“What?”
“It's actually capable of widening them?”
“If this thing's the real deal, then it'll be of great use to us martial artists!”
“In that case, one thousand gold really isn't that costly…”
Based on the different grades of martial artists, the time it took to digest the Five Essence Pill would also be different. However, they all similarly had to take thirty pills to broaden their meridians. As for what the martial artists of different realms had to say, they considered it to be fair.
One pill for one thousand gold. Thirty pills were only thirty thousand gold. If thirty thousand gold could broaden the meridians by a thread, which martial artist wouldn't be willing to pay this price?
The earlier one took the Five Essence Pill, the more favorable it was for a martial artist. Moreover, even if it was a little late, the Five Essence Pills were enough to make up for any deficiencies…
At this time, the guests all thoroughly understood.
They knew the Gongyi Clan would certainly be making exorbitant profits. Yet, they were still happy to go along with it. That much more Five Essence Pills in hand would be for the good fortune of the Clans' children.
At this moment, all the guests were itching to go place their orders.
However, Qian Sheng began to speak: “Everyone, please wait a moment!”
The crowd of guests didn't understand, and their hearts were very eager: “Whatever you have to say, do it quickly. We still want to purchase a few Five Essence Pills to try them when we get back!”
Qian Sheng sighed: “Everyone's in a hurry. This lowly Qian naturally understands. However, the amount of Five Essence Pills definitely isn't enough for everyone to purchase in bulk…”
The many guests heard this and couldn't help staring blankly.
Qian Sheng solemnly said: “The Five Essence Pill uses precious and rare medicinal herbs, and the failure rate for refining this medicine is very high. Even for a pharmacist who has trained for several years and who incessantly refines around the clock, the most they could make in a day is only three to four pills. Every month, only about one hundred Five Essence Pills can be put forward. These can only be given to three to four honored customers.”
He continued unhurriedly, “We've been saving for many days, and we currently have one hundred twenty sets of Five Essence Pills. Each set contains thirty pills. No more, no less… To prevent any injuries or anger, everyone who arrived to partic.i.p.ate in this medicinal pill exhibition can purchase one set. If you wanted to buy more, then there's nothing to be done.”
Talking to this extent, the implications were very clear.
This round of fictional war would have seventy to eighty Families. After being purchased by them, there would be only forty to fifty sets remaining. If someone wanted to split the leftover portions, then they had to think of some other methods.
As for what those other methods were, where could one speak so obviously?
Everyone had a tacit mutual understanding.
Since it was like this, everyone didn't put up a fight: On the surface, you would be modest and I would yield.
The intermediaries of several large Families went to purchase their sets first. The others all followed to make their purchase one after another. Not long after, seventy eight sets of Five Essence Pills were sold. The gold obtained reached 2.34 million taels [1].
Gu Zuo saw this and heaved a huge sigh of relief.
One cauldron of Five Essence Pills produced five pills. After he improved his refining skills, he could achieve one cauldron in almost five minutes. But even if it was like this, managing so many Five Essence Pills for this medicinal pill exhibition took several days. Apart from practicing his cultivation method, he was refining those medicinal pills, which he had only just gotten together.
It was very exhausting.
Now after obtaining a huge sum of several millions of gold all of a sudden, he felt that all his hard work wasn't in vain. At the very least, the gold in Tianheng's hands could transform into even greater riches. And this wealth could let him rest even easier with respect to medicinal ingredients.
For him, this was the most important matter.
But in reality, there were some things that Gu Zuo still didn't understand too well.
Regardless if it was the Qi Generating Pill, the Rejuvenation Pill, or the Snowy Ginseng Pill, their princ.i.p.al values were all relatively low. Profits begot larger profits, and usually such princ.i.p.al values could multiply dozens to hundreds of times over. However, the manufacturing costs of the Five Essence Pill weren't so cheap. One Five Essence Pill would sell for one thousand gold, yet the princ.i.p.al value was five hundred gold. This shouldn't be in line with maximizing one's interests, right?
He didn't know what his big brother was thinking.
Gu Zuo didn't try to hide his confusion and just asked him.
Gongyi Tianheng listened, and exposed a smile: “Ah Zuo, let's go back first.”
Gu Zuo glanced at the excitement in front of him and obediently nodded: “Okay.”
Just then, that young manager Qian Sheng revealed the usefulness of the medicinal pill to some guests. It went without saying that before selling something, one should first give a demonstration. However, while Gongyi Tianheng's business practices always treated everyone equally, the conduct this time was more like showing the goods after buying them.
One could say this was a kind of self-confidence. One could also say this was taking advantage of the “window shopping” mentality through unconventional promotions to make people firmly believe in the medicinal pill's usefulness.
— Naturally, the effectiveness of these two medicinal pills were, at the very least, the honest truth.
When Gu Zuo followed Gongyi Tianheng back to the villa, Tianheng didn't speak at all during the whole journey. However, while Gu Zuo didn't understand why, he knew that his big brother definitely wouldn't be unprepared to answer his questions. Rather, it wasn't any good to discuss it in public.
This immediately made him feel a little strange. Could it be that his big brother did in fact have some other plans for the business practices of the Five Essence Pill?
Once they got to the villa, Gongyi Tianheng and Gu Zuo both sat in the study. Then, he slowly began talking: “Ah Zuo, since you asked, then I also can't hide it from you.”
Gu Zuo sat upright and focused.
Since his big brother was being so solemn, that matter must also be very serious.
Tianheng slightly muttered: “Ah Zuo, have you heard of the Hundred Countries War?”
Gu Zuo shook his head.
It was only natural that he hadn't heard of it, but this name was very ominous. He felt that it wasn't something he'd like.
Tianheng sighed: “This is also the first time I've heard of it.”
