Chapter 86: Chapter 86: Mutual Cooperation
At the same time, he explained the Profound Mysteries of the Unrivaled Earth Destruction Skill, its cultivation tips, and various precautions.
Ye Zhanyun found it much easier to cultivate this technique than Ye Batian and the others. After all, they had to transition from their original Cultivation Techniques, while Ye Zhanyun could just start cultivating it directly.
After Ye Xuan emerged from the treatment room, Hua Luoxuan and the others immediately hurried over.
"Young Master Xuan, Brother Zhanyun..."
Hua Luoxuan and the others were extremely concerned about Ye Zhanyun’s condition. After all, the idea of using three Third Grade Pills to cure a former Earth Martial Artist whose meridians had been severed for over ten years... no matter how you looked at it, it sounded like a tall tale.
If any other Alchemist had made such a claim, Hua Luoxuan would have likely dismissed them as an idiot long ago.
But since it came from Ye Xuan, they couldn’t help but believe him, or at least be curious.
"My father is in closed-door cultivation."
With his body restored, Ye Zhanyun was ecstatic and eager to recover his strength, unwilling to waste even a moment.
"He’s cultivating?!" Hua Luoxuan’s eyes went wide.
Despite being mentally prepared, Hua Luoxuan and the others were still stunned now that it had actually happened.
’Good heavens, Young Master Xuan actually healed Ye Zhanyun! Isn’t he a bit too heaven-defying?’
’Is there anything in this world Young Master Xuan can’t do?’
"Chairman Hua, it looks like my father will need to borrow this treatment room for a while longer."
"It’s no trouble at all. If Brother Zhanyun needs it, he’s welcome to cultivate at our Alchemist Association for as long as he likes."
Ye Xuan chuckled. "By the way, Chairman Hua, I didn’t just come to the Alchemist Association to treat my father. I’m also here to propose a collaboration."
"A collaboration?" Hua Luoxuan’s brow twitched.
"That’s right." Ye Xuan’s gaze turned frigid. "I want the Wang family to disappear from Blue Moon City."
HISS! Hua Luoxuan drew a sharp breath. Ye Xuan’s ambition was nothing if not immense.
He contemplated for a moment before saying gravely, "Young Master Xuan, I’ve heard about your conflict with the Wang family. However, making them disappear from Blue Moon City is no easy task."
"There are three main difficulties."
"First, the Wang family’s Clan Leader, Wang Hai, is exceptionally powerful. He’s one of the few powerhouses in Blue Moon City at the Third Layer of the Earth Martial Artist realm. On top of that, the Wang family has no fewer than ten other Earth Martial Artist experts. That is a formidable power in Blue Moon City."
"Second, the Wang family is incredibly wealthy. Together, they and our Alchemist Association control ninety percent of the Pill market in Blue Moon City. We, the Alchemist Association, hold fifty percent, and they hold forty. However, the Alchemist Association is merely an official body. Many of our Alchemists are simply affiliated with us, bringing the Pills they refine each day here to sell. The Wang family, on the other hand, makes this their primary business. As I understand it, they have one Second Grade Alchemist and nearly ten First-Grade Alchemists. With their assembly-line production, they practically dominate the entire low-end Pill market in Blue Moon City."
"Third, as one of the three great families of Blue Moon City, the Wang family has countless ties to the other major families. Their network of connections is vast and deeply entrenched."
"These three factors have allowed the Wang family to stand strong in Blue Moon City for centuries. Toppling them will be no simple feat."
"Our Alchemist Association can pressure the Wang family, and it wouldn’t be impossible to damage them severely. But completely destroying them... that would be extremely difficult."
Ye Xuan gave a cold smile. "Chairman Hua, don’t worry. Since I proposed a collaboration, I naturally have a way to do it. The Wang family dared to use lethal force against my kin; they must be annihilated. As far as I’m concerned, crushing them is as easy as crushing an ant."
Hua Luoxuan and Zhou Huarong exchanged a look, a trace of shock visible in their eyes.
Ye Xuan’s claim was simply immense.
And yet, for some reason, when the words came from Ye Xuan, they both felt inexplicably convinced, as if annihilating the Wang family—a clan that had stood in Blue Moon City for centuries—was indeed a trivial and effortless task.
"What do you plan to do, Young Master Xuan?"
"The Wang family is in the Pill business, so naturally, we’ll start by cutting off their source of wealth."
Hua Luoxuan frowned. "Young Master Xuan, that won’t be easy. The Wang family’s main source of revenue is the Pill market. Surely you don’t think we can crush them just because the Alchemist Association has numerous Alchemists?"
"Oh? And why not?"
Hua Luoxuan smiled bitterly. "Zhou Huarong has always been in charge of matters concerning the Pill market for our Alchemist Association. Huarong, why don’t you explain the situation to Young Master Xuan."
