Longevity starts from having a daughter in old age - Chapter 73

Chapter 73: Chapter 63 Reunion with an Old Friend_i

Translator: 549690339

[Mysterious Yuan Pill +50]!

[Mysterious Yuan Pill Proficiency; 774/1600]!

Xu Mu devoted all the Luck Value he accumulated over the month into this.

The subsequent time was naturally spent in crazy alchemy.

Twenty days later, Xu Mu has ten bottles of the Mysterious Yuan Pill in hand.

Among them, seven bottles were lower-grade, two middle-grade and one was top-grade.

The reason he could create a top-grade pill was he invested the Luck Value increased in the past twenty days into it, elevating the alchemy skill of the Mysterious Yuan Pill to a higher level, reaching Perfection.

At dawn, Xu Mu patted the smooth back of Leng Yuening, waking her up.

Leng Yuening lazily turned around and continued to sleep with her eyes closed.

With a shake of his head, Xu Mu slapped a Purification Charm, clearing the dried sticky fluid, and got up for his morning wash and tidy up.

Since they had Zhang Shouren the charm maker at home, they were not short of Purification Charms for the time being.

After breakfast, Xu Mu set out to sell his pills.

Several days passed.

Ten bottles of Mysterious Yuan Pill remained in Xu Mu’s possession.

Not a single one was sold.

It wasn’t that no shop was willing to cooperate with him, Alchemists who could refine Mysterious Yuan Pill were quite popular indeed, but the price they offered was too low for Xu Mu’s liking.

The low price was not only due to lower quality of the Mysterious Yuan Pill, but it was because Xu Mu was too new in Liyang City.

“Taking advantage of newcomers, huh!”

Xu Mu smiled bitterly.

“Could I be forced to take that step?”

Just as Xu Mu was hesitating, Shen Bokang, the old man who had tea with him before, suddenly came to see him.

Friend Xu, I hear you have successfully refined the Mysterious Yuan Pill?

Standing by the pond in the courtyard, Shen Bokang fed the multicoloured Koi while asking.

“Just good luck!”

Xu Mu invited Shen Bokang to sit on the vine chair nearby; Zhang Shouren helped with serving the tea.

“I admire Friend Xu’s talent in alchemy!” Shen Bokang said, sipping his tea.

You are too kind, Friend Shen!”

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Xu Mu got straight to the point, “I wonder what brings Friend Shen here?”

Xu Mu did not believe that Shen just wanted to have a simple chat with him.

They had only met a few times and were far from being well-acquainted.

No one comes to the temple without a cause!

“Let’s not beat around the bush, are you also worried about selling your pills, Friend Xu?” Shen Bokang said, his tone ambiguous as his right hand rested on the armrest.

“You’re joking, Friend Shen, there are medicine stores all over the city, why would I worry!” Xu Mu said laughingly.

Ha-ha!

Shen Bokang chuckled.

“Why hide it from me, friend? Both of us are loose cultivators who climbed up from the bottom, we know the difficulty of earning spirit stones!”

“Let’s not talk about the Pill Master Guild, they take a whole seventy percent of the profits, leaving us toil in vain.

The medicine store is slightly better, but we are both newcomers. At most, they give us forty to fifty percent of the profit! Moreover, the stores have high demands. We must provide an adequate amount of pills every month, unless you are a top-notch alchemist, it is tough to have a moment of rest!”

What Shen Bokang said was true, but Xu Mu did not show much reaction.

He sipped his tea and said calmly: “From what you’re saying, Friend Shen, you seem to have another method?”

“Exactly!”

Though Xu Mu’s response surprised Shen Bokang, he still got straight to the point: “If you agree to sell your pills to me, I am willing to give you 70 percent of the profit! The price is only 10 percent higher than at the market! What do you think, Friend Xu?”

“There is no problem with the price!” Xu Mu frowned slightly: “But will there be any risks in this?”

“Friend Xu, profits are inevitably linked with risks. If there were absolutely no risks, why would it fall to us?” Shen Bokang laughed.

“But you can rest assured, Xu, even if we are discovered by the Pill Master Guild, we will only be fined a little spirit stone at most, there will be no major danger.”

Xu Mu paused for a moment before saying, “Can you give me a few days to think about it, Friend Shen?”

“Of course, there is no problem with that!”

After more chit chat, Shen Bokang finally said goodbye and left.

“Forget it, I’d better find a shop with a reasonable price!”

He was reluctant to agree to Shen Bokang not only out of caution.

Sudden good news normally doesn’t signal good intention.

What’s more, he sensed a hint of urgency from Shen Bokang.

This made him wary, feeling that Shen Bokang might be plotting something.

However, the most important reason was that he was different from ordinary alchemists.

Ordinary alchemists would find it hard to elevate their alchemy skill. He, on the other hand, just needed to wait several months to easily enhance his Alchemy Skill.

In time, he could use high-quality pills to negotiate profits, which may not be inferior to what Shen Bokang proposed. Given the circumstances, why would he risk it?

The next day!

The sky was still in twilight.

Xu Mu exited from the passage behind Lan Shijin, adjusted his clothing, and started meditating and cultivating in the practice room on the third floor.

It was nearly noon when he stopped cultivating and walked towards the selected store.

Before reaching the entrance of the shop, he unexpectedly encountered a familiar face.

“After a few months apart, it’s heartening to see Friend Xu has already progressed to the late stages of Qi Cultivation!”

Chi Feiyan stood up to pour a cup of tea for Xu Mu herself.

Just like several months ago, Chi Feiyan still had a refined and delicate appearance, though her attire was considerably more lavish than before, revealing a touch of married woman’s grace.

