"I can give you a True Earth Grade artifact if you let me take him right now." Wen Cheng saw that Ma Rong was in contemplation, so he offered a transaction.
Seeing Wen Cheng actually offer something so expensive, Ma Rong was more than sure that there was something he wasn't revealing right now.
The other Tiger sect elders in the back started to murmur, and wonder why their sect leader would ever make such an offer. Was the kid really worth that?
Alex was stunned too. 'Did Luo Mei tell him about me? Is that why he is making such an offer?' He wanted to say something but couldn't think of what to say in front of such an important crowd.
"Sect Leader," suddenly, a voice shouted from the back. Ma Rong looked back and found it was the Great Elder who had just spoken.
"What is it, Great Elder?" she asked.
"You see, about a week ago, the Eighteenth elder came to me and talked about how fruitful that week's examination was, and that over 25 participants had passed at once." He started talking.
No one understood where this was going, so they kept listening.
"Apparently, one of those participants got a full score on the examination test. They had identified all 100 ingredients in their bag, and had managed to get a silver library token." He said.
Ma Rong seemed to know what he was alluding to, so she asked, " Are you trying to say that he is that disciple?"
Ma Rong looked at Alex and asked, " Did you get a silver library token when you entered the sect?"
"Yes, Elder lang gave me one the day I entered," Alex replied.
Ma Rong smiled. She finally had a reason to decline Wen Cheng's offer. "See, Wen Cheng, My disciple is talented in alchemy as well. Even before joining the sect, he already knew a lot about alchemy. So you should give up on trying to force him to join."
The purple robes duo were watching the ongoing drama with a little smile on their faces. Ma Rong and Wen Cheng kept going back and forth on how one wanted the disciple, and another didn't want to send him away.
The purple-robed female finally talked for the first time. "How about this then Sect Leaders? Why don't we ask the young man himself which sect he chooses?"
Ma Rong and Wen Cheng stopped arguing and thought for a second. Wen Cheng was the first to agree.
"Yes, Lady Mo is correct. We should let the disciple choose." Wen Cheng stepped forward toward Alex, who was still dazed. "Your name is Yu Ming right? If you join my sect, you will have free access to all the cultivation methods and techniques in the sect. I will also allow you to choose 1-NO, 2 artifacts from the sect treasury. And on top of that, I will make you my direct disciple."
Everyone's eyes opened wide as they heard Wen Cheng's proposition. Ma Rong was also astonished. Even the purple-robed couple's eyes were wide at what was being offered.
Amongst them all, however, nobody could top the surprise that Alex felt listening to the Tiger Sect's Sect Leader. Even though his heart said to stick with Hong Wu Sect, his brain argued that this was a brilliant chance that he could not pass.
He had joined Hong Wu Sect so he could play games and earn money, and alchemy was the best at that. But that wasn't the only way. Even by playing normally, one could earn a lot of money. If he were to join Tiger Sect right now, he could do that as well.
He was in a dilemma. Thoughts ran through his mind at a speed faster than he could understand what they were.
Ma Rong looked at Alex and saw that he was starting to get swayed. She didn't know what this disciple had aside from good talent in cultivation and the knowledge of alchemy ingredients.
From her perspective, Alex was a good disciple. Maybe even one of the better ones. But there was no way she would give out as much as Wen Cheng even for her best student.
'He definitely knows something I don't. But, what?' she couldn't understand, but she needed to do something quickly.
"Disciple, if you stay at Hong Wu Sect, I will make you my direct disciple as well, and let you live in the Sect Leader's mountain. You will have full access to both the alchemy gardens, and," she reached into her storage bag, and brought out something, "I will also give your this True-Earth Grade artifact."
The thing she took out was a large green and gold cauldron. Alex looked at the cauldron in awe. This cauldron was many times better than the one used by Kong Yuhan. It was incomparable when it came to the black cauldrons in the Alchemist Hall.
"Umm…" a new offer had arrived that left Alex speechless. Now that there was an incentive to stay at the Hong Wu Sect, he was getting more and more restless, unable to make a decision by himself.
He was close to ripping his long black hair out in frustration. Both of the offers were brilliant, so it was hard to make a choice.
Going to the Tiger sect meant being the sect leader's direct disciple, with access to 2 items from the sect treasury, and full access to all of the sect's cultivation resources.
Staying at the Hong Wu sect meant being the sect leader's direct disciple, full access to all alchemy ingredients in the 2 alchemy garden, and also get the True earth grade cauldron.
'Should I choose the Hong Wu sect since my original intent was to learn alchemy, and staying now would give me better access to the ingredients?' he thought.
He had decided. He was about to speak up when the purple-robed man walked forward and spoke.
"I don't think the young man can choose if both of you offer him something so good. So, I might have a solution to your problems, Sect leaders."