Chapter 13

The Elixir Department prepared for two days and finally issued new regulations in accordance with the City Master's instructions.

The new regulations stated that because the people of Xiazhou had been consuming large quantities of low-grade elixirs for a long time, elixir toxins had accumulated in everyone's bodies, which was not only detrimental to cultivation but could also lead to chronic illness and even shorten their lifespans.

Since the entire Xiazhou was built on the elixir trade, the government naturally would not call for a reduction in elixir usage. Instead, they reprimanded the major elixir shops, requiring them to place detoxification pills and purification talismans in the most prominent positions.

With the government acting this way, the people of Xiazhou finally started to pay some attention, and the number of people buying detoxification pills began to increase.

But detoxification pills were so expensive... and besides, this thing was also an elixir; didn't it feel a bit like taking off one's pants to fart?

What on earth was a purification talisman? It sounded like a type of talisman, but no one had seen anyone selling them...

A large elixir merchant who was well-acquainted with Xu Bingkun went to see him: "City Master, the new regulations are out, and many citizens are asking about purification talismans. The Shen Clan Trading Firm originally said they had a large supply ready for use, but why did you tell us to hold off for now?"

Xu Bingkun sneered slightly.

Of course, hold off.

He, Xu Bingkun, had his own forces, and his own forces could also make similar talismans. When the time came, all that silver would be his, so he would definitely push this matter forward; Shen Tang's proposal was actually quite good. But if he let Shen Tang's side do it, at most he would get a small dividend, which was the absolute limit. There was no need to consider which option was more profitable.

Furthermore, he wasn't too keen on seeing the Profound Heaven Sword Sect rise in Xiazhou.

As City Master, he had to respect the Sect Master in terms of morality. Now that the Profound Heaven Sword Sect was in decline and had to rely on his care, it was easy to talk, but once the Profound Heaven Sword Sect rose, it would be hard to say who would be in charge.

Shen Tang seemed like a capable person with ideas; Xu Bingkun would rather have a sword-wielding Elder who didn't understand business as Sect Master than see Shen Tang restore the sect's glory. Naturally, he had to trip her up.

Delaying the entry of Shen Tang's sword talismans into shops and letting his own forces rush to produce replacements would both suppress Shen Tang and earn him money—killing two birds with one stone.

Originally, it would have been better to even delay the new regulations, but who knew this Shen Tang was so sharp; she went straight to the Elixir Department to get things finalized on the spot. He couldn't slap his own face after saying those things in front of her, so he had to accept it, and he even had to put on a high-minded act to urge the Elixir Department to issue the new regulations quickly. It was incredibly stifling.

Xu Bingkun didn't explain everything to the elixir merchants, only saying: "In any case, just drag it out for two or three days."

The elixir merchants looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

Although the City Master had power, who didn't have a few backers these days? Xiazhou was called a prefecture, but it was actually the size of a large county. There were plenty of people in the city with connections to the commandery, so they wouldn't necessarily listen to everything he said. What was the point of just us few dragging our feet?

Xu Bingkun knew what they were thinking and stroked his beard: "At the very least, they still have to give this old man the small face of delaying for a few days. Go on."

Before his voice had faded, a subordinate rushed over: "City Master, City Master!"

Xu Bingkun frowned: "So flustered, what kind of decorum is this?"

The subordinate said cautiously: "More than ten elixir merchants, including the Jishi Pavilion, Yunpo Pavilion, and Yuyuan Elixir Workshop, have already signed agreements with the Shen Clan Trading Firm to stock their 'Sword Soul Spirit-Cleansing Talismans'!"

Xu Bingkun stood up in astonishment. A few shops would be one thing; Shen Tang might have some other connections. How could so many be involved?

Were they all not giving this City Master any face?

"Originally, Shen Tang had only negotiated with three or four shops. But early this morning, when the people from the Demon Suppression Division went on patrol, they were wearing this Sword Soul Spirit-Cleansing Talisman on their chests, and it spread throughout the city. Some elixir merchants were originally still politely refusing the Shen Clan, but when they saw the Demon Suppression Division using them first, they felt this matter was unstoppable and, fearing they would fall behind others, quickly signed agreements with the Shen Clan."

Xu Bingkun clutched his head, feeling incredibly pained.

