Li Xuan stood on the balcony, his newly healed eyes drinking in the world. He saw the individual tiles on the rooftops, the weary expression on a guard patrolling the distant wall, the faint shimmer of heat rising from the market stalls. The world was no longer a blurry painting; it was a vast, intricate machine, and for the first time, he could see all its gears.
He turned his back on the view. It was time to make those gears turn for him.
He descended the stairs to the main hall, his steps silent. He found Master Feng and Lu Wen in the middle of an intense, hushed discussion, poring over alchemical texts. The moment they sensed his presence, they shot to their feet and bowed deeply.
"Master!" Feng's voice was filled with a nervous energy. "Your rest was sufficient, I hope?"
Li Xuan ignored the question. He walked to the main table and sat down, his small frame looking strangely commanding in the large chair. He looked at the two of them, his gaze sharp and analytical. He started with a simple, provocative question.
"Feng. The pill we created. Is it valuable?"
The old alchemist blinked, caught off guard. "Valuable? Master, it's not a pill, it's a divine treasure! A miracle! The ability to heal damaged eyes with such common ingredients… it's unheard of! Its value is immeasurable!"
"Good," Li Xuan said, his tone flat. He turned his gaze to Lu Wen. "You are from a merchant family. If you possessed such a 'divine treasure,' what would you do with it?"
Lu Wen's eyes lit up, his merchant instincts taking over. "I would establish a production line immediately! We could hire alchemists, buy ingredients in bulk, and sell the pills ourselves. The Three Flower Association would become the most powerful name in the entire Tianshen Kingdom!"
It was a good, ambitious plan. For a human.
"A foolish plan," Li Xuan said, his voice cutting through Lu Wen's excitement like ice.
Lu Wen flinched. "Master… why?"
"Think," Li Xuan commanded, his tone that of a teacher scolding a particularly slow student. "Who am I? Who is the inventor of this pill?"
"You are, Master Li!" Feng said instantly.
"And what do the people of this town see when they look at me?" Li Xuan continued, his voice relentless.
The two men fell silent. The answer was obvious. They saw a seven-year-old beggar.
"A seven-year-old beggar creates a heaven-defying pill," Li Xuan spelled it out for them, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "What do you think happens next? Do the great clans and alliances bow down and offer me their respect? Or do they try to steal the formula, dissect the boy who created it, and take the treasure for themselves? Your plan doesn't bring us wealth. It brings us a death sentence."
Feng and Lu Wen's faces went pale. They had been so blinded by the potential profits that they hadn't seen the obvious, fatal flaw.
"So," Li Xuan said, leaning back in his chair. "A new plan is needed. The pill needs a creator. A respectable, powerful, and established figure who can claim it as their own." He let his gaze fall on the old alchemist.
The realization dawned on Feng's face, followed by a look of pure horror. "Me? Master, no! I cannot! It would be a crime against the Dao! I am your servant! How can a servant steal the master's glory?"
"Glory?" Li Xuan scoffed, the word sounding like a bad taste in his mouth. "Glory is a cage for fools. It invites attention, jealousy, and endless trouble. I have no time for such nonsense. You will be the 'Great Master Feng, the genius Rank 3 Alchemist who invented a world-changing pill.' You will handle the meetings. You will deal with the merchants. You will fend off the rivals. You will be my shield."
He looked at Feng, his eyes sharp. "Do you understand your role now?"
Feng, his mind reeling from the sheer, breathtaking arrogance of the strategy, could only nod.
"Good," Li Xuan said. He then turned back to Lu Wen. "Your plan to sell the pills ourselves was also flawed. It is short-sighted. There is a better way." He let the silence hang, forcing the young merchant to think.
Lu Wen, his mind racing, tried to see the problem from this boy's terrifying perspective. "Distribution… and protecting the patent," he finally whispered. "If we are the only ones selling, every other power will be our enemy. But if… if we make them our partners?"
"Go on," Li Xuan said, a flicker of approval in his expression.
"We… we license the formula," Lu Wen said, his voice growing stronger with excitement. "We register the patent, but we allow the great Pill Merchant Alliance to manufacture and distribute it. They handle the work, they take the risks, and we… we take a percentage of every single pill they sell. A royalty."
"Acceptable," Li Xuan said with a slight nod. "Twenty percent. Kingdom-wide."
Lu Wen gasped. An ocean of gold.
Before either of them could fully process the scale of this new empire, Li Xuan tossed a folded piece of paper onto the table. "This is a side project. My cosmetics business. The formulas are improved. Feng, you will manage it. The demand for vanity is high. Do not fail to meet it. Use its profits to fund the initial registration for the pill."
He had just handed over an already profitable business as if it were pocket change, a mere stepping stone for his real plan.
Feng and Lu Wen stood there, their minds completely shattered, holding the blueprints to an economic Juggernaut conceived in minutes by a seven-year-old.
Feng finally found his voice, a look of profound awe on his face. "Master… your wisdom is as vast as the heavens."
Li Xuan just looked at him, his expression unreadable.
'It's simple supply and demand,' he thought with an internal sigh. 'Do I really have to teach them everything?'