Xiao Bai paused after hearing his question, his gaze dark and distant as he stared at Xiao Yan.
Seeing Xiao Bai's expression, Xiao Yan instinctively shrank back. He was familiar with that look—it was the same look Xiao Bai used to give him when he was about to get beaten.
"I have a flexible moral bottom line!"
After staring at him for a moment, Xiao Bai said something that initially confused Xiao Yan. Then, he continued walking toward the exit.
"A flexible moral bottom line?"
Xiao Yan muttered to himself for a while before suddenly realizing. Wasn't this just Xiao Bai being shameless?
When he could win, he would talk about morals. If he couldn't win, then screw morality!
However, he didn't dare say it out loud, fearing he would get beaten.
In his heart, Xiao Yan gave Xiao Bai a thumbs up. As expected, Big Brother Bai, you managed to make shamelessness sound so fresh and refined.
In the ring, Yao Lao also rolled his eyes. He weighed his own strength against Xiao Bai's and wondered if Xiao Bai would talk about morals with him.
-----
The two walked in silence, arriving at the Mitter Auction House in the northern district.
The Mitter Auction House was the largest and most prestigious trading venue in the Jia Ma Empire.
There were branches in every city in the Jia Ma Empire, and Wutan City was no exception.
Although the Mitter Auction House was named an auction house, it also dealt with appraisals, acquisitions, retail, and more.
At that moment, the Mitter Auction House was bustling with people coming in and out.
Wutan City was close to the Magical Beast Mountain Range, and some mercenaries liked to sell medicinal herbs, magic nuclei, and other items they obtained from the Magical Beast Mountain Range at the Mitter Auction House.
This was because no matter how much stock they had, they could quickly sell it at a fair price here.
If they sold it themselves at a market stall, the price might be higher, but the time it would take was longer. For these people, the time spent could be used to make another trip to the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
"Big Brother Bai, why are we here? We could just go to our market district; why come all the way here?"
Seeing Xiao Bai heading directly to the Mitter Auction House, Xiao Yan was puzzled. What he needed were just a few medicinal herbs and a magic nucleus. These could easily be bought at the market district. Coming here seemed a bit over the top.
In Xiao Yan's understanding, people usually came here for large transactions or to buy something extremely rare that couldn't be found in the market. For other things, the market district was where most people would go.
After asking, Xiao Yan looked around sneakily, then leaned toward Xiao Bai with a sly grin. "Hehe, I heard that recently, a very alluring female auctioneer came to Mitter Auction House. Big Brother Bai, you wouldn't want to see her, would you?"
He then gave Xiao Bai a knowing look and patted him on the back. "Don't worry, Big Brother Bai, I won't tell Xun'er, hehe!"
Xiao Bai was speechless!
Yao Lao was speechless!
Both of them felt the urge to beat this guy up. Ugh, how embarrassing!
Am I that kind of person?
I'm a scholar! (I'm an alchemist!)
This is an insult to decency (and my profession), *spit*!
Not far away, a maid at the auction house noticed the two of them walking in.
One had grayish-white hair and a handsome face, with a carefree and elegant demeanor in every gesture.
The other had a youthful face, clear brows, and eyes filled with confidence.
These maids were experts at reading people, and it was clear at a glance that these two were big customers. She quickly put on a professional smile and approached them.
"Young masters, welcome to the Mitter Auction House. What can we assist you with today?"
"I need some medicinal herbs," Xiao Bai said.
"Certainly, please follow me!"
The maid led them to a private reception room, where she served tea before smiling and asking, "May I ask what kind of medicinal herbs you need, young master?"
"Purple Sun Fruit, Blood-Clotting Grass, and Jade Blossom—two hundred of each!"
After speaking, he turned to look at Xiao Yan. Xiao Yan, seeing this, quickly said, "I need three ten-year-old Purple Orchid Grass, two Bone Cleansing Flowers, and a first-tier Wood Element Magic Nucleus!"
The maid wrote down everything and then calculated the total, saying, "Young masters, the total price for these medicinal herbs is 23,800 gold coins!"
After hearing this, Xiao Bai nodded and said, "Go prepare the herbs."
The maid smiled even more sincerely and said, "Please wait here for a moment, young masters!"
With that, she turned and left.
"Big Brother Bai, why do you need so many first-tier medicinal herbs?" Xiao Yan asked, puzzled.
"Xiao Bai, you don't really plan on refining pills, do you? Can you refine pills with your Lightning attribute?" Yao Lao was also curious. If it were anyone else, he would have thought they were insane.
But this kid was sharper than a fox. How could he be crazy?
The previous night, he had come to ask for a basic pill refining guide and two first-tier pill recipes. At the time, Yao Lao hadn't thought much of it and gave them to him, thinking he was just interested in reading.
But now, Xiao Bai had just bought the herbs needed for the first-tier pill recipe—Blood Coagulation Powder—and he had bought two hundred portions. This left Yao Lao scratching his head.
Thinking back to the small cauldron that looked like an incense burner, Elder Yao had initially assumed it was just a decorative piece. But now, he couldn't help but wonder if Xiao Bai had actually made it into an alchemy cauldron.
"Well, that's right, I want to give it a try," Xiao Bai said confidently.
Today, he had to thank the Jia Lie family for their "generosity." Without them, he wouldn't have been able to afford so many herbs in one go. Otherwise, he would have had to scrape together enough for just a few portions to experiment with. Now, he could afford to be extravagant.
He could borrow from Xun'er, but he had never asked the girl for anything, so he felt a bit conflicted.
"Master, didn't you say only Fire and Wood attributes can refine pills? What's going on?" Xiao Yan asked Yao Lao in a hurry, not seeing any signs of Xiao Bai joking.
Yao Lao , in the ring, also felt uncertain. He had watched Xiao Bai grow up and knew he wasn't the type of person to be unreliable, but the way he looked now seemed like he was very confident.
However, based on Elder Yao's long-standing views on pill refining, no one on Dou Qi Continent had ever successfully become an Alchemist with attributes other than Fire or Wood.
At this moment, Master Yao felt 80% disbelief and 20% doubt.
—This kid is definitely bluffing. With my experience as an 8th-grade Alchemist, there's no way anyone could refine pills with Lightning, even Fire would be more plausible.
—What if he has some special method?
—Impossible, absolutely impossible.
Yao Lao shook his head. He still couldn't believe that Lightning could be used for pill refining. Maybe this kid just got obsessed with the idea of becoming an Alchemist.
With a sigh, Elder Yao privately said to Xiao Yan, "There's no such thing as Lightning pill refining. Maybe your Big Brother Bai just really wants to become an Alchemist."
Hearing his master's sigh, Xiao Yan looked at Xiao Bai with a bit of sympathy and comforted him, "Big Brother Bai, don't worry, I'll work hard to become a high-level Alchemist. If you ever want to refine any pills, just tell me, and I'll make sure to handle it properly!"
Xiao Bai rolled his eyes. Seeing Xiao Yan's pitying expression, he knew that these two had secretly talked about something, and he couldn't be bothered to deal with them.
As for pill refining, he didn't have 100% confidence in it. Everything he said now was just talk. Once he succeeded, he'd talk about it; as for failure, well, failure was just failure. What could he do?
His goal in refining pills wasn't purely to become an alchemist—that was just a bonus. His main goal was the Pill Thunder, which should help him break through quickly.