Chapter 16: Business Talk

— Meanwhile – Sword Manor —

Jian Ganglie brought Mo Xingyao, her bodyguard, and Wei Chen to a meeting room high in the manor. It had a stunning view of the mountains and a waterfall on the horizon. The sound of wind and bamboo echoed through the air, creating a calm and soothing atmosphere.

After everyone took their seats, Jian Ganglie sat at the head of the table.

Wei Chen wanted to see if this girl, the head of the Thousand Treasure Pavilion, would make a fuss about a small sect leader taking the head seat instead of her.

Contrary to his expectations, Mo Xingyao didn’t say a word, and her expression didn’t change in the slightest. As if it was only natural. Maybe he had been reading too many Xianxia novels and thought everyone needed to be an arrogant fool, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.

Or maybe… it was because she was a beautiful young woman and not some old white-haired hypocrite elder. That might be why she didn’t make a fuss.

While Wei Chen was entertaining these nonsensical thoughts in his head, Mo Xingyao began to speak.

“Mr. Wei, I’ll get to the point. To show my sincerity, I’ll only take 20% commission from the Flaming Lotus Secret Realm artifact set. I assure you, this rate can only be found in the Thousand Treasure Pavilion. Besides, you…” Mo Xingyao was about to continue, but Wei Chen raised his hand in a halting gesture, stopping her.

The bodyguard immediately released killing intent. How dare this vagabond interrupt his young miss?

But Wei Chen ignored it. He didn’t give a damn in the first place. He was here for his own agenda, not to cater to someone’s ego.

And without disappointing him, the girl named Mo Xingyao paused. Instead of showing even a trace of anger, there was clear curiosity in her eyes.

“Before you continue, Ms. Mo, I’m ready to give you 50% commission. Even with 70%, I only want you to consider my offer, my plan that will allow us all to benefit and make some hard cash… I mean… lots of spirit stones.”

Hearing this, Mo Xingyao’s eyes sparkled, as if spirit stones had appeared within them.

“Lots of spirit stones? Go ahead, I’m listening,” the girl said, still keeping her composure.

“You should know about Spirit Net Jade, right?” Wei Chen asked.

“Yes, the ones you asked Sect Leader Jian to distribute.” Mo Xingyao replied as she took out the Spirit Net Jade.

Wei Chen leaned forward across the table.

“Are you interested in opening a new type of massive-scale business? Even monopolizing it? I assure you, this will bring you enormous wealth, to the point that you might even consider digitalizing spirit stones.”

“Digitalizing? What’s that?” Mo Xingyao asked, puzzled by the term.

“I mean… you’ll get so many spirit stones that you’ll grow tired of counting them and end up turning them into simple, easy-to-read numbers.” Wei Chen explained showing hsi iconic smirk.

“Ok, stop keeping others in suspense. Spit it out already!” Mo Xingyao was starting to get annoyed. Seeing that smirk on his face made her hand itch, wanting to punch him.

“Yes yes, let’s start from the beginning. This Spirit Net Jade can transfer spirit stones to another place through the Spirit Net Jade.” Wei Chen said before producing a spirit stone and placing it near his Spirit Net Jade. He used his spiritual sense to activate it, and a hologram-like spirit screen appeared before his eyes.

He used his spiritual sense to operate the Spirit Net Jade, opened the contact list, and then sent the spirit stone in his hand to the contact named ’Little Wealthy Demon.’

The spirit stone vanished, and then the Spirit Net Jade in Mo Xingyao’s hand began beeping.

She checked the Spirit Net Jade with her spiritual sense and received feedback that someone had sent her a spirit stone. She accepted it, and the moment she did, the spirit stone immediately materialized in front of her.

“This… this is incredible!” Mo Xingyao was startled. She quickly used her spiritual sense to examine the structure of the Spirit Net Jade, but failed. It was as if she was blocked by something.

It felt the same as when she tried to read someone’s cultivation who had practiced a technique to conceal it.

The feedback came back blank, as if nothing was there.

In this world, there was nothing that could transfer spirit stones like this. This was the first time Mo Xingyao had ever seen anything like it.

Of course, teleportation arrays existed, but they were extremely demanding in terms of spirit stone energy, and it was not advisable to use them just to transfer one or two spirit stones.

