Daily Intelligence: From Miner to Dao Ancestor of Alchemy and Talismans

The dark room had no windows on any side, except for a luminous pearl in the corner that emitted a soft white light, illuminating the boxes full of medicinal herbs with a spiritual aura.

Upon seeing Xu Yuan enter, Wu Song's anxious pacing instantly ceased, his face immediately plastered with a respectful smile. He quickly stepped forward and bowed deeply to Xu Yuan: "Fellow Daoist Xu, you've finally arrived! Please, please have a seat!"

The Xu Yuan he faced was still disguised as an old rogue cultivator, hunched over with deep wrinkles on his face, looking unremarkable, but Wu Song dared not be negligent in the slightest. In the entire Qingya Fang, only this mysterious alchemist could consistently refine high-grade pills. He was not only Wu Song's benefactor, but also his greatest asset in securing his position as manager of the Baodan Tower.

Xu Yuan nodded slightly, without any further formalities, and sat down directly at the table. His gaze swept over the box full of medicinal herbs beside him, and he said casually, "Manager Wu said in his letter that there's a big business deal to discuss?"

"Yes! It's a huge deal!" Wu Song quickly sat down opposite him, leaning forward slightly, and lowered his voice to get straight to the point, "To be honest, this order is from the Zhao family. With the Blood Fiend Sect eyeing us covetously and Zhang Kui having defected to the enemy, the Zhao family is in a hurry to improve the combat power of their guard team and wants to order 100 high-grade Spirit Replenishing Pills, to be delivered within half a month."

He paused, fearing Xu Yuan might find the time too tight, and quickly added, "All the alchemy materials will be provided entirely by the Zhao family; you won't have to pay a single penny! Furthermore, the Zhao family is offering 500 high-grade spirit stones as payment! As long as you deliver the goods on time, the spirit stones will be settled immediately, without any shortfall!"

500 high-grade spirit stones!

Xu Yuan paused slightly in his teacup, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.

He used to supply Baodanlou with goods, and he only earned a few dozen spirit stones for each batch of high-grade Yuanqi Powder. This order is equivalent to his income for almost a year.

Not to mention that all the materials are provided by the Zhao family. With his current success rate of over 90%, he only needs 120 sets of materials to refine 100 high-grade spirit-replenishing pills. The remaining materials will all fall into his own hands.

This is not the most critical.

Seeing that Xu Yuan's expression remained unchanged, Wu Song quickly offered his final bargaining chip: "The Zhao family also said that if you accept this order, they will give you an extra batch of Fire Spirit Grass seeds, as well as a purchase voucher for a second-tier alchemy furnace exclusive to Bao Dan Lou. With this voucher, you can choose any high-grade second-tier alchemy furnace at Bao Dan Lou, free of charge!"

Fire Spirit Grass Seeds!

Xu Yuan's fingers tightened slightly as he gripped the teacup, his mind already made up.

Fire Spirit Grass is the core ingredient for refining Fire Spirit Pills. According to the alchemy inheritance he possesses, Fire Spirit Pills can increase the success rate of Foundation Establishment by 10%. Although it is not as good as Foundation Establishment Pills, it is the easiest auxiliary pill for Qi Refining cultivators to obtain when attempting to break through to Foundation Establishment.

However, the Fire Spirit Grass has extremely high requirements for its growing environment, and can only survive in volcanic geothermal areas. Its seeds are tightly held by major sects and large families in the market, and are so rare that they are priceless and impossible to buy.

This is the most valuable and useful thing in this order for him.

As for refining 100 high-grade spirit-replenishing pills in half a month, what would be an insurmountable task for others is a piece of cake for him. With the spiritual power control boost from the high-grade spirit brush, the exquisite fire control techniques from the True Explanation of Fire Control, and the alchemy insights of the Azure Profound Alchemist, his success rate in refining spirit-replenishing pills has long been stable at over 90%. If he works without sleep, he can refine all 100 high-grade pills in ten days, and half a month is more than enough time for him.

