Archfiend

“Your Highness!” “Elder?!” Outside the secret room’s door, two nervous voices were heard.

“You are not allowed to enter!!!” Laurent snarled.

He had been forced to retreat in one move; he definitely couldn’t allow anyone else to see. However, he couldn’t afford to lose to Xu Yangyi, either!

A spirit pellet wreathed in a penetratingly sharp murderous aura pressed straight onto to the center of his brows. He couldn’t help but tightly clench his fists. From head to toe, his muscles swelled dramatically, and he roared, “Stop!”

It didn’t stop.

“Your Highness, please be lenient!” The pellet was already in front of him. In spite of his prestige, Laurent shouted. In the secret room, his entire body was long since soaked in cold sweat.

In the moment he spoke the words ‘Your Highness’, the white pellet suddenly disappeared.

Deathly silence.

The inside of the room was as still as death.

Stationed outside the door, the two trusted confidants looked at each other in dismay. What was going on with the elder? He had actually called someone else His Highness?

Laurent held trepidation in his heart, and his body of spirit light looked at Xu Yangyi as if he’d seen a ghost. This wasn’t his first time trading moves with a mid Marquis expert… but apart from a Second Bitten expert, he had never encountered a mid Marquis who could defeat him in one move!

And yet this man could!

Danny gaped, the inside of his mouth growing dry as he involuntarily mumbled out with a hoarse voice, “Oh my god… Oh my god!!!”

One move had defeated the lofty Laurent, a figure whom he considered to be a demigod!

Was there truly such a large gap between Marquises?!

“Now we can talk.” Xu Yangyi stroked his bed sheets and sat down again. “In a situation where you realize who’s in the lead.”

Laurent didn’t utter a word, standing there just like so. After ages, he made a long sigh, but his voice started to become grave.

“Your Highness… I am inferior to you… The way I see it, perhaps those second generation Bitten might be more or less as capable as you.”

“But, I think this won’t hinder our friendship, no?”

Friendship?

Xu Yangyi laughed coldly in his heart and said apathetically, “That depends on the price of friendship.”

“Good.” Laurent’s gaze radiated light, and he brushed an eye over Danny. Danny, who was out of his wits, immediately regained his bearings and dashed out.

“What is this that you gave me?” As soon as Danny ran out, Laurent cut straight to the point and asked.

Xu Yangyi didn’t reply at once, instead casually brewing a cup of coffee. “The Tullius Family is North America’s largest cultivation pharmaceutical group, and it only engages in business within the Americas. If it wasn’t because of this, I simply wouldn’t have cared to look for you.”

“That’s…”

Under the stirring of a silver spoon, brown coffee and white milk gracefully whirled together as companions. Not waiting for Laurent to finish speaking, Xu Yangyi interrupted him and passed the coffee over. “But if I wanted, pressuring the Tullius Family is only a question of time. Three years isn’t considered a long time, but it’s just that my own time is pretty tight. I don’t want to wait three years.”

Laurent’s manifestation took the coffee, but didn’t reply.

“Are you able to drink?” Xu Yangyi asked and wiped his hands, He had personally made someone else a coffee. 

“Of course.” Laurent regained his wits and sipped the coffee. “Oh, my friend, but I think…”

Before he even finished speaking, he fell into a daze. Afterwards, he dumbly looked at the coffee.

Xu Yangyi smiled as he lit a cigarette and watched the look on Laurent’s face with great interest.

First there was shock, but then… Laurent’s eyes went round, and he carefully sampled the coffee as his chest heaved up and down. A few seconds later, an extremely complicated and shocked expression emerged on his face again!

“This… is that powder you gave me?” He took a step forward. “It stabilizes essence! What in the world is this treasure?!”

He could feel it… He had just broken through not too long ago. His essence, originally needing one or two years to stabilize his realm, unexpectedly began to turn peaceful now! This was merely a cup of coffee… If… If he could drink the complete product… in that case… 

He practically didn’t dare to imagine it!

A month!

