Cooperation (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

In the tea room.

Wu Tao quietly drank his tea, while schemes for getting rich flashed through his mind. However, he quickly realized that these schemes were not feasible and had many hidden worries.

At the root of it all, his strength was too weak.

If he were to truly "show his face" and get rich, for example, by obtaining a large quantity of spirit materials for refining robes from Shopkeeper Yu, and then mass-producing Small Spirit Shield Robes and Spirit-Absorbing Robes.

When the war broke out, he could then sell them at inflated prices, and indeed, he could make a fortune.

But once the situation became chaotic, with demons and monsters appearing, his method of getting rich would easily attract attention, and he could be "eaten" by others amidst the chaos.

At that time, both his life and his spirit stones would be lost.

Wu Tao felt that with his current strength, he could not bear such a risk. He needed to get rich discreetly. If he had a spell to conceal his aura and alter his appearance, he could avoid the risk of exposure.

But he didn't, so he could only transfer the risk.

Wu Tao sipped his tea. When he saw Shopkeeper Yu opposite him, smiling and watching him, his mind suddenly lit up. He thought, "Why not transfer the risk to Shopkeeper Yu? Shopkeeper Yu can hear such important news in advance, so he must have a background. Besides, what is a risk to me might be nothing to Shopkeeper Yu."

Seeing Wu Tao look over, Shopkeeper Yu noticed that his teacup was empty and picked up the teapot to refill it. "Artifact Master Li, drink tea, drink tea!" he said.

Wu Tao said thank you and went straight to the point. "Shopkeeper Yu, I have a mutually beneficial business opportunity. Are you interested?"

Shopkeeper Yu said happily, "Please elaborate."

Wu Tao explained in detail, "Shopkeeper Yu, when the war breaks out, what is most important to thousands of loose cultivators like us? It's life. The immortal path values life; only by living can we hope for eternal longevity.

Therefore, I've thought of a method. You see, Shopkeeper Yu, you have a spirit material shop, and I am an artifact refiner. I can refine Small Spirit Shield Robes and Spirit-Absorbing Robes. Both of these robes are life-saving magic tools.

When the war starts, they will surely be sought after by loose cultivators..."

Wu Tao stopped there, leaving the rest unsaid.

Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Yu thought to himself, "Sigh, I had already thought of this method. I have already hired five artifact refiners who are currently making defensive and speed-type magic tools."

However, he had intended to befriend this Li Mo anyway. If Li Mo hadn't brought it up, he would have. Now that Li Mo had proposed it, he was naturally happy. The more artifact refiners he cooperated with, the more he would earn...

Unfortunately, this market was not dominated by him alone. Those material shops with similar backgrounds were also hiring artifact refiners at high prices. First-Rank Intermediate artifact refiners among loose cultivators were already rare, and he had worked hard to find only five.

Now, with Li Mo, there would be six.

Thinking of this, Shopkeeper Yu put on an expression of "a word that awakens a dreamer" and exclaimed, "Fellow Daoist Wu, you mean... I provide the spirit materials, you refine the robes, and we get rich together. This is a brilliant plan! How could I not have thought of it? Alas, I'm a businessman, and I couldn't even think of this..."

Hearing Shopkeeper Yu say this, Wu Tao thought to himself, "It seems I have a better business acumen than Shopkeeper Yu..." A hint of smugness inadvertently appeared on his face, but it was caught by Shopkeeper Yu.

Shopkeeper Yu thought to himself, "It seems my years of flattery haven't gone to waste. Let Artifact Master Li be happier. The matter of the Filth Crystals will eventually fade."

He was quite optimistic about Li Mo.

The two hit it off immediately and began discussing cooperation matters.

The cost of a Small Spirit Shield Robe was five and a half Low-Grade Spirit Stones, while its market price was thirty-nine Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

With an Artifact Refiner Certificate from the Five Spring Artifact Refining Hall, it could be sold for up to forty-two Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

The Spirit-Absorbing Robe had a higher cost, around fifteen Low-Grade Spirit Stones, and sold for one Mid-Grade Spirit Stone in the market, earning eighty-five Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

If Loose Cultivators knew this price, they would surely curse, "The cost is so low, yet you sell it so expensively."

