Chapter 44: Dark Jade Pavilion

Once both parties expressed their intent to cooperate, they began negotiating the prices.

There was no issue regarding the partnership itself, but the pricing still needed to be discussed. Naturally, everyone wanted to make a bit more profit. For standard items like ordinary potions, market prices were well-established; they followed the going rate, and acquiring inventory always adhered to this procedure.

The primary subjects of discussion were Mu Rongxun's exclusively crafted dark cuisine trio.

These consisted of dark cuisine ramen, fried rice, and seaweed soup.

Among them, the ramen restored health points and held the lowest value. After some bargaining, it was agreed that Yin Yuan would purchase them at fifty coins per portion. Mu Rongxun declined the request for consignment, choosing instead to sell the entire lot in a single bulk transaction. How much the buyer could eventually sell them for would depend entirely on his own capability.

Aside from that, the remaining two items were quite expensive.

This was because one of them provided stat enhancements, specifically a boost of +1 to all attributes. Although it came with minor side effects, they were entirely negligible.

During a life-or-death battle, how significant is the advantage of having all attributes increased?

Given the chance to survive, what did a slight side effect matter?

If you won, it was naturally worthwhile. If you still lost even with a +1 boost to all attributes, would side effects even matter anymore?

The cost of producing this item was not low, so its price would not be cheap either.

Following an intense discussion and rounds of bargaining between the two, Mu Rongxun sold this item to Yin Yuan for three hundred coins per portion.

The final item, the seaweed soup, restored stamina. While its price wasn't as high, it still fetched one hundred and fifty coins per portion.

Mu Rongxun had produced a substantial quantity of all three items, and he handed them all over to Yin Yuan, greatly enriching the shop's inventory.

In reality, Mu Rongxun was unaware that the Demon Gold Potion Shop was currently facing a severe shortage of potion stock, an issue that had been plaguing Yin Yuan.

However, Mu Rongxun's appearance provided a timely rescue from this crisis.

Not only did it buy him a buffer period, but it also introduced brand-new products to his shelves.

Even though he wouldn't be able to mark up the prices excessively when selling them, running a store sometimes meant looking beyond immediate profit margins.

How many people could be attracted by novel and unique products?

Once customers were drawn inside, wouldn't it become much easier to promote and sell other potions as well?

"Pleasure doing business with you. However, I hope my friend won't sell these same items to any other shops!"

After concluding the transaction, Yin Yuan offered a reminder.

"Rest assured, I'm not that bored!"

Following a handshake, Mu Rongxun took his leave. Before departing, he even purchased some of the potions brewed by Yin Yuan himself.

"Boss!"

Xiaoqian asked, looking puzzled.

"Why did you acquire his items at such a high price? We clearly could have pushed the price down further."

"You don't understand."

Yin Yuan shook his head.

He looked at the bigger picture and cared little for immediate gains and losses.

Suffering a minor sacrifice in profit now to win over the other party was well worth it.

Conversely, being overly petty and calculating might yield a slightly higher profit today, but the other person would never cooperate with you again. In the long run, the losses would be far greater.

"Hmph, how could he be like this!"

Xiaoqian, standing by the doorway, suddenly trotted over with an indignant look.

"He just walked out of our shop, turned around, and ran straight into the one across the street."

"You forgot, he is still a customer after all!"

Yin Yuan was much more open-minded than she was.

"Even though he has a partnership with us, who says he's obligated to buy things exclusively from us?"

Though he said this, he genuinely didn't mind. After all, spending money anywhere within the hub was fine, as long as it kept the business within their circle.

"Oh!"

Xiaoqian nodded with a grievance-filled expression, resembling a wronged young bride.

Walking down the street, Mu Rongxun received a private message, but he couldn't be bothered to check it at the moment. Instead, he stepped into a store called the Ink Jade Pavilion to see if there was anything he needed.

Though items in such establishments were expensive, their advantage lay in offering exclusive proprietary goods with guaranteed quality.

Upon stepping inside, Mu Rongxun noticed that the interior decoration matched the exterior's elegance. People bustled about, and numerous shop assistants—primarily attractive young women acting as lifestyle players—were on duty.

In the Demon Tower Paradise, very few women were unappealing.

Seeing Mu Rongxun enter, a female guide promptly approached him with a welcoming smile.

Regardless of the merchandise, this level of attentive service made one feel instantly at home, providing a superb customer experience. Was there any doubt they would return?

"Good day, sir. Is there anything you are looking for?"

After offering a gentle greeting, the female guide took the lead to show him around.

"I'll just browse first."

Mu Rongxun had heard tales of the Ink Jade Pavilion. It and the neighboring Dan King Pavilion were owned by the same individual, widely regarded as one of the wealthiest entities within the Demon Tower.

Although he was a supporting-class player—an alchemist—who now operated largely behind the scenes as a lifestyle player, every time he undertook a mission, he navigated it with absolute ease.

To him, completing missions felt like taking a vacation, remarkably effortless and relaxed.

The core business of the Ink Jade Pavilion revolved around various types of auxiliary pills and elixirs.

These weren't limited to stat enhancements; various other specialized pills were available as well.

