Chapter 761: Selling the Secret Recipe

Niu Youdao froze for a moment, then immediately pretended not to understand. "Ah, I'd better get back to Tiangu and use what time I have to tend my injuries. If I return too late, who knows what crime they'll pin on me?"

He turned to leave.

Yucang stared blankly, then hurried forward and grabbed him by the arm. He badly wanted to say, Your cultivation has already been restrained. Just where do you think you're going? Do you think you can run?

But when the words reached his lips, he changed them. "Niu Youdao, what do you mean by this?"

Niu Youdao replied as though nothing were wrong, "Nothing. I'm going back! If I don't, am I supposed to wait around for Misty Pavilion to find fault with me?"

Yucang refused to let go. "You can go back. Give me the wine recipe first."

Niu Youdao continued feigning ignorance. "What wine recipe? I don't know what you're talking about. Mr. Yucang, let go. I truly don't have time to delay. I really do need to get back."

How could he not know what Yucang meant?

When Yucang explained earlier why he had come to Misty Pavilion, he had already mentioned offering Sha Rulai the wine recipe.

But Niu Youdao did not want to give it to him.

If Sha Rulai had appreciated the gesture and let him off, then fine, he could have handed over the recipe.

The problem was that Sha Rulai was plainly trying to force him to his death.

The man wanted him dead, yet Niu Youdao was still supposed to present him with an extravagant gift?

How low would he have to abase himself before that made sense?

Why should he give Sha Rulai the wine recipe?

Yucang said, "Stop pretending you don't understand. If you don't hand over the recipe, I have no way to explain myself. The words have already left my mouth. I can't take them back. Give me the recipe!"

Seeing him cling so stubbornly, Niu Youdao found it almost ridiculous. "Mr. Yucang, that recipe belongs to me. You never said a word to me beforehand and never obtained my agreement. On what grounds did you promise to give it to someone else?"

Yucang said, "Yes, put that way, it was indeed my fault. But circumstances matter. Who was I doing it for? Wasn't it for your own good?"

Niu Youdao said, "Mr. Yucang, you were clearly doing it for Xiaoyue Pavilion's great undertaking. Take ten thousand steps back, and even protecting me is still for Xiaoyue Pavilion's benefit. How did that suddenly become something you were doing solely for me?"

Yucang sighed and groaned. "Fine. I admit it benefits Xiaoyue Pavilion too. Happy now? Stop making trouble and hand over the recipe."

"Exactly," Niu Youdao said. "If Xiaoyue Pavilion is the one benefiting, why should I be the only one paying out of my own pocket to fill the hole? And afterward you still want to put a hat on my head and say it was all for my good? You sell me off, and I still have to count the money for you. Is there any such principle in this world?"

"Mr. Yucang, aren't you being a little too much of an old fox?"

"..."

Yucang froze.

Something felt wrong.

How had he been talked straight into this pit?

Today, he had truly experienced Niu Youdao's eloquence firsthand.

He even began to wonder about the hidden truth behind Niu Youdao's earlier argument with the Zhao cultivators.

Yucang had personally watched him argue those people into having no answer at all.

"Stop dragging the conversation somewhere else," Yucang said. "Why do you think he told me to come see you off? Do I really need to spell it out? He sent me to get the recipe."

Niu Youdao lowered his voice and spoke just as directly. "He's trying to kill me, and I'm still supposed to give him the recipe? Are you the fool here, or am I? I'm going to die anyway. Why should I care about him?"

Yucang grew anxious. "You make it sound easy. What am I supposed to do? How do I explain myself if I go back empty-handed?"

"What else is there to explain? I refuse to give it to you. Go tell him exactly that."

Good heavens!

Yucang was almost driven mad.

Tell Sha Rulai that?

Could he possibly explain it that way?

Sha Rulai had never directly demanded the recipe in the first place.

If Yucang ran back and said such a thing, it would instead make Sha Rulai look as though he were desperately demanding it.

