Chapter 17: Monopoly

"What did you say?" Zu Qing Tan was slightly stunned, then realized what he meant and flew into a rage.

"I invited you here to test the art refining crystal furnace, and you actually tried to claim it as your own! How unreasonable!" He puffed out his beard and glared, his face looking slightly ferocious.

The people in the hall were also shocked, and a few even jumped up, ready to start cursing Lu Fan.

"Hmph! Invited me? You clearly tricked me on purpose; stop spouting nonsense here!"

Lu Fan scanned the crowd coldly, then glared at Zu Qing Tan, "Without me, this crystal furnace would never have been successfully crafted, and your entire Rune Master Guild would have been reduced to ashes!"

The entire room was horrified, as if they had thought of something terrifying.

The fluctuations from a failed fourth-tier rune tool crafting were already terrifying enough; with this art refining rune array, the consequences would be even worse than what Lu Fan described. Everyone was left with lingering fear.

Vice President Qi Yue coughed and whispered to Zu Qing Tan, "President, this little brother is right! Without him, this crystal furnace would have long since shattered into fragments, and we would have..."

Zu Qing Tan's face darkened completely, twisting and turning; he was in extreme inner pain.

The thing he had spent so much effort to craft was now useless, completely serving as a wedding dress for someone else.

"Alright! Let this incident be a lesson to you. If you dare to scheme against me again in the future, this Rune Master Guild won't need to exist!"

Lu Fan waved his hand, having no intention of arguing further, acting with the attitude of an adult not holding a grudge against a small person.

Everyone around gasped, exclaiming at Lu Fan's audacity.

He was clearly just a half-grown boy, yet he acted with the air of a superior. They, the rune masters, were usually so noble, yet he didn't care about them at all.

"Young Master Lu, what brings you to our guild this time?" Zu Qing Tan was sulking, but Qi Yue walked over with a smile.

Lu Fan glanced at him sideways and smiled faintly, "Oh! My brother, Young Master Zhen, has a spirit mine, and I wanted to see if your guild is buying ore."

Han Zhen was slightly stunned. They had clearly come to broaden their horizons, so how did it turn into selling ore?

Qi Yue's eyes lit up, thinking, *So you have a request for me; that makes things easier. * With this thought, he straightened his face and said lightly:

"Our guild buys all kinds of spirit ores. In the entire Shanjin Town, our guild buys eighty percent of the high-quality spirit ores."

"What kind of mine is yours? If it's ordinary, it won't catch our guild's eye."

When Qi Yue said "eighty percent," he deliberately emphasized the words, stressing that they were major clients.

Seeing Qi Yue's posturing, Lu Fan immediately understood what the other party was thinking and said sarcastically, "Oh my, eighty percent, how impressive! You must have spent quite a lot of effort refining ore on a daily basis!"

As soon as these words fell, everyone's faces darkened, looking as if their parents had just died.

Even Qi Yue, a second-tier Rune Master, looked ugly, and they all began to sigh.

"Zhen... Young Master, your spirit mine seems to be the most common blue gold stone mine! It seems it won't catch the eyes of these art-refining masters. Let's go!"

Lu Fan winked at Han Zhen and turned around, already walking toward the door.

"Wait!" Zu Qing Tan shouted, transforming into a whirlwind and blocking Lu Fan's path, saying decisively:

"Our Shanjin Town guild will take your ore, but you must hand over the unique mark technique for the art refining crystal furnace."

Upon hearing this, Han Zhen was overjoyed, feeling as if a pie had fallen from the sky, so happy he felt dizzy.

"Hehe! You say hand it over, so I hand it over? Wouldn't I, Lu Fan, lose too much face?" Lu Fan's gaze turned cold, and he said coldly, "Our ore isn't bad. It's a fair trade; if you want my unique mark, bring something to trade for it!"

Everyone felt dizzy. Usually, those big mine owners in Shanjin Town spoke to them with flattery, their posture as low as it could be.

They didn't know where these two brats had popped out from, but they were so bold—not only bargaining but actually daring to ask for benefits.

Zu Qing Tan was about to get angry, but Qi Yue said with a smile, "Fine, fine, whatever you want, we agree!"

Lu Fan narrowed his eyes, looking harmless, and said, "Oh! How about this: from now on, your guild can only buy spirit ores from us; cancel all other transactions!"

Han Zhen's eyes widened. Lu Fan was actually opening his mouth like a lion, wanting to monopolize the Rune Master Guild's transactions.

Apart from the newly discovered secret silver stone, his mine only had blue gold stone! Even if the Rune Master Guild agreed, where would he get all kinds of spirit ores?

The people around were also dumbfounded, thinking they had misheard. Zu Qing Tan was the first to react, unable to help but open his mouth wide, "What did you say? Don't you only have a blue gold stone mine?"

"Our mine produces everything. Whatever Shanjin Town has, we have. Why do you care so much?"

Lu Fan said coldly. As long as they monopolized the transactions with the Rune Master Guild, the entire Shanjin Town would be Han Zhu's mining pits.

"No! The spirit ores we buy serve the entire Mingyue Empire's Rune Master Guild. I cannot agree to your conditions!"

Zu Qing Tan refused flatly. He hadn't expected Lu Fan to be so greedy; this was a major matter, and he couldn't make the decision.

"Oh! Then forget it! I don't like to force people. Goodbye!" Lu Fan spread his hands helplessly and said nonchalantly, "I have a bad memory. Once I step out that door, I'll forget that unique mark entirely."

