Starting My Cultivation With Time Management

Jade Light Pavilion is an artifact workshop under the Penglai Jade Pure Sect.

Originally, when it came to magical treasures, Heavenly Craft Workshop was the unrivaled leader, to the extent that outsiders would say they "only know of Heavenly Craft Workshop" and "hear of no others." However, in reality, Penglai also had many small-scale artifact schools, which maintained long-term cooperative relationships with Heavenly Craft Workshop.

Take, for example, the Jade Light Pavilion, which was responsible for coating the mirror-type magical treasures produced by Heavenly Craft Workshop. Each time Third Senior Sister Liang Ruohua finished smelting and shaping a mirror-type magical treasure, and after Elder Shi Ding had inscribed the corresponding arrays inside, they would send them to Jade Light Pavilion for protective coating—of course, it's not that Third Senior Sister couldn't do the coating herself, she just found the task too cumbersome and slow and preferred to save time for focused cultivation.

Ever since Elder Shi Ding perished, Jade Light Pavilion, as if a mountain had been lifted from their shoulders, began attempting to market their own mirror-type magical treasures... This was, of course, not reprehensible, since nobody decreed that Heavenly Craft Workshop had to monopolize the sale of magical treasures.

However, perhaps due to poor sales, they turned their attention to the shops of Heavenly Craft Workshop.

Here it should be explained: Penglai Jade Pure Sect produced many elixirs, talisman scripts, magic artifacts, flying swords, spirit grasses, and so on, with its external trade channels mainly divided into three categories: custom orders, wholesale, and retail.

Custom orders were for various cultivating immortals' leaders who had specific demands, rare in quantity and often not settled in spirit stones, thus not mentioned here;

Wholesale was primarily for the stewards of Kunlun and Shushan who came to purchase large quantities of the same type of artifacts, also not mentioned here.

The last was the retailing of artifacts to loose cultivators across the world, conducted through shops of the Penglai Sect in major markets like Fanghu, where the most popular shops with the highest foot traffic displayed magical treasures from Heavenly Craft Workshop—loose cultivators recognized the Heavenly Craft Workshop brand, which was easy to sell, making the shopkeepers happy to promote it.

Therefore, when Jade Light Pavilion approached the Master of Xuandu, they sought to take over the "traffic advantage" that Heavenly Craft Workshop had in this area, urging the Sect Leader to order Penglai's shops in the entire Cultivation Realm to push Jade Light Pavilion's mirror-type magical treasures instead.

After briefly explaining this to Luo Yan, who had experience with online shopping in a past life, he instantly understood, and then flew into a furious rage:

Good lord, even country folks know not to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs! My master's body is not yet cold, and you come to bully our Heavenly Craft Workshop because no one is in charge, trying to steal our traffic, huh? This is no longer mere business competition; we must strike back hard!

He immediately set off with his Third Senior Sister and Shi Liuli, striding angrily toward the residence of the Sect Leader.

Halfway there, Luo Yan suddenly noticed something odd about Shi Liuli.

Her expression was far too calm—considering that since her father's death, Miss Shi had placed all her emotional investment in her husband and her career, how could she possibly allow Jade Light Pavilion to undermine Heavenly Craft Workshop?

"Liuli," Luo Yan went over to take her hand and probed, saying, "Don't worry too much. Jade Light Pavilion's petty actions will not escape the Master of Xuandu's notice. Their conspiracy is bound to fail."

"That is only natural," Shi Liuli said indifferently.

Seeing this, Luo Yan immediately confirmed: My wife is so collected, she must be hiding something from me! Miss Shi, you've changed! You were never the type to possess the calm demeanor of a strategist before!

However, since it seemed that Shi Liuli had some preparation in advance and was thus confident without any sign of panic, Luo Yan naturally opted to trust his wife, suspending his own thoughts to see how she would handle the situation moving forward.

If all else failed, he would step in to save the day.

Near the residence of the Master of Xuandu, the three encountered the Sect Leader's son, Tian Zhang.

This young master was chatting and laughing with a beautiful younger apprentice sister; upon seeing Luo Yan's group approaching with fierce momentum, he quickly stepped forward to stop them:

"Master Jingyun, there is no need to rush. The Sect Leader is inside talking with Elder Miaoling, and will surely provide you with an explanation afterwards."

Luo Yan tilted his head slightly toward his wife, and seeing Shi Liuli's brows slightly furrowed, showcasing the unique and beautiful expression of feminine indignation, he too lowered his face to match Miss Shi's furious appearance, glaring at Tian Zhang without uttering a word.

"Elder Brother Tian," Shi Liuli asked with a frown, "We are not here to cause trouble; we merely wish to see the Sect Leader and also discuss the matter of supply with Jade Light Pavilion."

