Chapter 3249 — Digging Two Big Pits

So even though Wei Zhao knew perfectly well that the Right family had a third-grade medicinal cauldron in their possession, he made no move to seize it. For him, this was a matter of personal principle.

"Right Panhu, I hear your family has quite a few medicinal cauldrons?" Wei Zhao asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Ah? There's only one third-grade cauldron..." Right Panhu started in fright and blurted out without thinking.

"I didn't ask about third-grade ones. You've got plenty of second-grade ones, haven't you?" Wei Zhao said.

"Second-grade? Oh, yes, we have a great many of those." Right Panhu breathed a sigh of relief. He had no idea what Wei Zhao was getting at, but so long as Wei Zhao did not want the third-grade cauldron, all was well. The second-grade ones did not matter much—they were hardly cheap to make, but they could not even be mentioned in the same breath as the third-grade.

"How many?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Several dozen, I'd say. Boss Wei Zhao, what do you want them for?" Right Panhu was baffled. He could not fathom why Wei Zhao cared about the number of second-grade cauldrons.

"Oh, sell them all to me," Wei Zhao said.

"Sell them to you? What do you want to buy second-grade cauldrons for?" Right Panhu was all the more puzzled. What use could Wei Zhao have for so many second-grade cauldrons? "Boss Wei Zhao, if you need one or two, I'll just give them to you. Buying this many is pointless—it's not as though these things break easily, is it?"

"Why so much blather? Are you selling or not? One word!" Wei Zhao frowned.

Seeing Wei Zhao frown, Right Panhu thought, This is bad—surely he isn't angry? At that thought, he had no choice but to say, "Sell, of course I'll sell. These aren't exactly rare goods. In fact, Xuandan Sect has consigned quite a few second-grade cauldrons to the cultivators' guild. Their asking price is fifty million each. Just give me the cost price of thirty million apiece..."

Here Right Panhu glanced cautiously at Wei Zhao. Thirty million was indeed the cost price—it was the very price the Right family had paid Xuandan Sect. Right Panhu truly did not dare open his mouth too wide with Wei Zhao. Yet even as he refrained from naming a high price, he feared that Wei Zhao might not even pay the thirty million. In truth, if Wei Zhao refused to pay at all, he would simply have to accept it. Who would dare provoke Wei Zhao?

"Thirty million, then. Fine. How many do you have?" Wei Zhao did not haggle. After all, thirty million was fairly cheap for such an item, at least compared with the price at which he sold his own second-grade automatic cauldrons.

"A little over thirty, I think. Boss Wei Zhao, why don't you give me a billion and I'll hand them all over to you? That should cover thirty-five or thirty-six of them." Seeing that Wei Zhao had not bargained, Right Panhu breathed another sigh of relief and voluntarily rounded the sum down for him.

"Done." Wei Zhao nodded. "Tell your people at home. I'll send Wu Chengtian over to collect them right now."

"Oh, right." Right Panhu nodded and hurried off to call home.

Kang Jinglong, meanwhile, stood to one side without saying a single word. His brow was slightly furrowed. What use could Wei Zhao possibly have for so many second-grade cauldrons? As Kang Jinglong saw it, there was no chance Wei Zhao meant to use them himself; he could not possibly need that many.

If not for his own use, then to resell? But this market had always been controlled by Xuandan Sect. If Wei Zhao bought them and then resold them, where was the profit? Unless... it had something to do with the first-grade automatic cauldrons? Were they meant for developing a second-grade automatic cauldron?

Only research could consume so many cauldrons. Otherwise, if they were used merely for refining pills, they would never wear out.

It had to be said that Kang Jinglong had a decent head on his shoulders—he had guessed the general direction. But he never guessed that Wei Zhao intended to use these cauldrons to produce the first batch of second-grade automatic cauldrons. For Kang Jinglong had fallen into a trap of his own making: he reasoned that since Wei Zhao could substitute other materials for the first-grade cauldrons, he might well be unable to substitute them for the second-grade ones. In fact, Wei Zhao had bought those thirty-odd cauldrons precisely to run experiments and seek substitutes.

After all, if Wei Zhao meant to mass-produce, how could thirty-odd cauldrons possibly suffice? And once production began, the raw materials would be stuck directly in Xuandan Sect's hands. If Xuandan Sect stopped shipping finished second-grade cauldrons, then Wei Zhao's first-grade automatic cauldrons would have to halt production as well!

In that case, Wei Zhao would have no choice but to hand Xuandan Sect a share of the profits—otherwise Xuandan Sect could simply burn the whole boat and drag everyone down with them. And that would spare Xuandan Sect the trouble of reverse-engineering the cauldrons themselves. They could simply sit back and demand a cut from Wei Zhao.

But Kang Jinglong would report this situation to Kang Jingming at the first opportunity, so that his side could prepare a response.

"Kang Jinglong, you're still here?" Wei Zhao glanced at him and asked mildly. "Weren't you never coming back?"

"I... you have your final exams, and I have to submit a final paper of my own. Naturally I have to attend Boss Bai's classes these days..." Kang Jinglong said, his expression somewhat unnatural. In truth, he had noticed that Wei Zhao had stopped coming to school lately and thought he had found an opening, so he had returned to campus to keep pursuing Wang Xinyan!

Originally, he had figured that even if Wei Zhao found out and was displeased, with Kang Jingming—an elder of Xuandan Sect—standing behind him, Wei Zhao would not dare kill him no matter how annoyed he was. But recently, word had spread one after another: Wei Zhao could not only kill experts at the peak of the late Heaven rank in an instant, but could even finish off consummate masters at the peak of the late Heaven rank. His strength had already reached an inconceivable realm.

"Oh. Let's hope you're not here to pester my girlfriend," Wei Zhao said lightly, glancing at Kang Jinglong.

"That... of course not..." Kang Jinglong was so enraged by Wei Zhao's single sentence that his face turned ashen. What do you mean, your girlfriend? She's my fiancée, all right? But Kang Jinglong did not dare talk back. He could only swallow his anger in silence. "Well... if there's nothing else, I'll be going."

"Goodbye." Wei Zhao turned and walked into the classroom. Kang Jinglong had come looking for Wang Xinyan, but now that Wei Zhao had arrived, he simply turned and left—and he was in a hurry to report the news to Kang Jingming besides.

Wei Zhao sent Wu Chengtian a text message, telling him to take a billion from Han Jingyi and go buy second-grade cauldrons from the Right family. He also sent Han Jingyi a message, explaining that the first batch of second-grade automatic cauldrons would use genuine second-grade cauldrons as materials.

Hearing Wei Zhao's proposal, Han Jingyi naturally approved all the more. Once the second-grade cauldrons hit the market, they could lull Xuandan Sect's Kang Jingming and give him another good screwing over—make him believe he needed to supply Wei Zhao, and so produce yet another batch of second-grade cauldrons that he would never be able to sell.

The business with Liu Tianli had left Han Jingyi with a bellyful of rage at Xuandan Sect and nowhere to vent it. Yet she had never imagined that Wei Zhao, with such casual ease, would dig two great pits for Kang Jingming—pits that Kang Jingming was certain to jump into. RS