Chapter 16: Conditions (Contracted, please keep reading, please recommend, please bookmark)

When the group arrived at the entrance of the grocery store, they saw many cultivators inside purchasing spiritual items, most of whom were buying Jade Spirit Pills.

The shop was too crowded for them to enter, so they had no choice but to stand outside.

Fortunately, they did not have to wait long before the other clansmen returned one after another. Seeing this, Li Shilian spoke to Li Shiren and then led the clansmen toward the exit of the market town.

With a Foundation Establishment cultivator like Li Shilian leading the way, the journey was naturally smooth and safe, and they returned to Great Banyan Island without incident.

"Go back now," Li Shilian said, stepping away first. He was anxious to report the grocery store's business to Li Shiqing and to find a way to solve the problem of the high demand for Water Refined Pills.

After bidding farewell to the clansmen, Li Li-rui walked toward the small courtyard in Shanyin alone. As soon as he entered the door, he impatiently entered his spatial dimension.

A batch of spiritual herbs had matured in the space some time ago. Li Zirui had collected their seeds, but since they were not what he needed at the moment, he had not planted them.

Coincidentally, Li Zirui had just purchased many spiritual herbs he didn't have before; specifically, he had bought the most seeds for the various herbs required to refine Jade Spirit Pills and Spirit Supplementing Pills.

However, as soon as Li Zirui entered, Da Qing approached him, opening its massive mouth in anticipation of being fed.

Even during his previous lean times, Li Zirui had never mistreated Da Qing, let alone now when he was not lacking in spiritual pills at all. Thus, Li Zirui unhesitatingly fed it two Jade Spirit Pills; any more than that, and Da Qing would be unable to refine them.

"Go to the lakeside to refine the pills," Li Zirui said, patting Da Qing's green head and pointing toward the giant rock designated for Da Qing's rest.

Li Zirui had specifically placed this rock in the space so that Da Qing could be near water without its resting area being submerged.

Although Da Qing's intelligence was not high, it could still understand simple commands. It shook its head and slowly crawled away.

After settling Da Qing, Li Zirui began to use spells to loosen the soil, summoned a bout of spiritual rain, and finally planted the spiritual seeds one by one.

By the time he finished, over an hour had passed. When Li Zirui looked up, he saw the heavy heads of grain not far away and murmured, "In just a few days, these spiritual grains should be ripe."

Thinking of this, Li Zirui suddenly felt a headache coming on. He had previously grown spiritual rice because he could eat it directly to accelerate his cultivation speed.

Once these dozen or so acres of spiritual rice matured, they would yield nearly two thousand catties. However, with the assistance of Jade Spirit Pills for his cultivation, Li Zirui no longer needed to eat several catties of spiritual rice every day as he had before.

If that were the only issue, it wouldn't be so bad; if he couldn't eat it all in a short time, he could preserve it and eat it slowly.

The problem was, these dozen acres were only the beginning!

In the coming months, dozens more acres of spiritual rice would mature one after another.

"I'll have to find an opportunity to visit the market town and find a way to sell the spiritual rice."

Sell it to the clan? He wouldn't be able to explain the source of the rice. Eat it himself? How long would it take to finish several thousand catties of rice?!

Once Li Zirui made up his mind, he stopped worrying about the matter. For the next few days, he was either refining pills or cultivating, completely unaware that a small dispute had broken out among the clan's higher-ups because of him.

The cause of the matter was quite simple: Li Shilian felt that since Water Refined Pills were selling so well, the current quota of five hundred Jade Spirit Pills per month might not be enough. He hoped Li Zirui could refine more pills each month.

This way, the clan could earn more spirit stones, and Li Zirui could make a profit while simultaneously improving his pill-refining skills.

Furthermore, it wouldn't require anyone to make any sacrifices. After all, refining a batch of pills took at most half an hour. Even if Li Zirui set aside four hours a day for refining, it would not hinder his cultivation.

This way, the clan could receive over a thousand Jade Spirit Pills every month and earn more spirit stones.

However, Li Shile and Li Shiqing disagreed, as they felt this was pressuring Li Zirui. Most importantly, as the clan member most likely to break through to the Golden Core stage in nearly a hundred years, Li Zirui should focus his mind on cultivation.

Seeing the elders arguing over this for several days, the junior Li Shiting had to step forward and say, "Uncle Qing, you won't reach a conclusion this way. Why not call Zirui here and let him choose for himself? Would that be alright?"

"Fine!" Li Shilian agreed without hesitation. Although he had remained on Great Banyan Island and had not had direct contact with Li Zirui, that didn't mean he didn't know of him.

In Li Shilian's view, Li Zirui placed great importance on the clan's interests. As long as it didn't interfere with his own progress, he would certainly not refuse.

Thus, Li Zirui, who was just preparing to "sharpen his knives" against the spiritual rice, was suddenly summoned to the main hall, where Li Shiting explained the situation to him.

"Sure!" After listening, Li Zirui agreed immediately without even considering it.

Seeing how decisive Li Zirui was, Li Shilian's gaze toward him was filled with affection and admiration.

"However, I have one condition. I hope the clan can collect more Water Refined Pill recipes and provide me with spiritual herbs for practice."

After a pause, Li Zirui added, "I don't need too many herbs; fifty portions will suffice. If it exceeds fifty, I will pay the spirit stones myself and commission the clan to purchase them for me."

Li Zirui was well aware that doing this would mean investing more time into pill refining, but it wouldn't hinder his cultivation!

Moreover, he could take this opportunity to set a condition with the clan. With such an arrangement, Li Zirui could in the future openly use the spiritual herbs in his space to refine all sorts of different spiritual pills!

In any case, in the eyes of his clansmen, he was already a genius in the path of pill refining.

Li Shiqing had originally disagreed, but since Li Zirui himself had agreed, what choice did he have?

"Have you thought it through?" Li Shiqing still asked, giving Li Zirui a chance to back out.

Feeling a warmth in his heart, Li Zirui smiled and said, "Grandfather Patriarch, please rest assured. I won't lose sight of the forest for the trees."

"In that case, let it be decided."

Li Shiqing finally nodded, but he did not agree to start immediately. Instead, he said, "We don't know how many Jade Spirit Pills can actually be sold in the market town. We cannot assume it will always be this popular."

"Therefore, starting from next month, Li Zirui will first hand over one thousand Jade Spirit Pills to the clan. If they don't all sell, we will reduce the amount."

Li Zirui intentionally interrupted, "And what if they all sell out?"

"If they sell out, then you just refine that many!" Li Shiqing glared at Li Zirui. "Your pill success rate is so high; the clan will just buy more from you when the time comes."

"But if they don't sell, you'll have to find a way to deal with the Jade Spirit Pills in your hands yourself." The clan would not purchase more Jade Spirit Pills from Li Zirui if the existing stock hadn't been sold.

"I understand." Li Zirui didn't see any issue with this. He could simply sell them to other shops in the market town or to traveling merchants stopping by the Yunqing Market; he certainly wouldn't lack buyers.

Of course, to protect his own business, Li Zirui would also sign a contract prohibiting the buyers from selling them within the Yunqing Market.