Zu Qing Tan was so angry he gritted his teeth. At his age, he had never been toyed with like this, especially by a brat.

In terms of age, he was like his grandson's generation, yet now he had become his master—he wanted to cry but had no tears.

"Hey! Don't, don't!" Qi Yue was sweating profusely, forcing a smile as he walked over, "Young Master Lu, you've worked hard for half a day, and we haven't thanked you yet! Take this art refining crystal furnace back to play with first; everything is negotiable!"

"What!" Zu Qing Tan's hair stood on end with anger upon hearing this, and he was about to reprimand Qi Yue. But the other party leaned into his ear and whispered a few words that only the two of them could hear.

"Should have said so earlier! This thing is a waste sitting here; I'll reluctantly accept it!"

Lu Fan couldn't be bothered to listen to their nonsense. He casually cast a few spells, shrinking the art refining crystal furnace to the size of a palm, and tucked it directly into his Universe Bag.

"If your guild has any high-level spirit ores to refine, come find me at Tianyuan Academy for a twenty percent discount!"

Lu Fan left these words behind and strode out of the Rune Master Guild.

Qi Yue and the others accompanied him with smiles that looked as ugly as could be. Those rune apprentices, however, were gritting their teeth; they had thought they would be freed from the heavy ore-refining tasks, but now that had turned into a bubble!

Inside the mining pit under Han Zhen's name, two figures were busy hammering stones, tireless.

"Young Master Lu, we've offended the Rune Master Guild to death this time; won't there be trouble?"

Han Zhen spoke with worry, but his eyes were shining as he stared at the cauldron in front of him.

Originally, his mine could only produce raw spirit ore, but with this thing, he could refine blue gold and secret silver, increasing its value a hundredfold.

"Don't worry, it's fine! Those fools will still have to beg us later!"

Lu Fan chuckled, not expecting such a huge harvest this time. "This art refining crystal furnace is a hen that lays golden eggs; combined with the mining pits in Shanjin Town, it's a perfect match."

Han Zhen gasped. Lu Fan was actually setting his sights on the entire Shanjin Town, something he had never dared to think about before.

But the scene that had just happened at the Rune Master Guild fit perfectly, and he couldn't help but feel happy again, his mind wandering.

"I see you have no heart for the Martial Dao; focus on the business path in the future! I will place a restriction on these two and leave them for you to command. You come to the Academy every so often, and I will help you refine the spirit ore!"

Lu Fan's words woke Han Zhen up, and he couldn't help but feel a bit flustered. But thinking of Ye Fei's obsession with the Martial Dao in the past, he knew he couldn't keep him. He picked up the two pieces of secret silver Lu Fan had just refined and handed them to him.

"Young Master Lu, your Martial Dao is advancing by leaps and bounds, and even your Rune Dao is unfathomable. You will definitely need money in the future; take these two pieces of secret silver. I have no way to sell them, and they are too hot to handle!"

Lu Fan was slightly stunned but didn't refuse; there was no need for posturing in front of a brother.

"Hmm! This mine is too important; I'll set up a rune array for you so it won't be discovered!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he took out some rune paper and began engraving rapidly. In the blink of an eye, a rune array completely enveloped the secret silver ore vein.

Then he took out the cold spear from Gu Hongwei and used it as the array eye to completely conceal and restrict the secret silver ore vein.

"Carry these two runes with you. One is the key to entering and exiting this array, and the other can control those two miners, Qian Shirong. When you go out on business, take Qian Shirong with you; it can also serve as a facade to deter small-time crooks."

Lu Fan gave a few instructions, then left Shanjin Town and returned to Tianyuan Academy.

As soon as Lu Fan arrived at the gate of Firmament Academy, he immediately noticed that the crowd that usually wandered around lazily was gone, and the entire Academy was filled with a solemn atmosphere.

"This student, why are you moving so slowly? All students of the Academy are having an emergency training session today; hurry inside!"

The old Martial Master guarding the gate saw Lu Fan and looked anxious, sighing that the world was going downhill and each generation was worse than the last.

Lu Fan greeted him with a smile and walked toward the Wulian Tower at a leisurely pace.

Tianyuan Academy would hold a training session every so often to select top disciples for key cultivation. At other times, no arrangements were made, leaving students to cultivate on their own.

Some students went to the Magic Beast Forest for training and couldn't get the news to return. The Academy wouldn't pursue it, so Lu Fan wasn't in a hurry.

"During this training, everyone can enter the Wulian Tower, and the open cultivation environment has an unbelievably good effect; it seems no one wants to miss it."

Lu Fan smiled slightly, looked at the Wulian Tower in front of him, and strode in, full of anticipation.

"Hmph, ha..."

Figures were performing basic drills. They were clearly simple movements, but most people were panting and drenched in sweat.

"Ten times gravity, double the Origin Qi—this hall has actually been upgraded, its area expanded tenfold. The overall cultivation conditions are on the same level as the last forbidden room!"

Lu Fan walked with ease, his face slightly surprised, and he subconsciously looked toward the forbidden rooms on both sides.

"Profound light flickering, strict restrictions. It looks even more advanced; I imagine it's perfect for me now." He chuckled and immediately stepped forward, heading toward the forbidden room.

"Wait!" A cold shout rang out, energy surged, and an aura pressed down toward Lu Fan. ===== CHAPTER 18 =====