Chapter 677: Young Master Xu Leads the Team
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Xu Xiaoshou had never thought that Amber Juice would be replaced by someone else, but now that he saw Greedy the Cat Spirit’s actions, Xu Xiaoshou suddenly realized that he might be able to relieve his labor force.
“But why is this cat so attentive?”
Xu Xiaoshou closed his eyes and observed Greedy the Cat Spirit’s movements again. He had a faint premonition that something bad was going to happen.
Sure enough, not long after, he saw Greedy the Cat Spirit uncover a cauldron of elixirs.
Refining that cauldron of elixirs did not fail, as a medicinal fragrance could be smelled.
However, after this little fellow looked about and saw that no one was around, he opened his mouth and directly sucked up the entire cauldron of elixirs!
Xu Xiaoshou was dizzy as he watched.
“What a guy!”
“One who is unaccountably solicitous is hiding evil intentions… the old saying truly did not deceive me.”
He did not get angry, but he continued to observe.
Using Perception for more than a quarter of an hour, he could see that Greedy the Cat Spirit had uncovered more than half of the pot. It had swallowed about one-tenth of the elixirs that were successfully refined during this period.
“How greedy!”
It had to be mentioned that this one-tenth of 30,000 elixirs in the alchemy cauldron was not very eye-catching.
Greedy the Cat Spirit’s speed was too fast.
If one did not look closely, it might even be difficult to tell whether the elixirs were successfully refined after Greedy the Cat Spirit uncovered the cauldron.
But according to this calculation…
Xu Xiaoshou took a look.
He had obtained two times more elixir ingredients than he needed.
And the success rate of Greedy the Cat Spirit’s conducting alchemy was not low; it was more than seventy percent.
Under such circ.u.mstances, even if this little white cat were to be greedy, and wants to eat one-tenth of the successfully refined elixirs…
This was equivalent to thirty portions of spiritual ingredients. Plenty Gold Company required ten portions of the finished product, and Greedy the Cat Spirit could refine twenty-one portions. There would still be around eighteen portions left after subtracting the two or three portions it had to swallow secretly.
If he were to hand over ten portions to Plenty Gold Company, he would still have some left…
“Eight portions!”
Xu Xiaoshou’s eyes lit up.
In this way, overall, it was still profitable!
The key point was that he did not need to conduct alchemy himself. Greedy the Cat Spirit could do it!
It was equivalent to paying Greedy the Cat Spirit a certain amount of money, while he was making money while lying down?
The success rate of Greedy the Cat Spirit’s conducting alchemy would increase with many experiments.
Although he did not know if this guy’s appet.i.te would also increase, as a meticulous capitalist, how could Xu Xiaoshou not know to give him a beating?
Thinking of this, Xu Xiaoshou no longer lied there and stayed still.
He jumped up and grabbed Greedy the Cat Spirit, who had just swallowed the Amber Juice, by the neck and lifted him. Then his eyes suddenly darkened.
“What are you doing!”
This voice was like thunder and instantly resounded throughout the Yuan Mansion.
“Meow!”
The white cat’s fur instantly bristled. It was caught stealing food and was almost scared out of its wits.
In the Yuan Mansion, Greedy the Cat Spirit had seen who the boss was during this period.
Even the big guys like Ice and Ember were submissive to the head of the family. How could Greedy the Cat Spirit not know the terrible consequences of offending its master?
But… it confirmed that its master was still sleeping soundly. How could he suddenly get angry and even catch it in the act?
Greedy the Cat Spirit panicked and kicked around like a pet version of Mu Zixi.
However, under Xu Xiaoshou’s sinister gaze, it quickly calmed down and changed its att.i.tude, showing a cute expression.
“Meow!”
It extended its pink tongue and licked its master’s hand. Greedy the Cat Spirit tried to use this method to appease the terrifying emotions of this man.
“It is useless to act cute!”
Xu Xiaoshou’s expression was vicious as he held the little white cat and shook it around.
“I have been watching you for a long time.”
“You did not pay me tuition fees for learning how to conduct alchemy in secret. I am not going to argue with you about this. I will put this on record.”
