owlsbooks Chapter 32 Store Crisis
Chapter 32 Store Crisis
Several months have passed in the blink of an eye.
After resting, Kui Yi and the others, along with Zhou Shan and the others, went to the Rocky Mountain Range to hunt demons again.
In addition, Ye Xuan'an received a large amount of spiritual materials during this period.
His success rate in crafting a first-grade low-level Fiery Flying Sword and a Fiery Array reached as high as 60%.
He can even occasionally forge flying swords and formations of medium quality.
His expertise in this area is no less than that of Qiu Yang and the other two.
In addition, such spiritual creatures are skilled in killing and are therefore easier to sell.
His monthly income also reached nearly two hundred spirit stones.
As a result, the shop's business increased by another 20-30%, and its reputation grew, far surpassing that of ordinary weapon-refining shops run by independent cultivators. It was now comparable to shops run by some mid- to high-level Qi Refining forces.
This brought Qiu Yang and Li Dong a pleasant surprise.
now.
The backyard of the shop in Dongyang.
Ye Xuan'an and Qiu Yang and others continued their discussion as usual.
"Young friend Xuan'an, your progress in refining the first-grade low-level Fiery Flying Sword and the Fiery Array is truly remarkable."
"It wasn't until recent years that Old Li and I achieved that level of success in refining a few types of low-grade first-tier magic weapons."
"And judging by your progress, brother, I'm afraid a 60% probability isn't even your limit!"
Qiu Yang, the old drunkard, couldn't help but praise.
"That is indeed possible. It was truly a blessing for us that you came to our little shop back then."
Li Dong said with heartfelt emotion.
"You two are very kind."
Ye Xuan'an said with a smile.
They then continued chatting.
But not long after, Zhang Fu and Li Cui rushed over in a panic.
"Something terrible has happened!"
"The shop next door has been rented by a couple of veteran first-grade low-level weapon refiners, and they also plan to open a weapon refining shop."
"We are currently preparing for it, and it should be open in less than a day."
Zhang Fu and Li Cui spoke anxiously.
In addition, according to their inquiries, the couple who were weapon refiners originally worked in a weapon refinement shop under the Zhao family.
But with the Zhao family destroyed a year ago, they lost their master.
In addition, they have some family wealth.
Moreover, their weapon-refining skills are extremely good, even far surpassing Qiu Yang and the other two. They can refine numerous magical artifacts every month, which they cannot sell out by simply setting up a stall.
Selling directly to those shops would be a loss.
Therefore, they decided to open a shop to sell religious artifacts and, by the way, take on more jobs such as recasting second-hand religious artifacts to earn extra profits by leveraging the shop's reputation.
This will pave the way for them to eventually become mid-grade first-tier weapon refiners.
"what?"
Ye Xuan'an and the other two were quite surprised to hear this.
After all, who does business like this?
This could easily lead to competition for each other's business.
Moreover, it can easily lead to conflicts.
Therefore, they quickly went to check out the shop next door.
The shop is indeed preparing to open a weapon-refining shop, and there are even several servants handing out promotional brochures for the shop's opening.
"The three of you must be the weapon refiners from Dongyang Weapon Refining Shop: Fellow Daoist Qiu, Fellow Daoist Li, and Young Friend Ye."
"My name is Huang Che, and this is my wife. We are new here, so I hope you will take good care of our business."
At this moment, a richly dressed couple walked out of the shop and greeted Ye Xuan'an and the others with smiles on their faces.
"You're too kind, but opening a weapon-refining shop next to our house isn't a very good choice."
Qiu Yang and Li Dong, as the owners of the Dongyang Weapon Refining Shop, quickly said...
"Well, there's nothing we can do about it, since there are few shops available for rent in the market."
Mr. and Mrs. Huang remained all smiles and spoke amiably.
But that's complete nonsense.
Although there are indeed few shops available for rent in the market.
However, there are a few rooms available, and they are all in decent locations.
There were even one or two places far from the Dongyang weapon-refining shops, with no other weapon-refining shops nearby, making them ideal locations for opening a weapon-refining shop.
"It seems those two are playing dumb."
Upon hearing this, Ye Xuan'an understood what the two were thinking.
"Damn it, I was going to exchange a few polite words with you two bastards."
