Yoriichi let out a soft sigh. He relaxed his broad shoulders, the coiled, explosive kinetic energy bleeding out of his muscles. The crisis of the Tier 3 Alchemist's wrath had been averted.
"It is okay," Yoriichi said, his voice carrying the deep, soothing resonance of a calm river. He did not pull away from the alchemist's desperate gratitude, nor did he bask in it. "You do not need to grovel. Sit up."
Liu Xi slowly raised his head, his face a bruised canvas of dirt, dried blood, and fresh tears. He looked at Yoriichi with incredibly complicated eyes—a mixture of profound reverence, lingering terror, and a desperate need for guidance. The arrogant pedestal he had stood upon his entire life had been violently kicked out from under him, leaving him adrift.
"Brother," Liu Xi said, his voice firming up with a newfound, desperate resolve. "Tell me. What do I need to do? I swore I would do anything you asked."
Yoriichi effortlessly pushed himself up from his cross-legged position. He stood tall, his dark robes shifting in the midnight breeze. He tilted his head slightly, gazing up at the massive, luminous full moon hanging over Wu Tan City.
"I saved your life to protect my clan from the consequences of your death," Yoriichi stated bluntly, offering no false illusions of brotherhood. "But since I have pulled you back from the abyss, you now carry a debt to the heavens. You will repay it through three conditions."
Liu Xi swallowed hard, nodding vigorously. "Name them."
Yoriichi turned his crimson gaze back to the alchemist.
"First," Yoriichi commanded, his voice slow and absolute. "You will get out of this city immediately. You will pack whatever you have in the Jia Lie estate and vanish before the sun rises. You will never intervene in the clan politics of Wu Tan City again."
Liu Xi slowly nodded. It was a tactical retreat that made perfect sense, and frankly, after tonight's horrific events, he never wanted to step foot in this cursed border city ever again. "Understood. I will leave before dawn."
"Second," Yoriichi continued, his tone dropping an octave, becoming significantly heavier. "You will apologize to every single woman whose life you have humiliated, ruined, or destroyed. And you will compensate them heavily from your own spatial ring."
Liu Xi instantly froze.
The blood drained from his already pale face. For an esteemed alchemist—a profession that practically demanded people bow to them—to openly seek out commoners and branch-family servants, bow his head, and beg for their forgiveness... it was a humiliation worse than physical torture. It was the complete annihilation of his social standing and pride.
His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, struggling to find the words to negotiate.
But Yoriichi did not stop. He took a single step closer, his towering silhouette blocking the moonlight.
"Third," Yoriichi said, his crimson eyes piercing directly into the deepest, darkest corners of Liu Xi's soul. "Change your behavior. Try hard. Fight the vile impulses that led you to this courtyard tonight. Dedicate your mind to the true art of alchemy, not the pursuit of flesh. If you discipline your heart, you will see changes within yourself in a profoundly good way. You might actually become the master you always claimed to be."
Yoriichi paused, letting the heavy, philosophical words sink into the silent courtyard. Then, he leaned forward slightly, his voice dropping to a harsh, freezing whisper that only Liu Xi could hear.
"If not..." Yoriichi whispered, his eyes narrowing with a terrifying, absolute disappointment, "then that means tonight, I just wasted a priceless pill, and my own valuable time, on a good-for-nothing."
Liu Xi's eyes widened drastically. The words hit him harder than the Heavy Xuan Ruler could have.
It wasn't a threat of violence. It was a threat of utter, absolute worthlessness. Yoriichi wasn't saying he would hunt him down and kill him; he was saying that if Liu Xi failed to change, his existence would be completely meaningless—a cosmic waste of medicine and mercy.
To a man who had just experienced the hollow, terrifying void of death, the thought of his life genuinely meaning nothing was the ultimate horror.
Liu Xi tried to open his mouth, a desperate urge rising in his throat to reassure this mysterious savior that he wasn't a waste, that he could be better. But his voice failed him. The sheer gravity of his past sins choked the words back down.
He lowered his head, his fists clenching tightly in the grass.
A heavy, oppressive silence fell over the courtyard. A full minute ticked by, marked only by the rustling of the leaves in the night wind.
Inside Liu Xi's mind, a violent war was raging. The remnants of his pampered ego fought against the profound, terrifying clarity of his near-death experience. But every time his ego tried to surface, he remembered the horrific, suffocating pain of a golden flame, and the absolute, stoic mercy of this youth.
Finally, with a long, shuddering sigh, the war ended. The arrogant Alchemist died on the grass of Wu Tan City, and a broken, humble man took his place.
----------------------------------------------
Guys... 100 chapters... A Milestone... Such emotional 😭
Sigh... It's been 3 months since we started this journey and here we are🙂
Thanks for continuous support... More than 100 fans and 600k+ views☺️
Hope we continue like this and at a time be the biggest brand for BTTH fanfic😆😆
Pls atleast do a comment (anything) here who have been with me uptil now and will also😌
Hope u don't get annoyed telling u all this... I just cherish this bond u know how lonely people getting nowadays 🥲
Also last and most importantly, take care of ur mental and physical health. Ur well beingness is ur ultimate friend. Goodbye.. Sayonara 👋👋