Finalizing The Contract

"Whatever her reasons, her return brought with it a new wave of changes."

Wei Jing's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

The old man sighed. "The Zhang family, once an ordinary clan, had become a force to be reckoned with the arrival of Lady Mehuli and the mysterious man."

Wei Jing's confusion deepened. "But Grandfather, I don't understand. How did they change?"

The old man shook his head. "It was a gradual transformation, a subtle shift in influence, power and control."

Wei Jing's heart sank. "And what about the mysterious cultivator? Did he stay with the Zhang family?"

The old man nodded. "For a time, he did. But then, something happened to Lady Mehuli. She fell ill, and eventually, she died. The rest you should know already."

Wei Jing's eyes filled with more confusion.

He sighed, his eyes filled with a mixture of fear and regret. "I have already told you plenty, Jing'er. It is a dangerous secret, one that could bring great harm to our family if it were to be made public. Promise me Jing'er, you will keep this secret to yourself."

Wei Jing felt a chill run down her spine. She had never heard her grandfather speak in such a tone before.

"Alright Grandfather but...", she hesitated, "What should we do now?" 

The old man closed his eyes. "What's done is done. We can't change the past. But from now on, any matter related to the Zhangs, consult with me before you do anything reckless."

"I assume that the young cultivator, who is helping them, must be a proxy for the previous mysterious cultivator. If that is the case, tread carefully with them."

"Also, as for the apology, give them what they want. Although it will be a temporary loss to our Wei Family, establishing good relations with that young cultivator will benefit us in the long term."

***

Three days after Liu Feng sent his letter, a response arrived from the Wei Family. Liu Feng was surprised to see them agree to his conditions completely.

The store was named the White Jade Pavilion, and the Wei Family agreed to a 70/30 profit split with the Zhang Family. A solid alliance was formed, with both families pledging to assist each other in times of need.

The final meeting with Wei Jing was a notable one. Liu Feng noticed a hint of fear and respect in her eyes this time, though he could not pinpoint the exact reason. As everything was going smoothly, he did not dwell on it.

Zhang Yan and the Zhang family butler soon became busy handling such matters closely with Miss Jing.

From Lady Jing, he learned about another pressing matter - the need for a patrolling unit to safeguard the store and the Zhang house. She brought this up, emphasizing the importance of security. The Wei Family offered to provide security for the store initially, but Liu Feng knew they needed to arrange something for the Zhangs as well.

The next day, a letter arrived from the Misty Medicine Pavilion addressed to Liu Feng. It was from the Manager Qing. The letter contained exciting news from him that the headquarters had agreed to a dual contribution contract he requested in their previous meeting.

Thus, Liu Feng planned to visit the Misty Medicine Pavilion the next day.

***

Liu Feng arrived at the Misty Medicine Pavilion, greeted warmly by the staff. After a quick session of a rare fragrant tea with Manager Qing, they began their official discussion.

"As you mentioned, Young Master Liu, we agree to the dual contribution system you mentioned in our previous meeting," Manager Qing began.

"You will need to provide a minimum of 120 low-grade pills or their equivalent to our pavilion. As you are aware, our usual figure is 150, but considering the nature of your contract, we've reduced it."

"Apart from that, you must submit 30 low-grade demon beasts or their equivalent every month."

"To quantify the exact amount, you'll need to provide us pills or demonic beasts corpse worth of 750 gold coins every month. This is the minimum amount required to fulfill your monthly quota."

"As per your request, the contract duration will be one year. So, Young Master Liu, you need to make a total transaction of 9000 gold coins to complete the contract and after that, we can renew the contract any time you want."

"Apart from these, we have a special contribution system. The total amount of your transactions will be converted into points, which you can use to access or purchase special information that our Pavilion possesses."

Liu Feng listened attentively, taking mental notes. He was satisfied with the terms of the contract, especially the flexibility they provided. Refining 120 pills every month was not a major task for him thanks to his recent endeavors and having a demonic beast corpses quota will also keep a steady supply of Dao Points. 

