Gold-Rimmed Glasses had claimed there was no need to fuss over one or two blossoms by the roadside, and that once they reached a good spot, fine flowers would be everywhere.
From how he made it sound, Li Banfeng had imagined that in a good spot, snake-spot chrysanthemums would grow like wheat, ripe for harvesting by the handful.
Yet now that they had arrived, Li Banfeng discovered that good flowers were not nearly so plentiful. In over two hours of searching, he had gathered only five in total.
Some snake-spot chrysanthemums had long stalks that could be sheared right off with a sickle, while others had no visible stem at all, their petals hugging the ground so closely that they had to be dug out bit by bit with a trowel.
By Li Banfeng's estimate, finding a single snake-spot chrysanthemum within a ten-meter radius was already a stroke of luck. The mountain fog grew heavier and heavier, visibility grew worse and worse, and ten meters was essentially the limit of their sight.
The flowers were hard to find, and the competition was fierce.
The medicine house scouts were right nearby. They had more experience and moved faster.
Nor was it just them—competition simmered even within this makeshift squad.
Lao Yanpao was a genuine Smoke Cultivator. When he claimed to be first-tier, he probably hadn't been lying.
Smoke was his eyes. Wherever the smoke drifted, he could see. In two hours, he had collected thirteen snake-spot chrysanthemums.
The young girl Caoye was skilled as well; Medicine Cultivators had a special sensitivity toward medicinal herbs, and she had harvested ten.
The voluptuous beauty Youtao was somewhat less adept. In two hours, she had found only three, doing even worse than Li Banfeng.
Still, what did she mean by constantly swaying around right in front of him?
Bent over in her qipao, leaning forward, her peach pointed right at him and swaying back and forth before his eyes—how was he supposed to pick chrysanthemums? Did she actually mean for him to pick a chrysanthemum?
Gold-Rimmed Glasses, supposedly the insider, showed only mediocre skill. He had gathered six flowers, just one more than Li Banfeng.
Hu Gaozi matched Li Banfeng, having gathered five as well.
The most useless was Qin Xiaopang, who had found only a single flower and was stomping his feet in frustration among the grass.
Hu Gaozi mocked him from the side: "With just one flower, you won't even scrape together half a pill. When the time comes, I'm afraid you won't even be able to sell it at the foot of the mountain!"
Xiaopang retorted irritably, "Why wouldn't I be able to sell it! It's not like they have to refine a pill from my single flower alone. They'll definitely pool all the collected flowers together to refine them!"
Li Banfeng asked, "A single flower can't even make half a pill?"
"It can't," Caoye said, having just spotted another snake-spot chrysanthemum. She picked it as she spoke. "I heard that refining a single top-grade pill takes five snake-spot chrysanthemums."
The beauty Youtao chimed in, "I heard it takes plenty of secondary ingredients, too."
Caoye thought for a moment. "As I recall, refining a snake-spot pill doesn't require secondary ingredients, but controlling the heat is exceptionally tricky. You have to change fires four or five times throughout, with different intensity each time, and every medicine house has a different method."
Hearing this, Youtao let out a sigh. "Pill recipes are like that: before you know them, they're worth more than gold; once you know them, it's all nonsense. Too bad we don't have that skill and can only risk our lives for pocket change. Little sister, meeting like this makes us friends. You study medicinal theory hard, and when we pick herbs in the future, we'll sell them to your shop—just be sure to give us a bit extra."
Caoye blushed with a smile and went back to searching for snake-spot chrysanthemums. Youtao had touched right on her heartfelt wish—opening a medicine shop was her dream.
Li Banfeng ran the numbers in his head: five flowers to refine one pill, at eighty-five yuan a stalk, buying the flowers alone came to four hundred and twenty-five. The cost of a snake-spot pill wasn't low; even without secondary ingredients, factoring in labor, it would run nearly five hundred yuan apiece.
The medicine house business wasn't easy either!
"How much does a snake-spot pill sell for?" Li Banfeng asked.
"Ten thousand," Xiaopang replied tersely.
Ten thousand?
Ten thousand!
Li Banfeng froze on the spot.
Was this a joke?
Ten thousand for a single pill!
That was exorbitant profit!
Seeing Li Banfeng rooted to the spot, Youtao giggled. "What, think that's expensive? Medicine houses deal in astronomical profits. Even at that price, you need wealthy patrons to buy them; ordinary people can't get their hands on one at all. Think about it: ten thousand yuan buys one day of cultivation, three million six hundred and fifty thousand buys one year, and thirty-six million five hundred thousand buys ten years. Ten years of cultivation is an entire tier. Scraping together three hundred million gets you ten tiers, and ten tiers of cultivation earns you three times the lifespan. Do you think that money isn't worth spending?"
