"A call from Lingxi." Xie Su picked up his phone and glanced back at his wife.
His enchanting wife smiled. "That girl must be bored out of her mind from being grounded and doesn't want to stay in Songhai anymore. Honey, don't agree right away. Keep her dangling for a bit. The little wretch isn't very old, but she's already scheming against me. She badly needs to be disciplined."
Swaying her slender waist, she walked over and sat down by the table.
Xie Su immediately answered the call and smiled. "Lingxi, miss your dad?"
"Dad, come to Songhai right away! Hurry, come to Songhai!"
His daughter's hurried voice came over the speaker, slightly shrill and seemingly agitated with excitement.
"What's the matter? Homesick, aren't you? Want Dad to come to Songhai and bail you out?" Xie Su said, glancing across the round table at his wife, who was waving her hands repeatedly.
*Act reluctant, don't let her come back,* Mother Xie mouthed.
Some women were born combative; without "sisters" in the house to fight against, mother and daughter could bicker just as easily.
Xie Su never meddled in the schemes between mother and daughter, but at times he had no choice, just like now.
"Lingxi, Dad's been busy lately and can't get away. Stay in Songhai for a few more days, and once I wrap things up, I'll head over to pick you up..." Xie Su noticed his wife pointing at herself.
"Or maybe you could call and ask your mother?" Xie Su caught on to what his wife wanted.
There was silence on the other end for a few seconds before Xie Lingxi's tone instantly regained its composure. "Is Mom right next to you?"
Mother Xie hastily waved her hands.
"No," Xie Su said, shaking his head.
"Strange. I can smell the green tea through the phone..." Xie Lingxi's tone turned frosty. "Dad, since you're busy, I won't bother you. I'll go find another uncle. Mom definitely won't do—after all, retrieving the Holy Infant's head is such a monumental matter. How could a mere housewife like Mom represent the family in public?"
Xie Su felt as if struck by five bolts of thunder, utterly stunned.
The words *the Holy Infant has returned to reality* echoed repeatedly in his mind.
A moment later, a surge of adrenaline rushed to his head. Xie Su sprang to his feet and said urgently, "Lingxi, this is no joking matter! What news did you hear? Wasn't the Holy Infant's head lost in the Sea of Yashan? Quick, tell your dad everything!"
Any prominent Spirit Realm family inevitably controlled at least one high-grade rule-based item; rule-based items were the bedrock and foundation of such families.
Losing the Holy Infant's head had in fact shaken the Xie family's very foundation.
If he could welcome back the Holy Infant's head, it would be a tremendous merit, and his position as family head would become as solid as Mount Tai.
Yet Xie Lingxi refused to give him a straight answer, whining coquettishly, "Dad, I haven't called you in so long, and you don't care about me at all. You don't even know how much I loved those two items you gave Mom last year."
Xie Su shouted, "I'll have her give them to you!"
"You little wretch! Those were wedding anniversary gifts from your father!" Mother Xie shrieked.
"Thank you, Dad~" Xie Lingxi giggled. "Oh, right, I've been wandering outside lately and I'm really short on money. Mom's been managing my annual family dividends, claiming I'm underage..."
"It'll all be returned to you!" Xie Su promised.
"With interest too," Xie Lingxi added. "Though I don't really understand these things. I heard Brother Yuanshi say that bank annual interest rates are twenty percent right now."
Mother Xie's chest heaved with fury.
"Fine, Dad will get it all back for you! Lingxi, stop keeping me in suspense, tell me already!!" Xie Su urged.
"Brother Yuanshi just got back from the Sea of Yashan and brought back the Holy Infant's head. Dad, hurry up and come! If you don't, he'll sell it to the Five Elements Alliance. I used up a massive favor just to secure priority purchasing rights for you," Xie Lingxi claimed credit.
"Good girl! Dad is coming to Songhai right away."
With that, Xie Su could not wait to hang up.
"I'm going with you!" Mother Xie pushed back from the table and stood up, looking ready to purge her own kin and tear her daughter to shreds.
