"All right then," Gu Yuena nodded, planning to contact Leng Yaozhu shortly.
She felt a warmth in her heart. She knew that what Yun Ze meant by "repaying a favor" was helping her repay the favor she owed Leng Yaozhu. That way, when she eventually fell out with the Spirit Pagoda and openly confronted them, she wouldn't feel that she owed Leng Yaozhu anything anymore.
"Oh right—remember to emphasize this: if they're willing to use a ferocious-beast–level soul spirit as an exchange, then the soul spirit alone will be enough to trade for the pill," Yun Ze added.
"I wonder whether they'd be willing to use the Crimson King's soul spirit in exchange," Di Tian muttered.
At the mention of the Crimson King, a flash of hatred passed through his eyes, his killing intent toward the Spirit Pagoda growing intense.
The Crimson King's true form was a Three-Headed Crimson Demon Mastiff. With over three hundred thousand years of cultivation, he had been one of the strongest soul beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest.
More than a thousand years ago, the Spirit Pagoda laid a scheme to capture him, eventually turning him into a soul spirit.
After that incident, Di Tian flew into a rage and stormed the Spirit Pagod's headquarters, killing several Super Douluo in his fury.
Had it not been for powerful figures from Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect stepping in to intervene, he would definitely have joined forces with Xiong Jun and the others to completely overturn the Spirit Pagoda.
In the end, the incident concluded with him being heavily injured and forced to retreat by two quasi-god–level experts. Fearing a desperate counterattack from him at the brink of death, they did not pursue him further.
These two quasi-gods came respectively from Shrek Academy and the Spirit Pagoda. The one from the Spirit Pagoda was also severely injured by Di Tian, losing an arm.
The expert from Shrek Academy suffered lighter injuries, but even so, they were enough to require a long period of recuperation.
After that incident, the Spirit Pagoda no longer dared to make a move against ferocious beasts—at the very least, they didn't dare target those within the Star Dou Great Forest.
The steel prison outside the forest was also constructed starting from that time. Back then, Di Tian's injuries were severe, leaving him no choice but to let it happen.
According to information Gu Yuena had gathered, the Crimson King's soul spirit was still being preserved within the Spirit Pagoda and had not yet been absorbed.
The people of the Spirit Pagoda were rather greedy. They wanted to wait until they developed technology that allowed soul spirits to be reused before absorbing it.
That way, the Crimson King's soul spirit could be absorbed multiple times, allowing the overall strength of the Spirit Pagoda's future pillars to rise to another level.
All ten-thousand-year and ferocious-beast–level soul spirits obtained by the Spirit Pagoda were being preserved for this purpose, waiting for future repeated use.
"Although I really hope they'll use the Crimson King's soul spirit as an exchange, that's not very realistic," Gu Yuena said, shaking her head.
"The Spirit Pagoda places enormous importance on ferocious-beast soul spirits. They're the key to their future prosperity, so they won't casually use them for exchanges."
If it were in the past, given the rarity of the Hundred-Year Life-Extension Pill, they might have been willing to take out a ferocious-beast soul spirit.
But now, since they could obtain the pill by exchanging a ten-thousand-year soul spirit plus money, they wouldn't choose to pay a higher price.
A ferocious-beast–level soul spirit was enough to create a significant gap between the absorber and other soul masters of the same level.
It was the key to cultivating even stronger Ultimate Douluo. How could they possibly hand something like that over to others so easily?
"That's true. Looks like we'll have to directly snatch it later," Di Tian said.
He had known the Crimson King for many years—they were close friends. He was definitely going to rescue him.
"So the real goal isn't actually to use the life-extension pill to obtain ferocious-beast–level soul spirits," Yun Ze said.
"Rather, it's to give those high-level members of the Spirit Pagoda—those who don't have much capital but still want the Hundred-Year Life-Extension Pill—a chance."
"Under normal circumstances, it's very unlikely that ferocious-beast soul spirits would be put up for exchange. But that doesn't rule out the possibility that someone might be bold enough to secretly steal one and use it to trade."
"As long as they develop that thought and take action—whether they succeed or not—our objective will be achieved."
Human nature was complex. As long as the temptation was great enough, people might very well take reckless risks.
"Brilliant. With just a simple sentence, you might cause internal conflict and division within the Spirit Pagoda" Gu Yuena said, giving Yun Ze a thumbs-up.
"In fact, just selling the Hundred-Year Life-Extension Pills to the Spirit Pagoda is enough to inevitably create internal conflicts," Di Tian added.
"With the four major army groups, we directly contact the commanders, so there's no issue of uneven distribution of the pills."
"But the Spirit Pagoda is composed of many families. When it comes to exchanging pills, they'll have to consider who gets to take the pill."
"If it's always the Qian Gu family that benefits, the other families definitely won't be happy."
"The price of one hundred billion plus a ten-thousand-year soul spirit also makes it impossible for the Spirit Pagoda to buy one pill for every family."
"In that case, conflicts naturally arise. There won't be enough pills to go around, and the families that don't get one will certainly have complaints."
"That makes sense," Gu Yuena agreed. Such a situation would indeed occur.
"That's all that needs to be said. You can all go to the cities you're responsible for and get a clear picture of the situation," Yun Ze said.
"Yes," Di Tian and the others responded in unison.
After leaving the conference room, Gu Yuena went off to contact Leng Yaozhu, while Yun Ze returned to his room to cultivate.
At the Southern Army Group, inside the general's office, the ringing of a phone broke the room's silence.
Le Zheng'en, who was handling official matters, answered the call with some displeasure. His tone carried the commanding authority naturally developed through years of leading troops.
"Speak."
"I'm Yun Tian of the Dragon-Phoenix Hall. On behalf of the Dragon-Phoenix Hall, I'd like to make a deal with General Le," Di Tian said directly, stating his purpose.
"Yun Tian?" Le Zheng'en stopped flipping through documents. The displeasure on his face vanished as he smiled and said,
"So it's Lord Yun Tian. Just now I thought it was one of my subordinate officers calling. My apologies for the discourtesy—please forgive me."
After briefly apologizing, he asked with interest, "May I ask what kind of deal Lord Yun Tian wants to make with me?"
"The head of our Yun family has already fully recovered from his injuries and can now refine the Hundred-Year Life-Extension Pills again," Di Tian said.
Before he could finish, an excited exclamation came from the other end of the line. "Really?"
"Lord Yun Tian, please make sure to reserve one of the Hundred-Year Life-Extension Pills refined by the Yun family head for me."
"If you can reserve a few, that would be even better. I was never having too many of this kind of thing."
If he could obtain another pill, his father would be able to live several dozen more years, allowing their bloodline to be developed to the greatest extent.
The development of the bloodline was extremely important to the entire family. For this, he was willing to pay any price.
This was precisely why he cared so deeply about the Hundred-Year Life-Extension Pill.
Of course, one could never have too many such pills. After all, who wouldn't want to live another hundred years—or even more?
"This is exactly the deal I want to talk about. We all believe that General Le is a friend worth deepening ties with," Di Tian said.
"Your personal visit to the Dragon-Phoenix Hall last time also showed us your sincerity."
"Therefore, after family deliberation, we've decided to sell the Hundred-Year Life-Extension Pills to you at a preferential price of one hundred and fifty billion."
Hearing this, Le Zheng'en suddenly stood up. His heart raced, and he was so excited he could barely contain himself.
Before he could even express his gratitude, Di Tian's next sentence pushed his excitement to an even higher level:
"And it's an unlimited supply."
(End of this chapter)