Chapter 58
Chapter 58: Negotiations
As nightfall arrived, the lanterns began to light up .
Large, red lanterns were hung up outside the Starplucking Wine Pavilion . They were lit brightly, as if in anticipation that the best time of day was about to arrive .
As the customers entered one by one, the Starplucking Wine Pavilion became very busy very quickly .
As per usual, Su Chen would find a quiet corner to sit in at this time as long as he was not practicing in the forest . He would drink his tea and quietly watch the alcohol-influenced scenes that would play out in his wine shop . People thought that Su Chen was someone who was aloof and mysterious, not like an ordinary mortal, and that he was monitoring the situation with indifference . In reality, Su Chen was just constantly using his Soul Eye to temper his eyes .
After three months of cultivation, Su Chen had slowly become more proficient with the Soul Eye . At the same time, he discovered that although his eyes could not amplify the effect of the Soul Eye, practicing Soul Eye helped increase the speed of evolution of his eyes .
Su Chen was unintentionally able to verify one of his guesses – the Soul Eye could stimulate and increase the speed that his eyes evolved at .
The first time that he saw light was when he regained his sight while fighting Lin Xie . His discovery of the Origin Energy motes occurred after fighting the Jade-Eyed Ape – almost every time his eyes had changed, it had come after a strong stimulus .
Su Chen could only guess that there was a link between his soul, which was located in his brain, and his eyes which were like the windows of his brain . Stimulation of his soul had also resulted in Su Chen’s eyes continuing to develop even faster .
Using his Soul Eye had indirectly confirmed this point . Su Chen’s constant usage of this soul-type Origin Skill caused his eyes to improve quite rapidly . Although no new abilities had emerged, as had been the case when the stimuli had been great, there was a steady improvement that allowed Su Chen to more clearly perceive the motion of Origin Energy in a person’s body .
It was the same as when Su Chen had first seen Gu Qingluo . He could see a very special Qi flow in the person’s body, and it was clearer and more stable than that time . Because this flow only appeared on Origin Qi Scholars, Su Chen didn’t need to think to know that that must be Origin Energy .
However, Su Chen did not know what benefits this ability would bring him . In addition, his eyes had no way of penetrating clothing, so his vision would not be complete .
Despite this, Su Chen did not fret . As long as there was progress, there would be new abilities that would manifest themselves sooner or later .
Su Chen had already used the Soul Eye to stare at a little mouse hiding in the corner eleven times . The poor guy that had been struck over and over with this magic staggered around, dazed . When the twelfth Soul Eye activation landed on it, the mouse could no longer take the heavy burden and let out a loud yell, falling to the ground and dying .
The repeated soul attacks had resulted in severe damage to its brain, causing a non-attack type skill to also result in fatal injury .
‘Indeed, things do not always behave according to how the world categorizes them, and many things are not absolute,’ Su Chen said to himself as he gazed at the mouse’s corpse .
After using his Soul Eye twelve times in a row, Su Chen felt some fatigue . He closed his eyes, intending to rest for a bit .
“Demon Face . ”
It was at this moment that Black Hand’s coarse voice sounded out from behind Su Chen .
Black Hand was a person who seemed somewhat shriveled, and he was dark-skinned and very thin . Although he did not seem strong, no one would look down on him because of it .
He was a very vicious, bloodthirsty individual . In his short time in the Halcyon Gorge, he had already slain six people, including two Origin Qi Scholars .
Black Hand was known to have a low tolerance threshold and would kill easily . This was also where his name came from .
Su Chen did not turn around . He waved his hand, indicating that Black Hand could sit next to him .
Black Hand gazed at the back of Su Chen’s head for a while, probably estimating his odds at killing Su Chen if he were to suddenly make a move, or what kinds of consequences would result from killing him .
He thought for a moment, then seemed to give up . He sat next to Su Chen and said, “Demon Face, you are being unjust . ”
“How so?” Su Chen turned his head over to look at him . Cold light shined out from the black eyes beneath the mask .
Black Hand said, “Iron Cliff was a dog that I let go . I originally intended to punish him for a few days before taking him back . However, I didn’t expect that you would take him in after a moment’s inattention from me . Don’t you think you should give me an explanation for this matter?”
“Take him back after a few days?” Su Chen laughed . “Take what back? A corpse?”
“Even if it’s just a corpse, it’s still mine!” Black Hand gritted his teeth as he said .
Su Chen tilted his body slightly, leaning towards Black Hand . “You want Iron Cliff? Fine, as long as you can clear his account from eating here, you can take him with you . ”
“How much?”
