Legacy of Hatred-Chapter 179: Fury

Unlike Liam, the Alchemy Elder avoided engaging with pleasantries and politics because he didn’t care, not due to a lack of skills or understanding.

Admittedly, the Elder wasn’t too good at those, but he had lived a long life that had taught him how to lie and wear believable facades, as well as what could give him out.

The sudden interruption of the scroll’s retrieval was too much of a loud gesture to go unnoticed, especially by someone doing his best to find any topic that could start a conversation.

So, the Alchemy Elder knew he had to cover that revealing mistake with something reasonable, which wasn’t hard to find. The truth would more than suffice there.

"Elder Lewis," The Alchemy Elder called, pushing the scroll back into the shelf, slowly turning. "I’d refrain myself from making such senseless comments about my disciple, even as a joke."

Elder Lewis knew his statement might have been problematic, but he had meant it as praise. Yet, before he could apologize, the Alchemy Elder’s chilling blue eyes fell on him, radiating genuine solemnity and danger.

"Cultivators from the Outer Circles might not know it," The Alchemy Elder continued, "But ten spiritual roots are no joking matter."

"Of course," Elder Lewis gasped, bowing. "My deepest apologies. I didn’t mean anything."

"Do you have any idea what the appearance of a direct son of an Ancestral Beast would cause?" The Alchemy Elder insisted. "Catastrophe would unfold."

"I was careless, Alchemy Elder," Elder Lewis apologized again. "Forgive me. Excitement had taken over my reason."

"Don’t let it happen again," The Alchemy Elder snorted while still containing his voice in that silent place. "If anything happens to my disciple because of these careless rumors, I will know who to blame."

"Naturally," Elder Lewis could only agree, his head still lowered. The very reason why he had wanted to befriend the Alchemy Elder made that threat terrifying, forcing him to play along.

The Alchemy Elder snorted again but departed, leaving Elder Lewis bowing behind. The interaction covered anything the previous gesture might have revealed, even erasing its existence, but its source kept churning in the Alchemy Elder’s brain.

Horace hadn’t lied. He had spoken nothing but the truth. He also knew far more about the matter since he had lived in the Inner Circles and had even been quite famous there.

The Ancestral Beasts’ sons and daughters truly were no joking matter. It wasn’t by mistake that one of them ruled the Kingdom, and he would probably turn it upside down upon discovering that another had appeared.

After all, that son had already done that once for that exact reason. The official statement said otherwise. It had actually never been too clear, but Horace was too knowledgeable not to connect the dots, and the same applied to many experts from the Inner Circles.

There had even been rumors about another direct son acting as the Dragon King’s advisor back then. Of course, the Alchemy Elder had never been able or cared to confirm it.

Still, one thing had been clear. The Ancestral Beasts’ sons and daughters were worthy of putting the very Kingdom at risk, so only the word catastrophe could describe them.

And now, to the Elder’s own disbelief, he was actually exploring that topic, finding clues that supported it rather than denying it for good.

The Elder had heard about the test sphere’s breaking, but that item had been old and probably of poor quality in the first place. That was no proof, but it became the beginning of a pattern now.

As the Elder crossed a sealed door into restricted areas of the Scripture Hall, the clues began to line up to create an unbelievable picture. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

The most glaring clue was the failed attempt at becoming a rooting expert. The Boar’s Touch should have been more than enough for Liam’s breakthrough. The Elder had confirmed its quality himself.

Then, there were Liam’s smoking habits. The Elder wasn’t dumb. He knew his disciple went through his stash of poisonous powder faster than his directives should have allowed.

The Elder had ignored that, believing the inevitable drawbacks would have taught his careless disciple a lesson. Yet, they never arrived. Liam kept smoking far more than he should without suffering the slightest trace of discomfort.

Actually, it was almost as if Liam only benefitted from that more intense smoking habit, as if his core was famished enough to demand it.

