The Divine Nine-Dragon Cauldron
chapter-791

Chapter 791: The Precious Quotas

The blue veins on Ruffian Long’s forehead popped out, while he became more and more worried about Su Yu. Senior Sister Xue Qi’s character wasn’t as gentle as she seemed.

As such, there wasn’t anyone in the outer sanctum who dared to offend her. If Su Yu acted rashly and infuriated her, no one could save him.

As he watched the lovely woman’s eyes flicker, Su Yu knew that she was an inner sanctum’s disciple. Yet, he still remained composed. This was really unusual and rare.

“We prepared two elixir recipes, with ten batches of their ingredients, all according to your request.” As she spoke, the lovely woman snapped her fingers and two old scrolls appeared in her palm.

She took a breath, then said, “One of them is the commonly seen Vital Energy Powder, which, as its name implies, will be just a powder after it is made. It’s a low-grade spirit elixir, and it’s tallying with your request.”

She then added, “The other one is the Primordial Chaos Vital Pill, which is quite difficult to manufacture. It’s also a low-grade spirit elixir. This elixir’s ingredients are more expensive than the Vital Energy Powder’s, and has quite a high failure rate. Even primary alchemists can’t ensure a hundred percent success rate when making it. Thus, its production cost is quite high, almost five times more costly than the Vital Energy Powder’s.”

Su Yu’s eyes flickered when he heard this, and he asked, “How about those two elixirs’ sales volumes?”

Xue Qi’s eyes lit up as she thought… This lad has just mentioned the most important matter! After all, the elixirs’ production costs aren’t half as important as their sales volumes!

“Well… Vital Energy Powders can be bought at anytime on the market, while the Primordial Chaos Vital Pill isn’t found there at all. In fact, it can only be bought on the black market. Even though the sanctum’s Elixir Hall put some up for sale occasionally, they were all snatched up within the first few minutes,” Xue Qi said with a smile.

She then said, “A bottle of Vital Energy Powder costs 10 merit points, which is tantamount to what an ordinary disciple will earn in a single day. As for Primordial Chaos Vital Pills, those are sold for 50 merit points apiece.”

Xue Qi pursed her lips and said, “Since the Elixir Hall has abundant reserves of Vital Energy Powder, its price won’t change from season to season. It always remains steady at 10 merit points. As for the Primordial Chaos Vital Pills, the market price, which is set for them by the Elixir Hall, is 50 merit points. On the black market, they are sold for at the least 70 merit points, and even then, one can’t always buy them whenever he wants.”

Su Yu raised his brows, deep in thought. Since Primordial Chaos Vital Pills are this expensive and sold well, there surely has to be some reason behind this.

Su Yu then asked, “Is the medical energy of a Primordial Chaos Vital Pill several times greater than the Vital Energy Powder’s?”

Appreciation appeared in Xue Qi’s eyes as she replied, “That’s right! Its medical energy is three times greater, and as far as cost is concerned, the Vital Energy Powder is superior. But, Primordial Chaos Vital Pills are the best choice for those disciples who want to cultivate quickly and aren’t short of merit points. Thus, you don’t need to worry about whether you can sell them or not.”

If one compared a disciple who consumed a bottle of Vital Energy Power daily with one who consumed a Primordial Chaos Vital Pill daily, the latter one’s cultivation would be obviously be faster. Thus, those who weren’t short of money would always choose the Primordial Chaos Vital Pill if possible.

As such, the elixir sold well, so one wouldn’t need to worry about selling it. As for the Vital Energy Powder, even if Su Yu made it, he could only sell it for a price that was lower than the Elixir Hall’s. Thus, his profits couldn’t rival what he could get if he chose to sell the former.

Su Yu’s gaze flickered as he looked at the Primordial Chaos Vital Pill’s recipe. He then said, “The price of Primordial Chaos Vital Pills aforementioned by you is just for a certain grade, right?” He knew that it would be impossible for Primordial Chaos Vital Pills of any grade to be sold in the black market for 60 merit points.

Xue Qi’s pretty eyes flickered as she said, “That’s right. A first or second grade Primordial Chaos Vital Pill’s effectiveness is quite low. In fact, it isn’t much better than the Vital Energy Powder’s.”

