Chapter 163: Fifty Thousand Catties
“I haven’t thought of anything yet.”
Li Weiyi took out the rune robe that the Zuo Qiu Gatehouse had given him when entering Thirty-three Mile Mountain and handed it back.
“Keep it yourself. It has defensive runes left by my clan’s Old Ancestor on it, which can block one death tribulation.”
Immediately after, Zuo Qiu Ting said, “The things you want will be delivered tomorrow. What about the things I want?”
“Young Master Zuo Qiu should understand that immortal soil is extremely precious and hard to dig up, but spirit soil, I’ve dug up quite a bit. I wonder if Zuo Qiu Gatehouse will take it?” Li Weiyi said.
Zuo Qiu Ting’s mind raced, his gaze scrutinizing him: “We’ll take it! But let’s be clear upfront: you relied on Zuo Qiu Gatehouse’s rune robe to enter Thirty-three Mile Mountain. Whether it’s immortal soil or spirit soil, I can only give you thirty percent of the market price.”
“Of course, you could sell to others, but how much of their funds can they absorb? For those who can buy in bulk, aren’t you afraid they’ll swallow you whole too?”
“Zuo Qiu Gatehouse can not only keep it confidential for you but also get you cultivation resources that others can’t. For example, thousand year elixirs. Or, several precious medicines on your medicinal herbs list.”
Li Weiyi had already prepared psychologically to make concessions when he decided to draw out Zuo Qiu Gatehouse’s people.
He said, “I’m a man of sincerity. What I promised before entering the mountain, I naturally won’t go back on. Besides, although Zuo Qiu Gatehouse recycles at thirty percent price, you also said you’d owe a favor. A favor from Ten Million Gateways isn’t something silver coins can buy.”
“Good at calculating!”
Zuo Qiu Ting said, “The market price of spirit soil is one thousand silver coins per jin. Zuo Qiu Gatehouse can only give you three hundred silver coins. How much can you provide?”
Li Weiyi said, “One tael of immortal soil is a million silver, and one jin of spirit soil is only a thousand silver? That price difference is ten thousand times!”
“What else? Immortal soil is the main ingredient for refining longevity pills, while spirit soil can only be used to cultivate medicinal herbs. The prices are naturally worlds apart. The former is treasure, the latter is just byproduct accompanying the treasure.” Zuo Qiu Ting spoke very straightforwardly.
Li Weiyi feigned an expression of pain, helplessness, and struggle, but in reality, his heart was blooming with joy.
At Blood Moon Lake, he had dug up who knows how many tens of thousands of jin of spirit soil. Who knew the price was so exaggerated?
But only Ten Million Gateways could purchase in such large quantities to create spirit soil medicinal fields.
Other forces, who would spend so much money to buy? They’d probably prefer no-cost business, directly killing and robbing.
Besides Zuo Qiu Ting, Cang Li’s side could also be tried.
“One thousand year elixir, what price do you offer?” Li Weiyi asked.
Zuo Qiu Ting thought to himself, just how many chips does this guy have, and said, “We exchange courtesies. You proactively sought Zuo Qiu Gatehouse to fulfill the promise in Thirty-three Mile Mountain, which shows sincerity. For thousand year elixirs, I’ll give you an eighty percent discount. If exchanging with spirit soil, it’ll take twenty-six thousand jin.”
“If adding the alchemy furnace and the massive precious medicines on this medicinal herbs list. If you can provide fifty thousand jin of spirit soil, I’ll settle it all for you!”
Zuo Qiu Ting didn’t believe Li Weiyi could produce so much spirit soil at all. Even if he robbed all Four Great Sects, he absolutely couldn’t gather enough. After all, he had only been in the mountain for three days—how much could he dig in three days?
His real purpose was still the immortal soil.
After all, spirit soil was a byproduct of immortal soil.
From the amount of spirit soil, he could reverse-engineer the amount of immortal soil Li Weiyi controlled.
“Alright, it’s settled! Tomorrow, still at Heaven Pavilion, we exchange goods.” Li Weiyi calculated inwardly whether to buy one more thousand year elixir.
In the end, he held back.
The amount was too large; it might provoke Zuo Qiu Gatehouse into no-cost business ideas.
Zuo Qiu Ting was stunned, then confirmed again: “You can provide fifty thousand jin of spirit soil?”
“For this matter, you absolutely must not tell anyone. I can concession on price, but confidentiality is crucial.” Li Weiyi said.
Zuo Qiu Ting had an idea, but didn’t immediately mention immortal soil. He opened the folding fan and shook it lightly, chest out proudly, eyes narrowed slightly: “At the entrance of Jing Yue Zhai, I saved you, so Zuo Qiu Gatehouse no longer owes you a favor!”
What Li Weiyi valued most was Zuo Qiu Gatehouse’s favor: “Isn’t Young Master Zuo Qiu underestimating Li’s strength too much? Do you really think I couldn’t escape? Besides, I didn’t beg you to act. Favors aren’t returned like that.”
Zuo Qiu Ting laughed: “Aren’t you overestimating yourself? True, your cultivation and combat power surprised me; you’ve preliminarily gained the strength to fight ordinary Fifth Realm of the Five Seas Realm martial cultivators, which is impressive! But, not to mention Jing Yue Zhai’s owner, either of the left or right attendants could keep you there.”
“Not necessarily.” Li Weiyi said.
Zuo Qiu Ting said, “Fine, just for those three words earlier, this young master remembers you. I hope next time you can truly continue to surprise me.”
