Battle Through the Heavens - chapter-71

After sitting for nearly an hour, a pretty maid finally walked in. Her
two hands carried a silver tray, and in the center of the tray was a
faint red ring.

Taking the silver tray and sending back the maid, Ya Fei personally
handed over the goods to Xiao Yan and smilingly said: “Old Sir, the
cauldron as well as all the alchemic ingredients you need are all in the
‘Storage Ring’”.

Extending a hand to pick up the storage ring, Xiao Yan let it roll about
in his palm then faintly nodded. Yao Lao’s voice also sounded out at
just the right time: “Okay. After refining the Qi Gathering Pill, I
will bring it to you.”

Ya Fei’s pretty eyes were filled with delight as shei hastily nodded.

“Alright, there’s no need for you to send me out. I’ll go out by
myself.”

Waving his hand, Xiao Yan took the ring and slid it onto his finger.
Then, without even turning back, he headed towards the back of the parlor
and went out. On the table, the blue jade card was still there as he did
not want to owe the people too much. Thus, he had just left it there.

Staring at the receding figure leaving through the door, Ya Fei nibbled
her red lips, then stepped forward to take the blue jade card into her
hand. Musing a bit, she asked in a clear voice: “Uncle Gu Ni, to refine
a Qi Gathering Pill, the success rate is not that high right?”

“Yes. It’s said that even Pill King Wang Gu He’s success rate for
refining Qi Gathering Pills is only around 7 out of 10. For normal fourth
tier alchemists, the success rate is only around 5 out of 10,” Gu Ni
said in a low voice.

“But this old sir, he succeeds in refining on the first try……” Ya
Fei said as she knitted her thin black brows.

“Who knows, maybe his luck is good……” Gu Ni shook his head and
didn’t care too much about the matter. After all, for alchemists, luck
was a big factor in successfully refining pills. If one’s luck was
good, even when continuously refining several times, one would not fail.

“Could it be…… that he’s not just a fourth tier alchemist?” Ya
Fei asked with hesitation after pondering a bit.

“Haha, how is that possible. The number of fifth tier alchemists in Jia
Ma Empire can be counted on one’s hands. At that sort of status, even
if it was the empire or great forces like the Misty Cloud Faction, they
would all view this person as a VIP. Why would such a person come to our
own auction house to auction pills.” Gu Ni laughed.

At this, Ya Fei also slightly nodded her head and let out a sigh,
bitterly laughing: “It seems that I don’t have enough experience.
I’m afraid that my previous hesitation negatively impacted this
mysterious alchemist’s favorable impression of us by a large amount.”

“You can’t blame yourself for this. That kind of huge transaction,
even I wouldn’t dare to answer easily. That you are capable to this
extent is already very good. In regards to our relations with that
alchemist, in the future, just take your time and get along amiably. As
long as he does not develop any sort of ill will towards us then it’s
fine.” Gu Ni said comfortingly.

Forcing a smile to her face as she nodded, Ya Fei sat lethargically on
the chair, revealing her figure. As her lovely eyes blinked, having some
doubts, she softly asked: “What does he intend to do with so many
low-grade medicine ingredients?”

“Those medicine ingredients have the effect of stopping bleeding and
strengthening bones. I think he should be planning to manufacture healing
medicine.” Gu Ni muttered as his eyebrows pursed together. Similarly
puzzled he said: “But with his status, why would he manufacture these
cheaply-priced healing medicine?”

Hearing this, Ya Fe’s beautiful eyes slightly narrowed, her long
fingernails lightly tapped on the table. A moment later, realization
dawned upon her, she softly said: “Looks like this old sir seems to be
very caring towards the Xiao Clan……”

Eyebrows wrinkled tightly together, Gu Ni’s expression suddenly changed
into one of amazement: “Are you saying that he wants to give the Xiao
Clan healing medicine?”

“Recently I’ve heard that the Jia Lie Clan had invited over a first
tier Alchemist. The cheap “Return of Spring Powder” has already
snatched away half of the city’s crowds, if the Xiao Clan does not act
soon, I’m afraid that their marketplaces will end up embarrassingly
empty.” Ya Fei eyes darted around as she voiced out her conclusion,
smugly smiling she continued to explain: “Previously, the old sir had
already said that if there was a chance, he would co operate with the
Xiao Clan and buying so many healing ingredients at this time could only
mean one thing: he meant what he said.”

