by Tinalynge
The quartet of eyes on both the woman and the man turned focused while they tasted their tea, displaying a small amount of shock as they felt the surprisingly strong changes it did to their bodies.
“I am Xue Wei,” Xue Wei introduced himself. “These are my brothers, Bai Tianyi, Hei Gou, and Lin Xiao,” he continued, gesturing to each of them as he announced their names.
“We have come to Yan Dalu from outside of this continent. We come from a continent called Chang’an. Chang’an is a continent where Qi cultivators are superior in numbers to spiritual cultivators, and they are also the strongest experts.
“Because of this, we have many pills and other things which are capable of aiding a cultivator who wishes to cultivate their Qi,” Xue Wei was speaking calmly, neither slow nor hurried. The pace at which he spoke was measured and tranquil, with each word he said being carefully thought out.
“Here in Yan Dalu, everyone cultivates spiritual energy, however, this is not the only way to cultivate. I know that if you were to cultivate both Qi and spiritual energy at the same time, then the speed with which you cultivate your spiritual energy would surely decrease, however, my experience tells me that this is a worthy trade-off.
“Spiritual energy users have many benefits in a fight, and as long as one is at a range they can even be seen as invincible, however, if someone were to get close, they are as strong as a paper tiger.
“By cultivating both Qi and spiritual energy, one is capable of eliminating the disadvantages yet gaining the advantages of both. You have spiritual energy to take care of ranged attacks and Qi to deal with anything that gets close.
“However, this continent has no good martial arts for Qi cultivation, nor does it have techniques to refine heaven-and-earth essence into Qi beyond the Heavenly Warrior rank.
“Therefore, this is where we could be quite useful.” Xue Wei smiled. He had not even asked the name of these two people, neither whether they were interested in a business deal with them; he had just begun speaking, but as he spoke he could see the eagerness in all eight eyes of the young man and woman.
“We have pills, we have formations, we have techniques: we have anything that might be useful to create Qi cultivators again,” he smiled.
“Now tell me, are you interested?” This was his pitch. He had said what he wanted to say and now the ball was in their court.
“My name is Gu Bing’Er,” the woman introduced herself. “I am the youngest miss of the Gu family. I am very interested in these things you can offer,” she did not hide her interest at all, her eyes shining brightly. “Apart from the Gu family, I am also a part of the Rising Sun Association. Let me know, is it the Rising Sun Association or the Gu family you wish to strike a deal with?”
The young man was silent while the woman introduced herself, but when he saw her finishing, he quickly found an opportunity to introduce himself as well, “I am Yuan Bailong. I am similarly a member of the Rising Sun Association but also a member of the powerful Yuan family.”
“Both of you are from the Rising Sun Association?” Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise. When they had been standing outside, while they were near to each other, they did not seem as if they were part of the same group.
“Well, the Rising Sun Association is mainly controlled by three forces; the Gu family, the Baili family, and the Yuan family. Although it is one association, it has three branches, and we do not work together unless there are some outside factors that force us to band together.
“Although our families seem equal, the fact is that the Baili family is the strongest amongst the three families and it is using its powers to suppress the other two branches, both within the academy but also within the Capital itself.”
It was Yuan Bailong who told Xue Wei about this. This information was something that not many were privy to, as you had to have intimate knowledge about the actual situation and only members of the families did so, everything else was just rumors.
“I see. Well, I would be happy to do business with both of your families, and also your branches of the association. However, should we make a deal with your association, I am only doing business with your respective branches, I must speak to the leader of the Baili family before I know whether or not I wish to work with them. I do not work with stupid people.”
Although this sounded extremely arrogant, both Yuan Bailong and Gu Bing’Er felt that he had the capital to be arrogant.
“So what would our business transaction actually involve from you and require from us?” Yuan Bailong was mostly concerned about this.
“Well, the first thing we need to do is purify the Qi within your followers and family members,” Xue Wei said with a sigh. “It is not difficult to raise their rank to Ordinary Knights, but if you want to be able to advance in rank any further, then you need to have purified your Qi to a reasonable level. With your current techniques, it will never be pure enough to advance in rank.
“All the Qi you guys have refined has come from passively absorbing the heaven-and-earth essence. It is not the actual result of cultivation, and if we wish for you to be able to cultivate later, then we need to do something about the purity.
“Fortunately enough, I have a recipe for a Qi Purity Pill, a very simple pill that can be taken in batches and helps purify the Qi. It is also used when one consumes too many low ranked pills and get pill impurities building up in their bodies, then these Qi Purity Pills can get rid of the waste.
“Right now I have around two hundred of these pills, but I will need to refine a couple of thousands if not tens of thousands to be of any real use to you guys since there is so many of you.” Xue Wei sighed. “Fortunately, each batch produces around fifteen pills, so it should not take too long.”
“After that, I will hand you some Qi cultivation techniques that allow you to absorb and refine the heaven-and-earth essence properly. Finally, I will teach you martial art techniques and then provide you with the pills that will help increase your strength.”
