Chapter 149 - A Visit From Lord White

Across the river from the Lapis Lantern, Alchemist Ma Xiaohua sat on a bench among the plants of her herb garden while she waited for the visitor she knew would be coming tonight. While she disliked the practice of placing medicinal compounds in someone's food that they weren't aware of, she'd mixed in wilted Sleeping Ragweed leaves in the stirfry that she'd served to her young apprentice for dinner. The young man shouldn't come in touch with the darkness of their profession until he'd progressed to Alchemy Novice at the earliest. Even then, she sincerely hoped that he never had to interact with anyone like the man who had trapped her in this shadowed world. 

"That's a particularly dark expression my little caged bird," a cold voice said, breaking Alchemist Ma out of her thoughts. 

"Lord White," she said, instantly sliding off the bench to kneel with her head pressed into the soft dirt of her garden. "I was considering matters of my apprentice, it's nothing Lord White need concern himself with," she said, hoping that he didn't misinterpret her sour mood.

"Hmmm, apprentices and underlings are a constant cause for worry," the white-haired, pale-faced man said in agreement. "You may be my property Ma Xiaohua, but you aren't a member of our order," he continued. "Stand and raise your head. Let me look into your eye while I speak with you," he added, a dark smile tugging at the corners of his dusky blue lips.

"As you command Lord White," Ma Xiaohua said, standing to look at the elegantly dressed gentleman standing next to one of the most toxic plants in her garden without the slightest hint of fear in his dark eyes. Dressed in elaborately embroidered white and silver robes, the combination of his gleaming white skin and bone-white hair made it feel like her garden had been visited by a specter rather than a living cultivator and his complete disregard for the dangers of her garden only furthered the feeling that he was unaffected and unconcerned by matters of the world of the living. "You came to ask about the Alchemy Novice, Ao Wen?" Alchemist Ma asked. 

"Perhaps," Lord White said, stepping up close enough to Ma Xiaohua to reach out with his hand and trace the brow over her eyepatch. Darkness spilled from the center of his eyes, flowing into the whites of his eyes like ink dripped into clear water, swirling about until his eyes had become orbs of pure darkness. "Is my gift causing you any pain," he asked, "or impeding your work in any way?"

"I am slower than I was before," Alchemist Ma said, trembling beneath his touch and not daring to tell any falsehoods while his black eyes gazed at her. "But the purity of my concoctions haven't suffered and I am as effective as I once was." 

"That's good then," the black-eyed man said calmly, lowering his thumb from her brow to press directly on the soft eyepatch and the sensitive eye beneath it. "Now tell me about this Alchemy Novice. Did he pass your assessment?"

"Y-yes Lord White," she managed to answer despite the discomfort that accompanied the man's touch. "His skills in concoction exceed those of any Novice I've ever met and he is as knowledgeable as an Independent Alchemist in almost every area of Alchemy that we discussed. Since Lord White doesn't require the concoction of a pill, his abilities should meet your needs," she said with confidence. 

"What about the other test?" Lord White asked, applying greater pressure to the alchemist's eye until her knees became weak and her body tried to evade the source of pain whether she instructed it to or not. "If he isn't suitable for the manual then it doesn't matter if he can concoct as well as you can or not."

"He passed Lord White," she said through teeth clenched in pain. "He ate the Ghost Wailing Radish without any discomfort at all. If I had to guess, he must have killed dozens or even hundreds of innocents to eat as many pieces of radish as he did and to be able to enjoy its flavor," she explained. "He also asked several questions about cultivating darkness using the sap, pitch and other components of the Darkwood tree. He should succeed where I failed."

"So he made the deliberate decision to spill innocent blood," the white-haired man said, releasing Ma Xiaohua's head and allowing the darkness in his eyes to withdraw back into his dark irises, restoring their normal appearance. "I should have known that forcing you to kill people when you were unwilling wouldn't be enough to unlock the manual for you. Did you give him permission to practice Alchemy in Lantern City without interference?" 

"Yes Lord White," Ma Xiaohua said, pressing a hand over her eyepatch and trying to dispel the lingering pain of his touch. "I told him that I would look the other way as long as there were no complaints and that I wouldn't recommend his services to anyone. He's skilled in treating poisons, cultivation deviation, and a number of other ailments that would normally require the use of pills without resorting to pills. He shared a technique with me to purge poison from the body using alchemy flames but it will take me at least a year to master the basics of the technique, much less attain his level of proficiency with it." 

"Interesting," Lord White said, stroking his hairless jaw with a slender finger tipped by a long silver painted nail. "I will send you a list of the Severed Shadows who have suffered blocks in their cultivation or venomous injuries. You mark the ones you think this Novice can treat successfully and I'll begin sending them to seek him out. If he's able to treat more than a few of them, I'll make arrangements to meet with him. Rejoice my little caged bird," he said with a dark smile. "The day you regain your sight might not be far off."

"Thank you, Lord White," Ma Xiaohua said, cupping her hands and bowing deeply. "I promise to do whatever I can to aid your efforts while you evaluate Novice Ao. There is something else that occurs to me Lord White," she added after a moment of consideration. 

"Speak. A Scholar's mind often produces insights that are valuable even if they weren't sought out," he said. 

"Novice Ao is recovering from a cultivation regression. He was previously a middle-stage Novice preparing for the Independent Alchemist exam. He expects to recover his cultivation soon and to take the exam by this time next year," she explained. "To do that, he will have to spend significant amounts of spirit crystals on concoctions that will fail as he progresses his studies. If Lord White's subordinates approach with generous offers for his services, he may overlook their questionable backgrounds. I can also discount any herbs he requires to treat your subordinates on the condition that he allows me to observe his techniques," she offered. "That will allow me to provide you with a better assessment of his capabilities."

"This is why I like you Alchemist Ma," Lord White said, reaching into a pouch and pulling out a small bag. "We'll do as you suggest. Expect one of my men to deliver a list by midday tomorrow. I'll expect your response within a day," he said, tossing the small bag at her feet. 

"Thank you, Lord White," she said, kneeling once again and pressing her forehead to the ground. "It will be done as you instruct."

By the time Alchemist Ma was willing to stand, the white-robed man had vanished, leaving behind not so much as a footprint in the soft soil of her garden. If not for the small bag that she clutched tightly, there would be no evidence that the man had ever been here.