Chapter 349: Long Time No See

A few days later, several carriages left the domain and drove toward Hanyang Pass. The carriages were loaded with letters from Xu family prisoners to their families, some reporting safety, others requesting redemption, totaling more than twenty thousand letters.

In a luxurious mansion in the north of Qianqiu City, a middle-aged man sat on a recliner, eyes slightly closed, enjoying the rare winter afternoon sun.

Beside him, a veteran Dharma Form cultivator was reporting: "The news has been sent back. This time Little Wei Yuan captured a total of sixteen thousand people, including fifty thousand of our Xu family's private army and one hundred and fifteen thousand government troops. Two hundred and ten Dao Foundation cultivators were captured. In addition, many people in the clan are clamoring; they have received letters from their captured family members and do not want to fight anymore, but want to pay money to redeem their relatives."

The middle-aged man did not open his eyes and gave a light "hmm."

The old man said, "We have discussed it. The amount of ransom each family is willing to pay is far higher than the base price proposed by Little Wei Yuan, so the conditions given by Little Wei Yuan seem acceptable. It's just that we cannot let each family negotiate on their own; we must negotiate with Little Wei Yuan in a unified manner."

"Oh, then roughly how much can be collected?"

"Including the private army, one in and one out, we can net about 2.7 million taels."

The middle-aged man's eyebrows twitched and he said, "Fifty thousand captured, hmm, if we redeem thirty thousand, then almost everyone who should come back will come back... Let Qingliu go and talk to Little Wei Yuan; we are prepared to take thirty thousand private soldiers, but we want to pick five hundred people."

"Yes, my lord."

"Wait."

The middle-aged man called the old man back, tapped the armrest lightly, and then said, "Giving him so much immortal silver, what if he uses it to buy weapons and grain? Wouldn't that arm him to the teeth? Paying out so much immortal silver also doesn't look good for the clan's face, no!"

After pondering for a moment, he said, "I heard Little Wei Yuan likes spiritual plants. It just so happens that there is a Bingli Shenmu in my treasury, which is considered a pretty good immortal plant, at least worth 1.5 million taels. Let's use this as collateral!"

The Elder was shocked and said, "Immortal items have a price but no market; wouldn't this just be cheapening that Little Wei Yuan for nothing?"

"No matter, this sacred tree has only grown for fifty years. To be useful, it needs at least three hundred years. Giving it to Little Wei Yuan is like temporarily storing it with him; before it becomes useful, we can take it back at any time."

"My lord is brilliant!"

"Go and negotiate."

In a sizable military fortress in Ningzhou, a bearded Regional Commander looked at the empty camp, looking full of worries. At this time, a Assistant Regional Commander hurried over and whispered: "General, news from the front line says that none of the eight thousand people we sent out have returned. I'm afraid... it's ominous."

The Regional Commander snorted and said, "With the character of Old Liu and the others, I'd be the first to not believe they would die in battle! Hmph, most likely they didn't run fast enough and were caught."

The Assistant Regional Commander said, "Now there is no definite news from the front, and the camp is short of eight thousand soldiers, what should we do?"

Who knew the Regional Commander would say, "What shortage of eight thousand soldiers? Aren't these soldiers all well in the camp, and not a single one has gone out?"

The Assistant Regional Commander was stunned and felt a bit uneasy.

This military fortress was a key stronghold, originally supposed to store fifteen thousand soldiers, and then the higher-ups ate five thousand empty quotas. This ratio was considered quite conscientious in Xijin, but now it had become only two thousand soldiers in the camp, and they had to eat thirteen thousand empty quotas!

Although he was forced to do so, the Assistant Regional Commander still felt his heart pounding.

Situations like this military fortress were happening frequently all over Ningzhou at this moment, and many government troop commanders were forced to make a small fortune.

The transaction with the Xu family was successfully completed. Little Wei Yuan had no objection to the new conditions, obtained the Bingli Shenmu, and then let the Xu family Elder pick away a few hundred people from the prisoners. During the selection process, many prisoners were clamoring, but unfortunately, they were not on the list.

After the five hundred people were selected, Little Wei Yuan divided the fifty thousand Xu family private soldiers into pairs to fight, and the winners could return to the Xu family.