Was this bastard planning to die and drag someone down with him?

Yucang finally admitted defeat and tried reasoning with him patiently. "Brother, wake up. At a time like this, what use is there in clinging to one wine recipe?"

"Don't worry. I won't keep it for myself. I'm genuinely giving it to him. If you don't trust me, I'll take you back there and you can write it yourself. Once you've written it, hand it straight to him. Would that satisfy you?"

"And you can relax. Even if he obtains the recipe, he won't compete with you for the business. A man of his standing doesn't care about that little bit of money."

No matter how eloquently Yucang spoke, Niu Youdao gave him only one answer.

"No."

Yucang's face sank. "I'm warning you. Once you're inside, if you want to preserve your life, you'll still need Xiaoyue Pavilion's people to help you!"

Niu Youdao shot back, "Don't threaten me. Your people are all shut inside Tiangu. You told me yourself you can't even enter Tiangu. Even if you change your mind now, it's too late. How are you supposed to notify them? Unless you were lying to me!"

If they had not been standing here, where Yucang did not dare touch him, Yucang truly would have liked to strangle him alive.

He had never met anyone this impervious to both soft and hard methods.

He waved a hand irritably. "What exactly do you want? Have you never considered that if you give him the recipe and he becomes happy, he might leave you a road to survival?"

"Mr. Yucang, you're thinking too much. People like that sit high above everyone else and take their own importance for granted. They never believe you're their equal. Whatever you give them, they think it is only natural that you should give it."

"You could tear your heart out and offer it to them, and you still shouldn't expect them to do anything for you in return."

Yucang said, "Don't force me. They know Xiaoyue Pavilion's background. I cannot afford to offend him."

"I already promised to give him the recipe. If I break my word now, it'll look like I was playing games with him. He only needs to make things a little difficult for Xiaoyue Pavilion and we'll suffer more than we can bear. Then what uprising are we supposed to talk about?"

Niu Youdao said, "So now you admit this is for Xiaoyue Pavilion?"

Yucang frowned. "What are you getting at?"

"I'll give it to you. But not for free."

Yucang was left speechless for a moment.

Then he asked, "What do you want?"

Niu Youdao raised three fingers. "Thirty million gold coins."

The twenty million he had previously extracted from Xiaoyue Pavilion had gone to Guan Fangyi.

Then Guan Fangyi had spared no expense buying Heavenly Sword Talismans for him.

Niu Youdao intended to use this opportunity to recover the principal with interest.

Yucang exploded. "Don't go too far!"

"Too far?" Niu Youdao said. "Mr. Yucang, don't tell me you don't know what my recipe is worth. Do you think thirty million could actually buy it under normal circumstances?"

"I've already been more than generous. I never let my friends suffer losses."

"You call this not making me suffer a loss?"

"Once I give you the recipe, it's yours to dispose of however you like. Give it away, copy it for yourself, brew the wine and sell it—whatever you want. I'm a man about to die. I won't interfere."

"I'm selling it to you for a pittance. How is that not generous?"

"..."

Yucang went silent.

Thirty million for the recipe?

The calculation was simple.

The profit on Maolu Villa's wine was unquestionably enormous.

The only real problem was that production was too low.

With Xiaoyue Pavilion's reach, however, gathering the ingredients and increasing production should not be difficult.

If they truly bought the recipe, brewed the wine themselves, and sold it, this would indeed be an extremely profitable deal.

Even if Niu Youdao failed to return alive and Xiaoyue Pavilion could not smoothly launch its uprising, adding another source of wealth and using it to accumulate strength would hardly be a bad thing.

After thinking it over, Yucang tried asking, "You're truly willing to sell it to me?"

Niu Youdao reached out and patted his chest. "If I hand you the recipe, then the recipe is in your hands and you can do whatever you like with it. What is there to doubt?"

Yucang raised a hand and stroked his beard.

