A few minutes earlier.
Luofu, at the border between the Alchemy Commission and the Scalegorge Waterscape.
Lingsha angrily carried the streetlamp to the entrance of the Scalegorge Waterscape. "Luofu Dragon Masters, all of you come out! This old lady has been displeased with you despicable villains for a long time. Today is the perfect day to settle this once and for all!"
Her voice was extremely loud and carried powerful penetration. Soon, the Dragon Masters who were lying deep within the Scalegorge Waterscape counting money heard the commotion. Their brows immediately furrowed:
This voice… sounds like that new Cauldron Master? What is she here for?
Could it be that she knows her position as the newly appointed Cauldron Master is unstable in the Alchemy Commission, so she's come to bow her head to them?
—That was entirely possible!
As former "outstanding graduates" of the Penacony Group, the Luofu Dragon Masters had fully brought back the experience of exchange studies to the Luofu and applied it across various Vidyadhara industries.
This naturally included the massive Alchemy Commission.
The Alchemy Commission, one of the Six Commissions of the Luofu, was a huge department in charge of medicine and healthcare. Its economic profits ranked among the top in the entire Luofu.
People could live without starskiffs, without mechanical creations, and without believing in fate, but no one could go their entire life without illness or injury.
If there was illness, it had to be treated—and that meant going through the Alchemy Commission!
Because the Alchemy Commission was adjacent to the Scalegorge Waterscape, the Vidyadhara naturally enjoyed the advantage of proximity. With the Dragon Masters at the lead, the "Vidyadhara Group" had rapidly taken control of positions across every department of the Alchemy Commission over the past thousand years, treating it as their own racial enterprise.
This was also why Lingsha felt angry. As Cauldron Master she had the title but no real power. Although she sat in the chair, the actual core authority was still held by the Vidyadhara Dragon Masters.
Lingsha had always been upright and honorable. How could she collude with the Dragon Masters in such exploitative evil deeds? Thus conflicts arose between both sides, with constant small and large clashes… but in every conflict, Lingsha rarely gained the upper hand.
Even this was thanks to Lingsha's terrifying martial prowess. Otherwise, one day the Luofu Daily might publish a notice like this:
—Shocking! The newly appointed Cauldron Master of the Alchemy Commission was found dead at home with over ten stab wounds to the back. After internal investigation by the Vidyadhara, it was determined the deceased committed suicide.
"Hahahahaha, as expected. Young people are still young people. All that talk about being upright and honorable, serving the nation and its people, or having a passionate and sincere heart is just nonsense said in a moment of hot-headedness."
Dragon Master No.1 laughed loudly: "Sure enough, in the end you still have to face reality."
Dragon Master No.2 nodded in agreement: "That's right. Instead of thinking about all that useless stuff, you should first worry about yourself. Has your salary increased these years? Have you bought a house? Have you paid off your loans? Are you healthy?"
Dragon Master No.3: "Exactly. Someone who still has to check prices before eating actually dares to play this game in front of us. How foolish!"
Dragon Master No.1 stroked his beard and said: "Gentlemen, since this little girl knows she was wrong and has come to yield, we should give her a chance. After all, she was sent by the higher-ups as Cauldron Master. It would be unreasonable not to give her some face."
Dragon Master No.2 hesitated and asked: "…But are we really going to meet this Cauldron Master Lingsha without any defenses? I heard she is no ordinary person. A single palm strike of hers can shatter stone. What if something goes wrong?"
Dragon Master No.3 waved his hand dismissively: "Relax, this is the Scalegorge Waterscape. Have you forgotten? According to the Alliance Covenant, no one is allowed to harm us within Vidyadhara territory. What is there to fear from her?"
"Oh— that's true. Then let's go meet this Cauldron Master Lingsha."
...
Before long, the three Dragon Masters arrived at the border between the Scalegorge Waterscape and the Alchemy Commission. Looking at Lingsha holding the streetlamp, they said arrogantly: "Cauldron Master, what business brings you to find us?"
"Could it be that you know the Cauldron Master position is too hot to handle, so you've specially come to apologize?"
"Hahaha, who was it a few days ago saying they wouldn't collude with us? But if you sincerely apologize, we aren't incapable of forgiving you."
"······"
Under the mocking laughter of the Dragon Masters, Lingsha remained silent with a dark face. Only the body-tempering powerhouses of Zhuming could sense that Lingsha's body temperature was rising rapidly.
She was like a cauldron on the verge of exploding.
However, the Dragon Masters at this moment did not realize anything was wrong. After habitually throwing out their trash talk, they straightened their expressions and got straight to the point:
"Cauldron Master Lingsha, since you wish to admit your mistake, we will naturally give you this chance. We are from the same root—why be so hasty against each other? We are all Vidyadhara. Vidyadhara do not exploit Vidyadhara."
"We do admit that our exploitative behavior has indeed been somewhat excessive. But the exploitation on Penacony's side is even worse, and no one says anything about it, right?"
"So, we're very happy that you can understand us."
The Dragon Masters were all old foxes who had lived for who knows how many years. One after another they began their scripted rhetoric:
"To be honest, Cauldron Master Lingsha, you are the most capable Cauldron Master we have ever seen. We old folks truly admire you from the bottom of our hearts."
"But you are still too young after all."
"Some things you still can't grasp."
"You need to accumulate experience first."
"Once your qualifications and ability improve, we will definitely follow your lead…"
"······"
Lingsha's originally expressionless little face, black with rage, suddenly twitched at the corners. In the end she revealed an extremely strained smile—she was so angry she laughed!
When death was already staring her in the face…
However, the Dragon Masters misinterpreted this helpless smile born of extreme anger. They immediately chimed in with laughter: "Haha, Cauldron Master Lingsha, no need to feel shy. From now on we are all family."
"Don't worry. As long as you work seriously, after a hundred years or so we will definitely give you a share of the profits!"
"Vidyadhara do not deceive Vidyadhara!"
Hearing this, Lingsha ground her silver teeth and revealed a gorgeous yet dangerous smile: "So what the elders mean is, if this old lady wants to collude with you little cuties, not only will I not get any money, I'll have to work for free for over a hundred years first?"
The Dragon Masters replied indifferently: "So what? Isn't everyone else like this? Look at Penacony's employees. Over there you need to work at least one hundred and one years to get this kind of opportunity."
Lingsha's fists hardened.
"Besides, do you need money right now? Young people, what you need is an opportunity to train!"
"We've given you such a valuable opportunity. How can you turn around and ask us for money? Wouldn't that be repaying kindness with enmity?"
"Calm down… Wait, did you just curse at us?"
Dragon Master No.1 suddenly sensed something was off. He looked up in shock. In the next second, he met Lingsha's gaze, and a bone-chilling cold shot straight to his soul.
In that moment, he felt as if he saw the Reignbow Arbiter reborn.