Chapter 36: The First-Rank Market

After Li Luo fought Song Song Yunfeng to a draw, his score in this preliminary exam was firmly locked within the top twenty.

According to the normal procedure, these top twenty would generally be ranked further, but Li Luo had no interest in that, because in his view such ranking battles were pointless—after all, whether twentieth or first, they only granted the qualification to take the academy grand exam.

And once he revealed too many trump cards here, when he met strong enemies at the academy grand exam, the opponent having too much intelligence on him would undoubtedly add unnecessary difficulty for himself.

So, isn't keeping a low profile and developing quietly better? Even if he got first place in the preliminary exam, that stingy old dean wouldn't give him any reward.

In fact, in this match with Song Song Yunfeng, if the other party hadn't been stubbornly dancing on the edge of self-destruction, Li Luo would most likely have chosen to concede.

After all, he didn't think there was anything shameful about conceding when you couldn't win; regarding his improved "Water Mirror Art" being exposed here, Li Luo now felt it wasn't worth it.

So when Xu Xu Shanyue came to ask whether he would participate in the competition for the top twenty rankings, he refused outright. With that time, wouldn't it be better to absorb more spiritual water miracle light, push himself harder, and, before the academy grand exam arrived, get his own "Water Light Phase" to Sixth Rank?

Xu Xu Shanyue wasn't surprised by Li Luo's choice, only telling him to work hard and prepare for the academy grand exam.

The competition for the top twenty rankings produced results the next day. In the end, two people from the Second Courtyard made it in—Li Luo and Zhao Kuo. But the two were also fellow sufferers: Li Luo fifteenth, Zhao Kuo sixteenth, just barely at the tail end.

Li Luo's ranking clearly had plenty of room to improve. If he wished, breaking into the top ten would be no problem, but because he gave up the ranking battle, he was ultimately assessed at this position.

And these twenty people would, two weeks later, represent South Wind Academy in the academy grand exam to compete for admission slots to the Sacred Mystic Star Academy.

As the most top-tier academy in Great Xia, the Sacred Mystic Star Academy issues a number of admission slots to each prefecture every year, and these slots must be fought over through academy grand exams among all the academies in each prefecture. In previous years, South Wind Academy had always seized the most admission slots, which gradually cemented its golden reputation as the number one academy of Tian Shu Prefecture.

However, South Wind Academy was not entirely without rivals. The East Abyss Academy was a formidable foe. Although East Abyss Academy's foundation couldn't match South Wind Academy's, its rise was extremely rapid, and it had the support of the Tian Shu Prefecture Governor's Office behind it. In recent years' academy grand exams, it had posed no small threat to South Wind Academy.

It is said that this year East Abyss Academy is once again eyeing the golden reputation of Tian Shu Prefecture's number one academy, so the academy grand exam will surely be a scene of dragons fighting and tigers struggling.

After the preliminary exam, South Wind Academy would have a week-plus holiday. Students could choose to go home or continue cultivating at the academy, and Li Luo naturally chose the former without hesitation.

The old residence, the attic of Li Luo's room.

Li Luo's eyes were tightly shut, a faint glow lingering around his body. On the tea table before him sat a bottle of Fifth-Rank spiritual water miracle light that had already been used.

The absorption continued for a long while before Li Luo slowly opened his eyes, a flash of blue light sweeping through them.

"This is the last bottle of this batch."

He stared at the empty crystal bottle before him and couldn't help scratching his head. Until now, Cai Wei had already helped him purchase eighty-three bottles of Fifth-Rank spiritual water miracle light, which consumed over four hundred thousand Heaven Measure Gold—a huge sum. If Cai Wei hadn't sold off some of House Luolan Mansion's assets in Tian Shu Prefecture, she really wouldn't have been able to support this kind of expenditure.

And after absorbing so much Fifth-Rank spiritual water miracle light, Li Luo's Fifth-Rank "Water Light Phase" had indeed improved greatly, but it was still some distance from evolving to Sixth Rank.

But he had to raise the Water Light Phase to Sixth Rank before the academy grand exam arrived.

This battle with Song Song Yunfeng, although it ultimately ended in a draw, Li Luo felt no pride from it, because he knew that if not for the preliminary exam's time mechanism, the one who ultimately lost would have been him when his phase power ran out.

And at the academy grand exam, such a draw would absolutely not appear.

To seize admission slots to the Sacred Mystic Star Academy, he had to rely on true ability.

At the academy grand exam, the top students from every major academy in Tian Shu Prefecture would participate, and the intensity of competition was far beyond what South Wind Academy's preliminary exam could compare to.

Additionally, Li Luo had already pre-selected an energy-guiding art for transfer cultivation, whose minimum requirement was a Sixth-Rank phase.

So this Sixth-Rank Water Light Phase was the top priority.

