After sitting for nearly an hour, a pretty maid finally walked in from outside the door, holding a small silver tray with both hands. On the tray was a pale red ring.

  Taking the silver tray, she dismissed the maid and Princess Ya personally handed it to Xiao Yan, smiling: "Old sir, the medicine cauldron and medicinal materials you need are all in 'Na Jie'."

  He reached out his hand from the silver plate, picked up the Nascent Ring, and turned it over in his palm. Xiao Yan nodded slightly, and Yao Lao's voice also came out at this time: "Hmm, after the successful refining of the Gathering Qi Powder, I will bring it to you."

  A hint of joy was hidden in her beautiful eyes, and Yafei hastily nodded.

  "Alright, you don't have to see me off, I'll go out by myself."

  He waved his hand, and Xiao Yan put the ring on his finger, then turned around and walked out of the waiting room without looking back. The blue jade card on the table was also left behind because he didn't want to owe anyone a favor.

  Looking at the figure that disappeared behind the door, Yafei lightly bit her red lips, took a step forward, and put the blue jade card in her hand. She hesitated slightly and asked softly: "Uncle Guni, refining the Gathering Spirit Powder seems to have a low success rate, doesn't it?"

  "Hmm, it's said that even Dan Wang Guhe Master's success rate in refining Gathering Qi Powder is only around 70%, a normal fourth-grade alchemist might have less than 50% success rate." Gu Ni said in a low voice.

  "But this old gentleman succeeded in refining it at once..." Yafei said with a slight frown.

  "Who knows, maybe he's just lucky..." Guni shook his head and didn't pay much attention to it. After all, when alchemists refine pills, a large part of it depends on luck, and if they're lucky, they might not fail several times in a row.

  "Will he... be more than a fourth-grade alchemist?" Yafei hesitated and asked.

  "Heh, how is that possible? The number of fifth-grade alchemists in the Gamara Empire can be counted on one hand. Once they reach that level, even powerful forces like the empire and Yunlai Sect would treat them as honored guests. Why would they come here to auction off their elixirs?" Gu Ni smiled and said.

  Upon hearing this, Ya Fei also nodded slightly and let out a soft sigh, bitterly smiling: "It seems I still haven't experienced enough, my previous hesitation probably made this mysterious alchemist's good impression of us discounted by quite a bit."

  "It's not your fault, that's a huge amount of money, even I wouldn't dare to give it away in one go. You've done well to get this far, as for the relationship, we can slowly build it up later, as long as he doesn't harbor any ill feelings towards us." Gu Ni comforted.

  With a wry smile, Yafei lazily sat on the chair, her curves fully exposed, and blinked her narrow eyes, saying in a slightly puzzled tone: "He took so many low-grade medicinal materials, what does he want to do?"

  "All those medicinal herbs have the effect of stopping bleeding and healing bones, I think he should be planning to refine wound medicine." After a slight pause, Guni's eyebrows furrowed, also somewhat puzzled: "With his identity, why would he still go to refine these cheap wound medicines?"

  Upon hearing this, Ya Fei's beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, her slender fingers lightly tapping on the table. After a moment, she suddenly paused and said in a soft voice: "It seems that this old gentleman is quite fond of the Xiao family..."

  Guni's eyebrows furrowed in surprise: "You're saying he wants to give the Xiao family medicine to heal their injuries?"

  "Recently, I heard that the Jia family invited a first-class alchemist, and their cheap 'Rejuvenating Powder' has taken away more than half of the business in the city's markets. If the Xiao family doesn't take action, they might end up with empty streets." Yafei's eyes sparkled as she smiled faintly: "That old man last time said that if he had the chance, he would cooperate with the Xiao family. Now he's buying so many wound-healing medicinal materials at this time, his purpose seems self-evident."

  "Hey, it seems that the Xiao family has really gotten themselves a big leg up this time. The Gali family is in trouble." Listening to Yafei's analysis, Gunyi smiled with envy on his face, thinking that being able to get help from a fourth-grade alchemist was not something that other families could enjoy.

  She nodded slightly and smiled: "Recently, we should also have more contact with the Xiao family. Adding flowers to brocade is certainly delightful, but sending charcoal in snowy weather can even more easily solidify the relationship between both parties."

  Gu Ni nodded in agreement. With the backing of a 4th-grade alchemist from the Xiao family, they were already worthy of attention.

  ……

  After leaving the auction house, Xiao Yan was as cautious as ever, turning around for half a day before finally entering a secluded alley and changing his clothes.

  He tossed the pale red "Nà Jiè" in his hand, and Xiao Yan felt a little delighted. This Nà Jiè was cast from a rare material called "Nà Shí", which had a special small space that could store anything without life aura, extremely convenient. However, due to the rarity of "Nà Shí", it also made "Nà Jiè" precious. Like the lowest-level "Nà Jiè" in Xiao Yan's hand, the space inside was only about three or four cubic meters. Even so, its price was close to 100,000 gold coins. In the Xiao family, Xiao Yan had only seen his father and the Great Elder have one of these Nà Jiè.

  He played with the ring for a while, Xiao Yan hesitated for a moment, but did not put it back on his hand. Instead, he carefully tucked it into his bosom. This kind of ring was not cheap, and if his father saw it, he would have a hard time explaining where it came from.

  He kicked the black cloak under his feet into the gutter, and Xiao Yan cautiously walked out of the secluded alley, then flew all the way back to his family.

  Along the small path through the family, passing by the council hall, where his father's furious roar was being transmitted, Xiao Yan's eyelids jumped, and he quietly approached the door and peeked inside from the gap.

  "Damn it, that old scoundrel Gailiebei is too arrogant, he actually dares to openly steal our business!" In the hall, Xiao Zhan was slamming his fist on the table with a face full of rage, splashing tea water all over the table.

  "Now, the several markets of the Xiao family have already suffered greatly in terms of human traffic. The remaining merchants in the market are also frightened and anxious, and many people have secretly gone to the Gali family's market. If this continues, I'm afraid... our market will close down within half a month." The Second Elder, seated below, said with a gloomy face, gritting his teeth.

  "Or... I'll bring some of our family's elite and quietly take out that number one alchemist?" The Third Elder said, his eyes gleaming with a fierce light.

  "Now that alchemist has at least two great Dou Zhe guarding him, it's not that easy." Xiao Zhan shook his head and said helplessly.

  "But if we drag it on like this, our losses will be too great. The profits from the market in Wutan account for a large part of our family's income." The Third Elder said reluctantly.

  Xiao Zhan's mouth twitched slightly, and at this moment, he couldn't think of any other way.

  "That mysterious alchemist at the auction, didn't he say that there's a chance for us to cooperate? Looking at Guni's respectful attitude towards him, his status must be extremely high. If we have his help, the Galie family will definitely not be able to stir up much trouble." The elderly elder who had been silent all along suddenly spoke in a soft voice.

  "Alas, who knows if he was just speaking casually? Someone of that level, cooperating with us, what could he possibly gain from it? That little profit, would he even care?" Xiao Zhan sighed and shook his head, plopping down into the chair.

  The three elders were also silent, indeed, people of that level, the Xiao family was indeed a bit difficult to climb.

  "Damn it, just hold on for a few more days. If the Jia family doesn't know how to restrain themselves, don't blame us for fighting to the death!" He licked his lips, and Xiao Zhan's palms gripped the back of the chair tightly, with a fierce glint flashing in his eyes.

  Outside the door, Xiao Yan heard this and slightly shrugged his shoulders, his palm touching the spatial ring in his pocket, a hint of coldness appearing at the corner of his mouth as he slowly backed away.