What Lou Mu Yan said was within the expectations of An Yu Qian and the others. She was a very smart woman.
“Young Miss Lou, such conditions are already very hard to come by. Ninety-nine percent of the people who join the Mercenary Union every year start as members of the Inner Union. It’s with my highest authority to make an exception for you to directly join the Central Hall, and I need to bear certain responsibilities.” An Yu Qian didn’t give up and continued persuading.
If Lou Mu Yan’s value wasn’t equivalent to the qualifications to join the Central Hall, although he wouldn’t be punished, but his union’s contribution points would be deducted.
Lou Mu Yan chuckled, and her entire body radiated with confidence, “I believe that I’ll definitely become one of those people in the one percent, and will also definitely not let you down.
“But I have the advantage to discuss the conditions again, so why should I give up on this opportunity?” She changed the subject and added candidly.
“Do you mean that the ranking in this Alchemy Pagoda competition is an opportunity to negotiate conditions?” An Yu Qian didn’t want to go in circles with Lou Mu Yan either.
This was actually the biggest reason why they came to Lou Mu Yan today to invite her to join the Central Hall of the Mercenary Union, instead of coming to her after the competition.
If she could really win the championship of the Bei’yuan Alchemy Pagoda branch competition, or even obtain a very good ranking in the finals, then the possibility of them trying to win her over would become smaller.
Because by then, there’d definitely be many large and small forces throwing their olive branches towards her. She’d have too many choices and too many temptations.
But they didn’t expect that she’d be so smart and knew how to use her strengths and advantages to negotiate terms. This made them praise her character, but also made them distressed and depressed.
“That’s right!” Lou Mu Yan nodded, looking at the three of them playfully and asked: “If it were you three, how would you choose?”
The three revealed a bitter smile. If it were them, they’d of course have to wait for a more favourable opportunity to appear before making a choice.
“We won’t force Young Miss Lou to answer right now, so you can tell us the answer after the Alchemy Pagoda’s competition.” An Yu Qian smiled sincerely and said: “I look forward to you joining our Mercenary Union.”
If Lou Mu Yan really achieved good results in the alchemy competition of the Alchemy Pagoda, then he must apply to the headquarters to increase his bargaining chips in recruiting her.
“Alright, thank you for your appreciation, I’ll consider it carefully.” Lou Mu Yan also returned a very sincere smile.
After the three left, Lou Mu Yan returned to her room and took out the contact crystal ball given by Ming Xiu.
The once a month contact time had just arrived, and the crystal ball was filled with energy again.
Soon, a devilish and handsome man in red appeared in the crystal ball, and his aura was even more mysterious and restrained.
“Yan’er!” Ming Xiu had just come out of the bath.
His long black hair spread over his shoulders, and the red robe hung very loosely around his body. His laziness carried a kind of natural luxury, and his crimson lips poured out a sexy arc, filled with charm and allure.
There was amazement hidden in Lou Mu Yan’s eyes—did this guy have to be so seductive.
“Ha…” Seeing the brilliance in Lou Mu Yan’s eyes and how she was even taken aback for a moment, a melodious and magnetic voice escaped from Ming Xiu’s lips.
There was a smile on his face, “Does Yan’er think that your husband’s beauty is satisfactory?”
After Lou Mu Yan was teased, she immediately came back to her senses, and a rare flush rose on the tip of her ears, but she was never a shy person.
She examined Ming Xiu from top to bottom through the crystal ball, rubbed her chin, and smiled meaningfully as she said with satisfaction: “Not bad, fair skin, beautiful, and a great figure, I’m quite satisfied.”
Through the crystal ball, Lou Mu Yan revealed a look as if she’d definitely frivolously molest Ming Xiu with a few grabs if he was right before her.
Ming Xiu smiled helplessly and indulgently. Was the description of ‘fair skin’ and ‘beautiful’, really used to describe men? And shouldn’t he be the one to look as if he’d ‘tear apart and eat’ someone.
“Yan’er seems to be in a good mood today.”
Lou Mu Yan’s eyes narrowed into a crescent moon with her smile and replied in a good mood: “Yeah! Today, three inspectors from the Mercenary Union came to see me.”
“You didn’t agree to them right?” Ming Xiu knew the purpose of the inspectors from the Mercenary Union as soon as he heard it.
