Xiao Ni Is My Disciple

After leaving the Xiao Household, Xiao Ni changed into a black robe and headed alone to the Mittel Auction House.

By then, the sky had already dimmed. All the auctions had ended, and most of the staff had left, but Gu Ni remained in the hall, waiting for the black-robed guest to arrive.

Beside Gu Ni stood a woman in a red gown, her eyes brimming with anticipation. She exuded a mature, seductive charm, and her proud snowy peaks stood prominently before her, making for quite a sight.

She was Ya Fei, the Mittel Auction House's chief auctioneer and a beauty known to nearly everyone in Wutan City.

The guest's Foundation Elixir had earned the Mittel Auction House a considerable profit that day, so Ya Fei had stayed with Master Gu Ni to wait for the distinguished guest to collect his money.

"Sir, you've arrived?" At last, the black-robed old man came into view, and Gu Ni immediately stepped forward to greet him respectfully.

"How much did my Foundation Elixir sell for?" Xiao Ni asked indifferently. He lightly glanced at the woman's chest beside Gu Ni and had already guessed who she was.

"Ah, it sold for a total of seven hundred and fifty thousand gold coins. After deducting the two percent commission, the rest is all in here." Gu Ni respectfully handed Xiao Ni a card, then introduced Ya Fei beside him. "Sir, this is Ya Fei, the chief auctioneer of our Mittel Auction House. She was the one who auctioned your bottle of Foundation Elixir today."

"Mm. Since she's here, that makes things easier. I happen to have a favor I need your help with." Xiao Ni nodded slightly, speaking with feigned composure.

Ya Fei's fragrance and snowy peaks were far too intoxicating. If he looked her in the eye, he would probably lose focus for at least two seconds.

"Please, tell us, sir. If it's an item for auction, Ya Fei will certainly do her utmost to help you sell it." Ya Fei's voice was so soft and sultry that Xiao Ni felt as though his entire body had been electrified. "Oh, right. This is a VIP card. If you present it at the Mittel Auction House in the future, the commission will be reduced from five percent to two percent. The Foundation Elixir we auctioned for you today was also charged at two percent."

"Thank you." Xiao Ni accepted the crystal card Ya Fei handed him. Before putting it into his storage space, he secretly took a sniff of it.

It smelled wonderful—utterly intoxicating.

"I have eight hundred Qi Gathering Powders here. I need you to auction all of them within a month. Can you do that?" Xiao Ni spoke as casually as though he were discussing something utterly ordinary, yet Ya Fei and Gu Ni were both struck dumb for a long while.

The starting price of a single Qi Gathering Powder was usually around sixty thousand gold coins. Eight hundred of them would be worth tens of millions. If this old gentleman could truly produce eight hundred Qi Gathering Powders, the Mittel Auction House would make a tremendous profit from the starting prices alone. If people competed fiercely for them, earning several million in a month would be no problem at all.

"What? You can't do it?" Seeing that neither of them had answered for a long time, Xiao Ni borrowed Yao Lao's aged voice again and asked in a low tone.

"Could you take out a few for me to inspect first, sir?" Gu Ni swallowed and cautiously asked.

"No problem." With a wave of Xiao Ni's hand, a jade bottle appeared in his palm. He then handed it to Gu Ni.

"This... this is absolutely the most perfect Qi Gathering Powder I've ever seen! Sir, I can set the starting price at eighty thousand gold coins, and I guarantee that all eight hundred Qi Gathering Powders will be auctioned off within twenty days." Gu Ni spoke with complete confidence.

The Qi Gathering Powders refined by this old gentleman were exceptionally perfect. Combined with the Mittel Auction House's trump card, Ya Fei, auctioning off eight hundred Qi Gathering Powders within twenty days would not be difficult at all.

"Good. I won't be coming here for a while. Once all these Qi Gathering Powders have been sold, send the money to that kid Xiao Ni." Xiao Ni took out the remaining seventy-nine bottles of Qi Gathering Powder and spoke calmly.

The next time he wanted to meet Ya Fei openly, so he probably would not disguise himself again for the time being.

"Sir, are you Xiao Ni's...?" Ya Fei tentatively asked.

"You guessed correctly. Xiao Ni is my disciple." Xiao Ni gave himself an imaginary identity.

"No wonder Xiao Ni has grown so quickly. He even briefly raised his strength to the Dou King level and severely injured Mr. Ge Ye of the Cloud Mist Sect." Ya Fei's eyes gleamed with amusement, and her curiosity about Xiao Ni grew even stronger.

Three years ago, Xiao Ni had advanced from the fourth stage of Dou Qi to the seventh stage of Dou Qi, creating a miracle. Now, somehow, he had become a two-star Fighter, and he even had such a mysterious alchemist as his master. It seemed that he was finally about to cast off his title as Wutan City's second greatest good-for-nothing.

"Don't become too obsessed with him. One day, he'll become a legend." Xiao Ni said narcissistically.

"Since he was accepted as your disciple, sir, Xiao Ni's future achievements will naturally be limitless." Ya Fei revealed an awkward yet polite smile. Was this old gentleman joking with her?

"Alright, I'm leaving. I hope you won't disappoint me." Xiao Ni spoke indifferently once more, then turned and left.

He now had more than seven hundred thousand gold coins. He could buy a cauldron and some medicinal ingredients, then refine several bottles of Foundation Elixir for the Xiao Household. But it was already getting late, so he would deal with buying the cauldron and ingredients tomorrow.

"Master Gu Ni, what rank of alchemist do you think that old gentleman is?" Only after a long while did Ya Fei finally dare to ask.

"Although Qi Gathering Powder is only a fourth-tier medicinal pill, judging by its quality, only a peak fourth-tier alchemist could refine it to this degree. Yet he was able to produce eight hundred Qi Gathering Powders at once. I think he has probably reached the level of a fifth-tier alchemist." As Gu Ni spoke, he inspected the Qi Gathering Powders in the other bottles. When he reached the tenth bottle, he was utterly stunned.

"Master Gu Ni, is there a problem?" Ya Fei had already been shocked for a long time upon hearing the words "fifth-tier alchemist," but seeing Gu Ni's troubled expression now, she immediately became confused.

Could there be something wrong with the Qi Gathering Powders that old gentleman had provided? He had left in such a hurry just now—could he have been trying to cheat them with inferior pills?

"The quality of these Qi Gathering Powders is identical. Even Gu He, the Pill King, could not possibly possess such masterful control. I can't even see through what rank of alchemist that old gentleman truly is." While answering Ya Fei, Gu Ni checked the remaining jade bottles. Without exception, the quality of every Qi Gathering Powder left both him and Ya Fei completely shocked.

"How... how is that possible?! Could that old gentleman also be a sixth-tier alchemist? Aren't there only two sixth-tier alchemists in the Jia Ma Empire? Could he have come from another empire?" Ya Fei's beautiful eyes widened, her lovely face filled with shock.

Other than Gu He, the Pill King, the Jia Ma Empire's only other sixth-tier alchemist was President Fa Ma of the Alchemist Association. Just who was that old gentleman?

"You don't need to be so surprised. One type of medicinal pill alone isn't enough to determine an alchemist's exact rank. Perhaps that old gentleman simply specializes in refining Qi Gathering Powder." Gu Ni was beginning to doubt his own understanding of the world.

He had indeed met alchemists who were especially skilled at refining a particular type of pill, but he had never seen anyone control the quality of hundreds of pills so precisely. Therefore, he could not say whether that old gentleman was truly a sixth-tier alchemist or not.