[Qian Xunji casually took the Jade Bottle and opened its stopper without much interest.]
[However, at the instant the stopper came loose—]
[Boom!]
[A dense, almost tangible surge of Bloodline Power rushed into his nose!]
[Qian Xunji's pupils contracted slightly.]
[Suppressing his surprise, he stared at Yu Xiaotian and asked in a deep voice,]
["What... does this pill do?"]
[Yu Xiaotian remained calm and answered neither humbly nor arrogantly.]
["This pill is called the Dragon Blood Body Tempering Pill."]
["Not only can it temper the body, it can also raise the maximum age limit of the soul rings a Soul Master can absorb."]
["Absurd!"]
[Qian Xunji sneered instinctively, his eyes filled with disbelief.]
["A Soul Master's physical limit is an ironclad law. How could a mere pill break it?"]
[But he was suspicious by nature. Though he did not believe it verbally, his actions were far more honest.]
[He raised an eyebrow slightly.]
[Then he summoned a Spirit Hall Youth who had just reached the level-thirty bottleneck and was preparing to hunt for a soul ring.]
["Eat it."]
[The youth did not dare disobey and swallowed the pill tremblingly.]
[Only moments later!]
[Crack! Crack!]
[Explosive cracks sounded from the youth's bones. His skin flushed red, while his muscles visibly became firmer!]
[A few breaths later, the youth abruptly raised his head. Feeling the surging power inside him, he shouted in delight,]
["Thank you for Your Excellency's gift!"]
["My physical strength has increased by roughly twenty percent!"]
["If I went to absorb a soul ring now, I would absolutely be confident in absorbing a thousand-year soul ring! Perhaps even one with a higher age!"]
["What?!"]
[Qian Xunji shot up from the Pope Throne, slamming the scepter in his hand heavily against the ground!]
[The carelessness in his eyes instantly vanished without a trace.]
[As the Pope of Spirit Hall, he understood better than anyone what this meant.]
[Breaking physical limits? Absorbing soul rings beyond one's rank?]
[Even if each person only gained a few hundred years, accumulated across them all, Spirit Hall's elite Soul Masters would utterly crush the Two Great Empires and the Upper Three Sects!]
[This was strategic-grade material capable of completely changing the structure of the Spirit Master World!]
[He immediately dismissed the youth!]
["What is this pill called? Where is the formula?"]
[Qian Xunji's figure flickered, and he instantly appeared in the center of the hall.]
[With his hands behind his back, Yu Xiaotian faced Pope Qian Xunji without the slightest panic.]
["This is the Dragon Blood Body Tempering Pill, refined by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan through a secret method using countless rare materials."]
[Yu Xiaotian looked directly into Qian Xunji's eyes.]
["As for the formula, does Your Excellency the Pope really think I would carry something that forms the foundation of my clan?"]
[The desire in Qian Xunji's eyes was nearly overflowing.]
[But as he looked at the faintly erupting thunderous dragon might around Yu Yuanzhen, as well as Yu Xiaotian's fearless gaze,]
[he hesitated.]
[If he tried to seize it by force, not only would he completely go to war with the Upper Three Sects,]
[but if the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan chose mutual destruction and made the formula public, the losses would outweigh the gains.]
["Huff..."]
[Qian Xunji took a deep breath and ultimately held himself back.]
[He could not help but develop a vastly different impression of the child before him.]
[He even admired Yu Yuanzhen for daring to let a child take charge of such an important transaction.]
["This child's temperament is terrifying."]
[Qian Xunji resumed his lofty demeanor and asked,]
["Since you will not sell the formula, let us discuss the finished product. How do you wish to trade?"]
["One bottle contains three pills."]
[Yu Xiaotian raised one fair, tender finger, his tone resolute:]
["In exchange for one Holy Light Glazed Flower from your hall's Herb Garden."]
["A Holy Light Glazed Flower?"]
[Qian Xunji paused slightly, then rapidly calculated in his mind.]
[Although the flower was a precious light-element treasure and extremely valuable, it was meant for Soul Masters with the Light Attribute.]
[His own disciple, Bibi Dong, did not possess the Light Attribute. The flower was utterly useless to her.]
[On the other hand, these pills could genuinely improve Dong'er's physique.]
[Using a flower that was useless to Bibi Dong in exchange for divine medicine that could make her stronger...]
[Profit! This was an absolute steal!]
["Deal!"]
[Qian Xunji agreed without hesitation, afraid Yu Xiaotian would change his mind.]
[Though the flower was precious, it still fell short before strategic material like the Dragon Blood Pill.]
[The way he looked at Yu Xiaotian completely changed.]
[The disdain he had initially held for an ant now contained a trace of genuine appreciation for talent.]
["What a pity. If you were a member of Spirit Hall, I would even be willing to accept you as my disciple."]
[Then, in high spirits, Qian Xunji pulled Yu Yuanzhen into a round of insincere pleasantries.]
