Chapter 168: Chapter 165 Impending Storm
Initially, Jiang Cheng was just an obscure second-tier Talisman Master.
Let alone in the Capital, even in his hotown Wuyue City, he could basically be considered invisible in the world of Talisman Masters.
He had no fa and no network; when he went out, nobody recognized him.
Latterly, with the popularity of the Fishing Talisman, he outsourced the production of the talisman, relying almost entirely on the connections of Yue Linger to find people for the work.
Even Yue Linger herself wasn’t soone Jiang Cheng knew personally; their eting was diated through an introduction by the Talisman Master Association.
Compared to the unknown Jiang Cheng, Shen Mi in the Capital was a well-known, well-regarded personage.
Shen Mi had struggled and fought in the Capital for over two hundred years. Although he was a Pill Master and mixed in the elixir industry, his network within the Capital’s Talisman industry far surpassed that of Jiang Cheng.
The very night he obtained the “Plant Empowernt Talisman” certification, Shen Mi urgently contacted multiple talisman shops in the Capital, demanding they produce the Plant Empowernt Talisman at full capacity, even if it required paying a premium.
Compared to the value of the Plant Empowernt Talisman, the extra Spirit Stones were trivial.
The next morning, Shen Mi, carrying a large amount of Spirit Stones and treasures, started his “Elixir Diplomacy.”
Firstly, he had to secure the order for the Qi Blood Pill from the Weapon Departnt; if he failed to get it, the Blood Orange Fruit produced using the Self-Enhancent Talisman would face the awkward situation of having stock with no sales.
Secondly, he had to try to grasp all the related orders from the court and other organizations and companies in the Capital; even if it ant lowering the price a bit. After all, the cost of producing Blood Orange Fruit was reduced even more, increasing the profits considerably.
The Miaodan Workshop had to secure as many orders as possible to ensure the maximization of profits from the initial wave of cheap Blood Orange Fruit.
Moreover, the Miaodan Workshop already had so gardens for cultivating Spirit Plants, but with the advent of the Self-Enhancent Talisman, the original scale of the gardens would no longer suffice. The Miaodan Workshop must lease or purchase land swiftly to plant more Blood Orange Trees. This step had to be taken quickly and could not wait for the talisman painting to take place before dealing with land transactions.
Furthermore, the Miaodan Workshop needed to recruit so Talisman Masters. After the initial wave of profits from the Blood Orange Fruit, they would use the outsold Plant Empowernt Talisman to help others produce Blood Orange Fruit and compensate for their own profit shortfalls.
Lastly, Shen Mi sent a communication talisman to his lovely daughter.
“Hello? Hanhan?”
Shen nghan was groggy in bed.
“Hello? Dad? It’s the middle of the night, can’t it wait until tomorrow?”
Shen Mi had been excited all day and hadn’t noticed that it was already the middle of the night.
“Hanhan, how are things between you and Jiang Cheng?”
“So-so, we just chatted once last ti and haven’t been in touch since.”
“That won’t do. I was hoping you could do a favor.”
“What is it?”
“Get Jiang Cheng to sell the rights to his Autonomy Talisman.”
Shen nghan rubbed her eyes. “Okay, I’ll talk to him. How much are you prepared to spend?”
“Two million low-grade Spirit Stones.”
“How much!?”
Shen nghan’s surprised voice woke up her roommate, and she quickly put on her clothes and slipped onto the balcony.
“Dad? Are you all right? Two million for a first-tier talisman? Isn’t that a bit pricey?”
Shen Mi chuckled.
Although nghan had been raised in wealth from a young age, because she had never dealt with business matters, she lacked understanding of many things.
Jiang Cheng’s talisman, at two million, was an absolute bargain.
He was willing to spend two million now just to give Jiang Cheng a taste of sweetness and to avoid a lawsuit in the future.
He hoped that Jiang Cheng was a man who understands the tis. Otherwise, if it ca to a lawsuit later on, he might not get even a single Spirit Stone.
“Try not to exceed three million. If you can make a deal, I will allow you to go to the Tongtian Sect, and I won’t push you to marry Xuechen.”
Zhao Xuechen, the second son of the Nation Duke from Liang Kingdom.
