Chapter 167

Chapter 167: Peerless in Pills and Hexes

“Master,” a voice called from outside, “a guest wishes to see you.”

Yi Hao frowned. “I’m not seeing anyone.”

“The guest says they want to purchase an enormous quantity of pills,” the attendant said carefully. “They asked me to consult you.”

Yi Hao’s eyes narrowed. “How enormous?”

“At least tens of millions of starstones’ worth.”

Interest stirred. “Tell them to wait. I’ll come out.”

A purchase that large likely meant what it always meant: some new faction trying to plant its feet in Zhi Academy, pooling resources.

That was normal. Wherever there were people, there were alliances.

Zhi Academy honored the three paths—artifacts, pills, arrays—and beneath them were countless forces large and small. Many shops could only survive in Four-Dao Market because factions stood behind them.

Every year, someone rose. Every year, someone vanished.

Soon, Yi Hao stepped out and found a man waiting. The man’s face was hard and fierce, the sort who clearly lived for cultivation rather than craft.

The man bowed at once. “Greetings, Master. I am Qiu Fu.”

Yi Hao nodded. “What pills?”

Qiu Fu smiled politely. “I wish to buy a batch of Recovery Pills, the Barrier-Breaking Pill, the Food-Stagnation Pill, starforce pills, and the Whole-Bone Pill.”

“Among them, the starforce pills and the Recovery Pills will be in very large quantities. Your shop doesn’t seem to have that much stock, so I took the liberty of disturbing Master. Please forgive me.”

Yi Hao liked his tone. Fierce face or not, he had manners. “Just say how many. I’ll refine them for you.”

Qiu Fu bowed again. “Then… may I see a finished product?”

Yi Hao’s expression cooled. “You doubt my pills?”

“Not at all,” Qiu Fu said quickly. “Master, please don’t misunderstand. This is my first time buying so much. Many people entrusted their savings to me. I truly can’t be careless, so I beg Master’s forgiveness.”

Yi Hao hesitated. Then, with a grunt, he said, “Bring him a bottle of Recovery Pills.”

The attendant blinked. “Master, you don’t have any on you?”

Yi Hao shot him a look, then reached into his storage ring and tossed a bottle over.

Qiu Fu caught it, opened it, and inspected the pills. Delight spread across his face. “Excellent quality. As expected of Master. I’m convinced.”

Only then did Yi Hao’s irritation ease.

Qiu Fu stepped forward and returned the bottle with exaggerated respect, even circling to Yi Hao’s side to offer it from a different angle.

Yi Hao chuckled and waved it away. “Keep it.”

Qiu Fu’s eyes widened. “Thank you, Master. Thank you!”

“Mm,” Yi Hao said. “Discuss the quantities with my little apprentice. Tell him what you need.”

With that, Yi Hao turned and left.

Qiu Fu nodded obediently, as if he weren’t a guest at all—more like a junior attendant.

Once Yi Hao was gone, the apprentice stepped up eagerly. “Guest, how many pills will you order? Write the quantities clearly, and pay half as a deposit. No issue, yes?”

Qiu Fu glanced at him once and turned away. “I’m not buying.”

The apprentice froze. “Huh…? Then why—”

But Qiu Fu was already walking off.

Farther away, Qiu Fu looked back, eyes calm.

The card was on him.

Full-Star Realm—perfect. Strong enough to have influence, not sharp enough to notice what Qiu Fu had done.

Once the card was stuck, it would vanish soon. And the target would naturally feel compelled to complete the “task.”

Similar scenes played out again and again in other shops—artifacts, arrays, pills—across Four-Dao Market.

Half a month later, Qiu Fu returned to his residence, passed through Nine-Form Diagram, and his appearance shifted back to his true face.

Wang Jie.

He’d spent two million buying intelligence, selected a portion of the targets, and stuck cards on them—preparing the ground for his shop’s opening.

Enough time had passed.

Du Xian’s side should be nearly done verifying the unusual planet.

Not far away, Master Bian snarled, “They’ve been here this long and you still haven’t found him? What are you people doing?”

“Master, please calm down,” someone said quickly. “Wang Jie has vanished. He must be terrified of ending up like those Shuanghua Sect disciples, so he’s hiding. Please grant us more time.”

Master Bian snorted. “If the alchemy and arrays people move first, you know what will happen to you.”

“Yes,” the subordinate said hurriedly. “Disciple will search again.”

Days later, the report finally came. “Master—Wang Jie has been found. He’s in Four-Dao Market.”

Master Bian’s expression twisted. “Tell Ji Zheng to bring Gao Chi. Go now. Kill him.”

“Yes!”

Wang Jie stood outside Star Vault Exchange, his expression calm. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught movement—a tail of presence, a lingering gaze. Someone was watching him.

So. He’d been marked.

He walked into Star Vault Exchange and requested Du Xian.

Du Xian was busy entertaining another customer, wearing the same bright smile she wore for everyone. Wang Jie waited in a private room.

Not long after, Du Xian arrived. “Sorry to keep you waiting, guest.”

“How’s business?” Wang Jie asked.

Du Xian sighed theatrically. “Not everyone is as generous as guest.”

Wang Jie smiled. “There aren’t that many fools.”

Du Xian rolled her eyes. “Guest, what a thing to say. We’re always good value. We’ve helped guest quite a lot. Are you unhappy?”

Wang Jie didn’t answer. He went straight to the point.

Du Xian tapped her terminal. A star-map projection appeared, with a planet slowly turning in the center.

“This is the unusual planet you’re selling,” she said. “We investigated it. It does belong to you now.”

