Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Chapter 2028  A Tool for a Trade

Mihua turned to look at Wang Yanwei who had spoken and then to Alex who was just behind her. She gave an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry I couldn't do anything to help you."

"Did they come to tell you to stop working with us?" Alex asked.

"A man came earlier today and delivered this," she said, tossing a talisman over to Alex. Within it was written a list of apothecary stores that would stop working with her store should she not immediately stop supplying ingredients to their store.

"Who was this man?" Alex asked.

"Nobody related to the stores or the guild," Wang Yanwei said. "They keep a reasonable distance from everything by sending a third party to deliver this so they can say that they never sent it."

Alex nodded. He didn't want to bring this to the public anyway. "I suppose there is no chance that you could simply ignore this on your own?" he asked the woman before her.

"If it was up to me, I would give that some consideration for sure. At the rate your store is gaining fame, we might be making the right choice in the long term," she said. "However, I am not the one who makes this decision. I can try to persuade the seniors, but I do not know if they will listen to me. Especially when she works with you."

Wang Yanwei let out an angry grunt. The Pang family hated her mother for leaving them to be with a man they did not approve of, and by association hated her for being the child of the union.

"Why now?" Wang Yanwei asked. "They left us alone for half a decade just to come after us again? Is our improvement that much of a threat to them?"

"Your improvement was always a threat to them," the store owner said. "But I believe they stopped coming after you because young brother Dawnblade here had a chance to join the Blue Silk sect. But it has been more and more apparent over the years that he just doesn't wish to take the exams anymore."

She turned toward Alex. "Did you know that the entrance exam for the sect ended a day before?" she asked.

"I wasn't aware," Alex said. There would be no reason why he should keep tabs on something like this.

Wang Yanwei's eyes narrowed. "Should we just tell them then?" she asked. "It should save our store."

Alex thought for a bit. It would be a wise choice to tell them that he was already a part of the sect and save himself from the trouble. But… trouble brought opportunity. Alex turned to Wang Yanwei and asked, "When you dueled them, did you get to make your own demands?" he asked.

"Yes…?" she answered, confused by his sudden question.

"Then we don't tell anyone anything for now," Alex said.

"What are you two talking about?" Pang Mihua was curious about their cryptic conversation. She wanted to be a part of the secret.

"Senior Mihua, you can go ahead and let the elders know about the message," Alex said.

"What?" Yanwei looked perplexed.

"I can?" Mihua was surprised. "Yes," Alex said. "But I want you to deliver them something too."

Mihua nodded slowly. "What do you want me to deliver?" she asked.

"Sister Yanwei, can you give us some privacy, please? Just for a minute," he said.

"You want me to leave?" she asked, and didn't know how to react when Alex nodded.

She looked at Alex with a confused look and slowly left the room.

"Why did you send her away?" Mihua asked.

Alex turned back to look at the woman. "Do you mind if I set up a formation for some privacy?" he asked.

The woman shrugged. "Go ahead."

Alex quickly activated a formation plate to create a barrier around them. Then, he pulled out a small pill bottle from his Soul Space. He placed it on the table before him and placed his hand on top of it.

Mihua raised an eyebrow. "What is this?" she asked. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"A tool for a trade," he said. "Before I show you what this is, I want you to swear an oath that you will never reveal where you got this pill from without my permission."

Mihua frowned. "You want me to swear an oath?" she asked.

"Yes, or I won't be able to hand it to you," he said, holding onto the bottle tightly.

The woman thought for a bit and nodded. She quickly swore the oath so she could see what was inside the bottle that made him so careful.

Once she spoke her oath, Alex nodded and released his hand. "This is something I receive regularly from my master," he said as he let her see what was inside the bottle.

The woman opened the bottle and looked inside curiously only to find simple pills. She could even recognize it. It was one of the more popular pills that improved one's cultivation speed.

They were regular pills with no marks on them whatsoever.

"This is it?" she asked. She couldn't imagine why he had to be so secretive about the pills.

"Do you have a pill tester?" he asked.

"A pill tester?" the woman couldn't help but get suspicious. She pulled out a pill tester from her storage bag and quickly put one of the pills onto it.

A second later, it showed the pill's Harmony, and the woman couldn't help but be shocked as a result.

"How… how is this…"

"Tell your elders that the Pang will receive this many pills, once a month of the same quality for as long as they decide to keep working with the Dawn Apothecary store. Let us see if that can influence the end result somehow."

Pang Mihua was still a bit stunned when Alex told her that. She looked up, understanding what she was saying, and couldn't help but be more stunned.

"You have more of these?" she asked.

"I can ask my master for more," Alex said.

"Who is your master?" she asked.

"I cannot tell you. Maybe someday when my master allows me to speak, I can let others know," he said.

Those words only served to get the woman more curious. She looked at the pill bottle, realizing that there were 5 pills within it.

If they were to allocate such incredible pills to their juniors, the Pang family could easily have one of the most talented juniors of the Blue Silk sect within a generation. This was an incredible chance.

"You want to bribe our family with this, huh?" she said. "This might just work. How do you suggest I break the news to them about how I got it?"

"Tell them nothing," Alex said. "If they start guessing, confirm nothing. Just that if news got around that the Pang family was somehow getting these pills, they would stop receiving them. I'm sure they won't do anything to jeopardize such an opportunity."

Pang Mihua looked at the pills. "I'm sure they won't."