"Medicinal Cuisine... the name says it all. It’s a meal cooked using medicinal ingredients, so it’s fundamentally food. Using a kitchen knife is perfectly reasonable, wouldn’t you say?"

Mo Qi’s matter-of-fact tone snapped everyone out of their daze.

’Fine, fine, fine. You’re the expert, you’re amazing, whatever you say goes.’

It wasn’t that the crowd was incapable of accepting new things. The issue was that in everyone’s mind, even if there was a difference between Medicinal Cuisine and Elixirs, it shouldn’t be *this* absurd!

’A kitchen knife? What the hell?!’

’Are you telling me he’s actually going to treat precious Spirit Medicinal Treasures like radishes and cabbages, just dicing and mincing them with a CHOP CHOP CHOP?’

However, Mo Qi’s next move once again shattered their worldview.

"See this Ghost-faced Flower? If I asked you to refine it into a Pill, how would you process it?"

Mo Qi produced a black, bowl-sized blossom. Its petals were clustered together, uneven and bumpy, forming what looked from a distance like a ghostly face.

The sight of the Ghost-faced Flower made everyone’s expression change.

The thirteen youths exchanged glances. Feng Zhang opened his mouth, about to speak, but the Immortal Ancestor silenced him with a look.

For a moment, an awkward silence fell over the group.

"What, does no one know?" Mo Qi’s gaze swept over the thirteen youths one by one before finally landing on the Immortal Ancestor.

"Senior Feng, this is basic knowledge of medicinal properties. If they don’t even know this, I see no reason to continue."

Mo Qi’s words brought expressions of indignation to the thirteen youths’ faces.

’Don’t you have a goddamn clue why we’re not talking?’

’Who would be interested in a worthless Spirit Medicine like the Ghost-faced Flower?’

’It’s completely unusable in alchemy, okay?!’

’*That’s* the basic knowledge of medicinal properties!’

’We’re trying not to embarrass you!’

’But since you’re so determined to act all high and mighty, don’t blame us for putting you in your place.’

Immediately, one of them stepped forward. "The Ghost-faced Flower, also known as a pseudo-Spirit Medicine, contains equal parts deadly poison and wondrous remedy. It cannot withstand high temperatures or pressure. Furthermore, the moment it sustains any external damage, the poison instantly spreads throughout the entire plant, turning it into a lethal toxic flower. It’s completely unusable in alchemy."

After speaking, the young man stared at Mo Qi, as if to say, ’I’m right, aren’t I?’

Mo Qi smiled, his tone nonchalant. "Unusable in alchemy, you say? Are you sure?"

"Of course!" the young man replied without hesitation, his tone firm.

This was the accumulated wisdom of countless generations of Pill Masters, knowledge that had stood the test of time. It could not possibly be wrong.

When Alchemy Masters refine a Spirit Medicine to extract its Medicinal Power, they most commonly use one of two methods: refinement by high-temperature fire, or physical separation.

The trouble with the Ghost-faced Flower, however, was that neither high-temperature processing nor physical separation could prevent its poison from spreading through the entire plant.

Therefore, even though the wondrous remedy contained within the Ghost-faced Flower was indeed potent, it was universally regarded by Alchemy Masters as a worthless Spirit Medicine.

"Is that what all of you think?" Mo Qi’s gaze swept over the crowd.

Including Feng Zhang, everyone nodded.

"In that case, don’t blink. Watch closely, and learn."

With that, Mo Qi tossed the Ghost-faced Flower into the air. The Obsidian Kitchen Knife in his hand instantly became a streak of light, darting and weaving around the flower in the brief moment it took to rise and fall.

The entire process took less than a second.

When the Ghost-faced Flower landed back in Mo Qi’s hand, the black, ghostly face was gone, replaced by a fiery, vibrant red.

The red faded, and each petal became translucent, its surface covered in a network of fine veins.

Everyone could even see the sap flowing within the petals. The flower looked so delicate it might shatter at a touch, yet it remained perfectly intact.

A crisp, unusual fragrance wafted from the Ghost-faced Flower in Mo Qi’s hand, invigorating all who smelled it.

At Mo Qi’s feet lay a scattered pile of fine black dust.

Where the dust touched the ground, it corroded the earth with a SIZZLE, releasing puffs of white smoke and a sound that set everyone’s teeth on edge.

"This..."

Everyone was stunned speechless.

’What just happened?’

’I couldn’t see a thing!’

’Why does the Ghost-faced Flower look like this now?’

"Here, take a look."

Mo Qi casually tossed the Ghost-faced Flower to the nearest youth—the very same one who had just declared it unusable in alchemy.

The youth instinctively caught the flower with great care. He probed it with his Divine Sense, and his face immediately drained of color.

"How is this possible?! Where’s the deadly poison?!" the youth cried out in shock.

To his astonishment, he found that the Ghost-faced Flower in his hand no longer contained even a trace of poison. To be more precise, the poison that was once there had simply vanished.

All that remained was the wondrous remedy!

"What? The poison is gone?"

Hearing the youth’s exclamation, everyone, Feng Zhang included, immediately crowded around.

As the Feng Family’s most skilled Alchemy Master, his understanding of the Ghost-faced Flower was naturally far more profound than that of the thirteen disciples.

Without a word, he snatched the flower and extended his perception to its absolute limit, examining the Ghost-faced Flower from every conceivable angle.

He discovered that the flower’s petals were now nearly half as thin as they were originally!

Connecting this to Mo Qi’s earlier movements and the black dust at his feet, an unbelievable answer surfaced in Feng Zhang’s mind.

’Did this guy actually just... shave off the poisonous parts of the Ghost-faced Flower?!’

The thought had barely formed before he dismissed it.

’Impossible!’

’The moment a Ghost-faced Flower sustains even the slightest damage, its poison spreads through the entire plant.’

"You... How did you do it?" Feng Zhang, unable to figure it out, couldn’t stop himself from asking.

Mo Qi rolled his eyes. "What do you mean, how? Didn’t you see the whole thing? The poison in a Ghost-faced Flower is concentrated on the surface of its petals, so I just sliced it off."

’Sli... Sliced it off?!’

’Sliced it off, my ass!’

’Are you an idiot, or do you take us for idiots?’

"How did you prevent the poison from spreading?" Feng Zhang asked again.

"Why would the poison spread?" Mo Qi replied, looking at him like he was an idiot.

Mo Qi’s counter-question left Feng Zhang and the others completely stunned.

’Damn it, what kind of stupid question is that?!’

’Look at this Ghost-faced Flower! You’ve sliced it until it’s translucent! Heaven knows how much damage it’s sustained, it must have...’

’Wait a minute!’

’Damage?!’

Something suddenly clicked for Feng Zhang. He focused his perception on the Ghost-faced Flower once more.

’That’s not right!’

’Why can’t I find a single trace of injury on this flower?!’

If he hadn’t known beforehand that this was a Ghost-faced Flower, he wouldn’t have even recognized it.

’Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!’

The same exclamation echoed three times in Feng Zhang’s mind.

’It can’t be that ridiculous!’

’Could it be... that in that single, brief instant, Mo Qi managed to slice off the poisonous surface layer without inflicting any actual harm on the Ghost-faced Flower itself?!’

’What kind of terrifying precision is that?!’

’No, this has nothing to do with precision. This is simply impossible!’

And yet, Mo Qi had done the impossible.

"How... how many cuts did you make?" Feng Zhang asked, swallowing hard.

Before Mo Qi could answer, the Immortal Ancestor, who had been silent until now, spoke.

"He made a total of thirty-seven thousand, six hundred and thirty-two cuts. Not a single one was wasted."