Chapter 4755 — Two Days to Answer

"Vice Principal Liu, you know as well as I do that I have admired Sister Yudie for a long time now, and given our respective conditions, one might well call us a match made in heaven. So why not simply grant us your blessing and make it happen?" Ren Zhongyuan had finally shown his fox's tail.

"This..." Liu Ziqi sank into a brooding silence.

Seeing her hesitate, Ren Zhongyuan's eyes darted about, and he pressed his advantage, administering a strong dose: "By the usual rules, when any seventh-rank alchemist takes on a pill-refining commission, the client need only pay a single finished pill at the end, and if the whole batch fails, then not even one. But with my father's methods, this batch of Thunder Mystic Vine could certainly yield four Thunder Mystic Pills! And I can promise to return two of them to you. That offer ought to be generous enough, wouldn't you say?"

This time Liu Ziqi was visibly moved. Such terms were not merely generous—they were quite simply without precedent or parallel. Even the seventh-rank alchemist at her own Morning Pride Academy could not guarantee two Thunder Mystic Pills. Unless it were for one's closest kin and dearest friends, no seventh-rank alchemist would ever make such an offer.

No matter how extraordinary one's talent or how vast one's potential, a breakthrough to the Mystic Ascension stage was seldom assured on the first attempt. Huo Yudie was no exception. But if she held two Thunder Mystic Pills in hand, a double insurance, then her confidence would be an entirely different matter.

Watching Liu Ziqi's expression, Ren Zhongyuan smiled at once. The old saying that wealth stirs the heart proved invincible indeed; even a titan of her stature was not immune to worldly temptation.

"As for the remaining two Thunder Mystic Pills, naturally Sister Yudie and I would each take one. What does Vice Principal Liu think of that?" Ren Zhongyuan continued, sparing no expense to bait her with heavy profit.

"What?!" Liu Ziqi was startled again, and she stared at Ren Zhongyuan in disbelief. "You mean to say these two Thunder Mystic Pills are not even meant for Die'er?"

"Haha, of course not. Once you agree to this arrangement, Sister Yudie will already be my dual-cultivation partner. How could her pills possibly require the trouble of Vice Principal Liu?" Ren Zhongyuan laughed heartily, patting his chest with the ease of a man of great wealth.

Liu Ziqi gazed deeply at Ren Zhongyuan and could not help falling silent. To be honest, after hearing these terms she was truly tempted. After all, apart from the own son of a seventh-rank alchemist like Ren Zhongyuan, no one else in the world could possibly make such an offer.

She could hardly remain unmoved. Otherwise, if she returned and found no one to help refine the pills, then no matter how precious the Thunder Mystic Vine was, it would be of no use. Worse still, as time dragged on and the arcs of lightning blanketing it slowly dispersed—until at last they faded away entirely—it would lose its efficacy and become a pile of utter waste.

Over this matter, Liu Ziqi had gone days without food and nights without sleep. She had even seriously considered whether to swallow her pride and beg Ning Shanghe for help.

With the vast power of West Island at its disposal, it certainly could not lack a seventh-rank alchemist, and given her life-and-death friendship with Ning Shanghe, she would hardly be refused. But on closer thought, that seemed unrealistic, for this was a matter of principle, not something mere personal sentiment could sway.

Though Ning Shanghe was the mistress of West Island and could decide its fate with a single word—to say nothing of such a trifling matter—unless there were no other way, Liu Ziqi could never do such a thing. Besides, West Island had never set such a precedent.

If this time, unable to refuse out of regard for their bond, Ning Shanghe gritted her teeth and broke the precedent, then once word spread, what would she do when other friends came asking her to refine pills? How would she respond then?

Even worse, what if someone, relying on their friendship, simply demanded finished Thunder Mystic Pills from her outright? Once human greed is unleashed, it is a bottomless pit, and such a thing was not beyond the realm of possibility.

Liu Ziqi and Ning Shanghe had never been friends of convenience, but true confidantes. As a friend, she could certainly not place the other in such an awkward, impossible position for the sake of her own private interest. So after much deliberation, she had to abandon the ready path through West Island after all.

That left her with precious few options. Though she was vice principal of Morning Pride Academy, Liu Ziqi had never been one to cultivate a wide circle of acquaintances. Her true friends could be counted on one hand, and those who could help in this matter were even fewer.

Frowning in thought for a long while, Liu Ziqi finally sighed and said ambiguously, "This is a grave matter. I must consider it carefully. I will give you my answer in a couple of days."

"Vice Principal Liu, the opportunity will not come twice—you would do well to think it over carefully!" Ren Zhongyuan was visibly unwilling to let it go. He knew full well that delay breeds trouble; the best course in such a matter was to settle it with a single hammer blow, leaving Huo Yudie no chance and no room to react—simply invoke the master's command that could not be disobeyed, and have the marriage arranged by decree. Otherwise, if things dragged on, who knew what complications might arise.

As the other had said, once this village is passed, there is no such shop again. Liu Ziqi could not help feeling torn. By her own reckoning, the matter was surely sound—otherwise she would not have considered it so seriously.

Under Ren Zhongyuan's proposal, three of the four Thunder Mystic Pills would go to her and her disciple. Those three pills were enough to guarantee Huo Yudie's entry into the Mystic Ascension stage—a dream come true. Moreover, the terms Ren Zhongyuan proposed were not all that excessive.

In Liu Ziqi's eyes, though Ren Zhongyuan's natural gifts fell far short of Wei Zhao's, he had at least been devoted to her Die'er for all these years, and with his background and status, he could well be considered a rare match. Even if he did not set her heart racing the way Wei Zhao did, he was certainly not far behind.

Besides, however excellent Wei Zhao's conditions might be, he was already the West Island's prospective son-in-law. Huo Yudie and he were destined to come to nothing, so better to seize this chance and cut the tie once and for all.

"Two days. In two days I will give you a definite answer. You may go now," Liu Ziqi said coolly. Tempted she might be, but she was a titan in her own right after all, and could not be led by the nose so easily by a minor figure like Ren Zhongyuan. With her precious disciple's lifelong happiness at stake, she would never make a decision in such haste.

"Very well, then the day after tomorrow! At this hour the day after tomorrow, I will come in person to hear Vice Principal Liu's answer. This matter is surely a good thing for you, for me, and for Sister Yudie alike, and I hope to hear good news then." Ren Zhongyuan remained unwilling at heart, but with the other's strength and standing plain before him, he truly dared not press too hard; if he pushed Liu Ziqi to the brink, it would be his own tragedy. (To be continued...)