Negotiations

Xia Tao

Today is the last day for the geese to finalize the deal if they wish to do so. I'm genuinely curious whether they'll swallow their pride for the sake of their clan's future or decide to employ other methods.

Honestly, I don't really care either way. While I do have some sympathy for the goose that's with Ye Chen, if their clan is unreasonable, I will have no qualms about contributing to their downfall. If they choose to walk away from the deal and forget our contact, it doesn't matter much to me either. They aren't the only ones with interesting resources and natural treasures.

Mei didn't lie. As soon as she deemed that I had sufficiently mastered the thread technique, the evasion technique, and later the observation technique she provided, she indeed brought me to a place where I could train these skills very quickly.

The place Mei brought me to was an isolated clearing, where the only task was to dodge web attacks from an army of spiders. These spiders had one objective: to relentlessly bombard me with webs until I hit the ground. To make it even more challenging, the webs had some very specific properties, even the slightest contact with the skin produced a sensation similar to that of being stung by a bullet ant—an experience I had the misfortune of enduring during my travels on earth. If one hit was bearable, being hit from all sides at a rate of 5-6 shots per second quickly overwhelmed you with shock and pain, causing you to collapse.

The training involved dodging the webs, which were controlled within a certain radius, making the task even more challenging. The webs were not only fast but could change direction, making it crucial to be extremely quick on my feet. Additionally, I had to use my threads to deflect and cut through the incoming webs, adding another layer of complexity to the exercise.

During the first training session, I hit the ground within five seconds. Initially, I thought the training was futile since I was incapacitated so quickly. But Mei, bless her, brought a concoction made from bee honey and propolis. Just a few drops of this elixir could alleviate all the pain symptoms in about five seconds. So, on that first day, I probably fell and writhed in agony about a hundred times, convinced that the training was useless.

However, under the influence of the strawberries, my skills improved at an astonishing rate. The biggest challenge was forcing myself to get up and continue each time. Remembering what the disciples were achieving left me with no choice. If I didn't want to fall behind, I had to work harder than anyone else. From my past life, I learned that there are no miracles; most successful and wealthy people simply outwork everyone else(but doing things smart). So in this life, if I want to be strong and capable, I must work harder than everyone else!

By the end of the day, I felt like I hadn't accomplished anything and that the method wasn't effective. But then I realized that I was dodging not just 5 shots per second for 5 second, but 15 shots per second for 10 seconds. This was a significant improvement. Yes, I was still falling, but the number of threads I could handle increased from 4 to 5 by the end of the day. I moved with the same speed and agility, but instead of dodging three threads in a row, I was now strategically positioning myself to evade attacks more effectively. With the same speed, I was dodging more efficiently!

During the middle of each day, I allowed myself a break for lunch and a two-hour rest. The brain simply can't handle continuous training without a mental breather. These intense training sessions had been ongoing for four days now, and I was dodging 20-25 web shots per second for about 25-30 seconds before mistakes crept in. Even so, with such rigorous training, I had already caught up to what I had seen the disciples achieving last time. It might be a good idea to observe their progress again soon.

Sipping my tea, I couldn't help but think of Zhang Jing, who had been walking around looking sad since her return. When I asked Mei about it and got the answer, I had a good laugh. Also I was now at the 9th stage of Purification of Essence, so this night was the time for me to seclude myself and break through to the next stage. I had also been gradually studying my part of the dual cultivation technique and started applying it during nightly activities. The result was a perfect harmony with the characteristics of my body, eliminating bottlenecks during cultivation. Thanks to the synergy between the technique and my body's ability to process pure energies, both my partners and I experienced seamless progress.

Tonight, I planned to break through to the level of Cultivation of Inner Qi. The anticipation of achieving this new stage filled me with excitement and determination.

Suddenly, a signal indicated that a procession was moving towards us. Could it be that the geese had finally decided to come? Mei and I quickly made our way towards the pavilion where we had held our previous discussions.