At most a month! He could totally walk out from his post-breakthrough predicament and emerge as the strongest in the family!

“What is it called?!” he spoke for the second time. This time though, he was much more anxious than before.

Xu Yangyi didn’t answer immediately. On the contrary, he finished taking a drag of his cigarette and lightly put it out. This action was taken into Laurent’s already-smoldering eyes. “Its name isn’t important. You can call it Spirit Sand.”

Only he himself knew that this was a ‘motionless pill’ formula.

And on top of that… this was no ordinary formula. When he had left Nanzhou… this was one of several side effect-less formulas that he’d originally received from the Eternal Alchemy Canon!

The complete pill formula certainly couldn’t be taken out. Once revealed, perhaps China’s Core Formation cultivators would immediately come to kill him. But… if he crushed this pill into powder and then put it in a capsule, that was flawless plan!

Although its effect is worse than the complete pill—so much that its fallen by a lot—its value lies in the lack of side effects. You can take it as many times as you want. In fact, it can’t be considered much in comparison to the pills I’ve concocted in the past… No, this is a Foundation Establishment pill. It can draw the attention of true elites, he inwardly thought to himself.

“Spirit Sand…” Laurent took a deep breath and said lowly. “What’s the output?”

“You’re more familiar than I am with itinerary planning for premium goods, hunger marketing, and so on.” Xu Yangyi gently took the coffee cup out of his hand. “Each season, the yield is around 300,000 capsules. If this was pill-elixir, then it would be 150,000 bottles.”

In his mind, Laurent made rapid calculations.

He understood the explosive profit of cultivation drugs all too well. Likewise, the Dracul raised a high-rank spirit-potion master. This Chinese cultivator’s pill-elixir should’ve been what America called spirit-potion.

This master of the Dracul wasn’t a Bitten, but his position pressed straight onto the level of first-generation Bitten. It was heard that when this master had already reached the end of his life, the Dracul’s two Grand Dukes had searched for life-replenishing treasures for him. In the end, it had even taken a drop of an Original Bitten’s trueblood to save him… No!!!

A flash of realization dawned on Laurent’s mind, and he looked at Xu Yangyi incredulously. “You’re… a master spirit-technician?!”

“Master spirit-technician?” Xu Yangyi furrowed his brows.

Laurent shot up with a swoosh and pointed at Xu Yangyi as he said shakily, “A master spirit-technician… You’re a master spirit-technician, aren’t you?! A spirit-technician… can be said to be a master who makes spirit-medicines! Ranks are divided into apprentice, journeyman, master, and grand master! Four ranks! Only masters can produce something useful to Marquises!”

His voice trembled. Previously, he thought that Xu Yangyi had gotten hold of this powder from somewhere. However… he hadn’t thought that the man in front of him was a master spirit-technician!

After all, master spirit-technicians were too rarely seen! So-called spirit-technicians were linked with cultivation history. Only China, India, and other super countries with ancient civilizations could produce spirit-technicians. American barely had ten master spirit-technicians, and all of them had been recruited!

A cultivation world’s short development time means that there aren’t martial arts to polish and refine other things, and that means spirit-technicians basically wouldn’t show up… Fuck… Fuck!!! I’ve actually met a master spirit-technician! Definitely… he’s definitely a master spirit-technician! Otherwise, there’s no way he would put a treasure like this into coffee so easily! Laurent’s thoughts raced.

Who wouldn’t consider this stuff a treasure? Unless I could concoct it myself, how could I put this into coffee?!

Xu Yangyi only thought for a second and understood. He laughed, not denying Laurent’s claim. “How many spirit-technicians does America have?”

“Ten!!!” Laurent was so excited that he nearly kneeled. Yes, he wouldn’t kneel to a Marquis, but to a Marquis-rank master spirit-technician… 

Such a character could even have the Dracul’s First Bitten come out and search for heavenly treasures to replenish their life!

