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However, there remains a crucial link away from Tongbao Pavilion securing the order from the Weapon Department—bidding!

There are quite a few alchemist shops in the Capital capable of making Qi Blood Pills, and if several shops contact the Weapon Department at the same time to take the order for the Qi Blood Pills, for fairness and justice, the Weapon Department will ask each shop to provide a batch of samples.

Ultimately, judges will determine the supplier of the Qi Blood Pills based on the quality of the samples and the final quotes offered by the shops.

Still, the processes of alchemy, quoting, and bidding are not for Jiang Cheng to concern himself with.

What he needs to do is ensure the carelessly planted Blood Orange Tree remains self-regulating and by the twenty-fourth day, when the Blood Orange Fruit reaches the ten-year quality, he must pick the fruit and submit it to He, who will then refine it into pills and bid for the order.

As for whether they will be successful in the end will depend on the quality of the pills and the choices of the Weapon Department.

These are not things that a freshman like Jiang Cheng needs to concern himself with.

When Miaodan Workshop was still small, Master Shen Mi often needed to start the furnace and refine elixirs himself, to ensure the quality and yield of the pills produced by Miaodan Workshop.

But now, having taken on court business, Miaodan Workshop has grown into one of the top three alchemist shops in the Capital.

For Shen Mi to personally refine elixirs now would seem somewhat like a publicity stunt.

Shen Mi’s main job now is to use his political connections to secure stable orders for elixirs for Miaodan Workshop.

This is a very simple yet extremely difficult task, which greatly tests a person’s emotional quotient and tactics.

Some officials like Spirit Stones, some have a fondness for women, some value their offspring, some aren’t tempted by bribes but love flattery…

In order to maintain relationships at the court, Miaodan Workshop had to offer a lot of benefits every year. However, compared with the orders for elixirs, these expenditures were well worth it.

For instance, on the day that He stated her intention to participate in the Qi Blood Pill bidding for the Weapon Department, Qi Huaizhu, a Rank Five Official of the court, and the manager of the Weapon Department, personally visited the Shen Residence.

“Brother Shen,” Qi Huaizhu bowed with hands clasped.

“Please, Lord Qi,” Shen Mi efficiently hosted this old friend.

“I’ve been to your residence several times. Let’s skip the formalities today. Shall we talk here?”

“Impeccable under Divinity Transformation.”

“That’s good, I found your favoured concubine’s daughter to be troublesome again today. Tongbao Pavilion has decided to join the bidding for the Qi Blood Pills.”

Shen Mi was startled and asked incredulously, “Have they gone mad? Apart from our Miaodan Workshop, who else in Liang Kingdom can push the price of a Qi Blood Pill below forty?”

Qi Huaizhu said gravely, “She didn’t seem to be joking; she must be truly prepared. I assume she’s quite confident.”

Shen Mi frowned thoughtfully. With his understanding of the Immortal Sects, Tongbao Pavilion would definitely not engage in the act of substituting inferior goods for good ones, hurting their reputation.

Plus, while the business of Qi Blood Pills is not insignificant, compared to the scale of Immortal Sects, the value of Qi Blood Pills doesn’t even amount to a hair on nine bulls. There’s no need for them to stoop so low for that.

“Brother Shen,” Qi Huaizhu clasped his hands and said, “You are the expert when it comes to alchemy, which I don’t understand. I’m just here to convey the Weapon Department’s stance. We’ve collaborated well before, and I, personally, definitely favor continuing to procure pills from Miaodan Workshop. But if there’s a substantial gap between the samples provided by the two shops, that would be a different story.”

Shen Mi remained silent.

He understood the unspoken rules of the court all too well.

Some things don’t weigh much until they’re scaled, and when they are, they can be heavier than a thousand catties.

The “Special Supply Qi and Blood Pill” was an unspoken agreement between the Weapon Department and Miaodan Workshop because the Weapon Department’s budget was limited, and Miaodan Workshop could lower the price, making it beneficial for both.

But if someone comes out with a “High-grade Qi Blood Pill” costing less than forty Spirit Stones, that previous understanding would become ineffective.

It would also mean that Miaodan Workshop would lose the significant order for Qi Blood Pills.

“I understand,” said Shen Mi.

After sending off Qi Huaizhu, Shen Mi without another word summoned his trusted subordinates.

“Find out the source of Tongbao Pavilion’s Qi Blood Pills! Cost is no object, the faster, the better.”

Although the Five Great Immortal Sects together maintained the overall peace of the Cultivation World,

where there’s demand, there’s a market. Forces like Demonic Tao and heretical cultivators, representing the special demands of a part of cultivators, cannot be completely suppressed, and persist endlessly.

To counter the strong eradication by orthodox forces such as Immortal Sects, the Demonic Tao forces generally formed two developmental factions.

One faction is more moderate, voluntarily adapting to the changes of the era. By studying laws and following the rules, they find living space in the gaps between Immortal Sects and mundane forces.

The other faction is more radical, usually lying low and cultivating, striking the Immortal Sects with a backstab at critical moments, then continuing to lie low, aiming to overthrow the rule of Immortal Sects. The true masters of the Demonic Tao mostly come from this faction.

Come nightfall, two silhouettes from the Pursuit of Life Sect, associated with the Demonic Tao, appeared on the outskirts of Tongbao Pavilion’s Huayuan Road Store.

One of them was an old man, carrying the Thousand Mechanisms Compass, his appearance kind and benevolent.

The other was a young man, sporting a Mohawk, hands in pockets, pants riddled with holes, obviously not someone to be trifled with.

“Master, do we just charge in?” asked the young man.

The old man set down the Thousand Mechanisms Compass and replied, “That would be too slow; observe my Life-Claiming Compass!”

