Chapter 97 - Explosive Confrontation

"You black-hearted beast of a man!" Feng Lieren roared from his seat, struggling to stand with the aid of his cane. "I suffered for YEARS under the toxic care of your disciple until Wen'er rescued me and purged the toxins from my blood! Do you confess to ordering your disciple to poison me or are you so blind and incompetent in overseeing them that you didn't notice…" Feng Lieren broke off in a fit of coughing as he trembled in rage, his body unable to meet the demands of his surging energy. 

"My disciples wouldn't dare to deviate from my recipes by so much as a tenth of a gram!" the old goat shouted back. "Perhaps you truly were poisoned but to call my disciple guilty without proof or the examination of a senior alchemist is a mockery of our profession!" 

"This young lord was present when Mao Ailum identified the bottles of medicine as his own concoctions," Zhang Bai said loudly, standing to add his own testimony to the increasingly out-of-control confrontation. "He claimed to this young lord that his latest elixir was of superior quality and rushed it to Patriarch Feng before joining me in the mission to safeguard Fairies Ao and Feng in the Thundercloud forest. Conveniently, that left him outside of Turning Leaf when Patriarch Feng fell ill."

"It might have been his concoction but he did not administer it to Soldier Feng," the older alchemist insisted. "Anyone could have tampered with his concoctions after he delivered the medicine. You have no proof!" 

"Yet you claim to have proof that my medicines are a poison that will kill the common townsfolk?" Ao Wen finally spoke up, stepping forward to confront the blustering alchemist. "You accuse me of treating Lady Wan with a stolen elixir yet your own disciple Wu Lin served as my herb boy during the concoction. Fellow Novice Wu, you were present from the beginning of the refinement to the administration of the elixir and you testified to its grade as being not less than the highest of Pure grade if not Extraordinary. Did I steal anything for the treatment of Lady Wan?"

"Hold your tongue boy!" Wai Dan snapped, glaring daggers at his disciple. "A disciple may not testify against his Master! You will not speak!"

"You cannot silence him Alchemist Wai," Ju Tse spoke in a sharp and commanding tone from her seat at the high table. "He has not been asked to testify against you. He has been asked to testify on behalf of Alchemy Novice Ao Wen. You have accused her of a crime to which he is a witness, arguably the most impartial witness as he is neither a close associate of Alchemy Novice Ao nor a member of the Zhang family. Alchemy Novice Wu," she finished more gently. "Please tell the assembled people what happened that day."

"As fellow Novice Ao said," Wu Lin began, looking pained as he glanced between Ao Wen and Wai Dan before turning to face Ju Tse directly. "She developed a custom concoction to treat Lady Wan's cultivation deviation using several rare materials including the womb of the recently slain Rage Queen. I served as her herb boy for the entire concoction process and examined the result. My skills are lacking as I rarely encounter Extraordinary grade elixirs to be certain of its grade but it was certainly superior to almost any elixir I've personally seen much less any elixir I've ever concocted," he added, having no embarrassment about not measuring up to Ao Wen's standards. After hearing how she'd been trained and how she'd practiced her skills, he felt no shame in the differences in their achievements! "When she administered her elixir, Lady Wan broke through to Novice Scholar on the spot and additionally awakened as an early-stage Brawler."

Several people in the hall muttered in surprise. They knew that Ao Wen had helped Wan Yue break through to Novice but what was this about becoming a Brawler as well? Were her elixirs so exaggerated? 

"Whether she concocted the elixir or not doesn't matter," Wai Dan said, shifting the focus of his relentless verbal assault. "The fact remains that she not only failed to register herself with the Alchemy Consortium, she has yet to pass the Independent Alchemist exam! She is not permitted to concoct without the supervision of a real alchemist. This appointment as a 'Guest Alchemist' of the Zhang family is a sham intended to flaunt the rules of the Alchemy Consortium by conferring the status of Alchemist on someone who doesn't meet the standard. Any medicine or elixir she concocted without proper supervision is to be destroyed as a mater of course as they cannot be trusted to be fit for consumption!"

