Chapter 2585 — Double It

"Oh. Well, since that's how it is, there's nothing more to discuss," Wei Zhao said.

"Don't be like that—look, name any other terms you want. As long as it's not finished third-grade pills or a third-grade cauldron, you can ask for whatever you like!" You Panhu was frantic, and hurried to block Wei Zhao's way.

"I really don't need much of anything else… Isn't this just forcing a sale on me?" Wei Zhao looked at You Panhu with some displeasure.

"It's not forcing a sale—I'm just asking you to name your price!" You Panhu said.

"Tell you what. Double the terms you're offering, and we have a deal. Otherwise, forget it," Wei Zhao said.

"What? Double it?" You Panhu was startled.

"Even doubled, I'm still taking a loss. Of everything you're putting up, only the two second-grade cauldrons are actually useful—the rest of the hidden You family's hoard is worthless to me," Wei Zhao said, curling his lip.

"Then let me ask my grandfather first…" You Panhu thought it over and had to admit the man had a point. A third-grade cauldron and third-grade pill ingredients were of no use sitting in the hidden You family's stores—his grandfather was only a second-grade alchemist and couldn't refine third-grade pills at all. "For the third-grade pill ingredients, what do you want?"

"Three portions of the Great Return Pill, three portions of the Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill, and four portions of the Qi Gathering Pill," Wei Zhao said.

"Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill? What's that?" You Panhu was briefly taken aback. He had heard of the Great Return Pill and the Qi Gathering Pill, but the Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill was entirely new to him. He was an alchemist himself, but pill recipes were countless in number; aside from the common ones he knew, there was no way he could be familiar with every obscure formula.

The Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill in particular was a highly specialized pill he had never encountered, so it was only natural he wouldn't know it.

"Oh, I'll give you the formula—just take it home and prepare it yourself," Wei Zhao said. The Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill was in fact only useful to people like Little Miss Bingtang; it did little for anyone else, so there was no harm in letting the formula circulate. Even if the You family got their hands on it, they couldn't turn it into money.

"Fine." You Panhu nodded and had Wei Zhao write down the formula.

In truth, apart from the two second-grade cauldrons, the rest of the terms struck You Panhu as no great problem. Third-grade cauldrons and third-grade pill ingredients were precious, but the pity was that almost no one could use them. The pill ingredients were at least somewhat useful; the third-grade cauldron materials were utterly worthless—neither meat nor bone.

Even if the third-grade pill ingredients were useful, only the founding ancestor of the Mystic Pill Sect could use them to refine pills—and how many times a year could that ancestor refine third-grade pills? Naturally, the ingredients piled up while the pills remained scarce.

You Panhu took Wei Zhao's formula and turned to leave the classroom to seek permission, while Wei Zhao sat down in front of Han Jingyi, beside Wang Xinyan.

"All sorted out?" Wang Xinyan waited until Wei Zhao and You Panhu had finished talking before she asked.

"Mm, it's fine now." Wei Zhao nodded. He had been busy since yesterday, and everything on his plate had piled up. He had originally meant to study the hidden Zhuang family's combined-strike mental technique when he came to school today, but he had rushed out first thing in the morning and never got the chance to look at the Zhuang family's mental-technique mnemonic.

If that mental technique could truly be put to use, then Han Jingyi refining third-grade pills would be no dream.

Wang Xinyan nodded and said nothing more, quietly reading her book—but her heart was far from calm. Her relationship with Wei Zhao was growing closer by the day, and Kang Jinglong could see it as well as anyone. Though Kang Jinglong had made no extreme moves for the time being, and seemed to have vanished without a trace since the winter trip, what worried Wang Xinyan was this: if Kang Jinglong kept enduring in silence like this, might he be plotting something even bigger?

For a moment Wang Xinyan felt restless and irritable, her mind a murky blur, unable to take in a word of her book. A little dizzy, she said, "I'm going to sleep for a bit… I'm a little tired…"

"All right." Wei Zhao had noticed that Wang Xinyan had been sleeping much more lately. She never used to nap, but now it happened all the time. He found it a little strange, but then reasoned that her health wasn't good, and that was probably why she was so sleepy.

After a while, You Panhu came back into the classroom. He was about to say something loudly when Wei Zhao cut him off: "Xinyan's asleep. If you want to make the trade, keep your voice down—otherwise get lost!"

"Uh… all right. Wei Zhao, my grandfather agreed to your terms, but as for second-grade cauldrons, my family only has one spare at the moment. We haven't been given this year's quota yet, so I can only give you one. For the other, I'll write you an IOU—does that work for you?" You Panhu asked.

"That won't do. What if you copy the materials and then refuse to honor the debt? Payment and goods change hands at the same time, or there's no deal!" Wei Zhao said, with the finality of a blade cutting iron.

"…Then what am I supposed to do? This is all my family has. Why are you so rigid? Can't you be a little flexible? How about we get Leader Bai to act as witness—it's not as if I can cheat you," You Panhu said, somewhat helplessly.

"If we bring in Leader Bai, do you really think you'd still get to walk away with the materials?" Wei Zhao countered.

"That…" You Panhu thought it over and realized he was right. If Leader Bai was willing to hand him the materials, there would be no need to go through all this trouble trading with Wei Zhao. So he said, "What if I make up for the other cauldron with something else? How about that?"

"Something else…" For a moment Wei Zhao genuinely couldn't think what to ask for in its place. He thought it over, then said, "Then throw in another set of third-grade cauldron refining materials?"

"That… we don't have any at the moment either…" You Panhu's face darkened. "The two sets were leftovers from before. All the excess third-grade cauldron materials my family had were given to the Mystic Pill Sect for research. Getting them back would take waiting for the right opportunity…"

"Damn—this you don't have, that you don't have. What do you have?" Wei Zhao had finally managed to come up with one thing, and You Panhu didn't have it either.

"How about this: didn't you want ten portions of third-grade pill ingredients? I'll give you twelve—four portions of each kind. How's that?" Seeing that Wei Zhao truly had no need for anything else and only wanted third-grade cauldron refining materials, You Panhu made up the difference with ingredients for other pills.

"Oh, is that so? That'll do, then." Wei Zhao nodded, but inwardly he was thinking: so third-grade pill ingredients aren't worth much after all—otherwise why would You Panhu suddenly offer two extra portions out of the blue?