Focusing on Forging

As night fell, Liu Qinghui successfully returned with the fourteen deeds of sale.

He claimed credit, saying, "Little Grand-Uncle, it’s all settled. You can rest easy. Junior Sister Wen placed a forbidden seal on these contracts. If they dare to play any tricks, weeds will definitely be growing over their graves by next year."

Xu Xian was very satisfied. "You’ve worked hard during this period!"

Liu Qinghui replied nonchalantly, "What are you saying, Little Grand-Uncle? This is all part of my duty."

After a few pleasantries, Xu Xian turned to serious business. "There's something else I need to tell you. The beast corpses we’ve recovered cannot be sold for the time being—not a single one."

"Understood!"

"Also, I cannot return the four million that the Merchant Hall invested just yet."

"No rush."

Xu Xian continued, "Send word to the Central Plains. The acquisition of earth weapons can stop. Take the ores and earth weapons we have on hand and dispose of them while the prices are artificially high."

Liu Qinghui inquired, "We should keep the immortal gold ore, right? We still have many orders on hand, and they’re increasing. With the fourteen masters joining us, the consumption will definitely be massive."

Xu Xian waved his hand in refusal. "Sell it off. Those immortal gold prices are too high; it’s not cost-effective to use them. I have a way to solve that."

Liu Qinghui didn't persist. "Alright, I’ll follow your lead, Little Grand-Uncle."

Xu Xian added, "The Merchant Hall put in a lot of effort to drive up the price of earth weapons and stockpile immortal gold, and you invested a significant amount of capital into it. I’m aware of this. Therefore, I won’t take a cut of the profits from this resale; the Merchant Hall can keep it all."

"Once the goods are sold and the capital is recovered, just give me sixty percent of the revenue from the two thousand-plus beast meat sales as we previously agreed."

Liu Qinghui said tentatively, "Is that really appropriate?"

One had to realize that when Xu Xian first brought nearly three thousand beast carcasses’ worth of meat and hides to the Central Plains, even though they were sold at half price, the price of fifth-stage beasts in the Central Plains was extremely high at the time.

Even at half price, selling only the hides and meat, the average price per beast was around 1,300, totaling nearly four million in funds.

With their own market manipulation, plus the compensation from those who had ordered goods and then canceled due to the price crash, they had nearly another million.

Most of this money had been reinvested into manipulating the prices of ores and earth weapons.

To increase the effect, the Merchant Hall had chipped in quite a bit. If they sold everything smoothly now, that original four million in capital would have compounded to no less than six million.

Yet Xu Xian was only taking sixty percent of four million, which was only 2.4 million.

In and out, aside from what the Merchant Hall earned itself, Xu Xian was yielding over a million in profits to them. This was no small sum.

Xu Xian, however, remained calm. "There’s nothing inappropriate about it. I am the Little Grand-Uncle of the Wendao Sword Sect, after all. Consider it my contribution to the sect. I can't have the Merchant Hall working for me for nothing. It wouldn't be right for me to eat meat while the Merchant Hall only gets the soup. If there's meat, everyone should eat together."

Liu Qinghui said with respect, "Little Grand-Uncle, you are truly honorable. I won't refuse then. On behalf of the Merchant Hall, I thank you."

Xu Xian waved his hand, signaling no need for formalities, and then requested, "However, I must trouble the Merchant Hall's people to use this money to recover fifth-grade beast bones for me. I need them intact. Within these few days, the people behind the Seven Great Forging Workshops will likely flood the market with over ten thousand fifth-grade beast corpses. They’ll be anxious to recoup their costs. It shouldn't be hard to buy them back if we offer a bit more. Keep buying until the funds are exhausted."

"Understood. I’ll tell them. I guarantee the mission will be completed," Liu Qinghui responded.

Although he didn't know why the Little Grand-Uncle was so obsessed with fifth-grade beast bones, he knew very well that everything the Little Grand-Uncle had done since coming to Demon-Slaying City was for those bones.

