Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Tang Hao opened his eyes and found himself in the real world again.
He heaved a sigh of relief and felt refreshed.
Not only did he get his revenge, but he also obtained a dark gold shard and a pill-making scripture. That was a great haul.
He made a few copies of the pill-making scripture, then went into the mountains to collect qi cores.
He did not need any more qi cores for his cultivation, but Qin Xiangyi and the others in the Union could use some more. It was better to have as many as possible.
Now that he was a lot more powerful, his efficiency in collecting qi cores was much higher. He could collect at least forty high-quality ones in one night.
The mountain range occupied a vast area, and there were countless ferocious beasts. He was not afraid of the beasts going extinct.
After dawn, Tang Hao returned to the valley, washed up, and entered the city.
“Hey, Storekeeper Tang!”
“Long time no see, Storekeeper Tang!”
The streets were crowded early in the morning. Many of them knew Tang Hao and greeted him warmly when they saw him.
“Long time no see!”
Tang Hao answered their greetings.
He went to Ritian Pavilion and checked the accounts, making sure that the income during that period was correct.
After managing a big company like Haotian Group, managing Ritian Pavilion was a piece of cake.
After hanging around in the store for a while, he was ready to leave. At that moment, two people came in from outside. Tang Hao turned to look at them and was stunned.
He knew who the person in front was. That person wore a robe with embroidered dragons, and he was none other than Fu Yun of Cloudcore Valley. They dueled with each other before.
‘Why is he here?’
Tang Hao frowned.
“It’s been a while!”
Tang Hao went up to greet him.
Although there was some animosity between him and Cloudcore Valley, the latter was the more influential force. Moreover, Tang Hao was a businessman, and he had to be amicable toward potential customers.
“Storekeeper Tang!”
Fu Yun cupped his fists.
Tang Hao returned the greeting and said, “What brings you here, Pillmaster Fu? Don’t tell me that Cloudcore Valley wants to buy medicine from me!”
Fu Yun’s expression turned solemn. “Of course not. I’m here for a serious matter. There are many people here. Let’s talk inside!”
Tang Hao was startled and said, “Let’s go upstairs!”
After sitting down, Fu Yun said, “It’s like this. Two days ago, someone came to Cloudcore Valley and wanted to buy the recipe for rejuvenation pills from us.”
“Who is it?”
Tang Hao’s expression changed slightly.
“He’s not an individual,” Fu Yun said, “You must’ve heard of the Tianlu Merchant Guild, right?”
“Tianlu?”
Tang Hao muttered. He thought for a while and remembered the name.
Tianlu Merchant Guild was a famous merchant guild in the southern region. They owned many stores in the borderlands.
“So… Did you sell it?”
Fu Yun shook his head. “Of course not. Cloudcore Valley lost in the last duel, and we promised you that we won’t deal with rejuvenation pills anymore. I’m not going to sell that recipe.”
“Oh?” Tang Hao was surprised.
Fu Yun smiled drily. “Cloudcore Valley has a reputation to maintain, Storekeeper Tang!”
After a pause, he continued, “The other party was quite persistent. They’re determined to get the recipe, and they’ve even named a high price.
“They’re not going to give up just like that, and they might come and look for you. That’s why I’m here to give you an advance warning.”
“Thank you very much!” Tang Hao said with a smile.
“You’re welcome!” Fu Yun waved his hand and said, “By the way, I heard from that person that they’ve gotten many people, including pill makers, to study your medicine, but all of them failed. So…”
As he spoke, he looked at Tang Hao in puzzlement.
The recipe for the deluxe rejuvenation pill might be difficult to crack, but a pill maker should have been able to do so. Fu Yun thought it curious that the Tianlu Merchant Guild suffered a setback.
Tang Hao smiled casually. “Well, I changed the recipe a little. The ones on sale now use the improved recipe.”
Fu Yun was startled, then he smiled drily and said, “So that’s how it is. No wonder!”
Storekeeper Tang might be young, but his herbology skills were inexplicably advanced. It was not out of the question that he could formulate a recipe that even a pill maker could not reverse engineer.
After chatting for a while more, Tang Hao sent the other two people off.
Tang Hao was not really bothered.
He was very confident in his recipe. An ordinary person would not be able to crack it. Even if they could, it would take a long time.
He turned around and eventually forgot about the matter.
The next five days passed in the blink of an eye.
That morning, Tang Hao received a message from Zhao Liu saying that a guest from the Tianlu Merchant Guild had come. That was when he remembered what he was told.
The merchant guild sent two representatives: One old and one young.
The old man was in his sixties. He had a long beard and wore a white robe. The young man was in his twenties. He wore a brocade robe and seemed noble.
When the old man saw Tang Hao enter, he glanced at him but did not stand up. He sat there, cupped his fists, and called out, “Storekeeper Tang!”
His attitude was quite arrogant.
The young man behind him was even more arrogant. He sized up Tang Hao and smiled. “You are Tang Ritian! Ritian… What a unique name.”‘
He sounded like he was mocking Tang Hao.
Tang Hao immediately frowned.
The young man was poorly educated in etiquette, and the old man treated Ritian Pavilion as his own store.
Tang Hao walked up to them and said coldly, “I wonder why you are here?”
The old man seemed displeased when he saw Tang Hao’s attitude.
“Hey, watch it! Don’t you know who we are?” The young man flew into a rage.
“Keep it down! We’re here to negotiate, so we have to be courteous,” the old man wagged his hand and said.
Then, he cupped his fists toward Tang Hao and said, “I’ll get to the point, Storekeeper Tang. Our Tianlu Merchant Guild is very interested in the pills available for sale at your Ritian Pavilion. I wonder if you are interested in cooperating, Storekeeper Tang?”
“How?” Tang Hao asked.
“The first option is a buyout. You sell the recipe to us and give us the exclusive right to manufacture and sell it. One hundred million crystals should be enough, right?
“The second option is to appoint you as the manufacturer, while we become the sole distributor. We’ll be buying a lot from you, and so we expect a discount.
“You sell the regular version for five crystals, and the cost should be half. You can sell them to us at three crystals. As for the deluxe version, if you sell it at fifty crystals, then you can sell it to us at thirty. That’s about right!” The old man said.
Tang Hao almost laughed out loud when he heard that. His expression became colder and colder.
‘One hundred million crystals?
‘Dream on!
‘The second option is even worse. If it cost me two and a half crystals to make one pill, it means that I’ll only be making a half-crystal profit per pill, while they make a profit of two crystals. That’s a horrible deal.’
Tang Hao realized that the merchant guild did not want to cooperate with him but rather bully him because they were bigger.