"What are your thoughts?" I asked Mei.

"I think the deal will go through successfully. The only question is whether they'll try to negotiate. How much are we willing to concede?" Mei asked.

"We can offer them a third off the requested price, but no more. If they don't agree, they can go their own way. We can always find natural treasures and rare plants through the sect" I replied.

"Oh, speaking of rare plants, remind me later to show you something" Mei said mysteriously.

"Ok" I replied, curious about what she had in mind.

At that moment, the formation approached the edge of our territory. It seemed that their previous visit had left an impression, as this time the leader of the group approached the pavilion and spoke in a more respectful tone.

"Good evening, lady and gentlemen. I represent the Crimgold Wing clan in this negotiation, and I hope the deal can be concluded simply and swiftly. I want to apologize for the unfortunate incident that occurred during the last visit with representatives of our clan. It appears that the visit was unsanctioned and carried out on the personal initiative of that reckless goose. I hope we can forget that visit and pretend it never happened?" said the "negotiator."

Mei looked at him and replied, "Let's assume we can forget that incident, but it has led to a change in the price for the goods we are offering, which you need."

"We are willing to pay the price you mentioned on that unfortunate day. The only thing we need to reconsider is the requirement for that reckless goose to stand here in a position of apology for a day. As a token of our appreciation, we are willing to increase the number of mollusks for producing pearls from 20 to 25" said the goose, with an expression of sincere nobility that almost made me believe him.

"You want to say that standing in a position of apology for a day is worth just five mollusks? Perhaps we should do the opposite? You give us no mollusks, and he stands in that position for five days?" Mei said in an even tone.

The goose didn't bat an eye. "Oh no, what I proposed was simply a gesture of gratitude to change punishment to some things. If you have a reasonable alternative, we would be willing to consider it."

Ahaha, how quickly he maneuvered out of that situation.

I sent a spiritual signal to Mei: "How about asking them to help us find a technique for soul cultivation or mind parallelism? It's quite rare, and they can do the searching."

"Alright, we are willing to forget that requirement in exchange for a soul cultivation technique or rare mind technique, and four soul skills of no less than rare quality within a week" Mei said.

"How about the Resonating Meditation Technique, which is of legendary rarity, and two rare-level soul skills?" he countered.

I immediately suspected that the Resonating Meditation Technique was a dud.

"I need to read the description of the technique," Mei said.

The goose waved his wing, and a crystal with the description flew to Mei. Impressive. He was prepared. I wondered what else he had up his sleeve. Mei read the description for a split second and then said, "Deal."

The goose nodded. "Now, I would like to examine the promised items."

Mei produced the head of the corpse and placed it on the table. The goose began scanning it and, after a few minutes, said, "Okay, if the rest is of this quality, we are ready to make the deal."

"Well then, unload everything here. We can handle the rest ourselves. And don't forget your gesture of gratitude in the form of five mollusks" Mei said.

The goose turned back and, after a moment, a large flying creature appeared with a platform on its back. He gave instructions, and the creature descended to unload the goods. Mei immediately began to inspect everything. Once she was satisfied that everything was in order, she laid out the skeleton before the goose. He inspected it, took it, and without a backward glance, said, "Farewell," before turning and flying away with his entire group.

"Interesting why they couldn't send him the first time. I doubt that idiot goose's visit was 'personal initiative'" I said.

"Of course they could have sent him. But to them, we were just small fry. They probably thought they could simply take what we offered by force. Given the current geopolitical nuances, no one would have batted an eye. Who are we compared to them? They would have offered a small apology to the sect for causing some trouble, and that would have been it. If it weren't for the golem, we wouldn't have even proposed this deal because having wealth doesn't make you invincible" Mei replied.

"I have a feeling they won't forget that visit and will definitely hold a grudge" I noted.

"I agree, Master. But considering our rate of growth and the time it will take them to fully utilize the corpse and its associated techniques, they won't have a chance to exact revenge. They just don't know it yet" Mei said with a smirk.