Chapter 2534 — No Malfunction
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
In the Hidden Zhao family, an old man came before the Old Master Zhao in high excitement, carrying a small box. "Old Master," he reported, "we did exceedingly well at this cultivators' market auction! There were a great many Minor Qi-Gathering Pills this time. In the past there were only one or two, and even with the Hidden Zhao family's resources we could never outbid the others—but this time we finally secured four! Of course, it's because our family has made a good deal of money lately. With money in hand and confidence in our hearts, we dared to bid. In the past, the moment the price passed ten million, we could only give up..."
The Hidden Zhao family had in fact never had much money. Otherwise they would never have sent Zhao Qibing out into the mundane world to find ways to make some. Even if Li Cihua was profitable, the money he earned to keep the whole Hidden Zhao family running had to be budgeted down to the last coin, so laying out ten million for pills was truly a luxury.
It could be said that the hidden clans were all poorer than the mundane clans—which was exactly why the Hidden Yu family had siphoned money through the mundane Yu family! And now, freed from the constraints of the Hidden Clan Arbitration Association, the Hidden Zhao family had begun madly doing business and amassing wealth in Donghai City. With the Hidden Zhao family's connections, they had easily accumulated a vast fortune.
Even Lei Daming, in a short space of time, had brought the Hidden Zhao family profits in excess of a hundred million—which was why, after he caused trouble, the Hidden Zhao family had not killed him but merely banished him.
This old man was the one the Hidden Zhao family had sent to attend the cultivators' market auction. His name was Old Mian; his strength was a notch below Old Bi's, but he too stood at the peak of the late Earth rank—though he had only recently advanced to it.
"Mm, the Minor Qi-Gathering Pills—give them all to Qibing. We have no use for such things at home now." Old Master Zhao waved his hand grandly, settling the disposition of the Minor Qi-Gathering Pills. At present, the only ones in the Hidden Zhao family with the strength to take them were Zhao Qibing and Zhao Qilei, the two Mystic-rank experts, and only they could rapidly advance to the Earth rank after consuming these four pills. But Old Master Zhao had already decided to send Zhao Qilei to his death—how could he possibly waste pills on him?
Besides, the very name of the Minor Qi-Gathering Pills reminded Old Master Zhao of the Qi-Gathering Pill he himself had taken—it was through Zhao Qibing's efforts that he had smoothly advanced to become a Heaven-rank expert. So whenever there was any chance to do something for his grandson Zhao Qibing, Old Master Zhao never let it pass.
A treasure as valuable as the Qi-Gathering Pill had gone into his own belly—a third-grade pill that a fortune could not buy! What was a Minor Qi-Gathering Pill worth a few million by comparison? If Zhao Qibing ate it, then he ate it.
True, over this period Old Master Zhao had also noticed and come to see that Zhao Qibing was not the promising material he had imagined. But he had no other choice now. He had already given up on Zhao Qilei, and there was no point in thinking he could ever restore Zhao Qilei to favor.