CHAPTER 470: BUSINESS PROPOSAL

What followed was one of the most bizarre scenes in the history of Secret Realm exploration.

With her team’s input and Chu Yueying’s surprisingly sharp business insights, Yu Qingyan began to formulate a comprehensive business proposal. She used not only her knowledge for being the Emmisary of Verdant Sky Pavilion but also everything she saw Lin Mo was doing to innovate the trade industry of the Eastern Abyssal Domain with his store as the center.

Master Xiu, the formation master, was tasked with creating visual aids. Shimmering light diagrams that illustrated their points gradually formed like those powerpoint presentations being projected during a meeting.

The Yao twins used their spirit beasts to map out potential trade routes based on their scouting. It was a flurry of collaborative, corporate-style brainstorming in a mystical, otherworldly plane. It was something even Lin Mo didn’t know he’d witness in this realm.

Next to him, Liu Xiaoyu also started finding it strange how smooth and methodical Yu Qingyan and her team’s preparation became. She started to wonder what kind of tests they received during their exploration.

"Boss, can you pinch my cheek? What am I watching?"

Lin Mo, however, didn’t respond with his usual flick or pinch. After all, he also didn’t understand what he was looking at. Or rather, he never thought Yu Qingyan would do something so familiar from his previous life. Although he was just an ordinary salaryman with neither a high position in his company, he, at least, managed to be in one of those meetings with project or business proposals when he was just starting. Of course, he was only an observer back then. An experience given to the young blood of the company so they can strive in their work.

This time, however, he was seeing something so bizarre be adopted and implemented with a level of creative synergy that was truly impressive. Yu Qingyan... she was evolving. She was no longer just the Emissary of her sect or the Distributor of the store. She was becoming a true visionary, perfectly synthesizing the lessons of her world with the made-up philosophy of his.

If he could see whoever left this Secret Realm behind, he’d suspect they were playing around or they were also a transmigrator just like him. But was it such an impossibility for there to be a dedicated Dao of ’convenience’? At his current level, he wouldn’t know.

Such a bizarre fortuitous encounter.

"She’s learning, Xiaoyu," Lin Mo finally said, a hint of resignation in his voice. What he couldn’t explain, the others probably would. As common sense was different in this realm, it would be best if he also started conforming to every mystical thing he would encounter. "She’s not just using our products anymore. She’s starting to think with our logic. I guess we can say that it is the true power of convenience."

Next to him, his prodigious assistant tilted her head and nodded. She didn’t get it at all. But since Lin Mo said that, she’d think about it multiple times and understand it.

After an hour of intense preparation, Yu Qingyan stood up, her posture exuding a newfound, unshakable confidence. She held a single, intricately detailed jade slip, the culmination of their collective work.

The light diagrams of Master Xiu floated in the air around her, ready to be presented.

"I am ready, Shopkeeper," She said as she walked over to Lin Mo. An excited glint in her eyes.

"Then the stage is yours, Miss Yu. I’ll be watching." Lin Mo gave her an encouraging nod before reaching for her slightly disheveled hair, fixing it. She was frantically moving around, directing everyone, after all.

With that gesture, Yu Qingyan couldn’t help but blush. Not far away behind, her disciples and the team she gathered watched in amusement. Even Chu Yueying could only shrug at the scene.

After a while, Yu Qingyan took a deep breath and walked to the edge of the shimmering emerald wall.

She held up the jade slip and began.

"Great Senior, creator of this realm."

Her voice was clear and resonant, amplified by her Golden Core. It was respectful, yet held the firm, clear tone of a professional addressing a peer.

"We have walked your path and learned your lessons. We have come not as conquerors seeking to plunder your legacy, but as applicants seeking a partnership. We wish to present our proposal."

The emerald wall pulsed gently, a silent acknowledgment to her words.

Yu Qingyan nodded to Master Xiu. The first light diagram floated forward, displaying a map of the First Heaven, crisscrossed with lines of trade and division. They made it from the knowledge collected by the Verdant Sky Pavilion and her own experience.

