Chapter 71: Lead Huo Xiao by the Nose

Lou Mu Yan took Huo Xiao to the inn where the Academy’s students stayed, found a vacant room, and set up a soundproof Array.

Then she took out a pot of Spiritual Tea and poured a cup for Lou Mu Bai and Huo Xiao each.

After passing the teacup to Huo Xiao, she asked him: “What’s your name?”

“Huo Xiao.” Huo Xiao stared at the golden, rich, and fragrant Spiritual Tea, held it to the tip of his nose and sniffed with an intoxicated expression, taking a sip as if it simply wasn’t enough, “Great tea!”

The corner of Lou Mu Yan’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch upon seeing Huo Xiao look as if he had never seen anything good in his entire life. Didn’t they say Smithing and Alchemy were extremely wealthy professions? How could this person look as if he had never seen this world before?

“How old are you.”

“Thirty-six.” Huo Xiao sipped the Spiritual Tea in small mouthfuls while answering the boring questions posed by the woman opposite.

Lou Mu Yan looked at him from head to toe—his hair was loose and untamed, covering most of his face, was dressed in sloppy clothes, and there was even some dirt on this man’s body. With such a rough appearance, he didn’t look like he had the vitality a thirty something year old man should have.

Huo Xiao also noticed the woman’s look of disapproval, looked down at his clothes, then laughed dryly: “I was refining a Spirit Treasure, and when I came out of my workshop, I ran straight to the market to set up a stall, so I didn’t fix myself.”

Lou Mu Yan nodded and continued to ask: “You’re a Grade 3 Smith right?”

“How do you know?” Huo Xiao, who was drinking tea, raised his head suddenly and looked at Lou Mu Yan in surprise and confusion.

He only broke through to a Grade 3 Smith last month. No one else knew about this, so how did this woman discover it?

“Of course it’s because I could see it.” Lou Mu Yan smiled beautifully, and inadvertently revealed a confident look.

Huo Xiao looked at the confident and lively woman opposite and furrowed his brows, “Impossible. The level of a Smith couldn’t be seen like someone’s cultivation base. I don’t believe it.”

“Is there a very faint black line on your left middle finger?” Lou Mu Yan asked instead of answering.

Huo Xiao immediately stretched out his left hand. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that there was indeed a black line connecting his palm to the middle finger of his hand, extending towards the first joint line. Shocked, he looked up at Lou Mu Yan and asked: “I’m poisoned?”

Lou Mu Yan rolled her eyes at him and said with disapproval: “It’s truly terrifying to be uncultured. As a Smith, don’t you know what Fire Poison is?”

Although Smiths and Alchemists both often come into contact with fire, but because the Spiritual Herbs that Alchemists refine naturally offset the toxins in the fire, so one wouldn’t easily become poisoned by Fire Poison. Even if there was Fire Poison left in the body, it could be cured by a pill.

Meanwhile, Smiths were frequently required to refine some Spars1 or Demonic Beast skins, and fire is often used during the refining process. So the Elemental Energy flame would absorb the residual poison of those materials, which will eventually become fire poison deposited in the body.

If one left it for a long time, it would bring hidden dangers to the body, and even cause death by poisoning.

Huo Xiao wasn’t a stupid person either. After hearing Lou Mu Yan’s words, he asked: “You’re saying that this black line is produced by the Fire Poison that’s deposited in my body from refining Magic Tools? You judged that I’m a Grade 3 Smith based on this?”

“Yep, it seems you aren’t that stupid.” Lou Mu Yan chuckled, “If the Fire Poison accumulated in a Grade 2 Alchemist isn’t removed, then a faint black line would slowly appear on the left middle finger. After advancing to a Grade 3 Smith, if the Fire Poison isn’t removed, then the black like would extend to the first joint line of the middle finger.”

“What about those above Grade 3?” Huo Xiao asked hurriedly.

“The faint black line would darken in colour for those above Grade 3 and slowly extend upward. After reaching a Grade 4 Smith, if the Fire Poison still hasn’t been removed, then the black line will extend directly to the nail.”

Lou Mu Yan picked up the teacup and sipped it softly. Then she raised her eyes and smiled indicatively, saying: “If the black line extends to the position of the nail, it also means that the person’s life is coming to an end.”

