Chapter 200: The Shi Family’s Comeback 4
Zuo Wentang and Tan Lin turned to the pill in Shi Wenjun’s hand immediately. Lu Bin figured out that there must have been a misunderstanding but he didn’t clear their confusion. Thinking that it was probable, he marched forwards.
Lu Bin was the type of person who tended to do whatever he thought of. There was practically nothing in the world that Lu Bin dared not try.
Although there were a lot of people present, he couldn’t care less.
Everyone else was equally shocked to see Lu Bin suddenly walking towards the stage. They were still skeptical about the authenticity of the new pill and to suddenly see someone ascending the stage caused an even bigger commotion.
Shi Wenjun was stunned. She had already noticed this man just now. He was someone who made Zuo Wentang and Tan Lin approach him proactively so surely, he was no average Joe.
After getting on stage, Lu Bin ignored everyone else below the stage. He extended his hand and said, “Let me see the pill.”
The tone with which he spoke sounded calm and composed. He didn’t sound angry at all, but his presence was definitely a little overbearing.
Shi Wenjun had never met a person like this before, but as the head of her household, she didn’t hesitate when she handed the jade bottle to Lu Bin, as he had instructed. The latter opened it up and took a whiff before nodding, “You’re right. This is the nine water floating cloud pill.”
After a brief moment of dead silence, the crowd below exploded into another round of commotion.
“Who’s that? Why does he know that the pill’s genuine?”
“I don’t know. He might be a pelletization expert. Let’s stay calm and watch what happens next.”
Someone proceeded to voice his suspicion out loud.
“Who do you think you are? A single utterance from your mouth, and suddenly it’s real? The way I see it, you’re just an actor hired by the Shi family to fool us on stage.” Of course, the person who yelled this was none other than Wu Chenwei.
His voice had overpowered everyone else’s.
“Preposterous!”
Lu Bin was no nice guy. Rules were practically non-existent in his life. At times, he would even reprimand the Emperor of the Jade Dragon Country for the sake of the sixth princess. His volatile temper was known by all dignitaries in the royal city. And now that someone was challenging him, what would Lu Bin do?
He turned to glare at Wu Chenwei who was standing on his feet. The latter stiffened up at once as if he had been electrified and he immediately choked up, unable to make even a squeak. Cold sweat began rolling down his forehead.
This was power.
And a form of a spell.
Deep inside the mountains, many little bunnies would get frightened to death by ferocious tigers. Experts with high-level blood contracts could use the power of these vicious beasts to cast spells that brought about the same effect.
Sometimes, it would be deployed through a person’s voice, so during ancient times, when a person unleashed a roar, his targets would just fall off their horses and die. Others channeled the power through their eyes. They would glare at their target, frightening them to the point of losing their minds.
Lu Bin evidently belonged to the latter category.
Casting a tiny spell, he enhanced his glare with the deterrence ability of a beast and frightened Wu Chenwei into losing his voice.
Of course, this effect would only last temporarily on braver souls and they would soon recover. But the thing was, Wu Chenwei was a coward.
Not only was his body trembling and sweating profusely, but there was even a foul smell coming from the lower half of his body. He had actually lost control of his bodily fluids.
Chen Wenlin was sitting right beside him. He had a keen smell, but by the time he sensed that something was wrong, Lu Bin had already retracted his gaze. Chen Wenlin turned to see Wu Chenwei foaming at the mouth before dropping to the ground, unconscious.
This caused a huge uproar.
Upon seeing what happened, no one else dared to stir up a huge fuss. Everyone understood that the black-clothed elderly on stage wasn’t a nice guy.
Lu Bin didn’t verify the pill because he wanted to help the Shi family. He only wanted to confirm a suspicion of his.
He turned to Shi Wenjun and asked, “Where did you get this pill’s prescription? Can you tell me?”
Shi Wenjun could now confirm that Lu Bin wasn’t an ordinary man. However, the prescription was given by Lin Jin and Lin Jin didn’t specify whether she could spread this news around so Shi Wenjun wasn’t planning on answering his question.
Lu Bin could tell her hesitation but since he already guessed it, he lowered his voice and asked, “Was it given by Appraiser Lin?”
It was only normal for Lu Bin to arrive at this conclusion. He was merely curious and wanted to confirm it.
Sure enough, when Shi Wenjun heard the words ‘Appraiser Lin’, her expression changed at once. With a mildly startled expression, she nodded at Lu Bin.
Lu Bin smiled and asked no more. He went back into the crowd.
Everyone around evaded him, not daring to stand in his path. The man had just frightened Wu Chenwei unconscious with a single glare so only fools would want to test his patience again.
Returning to where he had stood before, Lu Bin continued watching as if nothing had happened.
