A Massive Order

Inside Yaoguang's workshop. Zi Qiangwei reviewed the various performance metrics of the export model Zixiao Type 12 flying sword through the workbench console. After a long while, she looked up at Yaoguang in astonishment. "You actually managed to modify it so quickly?" "It's merely weakened within a reasonable scope... No, I didn't truly weaken these flying swords. I simply embedded a special command within them: whenever they clash with an authentic Zixiao Type 12, they will suffer complete suppression." Yaoguang paused briefly before adding, "Furthermore, this suppression can be commanded by Origin Spirit Great Cultivators." Origin Spirit Great Cultivators were the absolute core of any faction; the likelihood of them leaking such secrets was virtually nonexistent. "With that capability, we can rest assured that selling this batch won't compromise our Nine Cauldrons Sect." Zi Qiangwei nodded with a smile. "In that case, I will trouble you to register this with the Artifact Refining Hall on my behalf," Yaoguang said, casting a glance out the window. "The orders for the Zixiao Type 12 flying swords are already finished, and we only have about a month's worth of workload left for the modified model. If no new orders come in, the entire Zixiao Institute might have to grind to a halt. There are over sixty thousand people working here now. If operations really stop, life will get difficult for them." Zi Qiangwei was left somewhat speechless. The compensation and benefits at the Zixiao Institute were extraordinarily generous—even the Energy Department couldn't hold a candle to them. With the wages paid out over less than a single year, the workers wouldn't face financial hardship even if work halted for eight or ten years. Naturally, she kept those thoughts to herself, simply tidying the documents as she said, "I'll submit these materials for you. There shouldn't be any issue..." She hesitated for a second. "By the way, what are your plans for securing export orders? Do you intend to seek them out yourself, or have the sect arrange them for you?" "Let the sect handle it." Only with the backing of the Nine Cauldrons Sect could they land substantially larger orders. "The sect can negotiate the exact selling prices. As for the profits from each flying sword, I can split them fifty-fifty with the sect." "A fifty-fifty split?" Seeing Yaoguang concede such a massive share of the profits, Zi Qiangwei was pleasantly surprised and immediately said, "I'll go report this to the Hall Master at once!" Yaoguang nodded. He had his own reasons for offering a fifty percent split. Once he sold off this batch of spirit artifacts, he would likely step into the realm of Treasure Weapons. Treasure Weapons... Those were extraordinarily expensive. Even first-generation Treasure Weapons started at over ten thousand spirit stones apiece. To say nothing of second- and third-generation models. Yet the Nine Cauldrons Sect was far too poor and simply couldn't produce that many spirit stones for procurement. Under these circumstances... He might as well let them earn some money first, lest they pinch pennies and purchase only a few dozen blades once he forged the Treasure Weapons. What came from Nine Cauldrons would be spent on Nine Cauldrons, after all. *** Just the day after Yaoguang handed the documents to Zi Qiangwei, she returned to his office. "Yaoguang, an order has arrived!" She laid several order sheets before him and drew one out from the pile. "Take a look at whose order this is." "The Golden Divine Temple?! The overlords of the Heiyan Continent?!" Yaoguang was somewhat taken aback. The Golden Divine Temple held the greatest number of spiritual energy nodes in the world. Blessed with an exceptional geographic location, they possessed 311 spiritual energy nodes within their territory, and their total national output of spirit stones reportedly reached a staggering two hundred million. Calling them filthy rich was no exaggeration. In this world, having resources naturally allowed one to cultivate formidable practitioners. However... "Isn't the Golden Divine Temple one of the Six Great Immortal Sects? Why would they come to our Nine Cauldrons Sect to buy spirit artifacts?" "What they want is the modified Zixiao Type 12! When wielded with an advantage by an Origin Spirit Great Cultivator, that sword's performance is not the least bit inferior to a fourth-generation spirit artifact! And fourth-generation spirit artifacts... in today's world, only the Wuji Astral Palace, the Immortal Alliance, and the Myriad Beasts Sect are capable of manufacturing them." Zi Qiangwei paused, then continued, "Although the Golden Divine Temple is one of the Six Great Immortal Sects, they sit squarely at the very bottom. Over the past few decades, they've suffered repeated defeats in localized conflicts against the Taiyi Cult, the Sacred Flame Cult, and the Blue Sea Holy Land. Even mid-sized powers like the Black Feather Sect dare to provoke them. If not for the Golden Core experts watching over the Golden Divine Temple, envious factions would have long swarmed in to carve them up and devour them." Hearing this, Yaoguang was not particularly surprised. Among the Six Great Immortal Sects, the Wuji Astral Palace occupied a tier of its own; the Myriad Beasts Sect and the Immortal Alliance formed the next tier; and the Taiyin Sect and the Fatian Pavilion stood on another tier. As for the Golden Divine Temple, setting aside their Golden Core realm cultivators, any power among the Great Sun Sword Sect, the Brahma Divine Kingdom, the Ice Snow Divine Mountain, or the Yatai Dynasty possessed conventional military strength superior to theirs. This was not because the Golden Divine Temple was inherently weak or poorly equipped, but rather... It stemmed from their peculiar internal structure. The Temple Master had led their elite forces to participate in the war against the Moon Demon Empire and never returned. Currently, governance fell to a Council of Elders comprised of twelve members. None of the twelve elders deferred to any other, fracturing the sect into over a dozen factions that had degenerated into a loose sheet of sand. Not long ago, rumors had even spread that armed forces covertly backed by Elder Tule