26: Chapter 26 Exorbitant Profits – The Death of Li Fu

Over the next year, Xiao Ye practically welded himself inside the Pill Refining Room.

The furnace fires never went out, much like his burning desires—unending day and night.

Foundation Establishment Pills, spirit gathering pills, Cultivation Base Pills... batch after batch, he refined until his hands went soft, until the mere sight of a Pill Furnace made him want to vomit.

However, his success rate climbed higher and higher, and the quality of the pills became better and better.

Previously, he could succeed in seven or eight out of ten batches; now, almost every furnace yielded results, as if he had activated a cheat code. Furthermore, every single pill was round, full, and emitted a fragrance of top-grade medicine, making one want to string them together as a necklace.

Once he saved up a large enough batch, he would make a trip to Sunset City.

—And take care of his 'little brother’s' happiness while he was at it.

Lingdan Pavilion.

When Chen Qiaoqiao received the Foundation Establishment Pills he sent for the first time, she was completely stunned.

She held the Medicinal Pills under the lamp, turning them over and over to inspect them, and even called in the most experienced old master in the pavilion for an appraisal. Finally, they reached a conclusion—

One hundred percent medicinal efficacy.

Perfect Foundation Establishment Pills.

"This... how is this possible?" Chen Qiaoqiao held the pills, her hands trembling.

When an average alchemist refines a Foundation Establishment Pill, achieving seventy percent efficacy is considered passing and worth bragging about.

A Master-level can achieve eighty percent, and only a Grandmaster can reach ninety percent.

As for one hundred percent—in the region of Sunset City, it had never been seen, nor even heard of.

She looked up at the middle-aged man across from her. With his scruffy beard and messy hair, he looked like he had just crawled out of a Pill Refining Room. Only one thought remained in her mind—

Is this guy a freaking Great Grandmaster alchemist?

Xiao Ye leaned back in his chair and yawned, looking like he hadn't fully woken up. "What? Is the quality not good enough?"

"It's good! It's too good!" Chen Qiaoqiao nodded repeatedly like a chicken pecking at grain. She carefully put the pills away, her eyes narrowing into slits from smiling so wide. Her smile was sweet enough to kill. "Senior, don't worry about the price. I will definitely give you the highest price! Thirty percent above the market rate!"

Xiao Ye waved his hand, looking completely indifferent.

He didn't care about that small price difference; as long as she served his 'little brother' later, it would be fine. Compared to Spirit Stones, what could be more important than pleasure?

—

With Xiao Ye's batch of perfect Foundation Establishment Pills to hold up the fort, Lingdan Pavilion went absolutely wild.

While other pill pavilions were deserted, so quiet they could host a ghost movie, a long line formed at the entrance of Lingdan Pavilion, stretching from one end of the street to the other.

Loose Cultivators flocked from all directions just to snatch a 'one hundred percent efficacy' perfect Foundation Establishment Pill. Some traveled for three days and nights without rest, while others sold their Magical Artifacts to scrape together enough Spirit Stones just for this one pill.

Their competitors' teeth itched with hatred, but there was nothing they could do—the pavilion had the high-quality goods. What could you use to compete with them? Your head?

That day, in the backyard of Lingdan Pavilion.

A white-haired old man sat in a grand armchair, looking at the ledger in his hands, unable to stop smiling.

"Qiaoqiao," he looked up at his granddaughter standing before him, his eyes full of gratification. "It's all thanks to you this time. If you hadn't found that Grandmaster alchemist for us, how could Lingdan Pavilion be where it is today? It likely would have been forced to close down long ago."

Chen Qiaoqiao stood below him with her head bowed, acting very obediently like a little lamb. "Grandfather overpraises me. I was just lucky..."

"Luck is also a form of skill." The old man waved his hand and pondered for a moment before suddenly saying something that stunned Chen Qiaoqiao—

"From today onwards, Lingdan Pavilion will be left to you to manage."

"Ah?" Chen Qiaoqiao snapped her head up, her eyes wide as copper bells. "Grandfather, this... how can this be? I... I'm only from a branch family..."

"What's wrong with being from a branch family?" The old man smiled like a sage who had seen through the world. "You have vision and courage, and you can seize opportunities. These things are more important than Bloodline."

He stood up and patted his granddaughter's shoulder. "Do a good job. Don't let your grandfather down."

