Chapter 4755 — Two Days to Answer
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"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.