Black World.
Upper Three Sects.
Seeing this scene, Tang Xiao did not know what to say.
Should he say Yu Xiaotian was bargaining with a tiger, or that Qian Xunji was foolish?
Yet he had to admit it.
If he, Tang Xiao, had been the one negotiating this deal,
could he have refused a bottle of divine medicine capable of improving his disciples' physical qualities and breaking the limits of soul rings?
The answer was no.
He might even have paid a price greater than a single herb in order to obtain that bottle of medicine.
After all, he might have been able to study the formula through the pill.
Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
Yu Yuanzhen was even more shocked when he saw this scene.
Yu Xiaotian from that world was calm and confident.
With a few words and a smile, he had toyed with the Pope of Spirit Hall in the palm of his hand.
That bearing was exactly what he had dreamed of in an heir.
To him, his son's failure to live up to expectations had long been a pain in his heart.
Seeing Yu Xiaotian from another world being so outstanding,
there truly was no harm without comparison.
Yu Yuanzhen began questioning his life:
"Could it be that when Xiaogang was born, I did not check the almanac? Or was the position wrong?"
Inside the library.
Yu Xiaogang's face twisted.
The jealousy in his eyes nearly burst forth.
"Idiot! Qian Xunji is simply an idiot!"
Pointing at the Sky Screen, he cursed loudly:
"You are the Pope! A Titled Douluo!"
"Yet when facing a seven-year-old child, you did not make things difficult for him at all?"
"You just agreed so easily and handed over such a top-grade herb as the Holy Light Glazed Flower?"
What truly angered Yu Xiaogang
had never been Qian Xunji's foolishness, but Yu Xiaotian's smooth success.
The script he had imagined was this:
Although Yu Xiaotian was clever, he would be humiliated before absolute power.
But reality was that Yu Xiaotian had not only avoided humiliation,
he had instead won a complete victory in this contest and put on an impressive display!
That exhilarating feeling of crushing someone with intelligence should have belonged to him, the man who claimed his theories were invincible!
Heaven was truly unfair!
Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
Unlike Yu Xiaogang's impotent rage,
the gleam in Ning Fengzhi's eyes grew increasingly brilliant.
He played with two smooth jade stones in his hand.
A sincere look of admiration appeared at the corner of his lips.
"Brilliant, truly brilliant."
"Low-cost Whale Rubber was packaged and refined, transforming into the strategic material known as the Dragon Blood Pill."
"And the Holy Light Glazed Flower was cultivated by Spirit Hall itself. The annual investment in light-attribute Soul Power irrigation and maintaining its special environment was far from small."
"The profits Yu Xiaotian leveraged were not merely tenfold or even a hundredfold!"
Ning Fengzhi looked toward Sword Douluo and sighed:
"Uncle Sword, the more I look at this boy, the more pleasing he becomes. If only his surname were not Yu."
At this moment, in the White World.
Within Spirit Hall, Qian Xunji's face turned green upon seeing this scene.
Qian Xunji said heartbrokenly:
"I thought I had made a killing back then. Looking at it now, that brat really profited far too much from me."
Golden Crocodile Douluo looked at Qian Xunji's expression.
Unable to keep from finding it amusing, he could only comfort him:
"Take it easy. Didn't that brat marry Bibi Dong in the end? Rounding it off, it is practically neither a gain nor a loss."
"At most, it is just moving something from the left hand to the right."
The moment Qian Xunji heard that, he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood and roared indignantly:
"Second Worship, there is something wrong with your accounting!"
"I personally lost a disciple, Bibi Dong, as well!"
"And when Bibi Dong got married, I gave no small amount of dowry. Going back and forth like this, I lost everything!"
Qian Xunji thought to himself that he was the greatest sucker of them all!
On the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's side.
Bibi Dong leaned against Yu Xiaotian's side.
Watching the Sky Screen, she could not help but burst into laughter.
"Little Tian Brother, you are far too wicked."
"When Master gave me that pill back then, he praised it to the heavens. I never expected you had tricked him."
Yu Xiaotian raised an eyebrow.
With an innocent look, he defended himself:
"How is that tricking him? It was getting what he paid for, an equal exchange."
"I earned a reasonable premium!"
Bibi Dong shot him a reproachful look.
Yu Xiaotian naturally knew
that he had profited from the information gap.
Still, at that point in time, Spirit Hall had certainly not lost out.
Bibi Dong had just wanted to speak to him.
But the Sky Screen continued playing, perfectly stirring up her memories.
[While waiting for the herbs to be transferred, Yu Xiaotian did not remain in the hall doing nothing.]
[He strolled leisurely and came alone to Spirit Hall's rear garden.]
[Deep within the blooming flowers, light and shadow dappled the ground.]
[A graceful purple figure was cultivating among the flowers with her eyes closed.]
Before you continue