195 Discredi (1/2)

Looking into Cao Mao's eyes up close, Ma Moxi's stomach, where White Album had stabbed with her ice spear, sent a pain signal to his spines and his brain. Although his wound was partially healed after taking healing pills, the phantom pain was still torturous.

Ma Moxi's face was drenched with sweat. He wasn't nervous about the question, but he was uncomfortable with this brother-in-law's creepy behavior.

Moreover, Cao Mao's dark red pupils were like an abyss. Ma Moxi couldn't detect the former's killing intent, but the depth of Cao Mao's eyes clearly showed his twisted personality and absolute mental fortitude.

They were the eyes of someone who had seen or experienced death too many times – The eyes of a war veteran or elite assassins.

Ma Moxi no longer looked down on Cao Mao. He nodded, ”Yes.”

”Oh, good! You know, I'm something of an alchemist myself.”

”???” Ma Moxi didn't understand Cao Mao's point.

”My grandmother used to teach the alchemy disciples in the myriad cauldron sect. Unfortunately, she hasn't joined us in the meeting yet, but I'm sure we'll get along just fine.”

”…”

”What's your best pill that you can create? Can you tell me?”

”… You don't need to know.”

”Hey, you just said that we're family! We're now brothers, right? I'm also an alchemist, so is it weird to ask a fellow alchemist brother how good he is? Maybe, we can exchange our insight and improve each other.”

”… Er, can we go back to my topic? Can I borrow your money for some investment?”

”Oh, sure. What are you going to do with my money?”

Ma Moxi clicked his tongue, ”That's none of your business.”

”Have you ever loaned money from a bank, bro? Do you think the bank will give you their money without knowing what the loaner is going to do with it?”

Ma Moxi rolled his eyes. He wanted to change the flow of the conversation, but he was at a disadvantage since everyone was anticipating his answers.

Ma Ping and Ma Shoucheng were looking at him. Their eyes were glittering if their clan member was capable or not.

Ma Moxi didn't want to disappoint them, so he revealed his secret plan to gain their trust, ”Buying materials to make pills. Then, I'll sell my creation in the upcoming auction.”

Ma Ping and Ma Shoucheng nodded in satisfaction. Ma Moxi earned a point for their trust.

But Cao Mao was there to sabotage their family harmony.

Ma Moxi snorted, thinking that it was unnecessary to answer this question. His soul pagoda could automatically refine any pill as long as he had enough ingredients. Unlike Cao Mao's mass-production system, his cheat didn't need the host to actually master the alchemic arts.

Still, Ma Moxi never concocted a pill himself, and he lacked the knowledge to discuss the topic. He simply beat around the bush.

”I can concoct anything as long as I have the material.”

”You sure?”

”Yes. I'm sure.”

That was not the answer that Ma Ping and others expected to hear. They knew that every alchemist specialized in certain types of pills. Only a few experts in the holy land with several hundred years of experience could achieve that feat.

From Ma Ping and other's perspectives, Ma Moxi was lying.

Cao Mao also caught on. As he had experienced the hardship of making various basic pills with the best quality, he knew that no alchemist could master every pill within a couple hundred years.

But that only applied to the local cultivators. After all, Ma Moxi was a protagonist with a cheating skill. It was possible that he also had an auto-mass production mode.

Cao Mao ignored the possibility of Ma Moxi having a cheating alchemist skill. He continued to discredit the protagonist, ”Then, let me ask you some questions, so we can exchange our pointers in alchemy. When you concoct a healing pill, how are you controlling the fire temperature?”

”… I don't need to disclose my technique.”

”You can't even share your technique? Well, alright. I still have another question that I need your advice. How long do you usually take to prepare your materials and ingredients?”

”… I never timed it. I don't know”

”You can try to guess from your experience. Think of your average prep time.”

Ma Moxi rolled his eyes and shrugged, ”A basic healing pill only needs one ginseng. I only need less than a minute per material.”

”Oh, boy,” Cao Mao raised his eyebrows and held back his laughter.

The Ma elders shook their heads and sighed again.

As the Ma elders had watched an alchemist concocting pills in their life, they were aware that material processing usually took longer than 10 minutes per ingredient. For a basic healing pill, even an expert had to meticulously process their herbs to bring out the best effect for their pills.

Ma Ping advised his grandson to stop shaming himself, ”Moxi. I think we should leave the pill business to the professional. You haven't learned alchemy. You don't even have a cauldron. You don't even know how to create a pill properly. How will you create a good pill that can compete with other elite alchemists? There will be many foreigners in this year's auction, and many alchemists will be there. You might just embarrass yourself in the event.”

Ma Moxi's face darkened. Getting busted that he didn't know anything about alchemy was embarrassing. The sense of superiority of being a sole alchemist in the city was washed away.

He wanted to tell everybody that he had the pagoda cheat, but he was wary of Cao Mao. He was afraid that Cao Mao might exploit his ability or take advantage of him and his family.

While Ma Moxi was flustered, Cao Mao passed a sag of 50 refined spirit stones to Ma Moxi.

”Come to think of it, I haven't paid for your work yet. I haven't checked if the rumor spread properly or not, but I'm giving this to you. Well, that should be enough for your INVESTMENT, right?”

”…”

Ma Moxi reluctantly accepted the refined stones since he had no choice.

For the sake of making exceptional pills for the upcoming auction, Ma Moxi decided to buy materials from the black market, which overcharged the price of all products. He did his best to scour for wild herbs, but there was a limit to what he could find around here.