Everyone was speechless at elder Che’s proposal. He insulted Zhao Fan and then made him an offer?

“Forgot the alchemist salary? Hehe, this arrogant old fart is about to be face slapped again” Zhao Fan laughed.

“This guy is not as stupid as he seems. He has the market standards right at the top of his head and his analysis is not wrong at all. This is very interesting, his arrogant attitude may be just an act to get an upper hand in the negotiation” Hei Long made sure to explain his interactions to Zhao Fan so he could learn for the future. After all, he couldn’t constantly take over the body or give him word-by-word instructions.

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, but teach him how to fish and he will eat every day, this universal saying applied even here. Only by knowing the basics of business could Zhao Fan begin to form his methods and opinions which would let him become an expert later.

“Why do you think he’s even making the offer if the method is useless in terms of profit?” Hei Long quizzed.

“Maybe he realizes the potential of the formations or wants to know how you even managed to make such a fine formation?”

“Yes and no, he knows the potential of the formation and wants to improve it or make it completely autonomous so the alchemist isn’t required which is pretty much what we did already. It’s a mistake he made by assuming that just because an alchemist made the pills that means that the formation wouldn’t work without one. As for the second thing you said, he already probably concluded that we have either created a new method or came across an inheritance which contained the method.”

“Can’t he also think that we have a powerful master behind us? Would it make sense for him to be so aggressive if that’s the case?”

“From what the others said, even a powerful cultivator might not necessarily be able to make such a formation and if they could, what’s the point of putting in so much effort to just give it to a disciple. There is no benefit at all, so the most probable conclusion is that we are just a lucky youth whose treasure can easily be snatched” Hei Long’s explanation enlightened Zhao Fan. Now that he had an understanding of the situation he naturally became curious as to how Hei Long intended to keep his ability secret.

After he finished explaining, Hei Long didn’t respond to the elder and waited for all of the other men to make their deals.

“Yun Che is right, your plan is a little over the top. It is possible to make a profit eventually but the amount of work to get there is simply not worth it if you plan to share profits with all seven of us. It isn’t difficult to tell that each one of us specializes in supplying one of the ingredients in the Qi Gathering pill, so you probably want to make a deal with all of us? I’m sorry but that’s impossible, the profit margin you show still can’t compete with that of the Alchemist guild, and even if all of us cooperate we would not be able to create an organization powerful enough to be able to contest the bottom line of the Alchemist guild branch in this city. What will inevitably happen is that all of us would offend a huge behemoth and lose out on future income just to gain a temporary profit from working with you. I will offer you the same deal as Elder Che.” Another elder stepped up and spoke calmly.

“Bo Ling, you dare? Kid, if you accept this guy’s offer then you can’t blame me for being impolite.” Elder Che flew into a rage and spit at Elder Ling whose expression didn’t change.

“Who said I forgot to include the salary?” Zhao Fan suddenly smiled broadly.

“Kid, stop joking around! Explain what you mean, I don’t have all day.” Elder Che suppressed his anger.

“Did you notice anything about the method which makes it only exclusive to alchemists?”

As this simple sentence was uttered, everyone felt shocked once more.

“D-Don’t be ridiculous, how can a mortal gauge the timing or precisely throw the ingredients? That’s right, a mortal will make lots of small mistakes and throw the ingredients differently each time because they don’t understand what they are doing, but instead just follow instructions. Even if these variables are small, they can easily destroy the quality of the pill and make it unprofitable!” One of the men said and everyone nodded in agreement.

“It’s already impressive to create a formation of this level of detail. If making pills doesn't require an alchemist, then what are alchemists even for?! Don’t be arrogant and exaggerate your capabilities to try to fool us. After all, how can a youth still wet behind the ears possibly step over not one, but two enormous hurdles which alchemists have been trying to surpass?” Elder Che grew angry again and rebuked Zhao Fan.

“See what I mean? This guy is too devious, trying to reclaim dominance and disprove everything I say. Let him dig the grave deeper and deeper, I don’t even need to insult him once to make him kneel before me and beg for an offer!” Shivers ran down Zhao Fan’s spine from hearing Hei Long’s devious laugh.

“Raise the curtain” A calm voice ordered.

Two workers quickly came to either end of the curtain and pulled on the string to slide it out of the way, revealing two rows of ten neatly arranged cauldrons side by side with a worker standing silently behind each of them.

Silence took over as all of the guests realized each of those workers are mortal.

“Let’s not keep the guests waiting, everyone, start the refinement!” Zhao Fan’s loud voice broke the silent atmosphere. In a way, throughout the whole discussion, his neutral tone and complete disregard for the patronizing statements of the elders made the jaw-dropping scene much more impressive. If all of the suppliers came in and saw this scene right away, they would be shocked for a while, but it would not be anywhere close to the effect produced now.

Especially Elder Che who looked as pale as a ghost. Even he could not maintain his arrogant composure while faced with such a turn of events. His situation could not be described simply through the physical appearance of his face but only through an analogy.

It was akin to a sexually deprived man, coming home to find his wife being plowed while she screamed in ecstasy. If someone heard about this, they would surely pity the man and detest the wife, but what if not only that, but the one doing the plowing was the man’s dog! The scene would have a tinge of tragedy and incredulity which would make any spectator completely stunned and speechless. However, the cherry on top was that the dog was far larger than the man! If someone were to know this context, they would surely burst into tears laughing even if the story was tragic! Any person looking at the scene and knowing Elder Che’s earlier actions might be shocked by the reveal but they would start laughing unstoppably!

The workers didn’t dare dally around and all simultaneously flipped the switch to begin the refinement of the pills!

A short time later, in complete harmony, the workers pulled the lever down creating an impressive sight. Other than the soft sounds of the ingredients hitting the bottom of the cauldron, not a single other sound could be heard.

This happened not once but on all seven steps. Not once did a single worker mess up. They were like robots who did everything with perfectly uniform movements, creating a domineering sight.

Just a short thirty minutes later, thin trails of steam rose out of the closed cauldrons, signifying the end of the pill refinement.

“These are all at least ninety-five percent quality pills!” The silence was finally broken by the shout of an elder. After all, it was not difficult for experts to distinguish the quality of pills based on the amount of essence which escaped at the end.

The workers scooped out the piles of pills before setting them on a plate near the cauldron. After that, they took out brushes and started cleaning the insides of the cauldrons. Since the pills were all of very high quality, not much heat remained in the cauldron and it was safe for a person to touch.

“Let’s go and inspect the pills!” Zhao Fan stood up quickly. His expression seemed a little tired, all of a sudden, but his attitude remained as lively as ever.

Leading the group, Zhao Fan came over to the cauldrons and mentally counted.

“Gentlemen, there are three perfect quality batches, every other batch is at ninety-five percent!”

The elders who were also inspecting the pills paled in shock at the number which did not seem far off from the truth.

“Do you all agree with my assessment of the net profit now?” Zhao Fan smiled faintly.