Chapter 168: Chapter 165 Impending Storm
Initially, Jiang Cheng was just an obscure second-tier Talisman Master.

Let alone in the Capital, even in his hometown Wuyue City, he could basically be considered invisible in the world of Talisman Masters.

He had no fame and no network; when he went out, nobody recognized him.

Latterly, with the popularity of the Fishing Talisman, he outsourced the production of the talisman, relying almost entirely on the connections of Yue Linger to find people for the work.

Even Yue Linger herself wasn’t someone Jiang Cheng knew personally; their meeting was mediated through an introduction by the Talisman Master Association.

Compared to the unknown Jiang Cheng, Shen Mi in the Capital was a well-known, well-regarded personage.

Shen Mi had struggled and fought in the Capital for over two hundred years. Although he was a Pill Master and mixed in the elixir industry, his network within the Capital’s Talisman industry far surpassed that of Jiang Cheng.

The very night he obtained the “Plant Empowerment Talisman” certification, Shen Mi urgently contacted multiple talisman shops in the Capital, demanding they produce the Plant Empowerment Talisman at full capacity, even if it required paying a premium.

Compared to the value of the Plant Empowerment Talisman, the extra Spirit Stones were trivial.

The next morning, Shen Mi, carrying a large amount of Spirit Stones and treasures, started his “Elixir Diplomacy.”

Firstly, he had to secure the order for the Qi Blood Pill from the Weapon Department; if he failed to get it, the Blood Orange Fruit produced using the Self-Enhancement Talisman would face the awkward situation of having stock with no sales.

Secondly, he had to try to grasp all the related orders from the court and other organizations and companies in the Capital; even if it meant lowering the price a bit. After all, the cost of producing Blood Orange Fruit was reduced even more, increasing the profits considerably.

The Miaodan Workshop had to secure as many orders as possible to ensure the maximization of profits from the initial wave of cheap Blood Orange Fruit.

Moreover, the Miaodan Workshop already had some gardens for cultivating Spirit Plants, but with the advent of the Self-Enhancement Talisman, the original scale of the gardens would no longer suffice. The Miaodan Workshop must lease or purchase land swiftly to plant more Blood Orange Trees. This step had to be taken quickly and could not wait for the talisman painting to take place before dealing with land transactions.

Furthermore, the Miaodan Workshop needed to recruit some Talisman Masters. After the initial wave of profits from the Blood Orange Fruit, they would use the outsold Plant Empowerment Talisman to help others produce Blood Orange Fruit and compensate for their own profit shortfalls.

Lastly, Shen Mi sent a communication talisman to his lovely daughter.

“Hello? Hanhan?”

Shen Menghan was groggy in bed.

“Hello? Dad? It’s the middle of the night, can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

Shen Mi had been excited all day and hadn’t noticed that it was already the middle of the night.

“Hanhan, how are things between you and Jiang Cheng?”

“So-so, we just chatted once last time and haven’t been in touch since.”

“That won’t do. I was hoping you could do me a favor.”

“What is it?”

“Get Jiang Cheng to sell me the rights to his Autonomy Talisman.”

Shen Menghan rubbed her eyes. “Okay, I’ll talk to him. How much are you prepared to spend?”

“Two million low-grade Spirit Stones.”

“How much!?”

Shen Menghan’s surprised voice woke up her roommate, and she quickly put on her clothes and slipped onto the balcony.

“Dad? Are you all right? Two million for a first-tier talisman? Isn’t that a bit pricey?”

Shen Mi chuckled.

Although Menghan had been raised in wealth from a young age, because she had never dealt with business matters, she lacked understanding of many things.

Jiang Cheng’s talisman, at two million, was an absolute bargain.

He was willing to spend two million now just to give Jiang Cheng a taste of sweetness and to avoid a lawsuit in the future.

He hoped that Jiang Cheng was a man who understands the times. Otherwise, if it came to a lawsuit later on, he might not get even a single Spirit Stone.

“Try not to exceed three million. If you can make a deal, I will allow you to go to the Tongtian Sect, and I won’t push you to marry Xuechen.”

Zhao Xuechen, the second son of the Nation Duke from Liang Kingdom.

