Seeing Ye Qingxuan ask so directly,
Zhu Dafu hesitated for a moment, then finally made up his mind, lowered his head, and said,
“Brother Ye, to be honest, I want to come and work under you, to build something together with you.”
Hearing this, Ye Qingxuan didn’t respond directly but instead asked back,
“You want to come under me? How exactly? Or rather, what benefits can your allegiance bring me?”
His Heavenly Blessing Shop sold various finished products. As long as the quality was good, it could develop smoothly without needing too many commercial tactics.
In the Earth Mystic Realm, whether your business could grow depended first on your strength, and second on your products, or rather, the resources and techniques you controlled.
If you were just simply reselling raw materials without crossing too many regions, the profits wouldn’t be substantial.
Within the Xuantian Sect, the sect rules governed everything, and the entire market district was managed by the sect.
Therefore, as long as he didn’t violate the sect rules, Ye Qingxuan didn’t need to worry about the first point. In the Xuantian Sect, no matter how strong an individual was, unless they broke through to the Immortal realm, they couldn’t overpower the sect itself.
As for the second point, Ye Qingxuan was quite confident in his mastery of the Four Arts of Cultivation.
After hearing Ye Qingxuan’s words, Zhu Dafu pondered for a moment and then said,
“If Brother Ye could entrust the full management of the Heavenly Blessing Shop to me, I guarantee I can double its turnover within three years.”
He had calculated that, given the shop’s current foundation and reputation, simply expanding it would make this goal not too difficult to achieve.
Ye Qingxuan was unimpressed by Zhu Dafu’s guarantee and said with a slight smile,
“Brother Zhu, it’s not that I don’t trust you, but you’ve already failed once. How can I feel at ease handing over the Heavenly Blessing Shop to you?”
“This…”
Zhu Dafu looked troubled and was momentarily at a loss for words.
He had no prior friendship with Ye Qingxuan, and he did indeed have a track record of failure. Faced with Ye Qingxuan’s skepticism, Zhu Dafu couldn’t think of any reason to convince him.
Seeing Zhu Dafu in a difficult spot, Ye Qingxuan took the initiative to ask again,
“If you were to take over the Heavenly Blessing Shop, how would you plan to develop it?”
Their initial plan for the Blessed Cultivator Alliance wasn’t bad, but they had been too impatient, young, and inexperienced. They acted rashly without understanding the situation within the Xuantian Sect.
If the Blessed Cultivator Alliance had progressed steadily, it might have captured a portion of the market share for low-grade spiritual herbs in the sect.
For Ye Qingxuan, the current factors limiting the Heavenly Blessing Shop’s growth were manpower and insufficient production output.
The manpower issue was actually easy to solve. He could just post a task and get enough people to help maintain the shop after expansion.
But Ye Qingxuan preferred to stay behind the scenes. Having his attendants manage the shop was already his limit for being visible. He didn’t want to stand completely in the spotlight.
It wasn’t that he aimed to hide from the Xuantian Sect—that was unrealistic and unnecessary.
What he wanted to avoid was attracting attention from low and mid-level cultivators within the sect, preventing them from frequently disturbing his peace.
This time, Zhu Dafu had found him through Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu’s identities, which had already made Ye Qingxuan consider pulling the two brothers back.
After all, Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu were merely his attendants, not disciples of the Xuantian Sect. Investigating their identities was far too easy.
And Zhu Dafu showing up on his own only strengthened this resolve in Ye Qingxuan’s mind.
His earlier questioning of Zhu Dafu was just meant to humble him a bit. He didn’t know Zhu Dafu’s specific capabilities yet, but he just needed someone who would listen and get things done.
Moreover, coming from a commercial firm background, even if Zhu Dafu lacked great ability, he should have no problem simply expanding the Heavenly Blessing Shop’s initial base.
