The five people were about to capture him when Ge Zheng suddenly kicked the ground, leaving a hoof-sized dent in the stone-paved street, displaying a powerful momentum akin to that of a cannon. From the recoil alone, one could discern the might of this "cannon." Starting from the soles of his feet, Ge engaged in a series of movements that involved the legs and waist, channeling his entire force into this punch. Although it was not the orthodox "advancing and blocking hammer," the intent of the fist was undoubtedly that of the Tai Chi cannon punch.
Blinking, Ge Zheng sent out two punches, flowing with internal breath, having already mobilized the most powerful force during the "inner vision" phase.
The two punches sent two opponents flying, and taking advantage of everyone's momentary bewilderment, he exclaimed, "Hold on! Why are you trying to capture me?" Ge Zheng knew that these five people were just minions, and even if he knocked them all down, he wouldn't be able to break through. Relying on the power of the Tai Chi cannon punches, he might look fierce and invincible, but that was already his limit. If the other party sent a professional above level six, they could withstand a punch, and Ge Zheng's true abilities would be exposed. Furthermore, he had already invested all his capital in the mountainous city, and even if he broke through, his remaining ten or so gold coins would not be enough to earn a considerable amount for materials.
"Why?" Lord Stak angrily exclaimed, "Just look at what you've done to my Shanshan City!"
The commoners peered nervously through the cracks in the door, the merchants packed up their goods, the clothing of the city's defensive soldiers on the walls was disheveled and unkempt, the officials inside the city were terrified, and even the city lord's personal bodyguards and cavalry were deployed. Even Lord Stak, the city lord himself, donned battle armor.
Ge Zheng smiled wryly to himself: "I didn't intend for it to turn out like this. It was just fireworks to celebrate the grand opening, who knew it would cause such a fuss."
But in this world, the city lord had the power of life and death, and as long as he wished, he could even claim the virginity of the girls in his territory. Reasoning with such a dictator was clearly pointless. However, it was precisely because of this kind of autocratic rule that if Ge Zheng wanted to clear his name, it would only take a word from the city lord.
If he wanted the city lord's favor, there were only two ways: first, pay a sufficient amount of gold coins, or second, find a way to impress the city lord and show him the value of being a useful person.
Ge Zheng had already spent most of his gold coins, and the remaining ten or so might not be enough to impress Lord Stak of Shanshan City. So, the only way was to make him recognize his worth. With a stroke of inspiration, Ge Zheng hurriedly said, "Respected Count, I can make amends for my actions!"
Lord Stak took note of the certification badge on his clothes, and his tone softened slightly, "Oh, what can you do to make amends?" "I can improve the collection of city entrance taxes." When Ge entered the city, the soldier at the gate only charged him one gold coin and let him in, without depositing the coin into the tax collection box. At that time, Ge realized that he could improve this system, and now it had unexpectedly become a way to save himself.
Lord Stak was intrigued, and the city defense soldiers on the wall were in an uproar. If Ge Zheng had really improved the tax collection box, they might lose out on potential gains.
"Good, I will give you one day for that. Captain Kerry, you take twenty soldiers to guard here." Lord Stak issued the order before riding his horse back to the city lord's mansion, saying, "Alchemist, I hope you don't disappoint me, otherwise, I will have your head chopped off."
Lord Stak, too, was in awe of the two punches from Ge Zheng, as someone capable of knocking out a level four warrior with one punch was at least a level seven military general. The highest-ranking warrior under the city lord was the city defense captain, Bastar, who was only a level six warrior and probably couldn't match Ge Zheng. With Ge Zheng's disturbance within the city, causing chaos, lordly pride had been tarnished.
Since Ge Zheng was willing to make amends, Lord Stak took this as an opportunity. Even his remarks about "having your head chopped off" weren't taken seriously, as he couldn't bring himself to behead a level six professional, even if Ge Zheng failed to improve the tax box, given the level of capabilities as an alchemist.
Captain Kerry and twenty soldiers remained, but Ge Zheng's two punches had left a deep impression on them. These people weren't part of the city defense system, and were deeply respectful of Ge Zheng's skills, as per the norms of the Star Refining World. Captain Kerry, being a level five warrior, considered the entire incident with deep insight. He had witnessed the lord's approach and admired it. Ge Zheng's clarity in capitulation and Lord Stak's understanding of the situation. If the lord continued to fight, the casualties would be heavy, so letting Ge mitigate his actions was a wise choice.
