The Great Cave Master Miao was excited. Why had he risked his life to venture into the Sea of Constellations in the first place?
One of the most important reasons was that he was afraid of Xiong Xiao's repeated sneak attacks. He didn't even feel safe in his own territory, so much so that he was so scared that he hid on the island to cultivate. If he could get a bunch of Blue Lotus realm subordinates to be his thugs, then it would be Xiong Xiao's turn to not be able to eat or sleep in peace.
He was so excited that he couldn't even speak properly and directly demanded an exorbitant price. He pointed at the four hundred people and said, "I don't want the others, just give me the twenty with the highest cultivation!"
"What?" Hong Changhai's eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets, "Cave Master Miao, you're not joking, are you? Even if a Blue Lotus First Grade cultivator were to join the system, even the lowest treatment they would receive every year would be ten low-grade Orbs of Will. There were twelve of them here, so they would need at least a hundred and twenty Orbs of Will a year. Including the others, you would need to fork out at least two hundred Orbs of Will a year. According to what I know, your East Arrival Cave only gets around twenty Orbs of Will every year. How are you going to feed them? "
Two hundred a year? After careful calculation, he realized that the ready-made Orbs of Will he had on hand wouldn't last more than a few years. If he sold off all the things he had on hand and exchanged them for Orbs of Will, he might be able to feed it for a few hundred years. However, its cultivation would also increase. When that time came, he would have to give it processing fees. Otherwise, if its cultivation was higher than his, and he couldn't control it, then what was the point of him spending the money to feed it?
Besides, the Orbs of Will he had on hand were also for his own use. In the event of an emergency, he might even need to pay for other expenses. He couldn't possibly spend all of it on feeding his people.
Seeing that he had calmed down, Hong Changhai was both annoyed and amused at the same time. He kindly advised, "Cave Master Miao, I will give you ten White Lotus Third Grade disciples. Ten White Lotus Third Grade disciples per Abode is more than enough. It will be more than enough."
"No, I don't want anyone below Rank-5 …"
Miao Yi decisively refused. Why would he want a bunch of people who couldn't threaten Xiong Xiao? He was still not safe!
The two of them immediately started haggling.
"Five Blue Lotus disciples won't do either. I won't be able to report back if I send five Blue Lotus disciples to a small cave abode."
"How about four?"
"No!"
"Three!"
"I can't. I can only give you two at most, and they can only be at Blue Lotus First Grade. "
After a round of haggling, the two of them finally settled on a deal. Hong Changhai only promised to give him two Blue Lotus First Grade cultivators, two White Lotus Ninth Grade cultivators, two White Lotus Eighth Grade cultivators, two White Lotus Seventh Grade cultivators, two White Lotus Sixth Grade cultivators, and ten White Lotus Fifth Grade cultivators. In this way, there were twenty people.
As for cultivators below the Fifth Grade, Miao Yi refused to accept them no matter what.
Once again, both parties discussed the salary for these twenty people. Miao Yi was only willing to give the lowest possible price. For example, for those at the Blue Lotus rank, he would only give them ten Orbs of Will every year.
Hong Changhai did not agree. Although a Blue Lotus cultivator had no way of obtaining ten Orbs of Will within the sect, the level of respect they received was different. The other resources of the sect would be biased towards them, so they couldn't be too cheap. Otherwise, it would be embarrassing for the School of Blue Jade.
Miao Yi wasn't willing to compromise on the Orbs of Will. He had to keep more of those things for himself. Wasn't the reason he risked his life in the Sea of Constellations for the Orbs of Will? However, that didn't mean he couldn't compromise on other matters. Otherwise, there would be no way they could continue negotiating. "I'll increase their salary in terms of crystal coins. I can't fork out too many Orbs of Will. Can I use money to compensate them?"
He didn't have a lot of Orbs of Will now, but he did have a lot of money. The crystal coins he had were still not enough to purchase high-grade transcendent artifacts, and there was no point in purchasing low-grade ones. He had a pile of First Grade transcendent artifacts now. Therefore, he would save as many Orbs of Will as he could, and spend money first!
Hong Changhai was taken aback, and asked suspiciously, "How many crystal coins are you prepared to pay a Blue Lotus disciple every year?"
Miao Yi replied straightforwardly, "Name your price!"
Hong Changhai pondered for a moment. The market price of a low-grade Orb of Will was a thousand Gold Crystals. Although Orbs of Will were priceless, and he might not be able to buy one with a thousand Gold Crystals, it would be good if he could fight for a bit more for his disciples.
He raised a finger, and tried to name a price. "Ten thousand Gold Crystals!"
This price left room for Miao Yi to bargain. According to the market price, ten thousand Gold Crystals could buy ten low-grade Orbs of Will. Although he might not be able to buy them, it would still sound good if others heard about it. Adding the Orbs of Will and crystal coins together, he would be able to fight for a disciple's salary of around twenty low-grade Orbs of Will every year.
Without another word, Miao Yi jabbed out with two fingers. "Don't?? Play with aluminum? Armpit? Fermented?
From afar, Qin Weiwei and the others saw the two of them jabbing their fingers at each other, and didn't know what they were up to.
Hong Changhai was speechless. Miao Yi had directly doubled the price. What else could he say? He was instantly silenced by Miao Yi's twenty thousand Gold Crystals.
Little did he know that the current Great Cave Master Miao already had over thirty million Gold Crystals in cash alone. It wouldn't be a problem for him to ask for such a salary.
Alright, Hong Changhai continued to discuss the other people's Gold Crystal treatment.
