Chapter 72

“Some of the military personnel’s aggression levels are about to exceed the limit. Those who meet the discharge conditions could be recruited into the Mercenary Division of the Dan Sect.”

“They’d sign a confidentiality agreement—Dan Sect helps them reduce their aggression levels, and in return, they serve the sect for a set number of years.”

If it were a lifelong contract, there might not be many willing participants. But if it’s just a few years, or at most a decade, plenty of soldiers would likely be willing to retire and join the Dan Sect.

After all, the Dan Sect has close ties with the military. Even if they join the sect, there will still be plenty of opportunities for them to go to the battlefield.

Chu Ning turned to look at Qin Zheng.

Qin Zheng pondered for a moment.

“There shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll discuss it with my subordinates later and draft a proposal.”

Chu Ning was delighted.

“Then, can we still refine the Demon-Expelling Pills?” she asked.

“Go ahead. But since we’re establishing a Mercenary Division, we’ll probably need to find an alchemist to produce more of those pills.”

Gu Ming’s eyes gleamed.

“There are alchemists in the Gu family with peak A-level mental strength. If Wife Master agrees, I can ask my mother to exchange an Alchemic Essence Pill for them!”

Whether it was the Gu family or the royal family, neither was as trustworthy as the military.

After all, their Brother Zheng was a marshal and held absolute authority in the military. But he and Brother Ye, in the Gu family and the royal family, were at most people whose words carried some weight—nothing more.

So, they didn’t dare ask their Wife Master to trade Washing Marrow Pills with the Gu family under the same terms as the military.

Chu Ning was momentarily taken aback.

Using the Alchemic Essence Pill to exchange for people—that was actually a good idea.

“The royal family should be open to an exchange as well,” Xia Ye chimed in.

“Let’s do this—let’s discuss the terms first, then approach the Gu family and the royal family. The Dan Sect has too few mid-level alchemists. If we rely solely on training our own, the progress will be too slow. Bringing in mid-level alchemists through an exchange is a good idea.”

Recently, thanks to patent fees and registration fees, the Dan Sect had ample funds, and the construction of offline warehouses and logistics systems was progressing smoothly.

Currently, there were signs of increasing orders from the Imperial Capital, but the Dan Sect was short on alchemists. Many of their pills still had to be sourced and transferred from other places.

Increasing the number of alchemists—especially mid-level alchemists—was now an urgent priority.

“The military should get a share too,” Qin Zheng suddenly interjected.

Although he suspected that Zheng Yuan would prefer that Wife Master use Washing Marrow Pills to trade with them, Alchemic Essence Pills could probably be negotiated as well.

Xia Ye turned to Chu Ning.

“If Director Zheng of the military needs them, we can exchange a few Washing Marrow Pills. As for the Alchemic Essence Pills, the exchange rules will be the same as those for the Gu family and the royal family.”

The military was her strongest support, so she wasn’t willing to help them create too many S-level potential alchemists.

A flash of emotion passed through Qin Zheng’s eyes.

Xia Ye simply hummed in response.

After that, Chu Ning continued refining pills.

Xia Ye, on the other hand, took Gu Ming aside.

The two of them discussed and finalized the exchange terms for the Alchemic Essence Pills.

Then, they contacted Gu Qian together.

“Aunt Gu, I heard from Gu Ming earlier that the Gu family is interested in purchasing our Dan Sect’s Alchemic Essence Pills.”

“We’ve discussed it and, although the pills aren’t available for direct sale, we’re willing to use them to trade for resources.”

“Our Dan Sect is currently lacking mid-level alchemists, so we’d like to exchange Alchemic Essence Pills for lifetime contracts with some of the Gu family’s mid-level alchemists. Would you be interested?”

Gu Qian glanced at her son standing beside Xia Ye and composed herself.

“A lifetime contract for mid-level alchemists… That’s not so easy to renegotiate. The alchemists themselves have to agree.”

Xia Ye’s lips curled slightly.

That statement meant she was interested.

“Once they sign with the Dan Sect, they’ll be able to purchase Alchemic Essence Pills internally to accelerate their mental strength growth. I believe that very few mid-level alchemists would refuse to switch over.”

Gu Qian chuckled.

“Alright, then, Your Highness the Fifth Prince, tell me—how many Alchemic Essence Pills is the Dan Sect willing to offer for one mid-level alchemist?”

Mid-level alchemists were indeed valuable, but the Gu family had a decent number of them.

On the other hand, she only had one bottle of Alchemic Essence Pills.

Aside from herself, Gu Ming’s father and her eldest daughter each had a bottle.

These pills were a gift from her son and daughter-in-law.

She had previously suggested that the Dan Sect sell some Alchemic Essence Pills to her, but her son had flatly refused.

He even said that in the future, he would continue to provide them to her and her husband but wouldn’t give any to his eldest sister—because the Fifth Prince was also providing similar amounts to the Emperor and Empress.

What could she say? She couldn’t exactly demand more than the Emperor. She had no choice but to accept it.

But now… This was an opportunity.

Xia Ye’s eyes flickered.

“We’re all family, so I won’t bargain with you, Aunt Gu. From now on, the Dan Sect will sell Alchemic Essence Pills to the Gu family at a cost price of 300,000 star coins per pill.

“A junior mid-level alchemist is worth a daily purchase limit of one pill, an intermediate mid-level alchemist is worth five pills, and a peak mid-level alchemist is worth twenty pills. The quota is valid for a hundred years.”

Alchemic Essence Pills naturally weren’t worth 300,000 star coins per pill—not even 30,000.

But rarity creates value. The Dan Sect controlled the supply, and the Gu family had no way of knowing their actual costs.

Gu Qian was taken aback.

“A purchase quota? I thought… you’d directly trade pills with me. Selling the pills to me at ‘cost price’—so the Dan Sect doesn’t want to bear any costs at all?” She stared straight at Xia Ye, clearly not believing that the pills actually cost 300,000 star coins to produce.

Xia Ye smiled warmly.

“We’d love to give you Alchemic Essence Pills directly, but the Dan Sect is still new and has too many expenses. We don’t have the funds to buy enough ingredients to refine a large batch.”

“Alchemic Essence Pills are an exclusive Dan Sect formula and aren’t available on the market. If Aunt Gu thinks they’re too expensive, you could always resell them. Even if you don’t sell them for four or five million, you could easily get two or three million per pill.”

“This is a century-long purchase quota—the total amount is substantial. This deal is much more valuable than simply receiving a batch of pills at once.”

Gu Qian maintained her smile.

“Heh, I’ve heard that the Fifth Prince is highly intelligent and an eloquent speaker. Today, I see that the rumors are true… You really deserve your reputation as the military’s strategic advisor.”

“Fine, 300,000 it is. Our Gu family is willing to provide two intermediate and two peak mid-level alchemists in exchange for the purchase quota. However—”

“However, what?” Xia Ye’s smile faded.

“However, I can only bring up the offer and arrange a meeting for you. Whether you can convince them to switch to the Dan Sect is up to you.”

“If the negotiations succeed, the Gu family will release them. If not, then the deal is off.”

This condition was, in fact, very reasonable.