“Heh, looks like the Xiao Clan has really lucked out this time, while
the Jia Lie Clan is going to be in trouble.” Having listened to Ya
Fei’s analysis, Gu Ni grinned. An envious look was on his face since
obtaining the help of a fourth tier Alchemist was not something just any
clan could receive.

Slightly inclining her head, Ya Fei gave an easy smile as she said: “We
should also make some contact with the Xiao Clan soon, though adding a
flower to a bracelet will make one somewhat happy, providing help when
one needs it the most is a much better way of strengthening both parties
ties.”

Gu Ni approvingly nodded his head, with a fourth tier Alchemist behind
them, ties with the Xiao Clan were now important.

……

Exiting the auction house, as usual, Xiao Yan prudently turned round and
round the streets for at least half a day before finally taking off his
disguise in a desolate alley.

Tossing and catching the light red “Storage Ring” in his hand, Xiao
Yan was somewhat happy. This kind of Storage Ring was made by a type of
uncommon material called “Storage Stone”. The characteristic of this
material was that there was a unique small space within it where any
lifeless objects could be stored. Though this was extremely convenient,
due to the sparsity of the “Storage Stone”, its was extremely
precious. The lowest grade “Storage Ring” in Xiao Yan’s hands only
had a space of about three to four square metres, yet it costs almost
100,000 gold. In the Xiao Clan, Xiao Yan had only seen his father and the
first Elder own Storage Rings.

Xiao Yan fiddled with the Storage Ring for a while, hesitatingly
examining it. In the end he did not wear it but rather carefully stored
it in his bosom. This kind of ring was considerably pricey, if it was
seen by his father or others, he would have a hard time explaining how he
came to obtain it.

Xiao Yan kicked the black mantle into the gutter before carefully walking
out of the desolate alley. Afterwards he quickly dashed back to his clan.

As Xiao Yan followed the lane that passed through the clan home, he heard
his father’s furious voice from Meeting Room. Eyelids twitching, Xiao
Yan moved forward to secretly peer through a crack in the door.

“Dammit, Jia Lie Bi that bastard is too much, he actually dared to
brazenly steal our business!” Within the room, Xiao Zhan was currently
raging as he pounded on the table. Tea from the teacups spilled all over
the table.

“Presently, the marketplaces of the Xiao Clan had already lost a great
amount of traffic. The merchants left in the marketplace are also very
worried and frightened. A few of them have even secretly left for the Jia
Lie Clan’s marketplaces. If this continues, in another half a month I
am afraid that……. our marketplace will go bankrupt.” The second
Elder said with a gloomy face as he gnashed his teeth together in fury.

“How about…… I bring a few of our clan’s elites and secretly deal
with that alchemist?” The third elder’s gaze were ferocious as he
suggested this in a dark tone.

“There are at least two Da Dou Shi protecting the Alchemist, it won’t
be so easy.” Xiao Zhan helplessly said as he moved his hands to and fro.

“But if we continue in this manner, our losses will be too great. The
profits from the marketplaces of Wu Tan City is a large part of the total
revenue of our Xiao Clan.” The Third Elder was somewhat unwilling to
back down.

The corners of Xiao Zhan’s mouth twitched. At the moment, he could not
think of any good ideas.

“That day at the auction, didn’t that mysterious alchemist say that
there might come an opportunity where he would work with us? Seeing how
Gu Ni was so respectful towards him, his tier as an alchemist is
definitely not low. If he could help us, then that Jia Lie Clan would
definitely lose out.” The First Elder, who had been silent up until
now, suddenly spoke up in a soft voice.

“Ai, who knows if he just randomly blabbered. For people of that kind
of status, what kind of benefits would they get out of cooperating with
us? For such little profit, would they even care?” Xiao Zhan laughed
bitterly and shook his head as he sat on the chair and sighed.

The three elders were all silent as well. Indeed, it was a bit
challenging for the Xiao Clan to establish connections with people of
such status.

“F**k. We’ll bear it for a few more days. If the Jia Lie Clan still
does not practice restraint then don’t blame us for retaliating no
matter the costs!” Licking his lips, Xiao Zhan gripped onto the chair
frame as an ominous glint flashed across his eyes.

Outside the door, listening up till here, Xiao Yan faintly shrugged his
shoulders as his hand played with the storage ring at his chest. Letting
out a cold smirk, he slowly left.

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