Chapter 102 - Springing Her Trap

The assembled guests of the welcoming banquet perched at the edges of their seats, at least, those who hadn't already leapt from their chairs. The opening phases had proceeded tamely, resembling the kinds of public tournaments that were held at New Years and Mid Summer festivals. It had been exciting but everyone believed that the Brawlers were more side show to the Alchemists doing battle than an important part of the challenge. 

That had all changed the moment Tao Juan slipped on Shun Ren's water technique, turning the the challenge from intense competition to bloody battle in an instant. Tong Fan had retrieved his golden melon hammers and cracks covered the third layer of the barrier, the first two having failed within a dozen breaths of Tong Fan retrieving his hammers. 

On the floor, Tao Juan and Chen Xiong presented a pathetic sight, dragging their bloody and broken bodies across the floor in the direction of Zhang Bai's barrier. Neither of them made so much as a motion in the direction of the older alchemist despite the clear opportunity to disrupt his second concoction while all three of their opponents assaulted the barrier. 

Ao Yang stared on grimly while Hou Jia clung to her husband's muscular arm, seeking something solid and reassuring while her stomach threatened to make a charge of its own. "She'll be allright won't she?" 

"She'll be fine," Wu Lin said. "Look, see how she's gathered six small emerald flames in her cauldron? She called this the Ascending Trigram of Purification," he continued, hoping to distract the pale looking mortal woman. "She'll spin her elixir around the cauldron and each time it passes through a flame, the flame will become hotter and smaller than any other flame in the cauldron. With each revolution the flames are hotter and smaller, burning away progressively smaller traces of impurity until there's nothing left but the purest elixir she can produce. It takes considerable focus and it's a very high level flame control technique, better than the Advanced Swirling Flame Pool technique my Master practices," he praised. 

"Does that mean she'll win the challenge?" Ao Yang asked, eyes never leaving his daughter's alchemy table. Her hands moved precisely, reminding him of his own work with chisels and rasps on stone and in her movements he saw not the slightest trace of uncertainty. That level of skill spoke of years of diligent practice and Ao Yang couldn't help but feel a twinge of loss that he hadn't had the chance to see her develop those skills step by step the way a father should. Somehow, he felt like time had been stolen from them and as proud as he felt seeing her shine so brightly he also ached for the distance that he could feel growing between them. 

"It means she's almost finished with the concoction," he said. "My master is just finishing the last ingredient refinement, he'll be starting his own combining phase in a few breaths," the young alchemist pointed out, noticing that his master seemed to be struggling greatly to maintain his flames after processing so many difficult to refine ingredients. Even though the older alchemist possessed more energy than Ao Wen, his techniques were much less efficient in using it and he was clearly pushing his limits to complete the concoction Ao Wen had challenged him with. 

"There," Ao Wen breathed, guiding the completed elixir into five jade bottles and placing their stoppers in a smooth movement. "READY," she shouted to her champions, reaching out with a delicate hand to pick up the fan that had sat unobtrusively on the table the entire time. 

On the floor, both Tao Juan and Chen Xiong moved stiffly, curling up like shrimp despite the discomfort of broken bones and wrapping their arms around their heads. With a flick of her wrist, Ao Wen sent a single ember from her fan, dancing on an invisible breeze like a butterfly toward the cauldron of her opponent. 

Sweat dripped from Wai Dan's brow, every bit of his attention focused on controlling the five separate pools of pale yellow flames he kept swirling around his cauldron, failing to notice the wisp of crimson flame that fluttered into his cauldron like a drifting flower petal until it flared brightly, rapidly consuming the extracted essence of the Iron Tusk Boar's stomach lining. 

"No, no, what are you doing!" The alchemist shouted too late as the entire concoction began to consume itself, explosive elements rampaging out of control. An instant later, bright light filled the chamber as a thunderous BOOM sounded, followed by the sound of tearing metal and an expanding cloud of inky black smoke. The City Lord's barrier flickered as shards of the alchemist's cauldron, his table and dozens of other implements slammed into barrier followed rapidly by a fireball that consumed half the space of the improvised arena! 

With a wave of his lacquered-nail tipped fingers, City Lord Zhang dispersed his barrier and the cloud of noxious black smoke, revealing a scene of devastation that stunned the assembled townsfolk. The remains of Alchemist Wai Dan's cauldron sat in two torn halves, connected by only a thin twisted strip of dull gray metal. The remnants of burned pages fluttered through the air, their edges still burning faintly, keeping them dancing in the air. Broken porcelain and jade bottles lay scattered around the splintered table, in many places imbedded deeply into the wood of the table. 

