Chapter 40 Ouyang Ming

Ouyang Ming was an exceptionally clever fellow, well aware that some partnerships brought mutual benefits. Over the past period, he had actually conducted a series of investigations into Tang Yi, a feat well within the capabilities of the Ouyang family. In the Immortal Realm, the Ouyang clan was a renowned lineage of artifact refiners. While not listed among the elite giants, their power could not be underestimated. This was precisely because, as a family of refiners, they had accumulated a vast network of influential connections over tens of millions of years. Their artifact shops had spread across the entire Immortal Realm, excluding only the Outer Realms.

However, the investigation could only trace Tang Yi back to his appearance in the Tangguang Star Domain; nothing further could be unearthed, as the Ouyang family had no shops in the Outer Realms. Even so, Ouyang Ming had pieced together a rough picture of Tang Yi. In his view, Tang Yi was at most a genius in artifact crafting and formations, and was exceedingly fortunate to have earned the favor and high regard of the Forger Alliance—an organization ordinary refiners could not hope to join simply by seeking affiliation. Yet, Tang Yi possessed a glaring weakness: a severe shortage of personal connections and manpower. On the surface, his only household steward was Cangmu. Perhaps Tang Yi was a scion from a major clan out experiencing the world. However, based on all analyzed intelligence, Ouyang Ming was more inclined to believe that Tang Yi was an ascensionist who had not ascended very long ago.

This realization made the prospect of cooperation highly viable. Ouyang Ming possessed precisely what Tang Yi lacked: a network of shops blanketing the Immortal Realm. As for Tang Yi's secret crafting techniques, Ouyang Ming did not even bother coveting them, having already discerned that sharing them was out of the question.

Without beating around the bush, Ouyang Ming laid his specific proposal directly before Tang Yi. Simply put, the Ouyang family would act as the exclusive distributor for Tang Yi's series of immortal artifacts.

While Ouyang Ming made this concept of agency sound rather simple, the modern commercial methods, strategies, and techniques known to Tang Yi were countless.

"Well, Immortal Friend Ouyang, business is business. It is hardly feasible for your house to hold the sole agency for all Tang Family immortal artifacts," Tang Yi said. "Although your shops span the entire Immortal Realm, they are not present on every single planet. In truth, even if Immortal Friend Ouyang had not come to me today to discuss this matter, I would have approached you a year from now. Of course, at that time, I would not be negotiating solely with you, but with numerous artifact-refining families just like yours."

Tang Yi paused, then continued, "However, since Immortal Friend Ouyang has brought this up today, I will not let you make the trip in vain. Let me speak plainly to you: one year from now, I will host a product agency convention right here. Not only will various artifact-refining clans be welcome, but anyone with a genuine interest in holding an agency and sufficient strength may participate. It is still inconvenient to disclose the details of this agency convention to you just yet. You may disbelieve me, but if you trust my words, we may continue discussing our cooperation."

Ouyang Ming looked at the composed Tang Yi, pondered for a moment, and replied, "Since I came here today to discuss a partnership, Immortal Friend Ouyang, please, let us continue our discussion regarding the cooperation."

"Very well, since that is settled, let us talk terms," Tang Yi smiled. "Immortal Friend Ouyang, you could say it is a first-come, first-served basis. Your initiative to seek me out today shows that you are a person of great boldness, and I am very optimistic about cooperating with you."

Tang Yi smiled again and went on, "The Ouyang family may act as agents for the entire series of Tang Family immortal artifacts—this includes all types currently produced and those to be crafted by the Tang Family Artifact Workshop in the future. Furthermore, during this first year, your Ouyang shops may begin selling Tang Family immortal artifacts everywhere except within this specific star system. Prices must be uniform, and as for quantity, you need not worry; nine-tenths of our output will be handed over to you for distribution. As for the second year—that is, after the agency convention is held—matters will be re-evaluated and discussed anew."

"And exactly how much will nine-tenths of the output amount to?" Ouyang Ming asked.

"Immortal Friend Ouyang should be able to see that the Tang Family pursues a high-end route, so the output will neither be overly abundant nor too scarce. Let us just say there will be a controlled threshold, regulated both now and in the future. Now then, let us draft an immortal spirit contract, and the specifics shall be governed strictly by it."

Once both parties reached an agreement, an immortal spirit contract detailing the cooperative agency was drawn up. The immortal spirit contract was a common form of agreement within the Immortal Realm. Upon signing, it was divided into two identical halves, with each party holding the portion bearing the other's immortal consciousness imprint. Should either party breach the contract, the consequences were absolute: simply destroying that section of the contract would inflict the predetermined penalty upon the violator, ranging from the loss of one or two realms of cultivation to complete annihilation of body and soul. Such penalties were never left unfulfilled.

From then on, Cangmu would deliver a fixed quantity of immortal artifacts to Ouyang Ming every month. The crafting of these artifacts was, of course, handled by Bingling and her three companions, along with the automatons. What Tang Yi needed to do now was to construct a chamber within his spatial stone immortal estate over the next year that functioned similarly to the rapid-cultivation rooms he had used back in the mortal cultivation world—in essence, a time-acceleration chamber. For immortals in the Immortal Realm, this was an immensely practical utility, as anyone who successfully broke through to the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm gained infinite lifespan. Naturally, everyone desired to leverage time acceleration to rapidly elevate their strength within the Immortal Realm.

However, crafting a spatial immortal artifact capable of time acceleration was no easy feat in the Immortal Realm. The prerequisite conditions were demanding: first, one had to possess an immortal estate or a universe realm; second, one had to cultivate time-attribute immortal arts. This immediately touched upon the issue of talent; not everyone possessed such talent, and even if they did, the aptitude rating determined how far one could travel down this path. Third, one had to master both artifact crafting and array formations. All three conditions were indispensable.

Tang Yi possessed all three prerequisites, which was why he intended to forge a time-acceleration immortal artifact to accelerate his own cultivation. Although Tang Yi could use his special ability to enter a state of frozen time for cultivation, he could unfortunately only use this special ability once a day in the Immortal Realm, and it could only be sustained for a single day at a time. Double the cultivation speed was far from sufficient for his needs.

Tang Yi spent two full months meticulously reviewing all the jade slips given to him by the passengers of the celestial vessel, eventually synthesizing a comprehensive plan.

Today, after purchasing the latest issue of *Immortal Prophecies*, Tang Yi learned that two days from now, an auction would be held within the main star system of the Lianchen Star Domain—situated inside the Red Refining Star Domain—hosted by the Azure Lake Auction House. This Azure Lake Auction House, alongside the Red Pagoda Mountain Auction House, was one of the century-old auction houses renowned across the Immortal Realm. The auction house had already leaked a portion of the catalog, and among the lots was precisely an item Tang Yi required.

With only two days remaining, under normal circumstances, traveling from the Moyu Star Domain to the Lianchen Star Domain using immortal stones and regular transit would take at least seven days even at top speed. However, Tang Yi was different. He possessed his special ability; although he could only use it for a single day's duration per day, two days' worth of time manipulation was more than enough to reach the adjacent Lianchen Star Domain.

Activating his special ability to freeze time, Tang Yi piloted the celestial vessel across regions devoid of teleportation arrays. In the state of frozen time, Tang Yi could observe every detail of all creation locked motionless in that single instant—a phenomenon that deeply fascinated him. As the celestial vessel soared past a meteoroid belt in the void, he caught sight of an old acquaintance!