269 The Gu Lady and the Yuan Young Master (2/2)
”We have come to Yan Dalu from outside of this continent. We come from a continent called Chang'an. Chang'an is a continent where Qi cultivators are superior in numbers to spiritual cultivators, and they are also the strongest experts.
”Because of this, we have many pills and other things which are capable of aiding a cultivator who wishes to cultivate their Qi,” Xue Wei was speaking calmly, neither slow nor hurried. The pace at which he spoke was measured and tranquil, with each word he said being carefully thought out.
”Here in Yan Dalu, everyone cultivates spiritual energy, however, this is not the only way to cultivate. I know that if you were to cultivate both Qi and spiritual energy at the same time, then the speed with which you cultivate your spiritual energy would surely decrease, however, my experience tells me that this is a worthy trade-off.
”Spiritual energy users have many benefits in a fight, and as long as one is at a range they can even be seen as invincible, however, if someone were to get close, they are as strong as a paper tiger.
”By cultivating both Qi and spiritual energy, one is capable of eliminating the disadvantages yet gaining the advantages of both. You have spiritual energy to take care of ranged attacks and Qi to deal with anything that gets close.
”However, this continent has no good martial arts for Qi cultivation, nor does it have techniques to refine heaven-and-earth essence into Qi beyond the Heavenly Warrior rank.
”Therefore, this is where we could be quite useful.” Xue Wei smiled. He had not even asked the name of these two people, neither whether they were interested in a business deal with them; he had just begun speaking, but as he spoke he could see the eagerness in all eight eyes of the young man and woman.
”We have pills, we have formations, we have techniques: we have anything that might be useful to create Qi cultivators again,” he smiled.
”Now tell me, are you interested?” This was his pitch. He had said what he wanted to say and now the ball was in their court.
”My name is Gu Bing'Er,” the woman introduced herself. ”I am the youngest miss of the Gu family. I am very interested in these things you can offer,” she did not hide her interest at all, her eyes shining brightly. ”Apart from the Gu family, I am also a part of the Rising Sun Association. Let me know, is it the Rising Sun Association or the Gu family you wish to strike a deal with?”
The young man was silent while the woman introduced herself, but when he saw her finishing, he quickly found an opportunity to introduce himself as well, ”I am Yuan Bailong. I am similarly a member of the Rising Sun Association but also a member of the powerful Yuan family.”
”Both of you are from the Rising Sun Association?” Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise. When they had been standing outside, while they were near to each other, they did not seem as if they were part of the same group.
”Well, the Rising Sun Association is mainly controlled by three forces; the Gu family, the Baili family, and the Yuan family. Although it is one association, it has three branches, and we do not work together unless there are some outside factors that force us to band together.
”Although our families seem equal, the fact is that the Baili family is the strongest amongst the three families and it is using its powers to suppress the other two branches, both within the academy but also within the Capital itself.”
It was Yuan Bailong who told Xue Wei about this. This information was something that not many were privy to, as you had to have intimate knowledge about the actual situation and only members of the families did so, everything else was just rumors.
”I see. Well, I would be happy to do business with both of your families, and also your branches of the association. However, should we make a deal with your association, I am only doing business with your respective branches, I must speak to the leader of the Baili family before I know whether or not I wish to work with them. I do not work with stupid people.”
Although this sounded extremely arrogant, both Yuan Bailong and Gu Bing'Er felt that he had the capital to be arrogant.
”So what would our business transaction actually involve from you and require from us?” Yuan Bailong was mostly concerned about this.
”Well, the first thing we need to do is purify the Qi within your followers and family members,” Xue Wei said with a sigh. ”It is not difficult to raise their rank to Ordinary Knights, but if you want to be able to advance in rank any further, then you need to have purified your Qi to a reasonable level. With your current techniques, it will never be pure enough to advance in rank.
”All the Qi you guys have refined has come from passively absorbing the heaven-and-earth essence. It is not the actual result of cultivation, and if we wish for you to be able to cultivate later, then we need to do something about the purity.
”Fortunately enough, I have a recipe for a Qi Purity Pill, a very simple pill that can be taken in batches and helps purify the Qi. It is also used when one consumes too many low ranked pills and get pill impurities building up in their bodies, then these Qi Purity Pills can get rid of the waste.
”Right now I have around two hundred of these pills, but I will need to refine a couple of thousands if not tens of thousands to be of any real use to you guys since there is so many of you.” Xue Wei sighed. ”Fortunately, each batch produces around fifteen pills, so it should not take too long.”
”After that, I will hand you some Qi cultivation techniques that allow you to absorb and refine the heaven-and-earth essence properly. Finally, I will teach you martial art techniques and then provide you with the pills that will help increase your strength.”
Listening to Xue Wei, the eyes of Gu Bing'Er and Yuan Bailong were filled with astonishment. They had never expected that Xue Wei had planned so far ahead and had all the things they were lacking. They just thought he would throw them some pills or formations and that was it, but it seemed as if he had truly thought it through and was willing to assist them significantly.
”What do you want from us in return?” Gu Bing'Er asked tentatively, she was worried that Xue Wei was going to ask for something impossible, but Xue Wei just snickered. ”We will need some herbs, some gold coins, and your support. We also need some help deciphering some information and locating where some rumors might have originated from,” he said slowly so that they could hear every single word he said.