During the rapid development of the Miaodan Workshop, it inevitably offended many local powers in the Capital, and Shen Mi had to submit a declaration of fealty to the Duke’s Mansion.

In addition to the marriage arrangement with the Duke’s Mansion, he also promised to make Shen Menghan the sole heir of the Miaodan Workshop.

However, as Shen Menghan grew up, she had always been indifferent to her so-called “fiancé” and strongly resisted the marriage arrangement. If not for her filial nature, she would have “rebelled” long ago.

But times have changed. The Duke’s Mansion’s influence has gradually weakened, and with the Miaodan Workshop’s unlimited potential because of the Self-Enhancement Talisman, the marriage arrangement should also be nullified.

“Really?”

“Yes. When have I ever lied to you?”

“Okay!”

Determined, Shen Menghan resolved to persuade Jiang Cheng to sell her the Autonomy Talisman—for the sake of her freedom and future access to the Tongtian Sect!

For Class 1 Counselor Cui Zhifei, there were several pieces of good and bad news before him.

Good news: Jiang Cheng is a Talisman genius.

Bad news: Too much of a genius, has brought trouble for the Spiritual Planting Department.

Good news: Jiang Cheng had previously signed a waiver agreement; if the trees were damaged due to no restraint, it was entirely the tree owner’s responsibility.

Bad news: The situation has gotten a bit out of hand, and the Spiritual Planting Department wants an explanation.

Good news: It’s the beginning of a new semester, the impact on the destroyed Spirit Plants isn’t significant, there’s time to remedy. This won’t delay students’ assignments and graduation.

Bad news: More people are now eying Jiang Cheng’s talismans, including the head of the Spiritual Planting Department, teachers from the Special Cultivation Academy Puppetry Department, and others.

The head of the Spiritual Planting Department’s idea is to have Jiang Cheng remove all those messy martial arts and weeding functions, keeping only the core rapid growth feature to facilitate the cultivation of Spirit Plants in the department.

The idea from the Puppetry Department is to have Jiang Cheng remove the messy growth, fruiting, and development functions, and retain the core control, martial arts, and tactical synergy features to assist puppet masters.

Cui Zhifei felt his job was extraordinarily difficult.

The pressure from two major departments was all on him—whoever wanted this “fortune” could have it!

Fortunately, however, Jiang Cheng was easy to talk to. He understood the difficulties of the counselor’s job and was willing to wait until he was free to develop various functional Plant Autonomy Talismans for the Spiritual Planting Department and Puppetry Department to research.

“Strange, how does this kid seem even busier than me? He’s not planning to use the Autonomy Talismans outside the school, is he?”

At this thought, Cui Zhifei shivered.

Messing up with Autonomy Talismans within the school was one thing since the school was all insiders, and he could smooth it over, but if the Autonomy Talismans caused trouble outside the school, that was not something a small counselor like him could handle!

Cui Zhifei took out a communication talisman and contacted Jiang Cheng.

“Jiang Cheng, are you planning to sell those Autonomy Talismans outside the school? Don’t do anything for now, I’ll get a few teachers together to look into the talisman issue,” Cui Zhifei said.

Jiang Cheng, “Don’t worry, teacher. I sent the talismans for authentication a few days ago, and President Gao from the Talisman Association is already studying them.”

Cui Zhifei:???

Cui Zhifei ended the call with a sense of impending storm brewing in his heart.

Forty-some Autonomy Talismans had already caused unrest in the Spiritual Planting Department—if there were thousands, wouldn’t that cause a beast tide and consume the Capital alive!

He hurriedly contacted Director Guo Xiuyuan from their Talisman Department.

It was Guo Xiuyuan who had tricked him into becoming Jiang Cheng’s counselor. Now, everyone else could shake off any involvement, but as the primary responsible person, Director Guo couldn’t simply ignore it!

In the communication talisman, Cui Zhifei exaggerated the situation to Guo Xiuyuan.

Guo Xiuyuan said gravely, “Alright, I get it. I’ll check with President Gao in a bit.”

Seeing that the department director had stepped in, Cui Zhifei finally felt relieved.