"I never expected you guys to be so shameless."
"If you want to take advantage of the reputation that our shop has recently built up to quickly develop, establish prestige, and attract customers, just say so."
"Do you two really think we're easy to bully?"
Qiu Yang and Li Dong immediately cursed angrily.
"No, you two have probably misunderstood."
"Furthermore... the market doesn't stipulate that we can't open a weapon-refining shop next to your Dongyang Weapon Refining Shop."
"What? Are you two planning to set up your own rules and teach us, husband and wife, how to do things?"
The Huang couple stopped pretending and sneered.
"How can there be such shameless scoundrels as you in this world!"
Qiu Yang and the other man were so angry that their faces turned red, and they cursed loudly.
"When a shop does well, it's easy for some trouble to follow."
Ye Xuan'an couldn't help but sigh slightly.
In addition, the reason why Huang Che and his wife did it that way was because slowly opening up shops was simply too arduous.
Take Dongyang Refining Shop for example. It is said that in its first year after it opened, it had almost no business.
After all, there are at least a dozen or so weapon-refining shops in the market.
It wasn't until Qiu Yang and his companion were able to barely refine some high-quality first-grade low-level magic artifacts.
In addition, they recommended it to some friends every day and often handed out flyers in the market, which gradually brought it to life.
With the recent addition of Ye Xuan'an, the shop has finally gained a firm foothold in the market.
The period was extremely difficult.
Furthermore, since the shop is rented, it costs at least several dozen spirit stones per month in rent, which is quite expensive.
Qiu Yang and his partner considered closing the store several times.
But Huang Che and his wife did not want to go through such a thing.
Moreover, they had already found out the backgrounds of Qiu Yang, Li Dong, and Ye Xuan'an, and knew that they had no special backgrounds and that their cultivation levels were all at the third level of Qi Refining, making them relatively easy to manipulate.
That's why they dare to act so recklessly.
Afterwards, they made a few more sarcastic remarks to Qiu Yang and his companion, then, as if no one else was around, they went off to prepare for their shop opening.
"Damn it."
Seeing this, Qiu Yang and the other man's anger flared even more.
Then, they cursed a couple more times from a distance before stopping and returning to the Dongyang Array Weapon Shop with Ye Xuan'an.
"Gentlemen, this matter should be taken seriously. After all, according to the rumors, that couple's weapon-forging skills are quite good! They might even be better than ours."
"And judging from their attitude, they've got us cornered."
"Therefore, we must find a way to increase the quantity and even the quality of the magical artifacts and formations sold in the shop. After all, only if our products are better than what they will sell in the future can we continue to gain a foothold."
Ye Xuan'an frowned and muttered to himself.
Although the shop doesn't belong to him.
But he was, after all, one of the shop's employees.
If something happens to the shop, his income and his plans to collect spiritual materials on a large scale will be affected.
Therefore, he didn't want anything to happen to the shop.
Moreover, as far as he knew, Qiu Yang and his companion had made some money through the shop in previous years, and they were also worried that the landlord would raise the rent if the shop was doing well.
Therefore, a year ago, when the store was renewing its lease, they directly leased it for three years.
Upon closer inspection, the shop still has two years left on its lease.
If something happens to the shop during this period, the two years' rent will be lost directly, and there are quite a lot of spirit stones, at least several hundred spirit stones.
"That being said, this matter is rather difficult to handle."
"After all, most of the magical artifacts and formations we craft are sold in shops. Unless we recruit more artifact crafters to help, it will be difficult to increase the quantity and quality of magical artifacts and formations in the shops."
"But weapon refiners are extremely rare, and most of them already have other jobs. Unless there is a stroke of luck, it is impossible to recruit them in a short period of time."
Li Dong, being a meticulous person, quickly realized the difficulty of the matter.
"That is indeed a troublesome matter."
Qiu Yang, the old drunkard, also had some headaches about this.
However, his mind was quick and he soon came up with a special solution.
"By the way, young friend Xuan'an, if you have enough spiritual materials to practice with, and you don't need to refine innate magic artifacts for the shop for the time being, you can focus on honing your skills."
"Are you confident that you can further increase the probability of crafting a low-grade first-tier Fiery Flying Sword and formation in a short period of time? Or even be able to consistently craft high-quality flying swords and formations?"