While the area had long since attracted more faction leaders from different Guilds and other lower members, Chief Kent and Chief Leo were the only ones who had a personal investment in what Grace was doing.

The three might all belong to the same Guild, but they also competed against each other. Contacts, clients, and the sheer market were limited resources. The three Chiefs had a relatively equal split of those, but that would change as soon as someone elevated their standing.

Contacts could be loyal, and clients had different needs, but the market existed on its own. If Grace could monopolize the side involving alchemical products, Kent and Leo would basically be demoted to contacts in her eyes.

After all, Grace offered wares superior in ways beyond quality. Alchemical products might need alchemical ingredients, but the latter were easily replaceable, unlike the former.

Still, Leo and Kent were powerless before the political climb happening right under their noses. It was like witnessing an enemy’s breakthrough, knowing she would retaliate once she was done, only to be stuck letting it happen.

That public square didn’t allow infighting. The clients would resent Leo and Kent if they removed their channel to such great deals, which would defeat the purpose.

Moreover, Master William was a variable that the two Chiefs couldn’t risk insulting. As long as he existed, Grace would wield power. Leo and Kent’s only option was to hope to get to him once the tournament was over.

Of course, the two Chiefs also harbored darker hopes. They were waiting for an opportunity to get to know Liam, something that might pay off later on. They needed him to take a break, preferably in the shape of a failed concoction.

Grace had struck gold, but there had to be a limit to her luck. Also, as long as there was one, the Chiefs could play their hands, managing the crowd’s expectations while offering themselves as friends.

Nevertheless, Liam never failed or stopped. Even as dawn came and turned into afternoon, he concocted nonstop, his cauldron always producing high-quality products that barely had the time to hit the shelf before someone purchased them.

And the number of customers should have had a limit. Except that the Messengers Guild didn’t take sides, and stopping it wouldn’t have prevented the spreading of rumors anyway.

The tournament had started with little over fifty cultivators, but close to two hundred had gathered in the valley by the second day, drawn by the opportunity of earning easy money or getting their hands on the cheapest possible products on the market.

So, Chief Kent and Chief Leo could only watch as hundreds upon hundreds of spirit stones entered Grace’s pockets, deepened by the debtors she had provided to the Guild, a trend that culminated when the two branching experts moved some of their heavy attention to her shop.

Luckily, Grace showed mercy when the second night of the tournament reached its apex.

"I thank you all for today," Grace announced after finishing selling the products Liam had just concocted. "Master William and I will retreat for the remainder of the night. Our shop will reopen at dawn."

Complaints obviously resounded, but Grace ignored them. Even Liam brought everything back to the tent, having received the order from Grace after delivering his last products.

Things remained rowdy outside, but neither Liam nor Grace minded it. Actually, Liam had far scarier things to worry about.

"Ah, my dear William," Grace exclaimed, one of her brightest smiles plastered on her face as she approached Liam. "My loyal, handsome alchemist."

Liam knew that smile meant money, so an obvious question escaped his mouth. "Did we do well?"

The math was iffy. Liam had never lost track of what or how much he concocted, but there were issues to consider.

The first day, or at least half of it, had featured nothing but financial losses due to the freebies.

Moreover, Liam was using Grace’s ingredients, which had a cost that couldn’t be ignored.

"Why don’t I show you?" Grace half-teased, waving her hand.

Spirit stones fell on the carpets, and more followed, and then even more. By the time the translucent waterfall ended, over three thousand crystals had appeared in the tent.

"This is your half," Grace revealed. "I would have added a bonus, but I’m in no condition to spoil you. Yet."

Liam blinked under his hood, albeit not out of the sheer, never-before-seen quantity of spirit stones.

Throughout the second day, Liam had completed fourteen concoctions, each yielding five to six products, each selling for one hundred spirit stones.

The math was solid, but Liam had never expected to earn so much in a single day. He also shouldn’t, since the tournament was a special occasion, but his shock remained.

