Hiss!

  Gasps of astonishment filled the air as the heads of several major medial merts and herb gathering teams stared wide-eyed at Xiao Yan.

  They all wondered if they had just experienced an auditory halluation!

  Xiao Zhan was equally startled, but out of fiden his son, he suppressed the urge to question Xiao Yan and also put on a calm and fident expression!

  A middle-aged man stood up and arched his hand toward Xiao Yan as he said, "Little Leader Xiao Yan, it's not that I don't believe you, but I would like to ask, do you know how much gold it would take to purchase these medial ingredients for a year?"

  The reason why the major medial merts wideheir eyes was simple: the amouioned was astronomical! Such a sum could hardly be procured by anyone. Except perhaps the headquarters of the Miteer Au House, eveeer Au House itself might struggle to e up with that much cash.

  Medial ingredients weren't necessarily used for alchemy; they could also be used by physis to pound medies for treating injuries and illnesses. In Wu Tan City, the vast majority of medial ingredients were ed by physis for medical purposes.

  Xiao Ya down his teacup and said after some mental calcutions, "Although these four types of medial ingredients are of the lowest grade, they are not cheap. Our Xiao also sells these ingredients, so I have aimate of your annual produ. I've done sh calcutions. For the bined cultivation of the medial merts and herb gathering teams of Wu Tan City, each type of ingredient would require about 300,000 gold s per year. Since our offer is 50% higher than the market price, that would be 450,000 gold s for each type of ingredient."

  "So it would take 1.8 million gold s per year, and for three years, that is 5.4 million gold s. The deposit is 10%, so if you agree, rovide you with 540,000 gold s right away."

  Xiao Zhan's heart skipped a beat. In fact, there was still more to sider, as the few major medial merts and gathering teams only ated for about half of Wu Tan City's supply. The Miteer Au House still had the other half!

  Just st year, the Xiao spent over 400,000 gold s to acquire a High Xuan Css Qi Method. The 's wealth had already beely depleted. They were no longer able to produce such a huge amount of money!

  The medical merts began a heated discussion upon hearing Xiao Yan's meticulous calcutions. But Xiao Yan impatiently waved his hand and said, "Alright, alright. If you want to discuss, go bad discuss behind closed dive us your answer first thing tomorrow m."

  Even Xiao Zhan scratched his head, w what his son to. He just sent the guests away??

  "In that case, we'll take our leave. We'll e baorrow m to visit Head Xiao Zhan and Little Leader Xiao Yan."

  Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Xiao Yan gave the order to leave.

  Xiao Zhan asked immediately after everyone had left, "Yan Er, if you let them go like this, they will definitely rush to the Jia Lie and Ao Ba s ht."

  Xiao Yan smiled and said, "That would be best."

  "Huh? Yan Er, are you... are you n to monopolize the medial ingredients to cut off their supply, but to raise their prices instead?!"

  Xiao Yan didn't hide anything as he nodded, "Father, if our were to cooperate with an alchemist to sell medial pills, what would the profit split be?"

  Xiao Zhan thought about it for a moment and said, "If the is responsible for the medial materials, then an ideal split would be a 50/50 split. 50% of the profit goes to the alchemist, 20% covers the cost of the medial materials, and 10% goes to sales, packaging, and bor, leaving the with 20%."

  "Most of the time, though, it's a 60/40 split in favor of the alchemist. After all, alchemists are hard to e by. If the still take a 10% share, it is something to be thankful for..."

  "Ah!"

  Xiao Zhan had a moment of realization and looked at his son with pleasant surprise. "So you io raise the priedial ingredients on the market by 50%. That way, the markup on the medial materials would be exactly the same as the profits. If they dare to raise their bid, they'll end up losing money. Liu Xi would never lower his own profit margins, so the increased costs would have to be deducted from the 's profits. You want the Jia Lie and Ao Ba s to lose money with every pill they sell!"

  Xiao Yan expined nontly, "In the past two months, they've raised the price of their Rejuvenation Powder from the inal 100 gold s to 300 gold s. It's already at the limit of the meraries' purchasing power, and they've accumuted quite a bit of rese. Ohey cut off the supply of pills, it will be the st straw that breaks the camel's back. Even if we do nothing, no one will go to their market to buy things anymore."

  "If they choose to transport medial ingredients from outside the city instead, as long as we intercept them ohey'll definitely go bankrupt."

  Xiao Yan and his father exged sly gnces, resembling two foxes, one big and one small.

