Splitting the Heave

After Shang Xia completed the recipe of his rank four advancement medicine, he felt that he wouldn’t be able to progress into the ‘Four Constellation Realm’ any time soon.

Who would have thought that he would already locate several hard to find treasures right off the bat? 

Of the main ingredients he required, he already obtained the Spirit of Autumn and it was trashing away in his spirit restraining pouch somewhere in his inventory.

If things progressed normally, Shang Ke would be able to obtain the Spirit of Spring from Kou Chongxue. Since he was asking for the Spirit of Spring, it wouldn’t be too much to bring a Jade Peach Blossom that was harvested in the spring.

The more important thing was that after Zhang Haogu’s explanation, Shang Xia knew how to locate the Spirit of Summer and Spirit of Winter!

Of the assistive treasures he would require, he already solved the problem of the Hundred Year Old Inexhaustible Spring Water. He obtained a stalk of Windchime Grass back when he was adventuring with Ren Huan and since it was at the fourth rank, it had more than reached the criteria he needed.

He wasn’t afraid of the difficulty of crafting his advancement medicine. He was afraid that he wouldn’t know how to start looking for the treasures he needed.

After they sent out the summons, Ren Huan quickly arrived.

The talisman paper maker was obviously taking note of the situation in the battlefield between the two worlds. From how quickly he arrived, it was clear he hadn’t returned to the Tongyou City.

When Shang Xia brought him over to introduce him to the temporary head of the Talisman Hall, Zhang Haogu, the instructor quickly expressed their desire to use the Stormy Lightning Leaves Ren Huan obtained.

As Shang Xia had spoken about it to him earlier, he wasn’t caught off guard and he quickly agreed.

However, those 43 pieces of Stormy Lightning Leaves he retrieved from the tree had to be split with Shang Xia. Thus, he only agreed to provide the 22 pieces that belonged to him.

As for those that belonged to Shang Xia, he had already started to turn them into rank three talisman paper. 3 of them were complete and Shang Xia decided to hold off handing over the 18 that were left. He wanted to observe the situation before making any decisions.

With the addition of Ren Huan, a talisman paper maker who could craft rank three talisman paper, along with the 22 pieces of Stormy Lightning Leaves he brought with him, the shortage in the Talisman Hall was slightly alleviated. The production of rank two and rank one talisman paper would also speed up accordingly.

As for the price Zhang Haogu agreed to pay Ren Huan for those 22 pieces of Stormy Lightning Leaves, that was a deal only known to Zhang Haogu and Ren Huan.

However, Shang Xia could tell that Ren Huan wasn’t getting the short end of the stick. More importantly, Ren Huan could be considered to be a part of the Tongyou Institution from that moment on. From the grin on the fatty’s face that didn’t seem to fade, Shang Xia understood that he managed to obtain some benefits from Zhang Haogu.

Fulfilling his promise to Ren Huan, Shang Xia decided to use his next four days of freedom to return to the Shang Clan’s territory on the Observation Peak to take a good rest.

Before he left the Talisman Hall, he received a secret transmission from his Grandpa Ke: Shang Lubing managed to obtain a piece of rank four Brewer’s Yeast in the Redwood Forest.

Speaking of the Redwood Forest, Shang Xia felt that he obtained the most valuable items there after getting the flask of rank four Monkey Wine.

Even if they emptied the other trees to collect all the wine present, the value would pale in comparison to what he collected! 

Who would have thought that there would be even more precious treasures in there? 

To refine rank one advancement medicine, one could easily boil some herbs with ordinary water. It would become a little more difficult when it came to rank two advancement medicines as those would usually be in a powder form. When it came to rank three advancement medicines, they would usually be in the form of acupuncture needles, and they would need to be administered properly on specific acupuncture points. Rank four advancement medicine was a little more advanced than that. Rank four advancement medicine would usually come in the form of wine, and brewer’s yeast was a component that couldn’t be neglected.

