Chapter 4995 — Who Can Prove It

Of course, Wei Zhao's argument was a bit of a stretch when applied to a shop. A shop was, after all, open for business, quite unlike the purely private domain of a sect; forcibly imposing a sect's ways upon a shop was alarmist talk. Still, the underlying principle was much the same.

Yet Oda Zhou spoke again at once: "But from what I know, Vice Island Lord Wu did not stir up trouble without cause as you claim. The reason he brought men to seal your Tian Dan Pavilion is that your pavilion has been smuggling and selling seventh-grade pills from the Eastern Continent. Under the agreement between the Eastern Continent and the Central Island, that is a grave crime."

At this, Wei Zhao laughed outright. "Heh. This is nothing but a fabricated accusation. May I ask, Island Lord Ao, do you have any evidence?"

"My surname is Oda." Oda Zhou frowned and corrected him, then turned to look at Wu Miao. "Vice Island Lord Wu, since you are the one who exposed this matter, do you have evidence?"

Oda? Wei Zhao was taken aback. This was the first time he had ever heard the surname. Yet he had found something odd from the very first moment he heard the name Oda Zhou, and now that he learned the surname itself was uncommon, another person came at once to mind. Such a rare surname—even across the Five Great Cloud Step Islands, there could be only one household bearing it, no second. Could it be...

"Of course I have evidence!" Wu Miao leaped out with a cold sneer, holding the five seventh-grade Great Return Pills confiscated from the Tian Dan Pavilion. He handed them to Oda Zhou. "Island Lord Oda, these are the pills the Tian Dan Pavilion brazenly put up for sale. Seventh-grade pills, and of the very finest quality at that. If they were not smuggled from the Eastern Continent, then where did they come from?"

"Quite so. To refine seventh-grade Great Return Pills of such quality, one would have to be either a Mystic-rank alchemist or among the very best of seventh-grade alchemists. By rights, such an alchemist would be hard to find anywhere outside the Eastern Continent." Oda Zhou nodded. The sight of these pills had already convinced him seven or eight parts out of ten of Wu Miao's words, for this was simply the most logical inference.

Even so, Oda Zhou did not rashly jump to a conclusion. Logic was logic, but in his experience he had seen no small number of things that defied logic—and this Wei Zhao before him, who could wound Wu Miao, a peak late Profound Ascension cultivator, while only at the early Profound Ascension stage, was himself a man who defied logic.

"Island Lord Oda speaks truly. But there are exceptions to everything. Such an alchemist may be hard to find outside the Eastern Continent, but that does not mean none exists. Indeed, to put it plainly, Master Zhang Liju is not of the Eastern Continent—are you saying even he could not refine such pills?" Wei Zhao countered.

"Master Zhang Liju is an acknowledged Pill God, so naturally he is a case apart. Are you trying to tell me all these pills came from Master Zhang Liju's hands?" Wu Miao's face was full of mockery. He sneered, "Setting aside whether you even have the means to obtain Master Zhang Liju's pills, from what I know, Master Zhang Liju has not opened his furnace to refine pills on the Central Island for a long time. Even if you truly had the ability, why do these pills bear no divine sense imprint of his?"

All high-ranking alchemists possessed a divine sense imprint—and a Pill God like Zhang Liju could hardly lack one. His imprint was widely known; even laymen like Oda Zhou and Wu Miao, no alchemists themselves, could identify it.

Of course, in the present matter they had no need to identify anything, for there was simply no divine sense imprint on the pills at all.

"First, I never said these pills came from Master Zhang Liju's hands. That is your own assumption. There is truly no cure for being so stupid—though you might try taking some brain-dead pills; perhaps you could fight poison with poison." Wei Zhao offered this advice with the utmost seriousness.

"You!" Wu Miao's face, already swollen grotesquely, twisted even further out of shape. To think this brat dared mock him right in front of Oda Zhou—what audacity! He had no idea what a brain-dead pill was, but it was certainly nothing good.

Wei Zhao ignored him and went on: "Second, these pills bear no divine sense imprint at all. I wonder which of your eyes, Vice Island Lord Wu, saw me smuggle them? Could they not have been refined by me?"

"You? How could that be? If you could refine pills like these, would you still hold the position you do now?" Wu Miao snorted with contempt.

"And what position should I hold, then? I would rather like to hear Vice Island Lord Wu's esteemed opinion." Wei Zhao asked.

"Hmph. If you could refine seventh-grade Great Return Pills of the finest quality, you would at the very least be a chief alchemist of the Yellow-rank Academy on the Eastern Continent. How then would you be reduced to a single insignificant little pill shop? Even if you must boast, at least make it halfway plausible. Do you truly think such an absurd lie could fool both me and Island Lord Oda?" Wu Miao sneered.

Oda Zhou stood to one side and said nothing, but from his doubtful gaze it was clear his thoughts ran much the same as Wu Miao's. At least the first half of Wu Miao's words would seem credible to any sane person—though Oda Zhou did not rule out the exceptional. That was why he kept studying Wei Zhao, waiting to see how the man would answer.

"That you find it absurd proves nothing except the shallowness of your experience." Wei Zhao shot him a glance and sneered. "Since Vice Island Lord Wu is willing to play the running dog of the Ming Yao Sect, you must have heard Zhao Youque speak of it. My position happens to be a little higher than you imagine. As I said before, I am the master of Qing Danzi, chief alchemist of the Morning Star Academy."

Wu Miao gave a derisive laugh and was about to pour out a mockery, when Oda Zhou beside him suddenly spoke: "Who can prove it?"

At those words Wei Zhao's heart leaped with joy. That the man could ask such a question showed he was seriously weighing the possibility Wei Zhao had raised—at least he was not like Wu Miao, who scoffed the moment he heard it. Oda Zhou acted with reason and evidence; no wonder he carried such an aura of authority.

Proving it was in fact simple. All Wei Zhao had to do was refine another top-quality seventh-grade Great Return Pill, and everything would be proven beyond doubt. But this matter was not so simple after all.

To prove the point, the most direct way was nothing other than to let these people watch him refine pills on the spot. Even if Oda Zhou did not raise the demand, Wu Miao would certainly never let such a loophole pass. Otherwise, even if Wei Zhao produced another top-quality seventh-grade Great Return Pill, Wu Miao could still insist it had been smuggled from the Eastern Continent, and it would all be meaningless.