Chapter 4123 — Zheng Dongjue's Compromise

Over the next few days, business at the Heavenly Pill Pavilion slackened noticeably compared with opening day, gradually settling into a steadier rhythm.

This was hardly surprising. On the first day, most people had been drawn in by the novelty and the crowd, and having stumbled upon such an array of top-grade pills—together with Di Xingdao's living endorsement—they had surged forward to snap them up.

And though pills are consumables, they are not like wine or a meal; the vast majority of cultivators might not take even a single pill in a month. Once these people had bought their pills and carried them home, they would have no need of more for some time.

So the dip in the Heavenly Pill Pavilion's sales was only to be expected. In truth, even the Five Elements Merchant Guild in its day could not have stayed packed every single day the way a new shop does on opening day; a drop of more than half in sales was perfectly normal.

Still, the display shelves held no small number of top-grade pills, which carried an inherent pull and appeal. Compared with the dismal, sparrow-forsaken doorways of other merchants, the Heavenly Pill Pavilion's trade remained rather good—enough to make many a fellow trader green with envy.

With no repeat of the first day's packed house, Xue Li alone could handle the shop's business, which happened to leave Wei Zhao and Tian Chan time to refine pills. Had the two of them also been forced to show their faces and thus left with no leisure for alchemy, they would truly have been on the verge of running out of stock.

During this stretch, Wei Zhao had only one task each day: to devote himself to alchemy—not only attempting to refine more fifth-grade pills, but also building up a reserve of fourth-grade pills for the days to come.

Yet he did not place these freshly turned-out fifth-grade pills directly on the display shelves for sale. The Heavenly Pill Pavilion had only just opened, after all, and its top-grade fourth-grade pills still held ample appeal; there was no hurry to roll out fifth-grade pills just yet.

Another, more important reason was the news Wei Zhao had learned from Cai Zhongxuan: the Central Island Grand Auction would formally begin in ten days.

Wei Zhao therefore meant to stockpile the fifth-grade pills he had on hand and, when the time came, put them up for auction under the Heavenly Pill Pavilion's name. If he wished to make the pavilion's name resound as quickly as possible, this was a heaven-sent opportunity he could not possibly let slip.

Beyond that, during this time Wei Zhao had received another piece of good news thanks to Cai Zhongxuan: the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass he had long awaited had arrived!

Five stalks in all. The quantity was not as great as the ten portions Ning Xuefei had provided before, yet when Wei Zhao finished refining them, he successfully produced eight top-grade Foundation Establishment Gold Pills—an even more outrageous success rate than last time!

The reason lay partly in the superb quality of these five stalks of Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass, and partly in the fact that they were freshly harvested: the shorter the storage time, the less the medicinal potency had bled away, and the better the result in the crucible. That eight pills emerged was unexpected, yet entirely reasonable.

With eight brand-new top-grade Foundation Establishment Gold Pills in hand, Wei Zhao himself had no use for them for the time being. He had only recently used such pills to push himself to the peak of the late Foundation Establishment stage; to recklessly keep popping pills would easily destabilize his foundation—a loss outweighing the gain.

But though Wei Zhao could not use them for now, these top-grade Foundation Establishment Gold Pills were timely charcoal in the snow for the low-powered Tian Chan and Xue Li. At their present cultivation, a single top-grade Foundation Establishment Gold Pill, paired with a Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pill, would see them safely break through and advance.

This unexpected delight left the two women stunned for quite a while. Given their closeness to Wei Zhao, they could hardly claim to be unfamiliar with his affairs—yet he gave them the feeling of a Doraemon, producing one astonishing surprise after another to startle them, so much so that even now they could not be sure where the limits of their man truly lay.

Wei Zhao attended to the Heavenly Pill Pavilion's business in person, while Tian Chan and Xue Li, each brimming with joy, took their pills and went into seclusion to attempt their breakthroughs.

As for the remaining six top-grade Foundation Establishment Gold Pills, Wei Zhao left those to them as well, so that after consolidating their cultivation they might take more and advance again.

Put plainly, so long as he could find Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass, Wei Zhao could refine Foundation Establishment Gold Pills whenever he pleased. But if Tian Chan were to try, setting aside whether she could guarantee a top-grade result, there was a strong chance the refinement would simply fail—Foundation Establishment Gold Pills were no common, run-of-the-mill wares, and their refinement was exceedingly difficult.

The Pill Hall, Zheng Garden.

"Grandfather, you told your grandson last time that you would find a way to grant his wish. But now not only has no opportunity presented itself—Tian Chan has actually moved out to set up on her own. What are we to do?" Zheng Tianshuo, whose position had only grown more secure over these days, took the occasion to grumble to Zheng Dongjue.

The more out of reach a thing, the more one craves it. When he could pester Tian Chan every day, he had at least possessed the patience to wait a while longer; but now that Tian Chan had moved out and the duck he had thought cooked was taking flight, that clawing, gnawing torment was more than an ordinary man could bear.

What he could bear even less was that Tian Chan's moving out had been personally approved by his own grandfather. How was a man who held that "a brother's wife is better than a romp" to swallow such a thing?

"Hmph! Day in and day out, all you know is chasing after women. What great prospects could you possibly have carrying on like that?" Zheng Dongjue could not help but glare and curse at him.

Compared with the dead Zheng Tianjie, Zheng Tianshuo was inferior in every respect, and propping him up as heir was in truth a rather risky affair. But Zheng Dongjue had no choice: the other younger members of the Zheng family were even worse than Zheng Tianshuo. If not him, whom else could he choose?

"Grandfather, don't be angry. In truth, your grandson only means to carry on our cousin's unfinished wishes—that is why he cannot put Tian Chan from his mind. It is not that he lacks ambition; he simply wishes to resolve a single fixation. Did you not say yourself, Grandfather, that one must not harbor fixations in cultivation?" Zheng Tianshuo said, shrinking his neck and quibbling.

Zheng Dongjue shot him a look of hating iron for not becoming steel. Zheng Tianshuo's little schemes could never escape his eyes. Still, a man's fondness for women was a harmless enough trifle—he himself had been young once—and once the boy's wish was granted, he would naturally stop obsessing.

"We shall see for now. In these days, do not act rashly. I have not yet sounded out just how far Di Xingdao has recovered. Last time, though, at the Heavenly Pill Pavilion's opening, he put on a display before the crowd and frightened Steward Diao away," Zheng Dongjue said, placating him.

"But they were only frightened off by the old thing's reputation. Perhaps his strength has not recovered at all, and he was merely putting on a bluff?" Zheng Tianshuo persisted, unwilling to give up. R1152