Supreme Alchemist

Chapter 7 Universe Golden Cauldron

Chapter 7 Universe Golden Cauldron

"W-w-wait, wait a sec! " Tolly said with a nervous look on his face.

But the scar-faced man did not stop. Instead, he lunged at Tolly as if he was going to tear him apart.

“You are cruising for a bruising, little bastard. I’m going to skin you alive!” the man roared.

Fortunately, Tolly was in a small frame so he was nimble enough to dodge his attack. Tolly managed to escape just in time. However, all of his men were also coming toward him.

Hence, Tolly was cornered to the place in his yard near the cliff.

“There’s no way for you to escape now, you little brat!” the scar-faced man laughed triumphantly.

“Hey, buddy, I know you want money, but not my life. But to tell you the truth, I’m not a liar at all. I’ve got no money. You know, I’ve been just transmigrated to this new world. Everything here is new to me.”

Tolly could do nothing but wear a smile on his face.

“Transmigrated? What the hell is that? Are you taking me as a fool? You’re courting for death, little bastard!”

“No,” Tolly said with a mirthless grin, “I dare not fool you. What I’ve just said is all true. What happens to this world? No one is willing to take the true words. Instead, everyone seems to like lies.”

He tilted his head for a while, heaving a deep sigh, and continued,

“Hey, buddy, just look at my shabby house I’m living in, do I look like a rich man? If you want to collect protection money, I guess you should at least look for a rich guy to collect it! Don’t you think so? From my point of view, you haven’t done your job well, since your strategy of becoming rich is totally wrong!” Tolly grinned.

“Take that grin off your face, little bastard! Are you teaching me how to do my job? How dare you?” The muscular scar-faced man said furiously.

He had never met anyone who dared to challenge his authority before. His men behind also got very angry.

“He’s challenging you, my big brother! Let me get him to lick your shoes!”

“Yeah, my big brother, you see, the kid is just not cooperative. Let me beat him black and blue. He’s asking for it!”

“Hey, buddies, don’t act on impulse. How about this? Just give me a few days, okay? I can go and earn some money, and then I’ll pay you guys later.”

Tolly managed to force a faint smile on his face.

“That’s enough! Stop fooling us. You pay it now or never. Of course, if you don’t want to pay, you have another choice. See the cliff? You can jump down the cliff!” The scar-faced man sneered, pointing in the direction of the cliff.

“Jump! Jump!” his men shouted, laughing uncontrollably right after.

At the time, a gust of wind suddenly picked up. Not very long, some dark clouds, coming from nowhere, gathered. A blue bolt of lightning crackled through the sky. A brilliant idea quickly flashed into his mind.

“Don’t’ get too above yourselves. See? Even the heavens are not happy with you guys anymore. Be careful not to get struck to death by lightning!” Tolly bluffed.

He then began to mumble something in his mouth, pretending that he was saying some sort of incantation.

Interestingly, the sky seemed to receive his request and did send down another bolt of lightning to the ground just before them. They were taken aback, moving a few steps behind and then looking at one another in disbelief.

Could this little boy know magic or some kind of lighting technique? They wondered.

“Now just get out of my place, or you’ll be sorry!’ Tolly threatened, pretending to say some kind of incantation once again.

However, nothing happened this time. In fact, Tolly was just stalling for time, waiting for some savior to save the day.

‘Where are you, Sally? I need your help right now!’ Tolly thought to himself.

“It’s just a coincidence, my big brother! He’s bluffing!”

“Don’t be fooled by him! Let’s beat him!”

“Bluffing? It seems you guys don’t know me at all. I’ve possessed some magic, you know. I can give my commands to the heavens. My dear heavens, please have a little rain to wash and purify their evil souls.”

He continued to mumble words, peeking out at them with his half-closed eyes.

In a flash, a few big drops of rain did fall from the sky. The guys from Gold Dragon Gang looked at one another in astonishment. And then a long silence reigned among them.

“See? I’m not bluffing. You guys still have a chance to run for your lives now. Run, run before you guys regret it!’ Tolly warned.

They did not move, just staring at him in silence.

Tolly had no other choice but to mumble again, “O heavens, please bring down another bolt of lightning to exact your divine retributions on all of them!” 

Tolly was glad to see another blue bolt of lightning flash in the sky once more. The lightning illuminated the sky and it seemed all the little raindrops instantly turned themselves into beautiful crystals.

It looked as if he was indeed a person with magic. Even Tolly himself began to think so. However, the lightning crashed down to the ground right before Tolly instead. Tolly quickly jumped back and got closer to the cliff.

‘Oh, crap!’ Tolly thought.

“Ha-ha, my big brother, I’ve told you he’s always been bluffing!”

The scar-faced man nodded, saying with a sneer,

“You can go to hell now, little bastard!”

After that, he swiftly threw out a fierce punch at Tolly, who instinctively tried to dodge it by stepping backward. Unluckily, he tripped over a little stone. Before he knew it, he lost his balance and fell off the cliff.

As he was falling, Tolly thought he would be soon a dead man.