Listening to Xue Wei, the eyes of Gu Bing’Er and Yuan Bailong were filled with astonishment. They had never expected that Xue Wei had planned so far ahead and had all the things they were lacking. They just thought he would throw them some pills or formations and that was it, but it seemed as if he had truly thought it through and was willing to assist them significantly.
“What do you want from us in return?” Gu Bing’Er asked tentatively, she was worried that Xue Wei was going to ask for something impossible, but Xue Wei just snickered. “We will need some herbs, some gold coins, and your support. We also need some help deciphering some information and locating where some rumors might have originated from,” he said slowly so that they could hear every single word he said.
Chapter 16 - Striking a Deal
“We would be happy to provide any herbs we have,” Gu Bing’Er and Yuan Bailong both promised. “Gold is also no problem as we can provide you with a handsome amount of wealth. We’d be happy to give you our support too; we are grateful for this deal after all.
“But these are something that our families can provide, not something from our Rising Sun Association, so what should our association provide you with in return?”
“Merits,” Xue Wei grinned. “Here, merit points are everything, so we have a great need for many merits; naturally, we will need to get our hands on as many as we can.”
“Merits are not impossible,” Yuan Bailong affirmed with a nod. “I am sure that the entire Yuan branch is willing to trade all their merit points to become much stronger. Those who do not wish to use their merits don’t need to, but they should not expect to get a piece of the pie then.”
Hearing his decisive answer, Xue Wei was initially surprised, but he soon smiled and felt much better. He had been worried about how he should get his hands on the merit points to provide for himself and the others, but now it seemed that it was more than possible.
“Well then, go home and discuss with your families,” Xue Wei smiled at them. He was aware t
hat the families would not go against the wishes of these two young people, but he also understood that they could not make the final decision as they did not have the authority to speak for the entire family.
They nodded their heads in response and finished the last of their tea. “We will return to our families right away and hand over your proposal. We will return tomorrow morning with an answer.”
Although they were not in the same families, the relationship between the Yuan and the Gu family appeared to be good, and their families worked similarly, so they were naturally in agreement with the other’s response.
Xue Wei nodded his head and led the two guests out the door. There were still many waiting outside, and when they saw them exit the house, they exploded into a huge uproar.
Many could piece together that they had managed to come to some sort of agreement, and they were all curious to know exactly what kind of agreement it was. However, neither Gu Bing’Er nor Yuan Bailong said anything, both of them instead gathered the men and women they had left outside the courtyard and exited right away, aiming to return to their families as soon as possible.
It did not take long before the rumors about Xue Wei meeting those two spread, and everyone started to wonder what the deal they could have made might be.
But while the rumors started circulating, Xue Wei was busy in the pill refinement room, refining batch after batch of Qi Purity Pills.
They were not difficult to create, and the herbs needed to make them were plentiful in his storage treasure. Unfortunately, because they were not difficult, he did not gain much benefit from refining them either, his spiritual energy level not rising by anything noteworthy.
Still, it did not make him any less focused while refining pills. His eyes never left the cauldron, and his movements were fluid and smooth; clearly, he was now much more experienced with the refinement process and was capable of creating quite a few pills rather quickly.
He concocted pills for the entire day and night, not stopping until the sun had started to rise.
Although the difficulty of refining the Qi Purity Pill was rather low, it still required spiritual energy to control and use the flames, so by the end, he had consumed all the spiritual energy within his mind palace, it was now completely empty.
Returning to the room, he found some pills that replenished spiritual energy and sat down to cultivate while circulating the medicinal energy in his body, slowly feeling how his drained out mind was slowly becoming alive again.
His Golden Dragon had lost much of its luster when he had used all his spiritual energy, but it was quickly returning to its dazzling shade of gold that it usually had, making him feel refreshed and renewed within a few hours.
The morning came and together with it was Gu Bing’Er and Yuan Bailong. Both of them were there early, yet not too early, as they feared that they would trouble Xue Wei and the others.
When they arrived, it was around the time for breakfast to have finished, and they quickly entered the house with excited expressions on their faces.
As soon as they entered the guest room, both of them began recounting what happened after they had left the previous day.
“When we left, we went straight for our families’ homes in the courtyard,” Yuan Bailong said with a smile on his face. “I requested a meeting with the grand elder and the patriarch, and after telling both of them about the situation, they were eager to know more about you.
“When they heard that we could potentially become a more prominent family due to the advantages you described about becoming more powerful Qi cultivators, they were especially eager to try it out. Not long after, they called all the elders to a meeting to decide whether or not we should accept this offer or let it go.
“There were a few elders who do not believe that humans should bother with Qi cultivation, and a few who were worried that splitting our attention would cause us to become weaker.”
Yan Bailong had started to appear concerned as he was recounting, but he could not help his lips curling into a smile as he finished, “but even so, the majority were eager to try it out, and in the end, we received permission to continue this business deal with you.”