"The world as it stands is an inconvenient state of being. Information is hoarded, travel is slow and perilous, and resources are controlled by isolated powers. This leads to stagnation, conflict, and a gross inefficiency in the allocation of talent and materials. This is the problem."

The diagram shifted, zooming in on the Eastern Abyssal Domain, where a single, bright green dot representing the Divine Convenience Store pulsed like a beacon.

"Our solution is a new philosophy, a new system. The Dao of Convenience. A centralized nexus that provides not just goods, but a network that connects the disconnected. The first test you gave us, the Archive of Whispers, was a lesson in the power of organized information. The Divine Convenience Store will answer it with the Store Bulletin Board."

Another diagram appeared, showing the user count and the various guilds – Faction Hall, Mercenary, Harvester and Professional – a breathing ecosystem of information exchange and opportunity.

"The second test, the Weaver’s Loom, was a lesson in logistics and synergistic operation. The Divine Convenience Store will answer it with the Celestial Shuttle Network."

A map of the network overlaid the domain, the glowing lines connecting towers, anchors, and branches, illustrating the instantaneous flow of people and goods.

"A system that makes distance irrelevant and turns the entire realm into a single, interconnected market."

"The third test, the Sculptor’s Garden, was a lesson in unified creation and production. The Divine Convenience Store will it with the new Harvester’s Guild and Professional’s Foundry, creating a self-sustaining supply chain that empowers artisans and ensures a steady flow of necessary goods, from raw materials to finished products."

Chu Yueying stepped forward, adding her own sharp, practical insight. "Our projections, based on the current growth rate, indicate that the existence of the sore will elevate the entire domain’s combat strength and economic output by over 100 times within the next year. It is a model of explosive exponential growth."

Yu Qingyan concluded with her gaze firm and her voice filled with conviction.

"Great Senior, your legacy, we believe, is not a treasure to be locked away. It can be a seed. A seed of a philosophy that aligns perfectly with our own. Our proposal is to take this seed, your inheritance, and plant it not in the isolated soil of a single sect, but in the fertile, interconnected ground of our entire network.

"I. No. We will not just be the inheritors of your legacy; we will be its official distributors, its partners in spreading your own Dao of Harmonious Commerce across the entire realm."

She finished, bowing deeply. The expedition team behind her, their faces filled with a shared sense of purpose, bowed in unison.

A profound, ancient silence descended upon the ethereal plains. The emerald wall of light began to pulse, faster and faster, its glow intensifying until it was almost blinding.

Then, the ethereal voice, the one that had guided them before, spoke once more. This time, it was not a disembodied echo, but a warm, tangible presence filled with an ancient, appreciative chuckle.

"A business proposal... A partnership... In all my millennia of waiting, no one has ever tried to pitch me a business deal. A most... interesting... proposition."

The voice was filled with a deep, profound satisfaction.

"You have learned well, Children of Convenience. You have understood. My name is Shang Li, a humble merchant who, through a fortuitous encounter with a divine being, managed to ascend from this First Heaven countless eons ago. I was a purveyor of goods, but I always dreamed of being a purveyor of systems. Of harmony through commerce."

Lin Mo’s eyes widened. A mortal merchant who ascended. So, the creator of this realm wasn’t a divine being but someone who had been inspired by one. And he eventually ascended as well.

But harmony through commerce? Lin Mo couldn’t help but recall Lihua’s title. The Goddess of Harmony and Commerce. Is she related to him? Or maybe... the divine being this Shang Li encountered was her.

"Truthfully, I have left this realm behind to give back some of the benefits I received to the realm." The voice of Shang Li continued. "This wisp of my soul has long sought for a worthy successor. Someone who understood that true power is not in the sword you wield, but in the network you build. You have passed."

The emerald wall of light dissolved into a single, brilliant point of light that floated down from the air and hovered before Yu Qingyan.

As the light faded, its form appeared. A small, intricate compass, carved from a single piece of emerald jade. Its needle did not point north, but seemed to spin, resonating with the flow of trade and opportunity in the world.