“How dare you dictate terms to the He Family?”

“How dare you order us around? “

The Chakra Sensing Realm Expert coldly hissed as he stepped closer to Ikasa. With every step he took, pressure on Ikasa increased manifold.

It was too much for him to bear. Ikasa stepped back but his spine remained straight. He did not look away from the glaring eyes of the Path Finder nor did he bow to his coercion.

When Ikasa was just out of the door, He Ding manipulated the earth and sent a ball of mud smashing toward Ikasa.

“Shouldn’t you be stepping in now to save the hero?”

The City Lord jokingly asked his sister, who was carrying him while flying to Ikasa’s Villa. She glared at him and threw him like a rag doll at Ikasa. Ikasa instinctively caught him in his arms, bridal style.

She swooped inside the hall and blocked the elemental attack of Path Finder He. Soon, an icy palm slammed into the mud ball, freezing it in its place.

Ikasa looked at the lady before him with wonderment. Clearly, Zhen Ya had the advantage of the element as well as in terms of strength.

“She has discovered 102 Chakras so far. If not for her adamance to detect all 121 before forming a Path, she would’ve been a Chakra Opening Expert long ago.”

City Lord wistfully sighed from Ikasa’s arms, looking at his sister’s back. Ikasa’s attention was drawn to the man. Zhen Wu had his arms wrapped around Ikasa’s neck and seemed to be engrossed in the battle of Chakra Sensing Experts.

If anyone saw a muscular bearded man commenting on the battle of Path Finders while being carried in a lean young man’s arms, that person would have a laugh of his life.

Thankfully for Ikasa, no one had seen the scene yet.

“Ahem!”

Ikasa cleared his throat drawing the attention of the City Lord. Realizing his situation, Zhen Wu quickly released his arms wrapped around him and jumped away. Both of them avoided eye contact and focused on the battle.

“How strong do you think that Path Finder He is?”

Ikasa asked, trying to forget the awkward moment.

“You should ask this question to Zhen Ya after her battle.”

The City Lord replied tersely.

‘You jumped into my arms! Why are you acting cranky now?’

Ikasa complained in his head and shut up. The battle had already reached the last stage.

Path Finder He had expended too much energy trying to intimidate Ikasa. He could not match Zhen Ya’s superior energy reserves and was quickly put on the back foot.

Unable to cope with the girl’s increasingly aggressive maneuvers, the exhausted He Ding gave a wide opening to Zhen Ya.

She did not fail to take advantage of his mistake.

With an icy palm, Zhen Ya struck He Ding in the chest. Ice quickly spread from his chest to his head and waist, soon encasing his entire body.

The battle concluded when an ice sculpture of a Path Finder formed in the ruined hall of Ikasa’s Villa.

“Eh? This was easier than I thought. He must have detected less than forty minor Chakras.”

Zhen Ya murmured, looking at the ice statue. She dusted her palms and came back to her brother’s side, acting as if she had done nothing special!

Even if he had just discovered thirty Chakras so far, he was still a Path Finder! A being who could kill any other Sense Realm Experts within seconds!

Ikasa gulped a mouthful of saliva with nervousness and shifted his gaze from the beautiful Ice queen to the devastated living room. The battle had only lasted for a few moves, yet the furniture was ruined, walls were cracked, and the fireplace had been destroyed!

‘If they fought for a few more moves, wouldn’t they just flatten the entire Villa?!’

Ikasa’s respect for the lady went up a notch. He also rejoiced at the fact that Path Finder Zhi only had about 1% of his peak strength when he attacked him.

Soon Caretaker Han came out and started to take care of the debris. They found a shivering Xu Ran under one of the larger pieces of the couch.

“M-Mister Ik-Ikasa… I can connect you to the Fourth Elder… P-Please spare Path Finder He?”

He spoke, fearfully looking at the Zhen siblings standing in the distance. Ikasa may be unaware of Zhen Ya’s reputation, but as a well-connected citizen of the deciduous county, how could Xu Ran be ignorant?

