One of Mao Rong’s eyebrows seemed to climb up his forehead. Then it slowly came back down again and the man knocked his knuckles against the armrest of his seat. After pondering and continuing the idle knuckle knocking he leaned over towards his assistant, Zhu Jin, and seemed to have a short conversation with her. They used some sort of methods to ensure secrecy, but Sage didn’t mind. The fact that they didn’t immediately dismiss his demand was promising. Sage could have made more arguments to try and support his position, but this man, Mao Rong, was already quite straightforward and so Sage didn’t waste his time. He was sure the man could evaluate the situation on his own.

After a few minutes, Mao Rong finally spoke.

“Interesting proposal. You of course know you stand no chance against the full might of the Cloudmetal Consortium. You also must know that we don’t operate the Cloudmetal Charcoal mines at full capacity. Since you didn’t ask for a discount and instead want to operate the mine yourself that means you plan on large scale Cloudsteel production.”

Sage nodded his head, and Mao Rong continued.

“Neither of us are fools. You can retain the mine, and you will not sell or distribute Cloudmetal Charcoal to anyone else. In addition, a team from the Cloudmetal Consortium will remain at the mine to enforce this rule. Most importantly, Cloudmetal Consortium is going to become your exclusive broker and distributor. Whatever you’re making with Cloudsteel we will purchase from you and sell throughout the Kingdom.”

Sage widened his eyes and then gave a nod, “Hah, you saw right through me. As expected! I only planned on creating weapons to arm the Jade Horde, but it seems I have to expand my plans. Are you going to impose a production quota? What about the Spirit Stones?”

“The deal will involve no further Spirit Stones, and there is no production quota. If you’re in need of Spirit Stones, show us your weapons or other products. We can make an order.”

This fellow from the main branch of the Cloudmetal Consortium is truly formidable. It’s no wonder they can maintain a monopoly. The groups they wiped out must have been filled with madmen.

Fighting against the Cloudmetal Consortium would only end up with the Jade Horde destroyed and the Consortium suffering some damage. They would be lucky to inflict heavy damage and the chances of defeating them were probably nonexistent. The power provided by immense wealth was great. Powerful cultivators were the true power in the world, but with enough money there were always those that could be bought. It required expensive resources to increase the speed of cultivation. For those with little talent or nearing the end of their lifespan, they would happily join rich organizations in exchange for resources.

The Cloudmetal Consortium was not a ‘nice’ group. On the other hand, Sage had never considered himself a hero. While he would never work with the truly evil, the Cloudmetal Consortium seemed to merely be a cutthroat business. They pursued wealth and power. Since there was no evidence of them committing truly terrible acts, he could work with them. There was also the fact that he was building an intelligence network. By creating a relationship with the Cloudmetal Consortium, it would create a road to expanding in the capital.

After a few minutes, Zhu Jin had already written up a contract and after a review by both sides, they quickly signed it. Even if he had been planning on doing his own selling and distribution the generous conditions would have caused him to reconsider. Since he wasn’t planning on being a manufacturer here it was even better.

Seems I may have to start another production facility here in the Dou Kingdom.

He wondered about the risk of being connected to the operation in the Holy Flame Sect, but given the distance and also the secrecy in the Holy Flame Sect it should be safe enough. After the agreement was signed, Sage brought out the prototype weapons he was building for the Jade Horde.

“These are the mass production weapons I planned to equip the Jade Horde with. This spear, the Giant Nail, has might comparable to a weapon costing 5000 Spirit Stones, but only costs about 500 to produce.”

He didn’t explain the mechanism to them, since that might lead them to copying the idea. Then a shield was brought out and Sage called over a squad of Hoplites. One of them held the shield and the others threw their spears at it. The thrown spears disappeared just before contacting the shield.

“I call this shield Arrow Wall. As you can see it can capture projectiles, and also…”

The Hoplite turned and aimed the shield towards the mine’s walls. The many spears from before suddenly appeared and flew out, sticking into the stone walls.

“It can return the remaining force of the projectiles it catches. We can even fire dozens of arrows into them before a battle and then release them from shields whenever we want. Obviously, these are meant to be the signature weapons of the Jade Horde. I can create something different for wide distribution, but for the sake of our cooperation we could offer these weapons for the Cloudmetal Consortium’s own internal use.”

“Not bad. If that is an honest representation of those weapons then we’d love them. Can you make them sabers instead of spears? Zhu Jin, write up an order.”

“Sabers… yes, but they will use more Cloudsteel. How about fifteen hundred per saber, and two thousand per shield.”

Mao Rong laughed, “Twelve hundred for the saber and sixteen hundred for the shield. Make sure the shields are a different style as well.”

Sage smiled, “Of course. We’ll put the Cloudmetal Consortium emblem on them.”

Just like that, the two forces went from enemies to business partners. Some of the human cultivators in the Jade Horde were a bit annoyed, but they knew better than to speak out about it. Li Song looked out from his tent with a murderous glare, but he held back his rage. Li Zhen berated him constantly and he also knew the power of the main office. He could only swallow down his dissatisfaction for now. The matter had been settled. They had done well by losing nothing in the conflict. The deposit to hire the Fierce Tigers was not exceptionally large and Li Song had paid out of his own pocket for the assassins. Now he could only think about how long it would be until another opportunity presented itself.

The true losers in all this were the Fierce Tigers. They had been paid handsomely, but most of their rewards would have been from the spoils of battle and a bonus for completion of their assignment. They had instead suffered heavy losses and still failed the assignment. Their grudge with the Jade Horde had only increased in magnitude.

Sage put a hold to expanding their territory in the 10,000 Wave province. He devoted all their focus on the Cloudmetal Charcoal mine. Bi Hongbing was west in the Red Sand province, while Abbot Kunga was to the north in Endless Valley province. Both slowly expanding their influence as they had done in the Bronze Tiger province. Building small villages and taking on basic mercenary work. In 10,000 Wave province they didn’t take any of the usual mercenary work or expansion efforts, focusing all their manpower on a single location.

He had always planned to focus more of their resources on the 10,000 Wave province. It was his homeland after all, and he had sworn to rebuild the Lang Clan. The Cloudmetal Charcoal Mine was a good excuse for him to establish a large base for the Jade Horde in the province. The only downside was that it was still some distance away from Jade Spirit County and Lionheart Town. It would be far too suspicious for him to buy up the old Lang Clan property out of the blue, so he planned to leave that for later.

I can’t reveal my identity until I’m strong enough to take down the Fu Clan. Forgive me, Ancestor.

The people from the Cloudmetal Consortium eventually left. Both the main office and branch office members left at the same time. A small detachment of a dozen was left behind to fulfill the agreement. They were only temporary members and others would be on the way to relieve them. At the same time, Sage sent a few of his own men with the Cloudmetal Consortium to act as a liaison in the capital. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, one of the men was a Falconer, and would be tasked with training Falcons in the capital. Sage also wanted to try and turn a few of the men the Cloudmetal Consortium had left behind, but unfortunately, none of them were weak enough for him to control with the Hypnotic Eye.

He didn’t dare to openly approach one of them, they had just established a relationship and he didn’t want to form a schism so very early on. It would be in their interest to maintain a good relationship. There was still plenty of opportunities for turning their servants or low level personal into Little Birds in the future.