Activating a teleportation array alone without transferring anything at all required at least 1,000 spirit stones. On top of that, additional costs had to be paid depending on the weight of what was being sent and the distance between teleportation arrays.

In conclusion, using a teleportation array was a massive financial burden on any sect. Other than in emergencies, no one would ever want to use one. But this…

This was different!

It could transfer a spirit stone without any cost other than spiritual qi! This was something no one had ever achieved before.

Mo Xingyao was shocked and intrigued, but she quickly calmed down and forced her expression into one of composure. She placed both the spirit stone and the Spirit Net Jade on the table, then spoke calmly.

“Even though it can transfer, so what? At most, it could help our Thousand Treasure Pavilion with financial management. Instead of paying the cost of supplying our people to deliver spirit stones to Sky-Severing Demon Valley, we could instantly transfer them with this.”

“But I don’t see how it could bring me massive wealth like you bragged about earlier.” Mo Xingyao voiced her doubt, wanting to see if there was more to this or if the man in front of her was just a simple braggart.

“You named yourself ’Little Wealthy Demon’ in the Spirit Net, but you’re this unimaginative. I’m greatly disappointed.” Wei Chen sighed, faking his disappointment.

Mo Xingyao glared at him, her fists trembling and itching. If no one else were here, she would have already smashed his face with a chair!

This was infuriating! In terms of money, wealth, and sheer greed, if she claimed second place in the entire Azure River Province, no one would dare to claim first!

She wasn’t someone who wanted to hoard everything like those hypocrites in the Azure Sky Conglomerate. She knew how to play the long game, and that was what allowed her Thousand Treasure Pavilion to rise into a giant of today despite being several centuries younger than the Azure Sky Conglomerate. In fact, it had only risen to the top three after she took charge eight years ago.

“Then why don’t you share your great idea!?” Mo Xingyao asked, still holding herself back from smacking that smug face.

Wei Chen smirked, watching her grit her teeth, her pretty face on the verge of turning violent at any moment. Deciding not to push his luck too far, he finally spoke. The girl was quite tolerant despite her connection to the demonic path.

“I’ll give you a starting idea. Just like your auction houses, why don’t we take a small fee every time someone transfers spirit stones?” Wei Chen said.

Yes, Wei Chen understood the Spirit Net Jade like the back of his hand. He could design it to act as a medium that siphoned a fraction of the spirit stones being transferred, just like banking apps in his previous life.

Hearing this, Mo Xingyao paused to think.

“You mean you have a way to siphon a portion of the spirit stones? But even if you do, for this model to thrive, the Spirit Net Jade must be widely distributed. And you only gave Sect Leader Jian eighty of them to spread around.”

“Besides, this artifact is very miraculous, and I don’t think we can replicate… wait…” Mo Xingyao suddenly froze, her gaze sharpening as she looked at Wei Chen with sparkling eyes.

“You have a blueprint? Or do you know how to produce this?” she asked, the shine of spirit stones practically glowing in her pupils.

Wei Chen gave his signature smirk.

“Bingo. You’re not half bad. As expected from Little Wealthy Demon,” he said with a hint of sarcasm, clapping his hands. Mo Xingyao pursed her lips in annoyance.

“Why are you telling me this? What’s your goal?” Mo Xingyao asked, immediately on guard.

From what she heard, it sounded too fantastical. There was no free lunch in this world. Anything that seemed too good to be true often came with an unexpected price.

“It seems you forgot that I’m just a vagabond. I don’t have the manpower or resources to popularize this. My main goal is to spread it as widely as possible. Wealth, while important, is secondary to me,” Wei Chen explained.

Mo Xingyao studied him closely, trying to discern his intentions. “I don’t know what your end goal is, but let’s say I believe you. What’s next? We still need someone to produce it.”

Wei Chen said nothing. Instead, he tapped the table, pointing at the head seat where Jian Ganglie sat.

Jian Ganglie blinked, confused, but then realization struck.

“No… Mr. Wei, this artifact is too advanced for us to produce! Even if we had a blueprint, I don’t think we could manage it. We can’t even analyze its structure,” Jian Ganglie shook his head.

Wei Chen smiled, as if he had been expecting that answer all along.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep