Chapter 89: Negotiation

Outside a private chamber of the Zhu Merchant House.

A figure hurriedly arrived, standing at the chamber door and respectfully speaking:

"Zhu Yishan requests an audience with the Ancestor!"

As the words fell, the chamber door burst open, and an aged voice came from within:

"Come in!"

Inside the chamber, two figures sat opposite each other playing chess.

One of those figures was Zhu Fatian, the sole Soul Transformation Ancestor of the Zhu Merchant House.

Zhu Fatian looked at Zhu Yishan, the current head of the Zhu Merchant House who had just rushed in, and spoke calmly:

"How is the situation?"

Hearing his Ancestor's inquiry, Zhu Yishan replied with a pleased expression:

"The other party intends to sell the formula for the Nuclear Explosion Elixir. They said if we wish to buy, we should contact Tianfu Shop directly."

After speaking, Zhu Yishan showed hesitation and continued: "However, the people at Tianfu Shop said that refining the Nuclear Explosion Elixir seems quite difficult. They advised us not to buy, otherwise they will not be responsible for any after-sales issues."

This transaction was fully handled by the Zhu Second Branch, from which Zhu Yishan hailed. Now that he could directly push Zhu Chuixiang out of the picture and prevent the First Branch from interfering, he was naturally very pleased.

But if the formula for the Nuclear Explosion Elixir was bought and truly could not be refined, or if the yield was too low, then his Second Branch would suffer a huge loss.

Although the Zhu Merchant House belonged to the Zhu family, the various businesses and projects under the Zhu Merchant House were subdivided and assigned to different branches of the Zhu family.

Hearing Zhu Yishan's words, Zhu Fatian, the Zhu family Ancestor, did not reply directly. Instead, he looked at the person opposite him and said:

"Brother Zhao, what do you think?"

The person opposite the Zhu family Ancestor was Zhao Yuanji, who had rushed over from the Xuantian Sect.

The plan to acquire the formula for the Nuclear Explosion Elixir was pushed forward by Zhao Yuanji himself. He prepared to join forces with the Zhu Merchant House to swallow up the market for the Nuclear Explosion Elixir outside the Xuantian Sect.

Due to the spread of information from the Outer Realm Battlefield, the popularity of the Nuclear Explosion Elixir outside the Xuantian Sect was now no less than within the Xuantian Sect.

The headquarters of the Zhu Merchant House was located in Xingzhou, the closest region to the Xuantian Sect. Naturally, they also knew the extent of the Nuclear Explosion Elixir's popularity and were highly covetous of its formula.

Thus, after Zhao Yuanji approached them, both sides hit it off immediately, leading to what happened next.

Noticing Zhu Fatian's gaze, Zhao Yuanji looked up and sneered directly:

"This Tianfu Shop is just trying to scare us into giving up. If refining the Nuclear Explosion Elixir were truly difficult, how could Tianfu Shop mass-produce the Nuclear Explosion Elixir?"

Zhao Yuanji did not believe the nonsense from Tianfu Shop at all. Did they really think he was stupid? He had investigated the approximate sales data of the Nuclear Explosion Elixir; otherwise, he would not have made such a big fuss.

Hearing Zhao Yuanji's words, Zhu Fatian nodded in agreement, his eyes filled with wisdom as he smiled:

"Since Tianfu Shop has softened their stance, let us press our advantage. Do not give them a chance to change their minds. Cut through the tangle with a sharp blade and secure the formula for the Nuclear Explosion Elixir immediately."

He then looked at Zhu Yishan and ordered: "Yishan, we will buy the formula for the Nuclear Explosion Elixir. As for the price..."

Zhu Fatian pondered for a moment and said:

"You start by offering ten million high-grade spirit stones. If the other party is not satisfied, do not exceed thirty million high-grade spirit stones. You handle the rest yourself."

The Zhu Merchant House also needed cash flow. If the price exceeded thirty million high-grade spirit stones, although the Zhu Merchant House could afford the spirit stones, it would affect the overall operation of the merchant house.

Although he wanted to obtain the formula for the Nuclear Explosion Elixir, Zhu Fatian did not want to risk the stability of the merchant house for an unknown formula. Hearing his Ancestor's orders, Zhu Yishan immediately respectfully replied: "Yes, Ancestor!"