During the rapid developnt of the Miaodan Workshop, it inevitably offended many local powers in the Capital, and Shen Mi had to submit a declaration of fealty to the Duke’s Mansion.
In addition to the marriage arrangent with the Duke’s Mansion, he also promised to make Shen nghan the sole heir of the Miaodan Workshop.
However, as Shen nghan grew up, she had always been indifferent to her so-called “fiancé” and strongly resisted the marriage arrangent. If not for her filial nature, she would have “rebelled” long ago.
But tis have changed. The Duke’s Mansion’s influence has gradually weakened, and with the Miaodan Workshop’s unlimited potential because of the Self-Enhancent Talisman, the marriage arrangent should also be nullified.
“Really?”
“Yes. When have I ever lied to you?”
“Okay!”
Determined, Shen nghan resolved to persuade Jiang Cheng to sell her the Autonomy Talisman—for the sake of her freedom and future access to the Tongtian Sect!
For Class 1 Counselor Cui Zhifei, there were several pieces of good and bad news before him.
Good news: Jiang Cheng is a Talisman genius.
Bad news: Too much of a genius, has brought trouble for the Spiritual Planting Departnt.
Good news: Jiang Cheng had previously signed a waiver agreent; if the trees were damaged due to no restraint, it was entirely the tree owner’s responsibility.
Bad news: The situation has gotten a bit out of hand, and the Spiritual Planting Departnt wants an explanation.
Good news: It’s the beginning of a new sester, the impact on the destroyed Spirit Plants isn’t significant, there’s ti to redy. This won’t delay students’ assignnts and graduation.
Bad news: More people are now eying Jiang Cheng’s talismans, including the head of the Spiritual Planting Departnt, teachers from the Special Cultivation Academy Puppetry Departnt, and others.
The head of the Spiritual Planting Departnt’s idea is to have Jiang Cheng remove all those ssy martial arts and weeding functions, keeping only the core rapid growth feature to facilitate the cultivation of Spirit Plants in the departnt.
The idea from the Puppetry Departnt is to have Jiang Cheng remove the ssy growth, fruiting, and developnt functions, and retain the core control, martial arts, and tactical synergy features to assist puppet masters.
Cui Zhifei felt his job was extraordinarily difficult.
The pressure from two major departnts was all on him—whoever wanted this “fortune” could have it!
Fortunately, however, Jiang Cheng was easy to talk to. He understood the difficulties of the counselor’s job and was willing to wait until he was free to develop various functional Plant Autonomy Talismans for the Spiritual Planting Departnt and Puppetry Departnt to research.
“Strange, how does this kid seem even busier than ? He’s not planning to use the Autonomy Talismans outside the school, is he?”
At this thought, Cui Zhifei shivered.
ssing up with Autonomy Talismans within the school was one thing since the school was all insiders, and he could smooth it over, but if the Autonomy Talismans caused trouble outside the school, that was not sothing a small counselor like him could handle!
Cui Zhifei took out a communication talisman and contacted Jiang Cheng.
“Jiang Cheng, are you planning to sell those Autonomy Talismans outside the school? Don’t do anything for now, I’ll get a few teachers together to look into the talisman issue,” Cui Zhifei said.
Jiang Cheng, “Don’t worry, teacher. I sent the talismans for authentication a few days ago, and President Gao from the Talisman Association is already studying them.”
Cui Zhifei:???
Cui Zhifei ended the call with a sense of impending storm brewing in his heart.
Forty-so Autonomy Talismans had already caused unrest in the Spiritual Planting Departnt—if there were thousands, wouldn’t that cause a beast tide and consu the Capital alive!
He hurriedly contacted Director Guo Xiuyuan from their Talisman Departnt.
It was Guo Xiuyuan who had tricked him into becoming Jiang Cheng’s counselor. Now, everyone else could shake off any involvent, but as the primary responsible person, Director Guo couldn’t simply ignore it!
In the communication talisman, Cui Zhifei exaggerated the situation to Guo Xiuyuan.
Guo Xiuyuan said gravely, “Alright, I get it. I’ll check with President Gao in a bit.”
Seeing that the departnt director had stepped in, Cui Zhifei finally felt relieved.
