195 Discredi
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.
In addition, many low-level cultivators suddenly ransacked all trees and wild grasses, leaving behind a barren land. Ma Moxi had a hard time searching for wild herbs around the city, and it forced him to move far away from the crowd. Then, he ended up running into a mysterious ghost, and he had to come home.
While Ma Moxi was deciding what he should do next, Ma Shoucheng rubbed his hands and shamelessly asked for their share, "Say, Miaomiao. Since we're family now, can we borrow some supplies from you as well? We're in a pickle at the moment. Our business was ruined, and we are lacking funds for our family maintenance…"
Ma Ping and Pang Lingming also had a wide smile on their faces. Having an alchemist family as backers was worth the sacrifice of Ma Xingjuan. They were looking forward to receiving monetary and pill support from Ju Shoufen and Cao Mao.
Now, the Ma Clan was reduced to a clan of leeches.
Cao Mao didn't mind it since these crippled men would soon be indebted to him. Then, the entire clan, including Ma Moxi, would be under his palms.
"Oh, sure."
Cao Mao gave a spatial ring to Ma Ping. Inside the ring were 2,000 refined stones, which he had promised when they first talked about the marriage conditions.
"It's not much, but at least this should be enough for your family's expense."
Sensing the glittering stones in the ring, Ma Shoucheng laughed, "Thanks, son. Now, we should have enough budget to send Lingming to the holy land."
Ma Shoucheng was so happy that he unintentionally revealed their family secret. Ma Ping and Pang Lingming turned to the former and gave him a disapproval look.
"What holy land? What is this all about?" Ma Moxi was curious.
"Ah, crap," Ma Shoucheng realized his mistake. He sighed and gave his father and Pang Lingming an apologetic smile.
"The cat is out of the bag. Just tell them, Shoucheng," Ma Ping shook his head and sighed.
"Oh well. Here's the thing, Moxi. We're planning to send Pang Lingming back to the holy land, so we can invite an alchemist expert from over there to make a divine pill for us, and we can cure your grandfather."
Ma Moxi squinted his eyes. He knew of a pill that could heal his grandfather, but the ingredients couldn't be found in this continent. The best way to concoct it was to get substitute ingredients and make a simplified version of the divine pill. He even had the recipes for the inferior version and the complete version.
Also, Ma Moxi was planning to acquire the substitute ingredients from the auction event. As long as everything could go according to his plan, they wouldn't need to send Pang Lingming over there.
"Do we have the ingredients for the pill?"
Ma Moxi was sharp. He deduced that these old men might have obtained necessary ingredients from somewhere, and they had learned of a pill that could cure them.
"Hahaha! You don't have to worry about it!" Ma Shoucheng and Ma Ping laughed, but their eyes glanced at Cao Mao for a moment.
Ma Moxi noticed the glance. He followed their eyes and gazed at Cao Mao.
"Oh? That's interesting. So, brother-in-law, I need to confirm something," Ma Moxi took out a brush pen and a scroll. Then, he jotted down all the materials he needed for the inferior Yin Yang Divine Vein pill.
Ma Moxi wanted to ask if Cao Mao had the ingredients for the real pill as well, but he didn't think that someone like Cao Mao could have them.
"Do you have these items?"
Cao Mao took the scroll and skimmed through it. Without turning his head, he looked at the protagonist with the corner of his eyes.
"What are these?"
"These are ingredients for a pill that can heal my grandfather."
"Oh? What's the name of this pill?"
"Yin Yang Divine Vein."
"…"
"It's a simplified version, though. I can't get my hands on something like the azure dragon's heart or the vermillion bird's heart. If you have these ingredients and give them to me, I can make the simplified pill, and uncle Pang won't have to go back to the holy land."
Ma Ping and others scoffed and rolled their eyes. They didn't believe in the protagonist anymore.
"Stop daydreaming, Moxi. You can't do shit."
Being reprimanded by his family, Ma Moxi had a heartache.
He wanted to tell everyone that he was capable, but he failed miserably. He wanted to reveal his secrets, but he didn't trust Cao Mao.
Still, Ma Moxi came up with an idea. His face softened and revealed human emotion for the first time.
"Brother-in-law, I know that we had a bad start, but I need you to believe in me for once. If you can procure those materials…"
Ma Moxi paused as if he was making a critical decision that went against his philosophy and belief. He swallowed his pride, ego, and shame before he cupped his fist and bowed to Cao Mao.
"If you can procure me those ingredients, I'll be forever in your debt. I'll work for you!"
Cao Mao squinted his eyes. That promise was tempting at glance, but he didn't trust this shameless protagonist, "What changed your mind? I thought you don't like me."
"That's true," Ma Moxi gritted his teeth. He turned to his grandfather and his uncle. "If possible, I want to help them myself. But it seems that I can't do everything right lately. I just … need to grow up."
"Hoh?"
Cao Mao rubbed his chin as if he was in deep thought. But in reality, he was laughing in his mind.
'Come to think of it, many protagonists in novels can easily win several Oscar awards when it comes to acting. Can it be that he's trying to con me?'
No one could change easily. Yet, Ma Moxi seemed to have a change of heart while they were having a conversation.
Believing that Ma Moxi wanted to trick him into giving away precious herbs and ingredients, Cao Mao had another idea. He brought out a scroll and two empty plates from his spatial ring.
"Let's sign a dao contract. If you are that sincere, you should swear by your dao heart that you won't retract those words."
Ma Moxi's face changed, "What?"
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