“Black-White Heaven doesn’t know, and Lie Qiu won’t speak of it. So, guest—let’s discuss price.”

Wang Jie stared at the planet. It was the first time he’d ever actually seen it. From the outside, it looked… ordinary.

“How much?” he asked.

“A normal unusual planet begins at ten billion starstones,” Du Xian said slowly.

Wang Jie’s heart lurched.

Ten billion.

The number didn’t even feel real.

He forced himself to remain still, took a sip of tea, and said nothing.

Du Xian watched him with interest. “However. This planet is located in Locking Grounds—within Black-White Heaven’s territory. If it’s discovered, mining and usage become difficult. Lie Qiu can only promise silence for now; if she faces danger, she might reveal it. And the unusual starforce on the planet—”

“Enough,” Wang Jie cut in. “Tell me your offer.”

“Three point three billion starstones,” Du Xian said.

Wang Jie’s brow tightened. “That low?”

If she hadn’t dangled the ten-billion baseline, he might not have felt cheated. But now—

Du Xian spread her hands. “I can’t help it. This price is only possible because it’s in Locking Grounds. If the planet were in Zhi Academy, it would sell for at most one billion.”

“We have to account for costs. In someone else’s territory, buying an unusual planet is closer to gambling.”

“If Black-White Heaven learns the planet exists, we lose everything. Star Vault Vista has plenty of cases like that.”

“Gambling means minimizing what we pay.”

“Locking Grounds won’t have Black-White Heaven people,” Wang Jie said flatly.

Du Xian’s smile turned sharp. “Is that so? Then the unusual starstone you handed over to Black-White Heaven—no one will go there either?”

Wang Jie fell silent.

He had once bundled Nie Zhou’s unusual planet and techniques and handed them to Zhi Xingxue to stop Xiao Rong from returning to Locking Grounds. Zhi Xingxue had been very clear: Black-White Heaven would send people to cultivate there.

If that was true, then Lie Qiu’s unusual planet could draw attention as well.

Du Xian knew everything.

Wang Jie was displeased, but pride didn’t pay bills. He needed the money.

They haggled hard. Du Xian refused to budge beyond a point, and Wang Jie couldn’t force her.

In the end, they settled on 3.7 billion starstones—four hundred million more than her first offer.

Any higher, and she refused outright.

Wang Jie accepted.

But paying 3.7 billion in unusual starstone would cost him again. There was no market price to anchor the exchange rate—Du Xian could set it however she liked.

By common understanding, one unusual starstone was worth roughly one starsea stone.

In reality, starsea stones couldn’t always buy unusual starstones—because you simply couldn’t find them.

Du Xian initially proposed paying with 150,000 gravity starstones, 140,000 black-snow starstones, and 50,000 blazing-sun starstones.

Wang Jie refused.

Black-snow starforce was what Wu Yun cultivated. And Wu Yun was hiding now—black-snow starstone was far less useful. If it couldn’t improve pill quality, he’d be stuck with it… because no one outside would buy it.

Du Xian wouldn’t let him swap all the black-snow to gravity.

In the end, she replaced the black-snow portion with starsea stones.

When the deal finally concluded, Wang Jie looked at his storage ring—overflowing with starsea stones and unusual starstones—and couldn’t help feeling a strange awe.

Unusual planets were truly profitable.

“Guest should store this in a Star Fusion Center,” Du Xian advised. “It’s more convenient for trading. Otherwise, if guest ever meets danger, everything in that storage ring becomes someone else’s.”

“Star Fusion Center?” Wang Jie asked. “Which one is reliable?”

Du Xian smiled brightly. “Of course—our Stardome Star Fusion Center.”

Wang Jie stared at her in silence.

Leaving Star Vault Exchange, Wang Jie headed to the shop he’d bought earlier. It wasn’t large, but it sat in a busy area not far from the exchange.

The price had been obscene. No wonder Du Xian had tried to lure him with a location at the start.

Now it was time to open.

He arranged the interior simply—mostly because he didn’t have much to sell yet.

He hung a couplet at the entrance:

Divine pills swallow sun and moon; wondrous hexes set heaven and earth.

And a header:

Peerless in Pills and Hexes.

The shop’s name was Green Grass by the River.

He closed the door behind him.

In the distance, someone watched with a sneer. He had time to open a shop?

And what nerve—“Peerless in Pills and Hexes.”

Pills meant alchemy. But hexes?

Fortune-telling?

Inside his second plot, Wang Jie worked in silence, testing how gravity starforce and blazing-sun starforce might fuse into pills—whether they could raise quality, whether they could boost effects.

Halfway through, he remembered something and grimaced.

He’d forgotten to buy a scent bird. Most pill shops kept one to judge pill quality.

Whatever. Later.

Ten days passed.

The shop doors opened, and Wang Jie officially began business.

That same day, a large group from Star Vault Exchange arrived to congratulate him. Du Xian herself came—she carried real weight in Four-Dao Market.

Her presence alone drew countless gazes.

Wang Jie welcomed them warmly, but the shop was small. Three to five people entered and it was already crowded.

“Green Grass by the River? What kind of shop is this?”

“It looks like he sells pills—but what’s with the hexes?”

“Du Xian showed up. It can’t be simple.”

“Is it under Star Vault Vista?”

“Who knows? Wait until they leave and then take a look…”

Du Xian glanced at the three items Wang Jie had placed out for sale and smiled. “Guest, satisfied?”

Wang Jie forced a laugh. “Satisfied. The price was just… painful.”

Because yes—this “congratulations” crowd existed only because he’d paid for it.

If intelligence could be bought, then why not buy a little hype?