She then said, “In fact, only a third grade Primordial Chaos Vital Pill can be sold for such a price. As for a fourth grade one, its medicinal energy is already four times greater than the Vital Energy Powder’s, while its price is two times that of the former grade. So… Even if you put it up for sale for 100 merit points, many people will still be willing to buy it.”

Xue Qi stared at Su Yu, while wearing a faint smile. “Junior brother, have you considered which elixir you will manufacture?”

Although Su Yu was lost in his thoughts, he was still sober enough to not fall into the other party’s trap. So, he chuckled and said, “Senior sister, are you cracking a joke? If I had any talent in alchemy, I would have already been taken away by one of the sanctum’s elders in the exam.”

He then added, “I just happened to befriend a female alchemist during the outer sanctum’s exam. She was taken away by an alchemist elder. It also just so happened that she needs to practice with some elixirs to improve her skills. Now, I’m responsible for helping her look for them in exchange for receiving some benefits from her.”

The fact that the sanctum made an exception for Yuan Yingying and recruited her wasn’t a secret, so there wasn’t anything inappropriate in mentioning this matter.

Xue Qi looked suspiciously at Su Yu for a moment before she shook her head. She was in deep thought… His arguments are really reasonable. If he had any talents in alchemy, it wouldn’t have been overlooked in the exam. Alchemists were, after all, extremely important to the factions.

Xue Qi then said, “Okay. Since you don’t have any problems with those elixir recipes, let’s start negotiating their prices. Since you are one of our middle-class customers, we can only gift you the Vital Energy Powder’s recipe for free. That’s also the case for the 20 batches of ingredients. So, let’s discuss the price of the Primordial Chaos Vital Pill’s recipe.”

Xue Qi smiled charmingly, “The Primordial Chaos Vital Pill’s recipe isn’t open for sale by the sanctum. As such, it’s classified as a secret recipe, and you can’t buy it with merit points. However, I used some special means to get it, so its price will reflect that.”

“Moreover…” Xue Qi added with a faint smile, “You don’t have any merit points left, do you? You should have already realized that it’s impossible to live well in the outer sanctum with just your mere 1,000 merit points.”

Su Yu’s expression became gloomy as he asked, “Senior sister, what do you want? You didn’t just come here by coincidence. It is obvious that you came here especially for me.”

It was obvious from her tone that she wouldn’t take merit points in exchange for it. As Xue Qi leaned forward, her faint fragrance drilled into his nostril.

Then, as a flush appeared on her face, her eyes seemed quite lovely. “Please, don’t talk to me like this. I’m deeply hurt by it. I just want to strike a deal with you.”

Su Yu raised his brows and asked, “Deal? What deal?”

Xue Qi surveyed the surroundings and spoke in a low voice, “I want to exchange the elixir recipe for a quota.”

Xue Qi then clearly stated her aim, “Junior brother, in a month, you will travel to the Elegant Spirit Mountain, won’t you? I hope that you can offer all of your quotas for bringing other people with you to me. If you accept this deal, I will offer this recipe to you for free.”

Su Yu was surprised by this. “Huh? I can bring people with me to the Elegant Spirit Mountain?”

Xue Qi was startled by his seeming ignorance. “Of course. You weren’t aware of this?”

Su Yu shook his head blankly in response, while Xue Qi rolled her eyes at him before explaining in detail, “Many of the sanctum’s missions are difficult. Thus, people are allowed to bring experts with them to help them finish them. The Elegant Spirit Mountain’s excavation mission isn’t something that you can finish by yourself, so you are allowed to bring people with you. But, you can only bring, at most, six people.”

Then, as a crafty glint flickered in her eyes, she said, “So… If you offer all six of your quotas to me, I will give you this elixir recipe.”

Upon hearing this, Su Yu just curled up the corners of his mouth and said, “Xue Qi, do you assume that it will be easy to deceive me because I’m young? Moreover… Do you actually think that a single recipe would be enough to tempt me to accept your offer?”

After all, he had six quotas, and he believed that he could sell any one of them for at least 10,000 merit points. All people, regardless of whether they belonged to the outer or inner sanctums, would surely fight over them!

After all, the Elegant Spirit Mountain was a divine land, and if one was lucky, it would be easy for him to gain even tens of thousands of merit points within it. As such, many disciples would surely be willing to try their luck in it. However, although the Primordial Chaos Vital Pill was precious, it was still not worth six quotas.