“One thousand two hundred low-grade Origin Stones . ”
“You motherfucker, what are you saying?” Black Hand raised his voice before noticing that many people were staring at him from the side . He quietly sat back down in his chair, glaring at Su Chen all the while .
“He ate here yesterday,” Su Chen replied . “Do you still remember Wolf Blade? I said before that if you owe me something, every night the debt is multiplied by a hundred times . ”
Black Hand’s eyes narrowed . “Are you threatening me?”
Su Chen shook his head . “I never threaten people; I’m just telling you the truth . Once we clear his account, you can take him away immediately . Or, you can let him work here for me until his debt is completely paid . ”
“Is there not a third option?”
Su Chen tilted his head and thought for a moment before saying, “There is . As long as you close the store that you are opening, I will return him to you . ”
Black Hand was startled for a moment, then raised his head and began to laugh loudly . “So you were waiting for me here . I was wondering why you weren’t showing your face anymore . You even detained my person . You must have just been waiting to say that, no?”
Su Chen didn’t directly answer him . He only said, “There’s not enough people in the Halcyon Gorge . There’s enough business for one store, but not enough for two . If it were to escalate into more conflict, then there’s no reason to stay here any longer . ”
“I don’t care about that . If you can open shop, I can open shop . If you have the ability, try and stop me,” Black Hand coldly laughed . “Don’t think that I’m scared of you just because you killed Wolf Blade and Bai Fan . ”
Su Chen sighed . “I do not intend to stay in the Halcyon Gorge forever . I just want to strike it rich . Of course, one could say that everyone here in the Halcyon Gorge has the exact same train of thought . However, some have succeeded, while others failed . Black Hand, if you want to compete with me for business, I cannot stop you, and I am not as stupid as Wolf Blade . However, I can lower the prices of all my products to the lowest possible price as soon as you open your store . ”
Black Hand’s expression changed . “You wouldn’t do that, there’s no benefit to you!”
“Why not?” Su Chen countered . “I’ll be straight with you . In the past month, my store made roughly ten thousand Origin Stones . However, you also know that some products only need to be bought once . Thus, my business after this had decreased by about thirty percent . That is also to say that even without competition, I can only earn sixty to seventy percent of the initial ten thousand Origin Stones . If another competitor appeared, and I lost half of my business, my profits would only be around three thousand Origin Stones . Of course, this is assuming that there are no price cuts . However, do you really think that price cuts won’t happen?”
Black Hand was speechless .
Of course it would happen . Black Hand had even decided a long time ago to lower his prices by ten percent compared to Su Chen upon opening his store to attract customers .
However, Su Chen evidently would not sit still either .
He had never expected that Su Chen’s response would be so vicious . He had yet to even open his store, and Su Chen was already planning on lowering his prices to the lowest possible amount .
Su Chen said, “That means that in the next month, I would be lucky to even earn two thousand Origin Stones . Do you think that I care about such a paltry amount? If you encountered this situation, what would you do?”
Black Hand thought for a moment, then replied, “Even if I couldn’t earn that much, I would do it just to teach my opponent a lesson . ”
Those who cultivated on the martial path were not businessmen by nature .
They were all made of flesh and blood, and they all had tempers .
If the matter was something large, perhaps they would simply endure it .
However, if it was something small, they would most likely act according to emotion .
Since there was someone who was affecting one’s money making ability, then nobody needed to make money . Su Chen was willing to do this, and so was Black Hand .
Su Chen laughed . “That’s right, I was thinking the same thing . ”
Black Hand harrumphed, “Don’t think that you can convince me to give up with just a few sentences . If anything, we will both force each other to give up, and nobody will be able to play . ”
“You can also delay things, and everyone can make money,” Su Chen replied . “What do you think about this? You open your store a month from now, and I will give you my store . I will completely let go of it . ”
“Absolutely not!” Black Hand refused . “You also know that starsilver has been harder and harder to come by . The amount that is remaining is not great . I estimate that people can only continue to excavate for another fifty days or so . ”
“Then twenty five days . ”
“Aren’t I losing too much then? With less and less starsilver, people will also have less and less money, and the things that they can buy will also decrease . Nobody knows what will happen in the future . What if someone else tries to compete with me afterwards?”
“Hm, that’s true . ” Su Chen thought for a moment . “Then we’ll compromise . Twenty two days?”
“Fifteen days at most . My goods have already arrived . I originally intended to open shop tomorrow . I can only give you at most fifteen days . Some things cannot be delayed . ”
“I can buy your goods from you . Twenty days, this is my bottom line . You already have ten more days than I do at this point . ”
“Eighteen days! This is my bottom line . ”
“Then Iron Cliff is mine . ”
“Deal!”
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