"Whether it's worth it is another matter. Big Sister, when you speak, don't point your peach at me."
Youtao looked back over her shoulder, squinting at Li Banfeng with a smile. "Like it? Plump and fair. Want a squeeze? Give Big Sister a flower, and I'll let you squeeze to your heart's content."
A single pill, a twentyfold profit.
Li Banfeng found another snake-spot chrysanthemum. After staring at it for a while, he asked, "Rather than buying such expensive pills, wouldn't it be better to just eat the snake-spot chrysanthemums directly? They're only eighty-five apiece."
Caoye cried out, "Brother Baisha, don't you dare! You can't eat that! Snake-spot chrysanthemums are lethally poisonous. Eating even one will kill you!"
Li Banfeng was taken aback. "Snake-spot chrysanthemums are poisonous? Are snake-spot pills not poisonous, then?"
Caoye and Youtao looked at Li Banfeng together, as though gazing upon an illiterate fool.
Caoye said, "Snake-spot pills are toxic too, just not as potent, but you still can't take too many."
Youtao said, "I say, Brother Baisha, how do you know so little about anything? Do you really have cultivation? If you don't, hurry on down the mountain—don't throw your life away here. And another thing: when I said three hundred million buys ten tiers of cultivation, that was just an analogy. Don't take it seriously. If anyone actually ate that many snake-spot pills, who knows how many times they'd die."
Xiaopang warned Li Banfeng from the side, "Hurry up and find flowers! Why all the chatter? Business comes first!"
He was cautioning Li Banfeng not to expose his ignorance any further.
Still, he was right: business came first. Snake-spot chrysanthemums bloomed for only one day; once that day passed, the blossoms would wither.
Nor was that the most pressing issue. Li Banfeng was beginning to feel dizzy—he could barely hold out against the bitter mist.
Lao Yanpao, on the other hand, had his mind entirely on business. While the others were talking, he gathered another snake-spot chrysanthemum.
Tucking the flower into his cloth pouch, Lao Yanpao exhaled another mouthful of yellowish smoke. The smoke drifted for a moment, catching a scent, and Lao Yanpao hurried forward. Another snake-spot chrysanthemum appeared before his eyes.
Lao Yanpao drew his shears, snipped the flower stalk with practiced ease, and was just about to stow it away when the bald man who had snatched a flower by the roadside earlier suddenly appeared before him, reaching out to grab it.
Unhurried, Lao Yanpao blocked the back of the bald man's hand with the bowl of his pipe. With a sizzle, a patch of skin and flesh was scorched clean away.
The bald man cried out in pain and snarled at Lao Yanpao, "Old bastard, tired of living?"
Lao Yanpao chuckled. "Robbing me? I'd say you're the one tired of living."
"Who's robbing you? I saw that flower first!"
"Doesn't matter who saw it first. The flower is in my hands. If you have the guts, come take it!" Lao Yanpao wasted no more breath. Stowing the flower in his pocket, he held up his pipe and calmly watched the bald man.
The bald man whistled, and three more men closed in on Lao Yanpao.
He had brought reinforcements.
Now Lao Yanpao panicked.
"Old bastard, drop that pouch in your hand, and we'll spare your life today." The bald man drew a cleaver, and the three behind him drew their weapons as well.
Lao Yanpao hesitated for a moment, deciding against a reckless fight. He opened his pouch and said to the bald man, "There are twenty-two flowers here. I'll leave you half, and we'll call it even."
"I told you to leave all of them! Can't you hear? Love your money more than your life?" The bald man grinned, gave no room for discussion, and raised his blade to hack downward.
The young girl Caoye was terrified, ducking behind Gold-Rimmed Glasses.
Gold-Rimmed Glasses called out, "Friend, let's talk this through reasonably!"
Hu Gaozi stepped up as well. "We have to be reasonable. Don't fight just yet!"
The two came forward to intervene, but the bald man paid them no heed, swinging his blade again and again, every strike aimed straight for the head.
Besieged by four men, Lao Yanpao didn't even have a moment to draw on his pipe. Just as a blade was about to cleave into his skull, the bald man suddenly pulled back, a bloody gash opening across the back of his hand.
Xiaopang had made his move.
When you formed a squad, you looked out for one another. Xiaopang adhered strictly to the rules, and he had been itching to teach this bald man a lesson anyway.
