From the family treasure tree to build an eternal family

Chapter 186 Negotiation
Yunze Mountain is shrouded in mist.

In the Xue family's main hall, Xue Fanyu was welcoming two distinguished guests.

One is Baili Xi from the Baili family, a Grand Cultivator at the seventh level of Foundation Establishment.

The other is Fan Xingyi from the Fan family, a Grand Cultivator at the third level of Foundation Establishment.

The Baili family and the Fan family are partners of the Xue family, but the purpose of their visit this time is not so friendly.

"I apologize for the lack of prior notice and my apologies for any shortcomings in our hospitality, as you two have come without prior notice."

Xue Fanyu's subtext was that the two had "arrived uninvited," which carried a somewhat sarcastic tone.

He invited the two to sit in the family hall and had a servant brew sacred tea.

Baili Xi had a handsome face, wore a silk brocade robe, and had a jade pendant hanging at his waist, looking every bit the elegant young gentleman.

However, everyone else present knew that he was two hundred years old.

He is not the head of the Baili family, but he is the strongest in the family. He currently serves as the deputy director of the Forestry Bureau in Yuanli County.

After Baili Xi took his seat, he heard Xue Fanyu's sarcastic remarks and retorted sarcastically, "Someone is untrustworthy and keeps postponing the agreed-upon matters. If I don't come to visit soon, I'm afraid it could delay for another ten years."

The other person who came was Fan Xingya. His cultivation level was only at the third level of Foundation Establishment, so he was not very polite in front of Xue Fanyu. He picked up his teacup and sipped the spiritual tea: "The spiritual tea from Yunze Mountain is really extraordinary. It's delicious."

"I'll have someone prepare a few pounds of spiritual tea for Fellow Daoist Seiya to take away..."

Xue Fanyu ignored Baili Xi's words and exchanged a few polite words with Fan Xingya.

Seeing that he was being ignored, and that Xue Fanyu and Fan Xingya were still chatting and not getting to the point, Baili Xi looked displeased: "They are all old acquaintances, so I won't say any more polite words."

"Patriarch Xue, according to the agreement, you should have given me a Foundation Establishment Pill seven years ago. Why haven't you given it to me yet?"

The Xue, Baili, and Fan families made an agreement many years ago that every fifty years, the Xue family would provide the Baili and Fan families with a Foundation Building Pill.

It wasn't given away for free; it was traded for 3000 spirit stones.

Seven years ago, the Xue family was supposed to give the Baili family a Foundation Establishment Pill, but Xue Fanyu made excuses to refuse. Every time the Baili family sent someone over, he would send them away.

Two years ago, the Xue family failed to provide the Fan family with the Foundation Establishment Pills they were supposed to give them, and he has been delaying this matter until now.

Therefore, each family sent a Foundation Establishment cultivator to personally visit and urge them to come forward, inquiring about the reason.

Faced with Baili Xi's questioning, Xue Fanyu remained calm and smiled slightly: "We did agree on fifty years, but the Foundation Establishment Pill is not a fruit on a tree that will bloom and bear fruit at a fixed time."

We can't help but encounter unexpected situations, can we?

"Can't you be more lenient for a while?"

Xue Fanyu's words make a lot of sense.

If they really encountered difficulties, Baili Xi and Fan Xingya could understand. This situation had occurred before, with the Xue family being given an extra ten or even twenty or thirty years.

However, according to Baili Xi's intelligence, the Xue family did have Foundation Establishment Pills, but instead gave them to their own clansmen.

The Xue family originally had three Foundation Establishment cultivators, and recently a new Foundation Establishment Grand Master has emerged!

Upon hearing this news, Baili Xi became furious and personally went to the door.

His great-grandson, Baili Wei, served as a celestial official and the head of the forestry bureau in Tonggu County many years ago. After reaching the ninth level of Qi Refining, he was transferred to the forestry bureau of the prefectural government. He was originally waiting for this Foundation Establishment Pill to advance to the Foundation Establishment stage, but it has been delayed for seven years.

"Hehe, really? I heard that someone in your family has advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage?"

Baili Xi smiled coldly and bluntly exposed his lie.

"Oh?"

Xue Fanyu was slightly taken aback. His family had indeed produced a new Foundation Establishment cultivator, but it had been kept secret. He didn't know who had leaked the secret.