In the Capital, there were only three fourth-order Talisman Masters among the Tongtian Sect’s influence, which were the heads of the Talisman Departments at Lotus University, Ling University, and the president of the Capital Talisman Master Association.

Director Guo essentially represented the highest combat power of Capital’s talisman masters; with him watching over, things were stable.

As one of the only three fourth-order Talisman Masters of the Tongtian Sect in the Capital, Guo Xiuyuan was much higher in rank than Cui Zhifei.

He knew some of the inside stories about the Fishing Talismans.

So facing the new Autonomy Talismans, Guo Xiuyuan didn’t dare take it lightly.

This matter had to be discussed with the other fellows; if any hint of trouble was found, it needed to be crushed as soon as possible!

Guo Xiuyuan immediately went to find Gao Miao and transferred the pressure he and Cui Zhifei felt onto Gao Miao.

Gao Miao was half-dead with anger after being pressured by Guo Xiuyuan.

Damn it, Jiang Cheng was a student from your school, and since you’re inadequate, now you’re pressuring me with the talismans he drew well!

Is the Talisman Association my personal tyrannical domain? Don’t I have to follow the rules too?

After Guo Xiuyuan left, Gao Miao took a moment to compose himself, ready to dive back into work. Then he found a talisman very similar to the “Plant Autonomy Talisman,” named “Plant Empowerment Talisman,” in the list of authenticated talismans recently updated by the Linlan Sect.

Not only were the names similar, but the structure and effects were strikingly similar as well.

It seemed like the Autonomy Talisman had just been renamed to the Empowerment Talisman.

Gao Miao instantly felt a major problem looming and immediately contacted President Zeng Shi’an of the Linlan Sect’s Talisman Master Association.

“President Zeng, did you authenticate a ‘Plant Empowerment Talisman’ a few days ago?” Gao Miao asked.

Zeng Shi’an, having not heard of this talisman, flipped through the latest list of talisman authentications and found the record.

“Yes, what about it? Is President Gao also interested in our association’s talisman master?” Zeng Shi’an asked.

Gao Miao responded, “That talisman was drawn by a student from the Talisman Department of Lotus University. I’ll explain more later, but in short, you’d better review it again now!”

Zeng Shi’an wondered, “Lotus University student? Shouldn’t he go to your association for authentication?”

“He did, and we haven’t passed him yet. That Empowerment Talisman of yours is probably a rebranded talisman. Be careful, you can’t take this lightly,” replied Gao Miao.

Hearing this, Zeng Shi’an’s eyebrows furrowed.

He thought to himself that it had been a while since he last saw Gao Miao, who had suddenly become so impulsive?

What do you mean our Empowerment Talisman is just a rebranded talisman? As if only your association’s talisman masters can produce good talismans and the rest of us can only copy, right?

We are all associations under the Immortal Sect and fourth-order Talisman Masters. Don’t we know to be vigilant? Do you need to tell us to be careful?

Are you teaching me how to do my job?

Zeng Shi’an hung up on Gao Miao’s communication talisman.

“Out of the blue, a first-order talisman causing such fuss—I think the people from Tongtian Sect have all gone mad from drawing talismans.”

“Master Shen, what do you think of this mountain top?”

A real estate agent enthusiastically introduced the land beneath their feet to Shen Mi.

“This place is backed by mountains and water, with fertile land—it was previously reserved for developing royal gardens. But as you know, the Liang Kingdom’s economy is so-so, and the court is short on money. These sorts of face-saving but costly projects have been put on hold.”

Shen Mi had a fair understanding of geomancy and, surveying the surroundings, found that the location was indeed excellent, a geomantic treasure.

The only flaw…

Shen Mi looked towards the distance and saw large buildings partially hidden among the mountains and forests.

The flaw was that it was too close to the royal tombs.

While the geomancy was favorable, the royal tombs were still burial grounds, which were not considered auspicious.

Seeing Shen Mi’s hesitation, the estate agent immediately cut to the chase with a hefty price.

“If you’re really interested in this place, I can offer a flat rate—100,000 Spirit Stones for a three-year lease.”

Shen Mi stopped hesitating; land around the Capital was generally expensive, and it was hard to find a more suitable place for planting Blood Orange Trees.

“Deal.”