And, in hindsight, the Elder found something off with that. He knew Liam now. His disciple would have never disobeyed his directives.

That was, unless Liam knew that his Master’s calculation featured an error at its very foundation and was compensating for it on his own.

There were other, more circumstantial clues, too. Liam’s physical prowess was off the charts. It bordered on the superhuman even when Qi wasn’t involved.

Also, Horace had noticed Liam’s habit of scratching his forearm, where his dragon burn was. That pointed at a trauma, but the matter could be far deeper now.

Lastly, there was the issue of Liam’s element. Poison was far from common, especially with such incredible affinity. It didn’t sound random now, either, since it was iconic of a specific Ancestral Beast.

Before the Elder could notice it, he had arrived at a wooden closet featuring fewer shelves. An old tome was also in his hands, open on a specific passage.

’And the Ancestral Snake planted its Hatred in the rain of blood that tainted humans,’ The Elder read, ’So that one day an heir that might rival the Dragon of Perfection might be born.’

Some stories were less legends and more fairy tales, especially when they were so old and open to interpretation. Most, if not all, had also been tampered with, altered beyond the truth.

After all, the truth changed depending on who was in power. The Kingdom belonged to the Dragon, and the Snake had been its main enemy.

So, the Alchemy Elder knew that nothing in that Scripture Hall could confirm his clues. Only looking at his disciple’s core would, but his thoughts moved elsewhere as he put the book back into the shelf.

If Liam truly carried an ancestral bloodline, if he really had such a secret, the Alchemy Elder couldn’t understand how he hadn’t discovered it earlier.

Liam wasn’t exactly a master of lies and secrets in the end. He actually was completely hopeless at those, his expressions revealing truths even before his mind could think them.

And, the Elder found suspicious instances in his memory, faces he might have mistook for something else. Even the guilty, ashamed state he had left Liam in could be one of those.

Liam might not have felt ashamed because of his failure, but because he knew why he had failed and was lying to his Master.

Still, that begged another question. The Elder would never say it out loud, but he had established a proper Master-disciple relationship with Liam. There was real affection, trust, and honesty on both sides.

So, it made no sense for Liam to keep a secret that made him feel so guilty, not after so much openness and proper bonding.

Truth was, the Alchemy Elder could only find two explanations for that.

The first saw Liam as a peerless mastermind capable of piling up facades, creating an act so believable even the Elder had fallen for it.

Yet, the topic involved Liam, the man who had to compare women to boars to begin to understand his own attraction.

No one could have come up with that. No one could even consider such thoughts, let alone choose them as a trait for their act.

Nevertheless, the other option, albeit more believable, enraged the Alchemy Elder to no end.

The only reason Liam could have to accept the shame of his lie was that it served a higher purpose. With the ancestral bloodlines involved, it wasn’t hard to understand who Liam’s target was, and even an idiot like him would acknowledge the dangers.

Liam couldn’t have been worried the Elder would have turned on him, not at that point in their relationship, meaning his secret was a way of protecting him.

’A disciple protecting his Master?!’ The Elder cursed in his mind, his anger so vivid it almost sent his Qi out of control. ’Has the great Horace Rauret fallen so low as to stir his apprentice’s concern for his safety?!’

If that whole theory was correct, the Alchemy Elder had never forgotten anything. His injury hadn’t affected his knowledge.

That failure wasn’t even the Elder’s mistake. It came from faulty information, but he couldn’t blame his disciple for that, especially not now.

The Elder was the Master, so Liam’s errors were his own. Such was the nature of the Master-disciple relationship. That was what it meant to take responsibility for his disciple.

And the Elder definitely would take responsibility. He actually couldn’t wait. As long as he confirmed the truth, he could work toward a solution and deliver it with all the scorching fury he was experiencing now.

’That fool!’ The Elder cried internally, his brain already concocting a plan with the new available data. ’Did he think my training sessions were tough? I’ll show him!’