had ambushed Elder Pan Qi, nearly striking down this elder who had not fought in years. Should such a faction erupt into full-scale civil war and fragment into a dozen medium and large factions one day, it would surprise no one. "The buyer is Elder Pan Qi's youngest son, acting on behalf of the elder himself." Zi Qiangwei clicked her tongue as she said, "Originally, we didn't want to accept this order. After all, the strongest figure in the Golden Divine Temple right now is Elder Tule, who has been striving to end the twelve-way division of power. But... Elder Pan Qi simply offered too much." "What's the unit price?" Yaoguang asked curiously. "You know that we originally didn't intend to sell the modified Zixiao Type 12. So, we doubled the original procurement price and quoted a steep rate of thirty-six hundred spirit stones..." "Hiss!" Yaoguang drew in a sharp breath. Good heavens. He had assumed that while export profits were high, intense competition would cap margins at thirty, forty, or at most fifty percent. Yet it had... Skyrocketed to this extent? "How much did they counteroffer? What's the order volume?" Yaoguang couldn't help asking. "Counteroffer? To counteroffer would be an insult to an elder of the Golden Divine Temple! They accepted it outright!" Zi Qiangwei spoke rapidly: "This elder controls twenty-eight spiritual energy nodes, and every single one was developed at enormous expense by array masters from the Wuji Astral Palace, who set up fourth-grade, third-generation spirit gathering arrays. His spirit stone production is immense! To wipe away his prior disgrace, he placed an order for three thousand flying swords in a single breath!" "Three thousand?!" The figures calculated instantly in Yaoguang's mind. A total order value of 10.8 million! Factoring in materials, labor, and other overheads, the factory cost of an export version of the modified Zixiao Type 12 was around sixteen hundred spirit stones. In other words, the net profit on each flying sword was two thousand spirit stones?! That meant a total profit of six million! Even after splitting it evenly with the Nine Cauldrons Sect, his cut would be three million?! The Sword Cultivator Department's entire annual procurement budget didn't even reach that sum, did it? "In the end, Golden Core cultivators oversee the Golden Divine Temple from above. No matter how fierce the infighting gets below, the Great Cultivators dare not take the field in person. At most, they dispatch Origin Spirits just like us; otherwise, how would it differ from tearing off all pretense and igniting an all-out civil war? Elder Pan Qi has a powerful Origin Spirit cultivator beneath him whose techniques harmonize exceptionally well with the modified Zixiao Type 12..." Zi Qiangwei looked at Yaoguang. "Now you understand why the higher-ups agreed to sell the modified Zixiao Type 12 after initially refusing to export it, right?" Yaoguang nodded. "The sect leadership wants the Zixiao Institute to focus its core efforts on this order going forward," Zi Qiangwei added after a slight pause. "Of course, the exact arrangements are up to you. Just make sure this order doesn't derail your cultivation." "I understand," Yaoguang replied with a nod. Indeed. An eight-figure order. Now, pushing his breakthrough to the Origin Spirit realm back by another year would seem entirely reasonable. He was busy. Too busy to cultivate. Moreover, with three million spirit stones coming in... Far from merely advancing his Artifact Refining profession into a whole new domain, he could even choose to elevate either his Martial Path or Divine Path straight to the Star God or Dharma Idol tier. Reaching the peak in one go. "Aside from this massive order, there are several others..." Zi Qiangwei laid out the remaining order sheets one by one. "These are the ones we filtered out with the best return on investment. Take a look. If you have the time, you can accept them; if not, feel free to pass." Yaoguang looked them over. The profits from these orders naturally could not compare to Elder Pan Qi's, and they would demand significantly more time. Still, completing them would bring in another million or so spirit stones. However... "Let's expand," Yaoguang said. "Free spirit stones are not to be turned away. I will continue expanding the Zixiao Institute." "But there's no room left around your institute to expand." Zi Qiangwei glanced at him and pondered for a moment before suggesting, "The sect leadership proposed licensing out the designs to subordinate refining workshops and having them pay you a fee. After all... cultivation comes first. The higher-ups don't want you pouring all your time into refining spirit artifacts." Yaoguang knew this came from the sect leadership's genuine goodwill. They worried that artifact refining would stall his personal progress. Yet... He shook his head. The formidable performance of the Zixiao Type 12 series was intimately tied to his unique talent; someone else might fail to forge it even with the complete technical blueprints in hand. "We can adopt modular refining. Let other departments help forge the supplementary components, while our Zixiao Institute handles the final assembly." Yaoguang swept his gaze across the institute—which, though expansive, had already ballooned to over forty thousand workers on site—and remarked, "If there's no room to expand around us, then we'll simply relocate." Zi Qiangwei's eyes lit up. "How about moving to Red City?" "No need. I think Longxiang City is quite nice." It was close to the Star Gate connecting to the Yaoguang Realm, and Yaoguang had no desire to move away. He said directly, "I'll speak with City Lord Luo and have him allocate a plot of land for us to build a new Zixiao Institute." Hearing his decision, Zi Qiangwei did not press the matter. The higher-ups had explicitly ordered that Yaoguang be granted full autonomy, and she naturally had no right to overrule him. Over the days that followed, Yaoguang grew busy once more. He met with dozens of refining institutes and signed supply contracts for flying sword parts. While this meant conceding a portion of the revenue... With a profit of six million spirit stones dangling before him, what harm was there in sharing a modest piece of the pie?