There was no other way; those who mastered the technology set the price. If you knew how to refine it, go and refine it yourself.

However, this method of calculating profit didn't apply to every artifact refiner. The skill levels of artifact refiners varied greatly. Some needed several sets of spirit materials to succeed once, increasing the cost and naturally reducing the profit.

There were also costs like labor to consider. Artifact refiners couldn't just refine artifacts without cultivating.

Success once in three attempts was barely profitable. If one failed five or six times, they would lose so much money it would be better to change professions early.

For someone like Wu Tao, who had a 100% success rate after becoming proficient, it was likely unique among Loose Cultivator Artifact Refiners. His ability was entirely due to his Primary Profession as an artifact refiner.

Of course, when discussing the cooperation contract with Shopkeeper Yu, he had to hide his true abilities: "Shopkeeper Yu, robes are relatively inexpensive to refine and simpler compared to other magic tools. My success rate is about forty percent."

Shopkeeper Yu was delighted to hear this: "Four out of ten sets of materials succeeding is already an extremely high success rate. Artifact Master Li is too modest. For someone as young as Artifact Master Li to achieve this, your future is bound to be brilliant."

After further detailed discussions on the terms, Wu Tao couldn't afford to be careless. This was a contract concerning profits, and every clause had to be meticulously finalized.

Finally, the cooperation contract was reached.

Shopkeeper Yu would bear the costs, and Wu Tao would be responsible for the refining. Each month, Shopkeeper Yu would provide Wu Tao with the spirit materials for forty Small Spirit Shield Robes, and Wu Tao would deliver sixteen Small Spirit Shield Robes to Shopkeeper Yu that month.

Each month, fifty sets of spirit materials for Spirit-Absorbing Robes would be given to Wu Tao, and Wu Tao would deliver twenty Spirit-Absorbing Robes to Shopkeeper Yu that month.

Shopkeeper Yu would handle the sales of the robes. Wu Tao would receive the market price for each robe. This meant that for each Small Spirit Shield Robe successfully refined, Wu Tao would get forty-two Low-Grade Spirit Stones, and for each Spirit-Absorbing Robe, he would get one Mid-Grade Spirit Stone.

As for what price Shopkeeper Yu sold them for afterward, the extra profit would all be his.

Wu Tao was very satisfied with this contract. He didn't have to bear the costs, and the risk was transferred to Shopkeeper Yu. He just needed to focus on refining.

Besides, the success rate he reported to Shopkeeper Yu was forty percent, but in reality, it was one hundred percent. He was making a huge profit.

The cooperation contract was in duplicate, with both parties pressing their palm prints and signing. The contract was effective, and any breach of contract would result in sanctions from Five Spring Mountain.

"Shopkeeper Yu, happy cooperation!"

"Artifact Master Li, happy cooperation!"

Both of them smiled and clinked their cups, using tea as a substitute for wine.

Wu Tao looked at Shopkeeper Yu and said, "Shopkeeper Yu, Li has a presumptuous request, and I don't know how to ask?"

Shopkeeper Yu chuckled, "Artifact Master Li, we are partners now. If you need any help, please don't hesitate to ask."

Wu Tao said, "Shopkeeper Yu, could I borrow ten Mid-Grade Spirit Stones?"

He only had a little over sixteen hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones on him. War was imminent, and prices were soaring.

He wanted to stock up on Medicinal Herbs for the Qi Condensation Pill and Temper Body before prices truly skyrocketed.

"A small matter, consider it done!"

Shopkeeper Yu immediately had Wu Tao write an IOU and lent him fifteen Mid-Grade Spirit Stones. The amount would be deducted from the payment for the Magic Robe later.

"Thank you, Shopkeeper Yu. I'll take my leave now. I'm afraid if I'm late, prices will take off."

Wu Tao took the Spirit Stones for the month's Required Magic Robe materials and stood up to bid farewell to Shopkeeper Yu.

Massive PCR testing, long queues. Only one update today, apologies.