The Demon Suppression Division was directly managed by the imperial court and only followed the City Master's political decrees, not his control. Sheng Yuanyao was also a capital official and the apple of Deputy Chief Constable Sheng's eye! He really couldn't control such a wealthy young lady.

This was going to be difficult. With long-term agreements from over ten major elixir merchants, it was enough to make the lingering Profound Heaven Sword Sect reborn in an instant. The Shen Clan Trading Firm was firmly established, and Shen Tang's bet with those Elders was a foregone conclusion.

Even if others came up with similar things to compete for the market in a few days, many citizens would have already formed a first impression and recognized the Shen Clan's brand. Besides, this woman had given it such a nice name and made the talismans look so beautiful.

"Forget it, at least I can still get a share of the profits..." Xu Bingkun narrowed his eyes slightly: "Someone, go invite Sect Master Liu of the Danxia Gang to meet. They seem to have had some friction with the Shen Clan over competing for talent?"

Liu Qingcang had been feeling both pain and joy recently.

The joy was that the "Divine Qi Pill" was very popular in the market, and the price was being hyped higher and higher; he could see that wealth was pouring in.

So, Lu Xingzhou was useless; he could only refine those common elixirs and wasn't even worth a single hair of Bai Chi.

The pain was that one of the main ingredients for the Divine Qi Pill was Cold-Crystal Grass.

Cold-Crystal Grass was originally a medicinal herb for external use, not suitable for internal consumption, and naturally not very suitable for alchemy, so it had never been widely planted. They had only started refining Divine Qi Pills for a short time, so they had a little stock and hadn't thought about hoarding large quantities.

As a result, a few days ago, some idiot suddenly bought a large amount, causing the already scarce Cold-Crystal Grass on the market to become extremely tight, and the price skyrocketed.

Their Danxia Gang hurriedly bought up all the remaining Cold-Crystal Grass on the market at a high price, but it still wouldn't be enough to last long.

Liu Qingcang used a two-pronged approach: sending people to other cities to purchase it while planting it extensively on their own medicinal mountain. This thing matured quickly, growing in two or three months. Anyway, the price of Cold-Crystal Grass was high now, so even if they couldn't use that much, selling it off would be a huge profit.

When he received the City Master's invitation, Liu Qingcang was inspecting the Cold-Crystal Grass planting situation on the mountain with great satisfaction. Hearing this, he was even more smug: "Even the City Master wants to cooperate with this seat. Sure enough, Mr. Bai is a lucky star."

Bai Chi smiled reservedly on the side: "The apprentices brought out by Lu Xingzhou are too poor in level... Once I have some free time, I will bring out a new batch."

How could Liu Qingcang not hear that this was an attempt to smear the "old subordinates of Lu Xingzhou"? In fact, during these days, Bai Chi took pleasure in finding trouble with those apprentices all day long, using them like beasts of burden and deducting their wages, causing the apprentices to complain bitterly.

But now Bai Chi was a hot commodity, and Liu Qingcang himself wanted to remove the influence left by Lu Xingzhou, so he turned a blind eye. Deducting wages also fattened the gang... Anyway, the apprentice contracts were there, and those people couldn't run even if they wanted to. As for Lu Xingzhou, he was only fit to hang out with a newly arrived trading firm that had nothing; could he still help these old subordinates?

"Oh, right." Bai Chi added: "I still hope the Cold-Crystal Grass purchased from outside arrives quickly. We are about to run out, and it will be too late by the time these grow up."

Liu Qingcang patted his shoulder: "This seat will go see the City Master first, and I will definitely get it sorted out as soon as possible."

Not far down the mountain, they met a team of people escorting a carriage back up the mountain; it was the gang members he had sent out to purchase Cold-Crystal Grass.

Liu Qingcang frowned: "Why are you back so soon?"

The gang members hurriedly saluted: "Gang Master, we had just left the city when we encountered a merchant caravan from a neighboring county. It just so happened they had a carriage of Cold-Crystal Grass, so we brought it back."

Liu Qingcang lifted the cover and took a look; sure enough, it was a full carriage of Cold-Crystal Grass, and the quality looked quite good: "What a coincidence... what price did you pay?"

The gang members smiled: "Gang Master, rest assured, it was the current market price. This carriage was two hundred and fifty taels of gold."