Gu Zuo then realized afterwards that this subject was super important.
Sure enough, Tianheng said with a grave expression: “Some time ago, I went to the Azure Dragon Pool to cultivate. Afterwards I, along with Helian Xingcheng and the others, were all summoned before His Majesty. And from his mouth, we learned about this secret.”
What happened next was a recounting of the secret's details.
Gu Zuo listened and listened, and finally understood the hidden truth within.
The Hundred Countries War. As the name implied, it was the martial artists of over one hundred countries waging war.
On Tianwu Continent, besides the Cangyun Empire, there also existed the Qingluan Empire and the Suhu Empire. Concerning these two great empires, their strengths alone were only slightly inferior to the Cangyun Empire. Excluding these t.i.tans, there were still many smaller countries.
However, the two words “Hundred Countries” in the Hundred Countries War absolutely didn't mean just the three great empires as well as the numerous small countries. In actuality, the three great empires could only be counted as three countries among the hundred.
Gongyi Tianheng said: “Ah Zuo doesn't fully understand how seemingly vast and boundless the Tianwu Continent really is. However, it definitely isn't the only continent. It's neighbored by just over ten other continents. There are some large and some small, and within are empires that are also large and small. As a result, the ranks of the continents are different. Our Tianwu Continent is merely a third cla.s.s continent [2]. Although, it's a relatively powerful one among the third continents, a third cla.s.s is still a third cla.s.s. Compared to a second or first cla.s.s, the differences are just too great!”
Gu Zuo didn't know what to think. He never thought that there'd still be this kind of secret.
With so many continents that still had to handle this Hundred Countries War, just what did the continent's rank have to do with this war?
Tianheng affirmed his thoughts, and said with praise: “Ah Zuo's thoughts are correct. It's through the Hundred Countries War that the achievements of each country's martial artists determine that country's strength as well as that country's quality of goods. And as for the quality of goods, it's related to a continent's status. The better a martial artist's achievements, the greater the honor that martial artist's country receives. And when a country has honor, the continent that country resides within also gains honor. This minor thing is definitely something that can't be overlooked.”
Gu Zuo didn't really understand: “Does the opening of the Azure Dragon Pool have something to do with this?”
Tianheng faintly nodded: “The Hundred Countries War occurs once every fifty years, and it'll start in just a few months. In order to nurture enough people who can stand their ground against the martial artists of other continents, His Majesty opened the Azure Dragon Pool and decided on choosing young sprouts from the winners of the Clan War. And when we received His Majesty's grace, it was also related to the righteous cause of the empire. Of course, we couldn't refuse to partic.i.p.ate in the Hundred Countries War.”
He didn't talk about what that martial artist's status would be like. Besides how it related to his own martial strength, it more precisely related to his background. One's background could be a Clan, a country, or even a continent.
If one's continent was weak, then the country and Clan were weak. And an individual wouldn't be able to seize any opportunities. There were many factors that were difficult to put to use.
So no matter what, regardless of one's purpose, everyone wanted to strive for victory in the Hundred Countries War!
Gu Zuo thought out loud: “Going with big brother to do this… It's not particularly related to any money-making businesses?”
Tianheng was unhurried as always, yet his expression right now was still somewhat grave: “Ah Zuo, the situation is grim right now. From what His Majesty has said, we've learned that the martial artists partic.i.p.ating in the war don't need to advance to the Xiantian realm. They just need to have the skills to be a match for ten or more enemies of equivalent realms. Originally, the Cangyun Empire only had the ninth prince Cang Yu. He is truly someone who can partic.i.p.ate in the war. As for the rest, even though they're the imperial capital's five young masters, they all barely qualified. Opening the Azure Dragon Pool was merely a safeguard. After all, under normal circ.u.mstances, a half-step Xiantian is a little more powerful than a Houtian perfect-grade.”
Gu Zuo looked away distractedly: “Then in other words, there are only six in the Cangyun Empire who can go join the war?” After that, he shook his head again, “No matter how the others are, I know that big brother certainly isn't just barely qualified to join.”
Among martial artists of similar realms, his big brother's strength could certainly sweep across the whole world! Indeed, he would reside at the peak of the six!
Gongyi Tianheng broke into laughter: “This time, the future is uncertain. I also don't know to what degree I can fight, and I can probably only do my very best. However, there's still hope for the Cangyun Empire in the future.”
His gaze looked distant, “Those who have the finances to buy the Five Essence Pill are mostly rich Families. They'd have enough resources to provide for their martial artists. Although they aren't all forgoing books for martial arts to get rich [3], many people are unable to escape this predicament. For the wealthy, the odds of becoming a powerhouse are even bigger.”
Gu Zuo suddenly understood: “What big brother means is that as the Five Essence Pills are sold, many will be bought by rich Families. Most will be used for transforming the meridians of their children, and once these children grow up, their meridians would surpa.s.s their peers. Such strength would let them make even faster progress… It wouldn't be long for huge changes to occur.”
So the Five Essence Pill's price couldn't be too expensive because transforming the body was a long-term process. The more one took the Five Essence Pill, the greater the benefits for one's meridians.
Tianheng nodded: “When that moment comes, there'll be many talents with outstanding strength who'd surpa.s.s our generation and many of those from the older generations. If we cannot make any headway during this instance of the Hundred Countries War, then there'll be one day in the future when countless heaven-sent children will rise up in the Cangyun Empire to fight to regain our honor!”
Gu Zuo heard this and held his breath.
As it turned out, it was because of this…
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[1] The author wrote two hundred thirty four taels, which is a typo.
[2] The author uses 帝国 (empire) instead of 大陆 (continent), which I think is a typo, considering the context.
[3] 穷文富武 - Qiong (poor) wen (language, writing) fu (rich) wu (martial arts, the military).
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