In the end, the final result was that the two Blue Lotus First Grade cultivators would each get ten low-grade Orbs of Will and twenty thousand Gold Crystals every year. The two White Lotus Ninth Grade cultivators would each get nine Orbs of Will every year. Compared to the previous amount, the amount was cut in half, to be ten thousand Gold Crystals.
The others went down in order. Eighth Grade cultivators would get eight Orbs of Will and eight thousand Gold Crystals; Seventh Grade cultivators would get seven Orbs of Will and seven thousand Gold Crystals; Sixth Grade cultivators would get six Orbs of Will and six thousand Gold Crystals; Fifth Grade cultivators would get five Orbs of Will and five thousand Gold Crystals.
Even if this kind of treatment was placed in other places, as long as they didn't hold the position of Cave Master, Mountain Chieftain or Manor Head, it wouldn't be considered low.
But then again, even though the position of overseeing an area had a high treatment, not everyone would have the opportunity to obtain that position. The benefits could be seen, but not everyone would be able to enjoy them.
Calculating it this way, the Great Cave Master Miao would have to spend one hundred and fifty-two thousand Gold Crystals and a hundred and thirty low-grade Orbs of Will for these people every year.
Even though Hong Changhai was satisfied with the negotiated price, and didn't feel that it would be unfair to his disciples, he still felt that it was a little ridiculous. How could a Cave Master like him have so many things to spend?
Both sides had agreed that if Miao Yi couldn't give them this much, the disciples under his wing would have to immediately withdraw. The day of harvesting the Orbs of Will was approaching soon, and the truth would be revealed very soon.
Naturally, he wouldn't be able to do it in a straightforward manner. It would be too easy to trick people. If by any chance Miao Yi tricked them into entering the rules, then it wouldn't be that easy to get out again.
Both sides had to sign the Commandment of Conformity to guarantee their agreement.
What was the Commandment of Conformity?
The rules of the Commandment of Conformity came from the Manor of Conformity, the Chamber of Commerce under the Six Sages. For example, in the Celestial Nation, there was the Celestial Nation Chamber of Commerce, which specialized in the transactions of the cultivation world.
Swindling and deceit were unavoidable when doing business. After all sorts of messy things happened one after another, it directly affected the interests of those who set the rules in the cultivation world. Thus, the Manor of Conformity came into being. In the beginning, it regulated transactions, and in the end, it extended to the entire cultivation world.
The Manor of Conformity wasn't a place like South Edict Manor, but rather an official law enforcement organization in the secular world. The difference was that the Manor of Conformity targeted the cultivation world, and was directly controlled by the disciples and grand disciples of the Six Sages. It was the only place where the Six Sages could directly interfere with the matters of the cultivation world.
Once both sides had signed a contract, if one party broke the contract and refused to pay the price for breaking the contract, then the other party could possibly send the contract to the Manor of Conformity to seek justice. The Manor of Conformity would then immediately issue a Commandment of Conformity to the party who broke the contract, asking them if they were willing to honor the promise of breaking the contract.
If they refused to admit that they had broken the contract after receiving the Commandment of Conformity, then the Manor of Conformity would personally send someone to verify it. Once it was verified that they had indeed broken the contract, or if it was proven that the other party was making a false accusation, not only would the responsible party have to pay the cost of the verification, the consequences would also be very severe. It must be known that the Manor of Conformity had many experts.
In order to maintain the rules of the game in the cultivation world, the Manor of Conformity was definitely a place with strict laws. They wouldn't allow the slightest bit of favoritism to be used to show how just and strict the high and mighty Six Sages were. They represented the image of the Six Sages, so naturally, they wouldn't act recklessly.
In reality, both parties didn't sign the Commandment of Conformity. Only the one issued by the Manor of Conformity was called the Commandment of Conformity. However, the cultivation world had long since gotten used to calling the contract signed by both parties willing to accept the supervision of the Manor of Conformity as the Commandment of Conformity. As time went by, they got used to it.
This was the origin of the Commandment of Conformity, and the contract that Yang Qing and the Sect Master of the School of Blue Jade had signed was precisely the Commandment of Conformity.
Miao Yi didn't have any objections to signing the Commandment of Conformity, so he gladly agreed.
However, Hong Changhai was still a little worried. 'If you can't fulfill your promise when the time comes, you can just release the School of Blue Jade disciples. It's not like you'll lose anything. But what about the debt of my School of Blue Jade disciples being ordered around by you for nothing? Wouldn't I be toyed with by you then? How am I supposed to explain myself?
You are a person within the rules. No matter how high the cultivation of those outside the rules is, they wouldn't dare to openly deal with you, because your biggest backer is the Six Sages.
This was also the biggest reason why so many cultivators wanted to hide within the rules. Normally, no one from the outside would dare to openly deal with those within the rules, and those within the rules had to follow the rules when dealing with those within the rules. They couldn't act recklessly.
At the end of the day, those within the rules were people who helped the Six Sages maintain the current rules of the cultivation world. This was an unusual position, as they had a basic guarantee that outsiders couldn't enjoy.
Hong Changhai wanted Miao Yi to take out something that could be used as collateral to bear the consequences of breaking the contract. Only then would he be willing to sign the contract with Miao Yi. Otherwise, as a mere East Arrival Cave Master, even if he were to report you to the Manor of Conformity and have them kill you, it would be meaningless. It was still more reliable to have something as collateral.
Without another word, Miao Yi immediately took out a Square Sky Decorated Halberd from his storage ring, "How about using a first grade transcendent artifact as collateral?"
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