Zhao Fan silently observed as the rest of the group got out of the carriage.
"Gong Yu, what are we doing here? Could it be this bum is the one you were praising?" The middle-aged man hurled insults at Zhao Fan.
"Mister Che, calm down. Let's hear him out first." Gong Yu persuaded while the other middle-aged men stayed silent. This Mister Che had the highest status, so nobody wanted to offend him.
"I am already giving your family face by not leaving right away. Could it be that you are trying to mock me by bringing me here? Are you saying this bum is better than the Alchemist Guild? What kind of joke is that?"
Gong Yu started panicking since the man wasn't giving his boss any face.
"Mister Che, I understand that this is not the most prestigious location, but you shouldn't insult boss Fan just like that"
"Alright, let's get this over with quickly."
"Good! As you probably already know, my name is Zhao Fan. I will show you why I am indeed better than the Alchemist Guild."
Zhao Fan turned around and went into the warehouse, the crowd following behind him.
As everyone went in, they saw a massive curtain in the middle of the warehouse, obscuring more than half of it. There was a long wooden table with several chairs facing toward the curtain. In front of it was a singular cauldron, behind which stood Yun Tian.
"What is this? That's a student Alchemist cauldron made for beginners who have not refined their flame yet. What kind of trashy method is this?" The middle-aged man couldn't keep his mouth shut, critiquing Zhao Fan. His temper was already considered well below average, and combined with the fact that he had to go to the poor part of the city, which he considered below him, made him unable to hold back.
"You should keep your words until after you have finished watching. The same words may come back to haunt you later. Yun Tian, please begin." Zhao Fan's expression did not change at all. However, internally, Hei Long felt very smug. That is the feeling of being an underestimated protagonist and face slapping everyone with a big reveal! Even Zhao Fan, who was spectating through the body's eyes, started laughing evilly.
Everyone sat down at the chair and observed Yun Tian. He didn't waste time and pushed a lever blocking the absorption symbol on the formation plate from the mid-grade spirit stone. Immediately, the symbol glowed as energy funneled through it, and a small flame appeared and started to warm up the cauldron.
After that finished, Yun Tian took out a small bowl with the first batch of ingredients and dumped it into the bowl attached above the cauldron. The whole crowd, including Gong Yu, was speechless.
"Boss Fan, I hope I was not wrong about you! Please succeed!" Gong Yu was quietly chanting in his heart while cold sweat covered his body. If Zhao Fan made a fool of himself, Gong Yu's family would kill him for hurting relations with a group of powerful people in the field of logistics.
Yun Tian just stood aside and crossed his arms, not doing anything. Suddenly a small light lit up on the wooden beam next to the cauldron. Yun Tian quickly pulled down the lever, making the first batch of ingredients fall into the cauldron.
While the ingredients sizzled and released their essences, Yun Tian leisurely pressed down on the lever behind the beam to reset the bowl and put in another batch of ingredients.
"What is this method? It can't be that you are trying to automate the pill-making process?" A white-haired man suddenly spoke up. Immediately shock appeared in the hearts of everyone watching.
"No, it can't be! This method has been tried before! To create such a small increase in the flame and to do so in a precise time is impossible from a practical perspective. The lines would have to be as thin as hairs and their length would have to be extremely precise. It is simply impossible unless one is a Nascent soul realm expert or above. Only then will the soul be so strong that it is possible to do that. Would a Nascent soul realm expert care about doing something like that?"
"That's right, if the formation is created in this way, any imperfection at all would create a flaw which will significantly affect the quality of the pill. Even a Nascent Soul realm expert might commit suicide while trying to find the issue!" Another elder backed up the former. They were all well versed in Alchemy, even if they were not alchemists since they had to have close relations with the Alchemist guild and run a logistic business focused on supplying materials. It could be said that if something was as simple as possible, it would already be exploited by everyone and made into the standard on the market!
"Seniors, you can speculate about the method, but don't insult my boss! If he says something is possible, then even a Dao Embarking realm expert would have to concede, not to mention a Nascent Soul realm expert!"
Although it was a ridiculous statement, no one was in the mood to laugh, especially the elder who criticized Zhao Fan.
"Boss Fan, you must succeed! I believe in you!" Gong Yu yelled in his heart on repeat, as if chanting a heavenly mantra.
At the same time, Zhao Fan looked like he couldn't care less and beckoned over a worker who stood at the side of the table to serve everyone some tea.
Yun Tian also looked very carefree. He stood to the side and pushed the lever time and time again. Each time, the opened mouths of the elders grew a little more open. Since the cauldron was right next to the table, they could easily look to see that there were no defects in the process!
Even as the lid closed and the refinement finished, they were unable to accept the result. Only when they saw the white, shiny, and almost round pills, which were clearly of near-perfect quality, were they thoroughly convinced.
"Brother Fan, how much do you earn per pill?"
"The formation is slightly less efficient than an alchemist, so it consumes roughly a half of a mid-rank spirit stone per concoction of a dozen pills. The ingredients, bought at the market price, add up to about six mid-rank stones. The price for a ninety-five percent quality pill is around a hundred spirit stones. Each batch consists of eight of them. So in total, it's roughly a profit of one and a half mid-rank spirit stones."
Hearing his words, the elders felt shocked but then realized that something was wrong. The cost of paying the alchemist!
The same elder who criticized Zhao Fan suddenly spoke up with a smile. "The Alchemist guild spends roughly four mid rank spirit stones on ingredients, then an alchemist needs twenty low-rank spirit stones to concoct the pills. The alchemist gets paid two mid-rank spirit stones for every batch of near-perfect pills because they are fairly difficult to make. So, they end up making a huge profit of almost two mid-rank stones! Since they have such a low production cost, they can afford to overpay their alchemists and eliminate any competition. If there was any competitor, they could easily decrease the price and make a little bit less which wouldn't hurt their bottom line. Your method is revolutionary, but it gives you no advantage whatsoever! You neglected the price of paying the alchemists which would put even this method at a deficit based on the current market price which is already inflated. This type of method is only useful for organizations almost as powerful as the Alchemist guild which have an enormous scale and can pull in many suppliers. Even if your material cost goes down to five mid-rank stones per batch, you will barely make a profit once you factor in the two mid-rank spirit stones needed to pay the Alchemist. If you ever grow bigger, without a base you will be snuffed out by the Alchemist guild who can easily decrease the price for a week and bankrupt your business by undercutting you! Additionally, who knows if you can continue to hold onto this technology. If you piss off a particularly strong opponent, say on the size of our Yan Logistics Group, you would be forced to give in or pay the consequences."
"However, your plan has potential! I don't mind becoming the base you need to start growing. I offer you full funding and support of the Yun Logistic Group for ninety percent of the profits you make!" Senior Che said with a slightly haughty voice.