Of Shang Xia’s rank four advancement medicine formula, the assistive ingredient was also a brewer’s yeast, and it was called the Crimson Crystal Valley Brewer’s Yeast.

Shang Ke didn’t send Shang Xia the secret transmission for nothing. Even though he didn’t know if the brewer’s yeast Shang Lubing obtained was what Shang Xia needed, he managed to negotiate with Shang Lubing for the Shang Clan to obtain a portion of whatever they retrieved from the Redwood Forest.

It seemed as though his shameless decision was correct. No matter how small the portion of benefits from the Redwood Forest was left for the Shang Clan, they would be able to apply for a portion of the brewer’s yeast for Shang Xia!

Even if it wasn’t the Crimson Crystal Valley Brewer’s Yeast, Shang Xia would be able to trade it with others in the future.

With the news he received, he no longer headed for the Shang Clan’s territory on the Observation Peak. He made a quick turn and went past the Talisman Hall again to head for the Contributions Division.

It didn’t take long for Shang Xia to locate Shang Lubing who had just returned from the Redwood Forest.

The moment Shang Lubing saw Shang Xia’s shit-eating grin as he approached, he couldn’t help but sigh, “Damn it! Did your Grandpa Ke send you?! That old fellow is really getting greedier as he grows older…” 

“Hehehe, Chief Shang, this disciple here heard that you managed to obtain a piece of rank four brewer’s yeast. Why don’t you let me take a look to broaden my horizons?” Shang Xia cackled mischievously.

Shang Lubing had no intention of hiding it and he quickly opened a jade case. Pushing it over to Shang Xia, he growled, “Hmph, broaden your horizons my ass. Just tell me if you want a portion of it. However, your Shang Clan’s share of the Redwood Forest isn’t enough for you to obtain the entire piece. If you want the complete brewer’s yeast, you need to trade it with treasures of equal value.” 

“Scarlet Gold Silk Brewer’s Essence!” Shang Xia seemed a little disappointed when he recognized the object contained in the jade case. It wasn’t the Crimson Crystal Valley Brewer’s Yeast he needed.

However, Shang Xia also realized why all the wine he obtained in the forest had a deep hue of red. The rank four Monkey Wine he obtained even had traces of gold in them. That was probably because of the Scarlet Gold Silk Brewer’s Essence used during their fermentation process.

Shang Xia couldn’t hide his feelings from the crafty old man at all. A sneer left Shang Lubing’s lips. “What’s the matter? Is it not good enough for you? Since that’s the case, I’ll keep it for myself. Oh right, we managed to obtain several other treasures from the Redwood Forest. You can take a larger portion since you don’t want the brewer’s yeast.” 

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As soon as the words left his lips, Shang Lubing reached out to retrieve the jade case from Shang Xia.

“Old man, wait a second!” Shang Xia yelped in fright but when he saw the crafty grin on Shang Lubing’s face, he knew that had been duped.

Snapping the case shut, Shang Xia grumbled resentfully, “What do you want for it?” 

Turning serious, Shang Lubing replied, “Damn kid, give the institution half of all the rank one, two, and three Monkey Wine you obtained from the forest.” 

Shang Xia jumped into the air like a cat whose tail had been stepped on and roared, “Absolutely not! I only managed to get a little of each. How can I give away half of them so easily?!” 

“Heh, damn brat, if you only managed to get a little bit of Monkey Wine, just hand them over. It’s not like you’ll make a loss by trading it for the rank four brewer’s yeast.” Shang Lubing sneered.

With his eyes widening in shock, he realized that he made yet another stupid mistake. His reaction alone told Shang Lubing that he had a lot more Monkey Wine than he let on.

“Enough. This old man can tell how much wine you obtained after looking at the empty trees used to contain them. There’s no need to hide anything from me. Hurry up and hand it over.” Shang Lubing muttered.

