My Master Knows It All

Cao Zhen once again emerged from Elder Copper Plate's cave mansion, only to find that the Immortal Cloud Carriage that had brought him there had already left. If he wanted to return to Four Treasures Peak, he had no choice but to walk to the Immortal Cloud Carriage's station.

"Zhonghua Cloud, let me check the backup of the richest man in Ma." Cao Zhen remembered about making money and suddenly recalled that there was a capitalist's backup in the Zhonghua Cloud. He immediately downloaded all the backups of this Ma's richest man's "996" blessings, thick black studies, and spiritual chicken soup MAX.

"Damn, that's so dark!" Cao Zhen, sorting through the Ma's richest man's business backups, couldn't help but exclaim, "To make money, one has to seize every opportunity to earn even the smallest amount, the poor are actually the biggest consumer group..."

Cao Zhen sighed all the way down the mountain until he reached the waiting spot, expecting to be alone, but was surprised to see six children under the age of ten gathered under the sign.

The reason he knew they were under ten was that these children were still wearing the clothes of the Hundred Peaks Sect's Taoist Institution for immortal cultivation.

According to the rules of the Hundred Peaks Sect, children under ten can only go to the Taoist Institution for the most basic immortal cultivation education. After turning ten, each peak will set out conditions for recruiting disciples, and these apprentices of the Taoist Institution will then take exams to enter different peaks and become disciples of a Peak Master, depending on their own circumstances.

The six children frowned intently at a scroll laid out in front of them, among them a little chubby kid muttered to himself, "Is there really a third combination for successful pill creation? If we can't figure it out, Master will punish us again tomorrow."

Cao Zhen, also waiting idly for the carriage, approached to see what was troubling the six children about their schoolwork.

The scroll at this time had been fully spread out by the six children, revealing the names of thirty-six herbs, with a note beside them: With these herbs, how many pills can be concocted?

"Six kinds," Cao Zhen said subconsciously after considering the pill analysis knowledge from the Great Hollow Scripture.

"Impossible!" the little chubby boy looked up at Cao Zhen and said, "Our teacher said that at most, four kinds of pills could be concocted."

"Oh," Cao Zhen, not wanting to argue with a child, turned his gaze toward the distance, searching for traces of the Immortal Cloud Carriage.

The little chubby boy, taken aback to see Cao Zhen had no counter to his statement, stared blankly, while the smallest and weakest among the other five children sized up Cao Zhen before whispering to the chubby boy, tugging at his clothes, "Liu Fatty, he is wearing clothes of a Peak Master."

The chubby boy and the others immediately took another look at Cao Zhen, and their eyes began to light up.

The green robe with the Embroidered Mountain Peak! That was a garment only a Peak Master of the Hundred Peaks Sect could wear! It signified the status and identity of a Peak Master!

Peak Master! To many, it was a lofty existence!

The education the children received had only conveyed that a Peak Master was a lofty existence, and any one of them might become their master in the future.

As to which peaks were not that powerful, many of the children were unaware, naturally not knowing that the strength of Four Treasures Peak's Peak Master was even inferior to that of the Senior Disciple of Starshine Peak.

The children at this time only felt that the young man sitting lazily on the big blue stone waiting for the carriage was like an eminent peak itself.

The earlier Liu Fatty's eyes now held a trace of panic; he had just contradicted a Peak Master! Would the latter seek retribution?

The small and skinny child mustered the courage to approach Cao Zhen, first saluting with a respectful cupped fist and bending at the waist, then whispered, "Greetings, Peak Master. Just now, you mentioned there are six kinds of pills, may I ask if you were teasing us?"

Cao Zhen surveyed the six children and noticed that although the clothes they wore were not lavish, the fabric... was much nicer than that of any of his disciples'.

"Do you want to know the answer?" Cao Zhen's mind flashed with the business methods of the wealthiest horse merchants, his eyes smiling as he looked at the six little kids in front of him, and after seeing their unanimous nodding he said, "One pill prescription, one tael of spirit stone."

The six children were once again stunned in place, and it was Liu the fatty who after a while said, "Peak Master, we don't have that much money."

Cao Zhen sighed, having originally planned to squeeze some spiritual money from these kids to bet a little more at the gambling house, but now it seemed he had been too optimistic.

Seeing Cao Zhen sigh, Liu the fatty thought he was about to leave on his sword and quickly blurted out, "I have ten spiritual coins, if we pool together we might have about fifty spiritual coins."

Cao Zhen calculated in his mind, a hundred spiritual coins could be exchanged for one tael of spirit stone, and fifty spiritual coins were roughly half a tael of spirit stone, better to have some than none.

"But if we give it to the Peak Master, we won't have any spiritual money left," said Liu the fatty timidly, looking up at Cao Zhen and whispering, "If we don't do well on tomorrow's homework, we will still be punished by our teacher."

Cao Zhen couldn't help but laugh, this kid shouldn't be cultivating immortality, he should be doing business! This was a clear case of bargaining!

"I'll cover your homework answers for a month," Cao Zhen extended his open palm.

Liu the fatty collected the spiritual coins from others and, while handing them over, still asked uneasily, "Do you keep your word, Peak Master?"

"My Four Treasures Peak is big and prosperous, do you think I need your few spiritual coins?" Cao Zhen happily took the spiritual coins, then picked up a brush and quickly wrote down six pill recipes on one child's homework, saying, "I, the Peak Master, am merely helping you out because you seem pitiful."

The six kids thought his reasoning made sense, surely a Peak Master with immense wealth wouldn't care about their fifty spiritual coins.

"But... our teacher said these ingredients can at most make four kinds of pill prescriptions," Liu the fatty looked at the six pill configurations on the homework with some worry and said, "Peak Master, is it really possible to make six? The teacher's punishment really hurts."

"The teacher said four because he believes you can only make four," Cao Zhen re-examined the scroll of ingredients and said, "The correct answer is actually seven, but the seventh is too difficult to make, and telling you would make your teacher suspect you cheated. Six should be no problem!"

The kids looked at each other for a moment. Seeing Cao Zhen's serious expression, they felt that a Peak Master probably wouldn't lie.

Still, the teacher's authority made them a bit anxious.

"Peak Master... if, and I mean if," Liu the fatty said nervously as he rubbed his hands together, "what do we do if the teacher says the answer is wrong? That's all our pocket money for the year..."

"If you really get punished because of it, tell him it was the Peak Master of Four Treasures Peak who guided you," Cao Zhen weighed the spiritual coins in his hand and said, "Let him come find me."

Liu the fatty felt emboldened by Cao Zhen's words and also thought the Peak Master was right, the teacher probably thought concocting four types was their limit, and if they presented six, the teacher would be delighted!

"My ride is here, I should get going," Cao Zhen expertly hopped onto the Immortal Cloud Carriage, tossing the driver one spiritual coin as the fare, and left quickly with the Immortal Cloud Carriage.

The kids watched the departing Immortal Cloud Carriage, all marveling that a figure of the Peak Master's status would actually ride a public Immortal Cloud Carriage! They had only heard from their teacher that important figures usually kept a low profile, but they'd never imagined it to be to such an extent! If the teacher knew they had been instructed by the Peak Master, even if the teacher was an Elder of the Hundred Peaks Sect, he would surely envy their fortune!

Sitting on the Immortal Cloud Carriage, Cao Zhen thought to himself, whether helping kids with homework or making spirit talismans, this way of making money was not quick enough! Before he could compete with Starshine Peak, there was no way to have enough capital for betting at the gambling house!