"At the current pace, to evolve to Sixth Rank, I should still need one final batch of Fifth-Rank Water Light Phase."

"But Sister Cai Wei has recently been seeming to avoid me when she sees me, as if she doesn't really want to see me." Li Luo said he was a bit troubled. These past few days, Cai Wei didn't even eat breakfast at the old residence, probably afraid he would open his mouth and ask for several dozen more bottles of spiritual water miracle light.

After all, Fifth-Rank spiritual water miracle light wasn't a cabbage. The market price was around five thousand gold per bottle, so fifty bottles would cost two hundred fifty thousand Heaven Measure Gold, which was already close to House Luolan Mansion's annual profit in Tian Shu Prefecture in the past.

So Li Luo understood this very well. A perfectly good gold-medal head housekeeper, and the result after coming to Tian Shu Prefecture was that she could only keep things running by continuously selling off House Luolan Mansion's assets—this was practically a huge stain on her career path.

The fact that Cai Wei still hadn't resigned made Li Luo feel her heart was already as broad as the sea.

But Li Luo couldn't help it either. His Acquired Phase was simply a gold-devouring beast. Fortunately, his father and mother left him a House Luolan Mansion, otherwise he felt that in five years, he would most likely just drop dead.

"Let's make a trip to Stream Yang House first."

Li Luo pondered slightly. Now House Luolan Mansion was beset by internal and external troubles, and he couldn't just sit on his savings and keep selling off House Luolan Mansion's assets. Although Jiang Jiang Qinge had handed Tian Shu Prefecture's assets over for him to spend freely, he couldn't really wreck the place, or the people under House Luolan Mansion would have complaints about their young mansion master.

Most importantly, it would make people suspect that this young mansion master of House Luolan Mansion might be an idiot—a point Li Luo clearly could not accept.

Having some thoughts in mind, Li Luo tidied up briefly, then left the old residence and headed to Stream Yang House.

Arriving at Stream Yang House, he went straight to Yan Yan Lingqing's refining room. When he pushed the door open, he saw two familiar graceful figures sitting together, seemingly discussing something, with a hint of worry on both women's cheeks.

It was Yan Yan Lingqing and Cai Wei.

Seeing Li Luo's figure, both Cai Wei and Yan Yan Lingqing were startled: "Young Mansion Master?"

"What are you discussing?" Li Luo walked in with a smile, then saw several bottles of spiritual water miracle light placed on the table before the two women, and among them was a bottle of First-Rank Green Jade Spiritual Water that he had previously refined.

"Discussing Stream Yang House's sales performance this year." Regarding Li Luo, Cai Wei didn't hide anything and said directly.

"Performance isn't good?" Seeing this, Li Luo frowned slightly. Stream Yang House contributed nearly half of House Luolan Mansion's annual profit in Tian Shu Prefecture. If performance here declined, it would clearly affect his great evolution plan.

Yan Yan Lingqing's jade finger pointed at the crystal bottles before her, her voice cool as she said: "Currently, the First-Rank spiritual water miracle light on the Tian Shu Prefecture market is mainly competed over by two houses. One is our Stream Yang House's Green Jade Spiritual Water, and the other is the 'Sunshine Miracle Light' produced by Pine Nut House under the Song family. The quality of these two houses' spiritual water miracle light is similar, so in previous years, in the First-Rank market, the two combined occupied nearly eighty percent."

"However, recently, for some unknown reason, the quality of the 'Sunshine Miracle Light' produced by Pine Nut House has improved, with the average tempering force reaching around fifty-seven percent, which is almost close to our Stream Yang House's highest quality."

"So recently the Song family has been heavily promoting their Pine Nut House's 'Sunshine Miracle Light', causing them to take over most of the Tian Shu Prefecture First-Rank spiritual water miracle light market, while our Green Jade Spiritual Water sales have dropped sharply."

"If this situation continues, Stream Yang House will be completely defeated by the Song family in the competition at the First-Rank spiritual water miracle light stage. For Stream Yang House, this will be an enormous loss, and of course most importantly, it will affect Stream Yang House's reputation in Tian Shu Prefecture."

Hearing this, Li Luo's expression also turned slightly solemn, and he asked: "How is Stream Yang House's First-Rank spiritual water miracle light production rate?"

"Stream Yang House in Tian Shu Prefecture can produce five bottles of First-Rank spiritual water miracle light per day, one hundred fifty bottles per month. The market price of First-Rank spiritual water miracle light is around fifty Heaven Measure Gold, so over a year, Stream Yang House's total sales from First-Rank spiritual water miracle light will reach around ninety thousand Heaven Measure Gold. After deducting all costs, the profit is thirty thousand gold." Cai Wei answered without hesitation, clearly having a thorough grasp of all House Luolan Mansion's assets and data in Tian Shu Prefecture.

