Even the Wang Ting Clan Master was tempted at this moment. But a clan master's appetite was never satisfied.
He smiled faintly. "Thirty percent? If it's thirty percent, I'll sign the agreement without another word!"
Name your price, and haggle right there on the spot.
Since this was a transaction, he had to fight for the maximum benefit. When a piece of fat meat was placed right in front of your mouth, how could you not take a big bite? It would be a waste of such a golden opportunity.
He also knew that the other party must have thoroughly considered things before approaching him. They wouldn't have changed their choice of partner for no reason.
Sure enough, Dharma King Ke pondered for a moment and said with some difficulty, "Thirty percent is too high. We have to bear production costs, plus transportation costs. This kind of pill clearly can't be transported by ordinary people — it requires experts, which makes shipping enormously expensive. Clan Master, twenty percent is already an extremely generous offer."
Dharma King Ke's words weren't empty — twenty percent was indeed a very generous offer.
The Wang Ting Clan Master didn't deny this. He smiled and looked at Dharma King Ke. "Brother Ke, I'll say this much: if it's twenty percent, I'll sign the agreement too, but I can't promise I'll give it my all. My sincerity depends on yours."
Dharma King Ke smiled bitterly. "Twenty-five percent — that's the absolute ceiling. Please don't make this harder on me, Clan Master. That's the maximum I'm authorized to offer. As for thirty percent, it's beyond my authority."
Twenty-five percent versus thirty percent — a difference of a single percentage point.
Though the Wang Ting Clan Master wanted thirty percent and his appetite was vast, a thought struck him: if Dharma King Ke truly had only this much authority and he pushed too hard, what if the Indestructible Heavenly Capital simply sent someone else? They might not necessarily negotiate with the Wang Ting Grand Clan…
After all, the Glazed Royal City was vast and home to many great clan forces. Though the Wang Ting Grand Clan was among the best, they weren't irreplaceable.
With that thought, the Wang Ting Clan Master smiled cheerfully. "Twenty-five percent — deal."
…
"Brother Jiang, you want to open a pill shop?" Wei Jie asked, somewhat surprised.
"Yes. I was wondering if the Wei family could provide a decent storefront?"
Wei Jie laughed. "A storefront isn't a problem. The Wei family has extensive properties in the Glazed Royal City — providing a decent one would be no trouble at all. The issue is that competition in the pill trade here is fierce. The larger pill shops are basically monopolized by the great clan forces. Even the second-tier shops have powerful family backing. In the Glazed Royal City, profits in the pill business are razor-thin."
It wasn't that Wei Jie was unsupportive — it was simply that the Glazed Royal City's pill industry was brutally competitive. The city had an unknown number of Pill Kings alone.
Behind every Pill King stood a powerful force. Some of those forces had multiple Pill Kings under their banner.
These pill factions were the true giants of the Glazed Royal City's pill world, swallowing up the lion's share of profits.
What was left for everyone else was merely scraps.
For an outsider like Jiang Chen to gain a foothold in the pill trade — the difficulty was extraordinary.
Though Jiang Chen hadn't been in the Glazed Royal City long, he didn't doubt Wei Jie's assessment. Things were the same everywhere.
No matter whose territory, no matter which industry, the major profits were always monopolized by the titans.
Back in the small Eastern Kingdom, the pill trade had been monopolized by the Medicine Hall and two other forces. The Tiangui Kingdom was the same.
As a power greater than even a first-rank sect, the Glazed Royal City controlled countless territories. Its pill consumption was undoubtedly an astronomical figure, and the profits within were absolutely staggering.
But staggering profits didn't mean just anyone could waltz in and make a fortune.
For ordinary outsiders, even if the giants didn't actively suppress you, trying to carve out a niche was still enormously difficult.
With so many pill shops already in existence, why would anyone bother buying from your tiny little store?
"Young Master Wei, I already have some preliminary ideas about survival and growth. I'm not aiming to become a giant — just to establish a foothold. I'll pay the Wei family full rent for the storefront. How about it?" Jiang Chen didn't want to explain too much.
Seeing Jiang Chen's resolve, Wei Jie smiled wryly. "I can handle an ordinary storefront, but the kind of shop you'd need… that would be a tough sell. Let me ask my father first."
…
"Open a pill shop?" Wei Jie's father, Wei Tianxiao, was shocked.
"Yes." Wei Jie relayed everything Jiang Chen had told him.
"Open a pill shop in the Glazed Royal City? Is that even possible?" Wei Tianxiao shook his head with a bitter smile. "A dragon that visits a foreign land can't suppress the local serpent — and he's far from being a dragon in the pill trade at that. The local pill giants aren't just serpents, either. For him to survive… it's just too difficult."
"But he's extremely insistent. I think he might have some unexpected trump card! Like the Ten Thousand Year Pill?"
"The Ten Thousand Year Pill? Impossible! If he refined the Ten Thousand Year Pill, wouldn't that expose him?" Wei Tianxiao shook his head. "Absolutely impossible."
"Exactly. Danqian Palace may have been founded on alchemy, but as a mere fourth-rank sect, how many remarkable pills could they possibly have?" Wei Tianxiao was skeptical.
"Father, don't we also have a storefront on Shennong Street?" Wei Jie asked tentatively.
"You want to give him that storefront?" Wei Tianxiao was stunned.
Shennong Street was one of the most famous marketplaces in the Glazed Royal City — even more renowned than the Fish Dragon District.
Most of the pill trade distribution for the Glazed Royal City and many surrounding regions flowed through Shennong Street. It was the paradise of the pill world.
Nearly every major pill faction in the Glazed Royal City had a shop there — and not just any shop, but a flagship store.
The Wei family also had a storefront on Shennong Street, but the Wei family had always been lackluster in the pill trade. The property belonged to them, but instead of selling pills, it was used for other ventures — and the returns had always been mediocre.