Chapter 29

A side residence of the Zheng Clan estate.

Though it was a side residence, it still had three successive courtyards.

"You're saying he defeated you in a single move?"

Chen Chen was broad and imposing in build. Dressed in a white shirt and holding an ancient book, he lacked any sharpness in his bearing, looking more like a scholar.

He turned a blind eye to Wild Wolf Saber Long Shi's severed left arm and frowned slightly.

"Not just that. He was far too young."

Long Shi pressed down on his barely scabbed-over left arm, his face contorted in agony as he said unwillingly, "Young, extremely strong, fair-skinned, without the slightest trace of having been exposed to sun or wind."

Hatred filled his heart, and he wished he could eat the boy's flesh and sleep in his skin, but he did not dare conceal anything.

Because if they faced that boy, these masters would never take the lead. They would use him as the vanguard. If they were not sufficiently prepared, his entire family might be in danger.

Even if the other party had no interest in his family, if he died, the people he had offended over the years would gladly do the job for him.

Long Shi looked at him expectantly.

These masters above him possessed vast abilities. Once they were fully prepared, they should not fear a young man with some backing, right?

"Since that is the case."

Chen Chen rested a hand on the ancient book and said slowly, "We'll postpone this for now. The main family's affairs take priority."

Long Shi lowered his head.

After giving everyone at the general store a bonus of ten taels each, doubling Huang Deyou's share, and granting them two days of compensatory leave, Jiang Ding returned home.

That was an enormous sum of money.

It could buy over four thousand jin of rice, or one to two times more coarse grain—enough to support a family of several for years.

If those so-called big shots refused to let the matter go, then no matter how much he liked his current life, he could only run away.

There was nothing he could do if they chose to take their anger out on others.

But he would take revenge.

No matter which self-important big shot was involved, once he was strong enough to crush them, he would find every last one and stab them to death with a single sword.

One in the morning.

Jiang Ding glanced at his phone, skipped past the flood of idle chatter in the class group, and saw two unread messages pop up in the Immortal Gate Library app.

When he opened them, delight appeared on Jiang Ding's face.

"Colorful Cloud Pharmaceuticals, Shao Chengkang: Hello, sir. The a-acetyl-257 molecule present in the Purple Spirit Grass that you discovered and hold the patent for is of some assistance in the refinement of one of our company's pills. After research, our company is willing to purchase full authorization for your patent at a price of 155,000 mortal coins."

"What do you think?"

No one could violate the First Law of the Immortal Sect.

This meant that the company would no longer need to pay Jiang Ding patent fees when using Purple Spirit Grass components in the future. They wanted to buy out the patent in a lump sum.

Jiang Ding had discovered Purple Spirit Grass while still in the Mortal Realm, and its patent term was three hundred years.

"155,000 mortal coins..."

Jiang Ding hesitated, unable to make up his mind.

He lacked the relevant knowledge and could not judge whether this price was reasonable.

Large companies had many alternatives in pill research and development. If he asked for an exorbitant price, they would simply abandon the use of this component.

There might not even be any pill that used this component. It could merely be a technical reserve the company had prepared in advance.

Conversely, if it could be confirmed that this component of Purple Spirit Grass was irreplaceable, or even used in a high-value spirit pill, then he might be able to negotiate patent fees of hundreds of thousands or even millions of mortal coins, plus spirit coins.

No longer hesitating, Jiang Ding got up and knocked on Lin Wanqiu's bedroom door.

Bang, bang, bang!

Before long, Lin Wanqiu opened the door with sleepy eyes and disheveled hair. "Dingding, did something happen?"

Jiang Ding pointed toward the sofa.

"...That's the situation. Mom, do you know anyone in the pharmaceutical field?" Jiang Ding explained everything and handed his phone to Lin Wanqiu.

"Huh?"

Lin Wanqiu's eyes immediately widened as she swiftly took the phone.

"Our family is going to get rich!"

