Alex looked at the terrified young man with a pitiful look, then back at the man who asked him the question.
"I'll try," he said and walked toward them. "Can you give me a bit of space so I can ask him the question?"
The man, still seething with anger, moved a bit away from the two and let them talk.
"What's your name?" Alex asked him.
"Wu Shun," the young man spoke, his voice still quivering slightly in fear.
"Okay, brother Wu Shun. Can you tell me why exactly you need the Flameborn Nightsbane?" Alex asked him.
"To heal his daughter," the young man pointed at the man.
"I understand that, but why that ingredient? What is the purpose of that ingredient?" he asked. "Because that ingredient is not able to deal with Yin problems."
"No, it can," the young man said adamantly. "It is written as such in my book, and my book hasn't made a mistake yet."
Alex was a little surprised. "Your book?" he asked.
"You damn youngster! You put my daughter's life at risk because of a book?" he shouted again.
Alex quickly moved to protect the young man and stopped the man from advancing. "Please, fellow Daoist. Let me figure out if he's in the wrong or not before you decide to listen to your impulses."
The man snorted and looked aside, leaving Alex to deal with the situation for now.
Alex turned back around and looked at the young man. "May I ask what sort of book is it? Is it a book with recipes?" he asked.
"It's an alchemy book that I got when I came here. It has a list of pill recipes for various pills that can be used in different scenarios."
"One of those pills is called the Yin Taming Pill, and Flameborn Nightsbane is one of its main ingredients," the young man said.
"Yin Taming pill?" Alex asked. He was simply no idea what sort of pill that was. There was another part of the young man's answer that had caught his attention.
"Are you a player?" Alex asked.
"I am," the young man said.
"I see, so you're young," Alex said. He looked back toward the man and back at the young man. "I do not know if you are trying to fool us or not—"
"I'm not!" the young man shouted."
"You didn't let me finish," Alex said. "I was going to say that I will choose to believe you in this instance. However, that belief is going to last just as much as that. You will have to prove to this brother here that you weren't trying to dupe him into finding the ingredient for your own benefit."
"You have to prove that you were doing it for his daughter."
"I am," the young man said. "How do I prove it? I will."
"Swear an oath that the pill you are making will cure my daughter," the man shouted.
The young man was about to speak when he stopped. "I can't do that," he said. The man was about to charge at him when the young man continued. "How can I make such an extreme oath? How am I supposed to know a pill that I've never made will cure your daughter?"
"There is a high likelihood it will, but that doesn't mean I can guarantee it," he said. "That is a preposterous oath to ask of someone to make."
Alex had to agree with the young man. That was an oath that no alchemist in their right mind would make. After all, not every problem was the same, so even if the pill one made was good, there was the slightest chance that it would not work on every single person.
The man was already angry again, but Alex spoke before he could act. "May I see the recipe for this Yin Taming pill?" he asked.
The young man looked at Alex. "Why? Why do you want my pill recipe?" he asked.
Alex sighed. "I'm trying to save you from getting beat up by this man, brother. Do you still want to ask why?" he asked. "I can just leave and let him deal with you."
"No," the young man said. "I'll show it to you. But only that recipe."
"Only that," Alex said. "I have no need for any other."
"Okay," the young man said. "Give me a minute." He took out an empty talisman and started writing into it the recipe for the pill that was called the Yin Taming Pill.
Once done, he passed it along to Alex who looked at it briefly. He had only read the description of the pill recipe when his hopes of it being any useful started to dwindle a little.
When he reached the ingredient, he put down the recipe and closed his eyes. "Give me a minute," he said. He focused on himself, trying to learn everything about the ingredients that were written in the recipe.
The man wondered what Alex was doing while the young man just stood by, looking at the man, hoping he wouldn't attack him instantly.
A few minutes passed and Alex opened his eyes. There was a curious look on his face that had come from reading the recipe.
"What's going on? Did you read the recipe? Is it true?" the man asked.
"The recipe is real," Alex said. "He wasn't lying."
The man paused. "Then…"
"However, it's a little hard to tell whether this recipe will work or not. You can try, but I wouldn't bet on it," Alex said.
The man's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean? What's wrong with the recipe?" he asked.
"Nothing is wrong with the recipe itself. It's just that… the pill he was trying to make is a Yin Taming pill. The recipe would make a pill that would, as the name suggests, tame the Yin that is most likely causing problems in your daughter's body."
"However, just because it tames it, doesn't mean it can destroy it," Alex said. "Again, I do not know what is going on with your daughter, so I cannot say for sure that this pill won't heal her, but I will tell you that the likelihood of it healing her completely is very low."
He then turned toward the young man. "Does it say in your book what this pill is primarily used for?" he asked.
"Yes, to deal with Yin problems," the young man said. "Including Qi deviation with Yin Qi, which his daughter went through."
Alex sighed. "Did it ever cross your mind that this was a pill that was supposed to be eaten when the person was going through Qi Deviation itself, not after it?" he asked.
"Uhh… what?" the young man asked.
"It's a Yin Taming pill. To tame your Yin when it is going out of control," Alex said. "It is not very useful once the damage is done."
"But… but his daughter's body is still full of yin. I'm sure it can be useful," the young man said.
Alex thought for a moment and turned around toward the man. "I can say for a fact that he wasn't trying to dupe you. Whatever he told you, he believed it, even if he might have been wrong."
"That said, we cannot find the Flameborn Nightsbane in this place and so there is no way to tell if the pill will even be helpful at all," Alex said. "Instead… can I ask if I can check on your daughter and see if I can heal her?"
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m