Chapter 641: Alchemy In The Underworld

"Pills," Laura said.

Damian raised a brow.

"Pills? Woman, are you trying to get me hooked on drugs or something?"

Laura chuckled and shook her head. She seemed almost offended by the suggestion, though the amusement in her eyes suggested she had expected such a response from him.

"Not every pill is a drug, you know."

"Considering the company I keep, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone tried to poison me with one."

"How unfortunate. Here I am, trying to help you, and you’re already suspecting me of murder."

"Experience has taught me that kindness rarely comes without a price."

Laura rolled her eyes and reached into the pocket of her dress. She withdrew a small, exquisitely crafted case made of dark jade, its surface decorated with delicate golden patterns. Even before she opened it, Damian could tell that the case was expensive. The material alone was worth a small fortune, and the faint magical inscription carved along its edges suggested that its contents required special protection.

Laura pressed a small latch, and the lid opened with a soft click.

Inside lay a translucent pill.

It was no larger than a fingernail, yet it possessed a peculiar brilliance. Its surface was smooth and almost crystalline, with a faint white flame suspended at its centre. The flame moved slowly, curling and twisting as though it were alive. Every few seconds, a thin strand of light escaped from the pill before disappearing into the air.

Damian’s expression changed. He leaned forward slightly, his eyes fixed on the object.

The scent reached him first. It was subtle, almost impossible to describe, yet it carried a refreshing sensation that seemed to clear the mind. Beneath it lay an indescribable vitality, something that made his instincts stir the moment he caught its fragrance.

Then there was the presence.

The pill did not radiate overwhelming power. In fact, its aura was remarkably restrained. Yet the energy contained within it was so pure that Damian found himself staring at it longer than he intended.

"What is this?" he asked.

Laura smiled, clearly pleased by his reaction.

"The Soul Fortification Pill. It strengthens the soul and increases one’s lifespan."

Damian turned his head toward her.

For once, he did not immediately have a sarcastic remark ready.

He reached into the case and carefully lifted the pill between his fingers. The translucent surface felt slightly warm, and the white flame within it seemed to respond to his touch. He rotated it slowly, examining its structure while allowing a trace of his demonic energy to brush against its surface.

The pill remained stable.

But the claim Laura had made was another matter entirely.

He looked at her with suspicion.

"You’re telling me that if I eat this, my soul becomes stronger and my lifespan increases?"

Laura’s smile disappeared.

"Yes."

"Just like that?"

"That’s what I said."

Damian studied the pill again.

He was not questioning whether such a thing was possible. In a world where gods walked among demons and ancient inheritances could alter the nature of one’s existence, a pill capable of strengthening the soul was hardly beyond imagination.

What troubled him was the implication.

His soul had been damaged, and his remaining lifespan was steadily declining. Ordinary methods of cultivation could strengthen his body and increase his power, but repairing the damage soul was another matter. Even Elsa, a True God with access to resources beyond the reach of most demons, had struggled to find a reliable solution.

Now Laura had appeared with a pill that supposedly addressed both problems.

It sounded almost too convenient.

"How much did you pay for this?"

Laura’s expression darkened.

"Why does that matter?"

"Because if something sounds too good to be true, I prefer to understand what I’m dealing with before putting it inside my body."

"You’re unbelievable."

She snatched the jade case from his hand and held it against her chest.

"I went through so much trouble to obtain this pill, and the first thing you do is question whether I’m trying to poison you!"

Damian remained unmoved.

"Would you prefer that I swallow mysterious pills from strangers without asking questions?"

"I’m not a stranger!"

"You’re the daughter of my High Censor who keeps sneaking into my private palanquins and proposing affairs with me. That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence."

Laura opened her mouth, then closed it again.

For a moment, she looked as though she wanted to argue. Instead, she let out an irritated breath and thrust the case toward him.

"If you don’t believe me, investigate it yourself. Ask alchemists, ask the Dukes, or ask anyone who knows anything about medicine. I’m telling you the truth!"

Her voice carried a wounded edge that made Damian pause.

He looked at her more carefully.

Laura was genuinely upset. She had gone out of her way to obtain the pill, using both her family’s influence and whatever connections she possessed, only for him to treat her gift as a potential assassination attempt.

He could understand her frustration. That did not mean he was willing to abandon caution.

Damian’s brows furrowed slightly as he took the pill from her and examined it again. A trace of hesitation crossed his face, and Laura’s patience finally snapped.

"Give me that."

Before he could respond, she snatched the pill from his fingers.

"Laura—"

She placed the pill between her lips.

Damian’s eyes widened slightly. "What are you—"

Laura leaned forward and pressed her lips against his.

The unexpected contact caught him completely off guard. For a brief moment, his mind struggled to catch up with what was happening. He had not expected her to put it in her own mouth and force it into his.

By the time he reached for her shoulders, Laura had already pulled away.