’Is making money that easy?!’ Liam gasped internally.

Of course, nothing about the event had been easy. Liam didn’t really acknowledge his value, but he knew how all that would have been impossible without Grace.

Liam might know how to handle the alchemical flame, but Grace was a master at manipulating crowds.

With those skills combined and the unique situation, making money had been effortless. Liam and Grace were quite the perfect pair, at least when business was involved.

That priceless partnership also made a mockery of the Ancestral Beasts. After all, the Snake and the Qilin had stood on opposite sides, only for their descendants to work so well together.

But, more than shock, Liam dwelled on something else.

"Are you sure you want to give me half?" Liam probed. "You are bearing all the expenses."

Despite the lower prices, selling the alchemical products still earned a profit. However, Liam’s half was whole, while Grace had to subtract the ingredients, or at least what she would have gained by trading them individually.

Of course, Liam could never have expected Grace’s reaction to what he believed was an obvious concern.

"Master William, you flirt," Grace gasped, stepping back. "Making my heart skip a beat so smoothly. I’ll let you know that I have a strict stance on not mixing business with pleasure."

Grace turned, heading for a pillow on the floor she had prepared earlier, stopping halfway to peek past her shoulder and throw a meaningful look at Liam.

"Although," Grace said, "I might reconsider that if our partnership remains this profitable."

Naturally, Liam merely watched as Grace sat cross-legged on the pillow, flagging the event as one of women’s incomprehensible behaviors.

If anything, it was now confirmed that the spirit stones on the carpets belonged to Liam, so he waved his hand to store everything.

’Should I start looking for a bigger space-ring?’ Liam couldn’t help but wonder as his mind went inside the container’s ethereal space.

For now, Liam’s space-ring more than sufficed. It had plenty of room left, but that would change if he kept adding thousands of spirit stones, which he should.

The compound concoction had wasted about a hundred crystals per attempt, but that expense would increase. Liam would need a rank 3 poison to become a branching expert, meaning completing a rank 2 concoction while refining a rank 3 ingredient simultaneously.

The ease with which Liam handled rank 1 concoctions proved how superior his Qi now was. The compound concoctions demanded a number of spirit stones that could echo that power, and a mere hundred wouldn’t suffice. They would immediately turn into dust.

To make things worse, that was true at Liam’s current level. He didn’t know how much stronger his Qi would become at the peak of the rooting stage.

’At least over ten thousand in total,’ Liam guessed, ’And it’s a conservative estimate. There’s also the higher difficulty of the concoction to take into account and the price of the ingredients, especially the rank 3 one.’

Liam now had half that estimated amount, but it was far from enough. Far more than that was needed to reach the peak of the rooting stage, too.

’I need far, far more,’ Liam acknowledged, glancing at the remaining pile of ingredients in the tent’s corner.

"Grace, what do we do once we run out of ingredients?" Liam asked. "Do we buy them from the other Chiefs?"

The remaining ingredients would probably only last another day or two, which wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy the new customers that had arrived, let alone those who might still come.

"No, they’d just raise their prices to lower our earnings," Grace explained, not even opening her eyes, "And use that as leverage to get involved in our business. It’s never wise to show weakness to an envious merchant."

Liam was ready to accept that his earning days would end soon, which wasn’t too bad. Even his worst estimates would leave him ten times richer than he had been before the tournament.

Yet, Grace seemed unable to disappoint Liam.

"I have a plan," Grace reassured. "It will get messy from now on, but that’s when the real money will come. Just rest and continue trusting your inseparable partner."

Liam half-complied, whipping out his pipe to start smoking on the opposite side of the tent. Still, he couldn’t help but think about the attention from the two branching experts he had felt near the end of that day.

"Messy how?" Liam asked, also sitting cross-legged on a pillow.

"These two days have merely been a prelude," Grace half-explained. "The scene is now set for the main characters to arrive."