Chapter 3981 — The Price of a Trade

Xu Lingchong understood this more keenly than Kang Jingming did. He at once lowered his voice into a threat: "Peak No. 1 cave dwelling—apart from Kang Jingming, I will not let it fall into anyone's hands. Not anyone's. Wei Zhao, do you want to try me?"

Wei Zhao burst out laughing on the spot. He was not about to fall for that. Arching an eyebrow, he said, "Truly worthy of Young Master Xu—what a magnificent display of authority. A pity this is the Welcome Pavilion, where matters concerning this place are, I'm afraid, not quite yours to decide, are they, Young Master Xu? Or is the Young Master perhaps preparing to overstep his station and manage us new underlings on Pavilion Master Hu's behalf?"

"Hmph. Sharp tongue, glib mouth." Xu Lingchong shot Wei Zhao a venomous glare, then all at once broke into laughter himself. "Hahaha, I was merely joking. Must you be so tense, Young Master Lin? As you say, this is Hu Yunfeng's domain. Naturally I would not presume to meddle beyond my remit."

"Good to hear. I was beginning to think Young Master Xu meant to wipe out with a single sentence the spoils I won through such hard effort. Reaching your hand out so far—if that were to reach the ears of the higher-ups, it would be rather hard to explain, wouldn't it?" Wei Zhao smiled faintly, wholly unruffled.

A man like Xu Lingchong had deep roots and a boundless future, flawless in every respect almost beyond the reach of attack—on the surface, an opponent of immense and terrifying strength. And yet he had one great weakness: his ambition was too vast.

It was precisely because Xu Lingchong harbored such grand ambitions that he had to guard his image. Never mind sending assassins after Wei Zhao—a venture of enormous risk; even so commonplace a trifle as suppressing a newcomer could not be done, for it would tarnish his shining reputation.

Otherwise, had he truly been without scruples, then given the vast gulf in strength and status between them, Wei Zhao could never have sparred with him unscathed to this very day.

Xu Lingchong's expression stiffened. He had no choice but to say, "What will it take for you to give up Peak No. 1 cave dwelling? Name your price."

"Let me name my price?" Wei Zhao smiled meaningfully. "My apologies. I have already made an agreement with the other newcomers of the Soaring Heaven Pavilion. If, in the end, Grand Steward Kang is still occupying Peak No. 1 cave dwelling, it would rather damage my reputation, would it not?"

The implication between the lines was plain enough: he was preparing to squeeze him for everything he was worth.

Xu Lingchong disdained to haggle with a lowly newcomer like Wei Zhao, and he liked even less the feeling of being held over a barrel. He at once shot Kang Jingming a look, signaling him to step forward and settle the matter—after all, this was a mess Kang Jingming had brought upon himself; what reason was there for Xu Lingchong, the ringleader, to wipe his backside for him in person?

Kang Jingming had no choice but to brace himself and say, "So long as the terms are right, nothing is impossible. Surely you understand as well as I do, Wei Zhao, that no other newcomer of the Soaring Heaven Pavilion could offer you better terms than I can. Better to let yourself profit than to let those others profit—is that not so?"

"Oh? And what terms has Grand Steward Kang prepared for me? By all means, let's hear them." Wei Zhao sounded rather intrigued.

Kang Jingming choked yet again. With the leverage in Wei Zhao's hands, he knew he was sure to be squeezed dry today—there was no escaping it. He could only say, "Men die for wealth, birds die for food. You want spirit jade, nothing more. I'll give you five pieces of spirit jade. How's that?"

Wei Zhao couldn't help but laugh. "Five pieces of spirit jade? A grand Peak No. 1 cave dwelling, worth only five pieces of spirit jade in the eyes of Grand Steward Kang? Forgive me for asking—are you tossing alms to a beggar?"

"Then... ten pieces of spirit jade. Surely that's no small sum!" Kang Jingming said hastily.

"Not enough." Wei Zhao lifted his eyelids faintly.

"Twenty pieces of spirit jade, and not one piece more. Otherwise go find someone else—I'd rather like to see how much they'd be willing to give you!" Kang Jingming said, grinding his teeth.

Fine as Peak No. 1 cave dwelling was, more than half of the one-year term the Welcome Pavilion granted newcomers had already elapsed. In other words, Kang Jingming's terms amounted to trading twenty pieces of spirit jade for half a year's right to use Peak No. 1 cave dwelling—a better deal than which it would be all but impossible to find under heaven.

Of course, Kang Jingming was never the sort to take a loss for nothing. He dared set such a price because he had counted on the rumors that had been circulating about Wei Zhao—the rumors that Wei Zhao could not tell good jade from worthless, and had been tricked again and again by Meng Zhou and his like into trading good jade for scraps.

Twenty pieces of fine jade would have pained him to death. But twenty pieces of worthless jade—that was no problem at all. He could lay hands on them in a matter of minutes.

Wei Zhao knew this perfectly well. He scoffed inwardly, but his tone remained mild. "Grand Steward Kang is indeed a personage of consequence—generous the moment he opens his mouth. A pity I don't think much of your twenty pieces of spirit jade at all."

Aiya! Kang Jingming nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood. He stared at Wei Zhao in utter disbelief. Damn it, is there a hole in this thing's brain? He doesn't think much of twenty pieces of spirit jade? Who the hell does he think he is?

Could it be that this creature had already seen through his ill intentions? Kang Jingming's heart gave a thump. His face ugly, he said, "Wei Zhao, one should never push things to the extreme. I advise you not to bully others too far!"

"Never push things to the extreme? I hadn't realized Grand Steward Kang was so understanding of reason. A pity you don't seem to have grasped that yourself." Wei Zhao curled his lip mockingly, making Kang Jingming flush green and purple by turns, and only then continued, "I may as well be plain with you. I don't want spirit jade. What I want is spirit herb seeds."

At these words, not only Kang Jingming but even Xu Lingchong was struck dumb. Set twenty pieces of spirit jade beside spirit herb seeds, and any normal person would know which to choose. Spirit herb seeds held the hope of being cultivated to viability, yes—but unless one were in a proper place like a spirit herb garden, the odds of survival were vanishingly small. To the vast majority of people, they were little more than chicken ribs.

And yet, back in the spirit herb assessment, Wei Zhao had once pulled off the mad feat of cultivating thirty-nine out of forty spirit herb seeds to viability. Whatever means he had used, in his hands spirit herb seeds might truly become a money-printing machine.

"How many spirit herb seeds do you want?" Kang Jingming asked in a low voice.

That Wei Zhao wanted no spirit jade and had instead asked for spirit herb seeds was not, to his mind, bad news. Thanks to Xu Lingchong's patronage, he had recently established connections with no few persons of real power in the Pill Hall. Even if that Steward Linghua of the spirit herb garden had been somewhat cool toward him since the business of slandering Wei Zhao, obtaining a few spirit herb seeds was still no trouble at all.

Spirit herb seeds were goods the Pill Hall cultivated in bulk. Though by regulation they could neither be bought nor found outside, everyone knew their value was not high—otherwise the Hall would never have handed them out in such quantities, knowingly wasting them, to the newcomers for assessment purposes. R1152