"There!" she declared, sitting back with a triumphant expression.

Damian stared at her. He slowly raised a hand toward his mouth, intending to remove the pill before it could dissolve.

Unfortunately, he was already too late.

The translucent pill melted against his tongue, breaking apart into a stream of warm liquid energy. It slipped down his throat before he could spit it out, leaving behind a faint sweetness that quickly disappeared.

Damian’s expression darkened.

"Laura!"

She straightened immediately.

"Yes?"

"Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?"

"Saving your life?"

"You forced an unknown substance into the body of a Prince."

"But—"

"Without his permission."

Laura’s ears lowered.

"Well, when you put it that way..."

"How else am I supposed to put it?"

She shrank slightly into her seat.

For all her boldness, she seemed to have finally realised that she might have gone too far. Damian’s expression was not one of amusement, and the faint pressure beginning to gather around him made the atmosphere inside the palanquin noticeably heavier.

Then something changed.

Damian’s next words died in his throat.

A warm current flowed down his throat and spread through his chest. It moved through his veins like liquid sunlight, reaching every corner of his body with astonishing speed. The sensation was unlike ordinary demonic energy. It did not burn, overwhelm, or force its way through his meridians.

Instead, it seemed to awaken something that had been dormant within him.

His fingers twitched.

He felt the pores across his body open as an unfamiliar vitality spread beneath his skin. The warmth travelled through his limbs, his organs, and the deepest recesses of his being, touching places that even his demonic power rarely reached.

Then the energy began to gather around his core.

Damian immediately sat back and steadied his breathing. His instincts urged him to examine the process carefully rather than interfere with it. He allowed his awareness to follow the energy as it circulated through his body, tracing its movement while remaining alert for any sign of rejection or instability.

Nothing of the sort occurred. The warmth deepened.

For the first time in a long while, Damian felt something that he had almost forgotten.

He felt alive.

The persistent exhaustion that had settled over his existence seemed to recede, if only slightly. The heaviness that accompanied his damaged soul loosened, and the faint pallor of his face began to fade. A healthy flush returned to his cheeks, bringing colour to skin that had grown increasingly pale over the course of his decline.

His breathing became smoother. Even the subtle tension that had lingered around his heart seemed to ease.

Damian closed his eyes and concentrated on the sensation, refusing to let the surprise distract him from understanding what was happening.

"It will take a few more minutes to completely digest the pill," he murmured.

His voice was quieter now.

"Yet it’s already taking effect."

Laura watched him closely.

The satisfaction on her face grew as she noticed the changes. She had not been exaggerating. The pill was genuine, and Damian’s body was responding to it exactly as she had been told it would.

Laura folded her hands in her lap.

"In your case, I was told the pill wouldn’t strengthen your soul because it’s damaged. But it should restore a portion of your lost lifespan."

Damian remained still, his eyes closed.

"How much?"

"About a century."

His fingers stopped moving.

A century.

For an ordinary demon, that might have been a modest gift. For a powerful noble with thousands of years ahead of them, it might not even have been worth mentioning.

For Damian, whose lifespan had been steadily eroded by the damage to his soul, a century was far more valuable.

It was time he could use.

Laura continued before he could ask another question.

"I was also told that the pill would slow the rate at which you’re losing your life force. As long as you can obtain a steady supply every decade, you should be able to stop your constant decline and gradually increase your life force again. It can’t heal your soul but it can help you live like it was never damaged."

Damian said nothing.

His eyes remained closed as he observed the changes within his body. The energy had begun to settle around his core, but its effects were not limited to his physical condition. He could feel the pill’s influence reaching deeper, touching the damaged regions of his soul with a delicate warmth.

It was not a complete repair. He could tell that much.

The wounds remained, and the underlying damage had not simply vanished. However, something had changed in the way his soul responded to them. The pressure that had once aggravated his condition seemed less severe, as though the pill had reinforced the very foundation that was struggling to hold him together.

It was a promising development. Perhaps more promising than Laura realised.

Yet Damian had lived long enough to know that good news rarely arrived alone.

"And this is where the but comes in, right?" he asked, still keeping his eyes shut. "Nothing ever goes smoothly for me."

Laura’s smile faltered. She scratched the back of her head. Only then did she remember who she was dealing with.

Damian was the Prince of Lust. His inheritance granted him an extraordinary sensitivity to the desires and emotions of others, allowing him to notice the small changes in emotions and behaviour that most people overlooked.

Laura could choose her words carefully, but she could not hide the uneasiness beneath them.

"Well..." she began. "The problem is that the ingredients are extremely rare. But what’s even rarer is the kind of fire required to refine the pill."

His brows tightened.

Laura sighed.

"Only three of these pills remain. They haven’t been refined since the death of the man who possessed the flame needed to make them."

Damian’s expression remained still, but his attention sharpened.

"What kind of fire are you talking about?"

Laura hesitated briefly before answering.

