Chapter 182

Chapter 182: Evolution Preparation

While Tian Bao had indeed been feeling greedy, after careful consideration, it wasn’t realistic to sneak people in even if he could. Because if they met any of the visitors inside, they might lose in a fight.

Fortunately for them, the plan failed. Otherwise, his group might face grave consequences.

Besides the naive little girl, none of the others should be provoked, particularly Old Crow, Old Ye, and Ghost Child.

Neither one of them was an easy target.

He had witnessed how three of them were exceptionally respectful toward the curator.

Tian Bao figured it wasn’t too late for him to come around.

“We need to change our strategy. Brothers, gather me some medicinal ingredients. Right, and get me some of your pet beasts’ fur and blood samples too. That curator is genuinely skilled. Our Black Wind Camp may just grow stronger by using his powers.”

After two rounds of observation, Tian Bao knew what to do.

***

Early next morning, Lin Jin headed straight for the Beast Appraisal Association.

Now that materials for Xiao Huo’s perfect evolution had been gathered, he had to make haste and let Xiao Huo evolve.

This was first priority.

Meanwhile, this evolution will be different from the last.

Last time, they were moving from Rank 1 to Rank 2. Frankly speaking, reaching Rank 3 would just take a few hours, but this time, they were promoting a Rank 3 to Rank 4.

It was a completely different story.

The difficulty level for a Rank 3 to 4 promotion was harder by ten-folds. Hence the time and resources required might be ten times more than before.

As the commotion caused by this evolution process would exceed a Rank 3 process, they couldn’t do it in Maple City.

If they did, they might just startle the entire city.

Lin Jin still wanted to keep a low profile. He wanted to at least reserve some strength before the disciple tournament.

Even if there wasn’t a tournament coming up, they couldn’t do it in the city because his house was burned down during the last evolution. For this next round, a row of houses might be gone instead.

Such worries wouldn’t be necessary if they were outside.

However, he definitely had to tell Tan Lin about excusing himself for a few days. He also had to assign his apprentices to take over in his consultation hall.

Tan Lin didn’t say much. She was just curious where Lin Jin would be going which took several days. But since Lin Jin wouldn’t tell her, she decided not to press him for further answers.

Once things were settled on the chief’s side, Lin Jin returned to his consultation hall.

Jia Qian had begun to blend in after several days here. Both Zhao Ying and Lu Xiaoyun were no longer prejudiced against her. They even seemed like close sisters sometimes.

Han Dong became the pitiful one, being the only man around. When the girls constantly gathered round to chat, he had to tidy up evaluation reports and brew medicine.

However, Han Dong’s foundation grew stronger due to this reason. Other than beast appraising, his knowledge and pharmacology skill also improved immensely.

Lin Jin updated them on the situation. When Lu Xiaoyun asked him about it, Lin Jin didn’t keep it from them. He said he was traveling out to help Xiao Huo evolve.

“Another evolution?” His apprentices were shocked.

They knew that Lin Jin’s fire wolf was already Rank 3. If he ranks up again, wouldn’t that make him a Rank 4?

Being in the beast appraising industry, they obviously knew the worth of a Rank 4 pet beast.

On a whole, a Rank 4 beast could decide a country’s standard, and upon evolution, the blood contracted owner’s status would differ along with it.

Meanwhile, in Maple City, the number of Rank 4 pet beasts it had could probably be counted with one hand.

Jia Qian said, “Master Lin, you can rest easy and carry out the evolution. We’ll be here to look after things.”

Jia Qian was currently the most steadfast individual among them. Come to think of it, Lin Jin had been spending too much time at the Friar Association. When he saw how Jia Qian’s white snake was still at Rank 1, he felt bad for her.

Not only Jia Qian, but even Han Dong’s pet beast was a measly Rank 1as well.

Lin Jin immediately penned down an evolution for both of them. A method that could be achieved in their current stage.

Besides this, he also gave them a pill he personally pelletized.

‘Six unity pill’!

Lin Jin had just pelletized this several days ago. The prescription was obtained from the museum and could be used to strengthen a pet beast’s blood energy and internal organs. He usually fed them to Xiao Huo, Goldy, and the others as supplements.

Since he still had some left, he simply gave them to Jia Qian and Han Dong. With this six unity pill and the evolution method he gave, their pet beasts should be able to evolve.

Once he was done with the necessary arrangements, Lin Jin left feeling more at ease.

His only worry now was the large deer. For Xiao Huo’s perfect evolution, they might take three days or more.

Since it was near making a full recovery, he could return it to the Shi family where Shi Wenjun could look after it.

At this thought, Lin Jin led the deer to Shi Manor.

Upon reaching the Shi Manor’s gates, his arrival was conveyed and Shi Wenjun personally came out.

Shi Wenjun had lost weight since their last meeting. She seemed much more haggard and her initially slim figure looked much more feeble.

She was obviously happy to see the deer but the sorrow on her face didn’t disappear completely.

Lin Jin asked her about it only to find out about the family’s crisis.