As spiritual power was infused into the compass by the old man, it suddenly sprang to life!

Numerous cube mechanisms churned within the compass, and the customer traffic in the Tongbao Pavilion’s Huayuan Road Store from the past few days began to be replayed on the compass!

One customer in the morning, one in the afternoon, one in the evening.

Even the Mohawk-sporting young man couldn’t help but comment, “Is business really that bad? With such a big storefront, can they even make enough to pay the rent?”

The old man didn’t reply, calmly composed; he had found a critical piece of information—there were two people who had stayed in Tongbao Pavilion for a long time, obviously not appearing like customers.

Most likely, these were the people Master Shen had been looking for!

The old man twisted the compass, attempting to use it to pick up details left by these two individuals in Tongbao Pavilion, and in turn, deduce the direction from which they had come.

This compass wasn’t some high-end device for “deducing” spells, but rather a “deductive” magical tool that utilized leftover information.

Some experienced arrest officers, skilled in the use of partial tracking spells, could actually achieve the same effect as a compass.

This method of tracking people was far inferior to “extrapolation spells,” but its advantage was that it consumed less energy, was very primitive, and did not touch upon the heavenly secrets, thus avoiding the attention of powerful cultivators.

Following the guidance of the compass, two members of the Pursuit of Life Sect confirmed two locations.

One was Lotus Cloud University, and the other was the Jade Lake Ming’an community.

The two members of the Pursuit of Life Sect kept watch at the entrance of Jade Lake Ming’an and discovered a student from Lotus University who tirelessly traveled between the university and Jade Lake Ming’an every day, which was highly suspicious.

At the entrance of Lotus University, the two members of the Pursuit of Life Sect watched Jiang Cheng enter the school.

The mohawk youth said, “Master, Lotus University is under the influence of an Immortal Sect. How do we get in? Should we use the invisibility spell you taught me?”

The old man said enigmatically, “There’s no need for such trouble; I have a cunning plan.”

The mohawk youth thought: As expected of Master! Even the high and mighty Immortal Sects can easily be infiltrated!

The old man took the youth to the entrance of Lotus University and confidently told the gatekeeper, “We are here for a delivery.”

Gatekeeper: “Come in and register. Do you have a work ID?”

“Yes, here it is. I’ve been doing this for over ten years.”

Mohawk youth: …

He suddenly didn’t feel like working for the Pursuit of Life Sect any longer.

As the scrappy little fruit tree gradually entered its fruit ripening phase, Jiang Cheng discovered that its “relocation” frequency was becoming more frequent.

During the earliest sprouting and growth phases, the scrappy little fruit tree changed the soil only once every half day.

Later, as it grew larger and was left to grow wild in the wasteland, the scrappy little fruit tree moved about every three to four hours.

As it bloomed and produced thirty fruits, its moving frequency almost tripled or quadrupled.

Almost every hour, the scrappy little fruit tree had to dig a new hole to absorb nutrients from different areas.

And like a web novel author, it only cared about digging and not covering up, showing no quality at all.

Looking at the wasteland pocked with holes dug by the scrappy little fruit tree, Jiang Cheng realized that although the tree grew quickly and bore many fruits, its demand for resources was also extremely terrifying.

The undisciplined Blood Orange Tree could basically maintain a balance between photosynthesis and fruit growth.

But the scrappy little fruit tree couldn’t; it needed to frequently dig holes, relying on the nutrients and spiritual energy within the soil for additional energy.

“Why do I feel like the information on Seeking Sun Grass that I specially collected seems to have had no effect at all?” Jiang Cheng murmured as he watched the little tree digging.

“It could also be that it did have an effect, but it still isn’t enough to sustain the growth needs of thirty fruits.”

“So the question now is, how can we help the Blood Orange Tree obtain more energy that doesn’t cost anything?”

Jiang Cheng looked at the cheap weeds all over the wasteland, which no one wanted, and a bold idea came to mind.

Eating grass has got to be more nutritious than eating soil, right?

What if we found a way to make the little fruit tree eat grass directly?

If animals can eat grass, why can’t fruit trees?

Where are the rights of fruit trees?

All trees are born equal!

Trees should have the right to eat grass, too!

Having gained a direction to solve the problem, what Jiang Cheng needed to do next was to find a method to implement it.

“Is there any spell that can refine other objects, absorbing their power for oneself? Or can directly snatch energy from other objects?”

The two members of the Pursuit of Life Sect who secretly followed along: ?

What kind of Demonic Tao speech is this?

Is this guy Jiang Cheng really a student from Lotus University?

Why does he sound more like a person from the Demonic Tao than we do!?

Jiang Cheng momentarily stepped out of his contemplation mode and noticed the two members of the Pursuit of Life Sect beside him.

The two men looked hesitant, clearly the shy, introverted honest types.

“Are you here to preorder talismans from me?” Jiang Cheng asked, as many seniors had been preordering talismans from him recently.

Although these two didn’t quite look like students from Lotus University, the place did have many oddly shaped seniors.

Compared to those with mental illnesses and perverts, these two just had a slightly unique appearance.

But Jiang Cheng never judged people by their looks.

“The talismans you mentioned, are they something that can make the Blood Orange Tree dance?” the old man asked, pointing at the scrappy little fruit tree in the distance.

“It’s not dancing. It’s just digging holes, trying to bury itself,” Jiang Cheng explained.

Digging holes to bury itself?

Why does everything this person says sound so terribly frightening?

The old man swallowed hard and said, “So that Blood Orange Tree can bear many fruits because of your talismans?”

“Right? Do you need one? You can pre-order for one spirit stone.”

“Then I’d like to pre-order one. When can I get it?”

Jiang Cheng estimated the date and replied, “The basic version should be available in about ten days, I guess. The enhanced version will take a few days longer.”