I've made a total of one hundred and forty one primeval stones from that sale. One hundred and twenty seven are from what Cui Wen made yesterday and the other fourteen are from what he'd made today. Subtracting one hundred primeval stones for the purchase of the rock fist gu and the rock shin gu still has me with a nice forty one primeval stones. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have more of them to sell. Medicine has started to become more scarce and pricey since they've started buying so much, so the store itself is also making more profit than usual from selling to regular customers.
I go back to the Hu clan elder the next day and try to renegotiate the price. "I've got much more paste to sell than I did yesterday, I can sell it all to you if you give me a good price."
The elder snorts. "And who would you sell it to if I didn't buy it? Rhen Zu? The price is still the same, a quarter of a primeval stone per box. That's still higher than the price we've got with the other suppliers."
I shrug. "I can just keep them and sell them in the village, I'm not pressed for time. If I don't get a good price I'd rather not sell."
The elder's eyes narrow. "Point three per box."
I shake my head. "Half per box."
The elder sighs. "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't afford to buy at that price. Name something more reasonable."
I shrug. "You make the suggestion, what's the price you can afford to buy at?"
The elder takes a deep breath. "Point three per box. I need bulk, not quality. Any more than that and the clan leader would tan my hide."
I sigh. "Let's agree at point four then. That's only a total difference of about a hundred primeval stones for the whole sale."
The elder sighs and gives me a reluctant nod. "Fine, but keep in mind that doesn't mean that the Hu clan is satisfied with the price."
I give him my hand for a handshake. "In that case I will lower to point three five, I do not wish to give offense."
The elder shakes my hand. "That's a much more reasonable price."
—
I end up selling to them at the same price on the following day. In the following days the Hu clan slowly lowered their price until the third day, on which they had stopped buying entirely. They then started buying again, only at a much lower price than before on the fifth day, this time buying medicine in order to make profits instead of for their own use.
Everyone started producing at max capacity and had significant stock left over once the Hu clan abruptly stopped buying medicine, allowing the Hu clan to then negotiate much better prices after they stopped buying for a day.
Thankfully I didn't suffer any losses, since both honey and poppy seeds are still priced fairly cheap compared to the prices for medicinal herbs. I ended up making a tidy profit of eight hundred primeval stones during this period.
I smile as I feel the walls of my aperture evolve from walls of light to walls of water. I've reached rank 1 middle stage. I lean on the headboard of my bed. With the use of the liquor worm and amplify effect Gu I now have access to black green copper essence, the primeval essence of rank 1 peak stage!
After advancing to rank 1 upper stage I will still only have access to rank 1 peak stage primeval essence, since the liquor worm cannot help its user's primeval essence jump ranks. Having lots of primeval stones means that I don't need to consume all of my primeval essence when cultivating anymore. I get myself comfortable on the bed and activate the dream travel gu.
I immediately find myself resting atop of the same tree branch that I had appeared on when I used the dream wings gu. I activate the dream travel gu and find myself back in bed. I get up and sit cross-legged in the middle of the room.
I activate the dream travel gu and find myself sitting cross-legged atop of a different tree branch. I take a step forward and activate the dream travel gu again. I am now on top of the academy building. Activating the dream travel gu, taking a step back and then activating it again leads me back to the middle of my room.
There's one last thing I want to try with this gu for now. I close my eyes and activate the dream travel gu, focusing on being on the same branch that I get to from my bed. When I open my eyes I am atop of the branch that I arrive on from my bed.
I focus on the academy rooftop and activate the dream travel gu, only to end up back on the bed. I stretch, get myself comfortable in the bed and then activate the dream wings gu, which makes me fall into a deep sleep.
Once in the dream… Fuck it, I'm calling this the dream world. Once I'm in the dream world I fly around to the bright red apple. I touch it with my hand. My vision changes.
I am surrounded by gu masters. The young blond woman in front of me begins shouting. "This is the end of the line for you, Blood Sea Ancestor! Your demonic ways are over!"
Wha- I activate the dream wings gu and get the fuck out of here the moment that I see a giant fireball the size of a fucking mountain spawn on top of me. My vision changes.
I am staring at that red apple. I search for another fruit, I'll have to leave that one for later. I find a light grey apricot and touch it.
—
Gu Yue Dong Tu
Fang Yuan is proving himself to be increasingly more difficult to deal with. Shen Cui is almost certainly on his side, since all that she cares about is increasing her status. Forcing her to come back would just alert him to us knowing that. We can still feed him false information in the future through her.
He did not respond to me trying to adopt him, he was either too upset at the death of his brother or he had seen through my plan of adopting him.
The former is more likely, Fang Zheng was always much easier to manipulate compared to his brother. Waiting for him to slip up and make a mistake was the wrong decision, since he has now acquired the backing of the Chi faction.
My wife gulps anxiously. "Dear, how will we deal with this Fang Yuan now? If he takes away our inheritance we will be doomed! Can you not appeal to the clan leader to rescind it from him?"
I give my wife a glare. "Stupid woman! That inheritance is still his by the laws of our clan! Even daring to make such a suggestion would make me lose almost all of my face!"
My wife begins to bite her nails. "Husband, we have to kill him now! If we wa-"
I slap her with my backhand, sending the idiot crashing into the wall. "If we are caught doing something like that we would both be executed! Are you insane woman?!"
My wife howls. "Husband! We need to deal with him before he becomes too powerful to deal with!"
I growl. "Do you prefer to die instead of just becoming poor?! I can solve that for you!"
She does not say anything else. I close my eyes and try to think of any way to suppress Fang Yuan. Him getting the backing of the Chi faction has made him almost untouchable by me.
I am known as the hidden elder of the clan, at one point most of the elders even petitioned the clan leader to make me an elder despite me being a rank 2 gu master!
Many in the clan owe me favors, but they would not place me above one of the clan's main factions. I take a deep breath. "I will need to have a talk with Fang Yuan, perhaps I can trade some of his inheritance for him to renounce his claim to the rest of it."
My wife gives no response.