Huo Xiao’s face stiffened. He had heard about Fire Poison being harmful, but he didn’t expect that it was this dangerous. He could judge that the woman sitting opposite wasn’t exaggerating to scare him, but how did she know?

He leaned forward a little and the faint fragrance of medicine on the opposite person’s body penetrated his nose. He looked at Lou Mu Yan with a smile in his eyes and asked: “You’re a Physician or Alchemist?”

“Does it have anything to do with you whether I am or not?” Lou Mu Yan covered her nose and backed into her chair, then said with furrowed brows: “Stay away from me, the sour smell on your body is really too much.”

Huo Xiao stretched his sleeves to his nose, smelled it, and there was indeed an unpleasant sour smell. He smiled awkwardly: “I was leaving in a hurry and didn’t get time to wash up. I’ll go wash up tonight.”

“You really should wash yourself well.” Lou Mu Yan displayed some approval in her eyes.

Lou Mu Yan didn’t want to talk about being an Alchemist, so Huo Xiao didn’t ask anymore. He sat upright, took a few more sips of tea and continued speaking after falling silent for a while: “Let’s talk about the corpse of the Flame Unicorn Beast.”

“Sure. Do you want a whole Flame Unicorn Beast?” Lou Mu Yan asked, raising the corner of her lips.

“Of course I do.” Huo Xiao nodded. The Flame Unicorn Beast was the best refining material he had ever seen in his life, and it perfectly fitted the main material he had desperately imagined, for a long time, to use to refine a Spirit Treasure with.

“Then show some sincerity. What would you give in exchange?” Lou Mu Yan stroked the rim of the cup, her voice a little sharp.

Huo Xiao gritted his teeth and moved all the valuables he had from his interspatial ring to the tabletop, then said: “These are all the good things I have with me. You can pick whatever you want yourself.”

Lou Mu Yan glanced at the things on the table, most of which were Spar materials for Smithing, and Spirit Tools, Spirit Treasures.

“I’ve got no interest in these things on the table.”

A look of disappointment flashed across Huo Xiao’s eyes. Although Smithing was a very profitable profession, but it also consumed a vast amount of money. In order to advance to a Grade 3 Smith, most of his savings were spent on buying materials for refining to break through, so he really couldn’t take out anything good to trade.

But he eagerly wanted the corpse of the Flame Unicorn Beast, so he said: “Tell me, what should I do so that you’d give me the entire Flame Unicorn Beast corpse?

“Oh yeah, how about I’ll provide all the Spirit Treasures you want in the future, but the rare and hard-to-find materials need to be provided by you.” Huo Xiao added. He believed that no one could reject such a promise from a Grade 3 Smith.

Lou Mu Yan raised her eyebrow and sneered: “The Spirit Treasures you refine for me aren’t even worthy to enter my eyes.”

When she was in the Spirit World, she knew how to refine Tools herself, and her level was far higher than that of Huo Xiao’s, so how could she think highly of the things Huo Xiao refined. It just wasn’t on the same level.

Of course, a Grade 3 Smith like Huo Xiao was of little use to her, but was extremely useful to the Lou Clan, otherwise she wouldn’t set up this trap for Huo Xiao to jump in willingly.

Huo Xiao’s confident smile immediately cracked and slight anger rose in his eyes. He slammed the table and shouted: “What? You look down on the Spirit Treasures I refine? Do you know what kind of existence a Grade 3 Smith is?”

“What kind of existence?” Lou Mu Yan asked with folded arms and a smile of interest.

“In the entire Eastern Region, the highest level of Smithing is only Grade 4, and there’ll be no more than four people. Although there are a little more Grade 3 Smiths, but there won’t be more than twenty.”

Huo Xiao snorted coldly, “If I go out now and join a random kingdom, force, or Clan at will, they’d all worship me as a super guest. The Magic Tools I refine would be even more desirable than that by numerous people. You tell me what kind of existence a Grade 3 Smith is?”

Lou Mu Yan lowered her head and chuckled, then picked up a shield made by Huo Xiao on the table, and said nonchalantly: “So what about a Grade 3 Smith? There are still very big flaws in the Spirit Treasures you’ve refined.”

1changed ‘Crystals’ to Spar’.