"How does it look? Do you think the new palace is beautiful?"
Bai Fanxian was wearing a crisp robe and beaming with unmistakable pride. She stood before a gleaming white building constructed almost entirely of Snow Jade — a comfortable refuge even in the height of summer, the air around it cool and pleasant at all times.
"Beautiful enough, I suppose, my lady."
Behind Bai Fanxian stood a girl in servant's attire. Even so, every person who walked past her stopped and bowed their heads in respect, for they all knew that the uniform was merely a stubborn habit of hers she had never managed to shake.
Her standing in the Palace was second to only one.
"But if you hadn't blown up the old palace, it would've been even better..."
The girl muttered with a pout, which made Bai Fanxian cough and offer a dry smile in return.
"You promised not to bring that up again, didn't you, Hui'er?"
Bai Fanxian drew the girl in closer. The gap in their heights was considerable. The girl puffed her cheeks in displeasure, yet she couldn't stop the worry from showing through.
"...It's really all right now, isn't it, my lady?"
Feeling the warmth of the girl's palm, Bai Fanxian smiled faintly. She raised her other hand and circulated her qi until violet flames bloomed across it.
"Ah... the effects of the medicine are stabilizing. I don't think it'll explode again."
Bai Fanxian exhaled. This was yet another occasion where her alchemy had caused a grand spectacle. The Grade-8 medicine she had refined and swallowed to test it had proved far more potent than anticipated. Violet flames had spread outward in every direction with her at the center, and eventually burned the old palace to the ground.
Fortunately, no one had been injured. It was the middle of the night, and very few disciples were inside the hall at that hour.
But before the two of them could continue their conversation, the nearest disciple went wide-eyed. She pointed frantically at the Snow Jade palace that had only just been completed and cried out:
"My lady! The fire is spreading again!"
At her words, everything erupted into chaos once more. The violet flames from before had evidently kicked a spark onto one section of the balustrade, which was now burning. Both Bai Fanxian and Hui'er went pale as they rushed in, fighting to extinguish the flames as they grew more intense by the second.
"You said Snow Jade doesn't catch fire!"
Hui'er was shouting even as she snapped her hand forward. Vivid red flames appeared and ringed the violet fire, working to contain it and prevent it from spreading further. The intensity of the two fires clashing made even the Sage-level disciples in the vicinity go pale.
"...It shouldn't, should it?"
Bai Fanxian scratched her head with an uncertain look, though both her hands were already busy channeling qi into the flames to dissolve them. The medicine seemed to have pushed her power up another level, almost to the point of uncontrollability. Disciples who had caught sight of the commotion came running over to watch, and nearly ten minutes passed before everything was finally brought under control.
"Hah... hah... what are we going to do about these burn marks, my lady?"
Hui'er, breathing hard, stared at the faint black scorch marks along one section of the balustrade. Fortunately they had managed to contain it in time. The Snow Jade used in the construction was damaged, but not shattered.
"Should I call in craftsmen to repair it?"
"Hmm..."
Bai Fanxian set her chin in her hand and ran the numbers in her head. After a moment, she let out a helpless dry laugh.
Building the entire hall out of Snow Jade had already consumed a substantial portion of her personal fortune. The last thing she wanted was to draw on the Palace's funds for something like this.
Even if no one would dare say a word about it.
"Let's just leave it as it is..."
Bai Fanxian walked over and ran her fingers lightly across the damaged section. It wasn't dramatic or obvious. If no one pointed it out, it would go unnoticed entirely.
When she'd squeezed enough out of her alchemy clients, she'd have it repaired then...
That was what she had once thought to herself.
But in the end, she forgot all about it — until ten thousand years had passed.
.
.
.
Bai Fanxian breathed in slowly. The memories she had let go of long ago came rushing back. She looked back at the little Hui'er walking close behind her — so small, so different from the girl in those memories — and reached out to run her hand gently over the child's head.
"Is something wrong, my lady?"
Hui'er didn't understand the sudden gesture, but she didn't mind in the least. Whenever her lady patted her head, it was always the happiest moment of her day.
"Nothing... I just want to take a look at the front of the hall."
Bai Fanxian slipped away with Hui'er while everyone's attention was on the treasures. With each step she took deeper into the compound, the memories grew sharper and more vivid.
"..."
She came to a stop at the balustrade. Still as white and pristine as it had always been.
And there — at that corner —
The faint black scorch mark was still there.
If this were a replica built to imitate the original, no craftsman could ever have replicated this small, inconspicuous mark!
Which meant this was her Palace from the human world.
And it had somehow been brought here.
How!?
