Chapter 14: Business, The Deal, and JSMC (remade)

Chapter 14: Business, The Deal, and Junior Spirit Master Competition (JSMC) (remade)

(for future reworked titles, I'll refer to this event as JSMC for titles as it's way too long otherwise)

Original word count 2026 on 6/27/2023

New word count = 2194 on 8/7/2023

"Business is booming"

Xue Tie says to himself with a smile after an hour of sitting by his stall. The first few people approached curiously and tried the free samples. They were very vocal about the taste of the candies that many others began approaching and soon purchases were made and the small negative effects were explained while the enthusiasm of the normal people was reduced since most didn't want to gain weight, but not by a whole lot. Their desire for a cheap and delicious treat was not diminished.

The negative effects were less of a problem for the spirit masters. There was more franticness gained when it was mentioned that the stall would only open every once a week to properly stock up. The scarcity of the goods he provided caused people to go a bit more crazy. People began buying bottles and bags of gigantic gummies that Xue Tie almost questioned.

'Are these humans or human-shaped squirrels? Why are they storing so many away like they are hibernating for the winter?' Xue Tie can't complain though as due to him making it fairly cheap, they are selling like hotcakes. Due to this, he is still making tons of money which shocked many observing Spirit Hall elders who got greed in their eyes but they were smacked upside the head by the higher-ups, aka the titled Douluo who are simply curious about the taste.

All the upper echelon have long seen Xue Tie hanging out with the holy lady during missions and whatnot. Even though he has no official title yet, it can be seen that it's only because there is no official title amongst their ranks.

Evening arrives and Xue Tie has to placate his plentiful customers so that he can close down the store. But as the first-day celebration, he kills Godzilla and distributes the 'tyrannical' gummy beast-like cakes for those who paid a premium price. That netted him a nice sum and with the size of the Godzilla statue, tons of people bought it.

Xue Tie returns to the main Spirit Hall buildings and stores away his cart after collecting the leftover gummies into his storage necklace. He then wipes it down since it is a warm day today and the gummies on the bottom and sides have gotten squished and melted a bit.

While Xue Tie is cleaning, someone approaches him and says, "I have been sent to escort you to his majesty. He wishes to propose something to you"

"Huh, cool. Can I finish cleaning up first? Should only take a few seconds more"

"But..but…His Excellency is the one calling you.!!" The man says nervously at being told to wait and thus the pope being told to wait.

Regardless, Xue Tie spends the next 5 more minutes cleaning and once he is sure that it is spotless, he follows the man all the way to the top where the pope's office is. Xue Tie is much less nervous this time around coming here as compared to the first time. It helps that he wasn't dragged around like last time by Ghost Douluo. The doors are opened to The Pontiff's office, Qian Xunji the Pontiff himself is sitting in the main seat while 2 elders are standing beside him.

Xue Tie steps forward with a smile but is still respectful and he shows this by cupping his fist to them with a bow. "Greetings to the Supreme Pontiff and elders"

"Hello young one, we have been eyeing your progress for quite a while now. You are truly gifted and this newest business venture of yours was another awe-inspiring feat. We were wondering if there was a possibility of a partnership between your business and the Spirit Hall?

Xue Tie thinks for a bit as he processes their request. He had already predicted this might happen and he had prepared a document for such an event. He tried to make it as formal as he could. He takes out the document and hands it over. All 3 examine it and while it might look all nice. The simple explanation is that:

"I get the Spirit Halls kitchen staff to help with the creation of gelatin and generalized gummies, as well as a tax break, all under the condition that they don't fight him over the selling of gummies themselves, in exchange for a 20% percentage."

The reason for the tax break is that merchants have to pay a high tax for both property and merchandise. A small portion is for Heaven Dou Empire. While the rest is for Spirit Hall which naturally includes protection. It's mostly to avoid paying both types of taxes. He would be paying Spirit Hall either way so he gains more from the whole arrangement anyways.

The taxes work on total profit. Which is why it'd be more detrimental to Xue Tie as he sells small and lives here. Traveling merchants profit the most since they only have to pay a fee to enter. Which is why prices in Spirit City are so high but also there are few weak people here as well. Most are at least Spirit Grand-masters or higher by the time they arrive in Spirit City. Otherwise they work with the local Spirit Halls of various towns and cities.

The trio of officials talk amongst themselves and Qian Xunji says, "Can we negotiate"

"Sure, but you also have to realize that I have to teach the Spirit Halls people how to process everything in the first place and then guide them on the various structures to assure the quality of the goods. If you provide more support to establish branches of my store then I'm willing to do a 40/60 split with you receiving 60.

After all, I can't handle that much money on my own, but you would have to subsist the majority for building stores or outsourcing this further with other candy stores if you find any.This is my home too. I can't let you all make a loss. " he explains his ambitions and possible proposals. This leaves the trio speechless over the market ethic the kid in front of them showcases. They nod in agreement when a knock is heard on the door. They frown then.

