Chapter 231: It's Good To Be Prudent (2)
"Yunhui, since you've said all that, I'll be frank as well." Liu Hong solemnly said, "Firstly, you need to know that your Zheng Family can't take this data out of the academy unless you want to get into a war with the academy."
Zheng Yunhui said nothing.
"Secondly, the Myriad Race Cult can't get it. Otherwise, both you and Su Yu would need to die to atone for the crime. Thirdly, in the academy, only two factions can get the data without suffering too much of a trouble. The principal and us."
Liu Hong smiled, "The principal will naturally be fine with the data. As for us, we have already been their enemies for so many years. One more conflict won't mean much to us. Also, Hong Tan can't even blame us since the data has been leaked by his own people."
Liu Hong's smile grew wider, "In truth, you only have one choice. If you choose the principal, I'm afraid you won't get anything."
Zheng Yunhui frowned, "You're right. But you're not the only person in the single character faction."
"Yes. But if we don't offer you a good price or refuse to buy it, you can only keep the data for yourself. If you dare to sell it to someone who shouldn't get the data, we will expose you."
Zheng Yunhui was getting upset, "Are you trying to reduce the price? Dream on!"
Suddenly, he seemed to have thought of something. He immediately changed his mind, "Fuck off. I'm not selling anymore. I'll sell it to the Xia Family. I'll sell it to Marquis Xia. He is a businessman. And with the Xia Trade Company around, there is no need for me to deal with you guys."
The more Zheng Yunhui spoke, the more excited he became, "Yes. I'll be selling it to the Xia Family. Feel free to expose them. Do you think Great Xia belongs to you guys?"
Liu Hong was feeling very helpless. He had not forgotten about the Xia Family. He had merely been selectively ignoring their existence. Unfortunately for him, Zheng Yunhui was really smarter than he thought.
He could only say, "Sure. Even with the Xia Family around, I want to ask you something. Are you sure you can get the data? From your words, you are probably having a bet with Su Yu. What if you lose? You will pay a high price for that, right?"
"Me? Losing?" Zheng Yunhui was amused, "Yes. Su Yu isn't weak. I'm sure he has already entered the fourth-stage Great Strength Realm. And he might have even formed four Divine Characters. But so what?"
Liu Hong smiled, "That might not be the extent of what he's capable of. Yunhui, is the price of losing something you can even afford? Also, if you refuse to sell to me, I can always spoil the match. You won't be able to get anything."
"Are you threatening me?"
"No. I'm only telling the truth." Liu Hong smiled, "Sell it to me and I'll give you a price you're happy with. I can also help you win so you won't end up losing. You will come to thank me."
"How much are you offering?"
"5,000 merit points."
"Fuck off."
Zheng Yunhui cussed at Liu Hong. Was Liu Hong taking him for a fool? 5,000 merit points? Dream on!
Liu Hong smiled, "That's already a very good price. Yunhui, you won't be able to digest a higher price."
"Keep dreaming."
"I'll add a Mountainsea willpower text on top of that."
"No."
"Give me a new price, then. 50,000 merit points are too expensive."
Zheng Yunhui coldly said, "Even if you can't pay 50,000 merit points, I won't accept anything lower than 40,000 merit points. Otherwise, I would rather not sell it. Feel free to fuck off if you can't afford it. Do you think our Zheng Family is so desperate for money? You guys are the ones desperate for the data."
"That's too expensive. I’ll offer 20,000 merit points." Liu Hong took a deep breath and said, "That is already a very good price. Also, the data might also be incomplete. If it's too expensive, nobody would be willing to buy it. Remember, this is a black market transaction. Not a sanctioned transaction. Even if you try to set an auction for it, nobody would dare to buy it. And in the academy's black market, who can give you a better price?"
"20,000..." Zheng Yunhui sank into thought. After a while, he said, "Can you take out so many merit points at once?"
"Yes."
Zheng Yunhui was astonished. Was this guy so rich?
Liu Hong smiled, "I'll report this to my higher ups. The money won't come out of my own pockets. I'm not that rich."
"This is a big transaction. I won't get raided in the midst of transacting, right?" Zheng Yunhui clenched his teeth, "I don't trust you."
In other words, he had agreed to the price of 20,000 merit points.
"That won't happen." Liu Hong hurriedly said, "This time, we won't be transacting in merit points. The volume is too high so we could get discovered easily. We will be using source qi liquid. The source qi liquid will be valued at the market price of four merit points per drop..."
"Bullshit!" Zheng Yunhui spoke frankly, "The academy's official price is five merit points per drop. The Xia Trade Company has a price of 100,000 dollars per drop. As for the black market, the standard value is generally three merit points. Do you think I'm completely clueless?"
