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The Science of Cultivation - Chapter 184: Mortal-Grade Negotiating
🕑 Added 2024-11-19 23:30:02 +0000 UTCLi Lang cursed himself for his hastiness. As soon as he heard about the possible deal with the Brushweaver Guild, he rushed there immediately. He had planned how to deal with private businesses, where he could simply say it was a business secret to answer any touchy questions, but he was hesitant to lie to the guild.
After all, the craft guilds were powerful organizations in their own right. Their ability to operate openly in both the orthodox and demonic factions’ territories was a testament to that.
Li Lang had been in the cultivator world long enough to know not to underestimate experts. They each had esoteric means that could achieve incredible things. It wasn’t far-fetched that there were some who could tell if he was lying or even the divination he had once heard of. The only reason he wasn’t more paranoid was because he learned that divination required a catalyst that belonged to the target.
After weighing things through in his mind, he finally made the decision to proceed as planned.
“Unfortunately, my business partners do not want to reveal their identity. Please, just list my name alone.”
“What? Are you sure you have their consensus on this?” Mou Fong asked with a voice tinged with concern. “If someone comes to dispute the claims later on, it won’t end with just a simple scolding. It could result in certifications being revoked and banned from the guild.”
“Yes, I am certain.”
“Hmm—give me a few moments to convey your request to my superiors.”
The guild employee then left the room in a hurry, rushing up the stairs of the guild. He even brushed past a few of his coworkers, who all stared at him in disbelief. They normally knew him as a calm and gentle man. It could have something to do with his low position, never having to come into contact with any important matters, but today that changed.
A young man had walked into the guild, requesting not to sell a couple dozen talismans, but a long-term deal that was in the thousands. If the items involved weren’t only at the Mortal-grade, Mou Fong doubted he could’ve held his composure.
He rushed back to the third floor, where the procurement department was located. He didn’t bother with anyone he saw, heading straight for his superior’s office. Despite the urgency in his step that stemmed from finally having gotten involved with a big transaction, he still had the discipline to first knock.
However, before his knuckles made contact with the door, a voice rang out from behind it.
“Come in.”
Mou Fong knew his manager was a esteemed Violet Core cultivator, so he wasn’t surprised at his sharp perception. He entered the room as instructed and clasped his fist courteously to the old man with long white hair.
“Steward Zhou, I have a transaction that needs your attention.”
“What’s the rush? Sit down first, Mou Fong. You’ll have to wait for me to read over it, anyway.”
Adjusting himself to the old man’s pace, Mou Fong reined in his emotions and sat down. He then pushed the request sheet over to his superior. He mindfully kept his mouth shut as he let the old man go through the form he had written.
He intently waited for the old man’s response, but contrary to his expectation, what he heard next was a chuckle.
“Ha, is this what got you all worked up? These things do happen from time to time. However, it normally involves items of much greater value. I can’t blame you for being surprised since you rarely deal with anything beyond Mortal-grade.”
“But Steward, is it okay to allow people to blatantly withhold information like this? It could be stolen goods for all we know.”
“Maybe, but that isn’t likely if their terms include supplying them with materials, and the deal being recurring instead of a onetime transaction. Either way, it isn’t our business. If the brushweavers behind this request don’t want their work recorded, then so be it.”
“Then are we accepting this proposal then?”
“I don’t see why not. You can go. I’ll take over negotiations from here. You don’t have the experience to take charge of deals of this size yet.”
“Umm, can I not observe? I’ll never have the experience if I’m never allowed to get involved.”
The old man kindly smiled while he stroked his long beard. While his expression was benevolent, Mou Feng couldn’t help but shiver upon being so closely inspected by a Violet Core cultivator. The pressure caused him to hold his breath.
This continued for some time as the old man held his gaze.
“Very well. You may tag along but don’t remember to stay in the background. As demonic cultivators like us advance in major realms, it is common for their disposition to be drastically altered. You should treat them all like they’re short-tempered brats to be safe.”
“But Steward Zhou, the other party—”
The old man held up a hand.
“We can discuss how to handle different types of clients later. For now, just stay silent and follow along.”
Rebuked by his superior, Mou Fong could only keep quiet and walked behind the old man. They walked at a steady pace, garnering every passerby’s attention. The guild had several elders of a similar rank and stature as Steward Zhou, but it didn’t diminish their presence and authority when faced in person.
Very soon, they arrived at the room where Li Lang had been waiting. Just as they stepped in, Steward Zhou frowned and turned back to his subordinate.
“Are you sure this is the right room?”
“Yes, Steward Zhou. This is Li Lang, who proposed the transaction I handed you just now.”
An expression of shock could be seen on the elder’s face as he alternated looks between the two young men around him. If it was in a normal building, Steward Zhou, with his high cultivation, would’ve been able to detect the anomaly of the young cultivator in the room before they had gotten so close.
However, the meeting rooms of the Brushweaver Guild were special. The materials of the walls were able to repel Qi detection for privacy’s sake, catching the old man off-guard. He never expected the person who was the representative of such a sizable deal to be so young and only an Energy Gatherer.
Even though the money involved with Mortal-grade goods was only a drop in the bucket for the guild, the quantity involved still made it substantial. It was incomprehensible to send a mortal to negotiate such a deal.
Seeing the confusion, Li Lang took the initiative and stood up to greet the old man. He had just been told earlier that it could take a few days to weeks for a reply. With the arrival of someone clearly more important than Mou Fong, he believed he could realistically close the deal today.
“Steward Zhou, as your staff has said, I am Li Lang. I hope my sudden request hasn’t disturbed you in any way.”
Hearing this, the old man snapped out of it and nodded back.