Moge (special thanks to book friend Tian Yiya for contributing this character) was the first person to propose that elixirs could be utilized beyond mere oral ingestion. He continuously pursued this concept until he successfully researched the auxiliary pills that eventually swept across the entire Demon Tower Paradise.

Particularly within the novice zones, his pills sold exceptionally well.

Explosive pills, poison pills, and other battle-assistive elixirs became top-tier bestsellers that people fought to acquire due to their high efficacy and reasonable prices.

By now, Moge no longer needed to handle production personally.

Holding the exclusive secret recipes for multiple elixirs, he recruited a vast array of alchemists to work for him, granting them authorization to manufacture his pills in exchange for generous compensation. Anyone who left his employment would instantly forfeit the right to produce his proprietary elixirs.

It was precisely through such methods that the current brilliance of the Ink Jade Pavilion and the Medicine King Pavilion had been built.

Among lifestyle players, the only one capable of rivaling Moge on equal footing was the Broker.

Unaware of these intricate details, Mu Rongxun had simply heard tales of the potent effects of the pills sold at the Ink Jade Pavilion and decided to investigate for himself.

As he walked and browsed, he truly found his horizons broadened.

Here, one could find pills that granted permanent stat increases regardless of tier, as well as temporary boosts suitable for Tier 0, Tier 1, and Tier 2 players. Higher-tier elixirs were presumably not displayed here.

After all, this was merely a novice zone, and even if higher-grade items were brought out, no one could afford them.

However, Mu Rongxun's attention bypassed those items; not only were they expensive, but he also possessed similar items of his own, rendering them unnecessary.

Gradually, his gaze was drawn to a different display nearby.

[Explosive Pill: The painstaking masterpiece of a first-generation grandmaster alchemist!]
[Star Rating: 3-Star]
[Effect: Generates an explosion upon being thrown, with a destructive force equivalent to a hand grenade, capable of dealing up to 100 points of damage.]
[Price: 100 Paradise Coins!]

Reading these attributes, curiosity flashed across Mu Rongxun's face.

"Can multiple of these explosive pills be used simultaneously?"

"Yes, absolutely!"

The female guide immediately explained.

"If several of these pills detonate at the same time, two scenarios can occur. One is that the blast radius increases; while the destructive force per unit area doesn't increase, expanding the affected zone is a disguised form of enhancement. The second scenario targets the exact same area, which increases the destructive power—for every additional pill used, the potency increases by fifty percent!"

"Oh?"

Mu Rongxun nodded.

"Give me one hundred of them."

Though a price of one hundred coins per pill was slightly steep, accumulating a sufficient quantity would yield a terrifying amount of destructive power, making them worthwhile for self-defense.

"Right away!"

Hearing that he wanted a hundred right off the bat, the female guide's smile blossomed, and her demeanor instantly grew even more enthusiastic.

Subsequently, Mu Rongxun inspected the bestselling poison pills and human-puppet pills, purchasing a small quantity of each.

His generous and unhesitating demeanor nearly caused the female guide to press her entire body against him. There was little doubt that had Mu Rongxun crooked a finger, she would have readily offered herself to him.

He simply lacked any interest in such distractions, however. Having finished his purchases, Mu Rongxun left the Ink Jade Pavilion directly, bypassing the neighboring Dan King Pavilion entirely.

Only then did he recall that someone had previously sent him a message.

"Hand over the items, Wild Wolf!"

"Hmm?"

Mu Rongxun frowned.

There truly was all sorts of people out there, sending random, inexplicable messages everywhere.

He decided to ignore such an idiot.

The person was merely a mentally deficient child lacking the beatings and care of society; Mu Rongxun had neither the obligation nor the inclination to humor such a character.

What he did not know, however, was that while ignoring them was generally a sound approach, the individual targeting him this time was quite out of the ordinary.

"Boss, no response!"

Within the Wild Wolf Adventurer Group, Third Wolf, who was specifically tasked with tracking, waited for a long time after transmitting the message without receiving any reply, realizing they had been ignored by the target.

"Quite clever, aren't they?"

Wild Wolf sneered.

"It doesn't matter if we didn't get a direct confirmation; we already have his alias, and as long as the locator points to him, it's fine. Still... damn it, making me spend extra on tracking fees. When we catch him, I won't let him die too easily."

"Don't worry, Boss!"

A flamboyantly dressed woman standing beside Wild Wolf smiled seductively, her ample chest heaving up and down.

Yet everyone in the vicinity immediately averted their gaze, entirely devoid of any desire to take advantage of the sight.

"When the time comes, I'll help you carve the flesh off his body piece by piece!"

"Uh... well, that won't be necessary!"

Wild Wolf quickly replied, utterly unequipped to handle her aggressive display of affection!

Disregarding her original appearance was one thing, but although Wild Wolf enjoyed beauties, he hadn't reached the point of losing all standards!

The rest of the Wild Wolf Adventurer Group members tactfully turned their heads away, ignoring Wild Wolf's desperate appeals for rescue.

A fellow Daoist must die so that the poor Daoist may live.

If the boss didn't descend into hell, who would?

Just consider it a sacrifice for the benefit of the entire guild!