Collecting all of his thoughts, Liu Feng finally decided.

"I agree to these terms," Liu Feng nodded.

Manager Qing smiled. "Excellent. I'm confident that our partnership will be beneficial to both of us."

As both of the parties agreed on the terms of the contract, Manager Qing pushed a parchment towards Liu Feng. A Quill and the ink among other things were already prepared for him on the table.

Reading the contract, Liu Feng confirmed everything once again. He was satisfied with the terms and conditions, but establishing the contract required a drop of his blood. 

Realizing this, he furrowed his brows but quickly gave up on his thoughts. From the countless novels he had read before, one thing he had learned was not to provide drops of blood to a stranger.

'The Pavilion seems trustworthy, so I guess it's fine.'

Noticing the change in Liu Feng's face, the manager doubted.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Young Master?"

"No, it's fine. I was just thinking about something". Liu Feng signed and placed a drop of his blood on the ancient parchment.

As soon as his blood touched the paper, it began to glow faintly. The swirling symbols seemed to come alive and lit for a moment before, it returned to normal.

Manager Qing smiled. "The contract is now formed. You are officially a partner of the Misty Medicine Pavilion."

As the manager finished, he took out a wooden token, "This can help you track your contribution as well as serve as an identity token. With this, you can access any branch of Misty Medicine Pavilion and you will have access to the same privileges."

Liu Feng nodded, feeling satisfied, he asked. "Excellent. So, I can get started?"

Manager Qing was startled for a bit, but quickly replied, "Sure."

Liu Feng reached into his pouch and pulled out several wooden boxes. There were exactly 150 low-grade pills that met the standard of the Pavilion. As he was not sure of the amount earlier, he brought exactly the amount they discussed.

"Here...150 Pills that should meet the Pavilion standard," Liu Feng informed casually as if he did not burn through piles of gold coins to produce such pills. Although he still had 48 pills back at the Zhang residence, he had some other plans for them.

Manager Qing's eyes widened in surprise. "You have already prepared your initial contribution pills? That's impressive."

He waved to a few servants who quickly approached, "Send these to the Elders for Appraisal."Every pill had to go through a thorough scrutiny before the deal was finalized, so without any delay, he asked the servant to send the pills to the Appraisal Department.

As the servant left with the pills, Manager Qing could not help but praise Liu Feng. "Young Master Liu, you are truly talented. To produce so many pills in such a short amount of time is no easy feat. It requires a high level of skill in Alchemy."

Liu Feng nodded modestly. "It's nothing special. These are just low-grade pills anyways."

Manager Qing chuckled. "You jest. Speaking of young talent, I heard something interesting while traveling."

"The Crimson Cloud Sect has discovered an exceptional disciple named Ye Chen. He was an ordinary Outer Court disciple for years but due to sudden inspiration, he broke through and is now a prodigy in sword cultivation."

Liu Feng's eyes widened. "What did you just say? From a waste outer disciple to a genius disciple of the Supreme Elder?"

Manager Qing nodded. "That's what I heard. It's quite remarkable."

Liu Feng's mind raced. 'Sudden inspiration? My foot!!! It's Xianxia 101. And the name... Ye Chen? How basic can you get?'

As an avid reader of Xianxia novels, Liu Feng was certain that Ye Chen was a protagonist.

Upon further questions, he learned that the Crimson Cloud Sect is a subordinate sect of the Flaming Mountain Sect and that some of its core inheritances could be traced back to the latter. Neither sect focused on sword techniques as their main cultivation, which led Liu Feng to draw some conclusions.

'Neither of the sects focuses on sword techniques, yet this guy possesses superb sword skills... this...' Liu Feng muttered, his eyes narrowed.

He was ninety percent sure that this Ye Chen was a reincarnated sword cultivator.