They surely had a great use.

It was best not to ask too many questions.

Having finished his instructions, Xu Xian said lazily, "Right now, the price of fifth-grade beasts in Demon-Slaying City is too low. It can't stay like this, or no one will be willing to come here to hunt. Everyone is risking their lives to make a living; we have to give them a way to survive. Let’s do this: keep five hundred thousand of the remaining funds as reserve cash, and use the rest for acquisitions. Start by buying them back at a price of 1,000 and slowly pull the price back up. We’ll hold out for a few months and see."

"Understood."

"Go on then."

"Alright!"

Liu Qinghui left, but before Xu Xian could even begin to worry, Wen Qingxue came running over. She reached out her small hand without saying a word, but her eyes said everything.

Xu Xian feigned ignorance. "What is it?"

Wen Qingxue said, "Where's my money?"

Xu Xian continued to play dumb. "What money of yours?"

Wen Qingxue’s slender brows furrowed. "The hundred thousand spirit stones you promised as my reward. The job is done. Surely the Little Grand-Uncle won't go back on his word?"

Xu Xian immediately said, "I wouldn't do that."

"Then give it here."

"I'll have to owe it to you for now."

"Hmm?"

"I'll calculate interest for you... let's say, one percent per month. I'll give it all to you then," Xu Xian said.

Wen Qingxue was a bit unhappy, but she still silently pulled back her hand and gave a soft "oh."

She turned to leave dejectedly.

After taking a few steps, she suddenly looked back and emphasized seriously, "Remember to pay me back."

Xu Xian didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He couldn't help but remember when they first met; back then, Wen Qingxue had also told him to remember to pay her back. It was just that back then it was a mere ten merit points, and now it was a hundred thousand spirit stones.

"Don't worry. With my net worth, I'm not going to cheat you out of this small change."

Wen Qingxue said nothing more and left.

Xu Xian's credit with her was still decent.

Yao Zhijian followed the same pattern, and Xu Xian used the same copy-paste response.

After dealing with the two of them, the youth sat in the forging workshop, his brow furrowed with worry.

He was troubled.

Truly troubled.

Having no money was a real source of distress.

He had earned quite a lot, but it was all tied up in goods. Right now, he didn't have much liquid cash on hand.

Yet there were so many places that required money.

Buying beasts required money, and stockpiling goods had costs.

Delivering orders also had costs.

In the future, he would also have to pay the salaries of those fourteen people. Although they were cheap, he couldn't withstand a situation where money was only going out and not coming in...

He let out a sigh and muttered to himself, "I’ll just have to endure. Once I get through these few months, it’ll be fine."

After Yao Xiaoxiao found out, she suggested going to her ancestor to get some money for the emergency.

Xu Xian turned her down.

Elder Yao had already given him enough.

Yao Xiaoxiao had been working for him for free and even putting her own money into it. If he went to ask Elder Yao for help again, he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

He felt he could weather the storm.

He would just owe the fourteen masters their pay for now, and as for the immortal gold needed for the orders, he would rush the forging himself.

Fortunately, he had stockpiled some earlier. By gritting his teeth, he could deliver the orders currently on hand.

After that, he would plan slowly...

The next morning.

The signs of the seven forging workshops were taken down just like that, but the sound of forging inside did not stop for a single moment.

Xu Xian sent people to distribute the orders on hand to the fourteen forging masters and delivered the materials.

He himself stayed in the forging workshop, doing nothing but focusing on forging synthetic spirit ore to continuously reduce the production cost of earth weapons.

The news that the fourteen masters were now working for Xu Xian spread everywhere in a very short time.

For a while, it caused a massive stir.

Everyone praised Xu Xian for his methods.

The orders in Xu Xian's hands also began to be delivered at an extraordinary speed.

Yao Xiaoxiao was busy every day, and her life became fulfilling once again.

"Here is your low-grade earth weapon. Please take it. We hope to see you again soon."