"Samara and Soul Lantern Flames."

Buzz!

Damian’s eyes slowly opened. The warmth spreading through his body suddenly became the least interesting thing in the palanquin.

His expression turned ugly.

"Don’t tell me the man you’re talking about is Lin Qui."

Laura slowly nodded.

Damian stared at her. For several seconds, he did not speak. His mind returned to the countless complications surrounding Lin Qui’s legacy, the old grudges that had survived his death, and the mess left behind by the people who had profited from his downfall.

Apparently, even death had not been enough to end the man’s influence over Damian’s life.

Laura took his silence as a sign that she needed to explain.

"In alchemy, unique flames are extremely important. They can determine whether a pill succeeds or fails, especially when refining medicines that affect the soul. The quality of the flame influences how the ingredients combine, how much of their properties survive the process, and whether the final product can achieve its intended effect."

She paused before continuing.

"The only being in possession of all seven fires is the Sin of Lust. That’s one of the reasons alchemy pills became the main source of revenue for Velmora. The association relied heavily on the unique flames available here, and Lin Qui’s existence made the city particularly important to the alchemy trade."

Damian’s fingers curled against the seat.

"That was until Lin Qui died," Laura continued. "His in-laws became greedy after his death, and the situation deteriorated. The Alchemy Association eventually moved to the capital."

Silence filled the palanquin.

Damian felt anger slowly rising within him.

Even after killing his in-laws, their misdeeds were still causing problems for him from beyond the grave. Their greed had damaged Velmora’s standing, driven away an important institution, and now appeared to have deprived him of a resource that could help him preserve his own life.

He had thought their deaths would settle at least part of the debt they owed. Instead, he was discovering more consequences.

Just how much damage did these people cause?

His jaw tightened.

"Believe it or not, this is the first time I’ve heard about alchemy," he said. "I didn’t even know Lin Qui was involved in it."

Laura did not seem particularly surprised.

"I’m not surprised. You haven’t been given the chance to do anything except fight. Every time your name comes up, it’s because you’ve killed someone, defeated someone, or become involved in another disaster. It’s to be expected that you’ve never had time to learn about something like alchemy."

Damian gave her a flat look. "That’s a very comforting assessment of my life."

"I’m only telling the truth."

"Unfortunately."

Laura smiled faintly before becoming serious again.

"But I can take you to the Alchemy Association. You can see the people there for yourself and learn more about the pills. They might have records about the Soul Fortification Pill, including the ingredients required to refine it and whether there are any alternatives to Samara Flames."

Damian’s expression grew thoughtful. The possibility was worth investigating.

If the pill could restore a century of his lifespan and slow the deterioration of his life force, then securing a reliable supply would become a priority especially when he was not sure if the dark continent has the solution he sort. Even if the remaining pills were limited, the association might possess records that could help him reproduce the formula.

The palanquin remained suspended above the intersection, its attendants waiting patiently for his next command. Outside, the reporters had begun to disperse.

Damian glanced toward the closed window.

He had intended to return to his residence after the meeting. There were several matters he needed to address, including the aftermath of Zepar’s attack. However, the opportunity Laura had presented was too valuable to ignore.

After a moment of consideration, he nodded.

"Very well. Take me to the Alchemy Association."

Laura’s face brightened.

"Really?"

"Don’t make me repeat myself."

She immediately slid the window open and leaned out.

"Alchemy Association!"

Her shout carried across the intersection.

The attendants exchanged glances before one of them bowed and relayed the order to the platform’s operator. A moment later, the magical array beneath the palanquin hummed to life.

The wooden frame rose higher into the air, then began moving away from the intersection. The crowd below gradually shrank as the palanquin glided between the towering buildings of the capital, heading toward the district where the Alchemy Association had established its headquarters.

Laura settled back into her seat, visibly pleased with herself.

Damian closed his eyes again.

The pill’s warmth had not yet faded. It continued circulating through his body, reinforcing his vitality while its energy gradually settled around his core. He could feel the effects clearly, and for the first time in a long while, his declining condition no longer felt entirely beyond his control.

But he did not allow himself to become complacent.

A century of restored lifespan was valuable. A means of slowing his decline was even more valuable.

Neither was enough.

He needed to understand the pill, its ingredients, and the flame required to refine it. More importantly, he needed to learn what Lin Qui had known about alchemy and why such knowledge had been allowed to disappear from Velmora.

Damian opened his eyes and glanced at Laura.

"One more thing."

She turned toward him.

"What is it?"

"After we arrive, you’re going to explain everything you know about this association. Its members, its influence, its relationship with the capital, and anything else that might be useful."

Laura nodded eagerly.

"Of course."

"And Laura?"

"Yes?"

"Next time you want to put something inside my body, ask first."

Her ears shot upright.

Then, despite herself, she laughed.

"I’ll try to remember that."

Damian leaned back and closed his eyes once more.