Zuo Wentang wore a helpless smile on his face. Lu Bin was a stubborn man; when he set his heart on something, no one could ever possibly stop him. That arrogant brat from earlier had been unfortunate enough to tick the old man off, so he deserved this outcome.
Zuo Wentang couldn’t care less about the incident. Even if someone were to report this to the authorities, with him here, no one would dare to penalize Lu Bin.
After all, Lu Bin only glared at the guy. It wasn’t his fault that the guy was an extreme coward.
Thereafter, Shi Wenjun presented the pill. The great scholar, Mr. Yang Tang was the first to go over and examine it. Basing his analysis on what he had read, he confirmed that what the Shi family was presenting was truly the nine water floating cloud pill.
To prove their statement, they even invited a patient who had been afflicted by a curse to consume the pill on the spot to prove its effectiveness.
Sure enough, the pill broke the curse.
The crowd instantly went into a frenzy. Shi Wenjun was naturally elated while Chen Wenlin’s expression darkened.
‘It’s actually genuine. But where did the Shi family get this prescription from?’ Chen Wenlin was getting agitated. Although the nine water floating cloud pill was merely one out of millions of pills, its effects were tremendous. This was an ancient miracle pill so to normal folks, the Shi family who managed to produce such gems were naturally above the Chen family.
If large establishments or prominent families were seeking to procure medicinal ingredients and pills, the Shi family who could supply the nine water floating cloud pills would definitely be the obvious choice.
More importantly, the Shi family now had a trump card to ensure their continued survival.
This was a huge disadvantage for the Chen family.
Right now, Chen Wenlin felt as if he was sitting on needles. And yet, he couldn’t leave because the product launch event wasn’t over. The Shi family would be introducing more than just one new pill today.
Sure enough, Shi Wenjun went on to present a few more pills.
Some of them were not even recorded in the Mantra of Pills. But with the audience awed by the nine water floating cloud pill, no one dared to question these new pills anymore.
“Six sun beast soul pill, six shadow beast soul pill, six unity pill, blood energy pill… Who knew that the Shi family would bring out such gems this time.”
“And most of these pills can be consumed by pet beasts. If what they’re saying is true, pets with pure fire or shadow attributes might be able to evolve right after consuming the six sun or the shadow beast soul pill. If that’s the case, then I definitely have to get my hands on these pills!”
“Lord Shi, are these pills currently on sale right now?” someone asked impatiently.
Shi Wenjun and the other Shi family members were delighted to hear this. They had already made the necessary preparations.
“Everyone, please calm down. As this is our first time launching the pills and due to time constraints, our medicine hall only has a limited stock of these pills. We have three nine water floating cloud pills, and five each of the rest. And because the materials used for the pills are extremely valuable, the prices…” Shi Wenjun paused here and immediately, someone below the stage shouted, “Of course they’re gonna be expensive! My pet beast just happens to be a pure fire attribute. You have to reserve one six sun beast soul pill for me no matter what.”
“Me too.”
“And me…”
The audience became excited again.
Shi Wenjun gave a soft smile. “Not only are these pills expensive, but the raw ingredients needed to produce them are so rare that we can only produce a limited amount of them. Hence, these pills will not be available for sale in the market.”
“What?”
To think that they would declare that the pills wouldn’t be for sale in public after getting everyone interested. This was just like hosting a grand opening ceremony and then telling everyone they were closed for business right after.
Some of them simply gave up.
Then, Shi Wenjun added, “We greatly appreciate your understanding. Our Shi Medicine Hall will only supply these pills to our loyal customers…”
At this, the crowd understood what the Shi family was trying to do. Simply put, they were attempting to bind their customers, who were seeking these pills, to their brand. For example, a family that purchases their ingredients from the Chen family’s business would have to purchase ingredients from the Shi family from now on to earn the right to buy these exciting new pills.
This was a simple and straightforward strategy.
Some people immediately went over to discuss a business deal.
Chen Wenlin’s expression was ominous, but he was impressed by Shi Wenjun’s tactic. He hadn’t expected his competitor to make a comeback this way.
In retrospect, the Chen family’s price war now seemed much more underhanded compared to this.
What alarmed Chen Wenlin even more was how Zuo Wentang and Tan Lin had also gone over to discuss a business deal with Shi Wenjun.
The City Lord Manor and the Beast Appraisal Association were the Chen family’s biggest customers. If even they were taken away, that would deal a huge blow to his business.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, both the Zu and Gao family went over as well.
Chen Wenlin was sweating profusely, but there was nothing he could do at the moment.
Being a man, he chose to return at once to plan and discuss with his people to see if they could come up with any countermeasures.
If this situation was dealt with nicely, this might be the end of the Chen family.
Chen Wenlin’s mind was fully occupied as he headed straight for home. On his way back, he stumbled and fell over. Despite this, his mind was so clouded by thoughts that he didn’t seem to mind the pain at all.