“The same happened in my family,” Gu Bing’Er said as a smile also appeared on her lips. “We have not had the time to talk with the people from our Association yet, but I plan on speaking with them later on today. I will do as Yuan Bailong said yesterday too, and let people decide on their own whether or not they wish to join this endeavor. If they do not wish to join, then they will not be forced.”
Hearing this, Xue Wei nodded his head in approval of their way of handling things. Forcing someone would never be a good idea, but who wouldn’t be willing to increase their strength?
Xue Wei smiled when he heard their words, and then he waved his hand, causing dozens of jade bottles to appear on the table in the middle of the room.
Within each of these jade bottles was twenty pills, so quite a lot of pills had appeared. Xue Wei looked towards Gu Bing’Er and Yuan Bailong and began, “these pills are the first batch of Qi Purity Pills. A person should take around three to four of these pills and then their Qi should be cleansed.
“I did not have time to refine more than this today, so at the start, you have to be selective with who you are giving the pills to.”
Both Gu Bing’Er and Yuan Bailong nodded their heads and were filled with reverence towards Xue Wei as they took half of the bottles each.
“Here,” each of them handing over a different emblem to Xue Wei, “these emblems allow you to enter our families’ establishments as you please. Also, you must make a list of the herbs you will need and send it to us as soon as possible so that we can help you with finding them.”
“Thank you,” Xue Wei smiled at them and saw them off before returning to the guest room where his other three friends still were waiting for him.
“What do you need these rare herbs for?” Hei Gou asked curiously. Usually, if Xue Wei wanted herbs he could just buy them, why did he need these families to help?
“I am going to try concocting one-colored Rainbow Pills,” Xue Wei grinned. “They are the most challenging pills I will have ever created so far, and I have most of the things needed—including the rare minerals and gems—but I need some rare herbs.”
When Xue Wei said that he was going to make a Rainbow Pill, everyone had been staring at him with excitement. These pills were legendary back in Chang’an, they could do so much for the consumer, and they were one of the things that everyone sought.
“Thing is, if I go out and look for these herbs myself, someone might realize that I am actually planning on crafting a Rainbow Pill, and then we might be in danger. Rainbow Pills are very rare and wonderful, and if someone wants them then we might not be able to fight back.”
The others nodded their heads. The reason he had chosen these intelligent people was because he trusted that even if they figured out that he was able to concoct Rainbow Pills, then they would not harm him in an attempt to steal the pills, but would instead curry favor with him in an attempt to get some pills in a proper way.
“I need to rest a bit more, then I will concoct some more pills,” Xue Wei said while yawning. “I will make as many pills as I can so we can return to the Soul Tower without making them impatient. Then when we return from the Soul Tower next, we will head to the forbidden area, so get as much information about the place as you can while I’m busy.”
Lin Xiao and Hei Gou nodded their heads with serious expressions on their faces. They understood that this was quite important and that it was likely they would have to sneak in, should the headmaster not let them go in normally.
Although there was a chance that they would be allowed to enter, the likelihood was probably quite small, and thus they had to prepare for if they were declined.
Like this, a few days went by where Xue Wei was in the pill refinement room all the time, refining thousands of Qi Purity Pills. He left all the pills with Lin Xiao and Hei
Gou, together with some techniques and skills.
Although Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were not around, they still needed to adhere to their part of the deal with the Gu and Yuan families, and therefore they left distribution to Lin Xiao and Hei Gou once again.
Having spoken with Gu Bing’Er and Yuan Bailong a final time and informing them that Lin Xiao and Hei Gou would deal with the things they needed, Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi quickly returned to the tower.
This time, Xue Wei managed to get to the sixth floor in no time. The pressure was still heavy, but he felt as if it was not so heavy that he could not move so then he tried to test himself as he went towards the staircase leading to the seventh floor.
Bai Tianyi had not rushed to the eighth floor as usual, he had instead stayed with Xue Wei to see whether or not he could successfully advance to the next floor, and together they took one step at a time up the staircase.
It took Xue Wei a full hour to advance from the stairs to the seventh floor, and as soon as he reached the seventh floor, he sat down, not daring to head towards the eighth floor.
“I’ll be back later,” Bai Tianyi said as he drifted effortlessly like a breeze to the eighth floor, where he then sat down and let the clustered energy enter his body at a rapid pace, absorbing it and refining it.
Xue Wei closed his eyes and saw how the golden dragon spirit within his mind was growing stronger at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The Soul Tower was truly magical. The speed of cultivation was so fast inside that it was incomparable to his speed ever before, but this was still further helped by his Azure Dragon blood. Even the extremely talented experts from Yan Dalu were not as fast at advancing as Xue Wei was, within the Soul Tower.
Chapter 17 - Sky Knight Pill
Time went by like water flows down a river. While Xue Wei was busy cultivating within the Soul Tower, the Gu and Yuan families were strengthening their Qi. None of them were making a fuss about it and made sure to keep everything about their deal under wraps, so that news never spread.