While Bai Fanxian was still turning this over in her mind, the heavy doors of the white hall slowly opened. A middle-aged woman of remarkable elegance and warmth emerged, leaning on a walking stick as she moved with careful, measured steps. The moment her eyes met Bai Fanxian's, they went wide before she could stop them.
For her part, Bai Fanxian was studying the woman with equal surprise.
The woman's body was in a sorry state — her qi scattered in every direction, impossible to rein in — as though she had sustained serious injuries not long ago.
But what truly caught Bai Fanxian's attention was the powerful scent of alchemy that radiated from the woman. Only an alchemist of the very highest order could carry a scent like that.
Could she be...
"Empress!"
At that moment, the figures of Mu Xia and Su Lin came rushing in from behind Bai Fanxian. The two of them shot past her and went straight to support the middle-aged woman, their faces tight with concern.
"You haven't recovered yet, have you?"
Seeing the worry written on the girl's face, the middle-aged woman smiled warmly and replied with an easy manner:
"I'm fine... I only came out because I heard a commotion."
As she finished speaking, her gaze drifted toward the mountain of treasures piled in the courtyard. Rare ingredients, high-grade medicines, in quantities that looked as though someone had emptied a major faction's entire treasury into one place.
"Su Lin... those treasures...?"
"The Battlefield Heroine gave them to us!"
It was Mu Xia who answered, beaming with pride as though it were her own accomplishment. At those words, the middle-aged woman turned her gaze back to Bai Fanxian. This time, something deep moved in her eyes. She studied Bai Fanxian's face without looking away, then gave a single nod.
"Thank you, truly, for your generosity... I don't know how we could ever repay you."
"..."
Bai Fanxian already knew who this woman was.
She had to be the one they called the "Alchemy Empress" of the Myriad Demon World!
Bai Fanxian had not yet had a chance to respond when the woman spoke again, this time to Mu Xia and Su Lin:
"If the two of you would... help me to the Forbidden Palace."
"Why do you want to go there?"
Though the question left their lips, both girls obeyed without hesitation. They slowly guided the unsteady figure forward, step by careful step.
"Battlefield Heroine... would you come with me as well?"
Before leaving, the middle-aged woman turned and made a quiet, courteous request to Bai Fanxian. From the start, Bai Fanxian had clearly been the entire purpose of this. If she declined, there would be little point in going at all.
"Hmm..."
Taking the absence of a refusal as agreement, all five of them — including Hui'er, who never strayed far from Bai Fanxian's side — passed through the Snow Jade palace toward the area beyond. Bai Fanxian swept her gaze around the vast main hall, where medicines and herbs had once been stocked in abundance for customers who traveled from near and far. Her expression grew quietly somber.
Because now, not a single medicine remained.
Nothing but empty medicine cabinets, neatly arranged and clean.
The trading section alone spanned several floors. But if the ground floor already stood empty like this, there was little point in checking the ones above.
It seemed the rumors that the Goddess Alchemy Palace was nearing its end were true after all.
Beyond the main hall, a corridor opened into the back garden. Bai Fanxian breathed in softly, letting the familiar scents wash over her as she took in the herbs planted in well-ordered rows on both sides of the path. Not a single one was missing.
Just as the girl had said. Whatever else the Palace lacked, the back herb garden was the heart of it. And so it had been kept. Even the herbs growing here were high-grade. It might well be the last treasure the Goddess Alchemy Palace still held.
At the end of the path stood a long white wall enclosing a certain building — sealing it off in a way that left it feeling hidden and secretive. Even Bai Fanxian found herself frowning.
Not from displeasure.
But because she had never seen this building before!
'Built afterward?'
The thought came to her with quiet puzzlement. Everything about the Goddess Alchemy Palace was exactly as she remembered — everything, except the structure now standing before her.
"If the rest of you would wait here...?"
The middle-aged woman turned and asked the three children to stay behind. Even Hui'er was kept outside. Only Bai Fanxian walked through the gate with her.
Inside, it was not a grand or imposing place. It looked more like an ordinary house built in the middle of a well-tended garden, with a wooden veranda extending to one side. Bai Fanxian walked slowly through the small garden and in through the door of the house, and the moment she stepped inside, she stopped.
Because hanging at the center of the room was a large portrait of her.
It was a painting of Bai Fanxian — radiant with power and authority, with a presence so commanding that simply looking at it made you forget to breathe. But the subject of the portrait felt strangely unsettled by what she saw. Bai Fanxian walked forward and stopped before the image of herself, then slowly raised her right hand.
The Alchemy Empress, watching from one side, made no move to intervene. She only stood in silence, her gaze shifting back and forth between the woman in the portrait and the woman standing before her.
Until, with the lightest of touches, Bai Fanxian's fingertip made contact with the painting...
Thoom!!
And a massive explosion tore the house apart — and left nothing standing.