fifth form

Chapter 3010 The Elixir of Surveillance
The black and white horses traversed mountains and rivers as if walking on flat ground, bringing Hongku the ability to travel long distances.

Achieving a position of venerable status brings privileges, and alchemy and trade can transform these privileges into tangible benefits.

As a member of the Xiong Kingdom's forces, Hong Ku was well aware of the Xiong Kingdom cultivators' weakness in refining elixirs.

Even if Zhang Xuezhou's success rate of 70% is not enough to make a profit, even if it is 50% or 40%, it would still be enough to make a profit.

This price difference is Hongku's benefit.

Hong Ku's actions do not violate the overall interests of the Xiong Kingdom's high-level leaders. Most high-level cultivators would probably agree on the principle of turning materials into usable pills.

Moreover, Hongku believed that he was dealing with Zhang Xuezhou personally, and that it didn't matter if Zhang Xuezhou had some related parties with vested interests.

"Come, come, Mr. Hong Hu, let me introduce you. This is the Marquis of Pingyang in Chang'an who supports my alchemy. The Marquis likes alchemy and is interested in some medicinal herbs from the Xiong Kingdom. He can even exchange some herbs with you to make up for the missing ingredients in the Creation Pill!"

The new emperor rode out of the city in the afternoon and met with Venerable Hongku, who was collaborating with Zhang Xuezhou, in the evening.

He used medicinal mud to alter part of his appearance, and then wore a silk-embroidered gold robe, followed by eight supernatural-level Imperial Guards. He then swaggered into the Shanglin Garden.

Hongku was brought into Shanglin Garden by Rong Tianding, who was carrying the order, and waited there until Zhang Xuezhou and others arrived.

After a brief introduction, Hongku felt as if a distinguished guest had arrived.

Zhang Xuezhou's backer was indeed influential. Hong Ku's biggest headache was the specificity of the medicinal materials. Every material needed to make the Creation Pill was fixed, and other medicinal materials were completely useless. This forced him to choose from a small range of materials when collecting and trading.

The appearance of the Marquis of Pingyang perfectly solved this problem.

Although it is unknown how wealthy the Marquis of Pingyang is, he is sure that the other party can support him, thus allowing the trade exchanges in the early stages of Hongku to operate normally.

"I've met the Marquis!"

Hongku bowed politely, while the new emperor's demeanor was somewhat arrogant.

"This merchant from the Hu region only brought this few medicinal herbs?" The new emperor ignored Hongku and shook his head after glancing at him. "I gave you more than just this many medicinal herbs to practice with!"

The new emperor pointed to the side room of the main hall.

The secret medicine of Shanglin Garden was produced. The new emperor staked all his wealth on it, and the medicine chests of the medicine filled the side hall of the alchemy room.

Although Zhang Xuezhou had finished refining the herbs, the remaining herbs were not sent back to Chang'an City. Instead, he arranged for people to be stationed there to dry and preserve them. There were nearly three hundred boxes in total.

At this moment, the boxes of medicinal herbs in the side hall were clearly visible, and the quantity far exceeded the approximately ten boxes of medicinal herbs that Hongku had taken out.

"I thought it would be some grand event like alchemy or medicine making, so I came all the way from the Marquis's residence to Shanglin Garden. But now it's nothing special," the new emperor sighed.

“My lord, this merchant from the Hu region is collaborating with us on alchemy for the first time, and the amount of medicinal herbs he has taken is indeed a bit less than we have,” Zhang Xuezhou said.

“These foreign merchants travel from the Western Regions to Chang’an for a long time, and we only cooperate a couple of times every few years,” the new emperor shook his head and said, “You don’t need to come to me with such trivial matters as alchemy in the future!”

"These are the materials for the Creation Pill, not low-grade medicinal herbs!"

Seeing that the new emperor was about to leave after only a few glances, Hongku had to quickly introduce him.

"This is enough medicinal material to refine five hundred Creation Pills. Even if the success rate is only 50%, there are still two hundred and fifty Creation Pills," Hong Ku said. "Such a number of pills is not small anywhere!"

"Oh? The Creation Pill?"

The new emperor stopped in his tracks and waved for Zhang Xuezhou to go up and inspect.

