Divine Convenience Store

Lin Mo calmly walked up the staircase, the ambient noise of the bustling first floor fading behind him. He took a moment to mentally prepare.

Jin Bao was an arrogant but inexperienced youth. His father, Jin Cheng, would be a different beast entirely. A shark who had swum in the treacherous waters of high-stakes commerce for decades. He came here a day after his son was sent back with a proposal? Lin Mo was now expecting him to bare his fangs.

He entered the second-floor lounge. Jin Cheng was standing by the large window, as he was probably trying to make sense of the spatial formation applied within the interior of the store. The stern-looking woman, likely an elder of their guild, stood beside him. Jin Bao stood near the stairs, looking utterly miserable.

Wu Meiyu had already served them tea, which sat untouched on the table. It was naturally not just a normal tea but aside from Jin Bao who was already looking perched staring at it, the two elders had great self-control.

"Guild Master Jin," Lin Mo called out while putting on his genial smile. "Welcome to our humble establishment. I trust your journey was... mostly convenient."

Jin Cheng turned slowly. His eyes, unlike his son's, held no youthful arrogance. They were the cold, calculating eyes of someone who had experienced a lot in life. He was already too used to the mask that someone of Lin Mo's stature would put in front of someone like him.

He scanned Lin Mo from head to toe, his Nascent Soul aura pressing down subtly, a silent test of will. But perhaps sensing the silent caution brought about by the Spirit-Dispersing Beacon, he held back his pressure, preventing it from coming off as a threatening stance.

Lin Mo met his gaze without flinching, the serene state of his mind, honed in the Eye of the Storm, acted as an unbreachable fortress. The pressure washed over him without effect. Not to mention, now that his Everlasting Serenity Sutra had reached the peak of its current layer, his mental strength could already be comparable to that of a Core Formation Stage cultivator.

Jin Cheng's eyes twitched a bit and widened almost imperceptibly. Jin Bao told him Lin Mo's unflinching personality but he couldn't help but be impressed that a mere peak Spirit Condensation Stage cultivator wouldn't even wince at his aura.

Normally, merchants would immediately kneel and sweeten him up by offering him gifts.

"Shopkeeper Lin," Jin Cheng started, "I have reviewed my son's... enthusiastic report. Your store is... bold yet intriguing. You have created a novel system here."

"A novel system? Please, Guild Master Jin, I only aim to provide convenience," Lin Mo replied simply, taking a seat. "It seems to be a popular commodity."

"Indeed," Jin Cheng conceded, a thin smile on his lips. "So popular, in fact, that you believe you can dictate terms to the Golden Carp Trading Guild. A seventy-thirty split in our favor is the standard for unproven partners. My son's initial offer was generous."

Lin Mo mirrored the Guild Master's relaxed posture. "Generous? Guild Master, your son proposed to buy a divine bird for the price of a chicken, and he expected me to be grateful. Your 'standard' is based on a world that has yet to see the power of our convenience. I'm certain you've heard about the Grand Elder of the Violethaven Temple. Pray tell. What do you hear about him relating to our store?"

A grin stretched from his lips as he dared the Guild Master before him. Wu Meiyu, who remained standing at the side of the table, couldn't help but look at him with a meaningful smile as if she was watching a good show.

Jin Cheng's thin smile did not waver. "Rumors. Exaggerations. The ramblings of a humiliated old man. A heaven-grade artifact was said to be destroyed. An impressive feat, if true, but a single trick does not build an empire."

"Oh? You're calling that a trick? Does the Golden Card Trading Guild possess their own heaven-grade artifact? One that a Void Refinement Stage cultivator wielded." Lin Mo wasn't backing down. It's nothing for him to deal with the kind of mentality Jin Cheng possessed.

If he could deal with the notorious High Priest of the Poison Demon Cult or even Liu Xiaoyu's grandfather, the Liu Clan Patriarch, what is a single Jin Cheng?

Still, he naturally wouldn't write him off. The reason he sent Jin Bao with a proposal yesterday and did not directly kick him out was that he needed a foothold when it's time for him to expand to the Western Sacred Lands. Even if most upper-tier sects from that region were significantly stronger than any of the upper-tier sects of the Eastern Abyssal Domain, he couldn't rely on them to effectively put an end to the Anchors or even handle the Towers that appeared near them.