Tian Zhang was reluctant to believe her, but Shi Liuli's reason was too justifiable, leaving him without a reason to stop them. He could only slowly convince, saying:

"Sister Shi, as the Sect Leader, our father has his own difficulties; Penglai is not solely under his command."

"I understand, Elder Brother Tian," Shi Liuli replied calmly.

This perfunctory tone was so obvious that Tian Zhang had nothing more to say, he could only cast a pleading look at Luo Yan.

Luo Yan remained indifferent, pretending not to see. At times like this, he would undoubtedly stand firmly by his wife's side.

The Third Senior Sister, Liang Ruohua, followed behind and couldn't help but sigh inwardly upon seeing Shi Liuli's aura completely dominating the scene.

Lil' Junior Sister... she really has changed from before.

It's a pity that she matured too late, otherwise, if Master knew about this, he would certainly be happy, right?

As everyone entered the main hall, they saw Miaoling, the Elder of Yuqing View, smiling and conversing with the Sect Leader of Xuandu.

This Elder looked like a kind and amiable old lady. Seeing the people from Heavenly Craft Workshop arriving, she didn't show any surprise but hurried to warmly invite them to take a seat as if there had never been any issue over monopolizing sales traffic.

Shi Liuli, with composure, exchanged pleasantries with Elder Miaoling for a few sentences and then brought up a matter of significance with the Sect Leader of Xuandu:

"Sect Leader, while organizing my late father's possessions, Liuli came across a matter of great importance."

The Sect Leader of Xuandu was quite surprised, as Shi Liuli did not bring up the issue of the shop's sales.

In fact, before everyone had arrived, the Sect Leader of Xuandu and Elder Miaoling had already reached an agreement:

Considering that Heavenly Craft Workshop lacked a Nascent Soul Elder and could only produce cauldrons, flags, mirrors, and seals, monopolizing the focus of sales was indeed inappropriate.

However, with Elder Shi Ding's body still warm and Master Jingyun being a Second Grade Golden Core, and given that Wan Xiang Immortal had specifically instructed to take good care of them, they could only relinquish some of the sales spots, allowing Yuqing View and other artifact forging factions to redistribute them.

Elder Miaoling, of course, was pleased to accept. To Yuqing View, those sales spots were not theirs to begin with; now they were biting off a piece from Heavenly Craft Workshop, and she was already quite content.

As for Heavenly Craft Workshop, if Elder Shi Ding were still alive, he would certainly be able to object.

But Master Jingyun was now only at the Golden Core Realm, and his words ultimately carried insufficient weight... Just like with Qingluo Peak of Shushan, lacking a Sect elder with decision-making power meant the higher-ups' word was law.

Thus, the two had already thought of how to tactfully inform Heavenly Craft Workshop of this, but they didn't expect the other party to receive news and come so quickly, completely omitting the issue of sales traffic...

"Oh?" The Sect Leader of Xuandu put aside the prepared excuse and casually asked, following her lead, "What important matter is it?"

"Previously, the Demonic Path surrounded Penglai because Lei Caiyan betrayed her Sect and spied on the layout ideas of the Sect Guardian Grand Formation in my late father's room," Shi Liuli said calmly. "Now that Lei Caiyan is still alive, it means that there's still a loophole the Demonic Path can exploit to breach the formation."

"Therefore, my husband plans to go into seclusion for a period to carry out the necessary repairs and restructuring of the formation, to eliminate this vulnerability."

The Sect Leader of Xuandu: .........

Elder Miaoling: .........
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Both thought simultaneously with a sinking heart: This is bad!

They had forgotten about this issue!

Formation arts are far more abstruse than the art of artifact forging. If today in Penglai someone claims to be the foremost in formation arts, apart from Master Jingyun who was personally tutored by Elder Shi Ding, there is no other choice—the gap between the second best and him is like that between elementary students and Ph.D. students.

Since the Sect Guardian Grand Formation's information had been probed by the Hell Path traitor, repairs and restructuring were absolutely necessary.

But this also meant that Master Jingyun of Heavenly Craft Workshop, despite still being in the Golden Core Realm, now held a unique and irreplaceable position of significance... If Penglai were to take the sales positions away from Heavenly Craft Workshop and give them to others, Master Jingyun wouldn't need to strike. He could merely indefinitely delay, claiming that the grand formation is challenging to repair, meaning the vulnerability wouldn't be resolved, and the Sect's security risk would persist.

Yuqing View indeed might replace Heavenly Craft Workshop's artifact crafting, but could they take over Master Jingyun's role in formation maintenance? They could not!

Realizing the implications instantaneously, Elder Miaoling quickly furrowed her brow and said:

"Sect Leader, this grand formation..."

"Right," the Sect Leader of Xuandu promptly interrupted her, "This protective Sect array is of utmost importance, and we must let Jingyun handle it thoroughly, without room for error."