143: The little cotton-padded jacket is letting in the wind.

"Why should I believe you?"

Lu Zhenfeng didn't believe Feng Ming's bluffing at all.

Feng Ming, however, was undeterred and looked certain. "It's not about why, but that you can only believe me; besides me, you have no other choice."

Lu Zhenfeng was dismissive. "Don't make yourself sound so impressive. Why wouldn't I have other choices?"

Feng Ming began to laugh.

"City Lord, if you truly had any, you wouldn't have let your wife lie on her bed for all these years. Just now, you also said it took countless efforts over these years to obtain this one set of ingredients. How can you guarantee you'll gather the remaining nine sets while she's still alive?"

"You!"

Lu Zhenfeng was suddenly speechless.

If he could have gathered the other ingredients, there wouldn't have been no progress for so many years.

Feng Ming said with certainty.

"You know very well that you can't gather them all, yet you firmly believe that this Medicinal Pill has only a ten percent success rate. To pursue absolute success, you must gather ten sets of ingredients, otherwise you wouldn't take the risk. But you... are out of time."

Lu Zhenfeng's expression was cold: "So what if I am!"

"Even if in the end I still only have this one set of ingredients, I would still find a Ninth-Rank Alchemist to refine it. As for you, I cannot bet everything on you just because of a single sentence."

"Why not?"

Feng Ming laughed.

"You are but a Sixth-Grade Alchemist. Where on earth do you get such courage?"

Lu Zhenfeng was fuming with rage.

Feng Ming said: "Actually, it's different, City Lord. When you look for others, you are pleading with them. But now, I am the one pleading with you. If others fail, you can't say anything and just have to suffer the loss. If I fail, I'll have to drag the entire Feng Family down with me."

"They have no price to pay and can afford to fail. But for me, the price is immense; I simply cannot afford to fail."

At this point, Feng Ming looked at Lu Zhenfeng and asked: "So, do you think it's safer to place your hope in someone for whom success or failure has no impact, or in someone who must succeed and cannot fail?"

This time, Lu Zhenfeng did not immediately retort, but fell silent.

If it were as Feng Ming said, his chances of choosing Feng Ming were indeed higher; after all, no one would really joke with their own life.

After hearing Feng Ming's explanation, the others didn't object either, even finding it quite reasonable.

The Sect Master and Elder Xu looked at each other. The Sect Master said, "Old Xu, how much confidence do you have in this soul settling pill?"

Hearing this, Elder Xu scratched his head awkwardly. "What confidence could I have? I don't even know how to refine this thing."

The Sect Master nodded. "If even you don't know how, yet Feng Ming is so confident, could his level be higher than a Sixth-Grade Alchemist? Is he a Seventh-Grade?"

"This!"

Elder Xu was no longer calm. He was a Sixth-Grade Alchemist and naturally knew how difficult the leap from sixth to Seventh-Grade was.

Elder Xu was becoming a bit restless.

As a Sixth-Grade Alchemist, no one knew better than him how difficult it was to step from a Sixth-Grade Alchemist to a Seventh-Grade.

Was Feng Ming really a Seventh-Grade Alchemist at such a young age?

Not far away, at the Hua Clan Merchant House.

Hua Dieer also nodded repeatedly: "Feng Ming is right!"

"According to his logic, I think choosing Feng Ming is safer."

"I have to say, he's very silver-tongued. If you think about it carefully, you'll see he's analyzing from his own perspective, not Lu Zhenfeng's."

"Lu Zhenfeng doesn't care about his life at all. Relatively speaking, he cares more about his wife's safety."

A person in the shadows said.

Hua Dieer did not agree, "But for him to dare to stand up at this time and do such a thing is enough to show that he cares deeply about Lu An'an."

"Let's put it this way, as things stand now, even if he does nothing, it won't affect his relationship with Lu An'an. Lu Zhenfeng will eventually agree to their marriage later on."

"But now, for Lu An'an's sake, he's willing to risk infuriating Lu Zhenfeng and being killed just to do this. Isn't that point more important?"

The person in the shadows didn't speak, but after a while, they laughed and said: "As expected, a girl's perspective on things is just different from us men."

Just when everyone felt Feng Ming's words were reasonable, Lu Zhenfeng spoke again.

"I admit you have a point, but I still cannot risk my wife's life."

"Give me the ingredients now, and I can pretend nothing happened. Otherwise, don't blame me for being impolite."

Feng Ming looked helpless and turned to look at the Sect Master and Elder Xu nearby.

"Sect Master, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As long as you help me hold back the City Lord, once I finish refining the pill, you will be a great hero."

"Are you sure you want to pass up such a huge favor?"

The Sect Master hesitated.

He understood Feng Ming's meaning. If he chose to stand on Feng Ming's side and Feng Ming succeeded, Lu Zhenfeng would not only not be angry, but would be deeply grateful to him instead.

He might even become an honored guest of the Lu Family.

Because he would have cured the City Lord's wife, today's slight offense wouldn't matter at all.

But what if Feng Ming failed?

The Sect Master was momentarily torn.

If he really intervened and Feng Ming succeeded, it would indeed be a massive favor.

If he failed, it would mean offending the City Lord, and life wouldn't be easy in the future.

At this moment, Lu An'an's voice rang out.

"Father, please believe Feng Ming just this once. He isn't someone who acts recklessly; he wouldn't do something he wasn't sure of."

Lu Zhenfeng said angrily: "And what if he can't do it?"

Hearing this, Lu An'an said: "Father, so what if he can't? We won't be able to gather the remaining ingredients anyway. We can't leave the hope of Mother's survival until the very last moment, can we?"

"If we fail now, we still have time to think of other ways. If we wait until the end, I'm afraid we won't even have time for that."

While speaking, Lu An'an had already walked to Feng Ming's side.

She glanced at Feng Ming, her gaze firm. "Father, she is not only your wife but also our mother. I believe Feng Ming won't let me down."

Saying this, Lu An'an knelt on the ground.

"Father, I don't want Mother to stay lying in bed for the rest of her life!"

"No matter what, I choose to believe him today. If you insist on not agreeing, then you'll have to step over your daughter's corpse."

Seeing this, Lu Qianqian also knelt down.

"Father, I also believe Young Master Feng. Please just let him try."

"You...!"

Lu Zhenfeng looked at his two daughters, feeling an unspeakable despair in his heart. Other people's little quilted vests were warm and considerate.

His little quilted vests—damn it, both of them were leaking.

Feng Ming was also somewhat moved seeing this. "Fine, forget about these little quilted vests; they're leaking badly. Better to have more sons in the future; if they're disobedient, you can give them a good thrashing. Daughters... forget it, you get angry enough to die but still can't bring yourself to strike them."