A word is heard from outside

"Her Ladyship Bibi Dong has arrived for a meeting.

"What, we never scheduled a meeting."

"Oh, that was me. I asked Bibi Dong to be my co-owner of the store. Ensuring that my money should be stored away either her in case anything happens to me. It would be her personal funds in that case." Xue Tie explains

They seem to have confused expressions on their faces, like they are confused of why he chose her of all people to be a Co owner, yet they find nothing wrong with this assessment and sign the paperwork. Then Xue Tie and Bibi Dong Also do so. Bibi Dong is simply confused by this entire setup since she has only been taught minor business details in between her training lessons aka what would be her free time.

She is aware of the responsibility of an owner and co owner but she knows nothing about the business that Xue Tie made except what she was allowed to taste test as her price for joining. She knows it tastes good and it sold well on his first day. She is instead shocked that he places that much trust in her to not screw anything up.

The last bits of details regarding work and even a few modifications in their training program were made. Both Bibi Dong had to interact more with the new arrivals of the mass recruitment Spirit Hall had made. Promising Youths were invited to Spirit City itself. In exchange Xue Tie would set up the training program for Spirit Hall's cooks to know how to make gelatin as well as give full access to Xue Tie so he no longer needs to ask at the end of the day or during the night to work.

They hired engineers to help create devices to smoothen the creation process as well as provide a main street store that was found lacking or unused to be made into Xue Tie's store. He was given the tax break for the store and business and as a gesture of goodwill, he provided the first 20% early. It turns out to be a few thousand gold coins in total even though silver was used for business due to its cheap price but feverish demand for the product.

A few days pass and Business is still booming, with an official store set up and Xue Tie at the head of it. Many people learned how to make gummies and gelatin. They can experiment how they want but all rights to beast shaped gummies are monopolized by Xue Tie alone. The Spirit hall as his backer gives him enough credibility to be seen as a threat to anyone who tries to take it from him.

But, as promised, Xue Tie and Bibi Dong are to interact more with new people, Xue Tie can believe that this would have happened anyway, and that it was just an excuse to do it willingly. The business deal made it so Xue Tie is not needed to handle the business himself except counting the money when it's time to pay Spirit Hall and its employees. So, Xue Tie has the freedom to accompany Bibi Dong as she meets the new folk.

When they arrive at the public square that was designated for all types of youths to be there, they are stared at by plenty of people as it is publicly known who is the holy lady of the current age. Many are mesmerized by Bibi Dong's appearance. She has grown well over the years, growing in beauty and power. A desirable partner for any person even if she is only 12 right now (a few months older than Xue Tie, enough that when he is 11, she is 12). Her budding form that is only the verge of exploding into a cacophony of beauty as puberty takes its toll on her. Xue Tie has selectively forgotten what happened during her first period.

He stands proudly next to her , though he is wearing a robe and armor with the Spirit Hall markings. His face is not covered and gets a few glares with the typical meaning of 'What right does he have to stand next to her like that', or 'What is he so proud for' (mostly due to his age. They believe him to be another youngster like them). While the girls think he looks cool and handsome with the cloak hood covering part of his face. He wears bulky metal gloves to give a knightly appearance

"Ahem" Bibi Dong clears her throat to regather attention on her as she begins a speech she was forced to make by Qian Xunji

"I welcome all traveling cultivators on behalf of the Spirit Hall to Spirit City. My name is Bibi Dong and I am the Holy lady of this place." She receives applause due to her appearance and status. Bibi Dong continues

"I also announce that in 8 months, there will be a junior Spirit Master competition. It will be open to all spirit masters but only within Spirit Hall. Which means that both our fellows who belong to spirit hall like myself will compete and you all are also included in this youngster batch.

This is an Internal competition and so outsiders are only allowed to watch. The competition is split into individual and group. The individual one is valued more amongst us as it dictates one's potential.

Rewards for both competitions include spirit bones and resources from the Spirit Hall through sponsorship would increase if any of you who win decide to stay as permanent members of Spirit Hall." She explains and gets a great applause from their chance to win greatness and power in one fell swoop. While others are sighing as they realize that Bibi Dong might participate as well since she meets the age requirement.

"As such, be prepared for a difficult fight against the next generation of Spirit hall". She adds a finishing touch

Xue Tie steps forward now and gets both hostile and confused looks at him, yet this doesn't stop him from saying.

"My name is Xue Tie, I am here to Inform you that the individual competition is split between boys and girls to offer all a chance to equally show their mettle. This means that the boys don't have to fight Bibi Dong." This gets sighs of relief which only turns to goosebumps at what they see next.

"Oh no, your opponent is me" he says and summons his martial spirit. Showcasing his gloves and 3 pure purple spirit rings.