"Alchemy and medicine making isn't just about taking some herbs. It requires herbs of sufficient quantity, variety, age, freshness, dryness, color, and integrity," the new emperor said. "Only when all the requirements for alchemy are fully met can there be a high success rate. It's not that if you say it's 50%, it will definitely be 50%!"

"You're right, my lord!"

Hongku let out a deep breath, feeling that the new emperor had given him a taste of his power upon meeting him.

If long-term cooperation is desired, the other party's attitude is clearly crucial. Zhang Xuezhou can only be responsible for alchemy; completing the exchange of medicinal materials requires the coordination of such aristocratic noble families.

If he could earn 10,000 taels of gold by working with Zhang Xuezhou before, his profits after joining Zhang Xuezhou would be ten times that amount.

Even Hong Ku never expected that Zhang Xuezhou could invite such a heavyweight person.

“These medicinal herbs of mine have all been carefully selected. Each herb is plump and full, and each demon core is almost the same size. They are all from hundred-year-old demon varieties,” Hong Ku introduced. “These materials are absolutely qualified!”

"Not bad, I think we should be able to achieve a 60% success rate in pill formation!"

Zhang Xuezhou, who was crouching down to conduct the inspection, checked the documents frequently and quickly reported his findings.

"Sixty percent is quite interesting!"

The new emperor's gaze swept over the medicinal herbs that Zhang Xuezhou had opened and inspected, his eyes remaining as still as a deep well even as his heart pounded.

“It’s just too little,” the new emperor said.

"If I exchange pills for medicinal herbs, I will definitely bring even more next time," Hongku said, patting his chest.

"It's been far too long," the new emperor said. "You need time to go back and change the medicine, and you also need time to refine pills and make medicine!"

"I'll be quick," Hongku assured him, "It definitely won't take long!"

“If Your Excellency is in a hurry, why not take out a batch of pills and let this merchant from Honghu go back to exchange them for medicine, and then we can slowly refine the pills?” Zhang Xuezhou suggested. “As long as Your Excellency is willing to provide the pills in advance, the time it takes to go back and forth will definitely not be long!”

"This this……"

The new emperor hesitated for a few moments, while Hongku blinked, sensing that Zhang Xuezhou's approach was different from previous negotiations.

Hongku must say that Zhang Xuezhou's suggestion was excellent, but whether the Marquis of Pingyang was willing to be such a sucker was hard to know.

The success rate of pill formation is not the same as the actual pill yield rate. A 60% yield rate for 500 pills cannot be simply converted to 300 pills. Rather, it depends on the alchemist's skill and may be more or less. It can only be said to be around 300 pills.

If things go well, we might get 320 pills; if things go poorly, we might only get 250 or 260.

Hongku felt that only a fool would be willing to gamble like this: exchanging a fixed number of pills for an uncertain number of pills to be refined.

“My lord knows my alchemy skills; perhaps you can earn ten or twenty pills,” Zhang Xuezhou said with a smile.

"But you didn't mention any losses," the new emperor retorted. "I believed you, and I lost every single time I tried to win from you!"

“It’s just a game of guessing the secret pills, surely the Marquis can’t afford to play?” Zhang Xuezhou said.

"There's no reason why my family can't afford to play this game," the new emperor sneered. "Since you say you have a 60% chance, then let's use 280 pills as the dividing line. If it's less than that, I win; if it's more than that, you win. If you lose, you'll have to refine pills for me for three more years!"

"If I win, I'll reduce my training time at Shanglin Garden by three years!"

"Row!"

Zhang Xuezhou and the new emperor reached an agreement by giving each other a high five.

Hongku, who was standing to the side, opened his mouth, feeling that the two of them hadn't even asked him, the person involved, for his opinion.

Of course, Hong Ku had to admit that 280 Creation Pills was a very good number. Although it was still short of the ideal 300, the ideal figure was ultimately just wishful thinking. Especially since Marquis Pingyang could provide the pills in stock, this actual and stable output was far better than Zhang Xuezhou's empty promises.

"Clap clap clap!"

As the new emperor clapped his hands three times, a guard bowed and stepped forward, then quickly ran out.

When the guard returned a moment later, the other party was already carrying fourteen sandalwood boxes.

Zhang Xuezhou casually opened a sandalwood box that he had prepared in advance, and a box containing twenty Qi and Blood Creation Pills immediately came into Hongku's view.