  …

  Ie hours of the night, just as Xiao Yan had predicted, the Jia Lie residence was still brightly lit, with Ao Ba Pa and some elders of the Ao Ba present as well.

  "That damned Xiao Zhan! To think he'd pull such a sneaky move!" Jia Lie Bi crushed a cup in his hand.

  Several merts had already visited them earlier. After all, the best sario for these merts and herb gathering teams was to let these s outbid each other to maximize their profits.

  "Dad, maybe we should just fet about it. If we raise the bid to 60%, we will be operating at a loss. We could still transport medial ingredients from outside the city," Jia Lie Ao cautiously suggested.

  "You know shit! Xiao Zhan's goal is precisely to make us spend money buying medial ingredients from outside the city. Once we leave Wu Tan City, we won't have any prote. We are in the light while they are in the shadows. If our supplies are intercepted and stolen, the sequences would be unimaginable."

  After being scolded by Jia Lie Bi, Jia Lie Ao immediately shut up and dared not speak further.

  Ao Ba Pa's expression turned grim. "What a Xiao Zhan, this is simply a plot. Brother Bi, how about we lower the prices first to stabilize public opinion before deg on our move?"

  "Lower the prices?" Liu Xi, who was sitting aside, frowned upon hearing this. He was clearly relut. After all, his share of the profits was based on the selling price. There was a big differeween 60% of 300 gold s and 60% of 100 gold s.

  Liu Xi sneered, "Do whatever you want, but even if you lower the prices, I still want my cut based on the previous tripled price."

  At this moment, Jia Lie Bi and Ao Ba Pa wished for nothing more than to sp this guy into oblivion.

  After p for a moment, Jia Lie Bi said, "There's o lower the prices. As long as the cost of the medial ingredients doesn't exceed the market price by more than 50%, we still break even. Once all the shop owners from the Xiao market switch over to us, we will still have the st ugh."

  "Tell those merts that we will only offer up to 50% above the normal market price, and not a penny more. However, we egotiate a five-year tract with them and provide a 20% deposit."

  "If they refuse, thehem go to the Xiao . We will make a trip to the Miteer Au House and ehat they prioritize selling the medial ingredients to us."

  However, they all khat when it came to ing merts, Miteer Ya Fei was the biggest one in Wu Tan City. They presumed that she would also be aware of this situation, and the ime they went to the au house to purchase medial ingredients, those ingredients would likely be priced higher under various pretexts.

  Jia Lie Bi could only hope the vixen wouldn't be too ruthless.

  …

  Early the m, as Xiao Yan had anticipated, the medial merts visited the Xiao ce again. This time, however, Xiao Zhan refused to see them altogether, unwilling to raise the prices any further or even engage iiations.

  And so, the entire Xiao fell into silence agai, everyone khis was merely the calm before the storm.

  Five days ter...

  "Little Leader, the two major s have already signed tracts with all the medial merts and have paid the deposits," Xiao Ning hurriedly reported as he ehe cil hall.

  Xiao Yan revealed a hint of fidend waved his hand as he anded, "Third Elder, find some disciples with unfamiliar faces to disguise themselves as fn merts. Sell to the Jia Lie , the Ao Ba , and those few merts all the low-grade medial ingredients our hoarded six months ago, except for the few items listed here, at high prices."

  "Sed Elder, immediately take people to various underground pces and market squares to spread the news. Just say that the Xiao has obtaihe pill recipes for the Rejuvenation Powder and the Minor Dou Qi Pill, and has invited an alchemist to refihese two types of medial pills. That's why we're peting with the other two major s for medial ingredients. Also, annouhat the Head will be visiting the Miteer Au House to discuss a long-term cooperation."

  "Grand Elder, have someone post notices in the market and all of our Xiao's business pces. I want the whole city to know that the Xiao Market will soon have medial pills for sale, and they will be cheaper and more effective than those at the Ao Jia Market."

  "Father, please patiently wait until tomorrow, then go to the Miteer Au House to crify things with Miss Ya Fei. Just say that the rumors ireets are false, and we haven't obtaihe pill recipes for the Rejuvenation Powder and Minor Dou Qi Pill. Assure her that we will absolutely not pete with the other two major s for medial ingredients, so the Miteer Au House feel fident in cooperating with them. Also, inform her that the Xiao will attend the Miteer Quarterly Au in three days as invited."

  With that said, Xiao Yan closed his five fiogether. It was as if everything was within his grasp!