“You failed in conducting alchemy and wasted my spiritual ingredients. I will also put this on record.”
“But you failed in conducting alchemy on your own accord, just to swallow the elixir residues?”
“Out of the three points, I cannot tolerate the third one at all!”
Xu Xiaoshou shook the little white cat so hard that its brain almost flew out.
He did not hit the cat either. After all, he was afraid that he would be crippled. But he just shook it like this, as if he wanted Greedy the Cat Spirit to spit out the elixir that it had swallowed.
“Feeling lucky?”
Hearing the cat crying miserably, Xu Xiaoshou sneered and showed no mercy at all.
“You took the initiative to refine the elixirs and failed. Forget about stealing the residues of the elixirs, but you ate the successfully refined elixirs as well?”
“What kind of mentality is this?”
“I suspect that you are corrupted completely!”
“Do you know the four major crimes mentioned are enough to cut you a little fat cat into pieces?”
“Meow!” Greedy the Cat Spirit was so scared that it almost fainted.
When its owner read out the three major crimes mentioned above, Greedy the Cat Spirit had thought that it was lucky indeed.
Even if it wanted to deny that it did not intentionally fail to refine the elixirs, the most important thing was that it secretly ate them and thought that it was lucky not to be discovered.
It did not expect to be caught in the act!
This time, it did not dare to stay in its owner’s hands at all. It felt a strong sense of deadly crisis.
“Meow!”
With an ear-piercing screech, Greedy the Cat Spirit scratched at the void and sucked in. The s.p.a.ce in that place shattered.
Following that, the fur all over its body became extremely soft. It slipped out of Xu Xiaoshou’s hands with a sizzling sound and was about to escape.
Xu Xiaoshou was stunned.
He did not think that this fat cat would be able to break free from the restraints.
However, this was the Yuan Mansion’s s.p.a.ce, and he was the owner of this world. How could he let this white cat escape so easily?
“Come here!”
Xu Xiaoshou grabbed out.
The little fat cat, whose body had slipped out of the s.p.a.ce, was absorbed by an unknown power and returned to the palm of his hand. Then, it was restrained by spatial power completely.
“Little fellow…”
Xu Xiaoshou chuckled.
“Meow, meow!”
Once again, the little white cat felt wronged and did not dare to act rashly.
At this moment, Xu Xiaoshou did not continue to put on a dark expression deliberately.
When suppression had reached a certain level, it was time to give a sweet date.
Therefore, Xu Xiaoshou patted the white cat and said earnestly, “Little fellow, I know that you did not mean to steal food. After all, cats regard food as the sky, right? I can understand.”
“Meow!” The little white cat could not help but nod.
Xu Xiaoshou changed the topic. “But the problem is that you eat too much! The way you eat is very unsightly, it is easy to overstuff…”
After realizing that Greedy the Cat Spirit’s stomach was a bottomless pit, Xu Xiaoshou choked for a moment and said, “It is easy to starve your owner to death, do you understand?”
“Do you know where these spiritual ingredients came from?” Xu Xiaoshou pointed to the mountain of spiritual ingredients.
Among the mountain was a hole, which was created by Greedy the Cat Spirit as it temporarily swallowed them.
There was a small s.p.a.ce in this guy’s stomach that could prevent things from being digested once it was swallowed so that it could be released again. This was how the Infernal Heavenly Flames were preserved.
“Those things are for your owner to refine the elixirs, which were requested by someone else. If I cannot hand them the finished product in the end, not only will I die, but you will be dismembered as well. Do you understand?” Xu Xiaoshou threatened sternly.
“Meow!”
The white cat’s fur bristled. It was frightened.
Xu Xiaoshou looked at this inexperienced little white cat and continued to deceive it. “So, you can conduct alchemy if you like, and I can lend you spiritual ingredients, but your success rate in conducting alchemy is not good. It is only about 70%, and yet you want to steal the elixirs?”
“You have seen me conducting alchemy, right?”
Xu Xiaoshou took out a large bathtub and said loudly, “As your owner, I have a 100% success rate in conducting alchemy. Have you ever seen me stealing elixirs?”
“I do not think so, right?”
