Greasy. Li Luo was almost disgusted with himself. “Greasy” was a word that best fit mongrels like Shen Jinxiao. How could an urbane, righteous gentleman like himself be greasy?!
"Mengmeng, my heart was already breaking when I saw how hard you were cultivating. Your crushing words have brought it to the brink of completely shattering. Anyway, you must be tired. As your leader, I came to show concern out of the goodness of my heart! How could you attack me like that?!" he cried sorrowfully.
Bai Mengmeng was flustered by his accusations. "Sorry, Leader," she said, her head hanging. "I didn't mean to attack you. I just... spoke too casually from the heart."
"..."
This was like a second bolt to Li Luo's heart. So... you DID think that in your heart?
He shoved the cup unceremoniously over to her. "Drink it."
She hastily took it and began to carefully sip from it, sneaking glances up at him.
He shook his head. Looked like he had chosen the wrong approach. Clearly, there was not much point trying to butter up the butterfly girl. Perhaps a more direct approach was in order.
"Ahem...
"I heard Mentor Chi Chan say that you researched many formulas before, even a 4-star formula."
She nodded a little shyly. "It's nothing much. They're all fourth-grade or below."
"That's already fabulous. You're still so young; there's so much room to grow. You'll definitely be able to make even better formulas in the future," he said heartily.
"Yes! Thank you, Leader," she said, her sunny smile as sweet as a spoonful of honey.
"And what happens," Li Luo said, so casually that he could have been yawning, "with those formulas?"
"My house takes them," she told him earnestly. "Most are sold to the villas. Our Bai family doesn't really hold any stake in the spirit liquids and purifying lights market."
Li Luo felt his stomach plunge with anxiety at missed opportunities. Regardless, he had expected this. Clearly, Bai Mengmeng did not know the worth of those formulas, but the Bai family behind her did.
"Leader, are you interested in spirit liquids as well?" she asked him with wide, guileless eyes.
"Er... nope. Just asking."
He had originally intended to weasel some high-star grade formula out of Bai Mengmeng so he could use it for the Suncreek Villa. It would definitely be worth a fortune, a fortune that the Suncreek Villa could not afford otherwise.
But abusing the relationship with Bai Mengmeng to get such an unfair deal would feel like bullying. He couldn't bring himself to swindle such a gentle creature.
Ultimately, neither he nor the Suncreek Villa could offer anything of value.
His enthusiasm cooled as his thinking crystallized. Bringing the conversation to a smooth end, he walked over to a refining platform and gathered some ingredients to refine spirit liquids.
Li Luo could already refine second-grade spirit liquids. Given how much stronger he had grown recently, he decided to attempt third-grade spirit liquids.
However, his failures were thorough. Third-grade liquids were a whole scale harder than second-grade liquids.
He was going to need a lot more practice.
The 12 Step Weave and spirit liquid formulas were weighing heavily on his mind today, and his practice went even worse than usual because of this. He even failed at the first step a few times, causing the entire refining to fail.
Boom!
A stray surge of energy shattered the crystal flask in his hand, the spilled liquid's glow rapidly fading to a disappointing dark-green. A merge failure.
Li Luo put it aside, shaking his head in frustration. Today was not a good day for practice.
He said goodbye to Bai Mengmeng and prepared to leave.
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