Drunken Master

Chapter 4: Wealthy

"Halt! No one is permitted to enter the residence of the Lord Su. Go back now before you get yourself hurt!" a guard shouted while running towards Su Jin's group, he didn't seem to have heard Su Jin's shouting or maybe just chose not to take it to heart. The guard seemed new and didn't recognise the young master of the Su family. 

"Who are you to stop me from seeing my father?!" Su Jin became a little exasperated, it had been a long time since he saw his family and just when he was about to reunite with his family, here was this guy stopping him from doing so. "Just forget it." he said this before the guard could reply and even walked past him with the two youngsters. "Stop! Didn't I tell you, no one is allowed inside the Lord Su's residence. And how dare you claim yourself to be Lord Su's son! Insolent!"

The guard pulled out his sword in an attempt to harm Su Jin, the sword was aimed at Su Jin's legs,it was a Grade one weapon. The guard was clearly planning on teaching Su Jin a lesson for ignoring him. "You take my words as air, let's see how you enter the residence without your legs then!" the two behind Su Jin looked at the guard like he was an idiot. Su Jin didn't even bother dodging the sword and when it struck his leg, something strange happened and it left the guard dumbstruck.

The sword had actually bounced back and flew away at a very fast speed. "You...you...you..." the guard was so speechless that he tried to say something many times but couldn't, in the end, he ran away at a fast speed. Su Jin didn't even bother to chase the guard and just continued on his way, not long, he found himself inside the beautifully decorated residence. Everything was made from gold, even the floor was gold, the place looked grand but he unfortunately didn't have time to reminisce.

He walked in a certain direction with the two closely following behind him, they were amazed by the interior of this manor and admired it very much. After walking for a while, they finally reached their destination, there were two huge doors also made from gold with dragon on each side, two guards with fearsome auras stood guard on either side of the door. "Halt! How did you reach this place?" asked one of the guards. 

"Why is everyone stopping me from seeing father, have you already forgotten who I am?" the two guards studied Su Jin carefully and seemed to know him from somewhere, when he said father, they finally realised who he was plus he hadn't changed one bit from how he looked ten years ago. "How...How can this be? Young master Jin!"

But instead of welcoming him, the two guards became even more vigilant. "How dare you impersonate the young master! Courting death!" after saying that, they immediately attacked but how could they be Su Jin's match. Su Jin disappeared and appeared behind them and hit the both of them on the neck which made them faint. He pushed the two doors but they didn't budge one inch, it was obvious that these went ordinary doors.

He then used almost all his power to finally open the doors but he could open a gap enough for the three of them to enter. "Just what kind of door is this. So much strength was needed but still couldn't fully open them." said Su Jin while wiping the sweat on his forehead.

"Who are you?" a sword was already on Su Jin and the others necks as a middle aged man clad in silver armour spoke. The man had his face covered in a beard and exuded terrifying killing intent. There was a huge bed with a another middle aged man sleeping in it and there were six people in total excluding the man on the bed, five were guards and the last one was an alchemist. 

"Uncle Ling, don't you remember me anymore?" awkwardly asked Su Jin. This uncle of his was Su Ling and was his father's older brother, he was the general of his father's army and a war fanatic. "Little Jin! Is it really you?!" sensing the powerful aura Su Jin was exuding, Uncle Ling's face became cold and was about to decapitate Su Jin who quickly waved his hands and quickly explained what had happened. 

"This still doesn't prove that you really are Su Jin. Tell me about the history of the Su family, only then will I believe you!" coldly said Uncle Ling. "Uncle, surely you jest. After finding out that I couldn't cultivate, I didn't even care about Huizhong so how would I care about my Su family history." Su Jin had long seen through his uncle's trick, if he spoke of the Su's history then he would be labelled a spy and would immediately be killed. "Little Jin, so it really is you, hahaha! What a blessing this is."

His father had always complained to his older brother how his son only cared about alcohol and nothing else, he didn't even want to know anything about his ancestors and his older brother would always console him by saying, "Dont worry brother. Su Jin will come around and choose his own path!" Uncle Ling was very happy that Su Jin had returned and that he had become a very powerful cultivator.

Uncle Ling's happiness didn't last long as he became crestfallen again, "Uncle Ling, what happened to father? Why is he like this?!" Su Jin rushed to his father's side and asked his uncle. "It's a long story...." Uncle Ling became angry just thinking about it. Long story short, Su Jin's father was almost assassinated and was saved by Uncle Ling but he incurred a wound to his soul and went into deep sleep. "Is there anything I can do to help?!"

