Almost reverently, he reached out to pull out the glowing fruit, the runes still orbiting around it fuzzing and reforming at the contact. “Heavens above… an actual, real Eightfold Yang Golden Dragonfruit!” His grin turned positively wicked. “Ha! They thought that I’d never make it, but this’ll show them! Truly heaven favors the persistent!” His gaze settled back on her, and all of a sudden Lily felt unnerved. “Well well well… I’m sorry, girl, but this negotiation has changed.”
“What?” She tried to keep the edge out of her voice, but a slight bit of her unease invaded it regardless. “What do you mean by changed?” Her hand slowly started to reach towards the pocket of her coat holding her talismans—
And froze as she went almost cross-eyed down the barrel of a gun.
“None of that now.” The alchemist placed the fruit gently on his desk, holding for all the world so nonchalantly a monstrous looking pistol straight towards her. “This doesn’t have to turn dirty… and trust me, if you try anything, it will be dirty. This here pistol is stuffed with enough power to make even a late-Opening cultivator think twice, so don’t get any ideas.”
She gulped, knowing full well that her talisman wards wouldn’t stop a blow like that from such short range. “You can’t—” his finger twitched towards the trigger, and she stuttered, eyes widening ever so slightly— “what about the—”
“Police?” The man sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. “Really, girl, whatever heaven-defying luck you had to steal this in the first place, you clearly don't know what you’re playing with.” Did he think she stole the Eightfold Yang Golden Dragonfruit? It… made sense, actually, if you looked at the information without context. “Who are you? Some nobody of a girl, probably not even from Old Saffron— told me yourself that you weren’t here backed by anyone. I’m an esteemed alchemist of the Twin Pines Clan. Who do you think they will believe?” There was a cruel logic to his words. “Now… I’m kind enough to let you live. Leo, take her outside.” A hand clamped down on her arm like a vice, and no matter how much she struggled, she was hauled inexorably backwards, back up through the stairs and rooms containing more wealth than she could imagine and— the door slammed open, and she was tossed bodily to the street.
It slammed shut again, and she was left there— quiet for a moment, eyes wide, almost too shocked to believe that’d really happened. Then she cursed, punching the street hard enough to make her fist sting. How could she have been so dumb? She’d walked straight into that, and now… her treasure was gone. Their hope was gone.
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Despondently, she picked herself up, wandering down the street for a listless long moment. It just felt… unreal. He’d really been so bold as to just… point a gun at her and take it. Bitterly, she chuckled to herself— it seemed like the privilege of wealth was a little more obvious in Old Saffron than she’d been led to believe.
She paused in front of the shrine, staring at its gentle architecture and swooping pavilion eaves, and… a sudden rage came over her. They had all this, all this— riches and wealth and comfort beyond anything anyone, even the Councillor had, and they still had to take hers? She pulled her fist back to punch the offending thing, then sighed, dropping it to her side with a shudder. It was no use. Vandalizing a local shrine wouldn’t help.
No, no… she was a cultivator. Or a soon to be cultivator. She couldn’t let herself just get trod on like this— she needed to do something. Anything. Seized with a frantic energy, she stepped forward— then paused again, cursing as she realized she had no idea what to do. Fancy formations or not, she was pretty sure nothing she could make with the ink she had on her would be capable of withstanding an attack from an mid-Opening level gun. Sure, it wasn’t as horribly, brokenly overpowered as Ruqian’s anti-being-alive rifle, but she didn’t have a whole qi gathering array and several days worth of stored qi either. She just… didn’t know what to do.
Maybe though, she knew someone who did.
Quickly, she set off jogging further down the street until she arrived at the payphone she’d seen earlier. Before she could rethink herself, she grabbed the phone, shoved a coin into the slot, and dialed up a number she had only half-remembered— standing there nervously as she waited for a response. Surely, surely she had the right number…
“Hello?” A surly woman’s voice rang out from the phone, rendered tinny through speakers that were probably at least twenty years old. “This is Chief Librarian Li Lexi, you’ve reached the 32nd Library of East Saffron City, how can I help you?”
She almost laughed with relief. “Can I speak with Master Mingtian?”
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