It was no exaggeration to say that while a single Xu Yangyi could eliminate the Tullius Family, perhaps a few other branch lineages would still remain. But… if a master spirit-technician opened their mouth, not to speak of a single Tullius Family… even if he wanted the House of Dracul to immediately replace them, the Dracul would immediately convene a meeting of Bitten and decide on a vote!

“God…” In his secret room, Laurent’s entire body was shaking with excitement. “This is definitely the first time this master spirit-technician’s been to America. Plus, he doesn’t clearly understand the distribution of America’s powers. Otherwise… as long as he said the word, even the Dracul and the Corvinus would stop all activities before the Holy War. There would only be one topic of discussion: who can recruit him!”

“This is the Tullius Family’s luck… this is my turning point!”

“It’s a pity, just a pity that I can’t go over and see for myself! Building good relations with a master spirit-technician; an opportunity like t-this is practically all too seldom! No one even knows the name of the Dracul’s master spirit-technician! This is simply more precious than a panda!”

The scale in his heart could be said to have instantly tilted. He understood the weight of a master spirit-technician all too well. The Tullius Family was in control of the Dracul’s finances. How great were the massive quantities of spirit stones he saw each quarter? And the Dracul didn’t hesitate in the slightest to take out fifty percent! Without even a shred of complaint!

“The Tullius Family is ready to work for you, sir!!!” In his mind, Laurent thought this way, but his knee was already planted on the ground in Xu Yangyi’s hotel room. His spirit-body excitedly took Xu Yangyi’s hand and kissed the demon slayer’s fingertips. “S-Sir, if you said you were a master spirit-technician earlier, I wouldn’t have even done that stupid probe a little while ago!”

Xu Yangyi faintly smiled. “Stupid?”

“Of course! Stupid! So very stupid! Extremely stupid! Oh… Your Honorable Highness, I hope you won’t divulge this business…”

Xu Yangyi nodded and hinted at Laurent to sit and talk.

Laurent didn’t sit.

“Your Highness, your status is noble. Forgive me for being frank, but your Spirit Sand might not be enough to open the market.” He took a deep breath. Presently, the only sound in his head was the jingle of spirit stones. He said excitedly, “It’s useful for pacifying one’s realm, but the number of people breaking through to Marquis are very few…”

“I understand,” Xu Yangyi said softly. “I’ll release a new product each quarter. Either as a capsule, or a spirit-potion.”

A new product each quarter!

Laurent was so excited that his face was flushed red. Naturally, his real body was pacing back and forth inside his secret room as if he were a horse with a burning tail. Although the other’s words were sketched in light shades, Laurent heard the sound of a money printer in his ear!

This was more proof… that this master spirit-technician definitely had a lot of formulas in his possession!

“Then…” Laurent felt his throat ache, and he said excitedly, “For the first new product, what spirit-liquid do you intend to use?”

Xu Yangyi mused to himself and his expression became grave. “Foundation Establishment Sand.”

“In China, a Marquis is also called Foundation Establishment, so you can also call it Marquis Sand.”

A dreadful theory appeared in Laurent’s mind. His hand quivered as if he was experiencing a stroke, and his voice became even more floaty. “S-Sir, you mean… this bottle of liquid…”

“It can raise the odds of someone advancing to Marquis by 30%.”

Boom!

These words were like a lightning bolt streaking through blue skies!

In his secret room, Laurent clutched at his chest, taking a few steps back and landing down on a chair with a thud. His eyes instantly reddened!

There was nothing that could allow someone to advance to Marquis in one step. If such a medicine existed, then cultivation wasn’t important. But… there were indeed spirit-potions or capsules that could raise the probability of breaking through.

Presently, the highest probability increase was 15% from a master spirit-technician, and it had already been more than fifty years since then. He never thought that Xu Yangyi would give a figure of 30%!

A thirty percent chance of advancing to Marquis… This was a terribly frightening probability!

This number would cause all western families to go crazy! Regardless of vampire, lycan, dwarf, or gnome! Even the reclusive groups that didn’t enter the world, the Black Witches Coven, the Diviners, and the Sirens would all appear!