"It's hopeless. Your father needs a mystic plant called Soul Embrace and we can't find it anywhere. We've searched for it everywhere but still couldn't find it and we are now helpless to do anything." explained his uncle. "Your brother and sister also hadn't visited the city in a long time and rumour has it that they entered a Sacred Land to look for opportunities and hadn't returned from their trip." if they were present and from big Sects, they might have long found the plant. 

Su Jin then emptied his storage ring that he found on the Wealth Blessed Python's nest. "Uncle Ling, is there anything useful here. As long as father can be cured, you can use it." except for the two youngsters, everyone was astounded by Su Jin's wealth, every treasure he had was very rare that one couldn't find it even if they searched the entire continent.

He had many Sixth grade plants and and a lot of Fifth grade weapons and other treasures. "Blood Ginseng, Spirit Grass, Green Leaf Tree,..." the alchemist labelled all the mystic plants one by one, his eyes were practically glowing as he labelled the plants. "There's even a Fifth grade Soul Embrace, with this, Lord Su will recover almost immediately after the medicine is concocted. Let me quickly get started!"

The alchemist was a Five Star alchemist and only needed an opportunity to break through and become a Six Star alchemist and a chance had finally represented itself. He took many mystic plants and rushed to the corner of the room and began to make the pill that will heal the Lord Su. Just like cultivators, alchemist, array masters, rune masters and others cultivated in different ways but all had nine levels to cover. 

Alchemists rated every alchemist with stars and the more stars an alchemist had,the stronger and more capable they were and the higher their status was. These people were respected wherever they went due to their miraculous pills, arrays, runes, weapons and other things.

Blue flames played in the palm of the alchemist's hand, they looked like a salamander and were quite cute. "Little guy,now is  not the  time  to  play. We got to work and improve our strength, it's time to become a Six Star alchemist and you to also improve your strength. We'll play later."

Just like cultivators, alchemist and other cultivators with a similar profession had different ranks and each rank was equivalent to a normal cultivator's realm. Take for instance this alchemist, he was a Five Star alchemist and his power was equivalent to a Soul Forming Realm expert and they didn't use normal means like cultivating to break through to the next Realm, they had to concoct a pill at least one Realm higher than their own. 

The alchemist then burned all the ingredients before throwing them inside his cauldron that was made from gold, it had carvings that no one could understand and exuded an ancient aura. When he burned the ingredients, black smoke would be released by the plant before it dissipated. "Amazing! As expected from a Sixth grade mystic plant, it contains far too little impurities." Just like cultivators, mystic plants also contained impurities and they had to be removed when concocting a pill. 

Removing impurities did more than just boost the effects of the pill, it also increased the chances of a pill being formed, even if it was by a mere one percent increase, it would have a huge impact on the pill so removing impurities was very important. The plants once inside the cauldron would melt and become liquids, although the temperature was normal inside, it was extremity hot inside the cauldron.

After all the ingredients had melted, they began to fuse, this was a very slow process that took a lot of time, an hour later, a rich and strong fragrant of plants permeated the air, this was the sign that the pill was about to form. The carvings on the cauldron then lit and a 'BOOM' sound was heard. The alchemist then opened the lid of the cauldron and a white pill floated inside it. The alchemist looked pale as he gave the pill to the two and although he looked pale and tired. He couldn't hide the excitement in his eyes, he sat cross legged on the same corner of the room and began his break through. 

The two didn't care much about him and hurried to the Lord Su's bed and fed him the pill, fortunately the pill melted once it entered his mouth, they then directed to his stomach and the rest became history. Lord Su was then covered in a white cocoon that rose mid air, the two knew that the pill was healing Lord Su.

His body suddenly glowed, even his eyes opened and were glowing, together with his mouth and ears, it was like there was a globe on his head that had just been turned on. The cocoon also entered the body, Lord Su didn't just recover, he had also broken through to the Ninth stage of the Unification Realm. Once his legs touched the floor, he regained his consciousness.

He looked around and saw two unfamiliar faces and saw that he was in his room, "How do you feel brother? Is there anything wrong with your body?" asked Uncle Ling. "No, everything is fine. I even broke through a minor Realm."

"Congratulations on the Lord's recovery!"

"Congratulations on brother's recovery!"

"Congratulations on father's recovery!"

Lord Su nodded but then his expression changed when he heard what the last person said, his senses were extremely sharp so he knew where the voice came from. "Little Jin, is it really you?!" his body was shaking all over. "Your unfilial son has returned." said Su Jin.