System: * Today’s date and time is 02:26 PM IST on Monday, June 02, 2025.
Li Yao Wan:
Alright, this one’s a straightforward “money is my mom” type.
Li Yao Wan herself loved money openly and proudly, and she had a soft spot for others who were just as candid about it.
If you don’t love money, you deserve divine retribution!
Why pretend to want it and not want it at the same time?
If you love it, love it boldly and live it up!
Li Yao Wan stopped beating around the bush with Li Yang and said, “If you become my direct disciple, I can give you all the Agriculture Department’s old data from the 716 Research Institute…”
Before Li Yang could refuse, Li Yao Wan continued, “Of course, you’re already under Senior Si’s wing, and I don’t have the guts to steal her disciple. So… you’d just be my auditing disciple, barely a step above an outsider.”
She mentioned the 716 Research Institute: “I bought it with my own money, and I’ve been pouring more into it over the years. If you want to buy it back, I can give you a 10% discount—just 900,000 merit points.”
Li Yang:
You bought it for 500,000 merit points back then.
Are you saying you’ve invested another 400,000 in the last twenty years?!
Of course, a “businesswoman” never makes a losing deal.
Doubling the price in twenty years… reasonable or not, Li Yang couldn’t afford it anyway!
Li Yang said bluntly, “Professor Li, I don’t have money. Even at a 90% discount, I can’t afford it.”
Li Yao Wan knew she was broke—her little desk-sweeping move earlier proved it.
Li Yao Wan’s small eyes darted as she stated her real goal: “How about this? You cooperate with my research, and I’ll let you see the Agriculture Department’s old data. Deal?”
Li Yang saw through the trap instantly.
Li Yao Wan was using the Agriculture Department’s data as bait to get her to work for free and be a lab rat.
Li Yang seized control in a split second, saying, “Professor Li, you show me the Agriculture Department’s research data, and I’ll help you refine pills…”
Li Yao Wan’s eyes lit up. It sounded like her own offer, just rephrased.
Then Li Yang got to the point: “For the sales of the refined pills, we split 70-30.”
Li Yao Wan:
70-30 was barely acceptable.
But Li Yang quickly shattered her hopes: “I get 70, you get 30.”
Li Yao Wan:
The little old lady immediately shot back, “Impossible! Pill sales aren’t that simple! We handle storage, appraisal, sales management, operations, and pay hefty patent fees. At most, you get 10%…”
Li Yang stood up and said, “Then forget it.”
Li Yao Wan: “???”
Before she could say more, Li Yang walked out of the office without looking back, striding out of the institute as if she had no interest in it, heading straight back to the Agriculture Department.
Li Yao Wan was stunned. She resisted the urge to contact Li Yang, muttering to herself, “I’ll wait for you to come begging!”
After mulling it over, Li Yao Wan was convinced she had Li Yang figured out.
This little girl was making outrageous demands, asking for a 70-30 split.
Impossible!
As a seasoned businesswoman, Li Yao Wan knew negotiation tactics.
Li Yang’s dramatic exit was just a test of her bottom line.
Whoever caves first loses.
Li Yang wanted the Agriculture Department’s data, so she’d have to come back eventually!
Confident in her reasoning, Li Yao Wan still worried a bit—Li Yang was eighteen, impulsive.
What if she really never came back?
Li Yang returned to the small courtyard halfway up the mountain and found Si Kui by the pond, teasing a Bloodthirsty Lotus.
“Teacher.”
Li Yang smiled brightly and approached, “You waiting for me?”
Si Kui flicked a splash of water, and the Bloodthirsty Lotus sank to the bottom.
She paused, looked at Li Yang, and said, “Don’t go groveling to the Alchemy Department. Once I reach ninth-grade, everything will…”
Li Yang laughed and said, “Groveling? No way.” She knew her teacher had been watching and probably saw her exchange with Li Yao Wan, thinking she’d been wronged.
Especially her “angry exit” over the profit split—it might not have fooled Li Yao Wan, but it definitely tugged at her teacher’s heart.
Li Yang’s heart softened. She sidled up to give Si Kui a shoulder massage, saying, “I was faking it. I didn’t really want to fall out with Professor Li. It’s just that I’m a nobody, and if I’m too compliant, people won’t take me seriously…”
She explained carefully to Si Kui and added, “Don’t worry, within a few days, Professor Li will come to me.”
Si Kui:
Li Yang blinked and said softly, “If she doesn’t, I won’t go begging her. I’ll just wait for you to hit ninth-grade and carry me!”
