Chapter 202: Chapter 202 – Cunning Rabbit_1 The Artifact Refinery Shop started off smoothly enough, but soon encountered problems, for Mo Hua heard Elder Yu cursing someone out again. Mo Hua went to the Artifact Refinery Shop to inspect the formation and then saw Elder Yu chatting with Yu Chengyi. As they chatted, Elder Yu began to curse at Qian Hong vehemently. He used terms like “bloodsucking roundworm,” “old turtle wearing a snapper’s shell,” and “sneaky beast,” among other things. He was quite creative with his insults. As Elder Yu was in the midst of his cursing, he noticed Mo Hua eavesdropping nearby, jotting something down and looking thoroughly entertained. Mumbling to himself, “One can actually curse like this,” “Why didn’t I think of that,” and such. Elder Yu coughed to get attention, paused his rant, then said to Mo Hua: “You didn’t hear anything.” “Mm-hmm,” Mo Hua nodded, “I didn’t hear anything!” The anger in Elder Yu’s eyes diminished, and he found a chair to sit down on steadily. Mo Hua poured a cup of tea, stepped forward, and handed it to Elder Yu, asking, “Is the Qian Family causing trouble again?” Elder Yu had become accustomed to chatting with Mo Hua and now didn’t avoid saying anything around Mo Hua, of course, except for cursing. Elder Yu took a sip of the tea Mo Hua had poured, sighed in relief, and nodded, “Our Spiritual Artifacts aren’t selling.” “Nobody wants them?” “There are certainly cultivators who want them, as Rattan Armor, Pu Blades, and other Spiritual Artifacts are always needed, but I contacted several traders and some Monster Hunters from other Immortal Cities, and they all found the prices too high.” Mo Hua was a bit puzzled, “Aren’t our prices quite cheap?” Because the Artifact Refinery Shop is so large and the output is high, their Spiritual Artifacts are priced one or two Broken Spirit Stones lower than market rate. “It’s the Qian Family; their prices are too low.” “The Qian Family is undercutting the price?” “Yes,” Elder Yu became irate once more at the mention, “The Qian Family’s Refinery Shop treats cultivators like beasts of burden, overworking them, and stockpiled a batch of Spiritual Artifacts in anticipation of our opening. They’re selling at low prices, trying to suppress us with this tactic.” “That turtle son of a snapper Qian Hong…” Elder Yu stopped mid-curse as he glanced at Mo Hua, and he silently swallowed the rest of his insults. Mo Hua frowned, but after thinking, he realized he didn’t have a good solution either. Looking up to see that Elder Yu appeared angry but not overly worried, he asked: “Elder, do you have a plan?” Elder Yu raised an eyebrow, “You can tell?” Mo Hua replied, “If you didn’t have a plan, you’d be anxious inside, and your curses would be far uglier than they are now.” Compared to before, Elder Yu’s cursing could now be considered relatively “mild.” Elder Yu looked slightly embarrassed, thinking he’d better curse less in the future, or at least avoid cursing in front of Mo Hua. Mo Hua was still young and shouldn’t learn to have a belly full of curses… Elder Yu coughed to cover his embarrassment and said, “Indeed, there is a plan.” Mo Hua poured another cup of tea for Elder Yu, “Tell me about it.” Mo Hua looked on with keen interest. Elder Yu thought for a moment, considering that this was something he could teach, and then patiently explained, “I told those traders that whatever price the Qian Family offers them, we will be cheaper by… five parts of a Broken Spirit Stone.” “Five parts, huh…” True to Elder Yu’s form, squeezing the price down by small increments, a true example of thrift… Mo Hua thought to herself. “That’s not bad for 50 percent.” Elder Yu harrumphed, “With so many spiritual artifacts, small amounts can add up. Fifty percent of spirit stones isn’t a small number.” “What about after that?” Mo Hua asked. “As long as we can sell them and collect the spirit stones, afterward the Qian Family won’t be able to compete with us,” Elder Yu said confidently. “Why can’t the Qian Family compete with us?” Mo Hua was somewhat puzzled. Elder Yu glanced at Mo Hua, sighed, and said helplessly: “Because of the formations you inscribe.” “I can’t get any information on the Qian Family’s artifact furnaces due to their strict secrecy, but