"Okay." Xu Yuan put down his teacup, his tone calm, showing no sign of excitement. "I'll take this order."

Wu Song breathed a huge sigh of relief; the anxiety that had gripped him for days finally subsided. The Zhao family had given him a death order: he had to gather 100 high-grade spirit-replenishing pills within half a month. In the entire Qingya Workshop, apart from the mysterious alchemist before him, no one else could take on this task. If he failed, his position as manager would likely be over.

He quickly pulled out a pre-prepared agreement from his pocket and handed it over: "Fellow Daoist Xu, this is an anonymous supply agreement. It only states the quantity and time of supply, and will not retain any of your information. It is absolutely confidential. Please take a look. If there are no problems, we will proceed according to this agreement."

Xu Yuan took the agreement, glanced at it, and sure enough, it only contained simple supply terms, with no need for signatures or markings, perfectly protecting his identity. He nodded and placed the agreement on the table: "Okay."

"Good! Good!" Wu Song was overjoyed. He immediately pushed the box of medicinal herbs in front of Xu Yuan, then took out a spirit stone bag from his storage pouch and handed it over with both hands. "Fellow Daoist Xu, here are 200 high-grade spirit stones as a prepayment. I will settle the remaining 300 stones when you deliver the goods!"

Then, he took out a small jade box and a gold-embossed receipt: "These are the Fire Spirit Grass seeds, twenty in total, all here. This is the purchase receipt for the second-tier alchemy furnace. You can pick it up at the front desk of the Treasure Pill Pavilion anytime. Just give them the number on the receipt, and no one will ask any questions."

Xu Yuan accepted them one by one, casually stuffing them into his pocket without any hesitation.

With the deal finalized, Wu Song's smile deepened. To completely retain Xu Yuan, this "god of wealth," he pulled out a black token from his robes, engraved with the Bao Dan Lou emblem, and handed it over: "Fellow Daoist Xu, this is our Bao Dan Lou's Black Jade VIP token. From now on, you'll receive a 30% discount on any materials you buy at Bao Dan Lou. For rare medicinal herbs on the market, just let me know, and I'll do everything in my power to pre-order them for you. Most importantly, I will never reveal a single word about you, not even if Patriarch Zhao himself comes to ask!"

Xu Yuan took the token, his fingertips tracing the cool jade surface, a hint of satisfaction flashing in his eyes.

With this token, he had a stable source of materials. He would no longer have to run around for materials for alchemy and talisman drawing, nor would he have to worry about exposing his identity. This was far more useful to him than hundreds of spirit stones.

"Thank you, Manager Wu." Xu Yuan put away the token, stood up, and said, "I'll take the things with me now. I'll bring you the pills here again at noon two weeks from now."

"Very well! I will wait here for you, fellow Daoist!" Wu Song hurriedly got up to see him off, and only stopped at the door of the secret room.

Xu Yuan, carrying the box of medicinal herbs, his back hunched, still looked like an inconspicuous old rogue cultivator. He quietly left Baodan Tower along the way he had come.

Throughout the entire process, no one noticed this inconspicuous old man, and no one knew that the Zhao family had secured a large order for pills, which involved the entire strength of their guard team, and this old man had already accepted it without hesitation.

After leaving Baodan Tower, Xu Yuan wandered around most of the market, changed his clothes three times, removed his disguise, and made sure there were no followers behind him before returning to his small courtyard with blue tiles.

He closed the door, bolted it, activated the restriction, and then took out the items from his arms one by one and placed them on the table.

Two hundred high-grade spirit stones, a whole box of rare medicinal herbs for refining spirit-replenishing pills piled up on almost half the table, twenty fire spirit grass seeds exuding spiritual energy, lying quietly in a jade box, glowing with a faint red light, along with a black jade VIP token and a second-tier pill furnace purchase voucher, all neatly arranged to the side.