Supreme Emperor of Mist

"Greetings, your highness." Qin Lan cupped his hand together as he descends from the horse he's riding. Following his footsteps are Lu Yi, Lu Qing Yun, and Huo Zunjie.

They're currently gathered in a small village near the border between Yunshan and Kuanglei Province.

"Let's get into the village first. The soldiers will take care of the horses on your behalf." Sun Wu Jian exchanged a greeting with Qin Lan at the village's entrance and hinted at them to follow him.

It was indeed a small invading force. Their number is merely two hundred people, with average cultivation of between fourth and fifth-level in Flesh Refining Layer. Their spirit is in the proper condition right now, which is a good sign in Qin Lan's opinion.

Except for them, there's also a Peak Bone Construction Layer cultivator inside this village, protecting Sun Wu Jian's safety.

With Sun Wu Jian in the lead, they quickly entered a somewhat protected house located in the middle of the nameless village. There are two other men and a woman inside, likely waiting for their arrival.

"Allow me to introduce you to the assistant leader of our invading force, Huang Ping. The one beside him is his most trusted aide, captain Wang Xun." Sun Wu Jian moved his palm over to where the two men are and introduced them to Qin Lan.

"As for this lovely lady here, her name is Li Dan. She's our reliable blacksmith and a master from the Department of Protective and Defensive Treasures." Sun Wu Jian continued. His hand pointed to the only female inside this house as he introduced her as a blacksmith.

"This is Alchemist Qin Lan and his companion. Lu Yi, Lu Qing Yun, and Huo Zunjie. I hope everyone could cooperate with each other to make this attack a success." after introducing Qin Lan and the others, everyone took a seat as the discussion started.

"Our target is a mine near the border of Kuanglei Province. From what our source says, there should be a considerable amount of Precelestial Essence Stones to be mined over here." Sun Wu Jian pointed at a location on the map laid on top of the table.

"But our source also stated that this place used to belong to the people from Kuanglei Province. It was recently out of their control because this place is raided by the mountain bandits twice, causing terrible loss to them."

"As long we're able to take advantage of this, the Precelestial Essence Mine is going to be under our control. With Li Dan and Qin Lan here, I'm confident that our profit will not be any lesser than 10 drops of Precelestial Essence per person." Sun Wu Jian stated.

Using the lowest exchange possible, every single drop of Precelestial Essence worth a thousand Flesh Foundation Pills at least. With the estimation of ten drops per person, that's equivalent to ten thousand pills if they succeed.

It was indeed a rewarding expedition based on the estimated profit. That's especially true considering that it takes Qin Lan two days to finish concocting 150 Demonic Blood Oranges within two days. In return, he received 75 Flesh Foundation Pills as his reward.

And to the owner of the 150 Demonic Blood Oranges, Shan Xiong Xin, it is much more torturous as it would take him no less than two weeks to be able to harvest that much. Furthermore, the 750 pills figure came from Qin Lan's 100 out of 100 successful refinings.

If the task were to be given to the others, managed to reach 500 is counted as a good yield. Being able to refine 600 pills is skillful, and 700 is an alchemy genius.

"Is there any additional questions in your mind before I proceed with talking about our plan?" Sun Wu Jian stops here and waiting for any concerns to be brought up.

They remained quiet.

"Huang Ping, Wang Xun. It's your turn." Sun Wu Jian took a step backward and handed the turn to speak to his two followers.

"From what was reported by the scouts, the main force of the mountain bandits has likely left. There are less than two hundred and fifty bandits remained behind the barricade if we put aside the number of slaves." Wang Xun explained.

"But at the same time, we have two other concerns. The first concern is the location of the mine. Our attack might create the opportunity for the people from Kuanglei Province to stalk at us like an oriole behind the mantis."

"And second concern would be the Yao Beast surrounding this location. The scout reported about the sighting of Crimson Battlewolves in the perimeters surrounding the mine." Huang Ping added.

The moment the name "Crimson Battlewolves" is brought up into the discussion table, droplets of sweat appeared on everyone, including Qin Lan.

"No wonder the people from Kuanglei Province hesitates to take back the mine from the bandit's hand. If I'm the one commanding the opposition force, I'll let the bandit work for free while I reap what they're trying to smuggle outside of the mine." thought Qin Lan.

With his thumb and index finger pinching the gap between his eyebrows, Qin Lan started to think of a way to safely avoid the confrontation of either one.

And right now, Qin Lan was the only one who continues to think. In the meantime, everyone else has started to look for an idea on engaging with one side after another.

To them, facing either one wasn't a problem. The problem lies in a situation needing to fight all three sides to excavate the Precelestial Essence Stones.

"What's the..." the same sentence came out from Qin Lan and Li Dan at the same time.

"Lady Li Dan, please go ahead." Qin Lan took a step back and allowed her to speak first.

"I need to know what else is around us. That's including the division of the Yao Beast and other resources." Li Dan said.

"This can be done. What about Alchemist Qin?" Huang Ping asked. He's much more curious about Qin Lan's ability because he was invited personally by Sun Wu Jian. Even Li Dan across his seat was here only because Sun Wu Jian is paying handsomely for her service.

"My request is simple. Bring me as many herbs as you can collect near the mine. My three companions will be searching for something much harder to be recognized." Qin Lan said.

"Herbs?" Huang Ping asked.

"Yes. Herbs." Qin Lan nodded.

"If Alchemist Qin needs the herbs to concoct as many medicinal pellets as you could, we have a proper stock ready. I'm afraid that collecting the herbs will result in our forces getting exposed... Furthermore..." Huang Ping wanted to convince Qin Lan to change his idea, but Qin Lan interrupted.

"I'm not making medicinal pills but something else," he said.

"And what would that be?" Wang Xun asked.

"You'll know when it's done." Qin Lan chuckled.

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