Li Weiyi quite liked Zuo Qiu Ting’s open and straightforward personality without any airs—not like a successor of Ten Million Gateways, more like an old friend, very charismatic, and asked, “Who exactly are they? Hiding their heads but showing their tails like this, what’s their purpose?”
Zuo Qiu Ting’s expression turned solemn: “To be precise, they aren’t people. At the time when Zuo Qiu Gatehouse and Du’e Temple are summoning young martial cultivators under heaven to celebrate the Shangyuan Festival together, they kill countless, skin and hide darkly, infiltrating Qiu Prefecture—naturally not here for the festival.”
Li Weiyi said, “They want to disrupt the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival? Then, is it to hunt young heavenly prodigies of Lingxiao Life Realm, or targeting you Zuo Qiu Gatehouse and Du’e Temple?”
Zuo Qiu Ting looked at Li Weiyi with new eyes: “Some knowledge! Looks like you have some understanding, not just a reckless martial brute.”
“You think I acted recklessly to seize that black metal box?” Li Weiyi said.
Zuo Qiu Ting smiled without speaking, and asked, “Who exactly is in that black metal box?”
Li Weiyi didn’t hide it from him and told him about Zhuang Yue’s situation, wanting to probe Zuo Qiu Gatehouse’s stance on this matter.
Currently, Zuo Qiu Gatehouse, which had not yet rebelled but was already building momentum, had an extremely delicate relationship with Lingxiao Palace.
Zuo Qiu Ting fell into contemplation. After a long while: “If Jiang Ning dies in Qiu Prefecture, it won’t be a simple death, but a tragic one. At that time, the relationship between Zuo Qiu Gatehouse and Lingxiao Palace will instantly tense to the extreme. They want to use this to draw Lingxiao Palace’s Second Palace Master to Qiu Prefecture. Then, the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival won’t go smoothly!”
Li Weiyi said, “Zuo Qiu Gatehouse wants to build momentum but ends up in a mess before succeeding. Will Du’e Temple still look favorably on you? Might they turn to support the momentum-heavy Dragon Gate instead? That Dragon Gate Successor is very close to them and would surely benefit from acting.”
Zuo Qiu Ting stared deeply at Li Weiyi: “Resolving the crisis and cleaning up those ash spirits and turmoil instigators—isn’t that also a chance to prove one’s ability? Use this to let everyone under heaven see that those who dare oppose Zuo Qiu Gatehouse will have no good end.”
Li Weiyi nodded: “Actually, I’m very curious why a group of young juniors dares to act so boldly in Qiu Prefecture. Don’t they fear being dealt with by Zuo Qiu Gatehouse’s older generation? Or, at this stage, is it only soldier against soldier, general against general?”
Zuo Qiu Ting said, “The struggles under heaven have some mutually acknowledged rules, lines drawn and circles marked. Those who first break the rules, how can there be no consequences?”
“Like, clashes between great forces and great trends—existences beyond Longevity Realm can’t so easily slaughter freely as they wish. If acting outside the rules, the consequence might be everyone ganging up.”
Li Weiyi somewhat understood, like on Earth, even in wars between nations, the most terrifying weapons were restrained.
The contest before true war begins has many implicit rules. Like, everyone only wants to fight a localized proxy war; unless absolutely necessary, no one dares enter the field personally, unless with absolute certainty of victory.
The current clash of Qiu Prefecture’s younger generation was undoubtedly this localized proxy war.
Everyone probes each other, clashes controllable. But it could also, at some critical point, escalate into full war.
There must be invisible top-level games behind it.
Li Weiyi thought of something: “You tracked me and thus discovered the Young Esteemed One hidden in Jing Yue Zhai. In that case, it’s you who owes me a favor?”
“…” Zuo Qiu Ting said.
Li Weiyi added: “You’ve already fought that Young Esteemed One, right? How strong is it?”
Zuo Qiu Ting didn’t want to mention it, gazing toward Cloud Palace’s gate, seeing Li Ling walking out, and said lowly, “Help me contact your Jiu Li Hidden Sect’s Hidden Person. Also, have Li Ling get her brother here. Before the New Year, I want to fight these people!”
Li Weiyi looked toward Li Ling under the lantern and said, “So, for Jiang Ning’s side, will you act or not? Your Zuo Qiu Gatehouse and Lingxiao Palace now… are…”
Li Weiyi turned his head to look, but Zuo Qiu Ting had already vanished, leaving without a sound.
“Am I that annoying?”
He shook his head with a sigh and walked toward Cloud Palace’s gate.
Li Ling said, “Was that person just now Zuo Qiu Ting?”
Li Weiyi nodded: “You should know him well, right? I remember, in Zangxian Town’s Immortal Realm Space, you two were always together, very close. Is he really that ugly? Really with big ears, flat nose, protruding teeth, and crooked mouth?”
“Anyway, you’d better not see his true appearance, or your impression of him will definitely be overturned.”
Li Ling asked again: “Tonight, are you hiding something from me?”
“What would I hide from you?” Li Weiyi laughed.
Li Ling said, “Then what’s the deal with Miss Qin Li?”
“You’re getting more and more nosy. If it’s too much, just go cultivate in the blood mud space, draw a few more runes for protection.”
Li Weiyi felt Li Ling’s gaze was fierce, like a little hen. Finally, she was acting normal, unlike before when her face always wore a very fake, performative smile.
