Over the course of negotiations, it might appear as if the two sides would just be bargaining by leveraging what they could and exchanging concessions. However, under the hood of all this, it could be said that it was a game of grasping intentions. It would be much easier if both sides were honest with their expectations and bottom lines, but the reality was that revealing such things placed you in a weaker position. As a result, the ability to probe and speculate with the little you know became a vital skill.

While Li Lang was not an expert negotiator by any means, it wasn’t hard to intuitively realize that knowing your opponent’s goals was the key.

The proposal from the Rolling Tide Sect about establishing an outpost had caught him off guard, but after thinking on it some more from the perspective of a large sect, their goals became clearer to him.

Allowing them to set up an outpost and trade appears to be benign or even beneficial at first. We can reach each other easier and trade can create some level of wealth, even if it’s just at the level of mortals, as long as a certain quantity is reached. In fact, if a large enough mortal population starts taking root on our doorsteps, it can stop our academy’s reliance on recruiting from other territories.

This will have numerous benefits for us. We will no longer have to beg others for permission to recruit on their turf, making it harder for various forces to insert spies among our ranks. However, allowing a mortal city to exist near our island will also make it easier for malicious espionage activities. The outposts they want can even act as a base of operations for such things.

The more he thought about it, the clearer the picture was. It became apparent to Li Lang that Elder Lu’s comment about how enigmatic his organization was was genuine. People feared the unknown. Their desire to establish an outpost and trade was for the sake of opening channels to collect more information about them.

He had a feeling that if he accepted this deal, numerous other forces would be making similar offers in the foreseeable future.

That’s just fine! We have already made ourselves known at Sword Saint Isle. No point in trying to be a hermit clan.

“I can tentatively agree with those conditions, but we’ll have to discuss the precise details, particularly with trade, of course,” Li Lang said with a smile.

Hearing a positive response, Elder Lu’s expression brightened, her eyes gleaming with joy.

“Of course, we have no problem with that. We generally leave it to the mortals themselves to sort it out until they ask for our intervention, but if you have any special considerations in mind, we would be open to them.”

To her, matters of trade at the mortal level didn’t matter. A disciple carrying out a trade mission with a single space ring full of Earth-grade materials was exponentially more profitable. Mortal-grade materials might be many times more common, but the economy of cultivators was on an entirely different playing field.

However, it was completely different in Li Lang’s eyes for two reasons.

One, the Star Gem Academy’s economic condition couldn’t rely on the trade of Spirit-grade or even Saint-grade materials, unlike the other big sects and organizations. That was because their strongest members were only in the Foundation Establishment Realm. They had no one with the capability to obtain such powerful reagents or handle them. Even now, they could barely source enough Earth-grade material to work with.

As a substitute, Star Gem Academy relied on the mass production of Mortal-grade and Earth-grade products. That meant the trade deal involving mortals was much more important to them.

“Yes, don’t worry, we don’t have any requests that are too disruptive. In fact, if we were to have mortals conduct trade through our territory, we simply want fairness by instituting free trade. As you know, our academy is quite new and doesn’t have the manpower to deal with any squabbles from mortals, so just ensuring there aren’t any fees or tariffs to argue about would keep things simple for us.”

“Understood. That shouldn’t be a problem. The merchants in our territory don’t dare to go against any rules we set. I’ll be sure to remind them not to cause any trouble.”

“Perfect. Thank you,” Li Lang nodded amiably with a grin.

The ease with which the other party accepted his request delighted him. It was a policy that not only attracted savvy businessmen to ply their trade in his domain, but also increased the prosperity of the region.

A high population of affluent mortals was important to Li Lang. It attracted more people to come to his lands and increased the quality of seedlings he could recruit from. With his academy not having a set of cultivation techniques forced onto the students, recruiting enterprising individuals capable of critical thinking was what he desired.

The discussion with Elder Lu ended after going over the details of how the Voracious Mire would be handled and how many quotas the sects of Azure Mist could expect. Both sides parted with having obtained what they wanted, but one party was much more eager to leave than the other.

Just as Li Lang bid farewell and was about to leave, Elder Lu called out to him before he could leave.

“Another moment of your time, please, Headmaster Li,” Lu Fengxian hesitantly called out.

“Yes? Was there something else to discuss?”

“No, I believe that’s all for now. We’ll contact you should something else arise. Otherwise, I’ll likely be part of the delegation coming to visit you once we have the binding contract prepared.”

“Then what is it?”

“Do you perhaps have some time to spare to meet with our Sect Master? You don’t have to, but he has recently come out of closed-door cultivation and shown some interest in meeting you after learning about our meeting. He would like to foster a better relationship between our Rolling Tide Sect with your Star Gem Academy, so he has asked me to relay that, should you have time, his doors are open.”

Without missing a beat, Li Lang replied right away.

“I appreciate it, but no thank you. I’m sure the Sect Master has a lot of things to attend to after coming out of closed-door cultivation. Maybe next time.”

Before Elder Lu could continue to convince the eccentric headmaster, Li Lang swiftly slipped away. She turned to Long Yi, who had been silently shadowing his friend, but he simply flashed her an apologetic smile before chasing after him.

A soft chuckle then escaped from her disciple beside her, causing her to give him a stern look. It made Chen Kan immediately straighten his back, but he knew it was too late. His master would surely be assigning some special training to him soon.

***

Li Lang raced home as soon as the talks were finished. He even left Long Yi behind so he could finish his recruitment. His towering friend’s request to recruit near Qingluan City had already been approved during his time in the Magnolia Forest.

The reason Li Lang was in such a hurry was that the new trip only added to his workload, so he was eager to get a head start on it. It made him decline the Rolling Tide Sect’s offer to meet their Sect master without hesitation, the moment he heard it was optional.

Throughout the flight back to Starpoint Island, he even spent the entire journey within Ruby’s artifact space, leaving the steering to Jun Ziyan.

The first thing he did upon entering his lab was to update his to-do list.

* Research the effects of Neuraflux on deviators

* Self-study: the five crafts and how to commercialize them

* Finalizing curriculum for new students, especially willpower

* Creating Earth-grade weapons and defensive artifacts

* Investigate the viability of ranged artifact weapons

* Research the effects of long-term consumption of Earth-grade food products

* Updating repertoire of combat techniques to Foundation Establishment level

* Study how to efficiently break through to the next stage and realm

* Allocate an area for the Voracious Mire within the Crucible and search for Thousand Change Sea Breath

* Improve Starpoint Island training facilities and defenses via formations

* Create a mortal city on or near Starpoint Island

* Recruit mortal merchants to manage trade and attract immigrants

* Establish an intelligence network (via mortal trade network?)

The list had numerous iterations, with many items being removed only to be re-added soon after. Removing the less urgent items made Li Lang feel better and more focused, but it was only a delaying tactic. Faced with dozens of things to do, Li Lang counted his lucky stars for having Ruby to assist him.

Realizing that he had to tackle the matter pertaining to establishing a mortal city as soon as he returned, Li Lang took a good look at what he could accomplish before he arrived. Without a lot of time, his eyes wandered toward the more interconnected items—specifically, the crafts.

With more real estate to develop and new students to train, it’s about time I did more work with the formations, right?