Improving the tax collection box was a simple task for Ge Zheng. When he closed the gates that evening, four tax collection boxes were transported to his shop outside the city. All he had to do was add an illusion magic to them. However, the people who built the four boxes were obviously not very skilled. They could only seal one magic formation on an item, and were not familiar with the technique of overlapping seals. They had added a magical lock to the box, which prevented them from adding any other functions to it.
Ge Zheng listed out the requirements, and Captain Kerry, overnight, managed to obtain them from the lord's warehouse. Illusion magic was not complicated, but the key was in the technique of overlapping seal magic. Two magical crystals were arranged in an illusion magic formation, and Ge Zheng used a complex synthesis equation to seal this illusion magic on the box without conflicting with the previous magical lock.
The four tax boxes were all completely transformed overnight and were returned to the city gate by the next morning. Lord Stak made a round and saw that the four boxes had not changed, his face darkening: "Are these the improved tax boxes you promised?" Ge Zheng faced the city lord and spoke calmly: "You'll understand by tonight." Lord Stak suppressed his anger: "Alright, if I still can't see anything special about them tonight... my executioner has already sharpened his axe. Ride!" And he rode away.
The city defense soldiers were initially nervous and stared at the tax boxes as if they were monsters that could strike at any moment. However, as the day progressed, they failed to demonstrate any "terrifying" qualities. They began to wonder if the alchemist had fooled the city lord.
Eventually, one or two people couldn't resist saying: "This thing looks exactly the same as before, why are we afraid of it?" Encouraging each other, they began to secretly let people enter the city again.
After the first incident, the tax boxes didn't react, so their courage grew: "That alchemist must have deceived the city lord. This thing shows no response, how can it stop us from embezzling?" Word spread quickly, and soon all the soldiers at the four gates began to "get back to business".
At night, the city mansion's guards brought back the four tax boxes, along with the alchemist Ge Zheng. In the courtyard stood a row of executioners, with beards and powerful bodies, each carrying a massive, gleaming axe.
Ge Zheng found this arrangement contemptible. One executioner would have sufficed for a beheading. But a whole row, was it supposed to intimidate him?
"Alchemist, do you have anything to say?" Lord Stak had a large number of crossbowmen concealed around him as well. He knew Ge Zheng wouldn't be easy to deal with, but with so many crossbowmen, even if Ge Zheng was a level seven military general, a barrage of arrows could still turn him into a porcupine. His voice suddenly grew louder.
Ge Zheng made no effort to defend himself. Walking up to a tax box, he released an illusion magic. The box was covered in a series of virtual shadows, recording all the events of the entire day. Adjusting the speed of the playback, which was twice as fast as normal, made the movements of the people in the images appear comical but still discernible. He made it clear that the subsequent events were the city lord's concern, as he couldn't bear spending the night critically viewing the images.
"Your Lordship, do you understand now? Do you have any more matters to attend to? If not, I'd like to retire for the night." He stretched and yawned, "I didn't sleep a wink last night preparing these four tax boxes for you."
"A compound magic circle overlap!" a low whisper came from a well-informed alchemist behind Lord Stak.
Although Lord Stak was not an alchemist, he was hosting several alchemists at his residence, including a seventh-rank alchemist. Even he couldn't solve such a problem, yet Ge Zheng managed it! In an instant, Lord Stak realized that there was a genius within his Shanshan City. His attitude made a complete one-eighty, waving his hand to discreetly dismiss the executioner. With a hearty smile, Lord Stak said, "Thank you, Master. You've helped me a great deal. Captain Kerry, escort the Master back!"
Ge Zheng shook his head and said: "This is a balancing of merits and demerits, no need for thanks. If you have any needs in the future, you can come to the shop. The Ge family's alchemy store, honesty and trustworthiness!"
Ge Zheng turned and walked out, and Captain Kerry hurried to follow. Among the group of officials behind the city lord, a pair of piercing black-and-white eyes looked with great interest at Ge Zheng's retreating figure.
Early the next morning, there was chaos in the city defense camp, and those corrupt soldiers were brought out one by one by the guards of the city mansion. Each person received thirty military sticks and the military priests weren't allowed to heal the punished soldiers for a day. The camp was filled with their wails all day.