The Jade Ice Arts, her signature skill, had frozen so many of her opponents in ice. Unless someone pleaded for the life of the person encased in ice, Zhen Ya never let them live.

Xu Ran was too much of a coward to personally plead for He Ding’s life from the Ice Queen. So he tried to get Ikasa to do it in exchange for some benefits.

But he played the wrong card.

“You are saying you had a method to contact the Fourth Elder all this time,  yet you let that fool rampage here?”

Ikasa asked with gritted teeth. His anger was visible from the way he directly called the frozen Path Finder a fool, literally to his face. The sculpture was just a few steps away from where they stood.

“He- He is already waiting for your reply….”

Xu Ran said with his teeth clattering as he handed over the gray slate to Ikasa. He snatched the slate from the merchant’s hands and also received the mystic chalk.

A message was already waiting for him on the slate.

[You want to discuss cooperation with us? How?]

Realizing the limitations of the slate, Ikasa skipped pleasantries.

[I will wholesale you the manuals, you retail them.]

He had given this a lot of thought.

A variety of factors were involved in opening a shop in a distant city.

He would have to take care of logistics, making sure his shops were always stocked with enough manuals. It meant additional cost as he would have to build and maintain a caravan himself.

Manpower was another issue. A manual shop would easily attract the greed of local powers. To protect it, he would have to build his own force in every city he opens a shop skyrocketing his expenses.

So, Ikasa had ruled this option out.

Instead, he preferred cooperative deals like the one he had with the Xue Family. They purchased manuals from him, took care of the logistics themselves, and also sent him a part of their profits every month!

If he could find such a partner in every city, he wouldn’t have to worry about opening shops at all!

But finding such partners and adding them to his group was not easy.

Ikasa knew that he would need time to grow his organization. And with the threat of He Family looming over his head, he could not grow at his own pace.

That’s when he had a thought; Why not turn the He Family into an ally and use their channels to sell my manuals?

Anyway, he had decided to change his business model from Direct to Consumer to Business to Business. Adding the He Family as a distributor for his manuals would only help scale his business!

He formed a plan to make the He’s from enemies into allies. First, he obtained the backing of a powerful family like the Zhen’s, ensuring his security and also giving him the right to speak on equal terms.

And now he was on his next step, the negotiations.

Bloop!

A message arrived on the Slate.

[Price? Profit Share?]

[Price depends on the manual grade. 10% profits]

Ikasa quickly replied. 10% may sound low, but Ikasa was not only earning from the profits they would make.

He was in fact selling his manuals to the He Family, who would then sell them to their Customers! Basically, the chain would be Ikasa selling to the He Family and the He Family would then sell to the customer.

In this chain, Ikasa could charge whatever amount he wanted as a manufacturing cost from the He Family! From 10 gold for a manual to 1000 Gold per manual!

Still, Ikasa knew he couldn’t be too greedy. To keep the final selling price of his manuals low and gain more CP and BP, he had priced them reasonably.

[300 Gold for 100x Low-grade Manual, 400 Gold for 100x Mid-Grade Manual.]

After sending his prices, Ikasa waited for a response. He did not have to wait for long. Soon the slate blooped again, signaling the arrival of a reply.

[Deal! Will arrive soon with a contract.]

After this message, the slate turned dark. The chalk in Ikasa’s hand also crumbled to dust.

Ikasa watched the dust fly away from his hands. It was only now he realized that he was already on the way to becoming a big shot!

He had allied with the most powerful Zhen Family and the second most influential He Family. No other third-tier City’s powers could boast of such connections!

Xu Ran looked at Ikasa, with admiration and envy. He may have business relations with the He Family, but he always knew his inferior position. The way Ikasa had dictated terms to the Fourth Elder, impressed him.

“Are you not afraid of the He Family sabotaging your deal? After all, they were your enemies a few breaths ago…”

Xu Ran asked Ikasa. In a good mood, Ikasa patted his shoulders and replied,

“In business, there are no eternal enemies, only eternal profits.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep