Three loud slaps that were extremely piercing to the ear were heard.

No one could react in time.

Even Venerable Bjorn didn’t have time to react.

William felt a stinging pain coming from his face. Apart from the pain, there was a bit of numbness. Finally, the corner of his mouth was red with some blood coming out, while his left cheek had lost all feeling.

"You..."

"I’m going to kill you!"

William’s anger surged into the sky. He was slapped in front of a large crowd, which was considered a huge insult to him!

He couldn’t hold back anymore.

Just when he was about to counterattack, Maxwell had already returned to his original position at an unknown time. Maxwell then said, "One must acknowledge one’s defeat when gambling. Can’t you afford to lose? You were the one who agreed that I could give you three slaps if you lost. I’m a good Samaritan who will gladly satisfy this special hobby of yours."

"Elder Thomas, what I’ve said was correct, right?"

"He agreed to the gambling stake in front of so many people, so you guys must’ve heard it too."

Maxwell’s expression was really smug!

He was extremely proud of himself.

Not only did those three slaps strike William’s face, but they also struck all those people who had been ridiculing Maxwell. It was just too satisfying! The crowd was struck to the point of being unable to say a word, and their expressions were beyond ugly to look at.

Venerable Thomas’s expression turned fierce, and his eyes looked like they were spraying out flames. He glared at Maxwell, and the aura from his body surged out ferociously, pushing Viktor off to the side. He then shouted: "Scram aside! Do you even know how to evaluate medicinal pills as a rank 8 alchemist? This kind of pill is considered perfect? It’s lacking the full recipe for the Profound Spirit Pill, so how the hell can it reach the level of perfection?!"

Extremely irritated!

Venerable Thomas surged with irritation at that thought.

He took the medicinal pill and sent out his senses. It was just like Viktor at the beginning, where he didn’t sense a single thing, so the flames in his eyes practically erupted.

Except...

The flames instantly became impotent right after.

The replacement was shocking. A shock that was unparalleled in nature! Even though he tried to cover it, he wasn’t able to hide it. His fists were clenched underneath his robe while his body shook. He then said internally: "Impossible... absolutely impossible. This cannot be a Profound Spirit Pill. The mana inside this medicinal pill is even stronger than a tier 9 pill, so how can it be a Profound Spirit Pill?"

Maxwell revealed a disdainful countenance and said, "It’s not like the more spiritual herbs you put in, the more mana energy they contain. Those old-fashioned concepts must be changed. The Sky Energy Grass is a spiritual herb that naturally absorbs mana from heaven and earth. It requires eight years from birth to reach maturity. We can say that it hasn’t lost a single drop of mana it has absorbed for those eight years. Combining other spiritual herbs with it will only cause its mana to weaken, so it’s basically an unnecessary step."

"Someone who calls himself an Alchemist Grandmaster, huh? You don’t even know such common sense..."

Maxwell said this with a forced smile.

Venerable Thomas had a really ugly look on his face. It was even uglier than William, who had been slapped three times.

Moreover...

Maxwell’s words made him unable to retort!

This was the real reason why he had such an uncomfortable feeling.

William walked forward and angrily said, "Master, even if what this kid says is correct, it’s still impossible for the medicinal properties to be fully released. He definitely must have cheated, so I refuse to acknowledge it."

"He definitely must’ve prepared that Profound Spirit Pill beforehand."

"He definitely used a lot of money to buy that Profound Spirit Pill."

William refused to believe Maxwell was capable of concocting a perfect Profound Spirit Pill.

Practically no one present believed in it.

Venerable Thomas’s gaze turned gloomy. His eyes contained a powerful force as he looked over at Maxwell. He wanted to see through Maxwell, but he wasn’t able to.

Maxwell looked at William with a cheeky look and said, "What? Are you unhappy with those three slaps? You want another three slaps to go along with it? So you really do have those special kinds of hobbies, hahaha..."

"You...!"

"Damn dog thing, compete with me one more time if you have the guts! This time, I will make you understand how powerful I am!" William said with rage while his eyes contained a strong amount of killing intent. He definitely had to wash away the shame after losing face in front of so many people in the outer sect.

Maxwell looked over at Elder Bjorn and said, "That round was considered my victory, right?"

Elder Bjorn didn’t answer that question and asked, "Are you afraid?"

"I..."

"Do you really want to watch me slap his face again?"

"Grand Elder, I feel like you’re a bit too cruel," Maxwell said with a smile. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

William shouted, "Kid, I will play bigger with you. Whoever loses this time will have their hand chopped off and then scram down the mountain!"

"Damn!"

"Your masochist tendencies are a bit too strong, huh?"

"But since you wish to challenge me, I will definitely satisfy your request. This Lord has never shied away from a challenge!" Maxwell shouted overbearingly while his body released an endless aura of arrogance. He then said right after: "Please go ahead!"

William’s eyes narrowed, and he said, "To prevent you from cheating, we shall concoct a tier 9 medicinal pill, the Dragon Pill!"

Maxwell revealed an expression of indifference and replied: "I’m fine with that."

Also at this time...

Venerable Bjorn’s voice came out a little louder: "Due to our being unable to see clearly if you cheated or not, the previous round will be considered invalid. I will personally supervise this round to make sure."

Venerable Thomas coldly scoffed and said, "Kid, I want to see how you’re going to concoct the Dragon Pill this time."

Maxwell was getting pissed off as he scolded internally: "So this is the kind of virtue you guys have, huh? Fine, this time I will slap every one of your faces until it’s swollen red!"

Venerable Bjorn’s words made him extremely pissed.

You want me to leave, huh?

Then I’m definitely going to stay here. I will let everyone see how powerful I am!

Immediately after...

Maxwell walked up to the stage.

William did the same thing.

This time, William didn’t pick the spiritual herbs first and let Maxwell pick them first.

However...

Maxwell ignored him like before and quickly chose his spiritual herbs.

"Ardent Sun Flower!"

"Dragon Rock Grass!"

"Smelting Heart Grass!"

They were all spiritual herbs containing a strong property.

He wasn’t taking one of each, but all of them – every stalk of each herb was taken off the table.

There are over ten of each herb!

"Did he lose his mind?"

"Can he control so many spiritual herbs with such intense properties?"

"This kid has definitely gone nuts."

"Hahaha... I already know he’s going to lose just by looking at the spiritual herbs he selected."

William also revealed a cold sneer while saying internally: "This kid definitely doesn’t know that the Dragon Pill requires a spiritual herb with opposing properties to balance it out. Otherwise, there’s no way the pill will condense and will definitely make the pill cauldron explode!"

Immediately after...

When William was selecting his spiritual herbs...

Maxwell already started refining with his Green Dragon Cauldron. His speed was extremely quick because the cauldron was already spurting out yellow flames. Intense auras were erupting, causing the process to be extremely difficult to control. Maxwell then roared internally: "Level 5 Overdrive!"

Thirty-two times, his base attributes were released.

Right after, Maxwell immediately consumed 800,000 mana before roaring out: "Condense for me!"

The pill cauldron gave off a humming noise.

Maxwell walked over and directly handed the medicinal pill to Venerable Thomas. He didn’t wait for William to finish concocting the pill and only said in a cold and overbearing manner: "Excuse me, can I go chop off his hand now?"