Three days later, after a round of haggling, the price for the formula of the Nuclear Explosion Elixir was set at sixteen million high-grade spirit stones.

This transaction was negotiated by Ye Qingxuan himself, with Zhu Dafu serving merely as an intermediary messenger.

It must be said that Zhu Yishan, as the head of a merchant house, was indeed very shrewd.

Even though he was eager to buy the formula for the Nuclear Explosion Elixir, in his negotiations with Tianfu Shop, he remained dignified and unyielding, not being led by the nose by Ye Qingxuan behind the scenes.

At the beginning: Under Ye Qingxuan's instruction, Tianfu Shop directly rejected Zhu Merchant House's offer of ten million high-grade spirit stones, raising the price of the Nuclear Explosion Elixir formula to twenty-six million high-grade spirit stones.

The reason why the price of the Nuclear Explosion Elixir formula was finally set at only sixteen million high-grade spirit stones was:

Because Zhu Yishan seized the opportunity when Tianfu Shop proposed additional restrictive conditions, using them as a lever to gradually drive the price down.

At the final moment, Zhu Yishan almost discovered the trap and nearly withdrew immediately.

During the negotiation process.

Under Ye Qingxuan's behind-the-scenes instruction, the conditions offered by Tianfu Shop were: The Zhu Merchant House could not resell the formula for the Nuclear Explosion Elixir, could not manufacture the Nuclear Explosion Elixir for other factions on their behalf, and similarly could not sell the Nuclear Explosion Elixir at a price lower than that of Tianfu Shop.

These three conditions were specifically proposed by Ye Qingxuan to restrict other factions from cooperating with the Zhu Merchant House.

After all, if one intended to trap someone, one certainly could not trap only one party. Otherwise, once the secret of the Nuclear Explosion Elixir was exposed, there would be no such good opportunity in the future.

These three conditions proposed by Tianfu Shop were insignificant to the Zhu Merchant House, as they had no intention of cooperating with other factions anyway and letting outsiders share the spoils.

However, Zhu Yishan, the old fox, acted as if he had suffered great grievance when Tianfu Shop proposed these conditions.

At this stage, he managed to cut the quoted price of the Nuclear Explosion Elixir formula down to eighteen million high-grade spirit stones.

Ye Qingxuan, who had been hiding behind Tianfu Shop, having never trapped anyone before and feeling guilty due to his inexperience, silently agreed out of nervousness.

Seeing how smoothly things were going, Zhu Yishan, though puzzled, was very pleased.

At the same time, he also proposed his own condition: that Tianfu Shop could not sell the formula for the Nuclear Explosion Elixir again to any faction in Xingzhou.

After all, if Tianfu Shop sold the formula for the Nuclear Explosion Elixir again to factions in Xingzhou, the Zhu Merchant House would be unable to monopolize the Nuclear Explosion Elixir market in Xingzhou, and the price of the Nuclear Explosion Elixir would naturally drop far below current levels.

However, Ye Qingxuan behind Tianfu Shop did not agree. He only promised that even if the formula for the Nuclear Explosion Elixir was sold again, the price and conditions of that sale would absolutely not be lower than those of this sale.

Hearing this promise, Zhu Yishan hesitated somewhat.

The reason for his hesitation was not fear of other factions snatching business from the Zhu Merchant House. Having operated for many years, even if the Nuclear Explosion Elixir was sold only within their own base, the Zhu Merchant House would not lose money.

The real reason Zhu Yishan hesitated was that everything was too smooth.

Moreover, the promise finally given by Tianfu Shop clearly indicated preparation to sell the formula for the Nuclear Explosion Elixir multiple times, which obviously contradicted the guesses of his own Ancestor and Zhao Yuanji.

Recalling what Tianfu Shop had said at the very beginning about the difficulty of refining the Nuclear Explosion Elixir, Zhu Yishan felt even more suspicious and unsettled.

If they lost money this time, the majority of the loss would be borne by his Second Branch.

Sensing the anomaly, Zhu Yishan decided to test the waters.

When Tianfu Shop refused his condition, he directly slashed the price of the formula for the Nuclear Explosion Elixir to six million high-grade spirit stones, wanting to see Tianfu Shop's reaction.

(End of this chapter)