying bamboo slips, who had been following the chief alchemist. When he first saw Xu Fu pour out the sweet wine like a nine-story tower, he was slightly surprised, but after the fire snakes appeared and Li Si's heart was taken out, the laborer's expression gradually turned to disdain.

"Bold!" Before Xu Fu could speak, the chief alchemist was already pale with fear. The laborer was his subordinate, and even if Xu Fu had a broad mind and did not hold a grudge against a laborer, he might still blame the chief alchemist. The grand alchemist who did not even consider Prime Minister Li Si could easily eliminate such a minor figure.

"Shut up!" Xu Fu gave the chief alchemist a stern look and then turned his gaze to the young laborer, examining him closely. The laborer was not very old, only in his twenties, and at this age, Xu Fu saw him as just a child. Although the laborer had clear and bright eyes, there was a hint of harshness in his expression.

There was another thing that slightly surprised Xu Fu: the laborer was wearing a jade token that indicated his status as an alchemist, but the quality of the jade was so poor that it was more like a stone token.

Xu Fu looked at the laborer and asked, "Are you an alchemist too?" The laborer looked up at Xu Fu, but before he could answer, the chief alchemist interjected, "He was originally a palace slave, but because his ancestors were alchemists, I raised his status and took him in as a minor alchemist to test medicines."

"Minor alchemist," Xu Fu snorted, ignoring the chief alchemist. He continued to the young alchemist, "What makes you say it was an illusion?"

The chief alchemist once again preempted, scolding the young alchemist, "How dare you in front of the Grand Alchemist?" But this time, Xu Fu did not let him continue. He pointed at the chief alchemist, and the chief alchemist fell backward. He struggled to get up, but it was as if a thousand-pound weight was pressing on him, and no matter how hard he struggled, he could not move.

In extreme fear, the chief alchemist wanted to beg for mercy from Xu Fu, but the words stuck in his throat. He could only repeatedly touch the ground with his head, hoping for the Grand Alchemist's mercy.

Unfortunately, Xu Fu seemed to ignore him, continuing to look at the young alchemist with interest and repeating, "Speak, what makes you say it was an illusion?"

The young alchemist glanced at the chief alchemist, who was still struggling on the ground, with a somewhat contemptuous look, which was certainly not the attitude one should have toward a superior. He then turned his gaze to the Grand Alchemist, looked up at Xu Fu, and said somewhat absentmindedly, "There's nothing special. The Grand Alchemist just confused the senses of Li... Prime Minister Li and the rest of us. The wine was still just wine, there were no fire snakes, and the heart extraction was just an act. The Grand Alchemist made the movements, and Prime Minister Li was just playing along."

After the young alchemist finished speaking, the lecture hall fell silent, and almost everyone's gaze focused on Xu Fu's face. With the chief alchemist as a warning, no one dared to be disrespectful in front of the Grand Alchemist. Everyone was waiting for Xu Fu's reaction.

Xu Fu looked at the young alchemist with a half-smile, not continuing the previous topic, but asked, "What is your name?"

The young alchemist paused, not understanding what Xu Fu was doing. After hesitating, he said, "Mian... My name is Mian."

"Mian?" Xu Fu frowned slightly, but he quickly understood the meaning of the single-character name. The chief alchemist had mentioned that the young alchemist was a palace slave, and according to Qin law, slaves had names but no surnames. Mian was his name.

Hearing the young alchemist's accent, which had a hint of Wu dialect, Xu Fu smiled faintly and looked at him again, "Are you from Wu?" Mian just nodded. Before he could speak, Guangren, Xu Fu's senior disciple, stepped forward and respectfully whispered in Xu Fu's ear, "Grand Alchemist, be cautious. Wu has been extinct for a hundred years, and now all are subjects of the Great Qin. There is no longer a distinction between Wu and Chu."