Especially now that the Violethaven Temple and its allies seemed to be hell bent on making an enemy out of the Divine Convenience Store. They're prepared to let Anchors be breached instead of resetting or occupying them.

"We don't." Jin Cheng bitterly admitted. "However, we have tens of earth-grade artifacts. I took a glance at your products here. They are excellent, indeed, but nothing revolutionary. Their prices are also something not an ordinary cultivator can afford."

"So, you say. But haven't you observed our patrons outside the store? Tell me, are there not 'ordinary cultivators' mixed with them? And if you're paying attention, mortals, too, can freely afford an item in our store." Lin Mo gestured vaguely towards the first floor. "Through our Barter System. We create opportunities where there are none. We empower the powerless. That is a market your guild has never been able to tap, because you only see value in spirit stones."

Jin Cheng's expression finally hardened. The Shopkeeper was refuting his points and attacking the foundation of his guild's business philosophy. However, just as he thought Lin Mo had finished shocking him, he revealed another thing.

"Oh. And about artifacts. Haven't you given our Store Bulletin Board threads an extensive analysis? Did you fail to pick up something that relates to... immortal-grade artifacts? Artifacts that cannot be produced here in our realm... or as the divine beings from the higher heavens called our place, the First Heaven."

Jin Cheng froze. The name 'First Heaven' was a term only the most ancient and powerful beings, the Law Integration Stage Ancestors, were privy to. For this young Shopkeeper to say it so casually…

The stern-looking female elder beside him gasped, her composure finally breaking. "Immortal-grade artifacts? Plural? That's impossible!"

Lin Mo ignored her. He focused solely on the Guild Master. "Impossible? Guild Master Jin, your entire business model is built on trading things that are possible. Things that are known. My business is built on providing the impossible, conveniently. Say, do you think the upcoming Divine Lecture is a sham?"

He leaned forward, his friendly shopkeeper persona completely gone, replaced by the unyielding confidence of a man backed by those inconceivable beings for most inhabitants of the First Heaven. "I can offer you free seats. Something that I, as the Shopkeeper, have been given the privilege to hand out to those whom I want to invite. So, interested?"

He gasped before trying to regain his composure as he took a deep breath. The untouched teacup was trembling slightly in his peripheral vision. He was a shark, yes, but he was wise enough to recognize a leviathan.

"My son informed me of your... counteroffer," Jin Cheng said, his voice now devoid of its earlier condescension. "A standard distributor contract. A wholesale price. An agreement not to supply our enemies."

"A mutually beneficial arrangement," Lin Mo corrected gently, his smile returning. "A partnership."

"A partnership," Jin Cheng repeated, tasting the word. He looked at his son, who was still staring at the floor, then back at Lin Mo. "The Golden Carp Trading Guild… will give an answer… after the Divine Lecture. Shopkeeper, words alone cannot be trusted, especially when not done in an oath to the heavens. I have to be certain before… gambling the future of my guild on your convenience."

His tone was firm. Clearly, it was his final attempt to regain some semblance of control in the negotiation.

"A reasonable position," Lin Mo conceded with a nod. He wasn't expecting them to agree right away. "Then I will reserve three Divine Patron tickets for your delegation. One for you, one for your elder, and one for your son. Consider it a professional courtesy."

Jin Cheng's eyes widened slightly. He had expected to have to barter for such a privilege, but the Shopkeeper offered it freely, as if it were a simple matter. This level of confidence was either supreme arrogance or absolute certainty.

"However," Lin Mo continued, his smile sharpening like a spider that had just caught its prey in its web. "Attendance comes with a small, non-negotiable prerequisite."

"And that is?" Jin Cheng asked, his guard immediately backed up.

"You will stay in Fanling City until the lecture," Lin Mo stated plainly. "And your guild will provide me with any and all intelligence you possess regarding the Violethaven Temple's movements and their 'Soul Lure Array'. You will act as my temporary, unpaid intelligence consultants."