“Besides, if you failed to conduct alchemy, what right do you have to steal elixirs?”
“I do not think so, right?”
After he made this little guy s.h.i.+ver, Xu Xiaoshou’s tone finally softened.
“Little thing, I do not want to kill off your hobby of conducting alchemy…”
“How about this!”
After a pause, Xu Xiaoshou said, “The fact that you secretly learned to conduct alchemy from me and did not pay the tuition fee, I won’t argue with you.”
“You failed in conducting alchemy and wasted the spiritual ingredients that I could have successfully refined. I will treat it as honing your conducting alchemy skills.”
“And you failing in conducting alchemy secretly and swallow the residues of the elixir… if there is a next time, I will cut you into pieces!”
“Lastly, you stole the finished elixirs…”
Xu Xiaoshou stretched his voice.
The little white cat had already curled up into a ball, its face buried in its claws.
Xu Xiaoshou nodded in satisfaction. “I believe you are aware of the consequences.”
“Meow!”
The white cat whimpered and nodded its head.
“Sigh!”
Xu Xiaoshou finally sighed. “In that case, I’m not an unreasonable person… when your success rate in conducting alchemy reaches 100%, for every 100 elixirs that you refine, I will allow you to taste one of them openly!”
“Meow?”
Greedy the Cat Spirit raised its head in surprise. It was expecting a beating, but it received a reward proposal instead.
“Remember, it is only after the success rate reaches 100%!”
Xu Xiaoshou said seriously, “This is after you can perfectly refine all the elixirs. Not only do you not need to eat the residue filled with burnt smell, but you are also allowed to ‘openly’ taste one out of every 100 elixirs!”
“Openly, taste… do you know what that means?”
Xu Xiaoshou chose the most important words and said, “This means that you do not have to wolf down your food. Even if I am there to watch, you can take your time and eat slowly, the kind that is neither too fast nor too slow…”
“Slurp!”
Seeing that the little white cat suddenly drooled, and its eyes were full of desire, Xu Xiaoshou did not continue. He knew that the cat had listened to him.
“If you understand, then give me an applause.”
“Meow!”
Greedy the Cat Spirit cried out in excitement. It leaped out from Xu Xiaoshou’s embrace and slapped its front paw in the air.
“Go.”
Xu Xiaoshou pointed at the 30,000 big bathtubs. “Go and bravely pursue your dream. Go and achieve your extraordinary future. From today onwards, you will be the first tenth-grade conducting alchemy cat on the continent!”
“Meow!”
“Meow!”
The little white cat excitedly wandered around the 30,000 alchemy cauldron. After obtaining its owner’s approval, it no longer needed to sneak around in conducting alchemy and had an unlimited supply of spiritual ingredients.
Xu Xiaoshou crossed his arms and looked at the busy little figure below. He could not help but laugh.
Humans needed to learn how to manage.
What was the saying?
If you do not know how to lead a team, you can only work until you die!
Look at this cat…
It had been conducting alchemy cautiously and eating elixirs in fear.
After receiving recognition, it had become a good cat that pursued conducting alchemy, high quality, and positive benefits!
This was management!
“Feared, Pa.s.sive Points +1.”
The information bar suddenly jumped.
Xu Xiaoshou was stunned and turned his head to look.
He saw Xu Xiaoji, who had witnessed the whole process, on the ground. He was in a daze.
Xu Xiaoshou’s angry shout had woken Xu Xiaoji.
After seeing all of this, he felt as if the entire world had been turned upside down.
He could not believe that the Great Demon King Xu was such a savage. Not only towards humans but even cats!
That is right.
In the Yuan Mansion s.p.a.ce, Xu Xiaoji was also present.
He had seen Greedy the Cat Spirit conducting alchemy, but he was not a hateful player who liked to snitch, so he turned a blind eye to all of this.
But today, under the adrenaline rush of the Great Demon King Xu, this lazy little white cat had become an exciting spirit.
This…
“What are you looking at!”
Xu Xiaoshou interrupted this person’s thoughts.
He floated in front of Xu Xiaoji and looked up and down. Then, he looked at the little white cat that was rolling around and a thought struck his heart.
