Gold Rimmed Glasses said that one or two flowers by the roadside were nothing to fuss over. Once they reached a good spot, there would be flowers aplenty.
Going by what he said, Li Banfeng had thought that in a good spot, Snake Spot Chrysanthemums would grow like wheat, enough to reap in armfuls with a single sweep.
But now that they had reached this good spot, Li Banfeng discovered there were not nearly so many good flowers. After searching for over two hours, he had only picked five.
Some Snake Spot Chrysanthemums had long stems that could be cut straight off with a sickle. Others had stems that could not be seen at all, their petals growing flush against the ground, and had to be dug out bit by bit with a shovel.
By Li Banfeng's estimate, finding one Snake Spot Chrysanthemum within a ten-meter radius counted as good luck. The mist on the mountain was growing thicker and thicker, and visibility was getting worse and worse. Ten meters was already about the limit of their sight.
The flowers were hard to find, and the competition was fierce.
People from the pharmacies were nearby. They had more experience and moved faster.
And it was not just them. Competition existed within this temporarily assembled team as well.
Old Smoke Cannon was a genuine Smoke Cultivator. He said he was at the First Layer, and he probably was not lying.
Smoke was his eyes. Wherever the smoke drifted, he could see. In two hours, he had picked thirteen Snake Spot Chrysanthemums.
The little girl Cao Ye was skilled as well. Medicine Cultivators had a special sense for medicinal herbs, and she had picked ten.
The voluptuous beauty You Tao was a little less skilled. In two hours, she had picked three, not even as many as Li Banfeng.
But what did she mean by constantly swaying around in front of me?
Dressed like that in a qipao, bending over and arching her waist, with those peaches pointed at me and swaying back and forth—how was I supposed to pick chrysanthemums?
Could it be that she really wanted me to pick chrysanthemums?
Gold Rimmed Glasses, the supposed expert, was only average himself. He had picked six flowers, just one more than Li Banfeng.
Hu Gaozi, like Li Banfeng, had also picked five flowers.
The most useless was Qin Xiaopang. He had only picked one flower, and was stomping his feet anxiously amid the grass.
Hu Gaozi laughed at Qin Xiaopang from the side. "With just one flower, you can't even scrape together half a pill. I'm really afraid you won't be able to sell it once you get down the mountain!"
Xiaopang snapped, "Why wouldn't I be able to sell it? It's not like he has to refine pills using just my one flower. He'll definitely put all the flowers he buys together to refine them!"
Li Banfeng asked, "One flower can't even make half a pill?"
"It can't," little Cao Ye said as she found another Snake Spot Chrysanthemum. She picked it as she spoke. "I heard that one high-grade pill requires five Snake Spot Chrysanthemums."
The beauty You Tao cut in, "I heard you have to add quite a few supplementary ingredients too."
Cao Ye thought for a moment. "As I recall, Snake Spot Pills don't need supplementary ingredients, but controlling the heat is especially difficult. You have to change the fire four or five times in the middle, and the intensity is different each time. And every pharmacy has different methods for refining pills."
You Tao sighed when she heard that. "Pill formulas—if you don't know them, not even gold can buy them; if you do know them, they're all bullshit. Who told us we don't have that kind of skill? We can only trade our lives for this little bit of money.
Sis, meeting each other makes us friends. Study your pharmacology properly. When we pick medicinal herbs again in the future, we'll sell them to your family. At least give us a little more money."
Cao Ye blushed and smiled, then continued searching for Snake Spot Chrysanthemums.
You Tao's words had struck right at her heart. Opening a pharmacy was her dream.
Li Banfeng roughly calculated it in his head: five flowers made one pill, and one flower cost eighty-five. Just buying the flowers would cost four hundred and twenty-five.
Snake Spot Pills did not come cheap. Even without supplementary ingredients, once labor was included, one pill would cost about five hundred.
Running a pharmacy was no easy business either!
"How much does one Snake Spot Pill sell for?" Li Banfeng asked.
"Ten thousand." Xiaopang gave a brief answer.
Ten thousand?
Ten thousand!
Li Banfeng froze on the spot.
Was that supposed to be a joke?
One pill sold for ten thousand!
That was far too outrageous a profit!
Li Banfeng stood there dumbfounded. Sister You Tao laughed. "What, you think it's expensive? Pharmacies do business with a profit of ten thousand for one.
At that price, only wealthy households can buy them. Ordinary people cannot get them at all.
Think about it. Ten thousand buys one day of cultivation. Three million six hundred and fifty thousand buys one year of cultivation. Thirty-six million five hundred thousand buys ten years of cultivation.