"Why the hell would you go? Don't make trouble for me." Xie Su glared her back down and barked, "Get the bank cards and those two items out. I'm seeing my precious daughter right away. Hurry up, don't delay me retrieving the Holy Infant's head."
"..."
***
Fujia Bay, the small townhouse villa.
In the living room, Xie Lingxi hung up and set her phone down with satisfaction. She picked up half a watermelon on the table, scooped out the best piece from the center, and popped it into her mouth with relish.
Beside the table, Zhang Yuanqing studied her and remarked wryly, "Why do I feel like you, the middleman, are profiting a bit too much here?"
"When one ascends to heaven, even their fowls and dogs rise with them," Xie Lingxi wiggled coyly, swallowed the watermelon, and said, "Brother Yuanshi, when my dad arrives, remember to quote a high price."
She tilted her head, thought for a moment, and made an outrageous demand: "Two billion in cash and a hundred vials of Life Essence."
Queen's eyes widened. "Does the Xie family even have that much money? Even if they do, they definitely don't have that much Life Essence."
Zhang Yuanqing scoffed at her, "Shoo, shoo, don't stir up trouble. I'm doing business with your family in good faith."
As a prominent Spirit Realm family that had operated for a century, the Xie family possessed incalculable assets, but it was absolutely impossible for them to produce two billion in cash in one go.
A hundred vials of Life Essence was even more out of the question.
Xie Lingxi's eyes curved into crescents as she giggled. "It's called starting high so we can negotiate down. The Holy Infant's head was lost by a clan cousin of mine. His grandfather happens to be the Old Ancestor's favorite son, and his father once competed with my dad for the position of family head.
"He was very talented, and everyone said he'd become the next family head of the Xie family. That clan cousin of mine often ridiculed my dad behind his back, saying so what if he became family head—he didn't even have a son with a dick, so his glory would only last one generation.
"After he died in the Sea of Yashan, the Old Ancestor punished his branch, but couldn't bear to punish them too severely."
Zhang Yuanqing understood. "So the higher I quote, the better. Either way, the Holy Infant's head can't return to the Xie family too easily."
Xie Lingxi nodded with a grin. "If it's brought back too easily, how could my father's importance be highlighted?"
Guan Ya feigned sudden realization. "Don't let our Lingxi's young age fool you; she's far more scheming than the rest of us."
Xie Lingxi's expression flickered slightly before adopting a fragile, innocent demeanor. "Sister Guan Ya misunderstands me. That's all just what my dad said; I only happened to overhear it. I'm only seventeen—how could I understand such things?"
Queen was utterly impressed. "You people from great families are truly clever. Unlike me, coming from a poor background with a foolish brain."
Zhang Yuanqing felt he couldn't stay any longer. He got up to leave. "I just got out of a dungeon, so I'm going to take a nap."
Li Chunfeng quietly gave him a gloating look before speaking up: "I pulled some strings and found several decent weapons for you. I sent their attributes to your email. Take a look and pick one; if you're not satisfied, let me know."
"Thanks!"
Zhang Yuanqing returned to his room, washed up quickly, took out his phone, and opened his mailbox. Sure enough, an email from Li Chunfeng was there.
Three offensive weapons in total.
One dagger, one shotgun, and one long saber.
The dagger had armor-piercing, bleeding, and hallucination effects, making it very suitable for an assassin-type Night Wanderer.
The shotgun had a single function: explosive blast. Its advantage was immense destructive power, while its drawbacks were slow attack speed, poor accuracy, and lack of rapid fire. Against an opponent adept in close combat, one often only had time to fire a single shot.
The long saber also had a single function: toxin. Anyone slashed by it would be injected with virulent poison, leaving them crippled if not dead. Highly vicious, it was an item for the Witch Doctor class.
"All three items are decent, but merely decent. At the Saint stage, they're only middling..."
Zhang Yuanqing did not think much of the three items. What he wanted was a high-grade or even top-tier item of the Saint stage.
When it came to ordinary mid-grade Saint-stage items, he already had plenty in his inventory and guild storage. Spending ten or twenty million more to buy another would offer far too low a value for money.
Although people constantly scoffed that money was waste paper and inflation was rampant, producing tens of millions on short notice was something an ordinary Saint could never manage.
