He especially felt that it was a very bad idea to claim that Money Body might not be able to defeat him because Money Body might want to test that claim and verify it. So instead of calling Money Body the riff raff between the two of them, he lowered himself, belittled himself, and praised Money Body.
This time, his tactic seemed to work because Money Body smiled as he said, "Of course, I can use the four Divine Positions. As for you, I am willing to bet that you can’t use two out of your four Divine Positions.’
This bet was too easy to win, and Loki felt tempted to take it. But he quickly gave up on the idea of stirring up trouble.
Instead of rising to the occasion and proving his worth, he chuckled dryly and said, "You’re right, great cultivator. Your eyesight and judgment are unmatched."
But instead of feeling pride, Money Body frowned when he heard what Loki said. He frowned and glared at Loki for a while.
When he finally decided to speak, he said, "Do you think I am a fool?"
Now Loki didn’t know what to say. He asked himself, thinking, ’What have I done to offend him now?’
He didn’t know what Money Body was talking about, but he still shook his head and said with certainty, "You’re definitely not a fool, sir."
But Money Body sneered and said, "If I am not a fool, why would I believe that you can only use one Divine Position at a time out of four? Do you think I’m easy to fool?"
Loki groaned inwardly and thought, ’What can I say that will be good enough for you? Do you just want to pick trouble with me?’
This time, he didn’t know what to say to mollify Money Body. He couldn’t admit that he had been lying earlier, and he couldn’t continue to lie now, as that would be treating Money Body like a fool, so he was speechless for a while before he could come up with something to say.
After three seconds, he managed to say, "I think there is a misunderstanding here.’
His words made Money Body chuckle in amusement. Then the money cultivator said, "You’re probably right. There is probably a misunderstanding here. It should be similar to that misunderstanding Forced Exchange and three other money cultivators had of you when you chose to run."
"They thought you were weak, so they pursued you to kill you. It was later that they realized that they had misunderstood you. By then, it was already too late."
"Now you’re doing the same thing. You’re pretending to be weak so that I will misunderstand you."
"And somehow, you thought I would believe that you are weak, even though I know that you killed those three money cultivators, raided their Cave Heaven, took their Divine Metacs, took over their Divine Positions, and forced Forced Exchange to come to a deal with you."
Then he glared at Loki as he said, "Now, I’ll ask again. Do you take me for a fool?"
Loki quickly replied, saying, "I’ve already answered this question. You’re not a fool, sir. Your eyesight and judgement are unmatched.’
Of course, Money Body didn’t believe him. But the money cultivator didn’t continue to press him on that.
Instead, he said, "Is that so? Then tell me. How many of your Divine Positions can you use together?"
The answer to this question is his true goal for having this conversation with Loki. This is because Loki’s mastery of the pathway will determine how much of a threat he is.
In fact, he has already taken Loki and his secret alliance seriously. One of the reasons he decided to get a fourth Divine Position was that he considers the secret alliance a threat that he has to be prepared against.
The other reason he got the Fourth Divine Position was that he had a lot of time on his hands, and because he had acquired certain information about the threat that he would encounter in Oceania.
Now that he has four Divine Positions, Loki’s secret alliance can’t be a deadly threat to him. However, he has yet to determine how to deal with Loki, which is why he is pressing Loki into showing some of his fangs.
Unfortunately for him, Loki was never going to give him the full information he wanted. Loki didn’t even consider saying the truth.
Without thinking about the answer, Loki looked at him and said with utmost sincerity, "I can use two of them together."
Money Body nodded his head and said, "I believe you. I believe that you can combine the power of two of your Divine Positions. As for whether you can only use two of them or not, I am still on the fence about that."
Then he waved his hand to cut Loki off before saying, "You don’t need to explain anything to me. In time, we will see just how many Divine Positions you can use. I’m sure that we will encounter enough danger in Oceania to make you reveal what you’re capable of."
Inwardly, Loki rolled his eyes as he thought, ’Continue to ride high and mighty. I’m not afraid of you. As long as you do your job well and take the mission seriously, I won’t bother with you.’
Outwardly, he behaved like a meek subordinate as he said, "I will do my best. I hope I won’t disappoint you."
In response, Money Body shook his head and said, "You can’t disappoint me. As long as you don’t drag us down, everything should be fine."
Then he ignored Loki and said to the other two people in the room, "Let’s introduce ourselves."
Nether Flame said, "I am Nether Flame."
The other person said, "I am Blood Sword."
This person was a woman. But she wasn’t the fat, ugly, and chitinous woman that he was familiar with. In fact, Ant Hill was nowhere in sight.