"One thing at a time, surely.  We'd better start off with the negotiations for the white-grub cores first," Zhang Lie proposed.

He couldn't help smirking at Chu Feng's sudden change in attitude; he certainly wasn't going to give his secrets away all at once.

Seeing the smirk on Zhang Lie's face, Chu Feng and Yun Bing blushed in embarrassment, but their discomfort only deepened Zhang Lie's smile.

"Have a seat." Zhang Lie motioned to the table in the living room. Yun Bing and Chu Feng would be his future collaborators, and he didn't want to alienate their relationship. He assuaged their embarrassment and redirected their attention to the deal, then headed for the table without turning back around.

Chu Feng and Yun Bing followed behind him.

As they sat, Zhang Lie cut to the heart of the matter. "How many cores do you want to buy, and at what cost?"

"You'll set the price, of course. As for the quantity, I'm intending to purchase ten thousand cores!" Chu Feng exclaimed

"And you aren't afraid I'll try to rip you off?"

Chu Feng and Yun Bing both shook their heads. How much could the cores of what was essentially the lowest-grade lifeform in the dimensional world cost?

"Good, very good. I like working with the two of you, so for our first transaction, I'll give you a 50% discount: 10,000 points per core."

What?! 10,000 points per core, and this was a 50% discount? Who would buy these cores at such an insane price? Ten thousand cores would cost a hundred million points!

The Yun and Chu clans were quite wealthy, but even Yun Bing and Chu Feng couldn't help quailing at this price.

"You're charging such an exorbitant price?!" Chu Feng shouted.

"If you're interested, we can carry out the transaction right away." Zhang Lie's expression made it seem as though they ought to be grateful for his discount, making Yun Bing and Chu Feng want to tug out their hair and scream.

Given such an exorbitant price, they wouldn't be able to make a decision on behalf of their clan. They had expected to be able to buy the white-grub cores for a rate no steeper than a thousand points per pound. A thousand points wasn't much to scoff at—that was ten thousand dollars! Were they too naive, or was Zhang Lie simply too greedy?

Even established clans like the Chu and Yun clans didn't make all that many points a year. Neither of them had the authority to handle a hundred-million point transaction, but they had already pledged to buy that many cores!

"...in that case, can I just buy a hundred cores for now?" Chu Feng gave up on his pride entirely. He didn't want to go back to his clan empty-handed, so what else could he do?

Honestly, he didn't want to make any transactions with Zhang Lie at all—no, he didn't want to meet, encounter, or interact with him in any shape or form. Zhang Lie was a human-skinned demon, he was sure of it!

Zhang Lie nodded sagely. "That's right, you should only buy what you can afford. As for you, Miss Yun Bing?  How many would you like to buy?" 

Zhang Lie turned to Yun Bing, who was glancing at him rather thoughtfully. In the end, she smiled wryly. "At this price, I can also only afford a hundred."

They thought they were well-prepared for this transaction, but in the end, all they could afford were a hundred cores each.

Zhang Lie's smile was still plastered on his face. "I know you both think that this price is exorbitant, but neither of you have felt the increase in your strength after this breakthrough, and neither of you know that these white grubs are about to be hunted to extinction. To tell you the truth, I'm intending on announcing the news about a foundational breakthrough in public."

"What?" Both Chu Feng and Yun Bing jumped in shock.

Was Zhang Lie going to announce a secret of this magnitude in public? Wouldn't it be normal to try to keep it a secret that only those in the clan would know about? Why would he publicize it? Surely he wasn't so benevolent as to do it for nothing?

This one meeting had given both Chu Feng and Yun Bing a year's worth of shocks.

"Is it that unusual? Of course the public has to know about such a big boon! I'm not like you clans, trying to secure every advantage and keeping it hidden from everyone else. For humanity to grow, we need to be working together, but all you're thinking about is inter-clan politics!" [1]

Neither of them knew what to say to Zhang Lie any longer.

That being said, if Zhang Lie did go through with his plan, then the price of these white-grub cores would surely go through the roof, wouldn't they?

After extensive testing, both clans had realized that kelpfish roe and bluewater frog meat were both useless for the breakthrough, and was simply a smokescreen that Zhang Lie had devised to prevent them from realizing the truth sooner.

White-grub cores were the key ingredient for the foundational breakthrough, but this key ingredient was wholly under Zhang Lie's control. Based on their estimates, Zhang Lie had over a hundred thousand white-grub cores, a veritable fortune, especially if the news were to be publicly released.  

The two of them felt a brief moment of regret that they hadn't hunted these white-grub cores themselves. 

Zhang Lie, who had been the laughingstock of the entire settlement for several months, had completely changed Yun Bing and Chu Feng's perception of him. Both of them feared and respected the mysterious hunter in front of them; after all, be it in the short- or long-term, his plans far exceeded their expectations.

"Will you allow us to discuss the purchase of these cores with our elders?" Yun Bing suddenly asked, disregarding her pride. "We aren't authorized to handle transactions of such large magnitude."

Zhang Lie naturally agreed.

Yun Bing and Chu Feng both left hurriedly after their hundred-core transactions to deliberate with their respective clans, the shock from the information presented to them that day evident on their faces.

Amidst this torrent of information, they had completely forgotten about Zhang Lie's mention of another breakthrough.

1. He says this, but he's still keeping his information about soulshard condensation a secret... ☜