Chapter 76: Co-operation

In the silent hall, a crowd of red-hot gazes unwaveringly stared at the little jade bottles on the table which numbered over a thousand. Almost no one had ever personally seen such a large quantity of elixirs.

Her pink tongue licked her red lips subconsciously, Xiao Yu was equally dazed at the sight of so many elixirs. A moment later, she shook herself out of the daze and with a sparkle in her eyes, she turned her sight to watch the black cloaked person.

The green clothed maiden seated by the window shoot a glance at the table full of small jade bottles with an astonished look flashing within those beautiful autumn water eyes. Her vision once again swept across the black cloaked person. Unable to find anything suspicious, she continued to look at the simple book in her hand.

In the absolute silence of the hall, the black cloaked person coughed softly, bringing the person next to him: Xiao Zhan, back to reality.

“Eh……” Xiao Zhan blushed as he let out an embarrassed laughter. As he looked to the black cloaked alchemist, the respect in his gaze had gained another level. Not every alchemist would be able to effortlessly bring out over a thousand bottles of healing medicine at once.

“Sir, you should know about the Xiao Clan’s current situation, we need healing medication to pull back our lost popularity. To the Xiao Clan, your actions are undoubtedly providing help when we need it the most.” Xiao Zhan exclaimed gratefully. Slightly muttering to himself, Xiao Zhan hesitated before he finally spoke out again: “How about this, our Xiao Clan will take the responsibility of selling these healing medicine. As for the earnings, sir you will take 90% while the remaining 10% will go to us. Although I feel it is brazen of us to do so, after all, we still need some money to put things in order. Sir, what do you think about that?”

As he finished outlining his proposition, Xiao Zhan nervously gazed at the black cloaked man before him, afraid that he will not be satisfied with the terms. The current Xiao Clan could only completely depend on this mysterious alchemist.

“Haha.” The black cloaked alchemist laughed before shaking his head.

Seeing this action, the expression on Xiao Zhan’s face slightly changed. Just as he was about to forfeit the last 10%, an old voice interjected which left him dazed and at a complete loss.

“Clan Leader Xiao is too polite, although the elixir is refined by me, making sales is not an easy job. How can I possibly take advantage of you…...let us split it evenly, 50-50, haha.”

At the black cloaked man’s words, the originally anxious three elders and the rest of the clansmen suddenly opened their mouths in shock. It was quite a while before they subconsciously touched their ears, skeptical if the words were genuine or not. 50-50? This…...this sir, isn’t he too considerate to Xiao Clan? Given the current situation, even if he wanted all 100% of the profits, no one in the Xiao Clan would dare object.

“Meat pies have dropped from the skies……” This phrase resounded in everyone’s hearts as they looked towards each other.

After a long while more, Xiao Zhan gradually regained his wits. He let out a deep breath then laughed bitterly, saying: “Sir, your words have overwhelmed us, we are already truly grateful for your timely aid; how can we possibly take any further advantage of you?”

As if it was of little importance, the black cloaked man waved his hands about and smugly laughed: “This little bit of profits holds no interest for me; if it were not for the fact that you would never rest easy, truth to be told I would be too lazy to collect even 50%.”

Hearing this sort of arrogant explanation, Xiao Zhan could only shake his head as he smiled bitterly.

“I’ll leave these elixirs for you to sell. If I have some time in the future, I will come and check up on them.” The black cloaked man stood up and smiled as he said: “I still have other matters, so I won’t be staying. Clan Leader Xiao need not send me off; go and set up arrangements for the sales instead, haha.” With a tone of dismissal, he walked out of the hall under everyone’s stares.

Before completely exiting the room, the black cloaked alchemist’s steps suddenly stopped. Laughing faintly, he said: “Before I go, I’ll say a few words more. Xiao Yan really isn’t bad. Haha, goodbye.”

Hearing this statement, Xiao Zhan rubbed his head. He was about to say something but the black cloaked man had already breezed out of the hall, gradually fading out of sight around the corner.

Staring at the black cloaked man’s disappearing figure, Xiao Zhan let out a small sigh after a long while as he laughed bitterly, saying: “It seems that the relationship between Yan Er and this sir is a bit out of the ordinary. Or else, how could this person who isn’t even familiar with us help us like this?”

The three elders all shared a glance and also let out a sigh and nodded. From the way the old alchemist had been expressing praise about Xiao Yan, he clearly looked favorably on Xiao Yan and his help to Xiao Clan would definitely be tied to Xiao Yan.

Within the hall, all the members of the Xiao Clan who were of Xiao Yan’s age who had heard the black cloaked man’s passing words, showed undisguised envy on their faces.

The blue clothed maiden near the window slightly inclined her head, her vision gazing through the window as the figure turned around the corner. Her willow brows slightly knitting together, an expression of doubt flashed across her delicate face.

……

Outside of the Xiao Clan, the black cloaked man slowly continued forward until he reached a less crowded area. Only then did a young voice softly grumble from within the black gown: “Teacher, do you have nothing better to do than to point me out every single sentence. If they find out about this, I cannot guarantee that I will not offer you up.”

“Hehe, I was only expressing my feelings. If it were not for Xiao Zhan who treated you well since you were young, where would I find such a good disciple? Thus it is only appropriate for me to thank him.” The old voice bantered and laughed: “If I just gave them the pills, your cautious father would definitely believe that I had some ulterior motives.”

Helplessly shaking his head, Xiao Yan looked around before asking: “Where shall we go now?”

“Towards the auction house so we can pass the Qi Gathering Powder to them; so as to avoid owing them a debt, that is something that I hate the most…… Furthermore, you have burnt up all the medical ingredients for practice, it is time to purchase other medical ingredients.” Yao Lao muttered as he smiled.

Xiao Yan nodded to acknowledge these words. With some expectations, he smiled sweetly and asked: “Teacher, can the current me be counted as a first tier alchemist?”

“Tch, you think that just because you refined a few days worth of medicine you’ve become an alchemist? Healing medication is the simplest kind of elixir, refining that kind of stuff is nothing to be proud of.” Yao Lao sneered, ruthlessly dousing Xiao Yan with cold water.

Rolling his eyes, Xiao Yan was a bit gloomy: “Then when can I genuinely be considered as a first tier alchemist?”

“In the alchemy world, the minimum requirement for a first tier alchemist is to be able to refine a pellet type pill and not the simple kind where all you have to do is mix essences into a paste.”

“It seems that there’s quite a distance for me to go.” Hearing these requirements, Xiao Yan helplessly shook his head and strode forward, advancing towards the auction house in the city square.