Within the Qingxuan Blessed Land.
Ye Qingxuan received a message from Zhu Dafu, stroked his chin, and muttered to himself:
“The Zhu Trading Company wants to buy the formula for my Nuclear Explosion Pill? Interesting!”
Truth be told, the value of the Nuclear Explosion Pill formula itself wasn’t as significant as outsiders imagined.
The reason the Nuclear Explosion Pill could become so explosively popular was entirely dependent on the support of the nuclear explosion production line.
Without the sufficient output provided by the matching production line, the Nuclear Explosion Pill could never have achieved its current level of fame and demand.
Therefore, the pill formula alone wasn’t worth much.
Any high-level cultivator with some insight, or those who cultivated multiple disciplines like alchemy, artifact refinement, formations, and talismans simultaneously, could easily decipher the pill’s secrets if they were willing to spend the time researching it.
After all, in Ye Qingxuan’s view, the Nuclear Explosion Pill’s strength lay only in its novel concept. The actual refinement process didn’t involve much technical difficulty.
He certainly found it quite easy to make himself.
The key to Ye Qingxuan’s successful development of the Nuclear Explosion Pill was ultimately a matter of perspective.
Sometimes, just a single thought, a different direction, can bring monumental change to a matter, or even to an entire world.
The method itself isn’t necessarily difficult, but if you don’t think of it, you just don’t think of it. The cage of habitual thinking can be remarkably sturdy.
If Ye Qingxuan hadn’t combined the thought processes of his previous life with this one, he likely wouldn’t have been able to create the Nuclear Explosion Pill series or the nuclear production line.
The Zhu Trading Company only wants to buy the pill formula, unaware of the production line’s existence. This means that even if they get the formula, they won’t be able to mass-produce the pills, drastically reducing their potential profit.
Ye Qingxuan pondered for a moment.
Selling the formula was certainly possible. But since the Zhu Trading Company was where Zhu Dafu came from, wouldn’t it be a bit unethical to lead them into a trap?
After all, he had seen firsthand how hard Zhu Dafu had been working lately, running around tirelessly for the Tianfu Shop.
“Forget it, no point in racking my brain. I’ll just ask Zhu Dafu directly!”
With that, Ye Qingxuan took out his disciple token and kicked the problem back to Zhu Dafu:
“Zhu Dafu, selling the Nuclear Explosion Pill formula is possible, but there’s a catch. Whether we sell it to the Zhu Trading Company is your call. Once you decide, have them send me an offer first.”
At the same time, Ye Qingxuan began to think about what he currently lacked.
He planned to take advantage of the situation and sell several copies of the formula before the catch became common knowledge—to cash in big while the hype was still hot.
Taking a look around his own Blessed Land, Ye Qingxuan stroked his chin in thought.
He could use this opportunity to stock up on various spirit ores and medicinal herb seeds.
While ordinary herb seeds weren’t valuable, high-grade seeds and rare, specialized spiritual plant seeds were exceedingly difficult to come by.
Perhaps this Nuclear Explosion Pill formula could be his ticket to acquiring a collection of scarce spiritual plant seeds.
Furthermore, although his Blessed Land was spacious and planted with various flora—flowers, grasses, vines, and trees—it still felt like it was missing some… vitality.
Maybe this was the time to raise some spirit beasts?
Spirit beasts were different from demonic beasts. The primordial spirits of demonic beasts were innately violent and could not be contracted by cultivators. Even if one forcibly enslaved them using various magical treasures, one had to constantly be wary of backlash.
Spirit beasts, however, had gentle primordial spirits, naturally amicable to all living things. They could be contracted by cultivators. Their scarcity, especially compared to the vast numbers of demonic beasts, made them incredibly precious.
Just as Ye Qingxuan was lost in thought, scheming how to make another profit from the Nuclear Explosion Pill craze,
Zhu Dafu found himself in a state of utter conflict, his face twisted like he was suffering from constipation.
He had just tossed the problem to Ye Qingxuan, only to have it tossed right back at him—and with a warning of a catch, no less! He was starting to think Ye Qingxuan was the catch.
After hesitating a moment, Zhu Dafu passed the buck to his father, Zhu Chuixiang, sending him a message:
“Dad, the formula for the Nuclear Explosion Pill can be sold, but there might be a trap. It’s your decision.”
Although he wanted to prove himself to the Zhu Trading Company, it was still the place he was born, where his parents and siblings lived.