“Xu Xiaoji, the Yuan Mansion s.p.a.ce is very boring, right?” Xu Xiaoshou bent down with a smile.
“You, what do you want to do?” Xu Xiaoji was so scared that he fell to the ground. He held his hand up as if he was saying, “do not come over”.
“The Yuan Mansion is too boring,” Xu Xiaoshou said, “I rented a building in the Shengshen Continent. The people we know are outside. Aje, Ice, and Ember have all gone out. Mu Zixi is also outside. Xin Gugu is also there… do you want to play with everyone?”
Xu Xiaoji’s eyes instantly filled with longing.
How could he not want to?
From the s.p.a.ce of the Fourth Sword to the White Cave. From the White Cave to the Shengshen Continent. And now, to the Yuan Mansion…
It could be said that Xu Xiaoji hated being chained down the most.
However, under the control of the Great Demon King Xu, other than sometimes transforming into a straw hat and turning into a stone so that he could go out and see the colorful world, he could only stay here forever and keep the cat company.
All of this was due to his failure to steal the Cardinal Wheel at that time. After that, the Great Demon King Xu released him from the Yuan Mansion to fight against Zhang Taiying, but he did not have the strength to do so.
Xu Xiaoji knew these reasons. He regretted it, but it was useless.
“I want to…”
He held back his frustration and said.
But the moment he said those words, looking at the past, Xu Xiaoji instinctively realized that the Great Demon King Xu had a devious plan, so he changed his words and cried, “I do not want to!”
“I can see that you want to.”
Xu Xiaoshou patted his shoulder. “In the past, I did not believe you because sometimes you can possess the strength of a Sovereign. I was afraid that I could not withstand it. But it is fine now. Even if you want to be a traitor, I am not afraid. That is why I can let you out.”
Xu Xiaoji was stunned.
The Great Demon King Xu could already rival a Sovereign?
That is not right!
According to Great Demon King Xu’s words and his personality, he should have already reached the realm where he could kill a Sovereign easily, crush the Cutting Path, and even fight against the Higher Void, right?
He did not know why the Great Demon King Xu cultivated so quickly.
But even if he did not have such strength, with just Lord Aje alone, Xu Xiaoji had already completely given up on resisting.
“I will not betray you…”
He said weakly. He knew that the Great Demon King Xu did not like to listen to such empty words, so he added, “So if I want to go out, what price do I have to pay?”
“The word ‘price’ is too much. It is not that exaggerated.”
Xu Xiaoshou waved his hand and pointed at Greedy the Cat Spirit. “Help me keep an eye on it. Do not let it eat anything secretly. Also, tidy up the elixirs it has refined. Organize them up and wait for me to come to the Yuan Mansion to take them away next time.”
“This matter is simple right?”
“As long as you settle all of this, you can come out and play once every three days.”
“Whenever Greedy the Cat Spirit does not secretly eat, and if you perform very well, whenever you want to come out, tell me. I will bring you out…”
After a pause, Xu Xiaoshou felt that something was wrong, so he changed the way he said, “Whenever you want to go to the Yuan Mansion, tell me. I will bring you in to play!”
Xu Xiaoji’s eyes instantly lit up.
He had just witnessed the scene of the Great Demon King Xu giving the cat promises, but at this moment, the desire for freedom completely overwhelmed his rationality.
“Okay!”
Xu Xiaoji agreed.
It was not his fault for transforming into white cat no. 2, but the promises by the Great Demon King Xu were too tempting.
Moreover, this job was simple. Xu Xiaoji was bored in the Yuan Mansion. So, it was not a bad thing.
What if the Great Demon King Xu kept his promise?
“Freedom…”
Xu Xiaoji looked at Greedy the Cat Spirit. In his eyes, this was no longer a cat. This was a spirit coin, wontons, noodles, beautiful clothes, and everything in the colorful world that was completely different from the s.p.a.ce in the Yuan Mansion!
“Go for it.”
Xu Xiaoshou smiled and raised his fist to encourage Xu Xiaoji.
As the saying goes, if you do not know how to lead a team, you can only work to death alone!