Chen Qiaoqiao stood frozen, her mouth opening and closing like a fish flopping on the shore. It took a long time before she could squeeze out a sentence: "Thank you, Grandfather..."

When she walked out of the backyard, her legs felt like they were floating.

Branch family.

She, a member of a branch family, had actually become the head of a pavilion.

Happiness had come too suddenly; she would have to learn some new 'positions' to celebrate.

She heard that Wanshu Pavilion recently got a smutty book called 'Yamete.' She would have to go study it later so as not to fail her grandfather's expectations.

—

Time flew by like a rocket.

Xiao Ye's Medicinal Pills sold like wildfire, and Spirit Stones naturally poured in.

Over the course of the year, Xiao Ye had accumulated a fortune of over ten thousand Spirit Stones.

He flipped through the ledger several times, and after confirming he hadn't miscounted, he leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath.

At this moment, he finally understood why alchemists were so rich.

Damn, even robbing a bank isn't as profitable as Alchemy!

Fifty Spirit Stones' worth of Spirit Medicine could be refined into pills that sold for three hundred Spirit Stones. A six-fold profit—it was the height of profiteering.

Moreover, his success rate was high and the quality was excellent, so Lingdan Pavilion always paid him immediately.

This money-making was faster than a printing press.

Xiao Ye happily played with his eldest son, Xiao Yan. The little fellow rode on his neck, tugging at his hair like reins, shouting "Giddy up, giddy up!" at the top of his lungs.

"Master—this is bad! Master!"

A servant rushed in frantically, his face pale and his legs trembling.

Xiao Ye paused, his brow furrowing. "What's the rush?"

"Butler Li... Butler Li is dead!"

"What?"

Xiao Ye was stunned. Xiao Yan slid down from his neck, and he didn't even manage to catch him.

Li Fu was dead?

Hadn't he gone to Sunset City to deliver pills? He was alive and well yesterday, and today he was gone?

"What happened?" Xiao Ye handed the child to a nearby maid and stood up abruptly, his voice changing pitch.

"A... a merchant caravan from Sunset City found Butler Li's body on the road to Qingshan Town... they recognized him... the body has been brought back now, it's in the front courtyard..."

Xiao Ye was already striding outside.

—

In the front courtyard, several bodies were laid out in a row on the ground, covered with white cloths that looked exceptionally piercing under the sunlight.

Xiao Ye lifted a white cloth, his pupils shrinking.

Li Fu lay there, his eyes tightly closed, with the terror he felt before death still lingering on his face.

There were several knife wounds on his body, deep enough to see the bone. His clothes had been rummaged through, and his money pouch and Medicinal Pills were all gone; even his shoes had been stripped off.

The other few servants were the same, covered in knife wounds with their clothes in disarray, having died miserable deaths.

Xiao Ye squatted down to examine the wounds closely, his brow furrowing so tightly it could crush a fly.

Knife wounds, rummaged clothing, and belongings stripped bare—

This methodology was exactly like that of mountain bandits. The kind of beasts who kill for goods and leave no survivors.

"Mountain bandits?" Xiao Ye stood up, his voice terrifyingly deep. "They dare to steal from my Xiao Family and kill my people?"

The surrounding servants shrunk their necks, not daring to breathe loudly, like quails afraid of being the target of his anger.

Xiao Ye stood in the front courtyard, looking at Li Fu's pale face, feeling a blockage in his chest.

This old butler had followed him for most of his life and was efficient in his work. Every time he went to Sunset City to deliver goods or make purchases, Li Fu was the one running the errands, and there had never been a mishap.

Even if he was a bit talkative, he was the person Xiao Ye trusted most. (Li Fu, lying on the ground: I'm already dead, can't you remember something good about me?)

Xiao Ye took a deep breath. His eyes were a bit red, but he didn't shed a tear.

He turned around and looked at the servants filling the courtyard. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a ruthless edge that made spines tingle:

"Investigate."

He spoke each word deliberately, like nails being driven into everyone's ears.

"Find out for me which mountain those bastards are from."

"Once they are found—"

He paused, his lips curling into a cold arc.

"I will let them know the meaning of a cultivator's wrath."

The courtyard was deathly silent.

Everyone knew—

The Master was truly enraged this time.

And those mountain bandits were likely in for a very bad time.