But winning was not enough; Little Wei Yuan selected another twenty thousand from the winners and required each of them to designate one loser to stay behind.

So many people pointed out those they usually had grudges with, so that they would never be able to return to the Xu family.

After such a toss, the thirty thousand redemption quotas were finally determined from the fifty thousand people. It's just that those who remained were first defeated by others, and then designated by the winners, so they stayed behind with a double-layered bone-deep hatred.

The Xu family Elder named Xu Qingliu watched Little Wei Yuan's operation the whole time without any objection. Now that he was making a fortune, how could he say another word? In his eyes, those twenty thousand people were already dead, belonging to those abandoned by the clan.

After the Xu family redeemed the people, most of the Dao Foundation cultivators in the government troops also redeemed themselves. Thus, the remaining one hundred and thirty thousand people belonged to those completely abandoned, and they also recognized this reality.

Coupled with eating Sun Yu's medicine, everyone didn't want to eat much these days, nor did they feel hungry, but they were obviously weak, their hearts were like dead ashes, and they resigned themselves to their fate.

Immediately following, the transaction with Tian Yu's side was also successfully completed.

Tian Yu came to trade in a flying boat, and there were three Great Shamans sitting on the flying boat, which resulted in Little Wei Yuan seriously thinking about the possibility of destroying the boat and killing the people, and getting the Heavenly Merit.

In the end, the transaction was successfully completed.

Tian Yu sent an aquatic immortal plant seed, as large as a water vat. This immortal plant seed is a specialty of the Shaman domain and has the possibility of cultivating nine different immortal plants from the first to the ninth grade. What can be cultivated specifically depends on the luck, weather, and earth energy at that time.

Besides that, there were ten thousand jin of spiritual minerals, and the refined ore could be used directly as the main material for magic tools. However, Tian Yu did not bring more offerings. According to him, the offerings nearby had already been sold to Little Wei Yuan last time. If he wanted more, just the journey here would take several months.

After sending Tian Yu away, Little Wei Yuan wrote two secret letters and sent people to send them secretly to Jindu.

A few days later, Zhao Tong appeared quietly. This time he did not break into the main peak but stopped at the periphery of the domain and sent someone to report first. Little Wei Yuan rushed over immediately and said, "Eunuch Zhao, just find me directly when you come, why bother having someone report?"

Zhao Tong smiled and said, "This servant originally thought so too, but walking two steps inward made my heart pound, so I quickly retreated. This servant still wants to live a few more years! Speaking of which, Lord Wei's territory is now a dragon's pool and a tiger's den; ordinary high-level cultivators cannot enter at will."

Little Wei Yuan smiled and said, "My place is Eunuch's back garden; you can stroll however you want. Let's go, shall we go to the main peak for tea?"

"This servant has big things on my mind, so I'll just have a cup of tea, then take the things and leave."

Little Wei Yuan also knew Zhao Tong's style, so he took Zhao Tong to the main peak and sat down, then presented a box sealed tightly.

Zhao Tong first set up a barrier, then carefully opened the lid, and saw several red gemstones the size of fists inside, but a fishy stench rushed to his face. With his cultivation, his face turned pale for a moment, and he almost retched.

Zhao Tong closed the lid, carefully applied a talisman to seal it, and then sighed: "It is both an immortal medicine and arsenic. Every time I see it, I am both fond of it and afraid of it."

Keeping the box close to his body, Zhao Tong said: "Lord Wei is indeed a pillar of talent; the King didn't misjudge you, and this servant didn't misjudge you either. This matter wasn't entrusted to me long ago, and there is already a result. This kind of vigorous and resolute spirit really makes people feel happy! This servant won't bother you anymore, I'll go back to report."

Little Wei Yuan stood up and sent Zhao Tong all the way to the edge of the domain. Zhao Tong said: "Just send me here, this servant needs to hurry on the road. Lord Wei doesn't need to worry too much next, just wait for good news with peace of mind."

Zhao Tong slowly rose into the air, flying faster and faster, and disappeared into the horizon in the blink of an eye. After flying a few miles away, Zhao Tong suddenly disappeared from Little Wei Yuan's perception.

!.

Two days later, Xiang Marquis Wang Gan also arrived.