He remained outwardly calm: "My family's newly born Foundation Establishment cultivator has good talent. He broke through to the Foundation Establishment realm with just one Three-in-One Pill, not by relying on the Foundation Establishment Pill itself."

"Sanhe Dan" is also known as "Xiaozhuji Dan".

Taking the Foundation Establishment Pill can increase the probability of breaking through to Foundation Establishment from Qi Refining to more than 50%.

The Three-in-One Pill can increase the probability of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage by 10% to 30%, depending on the user's talent and aptitude.

The Foundation Establishment Pill is undoubtedly much more effective, but if you don't have the Foundation Establishment Pill, the Three-in-One Pill is also a good alternative.

"Oh, really?"

Baili Xi rolled his eyes, letting out a soft, disdainful sneer. He didn't believe Xue Fanyu's words.

Despite Baili Xi's rudeness, Xue Fanyu showed no anger whatsoever. He remained calm and indifferent, ignoring Baili Xi's behavior as he leisurely picked up his teacup and sipped his tea, occasionally making a smacking sound.

He was waiting, waiting for the two of them to lose their composure first.

Of the three present, the oldest, Baili Xi, was the most impatient: "Patriarch Xue, what do you want in return for handing over the Foundation Establishment Pill as agreed? Even if you make us wait, you need to give us a specific timeframe."

Three to five years, or ten to eight years?

"It's hard to say, it's hard to say."

Xue Fanyu gave a vague response.

"What, are you going to disregard our agreement?"

Baili Xi's face darkened; he couldn't understand where the Xue family got their confidence from.

Xue Weiwu, the strongest member of the Xue family, is only at the sixth level of Foundation Establishment, and the secret of the "main ingredient" for the Xue family's Foundation Establishment Pill is known to both the Baili family and the Fan family.

If relations were to break down, the two major families would not let the Xue family off easily.

"My Xue family has only been able to develop to this point thanks to the protection of your two great families. How could we easily give up the agreement? It's just that the pressure from the imperial court has been too great recently, and the losses we incur in refining Foundation Establishment Pills have also increased. Three thousand spirit stones for one Foundation Establishment Pill is not even enough to cover the cost."

The "pressure from the imperial court" that Xue Fanyu mentioned refers to the fact that the Demon Subduing Division's recent crackdown on demonic cultivators has resulted in heavy losses for the demonic cultivators they have cultivated.

This is true, but it is also the excuse he uses to negotiate terms.

Most importantly, the following sentence stated: "Three thousand spirit stones for one Foundation Establishment Pill isn't even enough to cover the cost." Baili Xi and Fan Xingya understood the implication and both fell into thought.

A Foundation Establishment Pill costs three thousand spirit stones; this agreed-upon price has been maintained for many years.

But, today is different from the past.

The Xue family was originally a family of alchemists with only one Foundation Establishment cultivator, and they needed the protection of the Baili and Fan families. Now, the Xue family has four Foundation Establishment cultivators, their strength is vastly different from before, and their status has risen accordingly.

In the world of cultivators, nothing is static; everything is closely related to strength and status.

In Baili Xi and Fan Xingya's view, raising prices is acceptable, but this is not just raising the price of a single Foundation Establishment Pill, but the price of countless Foundation Establishment Pills in the future.

"The three thousand spirit stones are just the stated price; the hidden benefits I gave to Yunze Mountain are not included. I heard that after the Qingqiu Mountain spiritual vein was destroyed, the grade of our Yunze Mountain spiritual vein has improved."

As the deputy director of the Forestry Bureau of the prefectural government, I never considered re-evaluating the occupation tax for Yunze Mountain.

Baili Xi reminded Xue Fanyu.

As a second-tier spiritual land, Yunze Mountain had to pay a considerable amount of "mountain occupation tax" to the imperial court every year. This happened to fall under the jurisdiction of the Mountain Forest Administration.

As the deputy director of the Forestry Bureau, Baili Xi did indeed save the Xue family from mountain occupation taxes due to his family's relationship with the Xue family.

"Director Baili, we will always remember this favor. We are discussing the Foundation Establishment Pill now. If we don't have enough spirit stones, we will be like a skilled cook without rice."

Xue Fanyu was displeased because his Xue family was indeed being controlled by the Baili and Fan families in every aspect.