Zhu Dafu couldn’t bear the thought of causing serious harm to the Zhu Trading Company.
On the other side, far away at the Zhu Trading Company headquarters in Liguang Prefecture, Xing Province, Zhu Chuixiang’s eyes darted back and forth rapidly after receiving his son’s message.
His wife, seeing this, nudged him and asked,
“Alright, stop that. What did our son say?”
Zhu Chuixiang didn’t speak, merely showing her the message from Zhu Dafu.
After reading it, Mrs. Zhu said hesitantly,
“Fu’er wouldn’t lie to us. Perhaps… we shouldn’t buy this formula after all?”
But Zhu Chuixiang’s eyes suddenly steadied. He refuted,
“No, we’ll buy this Nuclear Explosion Pill formula. It’s the second branch’s money paying for it this time anyway. If they don’t want to cut us in on the profits, they can bear the consequences themselves.”
“We won’t just buy it, we’ll also spread the word and get more factions to buy it! But the prerequisite is negotiating a commission percentage with the formula’s owner first. Asking for five percent… that shouldn’t be too much, right?”
Since the other party was willing to sell the formula, they surely wouldn’t mind selling it to multiple buyers.
If he, Zhu Chuixiang, brought in more customers, a small finder’s fee seemed reasonable, didn’t it?
Hearing her husband’s plan, Mrs. Zhu worriedly said,
“What if they blame us after discovering they’ve been tricked?”
“What’s there to fear? They were the ones who pressured us into contacting our son in the first place. Once the news spreads, other factions will be clamoring to buy it on their own. How is that our problem?”
Still, despite his bold words, Zhu Chuixiang felt a bit uneasy thinking about the possible repercussions. He promptly forwarded the plan to his son, Zhu Dafu.
He wanted Zhu Dafu and the power behind him to work out the detailed plan themselves.
However, his requirements for Zhu Dafu were clear: He must get his commission, and he must not be exposed to any potential danger.
Since he was dealing with his own son, he felt entitled to make a few more demands.
Receiving yet another message, Zhu Dafu slapped his forehead in exasperation.
“How did this end up back in my lap?”
Reading his father’s message, Zhu Dafu felt a wave of helplessness.
But since it concerned his parents’ safety, he relayed the plan to Ye Qingxuan, including his father’s requests.
Except, the commission percentage Zhu Dafu mentioned to Ye Qingxuan was bumped up to fifteen percent.
Inside the Qingxuan Blessed Land,
Ye Qingxuan read the plan Zhu Dafu sent over, his gaze lingering on the fifteen percent commission figure. A playful look crossed his face.
“Oh, so we’re playing distributors now, are we?”
Although Ye Qingxuan didn’t know how many times that percentage had been marked up along the way, he was certain this wasn’t the original number.
As for the plan itself, Ye Qingxuan was completely on board.
But given it involved the safety of an employee’s family members, careful planning was indeed necessary.
After a moment’s thought, Ye Qingxuan replied directly to Zhu Dafu:
“Have the members of the Zhu family interested in buying the formula deal directly with you. Tell them explicitly that the Nuclear Explosion Pill is difficult to refine and advise them against purchasing.”
“If they insist on buying, we take absolutely no responsibility for any post-sale issues.”
“As for the commission, let your father focus on spreading the news and nothing else. I’ll give him three percent commission. Whether he agrees or not is up to him.”
Ye Qingxuan wasn’t worried that potential buyers would be scared off by the mention of refining difficulty. The sales figures at Tianfu Shop spoke for themselves.
If Tianfu Shop could mass-produce them, why would anyone be deterred by a mere warning about difficulty?
They would simply assume Tianfu Shop was making excuses to avoid selling the formula.
At Tianfu Shop.
Zhu Dafu was stunned when he received Ye Qingxuan’s reply. He then grumbled and complained,
“Who haggles like that? So ruthless!”
After hesitating briefly, Zhu Dafu gave up on the idea of bargaining with Ye Qingxuan and directly relayed the plan to his father.
On the other side.
Seeing the plan allowed him to keep himself completely detached from any fallout, Zhu Chuixiang readily agreed to the one percent commission.
After all, it was just spreading some unofficial rumors. There were plenty of discreet ways to do that without taking much risk. This money was practically free.
As for why it was only one percent, well, that was because Zhu Dafu had skimmed another two points off the top for himself.