‘No system, no help, What a horrible transmigration. The worst part of it is that I have to die a horrible death soon. All right, never mind! Perhaps I can have another transmigration and if lucky enough, I might be back to Earth and continue to work as a gold miner. That’s not too bad!”

Without thinking much more, he squeezed his eyes shut and waited for his life to end.

In a heartbeat, with a thud, his body quickly fell down on something. Something that was not too hard.

“Ouch!” he cried, but actually, he didn’t hurt himself that badly.

He slowly opened his eyes, discovering that he had not fallen to the ground, but to a huge unknown tree. It was peculiar as it looked like a huge spring bed covered with dense foliage.

The leaves were all star-shaped and there were faint glows around them.

‘Thank goodness! I’m still alive. As the old saying goes, if you don’t die from a great disaster, you’ll be blessed afterward. Well, I’ll get lucky and good days are yet to come soon!’

Although not seriously injured, Tolly had not fully recovered from his shock after experiencing the life-and-death moment. Hence, he allowed himself to lie motionless on the top of the amazing tree.

After resting on it for about fifteen or twenty minutes, he felt he had more strength and bounced back a lot. However, he decided to lie there for a few more minutes, since lying flat and doing nothing at all was always the life he had long dreamed of back on Earth. No worries about mundane affairs such as food, clothing, shelter, or transportation.

He felt carefree since everything was fine now except for the small pain in his body. However, after just a while, his stomach started rumbling like hell.

‘Damn it, my body always controls my soul. To be free, I have to be free from my body first. Anyway, I’ve got to find something to eat now.’ Tolly whispered.

His eyes started to work and were busy searching for some food around. Apparently, the leaves seemed to be the only food he could get to fight his hunger.

“Oh, no!” he groaned, “I don’t want to eat leaves. It surely tastes bad!”

Luckily, when his eyes fell on the middle part of the tree top, he spotted something shedding a golden light.

“What in the world is that?” he whispered, “Could it be the fruit of the tree?”

He somehow mustered up all his strength to sit up, struggling to the middle of the tree top. When he got closer, he finally had a close look at the thing. It was the fruit of the tree indeed. And odd enough, it looked like a cauldron with three legs.

‘That’s funny! It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a fruit that grows in such a strange shape! What the hell is it?’ Tolly pondered.

With a rumble, his stomach had another protest. Without any further hesitation, Tolly quickly picked it up and threw it into his mouth. Yet, before he was able to chew it, it immediately melted in his mouth, turning itself into a stream of vital energy that quickly circulated inside his body.

‘Sally is right. Ki, the vital energy, is the best food for us. I feel much more reinvigorated and I’m not that hungry now!’

A short while later, he stretched himself, finding that he was fully recovered. All the aches in his body had already gone. He felt he was much stronger and more energetic than before.

“What on earth is it? Why can it have such a positive effect on me?” Tolly asked himself.

To his further amazement, he felt like he could fly. He got lighter and lighter, finding to his surprise that he could even control his own weight to go against the gravity law.

Simply with a flick of his toes, he was able to fly upwards as high as several dozen feet. It looked as if he had had springs inside his feet. He was in the middle of the air for a short while before he landed gently on the top of the tree again.

“Wow, how amazing!” Tolly exclaimed, “with a little practice, I guess I’ll be able to float as freely as a feather.”

While lost in his mind, a golden light suddenly flashed. It didn’t go unnoticed by Tolly. He quickly discovered a tattoo of a three-legged cauldron flashing on his wrist.

“The ‘Universe Golden Cauldron’ account has been successfully bound to you. The relevant abilities shall be automatically unlocked if the necessary conditions are fulfilled.”

A lovely and playful voice of a little girl suddenly echoed in his mind, scaring the crap out of him.

“What’s that? Universe Golden Cauldron?” Tolly asked, utterly startled, “And who’s speaking? What a sweet voice!”

“Thank you for your compliment, the owner of Universe Golden Cauldron! Nice to meet you, I’m the guide of the Universe Golden Cauldron System. You can call me Ding-ding. I don’t have much time to talk to you, so please hurry up and ask me some more important questions.” The sweet silver-toned voice replied politely.

“Okay, Ding-ding! Can you tell me how to fulfill the necessary conditions to unlock more abilities?” Tolly asked urgently.

“Well, just absorb more vital energy and break through to a new level of your cultivation. Don’t worry, Universe Golden Cauldron will help you to speed up your cultivation. You will soon know it.”

“How soon?” Tolly asked again.

“Very soon!” Ding-ding burst into a fit of laughter, and then continued, “Be patient, the owner of Universe Golden Cauldron.”

“All right, then, Ding-ding. What am I supposed to do now?” Tolly asked again.

“Well, live what you live. Nothing else!”

“You mean all I have to do is let my fate run its natural course?” Tolly tried to render his words correctly.

“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry, my time is up now. I’ve got to fall into a long sleep. If possible, don’t disturb me. See you around.”

As her voice died away, a puff of smoke went into the tattoo on his wrist and disappeared.

“W-w-wait, Ding-ding. I’ve got one more important question. How can I get back to my house high up there? You know, the cliff is too high…”

No matter how hard he tried, that sweet silver-toned voice did not come out.