Chapter 4776 — He Who Refuses to Honor a Bet Is a Fool

"Simple. Didn't you say you could refine a hundred pills in a single hour? Then let's have a contest—one hour, one pill from me, a hundred from you. Whoever fails to deliver never gets to see Junior Sister Yudie again. Well? Dare you take it?" Ren Zhongyuan sneered. He would sooner die than believe Wei Zhao could refine a hundred pills in an hour, and this was the perfect way to cut the boy down to size, to make him slap his own face!

"Heh. That's a contest method for the ages—I'll credit you for having the nerve to say it aloud." Wei Zhao gave a faint smile and nodded at once. "Very well. I've had a soft heart since childhood, so I'll cater to your little display of ego this once. My only worry is that you'll lose and still refuse to honor the bet."

"Hmph! A word once spoken cannot be overtaken by a team of four horses!" Without another word Ren Zhongyuan tossed the pill formula to Wei Zhao, terrified the other might renege. However one looked at it, the outcome was assured—refuse to honor the bet? Only a fool would refuse!

The others exchanged bewildered looks, but Huo Yudie and Ning Xuefei showed not the slightest worry on Wei Zhao's behalf. They had seen him open his furnace and refine pills with their own eyes; on this matter they had more faith in him than he had in himself.

"Good, then let's all pitch in and prepare the materials, and let Wei Zhao and Ren Zhongyuan each fire up their furnaces!" At Liu Ziqi's command, the East Continent disciples spontaneously began to assist the two of them. Their lives were at stake, and everyone wanted to be diligent and put on a good showing—otherwise, if the antidote pills came up short at the end, what if they were the one left out in the cold?

Back in his room, after having the materials sent over, Wei Zhao shut the door and formally began refining. Though this was his first time refining this particular antidote pill, a mere fifth-grade pill was truly no difficulty at all for the Wei Zhao of today.

What was more, the Divine Farmer Cauldron had just been upgraded by Han Jingyi—refining fifth-grade pills was now a breeze and a joy. Especially since it could now accommodate large-batch refinement: where before he could place at most ten portions of materials at a time, now he could place thirty in one go!

Amid the crowd's anxious waiting, in less than an hour's time, there was not the faintest stir from Ren Zhongyuan's side, while Wei Zhao had already pushed open his door and stepped out.

"How did it go?" Liu Ziqi hurried over to meet him in person. The thought of the wager Wei Zhao had just made with Ren Zhongyuan set her heart pounding. She should not have hesitated so much earlier—she ought to have stepped forward and quashed that bet outright. After all, if Wei Zhao really failed to refine a hundred pills, how would he ever see her disciple again?

Wei Zhao smiled and handed her a rather large box. "Fortunately, I did not fail my task—one hundred and twenty pills. That should be enough to detoxify everyone. Please take them and distribute them."

The moment the words landed, everyone froze for a beat, then the place erupted. Besides being overjoyed, the way they looked at Wei Zhao was as though they were staring at a monster. To mass-produce a hundred and twenty fifth-grade pills in under an hour—was this thing even human?!

With no time for anything else, everyone immediately snatched up a detoxification pill and swallowed it. Once the medicinal power had dissolved, they found that the faint, elusive poison qi in their bodies had indeed vanished completely. At this, even their last shred of misgiving was dispelled, and they crowded around Wei Zhao in a flood of gratitude and tears. Never mind everything else—he had saved their lives, after all!

Earlier they had ganged up with Ren Zhongyuan to squeeze Wei Zhao because they thought Ren Zhongyuan was the sturdy thigh to cling to, and because Wei Zhao really did look suspicious as the poisoner. But now, looking at it this way, Wei Zhao's thigh was more than ten thousand times sturdier than Ren Zhongyuan's—so who cared who had done the poisoning!

This fellow was at least a fifth-grade alchemist. Not to hurry over and curry favor with such a sturdy thigh would be absolute foolishness.

Faced with these East Continent disciples who swayed like grass in the wind, Wei Zhao, Huo Yudie, and Ning Xuefei were caught between laughter and tears. The East Continent Academy might be a gathering place of geniuses, but no place is ever free of such weathervanes—be strong and they are your friends, be weak and they are your enemies. Only the weak understand the hardship of surviving in the cracks.

Still, this was just as well. At least it was better than everyone siding with Ren Zhongyuan to a man. From here on, if Ren Zhongyuan wanted to stir up trouble and turn them against Wei Zhao, it would not be nearly so easy as before.

Of course, not everyone was a weathervane. The faces of Yi Xiaotian, Yao Jiali, and their ilk were truly a sight to behold. Taking Wei Zhao's detoxification pill felt like swallowing a fly—their hearts were steeped in bitter frustration, yet they had no choice but to pinch their noses and gulp it down...

After everyone had been successfully detoxified, and some time had passed, Ren Zhongyuan finally pushed the door open and stepped out, his eyes bloodshot. He spotted Wei Zhao in the crowd at a glance and his heart lurched—but when he saw that Wei Zhao's hands were empty, he immediately stuck his tail up again.

"Haha, I knew you were all bluster! A hundred pills in an hour, was it? Hmph, now you don't even have one. If I were you, I'd have jumped into the sea out of shame long ago—how could you even show your face standing here? There's really no one else with a hide as thick as yours!" Ren Zhongyuan seized the chance to pour out a stream of mockery.

"Oh? And how about you—how many did you refine?" Wei Zhao asked mildly in return.

"No more, no less—exactly one! I say what I mean and mean what I say. Even if it's only one, it's still far better than a fraud like you who opens his mouth about a hundred and then can't produce a single one!" Ren Zhongyuan laughed triumphantly and held that one detoxification pill high toward the crowd. "Who wants this detoxification pill? First come, first served—the next one will take another hour!"

Ren Zhongyuan had assumed that with this shout, everyone present would come flocking, and that perhaps even Huo Yudie would see Wei Zhao for what he really was and turn into his embrace. But the result was that—never mind the Huo Yudie he pined for—not a single person among the others stirred in the slightest.

Only at this moment did Ren Zhongyuan suddenly sense that something was off. Why was everyone looking at him so strangely, with not a trace of the excitement one would show at sight of a lifeline—and instead a look as though they were watching an idiot?

Especially Yi Xiaotian and the others—even their expressions had gone wrong, as if they were desperately trying to remind him of something, yet he could not for the life of him work out what. Ren Zhongyuan could not help but flounder. What on earth was going on here?!

"Junior Sister Yudie, I'll take it upon myself to give this one to you first. I think you must understand my feelings by now?" Though Ren Zhongyuan was muttering inwardly, he still put on an air of devoted infatuation and threaded his way through the crowd, intending to place the detoxification pill into Huo Yudie's hand himself and steal a moment of intimacy.

But before he could reach Huo Yudie, Liu Ziqi had already blocked his way. She gave him a look as though regarding a clown and said coldly, "Save your effort. Wei Zhao refined a hundred and twenty detoxification pills long ago and distributed them—everyone has already been cured. You may as well keep that one for yourself! If we had really waited for you to come out, we would all have been dead long ago!" (To be continued.)