Ten years of cultivation means the power of one layer. Spend three hundred million, and you can trade it for Tenth Layer cultivation. Tenth Layer cultivation can trade for triple the lifespan. Do you think that money is not worth spending?"
"Whether it's worth it or not is another matter, Sister. When you talk, don't point your peaches at me."
You Tao turned around and squinted at Li Banfeng with a smile. "You like them? Big and white—want to give them a squeeze? Give Sister one flower, and Sister will let you squeeze to your heart's content."
One pill, twenty times the profit.
Li Banfeng found a Snake Spot Chrysanthemum. After staring at it for a long while, he asked, "Rather than buying such expensive pills, why not just buy Snake Spot Chrysanthemums and eat them directly? One only costs eighty-five."
Cao Ye cried out, "Brother Bai Sha, you mustn't mess around! You can't eat those. Snake Spot Chrysanthemums are highly poisonous. Eat one, and you'll lose your life."
Li Banfeng was startled. "Snake Spot Chrysanthemums are poisonous? Aren't Snake Spot Pills poisonous?"
Cao Ye and You Tao both looked at Li Banfeng as if he were illiterate.
Cao Ye said, "Snake Spot Pills are poisonous too. The poison is not as strong, but you still can't eat too many."
You Tao said, "Brother Bai Sha, why don't you know anything? Do you really have cultivation? If you don't, hurry down the mountain. Don't risk your life here.
"And another thing—I was only making an analogy when I said three hundred million could buy Tenth Layer cultivation. Don't take it seriously. If you really ate that many Snake Spot Pills, who knows how many times you'd die."
Xiaopang reminded Li Banfeng from the side, "Hurry up and look for flowers. Why so much talk? The serious business comes first!"
He was reminding Li Banfeng not to reveal his ignorance again.
But he was right. The serious business came first. Snake Spot Chrysanthemums only bloomed for one day. Once the day passed, the flowers would wither.
And that was not even the most urgent matter.
Li Banfeng began to feel dizzy. He was about to be unable to withstand the bitter mist.
Old Smoke Cannon, on the other hand, was focused entirely on serious business. While they were talking, he picked another Snake Spot Chrysanthemum.
After putting the flower into his cloth bag, Old Smoke Cannon exhaled another mouthful of yellow smoke.
The smoke curled around for a moment. Sensing something, Old Smoke Cannon hurried forward. Another Snake Spot Chrysanthemum was right before him.
Old Smoke Cannon took out a pair of scissors and skillfully snipped the flower's neck. Just as he was about to put it away, he saw the bald man who had been snatching flowers by the roadside earlier appear before him and reach out to grab it.
Unhurried, Old Smoke Cannon used his Smoking Pipe to block the bald man's hand. With a sizzle, a patch of flesh was burned off the back of his hand.
The bald man cried out in pain and shouted at Old Smoke Cannon, "Old bastard, have you lived long enough?"
Old Smoke Cannon smiled. "You're robbing me, and I think you're the one who has lived long enough."
"Who robbed you? I saw that flower first!"
"Never mind who saw it first. The flower is in my hand. If you have the ability, come take it!" Old Smoke Cannon did not waste words. He put the flower into his bag, raised his Smoking Pipe, and looked calmly at the bald man.
The bald man gave a whistle, and three more people came up to Old Smoke Cannon.
He had brought helpers.
Now Old Smoke Cannon panicked.
"Old bastard, put down the bag in your hand. Today, I'll spare your life." The bald man drew a machete, and the three men behind him each drew their own weapons.
Old Smoke Cannon hesitated for a moment. He did not intend to fight them head-on. Opening the bag, he said to the bald man, "There are twenty-two flowers here. I'll leave half to you, and we'll call this matter settled."
"I told you to leave them all. Don't you understand? You'd rather give up your life than your money?" The bald man smiled. Without another word, he raised his blade and chopped down.
The little girl Cao Ye was terrified and hid beside Gold Rimmed Glasses.
Gold Rimmed Glasses shouted, "My friend, anything can be discussed!"
Hu Gaozi also walked over. "We need to be reasonable. Don't start fighting yet!"
The two stepped forward to stop them, but the bald man ignored them completely. Slash after slash came down, every strike aimed at Old Smoke Cannon's head.
Surrounded and attacked by four people, Old Smoke Cannon did not even have a gap to take a puff of smoke. Just as a blade was about to chop into his head, the bald man suddenly pulled back. A bloody gash had appeared on the back of his hand.
Xiaopang had made his move.
Once they had formed a team, they had to look after each other. Xiaopang followed the rules, and he had long wanted to teach this bald man a lesson.