Alchemist Wai Dan himself lay where he had fallen after bouncing off the City Lord's barrier. Every trace of hair had been burned from his face and scalp leaving a blistered and blackened mass of burned hair and flesh in it's place. His once elegant robes gaped where shards of bottles, splinters of wood and metal shrapnel from his own cauldron had pierced into his flesh leaving him bleeding and burned in several places.

Halfway across the improvised arena, Tao Juan and Chen Xiong had escaped virtually all of the damage from the blast, their robes only slightly singed and peppered with wooden splinters and debris that failed to penetrate their hastily raised defensive energy. 

Wen Jun, Shun Ren and Tong Fan hadn't faired nearly as well, each of them having taken several blows from large pieces of shrapnel and suffering severe burns to their unprotected backs and scalps. The smell of singed hair filled the air around them as their weapons hung limply at their sides, too stunned by the explosion to move as though they feared doing so would set off a second explosion. 

Finally, Zhang Bai slumped to one knee, propping himself up with his long sword, dispelling the final layer of the barrier that had shielded him and Ao Wen from the force of the blast. 

Slowly, feet crunching on broken porcelain with each step, Ao Wen advanced on the trembling figure of Alchemist Wai Dan. "Alchemist Wai," she said warmly as she walked through the wreckage of his concocting station before crouching beside him. "It looks like you could use the assistance of a trained healer," she observed in a tone that might have just as easily said 'it looks like it's raining outside.' 

"I wonder if Alchemist Wai believes my skills are sufficient to provide him with treatment without the supervision of a more senior alchemist?" Ao Wen asked, her tone light and casual but the meaning behind those words cut like a knife. 

Across the hall, everyone froze at her words, mortals and cultivators alike stunned by her scathing rebuke. In the intensity of the clash, many had forgotten that Alchemist Wai Dan had demanded she be banned from praciticing alchemy without supervision, that he'd called her gift of medicines poison and that he'd painted her as a fraud posing as an alchemist. Now, from the look on his face, the old man clearly needed medical attention from the very person he'd insulted and pushed to this point! But would he dare to accept her aid after suffering such grevious injuries at her hands? Could he lower his pride that much? Would he be able to trust that she wouldn't harm him further? 

"It seems that this was her plan from the beginning," the City Lord said at the high table, his voice laced with admiration. "From the moment she handed him that elixir recipe, she intended to sabotage his concoction and trigger an explosion his cauldron couldn't contain."

"What makes you say that husband?" Wan Yue asked, still staring at the carnage in mild shock. Suddenly she felt that Mao Ailum had gotten off lightly with a single punch and the loss of a few teeth. 

"Because she approached me before the match began to ask if I'd ever seen a cauldron explosion and if my barrier could contain one," he said, shaking his head. "At first, I'd thought she simply wanted reassurance given the explosive nature of her elixir recipe. Looking at it now, it seems I thought too simply of her. Also, notice the two young men imitating shrimp on the floor," he said with a gesture. "They knew precisely what to expect before she triggered her attack and protected their heads and vital organs from the blast."

"Is that really our daughter?" Hou Jia asked, wide eyes turning between her husband and the merciless woman crouching over her defeated foe. Where had her happy kitchen helper gone? Where was the young girl that needed to be reminded to bring the water to boil before placing the steaming basket above it to keep accurate cooking times? "That's really our Ao Wen?" 

"It is," Feng Xi said with an edge to her voice that puzzled many at the high table. "Don't ever doubt that for a moment," she continued in a soft but fierce voice. "And don't ever let her hear you ask that question," she added in an even softer voice, afraid that Ao Wen had already heard her mother's question in the stillness of the grand hall. 

On the floor, Alchemist Wai Dan stared at the crouching young woman with eyes that trembled as though he stared into the very gates of hell. "De-demon!" Wa Dan managed to croak out, the ash of stubble falling from his jaw as he spoke at last. "You're a demon!"

"Is that a no?" Ao Wen asked, preparing to stand. "If so, I have other people to tend to, but a healer always gives priority to the most injured person who can still be saved," she continued. "Will you accept my care?" she repeated. 

Several tense moments passed before the charred husk of an alchemist spoke. "Heal me," he spat at last, all but collapsing from the pain that wracked his body. Anything, he would take anything that made this pain stop! 

"As you will," Ao Wen said, hands moving rapidly to place several silver needles in his tender flesh forming basic nerve blocks before she followed up with an elixir retrieved from her waist pouch. "Drink this and sleep for a bit while I tend the others. I promise you'll feel no pain."