Su Yu’s eyes lit up slightly after he was enlightened by her. He had just been fretting about where he could get enough merit points to buy the Nine Suns Cosmos Sword Formation, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity.

If he sold each of the quotas for 10,000 merit points, he would get 60,000 merit points! Then, even if he paid back his 11,000 merit point debt, he would still be left with around 50,000 as profit!

Then, if he worked hard in the Elegant Spirit Mountain, he could probably manage to get several more thousands of merits point. When that was added to the merit points that he had gained through making elixirs, his goal of 100,000 wouldn’t be too far off!

He began to wonder how many merit points he could get if he sold the Buddhist Saint’s Eight Characters Technique to the sanctum. Although it was just an incomplete technique, it was still pricey, as it was tantamount to a middle-grade technique.

Thus, it should be easy to get 20,000 for it. As he considered all of this, he figured that, when all was said and done, he would have almost a 100,000 merit points!

Upon hearing him, Xue Qi realized that the situation was far from good. She also realized that conning him wouldn’t be easy.

So, she could only say, “Okay, I can accept exchanging it for just five quotas.”

Su Yu turned to her, while wearing a warm smile, then said, “How about for a single one?”

“Four…” Xue Qi started haggling over the price.

Su Yu then said, “No. Just a single one, and if you aren’t willing to exchange it for just one, I can only bid farewell to you here.”

Since she could get the Primordial Chaos Vital Pill’s recipe, Su Yu figured that it shouldn’t be impossible for him to get it through the black market. So, he couldn’t possibly sit back and allow her to rip him off! After all, several tens of thousands was no small sum!

“Su Yuxian, you should consider this carefully. If you strike this deal with me, you won’t just get the elixir recipe, but you will also get a favor from me. If you have any troubles in the outer sanctum in the future, you can just look for me and I can help you one time for free. I know this will be of great use to you, as I am aware that you have a feud with the Shao family.” Xue Qi wore a solemn look on her face as she spoke.

Su Yu waved his hand at her, without turning his head back around. He then said, “I can take care of my personal matters by myself, so I don’t need to trouble you any longer. Farewell.”

Upon witnessing him leaving, without even considering negotiating further, Xue Qi realized that he planned to sell the quotas by himself to someone other than her. This made her quite vexed.

“Okay, I give up. I will agree to your terms. I can give you the Primordial Chaos Vital Pill for just a single quota.” Xue Qi gritted her teeth, walked forward, then pushed the two elixirs recipes, as well as the ingredients, toward him.

She then asked him fiercely, “Don’t you know how to treat the fairer sex?”

She had come here personally in order to seduce him with her good looks, but it was a pity that he didn’t seem affected by her charms at all, thus thwarting her plan. She had managed to settle many thorny deals like this after coming to make the deal personally, and all men who didn’t have firm wills always would give up quickly. It was a pity that Su Yu had a firm will and was the exception to this rule.

Su Yu turned around and wore a smile while he took the objects that she had just handed him. He then said, “It’s a deal. When I’m about to go to the Elegant Spirit Mountain, I will get in touch with you.”

Xue Qi stamped the ground, then left the restaurant angrily. All of a sudden, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that several people in the restaurant were tagging behind Su Yu.

Her eyes lit up and she revealed a crafty smile as she said, “Hehe! This is his retribution! It really comes after one quickly! Since he dared to haggle over prices with me, he should be prepared to face such a fate!”

Ruffian Long furrowed his brows as he looked at the customers who were tagging behind Su Yu. He then asked, “Are they members of the Shao family? If so, Su Yuxian will probably be in big trouble.”

“Let’s go and follow them!” Xue Qi said before chasing after them immediately.

Ruffian Long was startled by this, and he said, “These things are their personal grudges, so why do we need to meddle? The Shao family is deep-rooted in the inner sanctum, and they are also in competition with us. If we meddle in this matter rashly, won’t we trigger a war between our two sides? If this occurs, the Young Star Master won’t be pleased.”

Xue Qi revealed a mysterious smile and said, “Well… I’ve determined that it’s time for a beauty like me to save a hero in distress. But, you can be at ease, as it won’t affect the Young Star Master’s plans at all.”