Chapter 4828 — Isn't That Not Enough?

"So by that reckoning, doesn't that mean the great families are bound to win?" Wei Zhao asked. Since the chief alchemist of Morning Star Academy was their ally, when it came to high-grade pills, the other merchant guilds—the Hong Clan Merchant Guild included—would find it very hard to compete with them, and come auction day they were bound to steal the show.

"Not necessarily," Old Chai said, shaking his head. "It's true the great families have latched onto the academy's chief alchemist, and true they'll have no trouble getting their hands on high-grade pills. But if they put pills refined by Morning Star Academy's own alchemists up for auction, that's hardly any feat at all. If the academy favored the great families because of that, wouldn't it just be slapping its own face?"

"Ha, using the academy's own pills to props up the great families, letting them carry those pills to the grand auction and sell them right back to Morning Star Academy—if word of that got out, people would laugh their teeth out. The academy's higher-ups shouldn't be capable of quite that much stupidity." Wei Zhao nodded, unable to hold back a laugh.

"That's just the logic of it. Even so, the great families are still the heavy favorites this time. Beyond the academy's alchemist, they have other channels of their own. Word has leaked out that they've prepared a set of ten Golden Pills of Infant Convergence for this auction!" Old Chai sighed, the envy on his face impossible to hide.

No wonder he envied them. Here in the East Continent's Yellow-Tier sea region, the Golden Pill of Infant Convergence was a genuine flagship pill; the vast majority of academy disciples in these parts were accomplished Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators, all of whom could make use of it, so its price naturally rose with the tide. Especially as a set of ten placed at auction—it was absolutely certain to fetch a sky-high price.

"Only ten Golden Pills of Infant Convergence?" Wei Zhao smiled faintly at that, then startled the room: "Then we'll auction five Thunder Mystic Pills."

"Huh? Say what?" Old Chai and Cui Mingshan were struck dumb, exchanging looks of disbelief, half convinced their ears were playing tricks on them.

Wei Zhao smiled and, without a word, drew from his robe the Thunder Mystic Pills he had refined back at Xiangyun Academy, laying them out one by one before the two men. With every pill he set down, Old Chai and Cui Mingshan gasped a cold breath; by the time all five were arrayed in a row on the table, the pair had gone utterly still, frozen like statues.

"What's the matter? Not enough?" Wei Zhao glanced at them.

"No... no..." Old Chai and Cui Mingshan waved their hands again and again.

As branch shopkeeper and deputy shopkeeper, they were men who had seen their share of the world. For Wei Zhao to produce five Thunder Mystic Pills in one go was already a stroke of heaven-defying extravagance; compared with this, the great families' ten Golden Pills of Infant Convergence were not even in the same league, their value simply incomparable.

In the East Continent's Yellow-Tier sea region, the Golden Pill of Infant Convergence counted only as the aspiration of ordinary disciples, while the true elite disciples were all striving toward the Mystic Ascension realm. The Thunder Mystic Pill alone was the pill they dreamed of, the thing they would pay any price to obtain.

"Still not enough? That's no problem. Hurry out and fetch some pill-refining materials—while we have the chance, I may as well refine a few rare ones. Beauty Pills and the like, bring materials for those too. Quick, now." Wei Zhao gave his instructions.

"Ah? Beauty Pills? You can refine pills of that grade too?" Old Chai and Cui Mingshan were now thoroughly stunned. They had had no idea that Wei Zhao was an alchemist at all—and a rare seventh-grade alchemist at that. He could go and be the academy's chief alchemist, surely!

"I manage," Wei Zhao said with a smile. "I've only ever refined Thunder Mystic Pills. I haven't tried Beauty Pills yet—a good opportunity to give them a go."

"The Vice President is truly a master!" Old Chai and Cui Mingshan exchanged a glance, three words written plain on both their faces: I yield!

They had been at their wits' end, and now, with a great one like Wei Zhao appearing out of nowhere, every problem dissolved at a touch. The two of them lost no time in ordering the preparation of all manner of pill-refining materials; the grand auction was only days away, and time was tight.

So Wei Zhao settled in at the Hong Clan Merchant Guild to refine pills—which left the Mystic Ascension expert of West Mountain, who had been tailing him all along, speechless. He had followed Wei Zhao at a distance the whole way, and only when he watched the man walk into the Hong Clan Merchant Guild could he do nothing but keep watch outside the door. The Hong Clan Merchant Guild might not scrutinize guests as carefully as an inn did, but many guilds of that size had detection formations in place, and one might well give away his identity as a demonic cultivator.

In the end, West Mountain the Expert squatted there a full day and night, waiting until dark without seeing Wei Zhao come out. He could not help but wonder: what was going on here? Had the man slipped out the back door?

But no sooner had the thought surfaced than he dismissed it. That couldn't be—from morning to night his spiritual sense had covered the whole area, and he had never once caught a trace of Wei Zhao. So there was only one possibility: Wei Zhao was still inside the Hong Clan Merchant Guild!

Yet now the guild was plainly closing its doors, and still Wei Zhao did not appear. West Mountain the Expert could sit still no longer and could not resist going up to ask: "Are there any customers left inside?"

The waiter in charge of closing up glanced at him and shook his head. "Sorry, all the customers have gone. If you need something, please come back early tomorrow."

"Is that so?" West Mountain the Expert craned his neck and peered inside for a couple of looks. It was indeed empty, and he had no choice but to shake his head and leave, muttering as he walked: "How can that be? Impossible... Hiss... but the brat does have some wicked tricks about him. Maybe he really did fool my spiritual sense and slip away. Could he have gone back to the inn?"

At that thought, West Mountain the Expert hurried back to keep watch beside the inn. Wei Zhao had put him through such hardship this time; he was not about to let the mongrel off so easily!

And so West Mountain the Expert squatted there a solid three days on end. Dressed in his wretched beggar's getup, he had scraped together so many spirit jades in bits and pieces that he was nearly rich enough to make his fortune, and still he had not caught so much as a shadow of Wei Zhao.

At this, West Mountain the Expert was thoroughly deflated. Anyone who had braved wind and rain and lived as a beggar for so many days would have lost his temper, and he was no ordinary man—a demonic cultivator of the late Mystic Ascension stage. If any of his fellow sect members saw him in this state, he would never be able to hold his head up again for the rest of his life!

There was no help for it. West Mountain the Expert truly could not hold out any longer, so he simply gave up the watch and left first. Once his injuries healed, he would come back and settle accounts properly with that mongrel!

Five days passed in a flash. Wei Zhao stretched lazily and stepped out from the room Old Chai had specially prepared for him. These past days, apart from his regular cultivation, he had been busy refining pills the whole time; only this morning did he emerge from seclusion, because today was the day the Morning Star Grand Auction officially opened.