Chapter 276

Chapter 276: Cooperation at the Doorstep

[Congratulations, host! Your fortieth offspring has been born; you have received a fifty-year lifespan bonus!]

[Since this offspring possesses Sixth Grade spiritual roots, you have received fifteen talent points!]

[Current talent: Eighth Grade spiritual roots (264/500)]

After his fortieth child was born, although Zhou Luo had obtained a child with mid-grade spiritual roots, its quality was significantly lower compared to Lin Xi’s previous few.

Could it be because they had too many children?

Zhou Luo pondered secretly.

He entered the room; on the bed, Lin Xi was pale, without a trace of color.

After giving birth to this offspring, her foundation was damaged again, and even spiritual energy began to dissipate.

Zhou Luo hurriedly fed her a top-grade healing potion, which temporarily suppressed the injury.

However, this injury was related to the damage to her foundation, and it would take a lot of time to recuperate.

"From now on, you rest well; we will put aside having more children," Zhou Luo said gently as he smoothed her hair, his expression filled with worry.

Over these years, they had practiced dual cultivation using The Fusion of Dragon and Phoenix Technique together; he had smoothly reached the mid-stage of the ninth level of Qi Refinement, while she remained at the eighth level of Qi Refinement.

The main reason for this was her continuous childbirth.

Originally, Zhou Luo had thought that as long as he successfully achieved Foundation Establishment and gained the ability to protect them, it would not matter if her cultivation level was high or low.

But now it was different.

If having children would continuously affect Lin Xi’s foundation, then it had to stop.

Lin Xi pursed her lips; although she did not understand why Zhou Luo was so fixated on children, she still wanted to be a capable and good wife.

Unlike her sister Lin Xin, she did not have grand ambitions; she preferred to stay by Zhou Luo’s side and fulfill her duties as a wife.

"I am sorry," Lin Xi said weakly.

"The one to apologize is me. You do not need to think about anything now; just recuperate well," Zhou Luo said as he leaned down and gently kissed her forehead.

Speaking of it, these were all his faults; he really had not fulfilled his role as a husband well.

From then on, he determined that he could marry more wives but must not let his women have too many children—at most, no more than five.

Originally, he had thought that this time a good offspring would be born, and he could apply the Companion Spirit Beast and special physique he had previously obtained to it.

But now it seemed he had been too idealistic.

After this ended, he decided to use The Fusion of Dragon and Phoenix Technique to recuperate Lin Xi’s body properly, supplemented with various potions.

At least, he needed to restore her damaged foundation first.

Given Lin Xi’s talent and spiritual roots, she might still achieve Foundation Establishment in the future.

…

One day, while Zhou Luo was refining potions at home, he was informed that Geng Feng had personally come to visit.

"Pill Master Geng, I did not expect you to personally come as a guest; welcome, welcome," Zhou Luo said with a smile as he ushered him to the main hall.

As expected, Geng Feng sat down and went straight to the main topic.

"Heard Pill Master Zhou opened a shop, is the business pretty good?"

He had long known about Zhou Luo opening a shop.

But in his eyes, this was simply not focusing on one’s main business.

As a promising Pill Master, he should be putting alchemy first; things like getting married and opening shops were external distractions that only limited his progress.

So at first, Geng Feng didn’t think much of it.

But as so much time passed, he learned from people in the Potion Alliance that the current Yao Yuan Pavilion was quite famous in Immortal City, earning a considerable amount of spiritual stones daily.

So he was tempted.

In cultivation, it emphasized wealth, partners, techniques, and land; that wealth came first showed its importance.

If Yao Yuan Pavilion’s business were mediocre, he might not even care, after all, the potions he provided to those shops daily were enough for his expenses.

But when Yao Yuan Pavilion started making big money, he naturally couldn’t help being interested.

In this day and age, who wouldn’t be interested in money? Even though he thought highly of himself, it was hard for him to disregard wealth entirely.

Moreover, he was indeed a bit short on cash recently.

"Pill Master Geng, it’s really just a small business," Zhou Luo said humbly.

To be honest, for the past half year or so, Yao Yuan Pavilion’s business had indeed been quite good.

Continuing this trend, it shouldn’t be a problem to earn seven to eight thousand spiritual stones in a year.

Although not much, it was his first business venture after all, and as long as there were no major changes, this income would continue steadily.

Geng Feng looked at him, feeling slightly moved, and said, "Pill Master Zhou, actually, I came here today to collaborate with you."

"Collaborate?" Zhou Luo pretended to be puzzled.

Once the other party said that first sentence, he already knew what his goal was.

It was nothing more than wanting to invest and get a share of the profits.

If the other party were a weapon refiner or had another skill, he might have considered it.

But as a top-level Pill Master himself, he entirely looked down on him, even though there was a second level Pill Master behind him.

"Hmm, I’m willing to invest some spiritual stones and become one of the managers of Yao Yuan Pavilion," Geng Feng said seriously.

He seemed confident about this trip, so his words sounded rather matter-of-fact, as if his joining Yao Yuan Pavilion was a huge benefit for the other party.

But Zhou Luo didn’t see it that way; he found it quite difficult to accept, "Pill Master Geng, you also know that Yao Yuan Pavilion has everything on track now, and I really don’t want to create more complications."

Geng Feng narrowed his eyes, lifted his head, and said, "Pill Master Zhou, rest assured, I won’t join for free. From now on, my potions will be supplied exclusively to Yao Yuan Pavilion."

"And I have deep connections with the Potion Alliance, so we can get lower material prices and many other benefits."

He laid out his advantages.

These advantages might truly be tempting if presented to other shop owners.

But Zhou Luo was different.

First, not to mention his alchemy speed far surpassed the other’s, just the quality of his potions was much better.

He had no need for the other’s potions at all.

Second, the so-called advantages of the Potion Alliance were actually nonexistent things.

If he believed that, it was like trusting bosses who made empty promises in his previous life.

Through the last time members of the Potion Alliance came demanding protection money, he realized.

That the so-called Potion Alliance was just a group of Pill Masters using the name of exchange to collectively amass wealth.

If he hoped they would willingly share profits, he shouldn’t hold his breath.

So Zhou Luo decisively refused, "Pill Master Geng, it’s all a small business, and I need to discuss this with my children."

Once again, he brought up Zhou Shiling and Zhou Chang Le.

Geng Feng’s gaze darkened slightly; he had long heard that behind Yao Yuan Pavilion were Inner Sect disciples of Qinyuan Sect.

But he also knew that these so-called Inner Sect disciples were after all Zhou Luo’s children, and what child doesn’t listen to their father?

By saying this, he was essentially just trying to reject him.

Geng Feng wasn’t stupid; since the other didn’t want to cooperate, he couldn’t be bothered to continue, so he casually said, "Since Pill Master Zhou has said so, then forget it."

The other party having this understanding saved Zhou Luo some trouble, and he smiled and said, "If there’s an opportunity in the future, I will definitely look for you to collaborate, Pill Master Geng."