Although Shi Wenjun had said it calmly, Lin Jin was no idiot. He could tell how grave the situation was. Prior to this, the Shi family’s medicine hall business was forced to back down because of the Chen family’s competition. They had been relying on their pills to retain business thus far.

Alas, several days ago, the Chen family started selling pills as well. While there was no law that allowed only a single family to monopolize the industry, the Chen family’s products were exactly the same as the Shi family’s. In terms of type, name, and effects, they were identical.

They even lowered the prices in a clear attempt to go against the Shi family, wanted to crush the competition.

It was no wonder when Lin Jin passed by the Shi family’s medicine halls, the establishments seemed deserted, completely different from the previous glorious and lively days.

It would only be weird if this didn’t worry Shi Wenjun.

However, it was obviously suspicious how the Chen family’s pills were the same as the Shi family’s.

Being a rather clever guy, Lin Jin immediately thought of someone.

“It was Wu Chenwei?”

Upon hearing this name, traces of resentment appeared on Shi Wenjun’s face.

She nodded before sighing. “Appraiser Lin, it’s my fault for not being cautious of him. I just didn’t expect that he’d steal our prescriptions. Our only option now is to lower our prices. But as the days go by, our burden increases because of the business’s huge expenses. We won’t be able to hold out much longer, I’m afraid.”

Shi Wenjun never even told her family all this. She only chose to inform Lin Jin about it.

It wasn’t because of affection or trust in Lin Jin, instead, Shi Wenjun knew Lin Jin wasn’t an ordinary man. She even had a feeling the Shi family could rely on Lin Jin to overcome this crisis.

Her reasoning was simple. Lin Jin’s pelletization skills were extremely profound to the point that their family’s Hexlight Whisking Technique couldn’t compare at all. Back then, the experienced alchemists of the family deduced that Appraiser Lin most probably possessed knowledge of the ‘Spiritual Mantra of Pills’.

This ‘Spiritual Mantra of Pills’ was a legendary book on pelletization. Long ago, the Shi family’s ancestor came across a fragment of this book on the inner wall of a tree, which allowed him to build the Shi family’s legacy.

If Appraiser Lin had truly inherited the knowledge of this legendary book, the only person who could solve the Shi family’s predicament now might just be him.

The Shi family members had wanted to beg Lin Jin to save them but were stopped by Shi Wenjun at the last minute.

Despite the family having male descendants, Shi Wenjun was still chosen as the head of their family. She was so convincing that even her own older brother believed that she was genuinely more capable than himself.

Shi Wenjun knew if they begged Appraiser Lin directly, the latter might get annoyed. Hence, they had to be extra careful. It had to be done more eloquently, more subtly.

Just like right now.

Seeing how Lin Jin didn’t look irritated, Shi Wenjun took a deep breath before continuing, “Our Shi family now has to indemnify a thousand taels every day and we suspect that most of the people purchasing our pills are from the Chen family.”

Lin Jin didn’t know much about business but he could tell that the Chen family was trying to completely wipe out the Shi family.

If they relied only on Wu Chenwei who supposedly stole their prescriptions, it was still considered fair competition. There were still other aspects where they fared differently, take price and quality as examples. But the Chens obviously wasn’t going to stop here.

They were trying to force the Shi family to shut down, and this was a little too much.

From a strictly business and economic point of view, both the Shi and Chen family are just pursuing profits; there are no inherent rights or wrongs.

However, everyone was still entitled to hold their personal opinions.

Lin Jin wasn’t fond of the Chen family and the Shi family helped him before too. He would obviously choose the latter’s side.

He could very well choose to do nothing as well but Lin Jin thought of something.

In the future, he would require various expensive ingredients to help Xiao Huo and the others evolve. Shang’er and the others might need them too and this couldn’t be achieved without money.

Saving could only do so much so he had to invest to gain more wealth.

This here was an opportunity.

Now that the Shi family was in trouble, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to offer collaboration in return for a slice of the pie, right?

The Chen family could destroy the Shi family all because they had the latter’s prescriptions. This was the key. Meanwhile, Lin Jin had tons of such prescriptions.

He had the nine water floating cloud pill, the six sun beast soul pill, the six shadow beast soul pill and the six unity pill. And that wasn’t all. He also had recipes for simpler ones like the energy gathering pill and the blood energy pill. After running a rough calculation, he had at least ten prescriptions obtained from the Museum of Deadly Beasts and they were all rare formulas. Despite its scarcity, they provided a wide range of uses.

These prescriptions were his resources so it shouldn’t be a problem to ask for a share of the total profits.

Lin Jin didn’t have the time to do this on his own. A collaboration with the Shi family would save him a lot of trouble. What’s more, the person he’d be dealing with was the trustworthy Shi Wenjun.

At this, Lin Jin made a decision.

“Lord Shi, I have a business proposal that might resolve your crisis. Would you care to listen to it?”

“Business? What Business?” Shi Wenjun was confused.

Lin Jin simply said, “I’ll provide the prescriptions and you guys will be in charge of production. We’ll split the profits in half. I can guarantee you, at least in the entire Maple City, no one else has these prescriptions.”

Shi Wenjun’s eyes lit up.