"Yes, sir." Zhou Huarong nodded and stepped before Ye Xuan. "Young Master Xuan, our Alchemist Association has over thirty Alchemists in total, but many of them are merely affiliates. Only thirteen are directly part of our Association, a number comparable to the Wang family’s. The Pill market in Blue Moon City is divided into three tiers: low, mid, and high. High-end Pills are quite rare and typically only appear at events like auctions. While expensive, they aren’t the mainstream market. The mid-tier market is controlled jointly by our Alchemist Association and the Wang family; we control seventy percent, while they control thirty. As for the low-tier..."
At this, Zhou Huarong gave a wry smile. "That segment is almost entirely controlled by the Wang family. They occupy nearly ninety percent of the low-end market, leaving us with just ten percent."
"This is because the Wang family operates like an assembly line. Each of their Alchemists refines Pills at full capacity every day, resulting in massive output. In contrast, the Alchemists in our Association are mostly research-oriented and seldom refine low-end Pills. Even when they do, their output is no match for the Wang family’s Alchemists."
"The Wang family has perfected a highly efficient, simple, and cost-effective method. From what I know, any one of their First-Grade Alchemists can produce over ten batches of Pills a day. Our Association’s First-Grade Alchemists, at best, can only manage five, sometimes even fewer. In terms of materials, the Wang family’s Alchemists exercise precise control and waste nothing, whereas our Alchemists can’t do that, often consuming double the materials, or even more. And as for success rates and the yield of high-quality Pills, we can’t compare to them either."
"Furthermore, Blue Moon City is situated near Black Wind Ridge, so it’s teeming with adventurers, most of whom are Tier One Warriors and Tier Two Martial Masters. Consequently, low-end Pills are what they need most urgently."
"That is how the Wang family, relying solely on the low-end Pill market, can compete on equal terms with our Alchemist Association."
"This is the primary reason our Alchemist Association has never been able to crush the Wang family. They have what is essentially a total monopoly on the low-end Pill sector. No matter what setbacks they face, they remain unbeatable."
Steward Zhou spoke with confidence and clarity, laying out the Wang family’s core strengths and advantages in just a few sentences.
"It seems the Wang family is quite capable." After listening, Ye Xuan merely smiled faintly. "Steward Zhou, I’ve heard everything you said. But my stance hasn’t changed: I want the Wang family to vanish completely from Blue Moon City."
"Oh?" Seeing Ye Xuan still so confident after their detailed explanation, both Zhou Huarong and Hua Luoxuan raised their eyebrows.
’Could it be that he really has an ace up his sleeve?’
’After all, his accomplishments in the field of Alchemy were something even they had to concede to.’
"Young Master Xuan, are you confident that you can help our Alchemist Association compete with the Wang family in the low-end market?" Hua Luoxuan was uncertain, and his question lacked conviction.
"Chairman Hua, you only want to compete with the Wang family? My goal is this: once we make a move, all of the Wang family’s Pills will be swept into the trash, unable to even recoup their costs."
An astonishing aura erupted from Ye Xuan as he finally revealed his long-hidden fangs.
’If the Wang family were in any other line of business, perhaps he wouldn’t have a solution. But the Pill business? He refused to believe that a small family in this backwater city could outplay him—a former Ninth-Grade Emperor Level Alchemist.’
"Young Master Xuan... could it be you have a special refining method?" Neither Hua Luoxuan nor Zhou Huarong had expected Ye Xuan to be so audacious.
"Steward Zhou, first tell me: which of the Wang family’s products have the largest market share in Blue Moon City’s low-end market?"
Zhou Huarong thought for a moment before replying, "In the low-end market, the Wang family hasn’t diversified. Their strategy is quite shrewd: they focus on the Pills that Martial Artists need most urgently. As a result, their business is concentrated on three main Pills. The first is the First-Grade Blood Restoration Pill for healing injuries. The second is the First-Grade Qi Recovery Pill for restoring Profound Qi during battle. The third is the Gathering Profound Pill, which aids in cultivation."
From Steward Zhou’s explanation, Ye Xuan immediately understood the Wang family’s cunning.
’The Blood Restoration Pill for healing, the Qi Recovery Pill for restoring Profound Qi in battle, and the Gathering Profound Pill for aiding cultivation. These three were precisely the Pills that low-level Martial Artists needed most and consumed in the greatest quantities.’
’They covered the three most critical areas: combat, cultivation, and healing. They were the three types of Pills that Martial Artists always kept on their person.’
’Basically, if you could excel at producing these three Pills, monopolizing the so-called low-end market was not at all impossible.’
"And what are the effects of the Wang family’s three Pills?" Ye Xuan asked carefully.
"Young Master Xuan, the effects of the Wang family’s three Pills are all quite prominent. Crucially, they’ve also graded them to target different market segments. Take the Blood Restoration Pill, for example. It’s divided into high-grade, mid-grade, and low-grade. A standard low-grade Blood Restoration Pill can heal a Martial Artist’s external injuries within five days. The mid-grade one takes only four days, and the high-grade one, just three."
"It’s the same for the Qi Recovery Pill. A low-grade one can restore twenty percent of a Martial Artist’s Profound Qi, but you can’t take another within one hour. A mid-grade one restores thirty percent, with the same one-hour restriction. As for a high-grade one, it restores forty percent, and the time limit between doses is also one hour."