Ge Zheng's alchemy shop was bustling with business. Thanks to the fireworks and the four tax boxes, Ge Zheng's reputation soared. The first to patronize his small shop was none other than Captain Kerry from the city mansion's guards. He had eagerly bought all the goods, expecting them to increase in value in the future, and certainly willing to profit from it.
To Ge Zheng's surprise, his shop had only been open for two days, and the official business had only begun recently, yet all of his merchandise had been sold, fetching him seven hundred gold coins, a hefty sum indeed.
On the third day, Captain Kerry visited again, "Great Master, why don't your weapons have a badge?" Captain Kerry had bought Ge Zheng's weapons, not for personal use – at least he couldn't wield the double-sided battle axe that required a berserker's strength - but in the hope that these items would appreciate in value, allowing him to make a tidy profit. However, upon returning home, he realized that none of Ge Zheng's items had a badge. Without a badge, who would recognize these as Ge Zheng's creations in the future?
Ge Zheng was taken aback by the question, "A badge?" Old Hans came in from outside and said, "Let me explain. We alchemists and blacksmiths, each time we forge an item, we leave behind a unique mark, a badge that distinguishes our work from others'. This mark is unique to each creator and serves to identify the master behind the creation. As a renowned alchemist in Shanshan City, you should have your own badge by now."
Ge Zheng understood it, so it's just a "signature."
He thought for a moment, "Fine, you bring back the things, and I'll stamp it with the emblem and give it to you."
"What design do you want to use as your emblem?" Captain Carey and Old Hans were both curious. Ge Zheng chuckled and drew a circular pattern on the ground with his hand.
The two looked at the strange circle on the ground, with a curved line dividing the entire circle into two equal parts, a solid dot inside one half, and a hollow small circle inside the other half. "What is this?"
"This is the Chinese Tai Chi." Of course, this sentence was said in Ge Zheng's heart, not out loud. "This is the emblem of my family."
In the Stellar Refining World, families with emblems are all nobles, and when Ge Zheng casually mentioned this, he immediately noticed that the eyes of the two were somewhat different. "So the master comes from a prestigious family!" Captain Carey said solemnly. Ge Zheng was a little embarrassed and quickly changed the subject, "Captain Carey, hurry up and bring back those weapons."
The business at the alchemy store was good. Ge Zheng's sign "Top Notch" could be seen as soon as you entered the city gates. Plus, his entire glass curtain wall was eye-catching. Since the opening, it had been bustling. Over a hundred gold coins came in every day, and after just over ten days, he had earned over two thousand gold coins. In the city of Wangshan, this was considered a "high-income" class. However, when he thought about the astronomical cost of materials, Ge Zheng felt a little disheartened.
One day, a light horse-drawn carriage stopped at the front door. A well-dressed man got out of the carriage and walked around the store, coming to the counter. "Boss, can you customize items here?" Ge Zheng had noticed him early. Most of the visitors to the alchemy shop were adventurers—some on horseback, some riding magical beasts, and some arriving by carriage. After being in business for so long, this man was the first.
The carriage was not grand, but the horse was extraordinary. It seemed he was a servant from a wealthy family, most likely a servant from a noble family.
"Customization is possible, but the price will be twice as high." Ge Zheng said nonchalantly. The man nodded, "Money is not a problem," he said, taking out a scroll: "Can you create this?" "Alchemy formula!" Ge Zheng recognized the scroll at once and looked at the man with suspicion. The man quickly added, "I will provide all the required materials and pay you two hundred gold coins as compensation!" This offer was very generous, considering that the most expensive weapon in Ge Zheng's shop sold for only ninety gold coins.
"Let me take a look." He dared not guarantee, as deciphering formulas was a form of decryption. No one could guarantee they could understand every formula.
The scroll did not look ancient and was bound with a black cotton rope. Ge Zheng opened it, and a pattern was revealed.
A pear-shaped bottle containing a peacock, with the peacock's tail spread open in dazzling colors. Each feather held an item: a rainbow, flags, colorful stones. A rough count revealed over thirty different items! A small snake was coiled around the peacock's head, with many mysterious lines and notations on the image.
"How about it, can you do it?" The man inquired. Ge Zheng considered for a moment, "I need time." The man hesitated for a moment, "Alright, I'll give you a day, I'll come back at the same time tomorrow." He said, then turned to leave, but then hesitated and added, "Be careful, don't let anyone see it."
