Chapter 454: Chapter 49: Commerce Association Strife

Looking at Li Ji’an’s smooth yet decisive and ruthless demeanor, the old steward paused slightly.

He naturally bore some resentment towards the Jinhua Commerce Association.

Even the president, Master Yuxiao, was holding back his anger, but there was no alternative, as both Jinhua Commerce Association and Si Shui Commerce Association’s headquarters were located in the same major province, with the trade of talismans as their main business.

The current strategy of the Si Shui Commerce Association was to stabilize the Jinhua Commerce Association at all costs, ensuring they did not openly target the Si Shui Commerce Association.

Once a firm footing was gained in the future and the strength to confront them directly was achieved, they would decisively compete for supremacy!

However, it was evident that the Jinhua Commerce Association, which had stood for millennia without falling, was not easy to deceive. Ever since the Si Shui Commerce Association returned to the Ten Thousand Merchants Domain a century ago, Jinhua Commerce’s resistance had remained unchanged.

They continued to openly accept benefits from the Si Shui Commerce Association but showed no mercy when it came to resisting.

It seemed as though they were toying with the Si Shui Commerce Association.

Within the association, many were already dissatisfied, hoping that Master Yuxiao would show some backbone rather than openly confronting them.

"This... Elder is currently the one with the highest authority among us, and I shall strive to cooperate," after a moment, the old steward suddenly felt quite passionate. Perhaps this incident could be leveraged to forcibly change the president’s policy towards the Jinhua Commerce Association, boosting morale.

After all, Li Ji’an held the association’s Black Gold Inheritance Order, capable of bearing any responsibility!

"Good!" Li Ji’an’s mouth curled up, immediately looking at the old steward, saying: "Then let’s give this Fairy a Spiritual Ship Jade Talisman!"

The old steward slightly grit his teeth, weighing the promise already made to Jinhua Commerce Association to give them two Spiritual Ship Jade Talismans, decisively handed them all over to Li Ji’an.

"Give this one to the Fairy, the other one you handle at your discretion," Li Ji’an took only one and pushed the other back.

"Elder Huang, you are the highest-ranking member here at our Commerce Association, naturally, you should have control of this item, which would facilitate negotiations with Jinhua Commerce Association thereafter," the old steward directly stated.

"That’s inappropriate!" Li Ji’an immediately waved his hand.

Then explained: "Before my master’s passing, he instructed, people’s hearts are unpredictable, and the world grows cold. If you go out, you must keep a low profile. This connection between my master and the association should, as much as possible, remain unknown to outsiders."

"What? Then how to face Jinhua Commerce Association? Is it to let me..." the old steward’s eyes widened in an instant.

"Housekeeper Yuan, being the seasoned and brave old steward of the commerce association, naturally, you should deal with outsiders," Li Ji’an stated very matter-of-factly.

"..." the old steward’s breath became somewhat hurried.

"Alright, Old Yuan, relax a little. Just consider us as ordinary colleagues," Li Ji’an waved his hand, bringing Yao Rui over to a pile of goods from the Si Shui Commerce Association.

"Elder, I’m afraid I won’t hold!" The old steward thoroughly panicked.

Li Ji’an looked into his eyes, nodding heavily: "I, as an Elder, am not an ungrateful or indifferent person. No matter how recklessly you act in this matter, once we return to the Commerce Association, I personally will support you!"

Having said that, Li Ji’an spoke no more.

The old steward looked at Li Ji’an then at the nearby Jinhua Commerce Association, sighed deeply, and could only clench his teeth.

Then he looked at the remaining Spiritual Ship Jade Talisman in his hand, took a deep breath: "Let’s do it!"

Afterwards, when cultivators approached to probe, the old steward no longer directly rejected as before but left them with a sense of anticipation.

However, unlike other association heads, he did not openly set a price for selling ship tickets but always kept the price undeclared, only indicating he had them, awaiting the moment of opportunity.

An extraordinary commodity available.

Moreover, it became increasingly precious due to the countdown to the final moment!

Soon after, a young and beautiful woman came looking for him.

"Housekeeper Yuan, I’m here for those two Spiritual Ship Jade Talismans." The beautiful woman’s face held a professionally false smile.

Yuan Yishui laughed even more exaggeratedly, wrinkles appearing on his face due to the smile: "All good, all good, Fellow Daoist Liu, please sit."

"Fellow Daoist Yuan being polite, no need to sit, I also have two newly recruited colleagues without Spiritual Ship Jade Talismans, why not give them to me now?" The beautiful woman responded with a smile.

"Alright, alright." Yuan Yishui nodded repeatedly, verbally agreeing.

However, not making any further actions.

"Fellow Daoist Yuan, the Jade Talisman?" The false smile on the beautiful woman’s face started to falter.

"All good, all good." Yuan Yishui continued to smile, nodding repeatedly.

"Then give it!" The beautiful woman already showed some anger.

"Give, give!" Yuan Yishui kept smirking.

"Yuan Yishui, what exactly are you playing at? Will you give it or not?" The beautiful woman’s eyes brimmed with even more fury.

"Give! Definitely give!" Yuan Yishui’s face was almost frozen from smiling, yet still, there was no action to retrieve the talisman.

"Hmph!" The beautiful woman finally couldn’t bear it any longer: "Yuan Yishui, negotiating with you for the Jade Talisman was a courtesy to your faces. If you refuse to show respect, then don’t blame us for completely obliterating your Si Shui Commerce Association! In the future, in the entire Treasure Bottle Continent talisman business, you won’t claim even a fraction!"

"Bang!" Yuan Yishui finally collected his smile, suddenly shouting: "Liu Yinyue, is your Jinhua Commerce Association bullying us too much? I intended to amicably give away two Spiritual Ship Jade Talismans for the coexistence of our associations, but you have acted so rudely!

This Jade Talisman, I won’t give it away anymore. Once back at the Commerce Association, I’ll resign from all my duties."

"..." Witnessing the perpetually bullied old steward daring to erupt, Liu Yinyue was momentarily stunned.

"How could he dare?"

Upon returning to the Jinhua Commerce Association’s team, the leading steward frowned as he looked at Liu Yinyue: "Xiaoliu, it was a settled matter already, how could you mess it up?"

The recent incident, he naturally sensed.

Combining perceptions from Divine Sense Perception of mere words, it was essentially determined that Liu Yinyue, likely relying on Jinhua Commerce’s longstanding pressure on Si Shui Commerce Association, was too arrogant in front of Yuan Yishui, consequently, provoked excessively.