If that was really the arrangement, he truly was not taking a loss.

After a moment of thought, he said, "I didn't bring that much money with me. After all the trouble you just caused, there isn't much time left before the Tiandu Secret Realm opens. I can't possibly gather thirty million for you in time."

Niu Youdao said, "I'm a man about to die. What use would money be to me inside? You don't need to pay me now. I trust you, Mr. Yucang."

At this point, the deal sounded like goods first, payment later.

Yucang sighed with emotion.

He lifted a hand and patted Niu Youdao on the shoulder. "Brother, stop saying such dispiriting things. You may still have a chance to leave here alive."

"How about this? Give me the recipe first. I'll take it to that man and see whether I can find another opportunity to plead for you."

Niu Youdao said, "I can't produce the recipe right now."

Yucang's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"You think I carry the recipe around on my body? It's complicated. I can't remember the whole thing in my head. I wrote it all on a sheet of paper."

"Go to Maolu Villa and find Yuan Gang. I'll write you a letter. Take it there, give him the money, and he will naturally hand the recipe over."

Yucang nearly choked.

For a moment earlier, he had actually believed Niu Youdao.

He had genuinely thought the man was acting honorably and had even been faintly moved.

After all that, Niu Youdao still wanted payment in one hand and the goods in the other.

Yucang pointed at his nose. "Stop making trouble. I need to give it to him now!"

"I truly can't give it to you now. What do you want me to do? Beating me to death won't help."

"Can't you simply explain it to him properly? Tell him I've said where the recipe is and sent you to retrieve it. Even after obtaining the recipe, he can't instantly brew the wine. Preparations have to be made first. Does two or three days of travel really matter?"

Hand it over right now?

Not a chance.

Niu Youdao would collect the money first.

Of course, he also knew that if Sha Rulai wanted the recipe, Niu Youdao would not be able to keep it.

Once the recipe reached Sha Rulai's hands, who knew whether he would use it for business?

With Sha Rulai's overwhelming position, if he handed the recipe to someone else and that person entered the wine trade, Niu Youdao would not even have anywhere to argue his case.

And if Niu Youdao failed to return alive, Yuan Fang and the others would be unable to protect the recipe anyway.

Sooner or later someone else would seize it.

If he did return alive, he had already prepared to join Zijin Cave.

Once he became a sect member, continuing to clutch such a piece of fat meat in his own hand would only invite trouble.

He had already formed other plans for the recipe.

Since it would eventually become public either way, he naturally had to maximize the benefit.

If he truly could not return, if he truly died here, then leaving some wealth behind for the people of Maolu Villa could at least repay them somewhat for following him all these years.

Yucang could neither beat him nor make cursing him useful.

In the end, he truly had no way to deal with the man and could only compromise.

Niu Youdao eventually wrote a letter that only Yuan Gang could understand.

Once Yuan Gang saw it, he would naturally know what arrangements to make.

Angry though Yucang was, he still put the larger matter first.

After receiving the letter, he again reminded Niu Youdao to be extremely careful after entering the Tiandu Secret Realm.

Only then did the two part ways.

...

Zhao's cultivators and Situ Yao's group had already returned to Tiangu ahead of him.

The moment they came back, they drew everyone's attention.

Quite a few people had been waiting anxiously for news, among them Yan Li, the Zijin Cave Elder in charge of this expedition.

People standing at cave entrances and people waiting in the valley all stared toward the returning group.

Their gazes searched through the faces one by one.

One man was missing.

Precisely the man whose fate everyone most wanted to know.

Niu Youdao was gone.

Niu Youdao had not returned.

Whispers rose everywhere.

Everyone seemed to arrive at much the same conclusion about his fate.

At a cave entrance, Yan Baoru, ranked second on the Golden Core Ranking, curled her lips in a mocking smile and murmured to herself, "Saves me the trouble."

[End of Chapter 761]