Li Luo first gave Cai Wei a thumbs-up in appreciation, then made a rough estimate and was somewhat surprised, because the profit from First-Rank spiritual water miracle light alone accounted for one-tenth of House Luolan Mansion's annual income in Tian Shu Prefecture. From this, one could see how enormous the benefits of the spiritual water miracle light market were.

But this was also normal, because high-quality spiritual water miracle light wasn't something everyone could squander freely. Most people who bought First-Rank and Second-Rank spiritual water miracle light weren't saying their own phases were only of that rank, but rather because they might not be able to afford consuming large amounts of higher-rank spiritual water miracle light, so they could only use lower-rank spiritual water miracle light as a substitute.

It's just that this kind of improvement efficiency would obviously be far lower than using high-quality spiritual water miracle light, and the rate of impurity accumulation would also be faster, but there was no choice—not everyone started out with Li Luo's kind of family fortune.

After learning this information, Li Luo's first feeling was that Stream Yang House absolutely could not be affected, otherwise it would definitely impact the pace of his future Water Light Phase evolution.

"Why has the quality of the Song family's Pine Nut House 'Sunshine Miracle Light' improved this year?" Li Luo asked.

"The things that affect the quality of spiritual water miracle light are simply three: the formula, the refiner's experience and strength, and the quality of the source water's Source Light."

Yan Yan Lingqing said coolly: "I've examined that 'Sunshine Miracle Light', and based on my analysis, the formula should have been slightly modified. I think it's most likely that the Song family spent a great price to invite some experts to give guidance."

Cai Wei crossed her left arm over her chest, propped up her right elbow, then lightly touched her snow-white chin with her right hand, her willow brows tightly furrowed as she said: "Also, that Zhuang Yi has recently been using this excuse to attack Yan Lingqing, saying the result is because of her, demanding she withdraw from Stream Yang House."

Cai Wei and Yan Yan Lingqing stood together, but she didn't know that this casual gesture of hers instantly made her already surging waves even more eye-catching. Especially by contrast, Yan Yan Lingqing beside her could only be described with the word "pitiful."

Yan Yan Lingqing seemed to sense something, and expressionlessly reached out to pull Cai Wei's left arm down.

Cai Wei didn't react for a moment, but soon a blush flew across her gentle and charming oval face, while beneath the table her hand pinched Yan Yan Lingqing beside her in embarrassed annoyance.

Then the two women's sharp gazes turned toward Li Luo, and the latter was first stunned, then instead of panicking, said with a solemn face: "When we're discussing business, don't pull any little tricks. You're all grown up now — if it happens again, I'll have to criticize you."

Li Luo's stern words ultimately only earned a cold snort from the two women, and they both quickly moved on.

"That Zhuang Yi is still causing trouble?" Li Luo asked, returning to the main topic.

Mentioning this Vice President Zhuang Yi, a hint of irritation rose on Yan Yan Lingqing's cool face. "That guy is stirring up trouble every day, causing all kinds of internal conflicts in Xi Yang House. The decline in Xi Yang House's product quality this year is not unrelated to him either."

"Looks like he's a real menace. Can we find a way to get rid of him?" Li Luo curled his lip, also very annoyed. I'm in desperate need of huge sums of money here — instead of hurrying to earn money for me, you want to set fire in my backyard?

Cai Wei's brows knit tightly. "Right now Xi Yang House is essentially leaderless. Yan Lingqing is new here after all, and her prestige isn't enough. Zhuang Yi, on the other hand, is an old hand, and some of the Material Refining Masters in Xi Yang House still trust him a great deal. So without proper justification, forcibly driving him out would likely cause panic."

"Besides, behind him, after all, there's the support of that Manager Pei Hao."

Li Luo furrowed his brow. That Pei Hao, that Bai Yanlang, is the greatest menace to the Luo Lan Mansion. This Zhuang Yi is only affecting Xi Yang House's sales, but Pei Hao wants to seize the entire Luo Lan Mansion.

This is practically cutting off his lifeline. If Luo Lan Mansion is taken from you, how am I supposed to fill this bottomless pit of a Postnatal Phase? With my looks?

But now that Pei Hao has already grown into a force to be reckoned with, while he himself is nothing but a greenhorn with no strength to fight him. So for now, he can only keep a low profile and develop quietly behind Sister Jiang Jiang Qinge.

And just as these thoughts were turning in Li Luo's mind, someone suddenly came to report.

"Young Mansion Master, Head Maid, Vice President Yan — Vice President Zhuang has suddenly summoned all the management of Xi Yang House, saying there's an important matter to discuss, and asks the three of you to attend."

Hearing this report, Li Luo, Cai Wei, and Yan Yan Lingqing were all stunned for a moment, then exchanged glances, their brows furrowing at the same time.

That guy is at it again.

(End of this chapter)