Bai Lixi of the Baili family was stationed at the Forestry Bureau of the Prefectural Government.

Fan Kongye of the Fan family works in the Demon Subduing Division of the Prefectural Government.

This feeling of being firmly controlled fueled Xue Fanyu's desire to break free and change his family's fate. His Xue family could no longer be subject to others' control.

The "cooperation" between the three Foundation Establishment families, which will last for many years, cannot be resolved in a short time.

None of the three wanted to back down; they all wanted to consider the interests of their families.

Baili Xi was very unhappy. He became the strongest in his family with the cultivation level of the seventh level of Foundation Establishment because his family had been in a period of transition for the past one or two hundred years and the number of Foundation Establishment cultivators was very small.

This is also why he was so eager to obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill so that his great-grandson, Bailiwei, could break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

The rise of the Xue family's power and status led to a shift in their power dynamics, causing Baili Xi to lose his composure. If the Baili family were at its peak, where would the Xue family have found the audacity to negotiate?
The three of them talked like this for several days.

Despite his deep reluctance, Baili Xi had no choice but to concede: he would trade a mid-grade spiritual artifact plus two thousand spirit stones for a Foundation Establishment Pill from the Xue family.

The Baili family is a family of weapon crafting families, with weapon crafting skills passed down for countless years.

The items used by Qi Refining cultivators are called "magical artifacts," which are divided into high-grade, medium-grade, and low-grade magical artifacts.

The items used by Foundation Establishment cultivators are called "spiritual artifacts," which are also divided into high-grade, medium-grade, and low-grade artifacts.

The price of a mid-grade spiritual artifact varies greatly depending on its quality, ranging from as little as one thousand spirit stones to as much as several thousand or even tens of thousands of spirit stones.

The Xue family requested a mid-grade spiritual weapon worth three to four thousand spirit stones. Adding another two thousand spirit stones would bring the total to five to six thousand spirit stones to purchase a Foundation Establishment Pill.

What angered Baili Xi even more was that the terms agreed upon by the Xue family and the Fan family were that the Fan family would purchase the Foundation Establishment Pill for four thousand spirit stones, an increase of one thousand spirit stones from the previous price.

This differential treatment is because the Fan family is now quite powerful, unlike the Baili family.

Fan Xingya could accept this result. Buying a Foundation Establishment Pill for four thousand spirit stones with a stable source meant his family still got a great deal.

Baili Xi, however, harbored resentment towards him.

As for Xue Fanyu, he felt that he hadn't done enough for the Xue family, but he had already done his best to get to this point.

One day in the future, he will make the Baili family, the Fan family, and his family have a truly fair trade.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

On the other side is Mount Kuronuma.

Xue Yimiao waited for many days, but the group that was supposed to return with a group of girls never came.

"Has something happened again?"

She had a bad feeling.

There were five men who went out in this group, two of whom were at the ninth level of Qi Refining.

An entire squad was wiped out?
Due to a lack of intelligence, Xue Yimiao was unaware of the specific situation.

In recent years, she has suffered heavy losses among the subordinates she sent out, which she can only attribute to the increased efforts of the Demon Subduing Division in eradicating demonic cultivators.

"The patriarch had already negotiated terms with both families, and then this happened..."

Left with no other choice, Xue Yimiao could only select the strongest among these newcomers to go out.

Under normal circumstances, newly trained late-stage Qi Refining experts will participate in the "training" process at Black Swamp Mountain, subjecting the newly arrived girls to various forms of painful torture.

There's a shortage of manpower right now, and Xue Yimiao has no other choice.

Among the newly trained late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, Nightmare is the "main ingredient," so it's impossible for it to be sent out.

Several others performed well, such as Silver Bell.

Yinling's strength has just reached the ninth level of Qi Refining, which is quite impressive, and she is very obedient.

Xue Yimiao assembled a five-person team, led by an experienced Qi Refining Level 9 member who served as the team leader.

Yinling is young and inexperienced, so she serves as the captain's second-in-command.

There are also three team members at the eighth level of Qi Refining.

The five-person demonic cultivator team, carrying the spirit stone resources provided by Xue Yimiao, quietly left Yunze Mountain and headed to a county town a thousand miles away.

(End of this chapter)