"Answer me something Alchemist Wai," Ao Wen said, not retreating as much as a centimeter from the shorter man's furious gaze. "When an alchemist from one of the large sects completes their exams within the sect, does your Alchemy Consortium recognize their sect given alchemy badge or do you require them to take your own exams?"

"Of course we recognize the badges granted by any sect who holds the same or greater standards as the Alchemy Consortium," Wan Dai said with a sneer. "But only the large sects keep acceptable standards. Smaller sects send their alchemists to take our exams."

"Fellow Novice Wu," Ao Wen said with a smile. "We've discussed the matter of exams at some length these past several days. How do the standards held by my Sacred Flame Celestial Temple match up to the standards of your Alchemy Consortium?"

Wu Lin shook his head ruefully. "I'm embarrassed to say that I wouldn't have passed the Alchemy Novice exam administered by your honored sect," he said, his voice loud and clear despite his lowered head. Looking up, he stared directly at his master before he continued. "To be truthful, these past several days as I served as herb boy to fellow Novice Ao, she's been tutoring me in knowledge that is part of the Independent Alchemist exam which was required for her as part of the Alchemy Novice exam. Some elements of her novice exam aren't even part of our Independent Alchemist Exam, she was tested on custom concoction for cultivation deviation that is normally part of the Master Alchemist exam. Master Wai might have struggled to pass her exams without sufficient preparation," he concluded. 

"There you have it," Ao Wen said, challenge glinting in her eyes as she returned her gaze from Wu Lin to Alchemist Wai Dan. "Outside of the matter of concocting pills, there is nothing in your Independent Alchemist exam that I could not pass. Still, if you insist, you may challenge the standards of my Sacred Flame Celestial Temple," she said with a dark smile. "I will not retreat from a concoction challenge."

"I've never heard of this mythic sect nor do I acknowledge it's standards!" the old goat barked. "If it's a concoction challenge between us, then so be it!" 

"So be it," Ao Wen said, slightly surprised that the old man would push so far but unwilling to be pushed around by yet another old man in this small town. "My integrity has been questioned along with my capabilities but none have died for any matter before us. Since you have challenged my Sacred Flame Celestial Temple's alchemy standards then I will meet you on the platform of honor," she spoke formally, adopting the stature and mannerisms of Cong Daiyu. "I restrict the field of champions to the first stage as blood may be shed today but no lives should be claimed. This Celestial Fairy calls for three champions of the first-stage to fight and defend her concoction! Who will stand for me?" Ao Wen shouted, looking at the young cultivators gathered around the hall. 

"This Zhang will stand for you!" Zhang Bai said, stepping forward to voice his support. He didn't know what exactly Ao Wen meant when she said that blood would be shed and she needed champions but he wasn't about to stand aside when she needed support! 

"I will stand for you," Tao Juan said, stepping out from the furthest back row of tables where select common cultivators had been invited to attend. As one of the youths who accompanied Zhang Bai into the Thundercloud forest to search for Ao Wen and Feng Xi, he'd been invited along with all the others from his party. "I've already received the grace of one of Fairy Ao's acupuncture treatments and my energy flows better than before following her treatment. If she needs my skills tonight, she has but to ask!" 

"I will also stand for her," the deep rumbling voice of Chen Xiong called out as the bear of a man stood next to Tao Juan. "I have yet to finish gathering the ingredients Alchemist Ao requested of me to enhance my bloodline but all she asked for her concoction service was that I buy a beast core from Soldier Tang at a fair price. I cannot stand idly by while people challenge her integrity and capabilities."

"There you have it Alchemist Wai," Ao Wen said with a predatory gleam in her eyes more fitting of Jun Biyu than Cong Daiyu. "I have accepted your challenge and named my champions. Select your champions and your recipe for the challenge and I will select a recipe of my own. I hope for your sake that you don't disappoint me like the last idiot did," she said with a murderous glare at Aesthete Qing. 

Alchemist Wai Dan on the other hand stood there dumbfounded. Champions? Bloodshed? What kind of challenge between alchemists was this mad woman ranting about? Glancing at Long Ma he saw nothing but confusion but looking at Lady Ju Tse and City Lord Zhang he saw only fierce approval in their eyes as they gazed at Ao Wen. Just what was happening here?