“Brother Fan, we were clearly all a bit too fast to judge, don’t misunderstand!”

“That’s right, let’s quickly get to the negotiations”

“Alright, here is my proposal, for supplying one of the ingredients needed for the pill, I will offer you the same price as the Alchemist guild but with a bonus of five percent of the total profit of the pill. For example, if I make one mid-rank spirit stone per batch, 5 low-rank spirit stones will be your bonus on top of the price of the ingredients.”

“Deal!” One of the elders who was already imagining swimming in riches immediately slammed his hand on the table and laughed.

After witnessing this, even the hesitant did not have any more reservations and quickly agreed. The only supplier left was Elder Che who lost his listless expression as he silently contemplated. A moment of silence passed before a slamming sound was heard.

“Brother Fan, to a happy cooperation!”

“To the downfall of the Alchemist Guild!” Everyone happily celebrated and shook hands. Gong Yu smiled ear to ear seeing this scene, in truth he didn’t understand the significance of what just happened, but seeing everyone so happy to make a deal, he could only revere his boss even more.

The rest of the process flew by in a flash. Zhao Fan pulled up several contracts which were already prepared beforehand and all of the elders signed.

According to the contract, the 7 elders would supply Zhao Fan’s pill forging operations with materials which he would be paid for at a fixed rate as well as the five percent bonus he added. The supplies would be sent out every week starting from tomorrow, but, as the scale of production increased, the contract could be changed.

Everyone was satisfied with the deal and promptly left in their carriage. Zhao Fan, on the other hand, made rounds and forked out spirit stones to every worker.

“Luckily, there were only three perfect batches, otherwise, I would not be able to pay them and an awkward situation would happen” Hei Long and Zhao Fan sighed in unison, all of their hard-earned money disappeared like smoke for everything to work properly. At the moment, he had at most ten spirit stones to his name.

After instructing the workers on their new schedule, Zhao Fan took over the body and calmly left. On his way home, he stopped by the practice field where he used to train while he was in the city.

Over the past week, since he comprehended the Principle of Severing to finish off the wolf in the cave, Zhao Fan had been practicing utilizing it as often as possible, attempting to create an actual move with it. He found that comprehending the Principle of Severing was just like comprehending the element of water except when his soul went into his unique state, he could not feel the element of severing in the surroundings. However, he could still infuse it into his soul power and control it to change the attribute of his qi which didn’t change the element of the qi but instead caused it to become sharper than a sword.

“The only use of Severing on its own is to condense and release it in a point as I did before. If I can make my qi contain the element of water as well as imbue it with severing, my qi will be slightly less durable than a sword but also much sharper! Even if I face that fate kid again, my water qi slash will easily destroy his elementless qi!” This was the basis of Zhao Fan’s motivation.

The problem was, that it was not an easy feat. Over the past week, Zhao Fan came to this field every day and for hours practiced combining two elements at once, but no matter what he did, combining two mindsets at once seemed impossible. Every time he tried to imbue the severing into the water qi, he lost control violently. Luckily, since the qi was his own and in his body, it did not cause harm when he lost control of it, which was something only a Foundation Establishment cultivator could do. For anyone else, if the qi went anywhere other than in their meridians, it would cause a huge injury!

Despite all his failures, Zhao Fan did not manage to improve his control by much, instead, he had the nagging feeling that something was missing, something which was the key to unlocking a powerful secret.

“Ahh, if only Master Li was in town I would ask him!” He had already had the thought to consult his master, sadly the latter was nowhere to be found and other teachers only told Zhao Fan that he would come back soon no matter how he asked.

While Zhao Fan was submerged in thought, a scene played out at the gate of the city.

Loud sounds of cheer were heard as a team of several young men strode through the streets on golden-plated horses. One particularly well-dressed young man led the entourage, his body was clothed in golden robes and his hair was neatly combed back. Behind the group was a huge cart with a ten-meter-long, blue-furred wolf whose corpse was bruised and littered with cuts.

“Young Hero Jin, we welcome you back!”

“That’s a massive wolf, it is at least of the seventh tier, right? As expected of the younger brother of Sun Kong, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!”

The youth’s smiling face froze from the compliment, but he resumed a polite expression before anyone took notice.

As the group made their way into the city, dozens of people gathered to admire them while making way for them to pass through. Suddenly, Sun Jin’s horse came to a stop and the young man straightened his back.

“Thank you everyone for your kind words! This time, my group has brought honor to the Sun clan by hunting a tier eight, Frigid Ghost Wolf which had annihilated an earlier party of sect disciples!”

The crowd yelled in astonishment. A tier eight wolf, how crazy was that? Sun Jin didn’t waste time basking in praise, instead, his face grew serious as he continued.

“As you all know, the nearby sects have been dispatched to deal with the threat of a monster invasion from beyond the border. These sect disciples are fighting not only for the glory of the Immortal Flame Empire which is tasked with defending a crucial border but to put their lives at stake to protect all of the innocent people of this city! While the brunt of the sects has not arrived at the city yet, every single day without fail, hunters and disciples, as well as us, members of the Sun clan, fight valiantly to drive off the beasts! We sincerely hope that all of the cultivators here remember that in the end, we are allegiant to the human race no matter what conflicts we have!”

The booming voice of the youth shook the hearts of the crowd.

“Glory to the Sun clan!”

A chant resounded from the cultivators and mortal inhabitants of the city alike.

Amid the crowd, among hoards of cheering people, a dark-haired youth with twin swords sheathed at his side stood silently, unaffected by the atmosphere around him. His fists suddenly clenched to the extent where his nails dug into his skin and blood began to ooze out, dripping onto the ground below.

“Even a second-rate genius is this strong. Zhao Fan, heavenly genius or not, you have to create a miracle!”

__________

“First, fill my qi with the element of water” A ball of qi formed inside Zhao Fan’s hand which took on a blue hue and began to ripple like water.

“Second, spread the water qi into a cylinder” The ball of water inside his hand, elongated while turning thinner and thinner, eventually making a thin cylinder that looked more like an unsharpened sword edge.

“Third, apply the Principle of Severing onto the edge of the water sword” Instead of merging the severing qi with the water qi, it was tremendously easier to apply some of it on top of the water and hold the two in place. The water would be like the steel in the sword, used to provide the base for the sharp edge.

“Fourth, shoot it out!”

Zhao Fan stood in front of a tree and propelled the small cylinder out of his palm with all his force!

The soul was the basis of controlling qi and it was not difficult to propel a small attack using at an incredible speed. The water blade howled as it traveled through the air and struck the thick tree, drilling through it like butter! As it was about to split the tree in two, the attack suddenly collapsed even though some of its power remained.