I can see the spiritual artifacts they refine…” “The quality of the Qian Family’s spiritual artifacts is quite good, but they’re still a bit worse than ours. Apart from Master Chen and his fellow refiners’ exquisite craftsmanship, there’s another reason – it’s certain that their refining furnaces just aren’t as good as ours…” “Their artifact furnaces are first-grade, and so are ours. If there’s a difference, it’s in the formations inscribed inside.” Elder Yu took a sip of tea and continued, “I guess their refining furnaces probably also have an inscribed first-grade Melting Fire Formation. Those furnaces aren’t much different from our smaller ones, but compared to our large refining furnace, they’re far inferior.” Mo Hua suddenly understood. The large refining furnace was inscribed with a first-grade Melting Fire and Controlling Spirit Compound Formation, a formation that was stronger than the average first-grade formation. “Will the Qian Family find out about the large refining furnace?” Mo Hua asked. “The matter of the refining furnace is confidential. I can’t find out about the Qian Family’s, and naturally, we wouldn’t let the Qian Family know about ours either,” Elder Yu replied. “But sooner or later, the Qian Family will find out, won’t they?” “As long as they don’t know now, it’ll be too late by the time they find out.” “Is there some trick to this?” Elder Yu patiently explained, “Undercutting prices is a loss-making business; it can’t last long. The Qian Family is undercutting prices because they rely on their good furnaces and high output from their refinery shops, intending to strike a decisive blow. Initially, they might lose some money to crush us. But what they don’t know is that our furnaces are better, and our output is higher.” “Over time, as we turn things around and refine more and more spiritual artifacts, if they continue to undercut, it’s equivalent to cutting their own flesh, making a loss-making deal.” Elder Yu had a schadenfreude smile. “So as long as we hold out from the beginning, we won’t have to fear the Qian Family, right?” Mo Hua asked. “Exactly!” Elder Yu said triumphantly, “By then, our refinery shops will be bigger than theirs, our furnaces better, our artifact refiners more numerous, and the spiritual artifacts we refine more and of better quality. The Qian Family won’t be a threat anymore.” Mo Hua nodded, vaguely understanding some of it, but felt there were still some loopholes. Even if things really developed in this way, it would only mean mutual competition, with her side having some advantage. That didn’t seem enough to warrant Elder Yu’s triumphant attitude. Looking at Elder Yu suspiciously, Mo Hua asked, “Elder, do you have other methods?” Elder Yu paused, looked at Mo Hua, and said helplessly, “How come you’re like a little fox?” Mo Hua’s eyes lit up, waiting for Elder Yu to continue. “There’s another move, which is ‘pulling the rug out from under their feet’.” “Pulling the rug out from under their feet?” Elder Yu said, “The Qian Family’s refinery shop is rushing to produce, and the refiners at the bottom must be working day and night. Their own artifact refiners are okay, but those employed refiners must be holding grievances. They’re all just trying to scrape by, who would really want to work like slaves…” “I’ve had someone secretly approach them. If we offer them more spirit stones, they won’t have to refine day and night. In a few days, these artifact refiners will come to work for us.” “I’ve also notified all the Monster Hunters. Any materials obtained from monster hunting must not be sold to the Qian Family. We’ll buy them ourselves.” “As for the market towns run by loose cultivators, I’ve informed them too, not to do business with the Qian Family for now. If the Qian Family causes them trouble, they should come to me, and I’ll handle it.” A hint of mockery appeared in Elder Yu’s eyes, “In the future, if the Qian Family wants to refine artifacts but lacks materials and has fewer artifact refiners, that’s what you call pulling the rug out from under their feet.” On the surface, we undercut prices against the Qian Family, while behind the scenes, we poach their refiners and cut off their material supplies. Mo Hua exclaimed, “Elder Yu, you are so cunning!”