All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 49

At the Thousand Luo Herb Shop, the woman named Qing Luo received Zhanyue again. His alias in the Thousand Steeds Association was Zhan Ding.

“Young Master Zhan, you’ve successfully advanced?” Qing Luo looked at the list of herbs Zhanyue handed over, clearly different from the previous pill formula.

“That’s right, I’m now a third-grade alchemist. I want to refine some other third-grade alchemys,” Zhanyue said honestly.

Qing Luo looked at Zhanyue appreciatively, then moved her abacus, “A total of 120,000 purple crystal coins, but with the discount, I’ll count it as 100,000 purple crystal coins for you.”

Zhanyue nodded with satisfaction. The other party had reduced the price by 8,000 purple crystal coins. “Like last time, I’ll use pills for deduction. These and these,” Zhanyue took out quite a few pills.

“Are they the same first-grade pills as last time?” Qing Luo asked excitedly.

“No, this time it’s first-grade Breakthrough Pills and second-grade Blood Stopping Pills,” Zhanyue answered. He didn’t plan to sell third-grade alchemys, as those were troublesome enough to refine for himself. And he hadn’t had time to refine Earth Vein Pills these days.

Although somewhat disappointed, Qing Luo still took these two types of pills for evaluation. However, when she returned, her gaze towards Zhanyue changed again.

“Why are all your pills of such good quality?” Qing Luo marveled. Although they were first and second-grade pills, the quality difference was very obvious. The same Breakthrough Pills provided by Zhanyue probably had a higher breakthrough rate than others’, and the effect of those second-grade Blood Stopping Pills was also very good, able to instantly stop even large amounts of bleeding.

This time was very efficient. Qing Luo converted 100,000 purple crystal coins worth of pills, then handed the herbs to Zhanyue.

Just as Zhanyue was about to leave, a hoarse voice stopped him.

“Young master, shall we have a chat?”

Zhanyue turned back and saw a person in a black robe, their build and appearance unclear. He recognized this as the black-robed person who had stood behind Steward Luo before. Frowning slightly, Zhanyue nodded. He had to give face to Steward Luo, as they would inevitably deal with each other in the future.

The fourth floor of the Thousand Luo Shop was the VIP room, used to receive important guests and for some business activities. At this moment, only Zhanyue and the black-robed person sat facing each other.

“I’ve looked at your list. Although you’ve tried hard to conceal it, I can still see that you want to refine third-grade Wind Sprint Pills, which can greatly increase one’s speed for a short time after consumption. Your pill formula is very ancient, and the effect isn’t actually that good. This formula has been optimized many times over the years. It’s better to replace the Yellow Cloud Sand with White Hand Sand, Purple Gold Grass with Crescent Flower, remove the Bitter Hand Chrysanthemum, and increase the proportion of Wind Seeking Seeds,” the black-robed person said while handing Zhanyue a piece of paper with methods to improve the Wind Sprint Pills.

Zhanyue raised an eyebrow and accepted the paper. This was the black-robed person showing goodwill. It was also Zhanyue’s first proper exchange with another alchemist.

“Thank you, senior. May I ask why you’ve kept me behind?” Zhanyue asked.

Hearing the word ‘senior’, the black-robed person was slightly stunned, then returned to normal. “I wanted to ask if you’ve mastered the lost ‘Thousand Hand Fire God’ technique?”

“Thousand Hand Fire God? What’s that?” Zhanyue looked puzzled.

“You really don’t know?” The black-robed person looked at Zhanyue’s expression, which didn’t seem to be lying.

“This is the first time I’ve heard of it,” Zhanyue answered.

The black-robed person’s eyes showed obvious disappointment. “Thousand Hand Fire God is an alchemy technique. Legend has it that it can greatly purify pills, reducing impurities. I saw that the pills you refined all have very few impurities, so I thought you had mastered this lost technique.”

Zhanyue understood inwardly. The high quality of the pills he refined wasn’t because of his skill, but because of the Earth Mother Golden Cauldron. Obviously, this black-robed person had taken him for an expert. He needed to think of how to deceive them. The secret of the Earth Mother Golden Cauldron couldn’t be discovered. Refining pills that were too good was also a trouble.