Si Kui’s expression softened, clearly won over by her coaxing.
But it made her even more determined to fuse the ninth-grade Lotus Heart.
The next day, Li Yang went to the trading post first thing in the morning, right as it opened, and sold all her pills.
First-grade high-tier Star-Guiding Pills were priced at 25 merit points.
She listed hers at 24, and the five pills were snapped up instantly.
The second-grade high-tier pill was grabbed at 49 merit points.
After trading fees, Li Yang netted 134.1 merit points.
Next, she swept up 26 first-grade low-tier Star-Guiding Pills at about 5 points each.
She refined them right there at the trading post.
During the process, she hit a “constant pill refining, nauseatingly gross” event, costing her a few extra years of life.
In the end, she spent 100 years to upgrade all 26 first-grade low-tier pills to second-grade high-tier.
Li Yang listed all 26 second-grade high-tier pills at 49 merit points each.
They didn’t sell instantly this time.
Li Yang wasn’t in a rush.
She went back to the Agriculture Department for breakfast, and by the time she returned, they’d sold out.
After fees, she pocketed 1146.6 merit points.
She then bought 100 more first-grade low-tier Star-Guiding Pills but didn’t refine them immediately.
Instead, she left the trading post and booked a monster-fighting room at the combat training camp.
Li Yang’s smooth operation took just half a day, but it sent shockwaves through half the Alchemy Department.
In the Alchemy Department’s internal group chat:
“Holy crap, what’s going on?! Who’s hoarding first-grade Star-Guiding Pills?”
“Argh, why are so many second-grade high-tier Star-Guiding Pills flooding the market?!”
“Damn, 49-point second-grade high-tier pills?! How am I supposed to sell mine at 55 points?!”
“Did someone from Star-Slaying Military Academy infiltrate our trading post? What the hell! 50-point second-grade high-tier Star-Guiding Pills are already student prices, and 49 points is just killing us!”
“Which big shot is messing with the rules? Leave us a way to survive!”
For low-realm alchemists, refining a second-grade high-tier Star-Guiding Pill is a hassle, with costs around 40 points, so pricing at 50 points barely leaves a profit.
For high-realm alchemists, like fifth or sixth-grade ones, churning out second-grade pills is effortless, with costs so low it’s ridiculous.
But high-realm alchemists don’t disrupt low-realm markets.
There’s no written rule, but it’s an unspoken agreement in the Alchemy Department—everyone has disciples.
Professors don’t need to steal their disciples’ rice bowls, and besides, they’re too busy with research to bother with low-grade pills.
This issue naturally reached Li Yao Wan’s ears.
After a quick check, Li Yao Wan gasped, “That little punk Li Yang!”
No wonder she walked out so decisively—she was waiting for her!
Saving the world pales in comparison to saving the market…
Li Yang had pinpointed Li Yao Wan’s weakness and struck with precision!
Forget a week—just one morning, and Li Yao Wan was already losing it, especially after learning Li Yang bought another 100 first-grade Star-Guiding Pills.
Her vision darkened.
Li Yang could refine one pill in ten seconds.
100 pills would take just a few minutes.
If those 100 second-grade high-tier Star-Guiding Pills hit the market, the Alchemy Department’s students would probably be crying in the professors’ offices!
Li Yao Wan swallowed hard and said, “She doesn’t have mutated wheat; she can’t keep this up for long. She’s just trying to scare me.”
Despite saying this, she couldn’t help but have someone check where Li Yang was.
The assistant quickly reported, “Professor, Li Yang’s in the combat training room.”
Li Yao Wan was surprised.
“What’s she doing there?”
The assistant, confused, muttered, “She’s weird. She’s been killing mutant plants for three hours straight…”
“What?!” Li Yao Wan’s heart sank. “She’s been killing mutant plants?”
Others might not get it, but Li Yao Wan understood instantly.
It didn’t have to be mutated wheat—mutant plants worked too…
Damn it!
Now Li Yao Wan was truly panicked. She thought she had Li Yang under control, but the truth was, Li Yang had her completely cornered.
A 70-30 split was already giving Li Yao Wan face.
If Li Yang went solo, she could tank the entire Alchemy Department!
Of course, Li Yang didn’t want to do that—cutting off someone’s livelihood is like killing their parents, and she didn’t need to make a mortal enemy.
This morning’s antics were just to show Li Yao Wan she had the capital to negotiate as an equal.
If Li Yao Wan pushed her too far, Li Yang could turn her precious “pill market” into chaos.
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