Sun Yigao had been busy in the pill room for the past couple of days, working with Senior Liao to refine pills.
Just yesterday, they had finished refining the high-quality Naling Pills, and an excited Liao Pantou had immediately dragged him into researching the refinement of supreme-grade Naling Pills. Sun Yigao hadn't had the chance to talk to Lin Xiao yet, so he had only mentioned it briefly when Liu Yunan came by the pill room to handle some miscellaneous tasks.
"What is it?" Lin Xiao asked curiously.
"Yigao mentioned that he's been thinking about collaborating with the imperial court to open a few more Lingxian Academies in other places," Liu Yunan replied.
Hearing this, Lin Xiao became intrigued. "Oh? Has he already identified suitable candidates for instructors?"
Liu Yunan nodded.
"He said he's found several candidates who are not only qualified but can rotate between locations. In fact, teaching might even help improve their cultivation."
"As long as there are suitable candidates, that's good. Let's find some time later to carefully plan this out," Lin Xiao said.
Liu Yunan nodded in agreement, then took a sip of tea and glanced at Lin Xiao across the table. He couldn't help but voice his lingering doubts about completely handing over external trade management to the Li family.
"Brother Xiao, are you sure it's fine for us to hand over all the management rights to the Li family?"
It wasn't that Liu Yunan didn't trust the Li family after years of cooperation, but even someone as young as him knew that wealth and power could tempt people.
In the past, while the Li family had managed trade with the three major sects, the volume had been manageable for their sect. Even if something went wrong, they could always cut ties with the Li family.
But now things were different.
Allowing the Li family to take over the Trade Affairs Center and fully manage external trade involved much greater risk. On top of that, with the addition of the familiar major sects, they had increased the types of orders and expanded the scale. Every month, the amount of goods and spirit stones passing through the Li family's hands would be far beyond what they had managed before.
If the Li family had ulterior motives, it could become a huge problem.
Privately, Liu Yunan hoped for a harmonious and cooperative atmosphere, so he was a bit worried.
Lin Xiao naturally understood his concerns.
"Yunan, you need to shift your perspective," Lin Xiao said.
"What perspective?" Liu Yunan asked, puzzled.
Lin Xiao posed a question: "If we gave this responsibility to Jiang He, would you have these concerns?"
"Of course not," Liu Yunan answered without hesitation.
"Exactly. You wouldn't worry because, in your heart, you consider Jiang He one of our own, someone you completely trust." Lin Xiao drew a circle on the table with a few drops of tea. "This circle represents our current circle of trust, the people within it are those we can rely on."
"But if we want to grow according to our plans, we can't always rely on just ourselves," Lin Xiao said, looking at Liu Yunan, enunciating each word carefully.
"Entrusting this responsibility to the Li family does carry risks, but it also offers potential rewards. The risk is that we might lose a large amount of goods and spirit stones, and even gain an enemy. But the reward is that we might gain an ally who is willing to wholeheartedly support us, potentially becoming like-minded partners."
Lin Xiao drew another circle next to the first and then merged the two circles with his spiritual energy, forming one larger circle.
"The Li family, while sometimes overly cautious, is reliable and steady—traits that make them worth taking a chance on," Lin Xiao smiled. "After working with them for this long, it's clear that the Li family is worth the gamble."
The discussions in the meeting room of the Trade Affairs Center lasted until dusk.
Even the experienced Li family found themselves occupied for a long time.
This time, there were far more sects involved in the transactions, and Lingxian Sect had also expanded the range and quantity of goods they were offering.
There were also the new production orders.
Unlike the three major sects of Pusi Kingdom, which were already well-versed in these processes, the other sects and royal families were new to these types of orders and had no prior experience with manufacturing them.
Fortunately, Li Zhanying had brought along two family members who had previously handled trade with the three major sects. Otherwise, as someone who usually oversaw the bigger picture and left the details to his subordinates, Li Zhanying might have been overwhelmed by the task.
After finalizing the contracts and securing numerous basic resources for their sects, the various sects and royal families were filled with excitement.
If all of this turned out to be legitimate, they were looking at a massive haul of resources!
If Shuishui City's trade center could maintain this level of activity, they would no longer need to worry about their cultivation resources.
Carefully storing their signed contracts and resource orders in their storage bags, many of them recalled what Elder Liu had mentioned before the auction about the year of rent-free shops in Shuishui City's commercial district.
Given the current situation, it seemed that the rent-free shop offer might actually be a fantastic opportunity.
However, when they left the meeting room and tried to inquire further about the shops, they were told that since it was New Year's Eve, all operations in Shuishui City, including the Trade Affairs Center, were closing early for the holiday. Business would not resume until the seventh day of the new year.
This left the cultivators puzzled.
It was one thing for mortals to celebrate festivals, but why were the cultivators of Lingxian Sect doing it too?
Nevertheless, since that was what they were told, there was little they could do but decide whether to return to their sects and come back after the new year or simply wait in the city until then.
As they stepped out of the Trade Affairs Center, the Lingxian Sect disciples who escorted them smiled and said, "Our seniors left word that if you have no pressing matters, you are welcome to stay in Shuishui City to celebrate the New Year."
Inviting guests to stay for the holidays was simply a gesture of hospitality from Lingxian Sect as the host.
Whether or not the guests chose to stay was entirely up to them.
The cultivators were quite surprised by the offer.
They hadn't expected to be invited to spend the New Year here.
To be honest, it had been a long time since they had celebrated the New Year.
Although they weren't sure what was so special about this mortal holiday, many of them were still eager to discuss the rent-free shops and decided to stay, agreeing to the offer.
Back at their temporary residences in Shuishui City, the sect leaders and elders privately reflected on everything they had seen and experienced during their visit.
Night fell.
Although it was the cold season, the chill in Shuishui City's air wasn't biting.
The villagers—now officially residents of Shuishui City—had initially thought that the early warmth was due to an unseasonably early spring. Some had even begun planning to start planting their crops earlier this year.
However, after spending some time in their new homes, which were kept at a comfortable temperature, they realized that it wasn't the weather at all. When they stepped outside, the cold wind made them shiver, and they realized that the warmth was solely thanks to their well-built houses.