“Well, senior, you might have misunderstood something. These high-purity pills were refined by my master, not me. The old man has gone traveling the world. Next time I see him, I’ll ask on your behalf if he knows what Thousand Hand Fire God is,” Zhanyue answered.

“Your master? What’s his name?” the black-robed person asked curiously.

“I can’t reveal his name,” Zhanyue looked at the prayer beads on his wrist. Although he didn’t know who that person was, it was a good shield to use right now. Otherwise, the black-robed person would discover the secret of his pill cauldron. Zhanyue had a feeling that this black-robed person before him was very powerful and intelligent.

“I can only secretly tell you, he’s an eighth-grade alchemist,” Zhanyue said, feigning mysteriousness.

“Ei… eighth-grade?” This indeed stunned the black-robed person. If an eighth-grade alchemist refined pills of such high purity, it wouldn’t be surprising. Zhanyue’s words were half-true and half-false, and no one could verify them.

“If that’s the case, next time when you see your master, please ask about the ‘Thousand Hand Fire God’ for me,” the black-robed person said. They didn’t fully believe Zhanyue.

“Alright, I’ll remember. This junior will take his leave now,” Zhanyue said and turned to leave. The black-robed person didn’t keep him.

After Zhanyue left, Luo Mingtao came out, asking curiously, “How was it? Did you find out his background?”

The black-robed person shook their head, “No. If he really is the disciple of an eighth-grade alchemist, we’d better not have designs on him and keep our distance. We can’t afford to offend an eighth-grade alchemist.”

“An eighth-grade alchemist, ah. Even my Thousand Steeds Association only has one honorary eighth-grade alchemist, who only refines pills when personally invited by the chairman,” Luo Mingtao sighed. In any case, they couldn’t offend this Zhanyue. “No wonder he was so calm about the previous incident, not angry at all. The disciple of a great master is indeed different.”

“By the way, are you really going to Pearl City alone in a few days? Don’t you need me to accompany you?” Luo Mingtao asked. In fact, he had quite a lot of his own business to attend to.

“No need. You handle your affairs. I’ll go with the Thousand Steeds Association’s merchant group. From Thousand Feather City to Pearl City, there’s not much danger along the way,” the black-robed person explained.

“That’s not necessarily true. Night Lord’s rebellion hasn’t been completely resolved. The Eastern Kingdom’s territory might not be absolutely safe,” Luo Mingtao said with some worry.

“It’s fine. Most of Night Lord’s 99 Demons have been killed or injured, and the rest have all gone into hiding,” the black-robed person was quite well-informed.

Luo Mingtao nodded, “Alright then. After all, you have the strength of the ninth stage of Soul Control Realm, half a step into the Profound Realm.”

The black-robed person before him was slightly inferior to Cheng Lu, but not by much.

Walking out of the Thousand Luo Herb Shop, Zhanyue’s palms were a bit sweaty. One lie needs more lies to cover it up. However, he looked at the prayer beads on his wrist, “Old monk, I hope you didn’t deceive me, and that person really is an eighth-grade alchemist. It’s alright for me to borrow his name for now, right?” Thinking of something, Zhanyue turned back and supplemented some herbs.

In the basement of the small courtyard, Zhanyue first refined a batch of third-grade Wind Sprint Pills according to the ancient method, then refined another batch using the improved method given by the black-robed person. The first time he produced six pills, while the second time he got a full ten pills. Moreover, the pills from the second batch were obviously rounder and smoother, with stronger spiritual energy fluctuations.

“It really has improved a lot. I underestimated the heroes of the world,” Zhanyue sighed. He had obtained an ancient pill formula. This formula had been passed down for so many years, and generations of geniuses had improved it. The improved effect was indeed better.

“If human civilization hadn’t been interrupted, and many inheritances had been preserved, how strong would the human race be now?” Looking at these improved Wind Sprint Pills, Zhanyue couldn’t help but think.

“Pack up and go to Pearl City. I should also consider materials for fourth-grade pills. I heard that woman (Qing Luo) say they have a merchant group heading to Pearl. I’ll go with them, so the journey won’t be lonely,” Zhanyue made his plan.