Terrifying Families

The next day. Dawn had barely broken. Jiang Man had not slept at all, cultivating right through until now. Watching the first pale white light creep across the sky, he knew the middle-grade Qi-Blood Method had slipped through his fingers. Yet a prodigy had choices of his own; what he sought in his heart had long surpassed a mere middle-grade cultivation technique. Late June would not be a time for gathering strength, but a time to display it. "What are you thinking about?" the old yellow ox asked. "Grand declarations," Jiang Man replied. "If not for my lack of spirit sources, I would have shouted them aloud by now." "Someone has still been watching you in secret lately, leaving as soon as dawn breaks," the old yellow ox said. "That's normal. They just want to see whether I'm putting on a show or truly going without sleep." Jiang Man did not care. These days, no one in Qingyun Pavilion left earlier than him. With him, the number one of Qingyun, refusing to leave, who dared to walk out through Qingyun's main gates on a whim? During this time, those who slept probably couldn't even sleep peacefully. Because everyone else was cultivating. Sleeping meant falling behind, and falling behind meant poor evaluations. Finding a good living would become harder than reaching the heavens. Afterward, he planned to go buy pills. Then he would begin his push toward the Qi-Linking ninth layer. If he failed to advance, it would be utterly impossible to claim first place in the Yunqian Division. However... When Jiang Man went to purchase Spirit Gathering Pills, he discovered the price had jumped. It had spiked straight from three hundred to four hundred. Why had this happened? Was someone targeting him? "Student cultivator, if you want to buy, you'd better do it soon. It will probably go up again," the seller kindly cautioned. Jiang Man was puzzled. Why the sudden price hike? Could it be the Li family? Were they targeting him again? Jiang Man then inquired about other pills. Every single one had gone up in price. Increases ranged between fifty and one hundred and twenty. Jiang Man asked about the reason, and the answer was simple. More people were buying. Pills had become scarce. Naturally, the prices climbed. Jiang Man fell silent. How could this be? Had this year's harvest of raw medicinal ingredients been poor? Or had these people singled him out to make things difficult on purpose? There were only three places selling pills in the entire Yunqian Division. That was indeed a possibility. So should he buy or not? After a moment's hesitation, Jiang Man was in no rush to purchase. He needed to go back and ask why this was happening. If he was being targeted, he could ask Teacher Zhao to step in. It should be solvable. Still, the Li family's methods were truly formidable. Yet when Jiang Man asked Teacher Zhao, he was stunned. "Pill prices have indeed risen, and they will continue to climb all the way through June, perhaps even into August. In the time it took you to walk over here, they've probably already reached four hundred and thirty," Teacher Zhao answered truthfully. Jiang Man was silent for a moment before asking, "Why would they surge so suddenly?" Was there really a problem with the raw materials? "There is nothing wrong with the raw materials. The spirit herbs supplied from various regions are fairly stable right now, with minimal fluctuations." Teacher Zhao looked at Jiang Man and explained, "The real issue is that too many people are buying, and in massive quantities. In a single afternoon, they nearly bought out the entire stock. "Thus, the prices went up." Who could possibly consume so much? Even with people preparing to contest the third competition, it was impossible to buy out the entire supply. After all, participants made up only a tiny fraction of the cultivators. Unless someone was doing it intentionally. "Those families?" Jiang Man asked. "Yes," Zhao Leming nodded. "Indeed. Word is that because quite a few people refused contracts this time, the families acted together to apply pressure. "Under these circumstances, the Yunqian Division cannot intervene. "Because every single buyer is a student cultivator of the Yunqian Division. "If they were to suppress it, they would either have to enforce quotas—say, five pills per person a month—or do what they are doing now: impose no limits, but raise prices. "Besides, the Yunqian Division also needs to earn spirit sources. This is practically handing spirit sources to the Yunqian Division on a silver platter. "The quantities involved are beyond what you can imagine. "Voices within the Yunqian Division won't be unified either, so this situation cannot be resolved." Jiang Man had never imagined that one day he would be defeated by market prices. At four hundred and fifty a pill now, wouldn't nine thousand spirit sources only carry the purchasing power of six thousand? His assets had shrunk by nearly half. He had never underestimated the power of the great families. Yet he had never anticipated that their power would manifest in such a manner, obstructing his path toward immortality. "The price hikes will likely continue, eventually capping out around six hundred. They should stay there through the third competition, but they won't plummet immediately. It will take until roughly August for them to return fully to three hundred," Zhao Leming reminded him once more. Jiang Man fell silent. A direct reduction of half. Ten thousand spirit sources would only function as five thousand. Under such circumstances, poor cultivators lacking sufficient strength had no way out. A lack of pills would leave them unable to make the slightest progress. As a result, they would inevitably fail the sect assessment. Faced with this, many would choose to join those great families. Jiang Man also asked how Zhao Leming knew all this. The answer was simple: such things happened every few years. It mostly depended on whether many people signed contracts. If cultivators banded together to refuse them, this kind of situation would occur. All of it was to consolidate the standing of the prominent families. Luoyun City was stable enough as it was; it had no need for new families rising up and upsetting the balance. Only after getting to the bottom of the situation did Jiang Man take his leave. On the way to the Sixth Courtyard, his thoughts raced. A twinge of regret stirred within him. Had he known earlier, he would have had Fang Tianyi and the others hand over pills directly. By that logic, Song Qing, who had given pills away, probably regretted it too. Pills bought for three hundred were now selling for over four hundred. If he had held onto them, he would have turned a clean profit of more than a hundred. Arriving at the Sixth Courtyard, Jiang Man found many people discussing the matter of the pills. The sudden, massive price hike made things very painful for them as well. Many here were poor, consuming at most two or three pills a month. Now, they simply couldn't afford them. Fortunately, they did not have to take part in the sect assessment, so they could endure it somewhat. Naturally, quite a few were kicking themselves in regret—had they known prices would skyrocket, they would have bought up a batch in advance and sold them now. They would have become substantially wealthier in a flash. When Jiang Man walked in, the little fatty was about to come over, but Fang Yong approached first. Seeing this, the little fatty backed away again. When first and second place were speaking, someone ranked near the bottom had no business getting close. Jiang Man and Fang Yong stepped to the side. "Do you know about the pill situation?" Fang Yong asked. Jiang Man nodded. "I do. I heard it could climb to six hundred. Do you have a channel, Young Master Fang?" Fang Yong looked at Jiang Man, hesitated for a moment, and nodded. "I do. Normally speaking, it's still the regular price of three hundred. But do you really need them? You're at the Qi-Linking eighth layer; even without pills, you can enter the sect just the same." Jiang Man shook his head. "That would be too disgraceful. It doesn't suit someone like me." How could a prodigy like him enter the sect looking like a stray dog? "Wrap up cultivation early today, and I'll take you there." Fang Yong paused, then added, "However, they'll probably have conditions. I'm not certain of the specifics, but as long as they agree, you'll definitely be able to buy enough pills—and at the original price." Jiang Man did not doubt him. Young Master Fang's judgment was certainly not lacking. After all, when looking for a young master in the Six Pavilions to befriend, he had managed to pick the number one of the Six Pavilions. How could someone like that have poor judgment? He simply didn't know what price he would have to pay. Of course, he would never leave the Yunqian Division; what if it was a trap? Within the grounds of the Yunqian Division, he could rely on Teacher Zhao's protection and would not be wronged.