Her eyes sparkled. "I studied metal smelting in college, and that's what I do for work too, but one of my high school best friends works in this field."

Ignoring the impropriety of calling someone in the middle of the night, she made a call.

After quite a while, she put down her phone.

"It's hard to judge."

Lin Wanqiu rubbed her brow. "Pills involve billions upon billions of ingredients and refining techniques. Based on a molecular structure alone, even an expert cannot determine its value unless they are a master in the industry or someone from inside Colorful Cloud Pharmaceuticals."

"We can't afford a pill-refining master. They're too expensive."

"Then we can only accept their offer." Jiang Ding sighed. He knew nothing about it, so he had no basis for bargaining.

By probability alone, there was a strong chance it was merely an ordinary, replaceable component. After all, medicinal ingredients that could be used in high-value spirit pills were exceedingly rare.

"This is already very good."

Lin Wanqiu said excitedly.

Jiang Ding gently stroked his sword hilt, suppressing the unwillingness and greed rising in his heart. "Mom, the economic base determines the superstructure. Since I've made such a large sum of money, can you promise me one thing?"

"Go ahead." Lin Wanqiu waved a hand generously.

"Quit the overtime shifts you previously signed up for, at least for one year."

Jiang Ding looked into her eyes.

Rongcheng Steel Factory operated on an eight-hour work schedule, from eight in the morning to six in the evening, with a two-hour lunch break and three teams rotating shifts. Because Jiang Ding was in high school and Jiang Yuan was about to enter middle school, their expenses were substantial, so Lin Wanqiu had voluntarily applied to work four hours of overtime every day.

"Well, you need money for martial arts training..."

Lin Wanqiu hesitated. This was merely an unexpected windfall, like winning the lottery. There would be no more of it, and they could not simply live off their savings forever.

And martial arts training,

as far as she knew, no amount of money was ever enough, especially for someone without much talent.

"Just one year." Jiang Ding placed a hand on his sword hilt, radiating high-spirited confidence. "And haven't you heard? Martial artists can only achieve something when their thoughts are unimpeded."

Lin Wanqiu noticed his movement and frowned.

She knew her son was extremely opinionated. Once he made up his mind, it was rarely possible to persuade him otherwise.

"...All right."

Lin Wanqiu agreed hesitantly.

To be honest, she had never worked overtime from her girlhood until now. These past few years had truly become too much for her. Several times, she had called Grandma and cried, relying entirely on gritting her teeth to endure.

"That's great! Good night, Mom!"

Jiang Ding smiled and walked lightly back toward his room. His inner force circulated naturally, and his whole body seemed to feel much clearer.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, his inner force flowed in sequence through the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian and the Hand Jueyin Pericardium Meridian, before moving into the third regular meridian, the Hand Shaoyin Heart Meridian.

The progress was roughly what he had expected.

Threads of inner force nourished and tempered the ten main channels of the Hand Shaoyin Heart Meridian. A tingling, numbing pain spread through him, only to be repaired, soothing the pain away.

He opened his eyes and let the kingfisher, which had slipped in through the window at some point, carry away a huge stack of specimens, including all kinds of plants and insects, and even a mouse-like animal in a small cage.

It had nearly formed a small mountain, and the tiny kingfisher on top was almost impossible to see.

Yet the little fellow did not seem strained at all. It steadily packed everything up and carried it away, still having enough energy to cast an invisibility spell as Jiang Ding had requested.

"Need any help?"

Jiang Ding asked softly.

The mountain of specimens was larger than the window. It did not look like it could possibly fit through.

"Chirp chirp!"

The kingfisher shook its pointed beak. A spot of green light spread out from its beak, and the pile of specimens visibly shrank before it flapped its wings and vanished.

A spell?

Jiang Ding watched in surprise. Not every delivery kingfisher could do that. This one was an elite.

He took out his phone, set an alarm, replied to the researcher from Colorful Cloud Pharmaceuticals, and dealt with the last unread message as well.

The instant he opened it, Jiang Ding's finger trembled.