Chapter 1420 — Striking the Deal — Indeed! That Billion Had Been Prepared in Advance! Old Yu Was So Furious He Wanted to Curse Aloud — Had You Calculated Just How Much Money the Secular Yu Family Had Before You Made Your Demand? That Billion Was Demanded with Real Skill!

"Young Master Zhao, you see... the secular Yu family can indeed produce this billion, but that is working capital! If we hand it over, several of the Yu family's businesses will grind to a halt!" Old Yu explained, somewhat helplessly.

"Tell me, Old Yu, what has any of that to do with me?" Zhao Qibing frowned, his patience wearing thin. However one looked at it, his standing far outstripped that of an old man whose secular family had only just been promoted to a hidden one, so he saw no reason to beat around the bush. "Old Yu, let me be frank with you: if you want to be cured, produce the billion. If you say your cash can't be touched, then bring me goods of equal value instead — property, companies, even the Yu family's auction house. Otherwise, go find yourself another expert!"

Zhao Qibing had long been casting a covetous eye on the Yu family's holdings. If he could get his hands on them, it would be a great merit rendered to the Zhao family, and his grandfather would look at him with new eyes.

Old Yu was frustrated to the point of death. Yet frustrated or not, to turn on his heel and walk away now would be the act of a brute. But to stake the rise and fall of the entire Yu family as the price — Old Yu would sooner die!

Suddenly, something came to Old Yu's mind! Something that might just tempt both Zhao Qibing and the Medicine King! He was reluctant to part with it, true, but as things stood, while it stayed on his person it was worth not a copper. Once he returned to the hidden Yu family he would have to hand it in anyway, and it would bring him, Old Yu, not the slightest benefit.

It was the Qi-Gathering Pill he had found in the ancient tomb! A divine pill that could drive a cultivator straight from the peak of the late Earth Rank to the Heaven Rank!

But that divine pill was of little use to Old Yu either. His present strength was still far from the peak of the late Earth Rank, and if the hidden Yu family ever learned he had it, it would only spell trouble. Better to trade it for his life. He trusted that, having gained such a boon, the Zhao family would never go around boasting of it and drawing envy.

So, having thought it through, Old Yu spoke: "What if I trade treasures of heaven and earth of equal value? Would that do?"

"Oh? What heavenly treasure?" The Medicine King's interest was piqued; he raised an eyebrow and asked.

"A Qi-Gathering Pill! Worth no less — more, in fact — and beyond price, for there is no market for it!" Old Yu said, his resolve hardened.

"A Qi-Gathering Pill? What's that supposed to be?" Zhao Qibing had never heard of any Qi-Gathering Pill. "Is it valuable? Worth a billion?"

"Young Master Zhao, the Qi-Gathering Pill is a sacred medicine for cultivation! I believe that with your discernment, Medicine King, you must know its value." Old Yu knew Zhao Qibing's knowledge was shallow, and he took no offence — after all, he was the one asking a favour — so he explained with what patience he could muster.

"What you speak of... is it truly the legendary Qi-Gathering Pill?" The Medicine King's gaze sharpened; he fixed his eyes on Old Yu and asked gravely, "Old Yu, you are not joking with me, are you?"

"My old life rests in your hands, Medicine King. Would I dare joke about such a thing?" Old Yu smiled bitterly. "This time I went through living hell and back for that Qi-Gathering Pill, and in the end it came to nothing — and I suffered no end of torment besides!"

As he said this, Old Yu's expression turned bleak. At such cost in scheming, so gravely wounded, with his balls skewered and poison in his veins, he had at last carried the Qi-Gathering Pill safely out of the ancient tomb — only to hand it over to another to save his own skin. How pitiful!

"If you truly have such a thing, then it is I who am getting the better of this bargain!" The Medicine King knew the value of the Qi-Gathering Pill, and hearing Old Yu's confirmation, he could not help but be moved. "Might I have a look?"

"Naturally!" Old Yu had already resolved to use it as his bargaining chip for survival; how could he not let the Medicine King examine it first? He drew a small bottle from his breast and handed it to the Medicine King with great care, his heart aching with reluctance — for this thing he had risked his life, and in the blink of an eye it would belong to another.

The Medicine King likewise took the bottle carefully, opened the stopper and sniffed. Astonishment immediately spread across his face. "Judging by the pill's quality, colour and fragrance, it must be a pill of at least the third grade. The colour and scent match the legendary Qi-Gathering Pill closely — this should be genuine!"

"I would not deceive you," Old Yu said, his heart bleeding.

"Good! I will do all in my power to purge the poison for you!" the Medicine King declared on the spot. This deal was simply too good to pass up! After all, this was a spirit pill capable of raising a cultivator from the peak of the late Earth Rank to the Heaven Rank — and at present, the head of the Zhao family was stuck fast at precisely that bottleneck, with six years and more gone by and no progress made. If he and Zhao Qibing could present this pill to the patriarch, then their standing in the Zhao family would be that of men who had rendered immortal service!

"Wait a moment!" Old Yu now waved a hand and cut the Medicine King off.

"Oh? Is there something else, Old Yu?" the Medicine King asked, betraying nothing in his face, though inwardly he feared Old Yu might renege and demand the pill back in exchange for the billion.

"The rest of my body is injured too. You will heal those as well — that should be no problem, yes?" Since Old Yu was paying such a price, he could hardly settle for mere detoxification.

"Naturally, no problem at all," the Medicine King agreed readily.

In truth, while removing the poison was no easy matter for the Medicine King, it was by no means overly taxing either. He merely wished Old Yu to feel he had gotten his money's worth for the pill, and so deliberately stretched a poison that could be cured in a single day into three. As for the wounds on Old Yu's hand and on his balls, those were trifles; the Medicine King dealt with them straight away.

After one round of treatment, Old Yu was much improved in spirits, and at last he breathed a sigh of relief and returned to the hotel first.

"Medicine King, what exactly is that Qi-Gathering Pill?" Zhao Qibing had held his tongue until now. From the Medicine King's expression he could tell it was certainly a good thing, but he did not know just how good.

"Congratulations, Young Master Bing, congratulations! This time our Zhao family will enter a new era of glory!" The Medicine King now burst into hearty laughter. "Heaven truly favours the Zhao family! This Qi-Gathering Pill is a spirit medicine that can help a man break through from the peak of the late Earth Rank straight to the Heaven Rank. Even among the legendary ancient sects, such pills were rarely seen — and now, of all people, our Zhao family has got its hands on one!"

"What?!" Zhao Qibing was utterly stunned by the Medicine King's words. "Really? Truly? This thing is that powerful? Then doesn't that mean... once Grandfather takes this pill, he'll become a Heaven Rank expert?"

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