However, Shang Xia hadn’t given up on his negotiation tactic. “Half is too much! I’ll give you a third. Also, there’s no need to mess around with me. You can’t tell how much wine is in those empty trees. After all, most of them weren’t full. The Mutated Monkey Tribe used a portion of it too and I didn’t actually obtain a lot of it.” 

Sucking in a deep breath, Shang Lubing continued, “Monkey Wine of the first, second, and third rank are of no use to you! What the hell does a cultivator like you at the peak of the Martial Intent Realm need them for? However, the institution will be able to boost the cultivation of our students if we manage to get our hands on it. Ever since we started mass recruitment, the number of students who entered our Tongyou Institution grew greatly. Do you know how much resources are being used at the moment? I heard that you agreed to help the Talisman Hall recently. I bet the resources there are running out too.” 

“Alright, alright! Stop!” Shang Xia couldn’t help but interrupt Shang Lubing’s attempt to act poor in front of him and he quickly summarized, “I’ll give you 60 catties of rank one Monkey Wine, 30 catties of rank two Monkey Wine. I don’t have much rank three Monkey Wine left and I’ll be able to take out…” 

“15 catties!” Shang Lubing interrupted him midway through his sentence. “I didn’t throw this number out of nowhere. This is a modest amount I estimate students of the various divisions would require…” 

“12 catties… No more…” Shang Xia sighed in defeat.

“Deal!” Shang Lubing yelled happily and revealed a sinister grin. “Who would have thought that you would have so much rank three Monkey Wine on you… I even thought that getting 8 to 10 catties would be a steal… Hahaha!” 

Mother…

Shang Xia felt a wave of discomfort after hearing what Shang Lubing said.

Right before he could leave the Contributions Division, Shang Lubing’s voice entered his ears. “Oi kid, I didn’t take advantage of you if that’s what you’re thinking. A rank four brewer’s yeast is extremely valuable. You won’t be able to buy it even if you had money. If we truly released the news of the Scarlet Gold Silk Brewer’s Essence, how much do you think you will need to pay in order to obtain it?” 

Shang Xia fell silent after thinking about it.

However, Shang Lubing wasn’t done. “Also, this old man might not know what ingredients you need for your advancement medicine, but if this brewer’s yeast isn’t what you need, you can always trade it for others. From what I know, there are a lot of private deals happening on our Observation Peak recently.” 

Turning around to thank Shang Lubing, Shang Xia took his leave.

When he finally left, he saw a familiar figure rushing towards the Contributions Division. 

When they saw each other, Shang Xia didn’t think too much of it and nodded slightly before taking his heave.

However, the lack of reaction didn’t seem to apply to the other side. Dou Zhong stared at Shang Xia’s leaving figure as a deep frown formed on his face.

When he finally approached where Shang Lubing was, he saw the old man pasting spirit sealing talismans on several jade bottles. He couldn’t help but ask, “Master, this…” 

The smile on Shang Lubing’s face didn’t fade as he chuckled, “Oh right. Here’s some rank three Monkey Wine. It should be greatly beneficial for your cultivation. There should be around three catties in here. Drink a little when you’re cultivating. The wine in here should be enough for you to complete your second divine sense transformation.” 

Looking at the jade bottle in his hand, Dou Zhong asked, “Master, I saw Shang Xia when I came over earlier. Was he the one who delivered these wine?” 

Raising an eyebrow, Shang Lubing glanced at his disciple before muttering, “Delivered? That damn brat used it to trade for a rank four brewer’s yeast. Hehe, I let him off easy by only requesting a little bit of wine from him…” 

“Rank four brewer’s yeast?” Dou Zhong was shocked and the gaze in his eyes turned empty. He muttered softly, “Is he already making preparations to break through to the Martial Extermination Realm?” 

Falling silent for a second, Shang Lubing thought for a second before he responded, “Even though he didn’t say anything about it, the method he is using to break through might be extremely difficult. He might be stuck at the peak of the Martial Intent Realm for a long time…”