Seeing that only Xiaopang had charged in, the bald man called for his men to continue the assault.
Watching the situation before him, Hu Gaozi glanced at Gold Rimmed Glasses.
Gold Rimmed Glasses swept his gaze over the others.
Little Cao Ye was hiding behind him, too frightened to move.
You Tao watched the bald man, seemingly unsure what she intended to do.
Li Banfeng had spotted a Snake Spot Chrysanthemum and was preparing to pick it. The fight taking place seemed to have nothing to do with him.
Hu Gaozi glanced at Gold Rimmed Glasses again and said in a low voice, "That's about enough."
Gold Rimmed Glasses kept his gaze on the bald man.
Four against two, the bald man's group had originally held the upper hand. But for some reason, the four of them grew more and more frantic. Their hands trembled around their weapon grips, and each slash came out crooked and askew, like fledglings who had never fought before.
What was going on?
Why were they so flustered?
There did not seem to be anything about this situation worth panicking over.
The bald man's eyes shone, and his cheeks were flushed.
He was not panicking. He was excited.
So excited that his body was starting to slip out of control.
Seeing this, Gold Rimmed Glasses rushed two steps to the bald man and kicked him in the chest, sending him stumbling back several steps.
Hu Gaozi also rushed up, knocked a machete-wielding man to the ground with one punch, and shouted at them, "You people don't know when you're being given face, do you? Do you think we're easy to bully?"
The bald man raised his blade. "I advise you not to meddle in other people's business."
Gold Rimmed Glasses darkened his expression and adjusted his glasses. "We formed a team and agreed to look after each other. We're definitely meddling in this business."
Xiaopang opened his bag and wolfed down a pound of dry rations. He shouted at them, "Come on! Fight! Let's see if your grandpa can chop you all to death!"
Old Smoke Cannon raised his Smoking Pipe and took two noisy drags. Yellow-white smoke slowly spread through the air.
Seeing that the situation had turned against him, the bald man led his people and fled.
Gold Rimmed Glasses let out a long breath and turned back to the others. "Everyone, hurry and pick flowers. They won't dare come again."
Old Smoke Cannon put away his Smoking Pipe, sat on the ground to catch his breath for a moment, then continued picking flowers.
Xiaopang came to Li Banfeng's side, sat down angrily, and lowered his voice. "Brother Li, why didn't you help me too?"
Li Banfeng stuffed the Snake Spot Chrysanthemum he had just picked into Xiaopang's hands. "Hurry and pick flowers. Pick a few, then leave quickly. Something isn't right."
After saying that, Li Banfeng placed a stone from his hand on the ground.
He had been gripping that stone the whole time.
Only then did Xiaopang realize that Li Banfeng had already prepared to make a move.
Gold Rimmed Glasses spotted a Snake Spot Chrysanthemum. Just after picking it, Hu Gaozi quietly came to his side. "Why didn't you let Third Brother rob them first just now?
If he robbed them once, they'd work even harder. Among these people, aside from that old man, every one of them is useless."
Gold Rimmed Glasses put the chrysanthemum into his cloth bag and said in an extremely low voice, "That one called Bai Sha isn't quite right."
"What isn't right about him? He's just a useless coward greedy for money and afraid of trouble."
"He's a Joy Cultivator. Joy Cultivators have techniques that throw the mind into disorder. We must be extra wary."
Hu Gaozi disagreed. "He doesn't look like a Joy Cultivator to me. I've never seen a Joy Cultivator travel with a man."
Gold Rimmed Glasses furrowed his brow slightly. "There are plenty of things you haven't seen."
Hu Gaozi still did not believe it. "When that little fatty was getting beaten just now, I didn't see him make a move either. How could a Joy Cultivator watch his companion get beaten?"
"How do you know he didn't make a move?" Gold Rimmed Glasses patted the dirt from his hands. "Third Brother was hit by a Joy Cultivator's technique just now. Didn't you see it? He couldn't even hold his blade steady!"
"That was a Joy Cultivator's technique?" Hu Gaozi was stunned. "I thought Third Brother had panicked. Then what are you planning to do? We're not doing this job anymore?"
"We'll definitely do the job. We'll change locations later. Joy Cultivators have weak bodies and can't hold on for long. He'll definitely head down the mountain early.
Once he's alone, have Third Brother deal with him. We'll take care of the rest of them together." Gold Rimmed Glasses got up and searched for the next Snake Spot Chrysanthemum.
PS: Two updates today. Dear readers, please send more monthly votes and leave more comments. Salad is going all out and will strive to add another update tomorrow.
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