In the Capital, there were only three fourth-order Talisman Masters among the Tongtian Sect’s influence, which were the heads of the Talisman Departnts at Lotus University, Ling University, and the president of the Capital Talisman Master Association.
Director Guo essentially represented the highest combat power of Capital’s talisman masters; with him watching over, things were stable.
As one of the only three fourth-order Talisman Masters of the Tongtian Sect in the Capital, Guo Xiuyuan was much higher in rank than Cui Zhifei.
He knew so of the inside stories about the Fishing Talismans.
So facing the new Autonomy Talismans, Guo Xiuyuan didn’t dare take it lightly.
This matter had to be discussed with the other fellows; if any hint of trouble was found, it needed to be crushed as soon as possible!
Guo Xiuyuan imdiately went to find Gao Miao and transferred the pressure he and Cui Zhifei felt onto Gao Miao.
Gao Miao was half-dead with anger after being pressured by Guo Xiuyuan.
Damn it, Jiang Cheng was a student from your school, and since you’re inadequate, now you’re pressuring with the talismans he drew well!
Is the Talisman Association my personal tyrannical domain? Don’t I have to follow the rules too?
After Guo Xiuyuan left, Gao Miao took a mont to compose himself, ready to dive back into work. Then he found a talisman very similar to the “Plant Autonomy Talisman,” nad “Plant Empowernt Talisman,” in the list of authenticated talismans recently updated by the Linlan Sect.
Not only were the nas similar, but the structure and effects were strikingly similar as well.
It seed like the Autonomy Talisman had just been renad to the Empowernt Talisman.
Gao Miao instantly felt a major problem looming and imdiately contacted President Zeng Shi’an of the Linlan Sect’s Talisman Master Association.
“President Zeng, did you authenticate a ‘Plant Empowernt Talisman’ a few days ago?” Gao Miao asked.
Zeng Shi’an, having not heard of this talisman, flipped through the latest list of talisman authentications and found the record.
“Yes, what about it? Is President Gao also interested in our association’s talisman master?” Zeng Shi’an asked.
Gao Miao responded, “That talisman was drawn by a student from the Talisman Departnt of Lotus University. I’ll explain more later, but in short, you’d better review it again now!”
Zeng Shi’an wondered, “Lotus University student? Shouldn’t he go to your association for authentication?”
“He did, and we haven’t passed him yet. That Empowernt Talisman of yours is probably a rebranded talisman. Be careful, you can’t take this lightly,” replied Gao Miao.
Hearing this, Zeng Shi’an’s eyebrows furrowed.
He thought to himself that it had been a while since he last saw Gao Miao, who had suddenly beco so impulsive?
What do you an our Empowernt Talisman is just a rebranded talisman? As if only your association’s talisman masters can produce good talismans and the rest of us can only copy, right?
We are all associations under the Immortal Sect and fourth-order Talisman Masters. Don’t we know to be vigilant? Do you need to tell us to be careful?
Are you teaching how to do my job?
Zeng Shi’an hung up on Gao Miao’s communication talisman.
“Out of the blue, a first-order talisman causing such fuss—I think the people from Tongtian Sect have all gone mad from drawing talismans.”
“Master Shen, what do you think of this mountain top?”
A real estate agent enthusiastically introduced the land beneath their feet to Shen Mi.
“This place is backed by mountains and water, with fertile land—it was previously reserved for developing royal gardens. But as you know, the Liang Kingdom’s economy is so-so, and the court is short on money. These sorts of face-saving but costly projects have been put on hold.”
Shen Mi had a fair understanding of geomancy and, surveying the surroundings, found that the location was indeed excellent, a geomantic treasure.
The only flaw…
Shen Mi looked towards the distance and saw large buildings partially hidden among the mountains and forests.
The flaw was that it was too close to the royal tombs.
While the geomancy was favorable, the royal tombs were still burial grounds, which were not considered auspicious.
Seeing Shen Mi’s hesitation, the estate agent imdiately cut to the chase with a hefty price.
“If you’re really interested in this place, I can offer a flat rate—100,000 Spirit Stones for a three-year lease.”
Shen Mi stopped hesitating; land around the Capital was generally expensive, and it was hard to find a more suitable place for planting Blood Orange Trees.
“Deal.”
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