Interlude: The fury of the wind an the guilt of the flame

Teng Hu watched as his friend walked out of the room. Once he was gone, Hu dropped his smile as rage flashed across his eyes and the air in the surroundings responded to his emotions. A powerful wind ripped out into the room. It was only thanks to the several Earth-Grade formations that his family installed that the room was not ripped apart from the strength of a rage-fuelled Qi ascension realm expert.

"Old Wu"

At his words, there was no reaction but a subtle change and a sudden presence in the raging tempest in the room.

"This servant is here, young master?" a voice whispered out in the wind currents yet no form was visible.

"I want all the information that the Teng family can find on who attacked Yang. And I want that bastard to suffer"

"What if it is someone from the Royal family or one of the other Wu Xing sects?"

"…..Do I need to repeat myself?"

"….No young master. I will get it done"

Just as quietly it appeared, the presence disappeared as the young master of the Teng family stewed in his rage.

How dare they mess with the benefactor of the Teng family? And most importantly, his best friend since childhood?

Teng Hu will do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of this.

But his thoughts were disturbed when a knock resounded on the door.

Teng Hu forcefully suppressed his Qi and rage as he deactivated the security formation on the door, allowing the person to walk inside.

But just as he spotted the visitor, his rage spiked again as the visitor wore a fake smile.

"Feng Kongbai, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Do I need a reason to visit an old friend?"

"Old friend? You stopped being my friend when you helped Xiuying escape the city. Even going as far as conspiring with my father to keep me out of the loop and obstructing the Volcanic guards by hiring the goons from the Mercenary guild to attack them. You never cared about our friendship. Because if you did, you would at least have the decency to face me personally after helping her escape instead of forcing me to learn about the matter from my personal servant"

As Teng Hu continued to speak, the smile slowly slipped from Feng Kongbai as he assumed a stoic look.

"….You know very well that I can't go against the orders of someone from the family of the patriarch of the Volcanic Flame sect-"

"Keep your lies to yourself. I know very well that you helped her because of what happened four years-"

"Teng Hu!"

At Feng Kongbai raised voice, Teng Hu stood up as his wind Qi erupted while Feng Kongbai released his own Fire Qi in a wave of fire that matched Hu's Wind. One side of the room was shaking due to a powerful tempest while the other side was drowned in a sea of fire.

As the two former friends glared at each other their Qi continued to rise until Fend Kongbai stopped abruptly, forcing Teng Hu to stop as well if he did not wish to kill the eldest son of the Feng family.

"...I see that you are quite emotional today, I will come back another time-"

"Did you know that Yang is looking for Thousand-year-old Lotus, Divine Jade, and the Qi core of a Wind Eagle? I wonder what kind of an elixir he can make with that particular set of ingredients?"

Feng Kongbai's eyes widened as his stoic façade finally gave way to naked horror.

While the ingredients were indeed expensive and rare they were excellent supplements for cultivation when individually used, so it would make sense if Huoshan Yang had asked for any one of them to help his cultivation in some way. But when all of those ingredients are asked for at the same time, only one use of them comes to mind.

The Volcanic Fury pill.

A powerful pill that can only be produced by the alchemists of the Volcanic Flame sect. When eaten, it gives its users a tremendous boost in power. In some cases, it even allows them to directly just over two major cultivation realms. But such miraculous pills will always have drawbacks.

In this particular case, the drawback is so terrifying that it is only used as a last resort by the members of the sect.

The pill gives a tremendous boost in power, but in exchange, it consumes most of the life force of their user, reducing their lifespan to mere months.

Teng Hu looked at the horror on Feng Kongbai's face and nodded with a grim face.

"I suspect that the sudden abandonment of his sister, the loss of his cultivation and the sudden turmoil in his sect, and the derision that he no doubt faces from his own juniors has driven Yang over the edge. I fear that he wishes to exact revenge on whoever is the cause of his current problems in any way possible. And judging by the amount of stuff he asked for me to acquire, I suspect he wishes to have multiple pills made which would reduce his life span to mere days if he were to use them consecutively"

"…..You cannot give him those ingredients. I will never be able to face Xiuying if I allowed her brother to die in her absence"

At his words, Teng Hu made a wry smile.

"Do you think I am an idiot? Of course, I am not going to let him get those ingredients. Or rather, I am only going to let him get one ingredient at a time, which will force him to use them up unless he wished for the Qi in them to disperse. I rather my friend did not commit suicide with that accursed pill"

With his part said, Teng Hu walked out of the room as Feng Kongbai sighed and walked out of the Merchant Alliance.

With this, there was no doubt that he had burned bridges with his old friend in his effort to help Xiuying.

"I really hope you can fulfill your promise, Xiuying. Because if you fail, I don't know how we will salvage this situation. Especially with my father and your father and brother"