“The Brushweaver Guild welcomes you. I’ve heard the gist of it from Mou Fong here, but to confirm, you would like to supply the guild with one thousand Warding Talismans per day?”
“That’s correct, Steward.”
“You do realize that is a huge amount to suddenly drop on us? It won’t be so easy to find buyers right away unless the price is discounted. However, that could also cause the market for Warding Talismans to crash. Do you and the people behind you understand the impact this would have?”
Upon hearing those words, Li Lang instantly knew negotiations had begun.
“Of I understand, but I don’t think the impact would be as great as you say. Warding Talismans of the Mortal-grade can practically be used by anyone. The market for it could be said to be one of the biggest there is. I’m sure it is easy to expand the market for it. For example, maybe arrange a deal with the Merchant Guild? They have plenty of members who would rejoice at cheap Warding Talismans for their travels.”
The old man said nothing, but simply held his gaze toward Li Lang. It caused him to internally panic, but outwardly, he remained composed.
The pressure finally relaxed when the Steward Zhou slowly nodded three times.
“Your words may have some truth to it. However, such a deal would put the Brushweaver Guild’s reputation on the line. How can we know that you’ll be able to supply such an amount of talismans consistently? Both quantity and quality have to remain consistent for this to work out.”
“Steward Zhou, we both know that I can’t provide a hundred percent certain guarantee. The best we can do is sign a binding contract with terms that’ll compensate for any losses should we fail to uphold our end of the agreement.”
“Hmph, while your words make sense, I question the sincerity of your organization to send a youngster like you. How about we do it this way—you can do onetime transactions with us for the duration of this month. If we find that your work is satisfactory, we can negotiate a more permanent deal, then.”
As much as Li Lang wanted to get everything over with right away, he knew he didn’t have much leverage. Pushing too hard for a deal right away could ruin everything, so after a brief moment of deliberation, he nodded.
“Understood. I’ll bring the first thousand tomorrow. Then I can come weekly after that.”
“Mou Fong here will assume responsibility for the transactions. Oh and if have any samples of the talismans in question right now, please leave some with us. We can save time tomorrow by getting the quote ready.”
“Yes, I have a few with me,” Li Lang replied, taking out a few talismans from his space ring before turning to Mou Fong. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
He then quickly departed from the guild. There was still much waiting for him to do before the day was over. He had to search for places more suitable for his group to stay and refine the education plan for his students.
Unbeknownst to him, Steward Zhou and Mou Fong both squinted their eyes at the talismans he had left behind. They both blinked blankly, unable to speak for some time.
“Umm, Steward Zhou,” the young guild worker hesitantly called out.
“Yes, what is it?”
“Is it just me or are these all of subpar quality?”
“It—isn’t just you.”
“Are you still going to bring them over to the Merchant Guild to negotiate?”
“Of course. Trust is one of our most important assets. It’s just the price—the price may be lower than predicted. Let’s just hope they’re still willing to sell the talismans after hearing about the price tomorrow. For that, I’ll leave it up to you.”
Placing a hand on the shoulder of the young guild worker, Steward Zhou shamelessly retreated.
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Comments
Dudeman
This was a smart way to deal with it. Thank you for the chapter
Lhans
You may tag along but don’t (remember) -> forget to stay in the background. As demonic cultivators like us advance in major realms ...
RandomParanoia
Yeah, cause when i think of science, the first thing that comes to mind is speed. The pacing IS slow, but its to be expected.
Codered999
Personally I've not had any issues with pacing, you said he wouldn't have the abnormal growth speed of a standard cultivation MC and you've kept to that. I'm just having fun seeing things naturally develop. I also love reaction comedy and you've done great work with that so far.
Jacob Spain
Glad to hear it! Like I said, I like the story so far, I wouldn’t still be subscribed and reading it otherwise. 🤣 It’s why I tried to couch that in as nice of language as I could too. Still, I’ve seen too many good stories get dropped because fans got bored. I’d hate to see that happen here, hence the feedback.
RandomBlueCat
Yeah, there is quite a contrast between the two series. My mindset for the two were complete opposites, in that TSOC was to be a slow burn, not wanting to skip by levels. However, I also understand it's stretching the slow burn into stagnating territory for weekly readers, but rest assured, the upcoming arc will be purely focused on progressing toward the next realm.
Anonymous
I disagree with the other commenter and haven't had many issues with the pacing so far. I haven't read Corpo Age so I can't compare, but see no need to mimic other cultivation stories.
Jacob Spain
If I might make a suggestion. I like what you’ve done with this story so far, but it feels like it’s starting to drag on. It’s approaching 200 chapters, years have passed in story, but the mc still isn’t out of the first realm yet. Comparing it to Corpo Age, whenever it hit this kind of lull, the company would go up a grade and new action would start. So far, Li Lang just picks up a new skill, fiddles around with it for a while, manages to impress someone, and then… nothing. The trial was a golden opportunity to have the cast go up a rank, though I can see why you didn’t want to go that route. Still, you made a big deal about giving the mc this wonder waffle, and then, essentially, immediately took it away. While you’ve done a good job of justifying everything, the combined effect is “this is turning into a real grind”. The concept here, using science to overcome poor talent, is refreshing, but in the end it’s still a cultivation story. Most MC’s would be WAY farther along by now, and that’s part of the appeal of the genre. By contrast, this is starting to feel like the MC is making no progress at all. As he says himself all the time, he’s still just a mortal. He hasn’t even gotten to the starting line of being a real cultivator. What started as an interesting bit, has turned into a frustrating issue that’s constantly lingering in the back of your reader’s minds that doesn’t seem to actually be getting addressed. So tying this back together, maybe find an excuse to jump the cast forward? You made liberal use of time skips in Corpo Age, and did a great job with it I might add. It might be time to work something like that in here.
