“Young Hero Ling, what brings you here today? The events at the plaza a month ago are still vivid in my mind. Your heroic figure lingers in Yunya’s thoughts,” Princess Yunya said, her flattery delivered with remarkable finesse.
“Princess Yunya, you flatter me. I’m here for a simple reason, to trouble you with finding some items,” Ling Xiao replied, cutting straight to the point, uninterested in flirtation or bonding. He handed over a list he had prepared, detailing not only the required herbs but also a design for the pill packaging.
People judge by appearances, and horses by their saddles.
Pills, too, depend on presentation.
Good packaging could elevate a pill’s perceived value.
Though it added no real benefit, martial artists fell for it.
Packaging was cheap, but it could significantly boost sales.
“Young Hero Ling, are these for refining pills?” Yunya asked with a smile.
Ling Xiao nodded. “Exactly. With your wit, it’s not hard to guess. While I was in seclusion, Divine Phoenix Academy has been aggressive, trying to crush Qingxu Academy. I didn’t plan to bully them, but enough is enough. This time, I’ll drive Divine Phoenix Academy out of the pill market, or my name isn’t Ling Xiao!”
“You’re the one refining? Not that old master?” Yunya asked, stunned.
“Is there a difference?” Ling Xiao’s words made it clear.
Yunya could hardly believe Ling Xiao was such a skilled alchemist, never considering it before.
She assumed he was apprenticed to a master.
Ling Xiao didn’t clarify. Such a misunderstanding wasn’t bad; letting others think he had powerful backing worked in his favour.
“Heh, no difference at all. Since Young Hero Ling needs these items, we’ll do our best to get them,” Yunya said with a smile.
Ling Xiao shook his head. “Best to get them now. I can pay extra. If the materials aren’t complete, a partial batch is fine, and the rest can come later.”
“Young Hero Ling, no need for extra payment. As per our agreement, you get everything at Tianlong Auction House at half price,” Yunya said, fully committed to helping him.
The list Ling Xiao provided involved over a hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones.
Many materials weren’t in stock, as they had been supplied to Divine Phoenix Academy.
Fulfilling Ling Xiao’s request was challenging for her.
Yet she agreed.
In her view, it was worth abandoning Divine Phoenix Academy as a partner to secure Ling Xiao.
Not just because of the alchemist supposedly behind him.
More importantly, Tianlong Auction House existed for a grand plan, and Ling Xiao could be a key part of it.
For that plan, losing some profit was worthwhile.
“Princess Yunya, you’re truly generous. In that case, please prepare materials for a hundred mid-grade Heavenly Spirit Pills as well,” Ling Xiao added after a moment.
Mid-grade Heavenly Spirit Pills were high-grade Yellow Rank pills, only refinable by high-grade Yellow Rank alchemists.
These were the highest-grade pills Sun Shang could produce.
The materials for high-grade Yellow Rank pills were exorbitantly expensive, hundreds or thousands of times costlier than those on Ling Xiao’s initial list.
This request sparked anger in Yunya’s heart.
“Give you a deal, and you push for more? That’s too much,” she thought.
Despite her anger, her expression remained unchanged, a testament to her composure.
Weighing the pros and cons, she gritted her teeth and said, “Very well, since Young Hero Ling has asked, Yunya will make it happen.”
As the saying goes, you can’t catch a wolf without risking a child, or a rogue without risking a wife. Having offered so many concessions, a few more didn’t matter.
Better than letting Ling Xiao be poached by others.
Even so, she felt uneasy, and Ling Xiao’s face seemed less charming.
“Princess Yunya, are you upset?” Ling Xiao asked with a smile.
“Not at all,” Yunya replied, shaking her head with a calm, breezy tone.
“It’s natural to be upset. I’d be annoyed too at someone pushing their luck. But you’ve misunderstood, Princess. Of the hundred mid-grade Heavenly Spirit Pills, fifty are for Tianlong Auction House. You provide the materials, and the other fifty are my labour fee. That’s not too much, is it?” Ling Xiao asked, smiling.
“Not too much, not at all! It’s fantastic!” Yunya’s composure broke, her joy uncontainable.
Though skilled at controlling her emotions, she couldn’t help herself at such good news.
After all, high-grade Yellow Rank pills, as far as she knew, could only be refined by Sun Shang in Tianlong and Divine Phoenix continents.
She had approached Sun Shang to refine such pills.
He didn’t refuse but demanded an outrageous price, with a success rate so low that less than forty percent of the materials were used effectively, the rest wasted.
Thinking of this, she suddenly asked Ling Xiao, “Young Hero Ling, for a hundred high-grade Yellow Rank pills, how many times the materials do you need?”
If too many materials were required, the deal might not be worth it.
For Sun Shang, at least double the materials were needed. She wondered about Ling Xiao.
“Times? What do you mean? The materials needed for a hundred high-grade Yellow Rank pills are just that,” Ling Xiao said, puzzled.
“You’re not saying your success rate is one hundred percent, are you?” Yunya stared at him as if he were a ghost.
Ling Xiao sighed. “For pills of this level, if I can’t achieve a perfect success rate, I might as well quit. It’d be embarrassing.”
With the Mountain River Martial Soul, wasting materials would be so humiliating he’d rather jump into a pond and end it.
“Young Hero Ling, you’re not joking?” Yunya could hardly believe it. If true, her profits would be immense.
“Do I look like I’m joking? If you’re willing, get the materials. If not, I’m in a hurry,” Ling Xiao said helplessly.
He was telling the truth, yet no one believed him.