Little Wei Yuan also handed him a box and said, "Inside is the fifty-year-old goods."

Wang Gan opened it and looked, sighing: "Extremely beautiful and extremely poisonous, taking it is like drinking poison to quench thirst; the wonder of creation is nothing more than this."

"That's all for now, it's not certain when the next batch will be available, it's best not to count on it," Little Wei Yuan said.

Wang Gan nodded: "This thing is too much of a good thing; fifty years can do a lot of things, any more might cause trouble. I don't have anything good here, only an ancient immortal prescription passed down from my ancestors, which might be of some use to you."

What Wang Gan took out was not jade paper, but an ancient stone mirror. This ancient immortal prescription did not exist in text but existed in the form of true meaning inheritance.

Little Wei Yuan probed his spiritual sense into the ancient mirror, and immediately saw a hazy world in the ancient mirror, with a mass of raging pill fire burning in the center. The flame was bright gold and extremely hot. Around the flame floated dozens of light clusters, each containing a medicinal herb. Seven of the light clusters were obviously larger than the others, which should be the main medicines. Among the main medicines, there were three clusters in the center, which looked like a drop of round fresh blood, a feather, and a piece of moss-like object.

Then dozens of medicinal herbs were put into the pill fire one after another, constantly dissolving, and the medicinal properties changed in an instant.

As the last medicinal herb dissolved, all the medicinal properties happened to reach a critical point at this moment, so all things returned to one, sublimated, and turned into a pill with a jade-like texture, with a small green pine inside.

This pill is called Kunyuan Longevity Pill.

The world in the mirror dissipated, the true meaning of the ancient mirror was exhausted, and it shattered with a bang.

Little Wei Yuan was still not satisfied. The pill-refining technique in the world in the mirror was completely different from the current pill path, returning to simplicity, and was extremely brilliant. It's just that Little Wei Yuan didn't recognize most of the dozens of medicinal herbs, and he hadn't even heard of the seven main materials.

Wang Gan said: "This ancient immortal prescription doesn't know which cave world it circulated from, and it fell into the hands of my ancestors through many turns, and has been passed down to this day. There are three true meaning inheritances of the immortal prescription, and this is the last one. The first two people who accepted the true meaning inheritance were famous pill-refining masters at the time. Although they couldn't restore this ancient prescription, they also developed several longevity pills."

Little Wei Yuan was stunned and said: "I know nothing about pill refining. Wouldn't it be a waste to give me this immortal prescription true meaning?"

Wang Gan smiled and said: "It would only not be a waste if given to you."

He handed Little Wei Yuan another piece of jade paper and said: "This is a prescription written by an ancestor in my family who loved pill refining based on this ancient prescription secret book, which has never been passed on. I have secretly tested this prescription for two furnaces and refined three pills, and personally tested it to be effective. You keep it."

Little Wei Yuan took it and scanned it with his spiritual sense. This medicine is called Jiamu Xiaonian Pill, which is based on the Kunyuan Longevity Pill prescription secret book and can extend life by five years.

The so-called prescription secret book is the pill prescription written by the person who accepted the true meaning inheritance according to his own understanding, in which many have become extinct, or medicinal herbs that cannot be found today are replaced by similar things.

"After I return to the capital, I will spread the news that you have the pill prescription, and then you quickly find someone to refine a few furnaces of Jiamu Xiaonian Pill, and say it is what you realized. That Xu family ancestor didn't care much about you in the first place, so he might spare your life to see if you can refine anything from the ancient prescription."

Little Wei Yuan had long known that Wang Gan was far-sighted, and at this moment he was still deeply impressed.

Wang Gan coughed and said sternly: "Also, Concubine Yuan asked me to bring you a message."

Little Wei Yuan was shocked and subconsciously shrank, then pretended to be calm and asked: "What did the Concubine say?"

Wang Gan cleared his throat. He was born extremely well, and his eyebrows were somewhat similar to Concubine Yuan's. At this moment, looking over, there were actually two or three shadows of Concubine Yuan!

Only heard him say: "Long time no see, I miss you very much."

Little Wei Yuan was immediately in a panic. How could it be a long time? They clearly separated two days ago!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 350 =====