Seeing that only Xiaopang had charged in, the bald man rallied his men to continue the assault.
Taking in the scene, Hu Gaozi cast a glance at Gold-Rimmed Glasses.
Gold-Rimmed Glasses swept his gaze across the others.
The young girl Caoye hid behind him, frozen with fear.
Youtao looked at the bald man, her intentions unclear.
Li Banfeng had spotted a snake-spot chrysanthemum and was preparing to pick it, seemingly indifferent to the fight unfolding nearby.
Hu Gaozi glanced at Gold-Rimmed Glasses again and murmured, "That's about enough."
Gold-Rimmed Glasses fixed his eyes on the bald man.
Four against two, the bald man's group had held the upper hand, but for some reason, their strikes grew increasingly frantic. Their hands trembled on their hilts, and their slashes landed crooked and clumsy, like greenhorns who had never been in a brawl.
What was happening?
Why were they so flustered?
Nothing about the situation seemed to call for panic.
The bald man's eyes gleamed and his cheeks were flushed red.
He wasn't panicking; he was excited.
So overly excited that his body had slipped out of control.
Seeing this, Gold-Rimmed Glasses rushed forward in two strides and planted a kick square into the bald man's chest, knocking him stumbling back several paces.
Hu Gaozi charged in as well, knocking down one of the men with a cleaver with a single punch, and shouted at the rest, "Refusing face when it's given, are you! Think we're easy to push around?!"
The bald man leveled his blade and said, "I'd advise you not to poke your nose into other people's business."
Gold-Rimmed Glasses hardened his expression and pushed up his spectacles. "We formed a squad and agreed to look out for one another. This business is ours to manage."
Xiaopang untied his pouch, wolfed down a jin of dry provisions, and hollered at them, "Come on then! Fight! Let's see if your granddaddy can't hack you all to death!"
Lao Yanpao raised his pipe bowl, taking two long draws, and a yellowish-white smoke gradually billowed forth.
Seeing the tide turn against them, the bald man led his crew in a hasty retreat.
Gold-Rimmed Glasses let out a long breath and turned to the others. "Everyone, hurry and pick your flowers. They won't dare come back."
Lao Yanpao put away his pipe, sat on the ground panting for a moment, and then went back to picking flowers.
Xiaopang marched over to Li Banfeng, sat down huffily, and whispered, "Brother Li, why didn't you give me a hand?"
Li Banfeng shoved the freshly picked snake-spot chrysanthemum into Xiaopang's hands. "Hurry up and pick flowers. Grab a few and let's go. Something isn't right."
With that, Li Banfeng set down a stone he had been gripping in his palm.
He had been holding it the entire time.
Only then did Xiaopang realize that Li Banfeng had been fully prepared to strike.
Gold-Rimmed Glasses spotted a snake-spot chrysanthemum, and just as he picked it, Hu Gaozi quietly walked up beside him. "Why didn't you let Old Third rob a batch first? If he'd robbed them, they'd have put in more effort. Aside from that old man, none of these people are worth a damn."
Gold-Rimmed Glasses slipped the chrysanthemum into his pouch and replied in an undertone, "That guy called Baisha isn't right."
"What's not right about him? Just a greedy, cowardly waste."
"He's a Joy Cultivator. Joy Cultivators have techniques to disrupt the mind; we have to be on our guard."
Hu Gaozi remained unconvinced. "He doesn't look like a Joy Cultivator to me. I've never seen a Joy Cultivator pairing up with a man."
Gold-Rimmed Glasses furrowed his brow slightly. "There's plenty you haven't seen."
Hu Gaozi still didn't buy it. "When the fat kid was taking a beating just now, I didn't see him step in either. How could a Joy Cultivator stand by and watch his partner get hit?"
"How do you know he didn't step in?" Gold-Rimmed Glasses dusted the soil from his hands. "Old Third was struck by a Joy Cultivator's technique just now—couldn't you tell? He couldn't even hold his blade steady!"
"That was a Joy Cultivator's technique?" Hu Gaozi was startled. "I thought Old Third had just lost his nerve. So what do you plan to do? We're calling off the job?"
"Of course we're doing the job. We'll change spots in a bit. Joy Cultivators have weak constitutions and can't hold out for long; he'll definitely head down the mountain early. Once he's on his own, we'll let Old Third deal with him, and we'll clean up the rest of them together over here." Gold-Rimmed Glasses stood up and began searching for the next snake-spot chrysanthemum.
Chapter 30