His cautious behavior almost made Ge Zheng think that he was also an alchemist. Watching the man leave, Ge Zheng looked down at the formula with a deep frown on his face.
Obviously, this was a synthesis formula. The entire alchemical process should start from the peacock's feathers and end with the little snake on top of its head. However, with so many raw materials, it was clearly impossible to use a pear-shaped bottle as the container. Therefore, the pear-shaped bottle should be a symbol, with another meaning.
But the strange thing about this alchemy formula is that the notations on it are contradictory, and they are written in different magical languages. Ge Zheng counted and found four different magical languages!
Late into the night, Ge Zheng was still studying the formula that had confounded him. The uneven sheepskin paper under the light cast a shadow that looked even more daunting. Ge Zheng rubbed his sore eyes and suddenly stopped moving. The alchemy formula swayed in the light, and Ge Zheng noticed something special.
He took out a sharp knife and gently scraped the peacock's tail, causing a layer of paint to fall off. Ge Zheng breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled, "So that's it..."
Every alchemy formula was the painstaking effort of an alchemist and underwent special treatment. Even if one layer was removed from the surface, the original pattern would still be revealed underneath. However, after scraping away some of the color from this alchemy formula, the layer underneath was empty!
The next day, the carriage appeared at the door as arranged. The man cautiously entered, "Boss, how is it? Are you confident?" Ge Zheng tossed the scroll to him, coldly saying, "What comes from somewhere, goes back there. This time, I won't argue with you." The man was taken aback, "What do you mean?" Ge Zheng could see that the man seemed genuinely confused, and he pitied him. "Were you deceived? Did the person who sold you this alchemy formula claim that it could turn ordinary metal into gold?" The man was once again taken aback, "What are you talking about?" Ge Zheng was puzzled. The man had come to him with a false formula, which could only mean two things: he was either looking for trouble, deliberately embarrassing himself, or he had been duped and believed that the fake formula was a treasure.
But neither seemed to be the case judging from the man's reaction. Ge Zheng then directly told him, "This formula is fake and cannot produce anything." "What?" The man was shocked, and upon unfolding the scroll, he saw that part of it was already scraped off by Ge Zheng. Panicked, he said, "You...you have ruined my formula, you owe me!" Ge Zheng laughed heartily and pushed him away, "You want to extort money from me? Fine, let's go to the Lord's Manor and ask the lord to judge between us."
Upon hearing about going to the Lord's Manor, the man immediately turned and walked away. "A fake is a fake, it's my bad luck..." Ge Zheng snorted and let him go.
Another day passed, and once again, at the same time, the sound of hooves was heard, and the carriage reappeared. Ge Zheng was getting annoyed—after already sparing him, he didn't know when to quit! He was planning to give the man a lesson, as he circulated his true energy, making his arms slightly tremble under his sleeves.
The man stood at the door, using his hands to shield his face, "Before you get angry, let me apologize for yesterday's incident." Saying that, he performed a standard noble salute. "I'm here to ask for advice this time."
Business goes hand in hand with friendliness, and Ge Zheng did not bear any grudges. He simply said, "Go ahead." The man recalled and fluently asked, "Master, the boiling point of insect fish jelly is very low, and it is easy to burn when heated. Is there a way to prevent burning?" Ge Zheng grunted. It wasn't that he was secretive, but he had no obligation to answer such technical questions from someone who was neither a friend nor a student.
The man, seeing that Ge Zheng had no intention to help for free, immediately handed over fifty gold coins post asking the question. Ge Zheng accepted the gold coins and said, "There are two methods. If you have reached the master level, you can control the flame temperature and prevent burning." Ge Zheng paused, and the man's forehead showed a few blue veins. If he were already a master, why would he come to Ge Zheng for advice?
"If you don't have that ability, there is a simple method. A set of two pots—the larger pot containing water and the pot with insect fish jelly inside placed inside the larger one. This way, it won't burn." The man diligently noted it down and left after another salute.
Strangely enough, every two days, the man would come with a question, offering fifty gold coins for each, ranging from alchemy techniques to magical scripts and even profound theories. Some questions were too complicated, so Ge Zheng avoided answering until the man offered double the price. In the end, it became Ge Zheng's stable source of income, earning him six hundred gold coins a month, equivalent to almost a quarter of his income from the alchemy store alone.