“It’s just good luck, I happened to find some spiritual medicine!”

Xu Mu smiled and took a sip of his tea.

“All successful cultivators in the world have the blessing of luck. My friend, you’re too modest!”

Chi Feiyan sat down laughing and waved her hand to let the servants retreat outside the private room.

“Friend Xu, since you are in Liyang City, why didn’t you drop by to see me?”

Her Chi family arrived in Liyang City several months earlier than Xu Mu did.

Given his standing as a Foundation Establishment Family, it isn’t possible that Xu Mu couldn’t have heard about their arrival.

“I’ve been busy with alchemy recently and lost track of time. I hope friend Chi understands!” Xu Mu apologetically said.

“So, you lost track of time? And here I thought, Friend Xu, you didn’t want to see me!” Chi Feiyan teased.

Xu Mu felt rather embarrassed.

He indeed didn’t want to meet her, not because of the past incident when they left him behind, but mainly for fear that the Luo Family might spot him during the interaction and identify him.

Although the odds of this happening were very slim, he didn’t want to take any risks.

All three major families had come to White River City around the same time. He refused to believe that in such unfamiliar territory, there was absolute no connection between them.

After some casual talk and exchange of their recent experiences, Chi Feiyan finally asked, “I’ve recently opened a medicine shop in the city. I was wondering if Friend Xu would be interested in partnering with me again?”

Xu Mu paused, revealing a helpless wry smile.

It seemed that they hadn’t encountered each other by accident after all; she had deliberately sought him out after hearing about his presence.

He was uncertain how she got information about him, whether from resident registration, the Pill Master Guild, or whether he ran into her while selling his pills at her shop in the last few days.

However, since she had already raised the topic, he found it hard to refuse.

Besides, she had once gifted him a map, so he did have a debt to repay, which made it more difficult for him to decline.

“Miss Chi thinks rather highly of me; I am naturally eager to collaborate!”

“I’m truly delighted that Friend Xu accepts! As for the price, rest assured it’s only higher than other places, not lower!”

“Much appreciated!”

After negotiating, Chi Feiyan offered to pay 60% of the market price.

That was the limit, unless Xu Mu agreed to join the Lv family.

Yes, it’s the Lv family, not the Chi family.

Because three months ago, Chi Feiyan was married to the elder of the Lv family.

Chi Feiyan didn’t explain much about this matter, but Xu Mu had heard a piece of relevant news.

The elder of the Chi family was poisoned by a rare toxin, and the Lv family had the means for a cure. As a result, Chi Feiyan had to marry the elder of the Lv family. In return, a widowed sister of the Lv Family’s head, who had two grown sons, married Chi Feiyan’s father, the head of the Chi Family.

The elder of the Lv family was at the end of his life, bereft of fertility.

Chi Feiyan was doomed not to birth descendants who could assume control of the Lv family.

Meanwhile, the head of the Chi Family had suddenly gained two sons who were not of his bloodline.

Under the guise of a father-son relationship with the head of the Chi Family, both men brazenly interfered with the Chi Family’s affairs, and they even had the opportunity to succeed to the position of family head in the future.

Anyone with a little bit of sense could see that the Lv family was merely using a suitable excuse to annex the Chi Family’s wealth.

However, the Chi family couldn’t resist for two reasons: the Lv family was superior to the Chi family, and the elder of their family needed a cure from the Lv family.

Regardless, all this mattered little to Xu Mu. As long as he could collaborate with Chi Feiyan, regardless of her current status, that would be enough.

After signing the contract, Xu Mu produced the Mysterious Yuan Pills he had refined.

Chi Feiyan, eyeing the Mysterious Yuan Pills produced by Xu Mu, was amazed but not surprised, which further proved that she had indeed learned of his particulars in advance.

I thought Liyang City was quite large, but it seems it’s far too small!

Xu Mu inwardly sighed.

Chi Feiyan’s reaction gave him the feeling of being stripped naked.

He seemingly had no secrets left.

Ten bottles of Mysterious Yuan Pills earned him nine medium-grade spirit stones. After deducting the cost of three medium-grade spirit stones, the profit was just six medium-grade stones.

This time, he happened to run into her; but in the future, Xu Mu could take his pills directly to the pharmacy.

After completing the transaction, Xu Mu skillfully steered the conversation in order to learn more about the Luo Family’s situation.

“The Luo Family is much luckier than our two families. They offered the Heavenly Tribulation vine they had plundered from the Song Family to the Golden Pill ancestors of Liyang Sect. As a result, not only did they successfully join the Liyang Sect and earn the right to manage a marketplace, but they also received a few Foundation Establishment Pills as a reward. It won’t be too long before their family has a new Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator!”

Chi Feiyan’s eyes reflected both envy and jealousy.

If they had known earlier that the Luo Family had obtained the Heavenly Tribulation vine, the other two families would not have traveled with the Luo family and would have made a move on them in White River City itself.

Now, they could only begrudge their situation.

Their two families could only be considered to live at the mercy of others, they had to earn all sorts of resources themselves, while the Luo family, in charge of a market, didn’t have to do anything and yet their wealth was rolling in.

It’s truly frustrating to compare one’s lot with others!

“That’s indeed quite lucky!”

Xu Mu also felt a sense of loss in his heart.

He thought the Luo family would gradually decline, but he didn’t expect them to bounce back and have such good luck.

“Miss Chi, do you know which market the Luo Family is managing?”

“It’s the Cui Ling Market that is closest to the Liqing River Sword Sect!”

Damn it!

Could one be more unfortunate?

Xu Mu felt so frustrated that he nearly spat blood.

Because the magic artifacts he acquired from Luo Xu were all disposed of at the Cui Ling Market-