Hearing Ye Qingxuan’s question, Zhu Dafu’s eyes lit up, sensing there was still a chance. He perked up and said,
“If I take over the Heavenly Blessing Shop, I plan to recruit more alchemists, talisman crafters, artifact forgers, and array masters. After increasing the shop’s output, I would then expand its scale.”
“Although the Blessed Cultivator Alliance disbanded, I was always the one responsible for contacting the blessed cultivators. Many of the former alliance members have now started delving into the Four Arts of Cultivation. At least for the first-tier market, we won’t have to worry about supply.”
“Furthermore, I could establish branches of the Heavenly Blessing Shop in Xingzhou, near the Xuantian Sect. This would expand the shop’s business beyond the sect while also making it easier to collect various spiritual ores for the shop.”
Liguang Commandery in Xingzhou fell within the sphere of influence of Zhu Dafu’s family firm. Although he had lost his inheritance rights, he could still mobilize part of the firm’s power to establish a few safe and stable branches for the Heavenly Blessing Shop without issue.
Towards the end, Zhu Dafu instinctively glanced at Ye Qingxuan.
He had investigated some information about the Heavenly Blessing Shop before coming, so naturally, he knew the shop had been consistently purchasing various spiritual ores.
Although he didn’t know Ye Qingxuan’s purpose, catering to this point surely couldn’t be wrong.
However, Zhu Dafu didn’t see any hint of interest on Ye Qingxuan’s face. Instead, he met Ye Qingxuan’s meaningful gaze.
His collection of various spiritual ores couldn’t be hidden, but as long as no one guessed the secret behind it, that was fine.
He wasn’t interested in the branches Zhu Dafu mentioned. Outside the Xuantian Sect? Once he broke through to the Golden Core stage and condensed his divine ability seed, he would naturally go there himself.
But Ye Qingxuan was very interested in the Blessed Cultivator Alliance that Zhu Dafu mentioned. He had a plan in mind to rebuild the alliance.
Within the Xuantian Sect, low-grade spiritual herbs were abundant, so profits weren’t high.
But outside the sect, in regions far from the major hegemonic powers, the situation might be different.
However, those plans would have to wait until after he broke through to Golden Core and condensed his external incarnation.
After Zhu Dafu finished outlining his plan, Ye Qingxuan once again asked the most crucial point:
“If you manage the Heavenly Blessing Shop for me, what do you want in return?”
Hearing this, Zhu Dafu paused, then hesitated with a lack of confidence,
“Equity dividends?”
“Feel free to see yourself out. No need to escort you.”
Hearing Zhu Dafu’s request, Ye Qingxuan directly showed him the door.
You must be joking. His Heavenly Blessing Shop was incredibly profitable. How could he simply give Zhu Dafu equity dividends? Especially when Zhu Dafu hadn’t even contributed anything yet.
“Wait! Wait! Wait! Brother Ye, then what can you offer me? You can’t expect me to work for nothing, right?”
Seeing Ye Qingxuan ready to kick him out, Zhu Dafu panicked.
He wanted to get back at the Zhu Family Commercial Firm one day, and right now, the Heavenly Blessing Shop was his only hope.
After the fiasco with the Blessed Cultivator Alliance, Zhu Dafu’s startup capital was running low. He couldn’t make a comeback on his own anytime soon.
As for the other shops in the Xuantian Sect’s market district, some had been operating for years with backing and didn’t lack managers, while others were small-time operations with no potential for growth.
Only Ye Qingxuan’s Heavenly Blessing Shop was growing at an astonishing rate and had a good reputation among low-ranking disciples.
Additionally, since Ye Qingxuan was a blessed cultivator unable to appear in public personally, he was the most promising person to entrust the shop’s management to and help Zhu Dafu realize his ambitions. Now that Ye Qingxuan had shown some leniency, Zhu Dafu couldn’t easily give up.
Ye Qingxuan pondered for a moment before finally presenting his conditions:
“How about this: you won’t have any share in the proceeds from selling any output of my blessed land in the shop. However, for the profits generated from the channels you establish, you can have a 10% share. How does that sound?”