The alchemy competition among the younger generation of the Alchemy Pagoda was a grand event for the entire human race, and the Ming Palace Royal Clan was also paying close attention.
As long as Lou Mu Yan achieved good results, the conditions for recruiting right now compared to after the competition would change, and they wouldn’t be able to sit still.
With Lou Mu Yan’s temperament, she’d definitely be interested in such a grand competition. Most importantly was that the Black Flame Nether Lotus among the rewards should be useful to Mo Yan, so he expected her to participate.
“Mm, I think that if I can obtain the top three in the competition, they’d definitely increase their bargaining chips.” Lou Mu Yan said with a smile.
It wasn’t that she was greedy, but she also needed to pay responsibilities and a price to join the Mercenary Union, so why not let herself obtain more benefits? She wasn’t that selfless and generous.
If the Mercenary Union was what she expected, then she’d definitely loyally defend it in the future.
“You made the right choice.” Ming Xiu was still very confident in the intelligence of his treasure1, “If you can win the championship of the entire competition, then you’ll definitely be able to mention the conditions for joining the Central Hall of the Mercenary Union with them.”
Lou Mu Yan looked at Ming Xiu with a half-smile, “Mention a condition?”
Since Ming Xiu said so, then it must have a deeper meaning.
“Does Yan’er want to go to the Pagodas of Enlightenment of the five specialisations to cultivate?” Ming Xiu asked with a smile instead.
Lou Mu Yan’s eyes were as bright as stars, “You mean the Mercenary Union controls the Pagodas of Enlightenment of the five specialisations?”
“No.” Ming Xiu smiled and said: “The Alchemy Pagoda, Smithing Pavilion, Array Alliance, Tamers Union, and the Mercenary Union jointly control the rights to use the five specialisation pagodas.
“Every now and then, the five major forces will allocate places to comprehend in the Pagodas of Enlightenment, but the spots are very few, so strength alone might not help one obtain them.”
Although this was a world where strength was respected and valued, but partiality couldn’t be avoided where there were people.
The number of people who could enter the Pagodas of Enlightenment to comprehend were few and precious, so most of the people sent by the five major forces each time were from profound backgrounds or with extraordinary talents.
He believed that Lou Mu Yan could meet the latter condition, but he didn’t want any accidents to happen. The Pagodas of Enlightenment was controlled by the five major forces and none from even the Ming Palace Royal Clan could intervene to obtain a place, which showed how precious it was.
If Lou Mu Yan asked for a spot as a condition for joining the Central Hall of the Mercenary Union, then as long as the members of the Elders agreed, her spot would be secured.
“Mm, it’s a good thing we can communicate with each other once a month, otherwise I’d have missed such a good opportunity.” Lou Mu Yan smiled brilliantly.
The many higher-level secrets of the Human Realm currently known by her were obtained through the monthly crystal ball meetings with Ming Xiu.
“Yan’er, we’ll meet soon after you pass the alchemy competition in the Bei’yuan branch.” The corners of Ming Xiu’s lips rose high.
“It should take a little longer.”
Lou Mu Yan smiled helplessly: “As far as I know, the Alchemy Pagoda will give the alchemists who entered the finals half a year of rest and time to comprehend after the divisional competition, and I want to use this half a year to take on more missions to complete along the way to Central State.”
“Half a year will soon come to pass, I can wait, you can go train at ease.” Although Ming Xiu really wanted to meet Lou Mu Yan again, but he respected all her decisions.
“Mm, see you next month!” Lou Mu Yan watched as the energy on the crysal ball was weakening constantly, with tenderness and anticipation in her eyes.
“Alright!”
1I don’t know if I should translate‘宝贝’ (bǎo bèi) to the literal meaning of ‘treasure’, or the colloquial ‘babe/dear/honey/lovely etc’ that lovers endearingly call each other. ‘Bǎo bèi’ itself has always meant treasure, and it just lent itself out to also mean ‘babe/sweetheart/darling etc’.
Note: Many more chapters coming today!!!
May Our 梦 Come True 
Thanks for the Chapters!!
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For ‘宝贝’ (bǎo bèi), instead of the modern terms of endearment like “babe” and “honey”, you could use the older term “darling”, whose meaning includes being a favorite or cherished which meshes better to the original treasure.
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Obrigado pelo capítulo!
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Lou Mu Yan is definitely lucky and overpowered, but you can’t say that she’s ever lazy.
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