It proved the old saying: assets and cash were two entirely different things.
"I want a high-grade or even top-tier item. The price is negotiable," he replied to the email.
Once he sold the Yin-Yang Turntable and the Holy Infant, he should be able to scrape together enough money for a top-tier item.
***
At seven-thirty in the evening, Zhang Yuanqing was awoken by his ringtone. Cursing under his breath, he picked up his phone and found that Fu Qingyang was calling.
Answering the call, Fu Qingyang's characteristically cold voice came through:
"The people from the Jianghuai branch and headquarters have arrived. The Xie family head is here as well."
"I'll be right over." Zhang Yuanqing's spirits lifted.
Hanging up, he took a deep breath and ran through the contents of their afternoon discussion in his mind.
People from headquarters had come too. That meant the Jianghuai branch had rejected Fu Qingyang's demands, considering the cost too steep, and had escalated the matter to headquarters.
They had invited people from headquarters to Songhai to exert pressure, attempting to reclaim the Yin-Yang Turntable using the bounty rewards.
Such political maneuvers were commonplace in large organizations. If you did not fight for certain things, no one would hand them to you.
Much less would anyone pity you.
Infighting and maneuvering within the bounds of the rules were precisely what Fu Qingyang excelled at and had always been engaged in, which was why he backed Zhang Yuanqing.
A newcomer like Yuanshi Tianzun lacked a solid foundation, had no vast network of connections, and had no political track record within the official ranks. The Jianghuai branch would never let him demand whatever he pleased; leveraging connections to exert pressure was only natural.
Hence, maneuvering was necessary.
Originally, this should have been a win-win scenario, as official members craved Merit Points, and to the Jianghuai branch, Merit Points were merely a nominal title. The tangible benefits behind them were covered by headquarters—or rather, the entire organization—without requiring the branch to pay a single penny from their own pockets.
"Sometimes, long-term gains mean very little compared to immediate benefits. This time, I need to let headquarters know that the system's rules cannot bind me." Putting on his shoes, Zhang Yuanqing hummed softly:
"I am by nature an unruly youth, believing neither in ghosts nor gods, nor in men..."
A flare of starlight lit up and vanished, leaving his voice lingering faintly in the room.
The next second, a lavishly styled study appeared before his eyes, along with Fu Qingyang sitting behind a spacious desk.
And on the guest sofa sat three visitors.
One was in his thirties, with chiseled facial features, deep eyes, and fine crow's-feet at the corners of his eyes. One could faintly tell that he must have been a striking heartthrob in his youth, and now was a handsome middle-aged man seasoned by the passage of time.
He wore a vintage-style white shirt and black trousers, loose and flowing, which added an ethereal air to his appearance.
*Xie Lingxi's dad? His features look somewhat alike, but not by much...* Zhang Yuanqing then turned his gaze to the other two.
Both wore formal suits. One had graying sideburns and slightly downturned lips, stern and unsmiling, looking exceedingly rigid and austere.
The other wore black-rimmed glasses, wore a smile, and had a mild temperament.
The three guests, who had been chatting idly, simultaneously glanced over at Yuanshi Tianzun, who had appeared in the room.
Sitting lofty behind his desk, Fu Qingyang said, "Yuanshi Tianzun, this is the head of the Xie family."
He then proceeded to introduce the man in his fifties with graying temples and the middle-aged man with black-rimmed glasses: "Elder Cold-Blooded Detective of the Jianghuai branch, and Secretary Li, who serves beside the headquarters' First Elder."
*Ah, greetings, big bosses...* Zhang Yuanqing almost slipped up. Sticking to the script, he maintained an aloof demeanor and gave the three guests a nod.
"I often hear Lingxi mention you. Truly a dashing talent. That the Five Elements Alliance has a genius like you makes us quite envious." Xie Su smiled warmly. "Come, sit beside me."
Zhang Yuanqing retreated toward Fu Qingyang's desk. "Business ought to be conducted like business. Family Head Xie, what price is the Xie family willing to offer to buy back the Holy Infant?"