It was expensive, but after all, medicinal herbs were priced by the weight, and the magnitude of a whole carriage was there. Even when the price was lower before, it would have been several dozen taels. Now that the price had skyrocketed, this price wasn't too outrageous.

Liu Qingcang made a rough estimate and found that it was actually slightly lower than the market price, as if it were just to round it off... but it still hurt his heart.

Previously, he had been swindled out of almost all his spirit stones by Lu Xingzhou, and recently he had been buying up the remaining Cold-Crystal Grass on the market at high prices, as well as buying a large amount of seeds to plant himself. Now the Danxia Gang really didn't have much cash... Today, these two hundred and fifty taels of gold had almost drained half of their liquid funds.

Forget it, anyway, he would earn it back soon. He sighed and waved his hand: "Take it up the mountain and put it in storage."

At the Shen Clan Trading Firm, Lu Xingzhou was playing with a gold ingot in his hand, tossing it up and down.

A-Nuo sat cross-legged, hugging a pile of gold ingots, happy enough to lie on top of them and laugh: "Gang Master Liu is really a good person."

Lu Xingzhou laughed: "Wrong, we are the good people. Gang Master Liu still has to thank us for relieving his urgent need."

Shen Tang sat speechlessly in front of them, turning her head to look at the warehouse over there, which had been full of Cold-Crystal Grass and was now empty.

Dugu Qingli stood behind her, her cold blue eyes staring fixedly at Lu Xingzhou, still expressionless, not knowing what she was thinking.

That's right, the so-called "merchant caravan from a neighboring county" was disguised by people from the Profound Heaven Sword Sect, and what they sold was the Cold-Crystal Grass they had hoarded earlier.

"You knew long ago that one of the main ingredients for their Divine Qi Pill was Cold-Crystal Grass?" Shen Tang couldn't help but ask: "This is a unique elixir formula of the Fenxiang Tower; how did you get it?"

"Hmm? I don't know his unique elixir formula, but as an alchemist, it's very easy to roughly figure out what ingredients are in a first-grade elixir. Bai Chi has already given me enough face by letting me spend money to buy one Divine Qi Pill."

"..."

Lu Xingzhou grinned: "Who would have thought that something as unsuitable for alchemy as Cold-Crystal Grass could actually be used by the Fenxiang Tower? I have to admire the courage of the alchemist predecessors to think and try. It's a pity that the elixir toxicity of the Divine Qi Pill is too heavy, also because of this medicinal herb... especially since Bai Chi is eager for quick success and instant benefits, the ratio might be problematic, making the toxicity even heavier."

Shen Tang pursed her lips, not knowing what to say.

Precisely because this thing was unsuitable for alchemy, it was rarely planted, and Lu Xingzhou had utilized it to great effect. If it were something widely planted, he wouldn't be able to make this money.

The problem now seemed to be more than just making this one profit...

Lu Xingzhou put away his smile and whispered: "Did you have people spread it? About the elixir toxicity of the Divine Qi Pill."

Shen Tang took a deep breath and let it out: "I already had people spread it that day; it should be fermenting over these two days."

Once the fact that the Divine Qi Pill's toxicity was too heavy fermented at this time, let alone the sales of the Divine Qi Pill disappearing, the Cold-Crystal Grass that the Danxia Gang had just bought at a high price would be a massive loss. Even that was fine; in the end, it was only a loss of a few hundred taels of gold, and the Danxia Gang could afford it.

But what about the Cold-Crystal Grass planted on that large area of the medicinal mountain?

Dig it up temporarily and plant something else?

Lu Xingzhou never intended to just slap the Danxia Gang; from the moment he proposed this idea of purifying elixir toxicity, his goal from beginning to end was for the Danxia Gang to die!

He really didn't need to compete with them in alchemy, and he even provided the Profound Heaven Sword Sect with a strategy for establishing a foothold.

Where did this poisonous scholar come from... The Danxia Gang actually pushed such a person from their own side to the opposite side?

Shen Tang finally couldn't help but ask: "So the idea you proposed to me that day about purifying elixir toxicity was always just for this step?"

Lu Xingzhou turned to look at her and smiled gently: "As you said, this is mutual assistance."

After speaking, he pointed outside the window, where many people from the Profound Heaven Sword Sect were gathering towards the meeting hall: "Look, the three-day deadline has arrived; your bet needs to be fulfilled, doesn't it? Congratulations in advance, Sect Master Shen."