The Xia Trade Company's price was quite cheap, but one would be subjected to the limitations of total earned merit when buying from them.
"If you can offer 7,000 drops, I won't object."
"..."
Liu Hong laughed, "That's still overpriced, right?"
"You can buy or you can piss off."
Liu Hong suggested, "How about this? 6,000 drops and 2,000 merit points. That way, we won't catch anyone's attention easily."
2,000 merit points were still a lot, but that was a reasonable number. As long as they weren't caught in the act, it should be fine.
"I guess that's acceptable..." Zheng Yunhui nodded, "You said earlier that I might not be Su Yu's match. What do you mean?"
"He's already at the fifth-stage Great Strength Realm." Liu Hong was straightforward, "That's why I'm telling you that you might not win. I suspect that he might even be able to reach the sixth-stage by the time the match arrives. When I saw him this morning, he already had 63 acupoints."
"What?"
This time, Zheng Yunhui was truly shocked. That many acupoints? How was Su Yu growing so fast?
"Now you understand why I said that you might not necessarily win?"
Zheng Yunhui's expression changed as he said, "How is he growing so fast?"
"I can't believe it either, but that is the truth. Yunhui, are you still as confident?"
"..."
Zheng Yunhui did not say anything. A deep frown formed on his face.
Liu Hong smiled, "Therefore, you need my help if you want to guarantee my win. You can get 20,000 merit points easily with my deal. Otherwise, you might lose and end up paying a price you can't afford. Life would be difficult for you if that happens."
"Your help?" Zheng Yunhui asked in astonishment, "How are you going to help? Are you going to sneak attack him for me?"
"I can't do that." Liu Hong shook his head, "If I do that and someone finds out, all our plans would be ruined. Su Yu isn't stupid either. If he suspects foul play and decides to renege on the debt, there won't be anything you can do."
"What can you do, then?" Zheng Yunhui said, "If he doesn't have the Infinite Strength blood essence abilities, I won't be scared of his sixth-stage cultivation level. But with the blood essence as his trump card, I might tire myself too much dealing with his blood essence ability. Even if I can outlast the duration of the blood essence, I might not have enough energy to win the match."
His frown grew deeper as he said, "I can't lose. If I lose, I would be in deep trouble. If I have no choice, I should just give up. Damn it. That fellow has actually hidden so much of his strength. I thought he's only in the fourth-stage."
He had truly not expected that Su Yu was already near the sixth-stage. That was too fast.
"Don't worry." Liu Hong smiled, "Defeating him isn't that hard. You're already at the seventh-stage. You're near the eighth-stage. I can see that you're only four acupoints away. I have an Acupoint Adjuration Technique. With this technique, you can open a few temporary acupoints during combat without suffering many side effects. Are you interested?"
"No!" Zheng Yunhui rolled his eyes, "The war academy has plenty of such techniques. My family has some as well. The side effects are quite serious. They will slow my growth. Do you think I'm an ignorant fool like Su Yu?"
Zheng Yunhui's eyes flickered as he said, "Why don't you get a heavenly source fruit for me instead? That is a heavenly treasure when it comes to opening acupoints. I can easily open four acupoints with one such fruit."
Liu Hong cursed inwardly. What a big appetite. What was the heavenly source fruit?
Even Su Yu knew that fruit. That was the same fruit used by the current prefect of Great Zhou, Zhou Potian in the past. With the fruit, he opened nine acupoints in three days and advanced straight into the Great Strength Realm.
Su Yu had read about that incident during his time in Nanyuan. The heavenly source fruits were only produced in some powerful and unique locations. In truth, using this fruit to open acupoints during the Great Strength Realm was a waste. It was better to use it during the Source Opening Realm and save the long period of time one would waste in the first realm.
As for those in the Great Strength Realm, they could cultivate using blood essence or active source qi absorption, both options that were unavailable for Source Opening cultivators.
"I don't have anything like that. I can probably try to look for some earthly source fruit instead..."
Liu Hong smiled, "Why don't you buy some? You can probably open one or two acupoints with one. So you only need two."
"They're too expensive."
"They're not that bad. The earthly source fruit is also more suitable for those in the Great Strength Realm. You only need 500 merit points for one..."
Zheng Yunhui rolled his eyes, "You call that not bad? I only need a few days to open one or two acupoints. At most, I'll spend a week or even half a month. Why do I need to pay 500 merit points to do it?"
"Because you need it now." Liu Hong smiled, "You only need 1,000 merit points for two. Don't forget, you can get 20,000 if you win. If you lose, you still need to pay a high price. How can you reap a profit without any investment?"