He paid no heed to the Jianghuai branch's elder or the First Elder's secretary, choosing instead to negotiate with the Xie family first.
The two looked deeply into each other's eyes for a few seconds. After a brief pause, Xie Su said, "I would like to inspect the items first."
Zhang Yuanqing immediately took out the Yin-Yang Turntable and the Holy Infant head, placing them on the desk.
Xie Su and Elder Cold-Blooded Detective stood up at the same time. As the former examined it closely, both revealed delighted smiles.
"The Sea of Yashan is an S-grade dungeon; being matched into it was nearly impossible. We thought it would be exceedingly difficult to ever recover the Holy Infant..." Xie Su beamed. "A genius dungeon conqueror—well-deserved fame, truly well-deserved!"
A faint smile cracked Elder Cold-Blooded Detective's stern face. "Yuanshi Tianzun, you have done very well."
The Yin-Yang Turntable was an exceptionally critical item to the Jianghuai branch. Due to its special function, its value surpassed even ordinary Dominator-grade items.
At this point, Fu Qingyang spoke up: "Now that the items have been recovered, they naturally should return to their rightful owners. Family Head Xie, make an offer."
Xie Su replied promptly, "The Xie family's offer was made long ago: ten vials of Life Essence and fifty million in cash."
Zhang Yuanqing shook his head.
"In this world, rarity dictates value. While Life Essence is indeed precious, and the Xie family's production is limited, as long as it can be produced, it is not irreplaceable. As for fifty million, money is the cheapest thing there is.
"To purchase a component of a rule-based item with such things... Family Head Xie, do not take advantage of my youth."
Xie Su did not dispute this and took the initiative to ask, "Then name your price."
Zhang Yuanqing had been waiting for those very words.
"Two billion in cash, one hundred vials of Life Essence, and one top-tier Saint-stage item."
Elder Cold-Blooded Detective and Secretary Li narrowed their eyes.
Xie Su's brow furrowed tightly as he said in displeasure, "Yuanshi Tianzun, why don't you just demand all of the Xie family's businesses outright?"
"Family Head Xie overstates the matter. Those are my terms. If you agree, all is well; if not, the Holy Infant head remains mine," Zhang Yuanqing said firmly.
"Absurd!" Xie Su flared with rage. "You insolent brat! You dare bully my Xie family? Have you considered the consequences?"
Yuanshi Tianzun chuckled. "Family Head Xie, please watch your words. Are you threatening me in front of Elder Fu, Elder Cold-Blooded Detective, and Secretary Li?"
Xie Su took a deep breath. "I have heard your terms. I will report them to the Old Ancestor."
With that, he rose with an irritated look. "I shall take my leave."
*Family Head Xie is quite cooperative...* Zhang Yuanqing said, "Take care!"
In the plan he and Fu Qingyang had devised, maneuvering against headquarters could not be too aggressive, yet they could not afford to be soft either. Thus, the Xie family served as the rooster slaughtered to scare the monkeys.
Setting a tough precedent right away would make subsequent bargaining much easier.
Given what Xie Lingxi had revealed that afternoon, Zhang Yuanqing was confident that Family Head Xie would play along with his outrageous demands, because that was precisely what Family Head Xie wanted as well.
Sure enough, Family Head Xie had cooperated seamlessly.
Watching Family Head Xie flick his sleeves and storm out, Zhang Yuanqing turned toward the two on the sofa.
Secretary Li chuckled and said, "Yuanshi, sometimes human relationships matter more than material gain. You're asking for too much."
The remark carried a veiled undertone.
"Secretary Li, Elder Cold-Blooded Detective, what is your offer?" Zhang Yuanqing feigned ignorance.
Elder Cold-Blooded Detective said in a deep voice, "Yuanshi Tianzun, the Jianghuai branch posted a bounty long ago: B-grade Merit Points and an eight-million-cash reward, all certified by headquarters. We will not negotiate with you. Yuanshi Tianzun, you must understand your place. You can haggle with the Xie family, but headquarters does not play that game."
Zhang Yuanqing said, "Headquarters may acknowledge the terms of that bounty, but I do not!"
Chapter 361