Guangren seemed to be advising Xu Fu, but his eyes were coldly fixed on the chief alchemist, who was still lying on the ground. Xu Fu understood his thoughts. After the First Emperor unified the country, he issued a law that anyone who claimed to be from a fallen state would be considered a rebel, and claiming to be from Wu could result in the extermination of one's clan.

Xu Fu coldly snorted, ignoring his senior disciple, and continued to the young alchemist, "Since you have entered the path of alchemy, you are no longer a slave. There has never been an alchemist without a surname. I will give you a surname. From today on, you will be known as Wu Mian, Alchemist Wu Mian." After saying this, Xu Fu turned to look at the chief alchemist on the ground, and with a wave of his hand, the thousand-pound pressure on the chief alchemist disappeared.

"You will stay here tonight," Xu Fu said to the chief alchemist, who did not dare to stand up and was still prostrate on the ground. "Tomorrow is the auspicious day for me to set sail and seek the elixir of immortality for the First Emperor. You will stay behind to observe the ceremony, and when the ships enter the sea, you will return to the First Emperor's side to take care of his elixirs and diet."

The chief alchemist, who had narrowly escaped, immediately bowed and said, "I will follow the Grand Alchemist's command. Being able to witness the Grand Alchemist's departure to seek the elixir of immortality for the emperor is a blessing I have earned in nine lifetimes. When I return to Xianyang, I will certainly report to the emperor..."

Before the chief alchemist could finish, Xu Fu impatiently waved his hand and said to the crowd in the lecture hall, "We will now begin the ceremony to pray for the emperor's well-being. Wu Mian, you will stay to clean the altar... the rest of you, leave."

When the Grand Alchemist said this, including Wu Mian, everyone in the lecture hall looked puzzled. Xu Fu had many disciples, and the task of guarding the altar should not have fallen to a low-ranking alchemist. However, since the Grand Alchemist had spoken, they dared not disobey. Everyone filed out of the lecture hall, with the senior disciple Guangren and three other white-haired men and women being the last to leave.

These four were to protect the ceremony, each guarding one of the four directions of the lecture hall. As they were about to part ways and return to their respective positions, the oldest of the four, a man in his forties, suddenly said, "The Grand Alchemist has made a mistake..."

When this man spoke, the other three immediately stopped and looked at him. No one spoke, and the scene became so quiet that even their heartbeats could be heard. After a moment, Guangren looked at the man and said coldly, "Guangxiao, do not speak rashly. The Grand Alchemist's thoughts are not for us to speculate."

The man named Guangxiao laughed carelessly and said, "Senior Brother Guangren, I am different from you. The Grand Alchemist has already said that I am only temporarily following the path of alchemy and will eventually join another sect. If you dare not speak, I will. It's not a big deal."

As Guangxiao spoke, he scanned the faces of the other three. After a pause, he continued, "Tomorrow is the auspicious day for the Grand Alchemist's departure. I ask the three of you, which of you has been chosen by the Grand Alchemist to inherit his legacy?"

Looking at the three who remained silent, Guangxiao chuckled and continued, "I fear that the young alchemist is inside the lecture hall, receiving the Grand Alchemist's legacy. In a few years, as long as the Grand Alchemist does not return from the sea, you will have to respect him as the next Grand Alchemist."

When these words were spoken, the scene fell silent again. The three white-haired men and women each had their own thoughts but were unwilling to reveal them. Suddenly, another man in his mid-twenties laughed and clapped, saying to Guangxiao, "Good strategy. No wonder the Grand Alchemist said that if you, Guangxiao, had abandoned the path of alchemy and focused on the art of alliances, there would be no place for Su Qin and Zhang Yi. Perhaps the Great Qin's unification of the world would have been different."

At this moment, the white-haired woman, who had not spoken, turned to look in the direction of Xu Fu and Wu Mian and said softly, "This level of illusion is just a minor skill. Using it to pass on the legacy is a joke..."

Guangxiao looked at the woman and said with a playful tone, "Senior Sister Guangti, could you see through such a minor skill when you were the young alchemist's age?"