The group of cultivators clenched their fists tightly.
They did not think Zhang Zhi, a Qi Refining blacksmith, was bold enough to recruit Han Ling’er as his employee, it was an insult to their goddess! How dare Zhang Zhi defile their goddess?!
The cultivators were cracking their knuckles for some action. If they were not here for Zhang Zhi’s service, they would have beaten him up already.
Then, the cultivators realized something. Zhang Zhi was a well-known scrooge, he would never offer his employee high pay. Maybe Han Ling’er might give up on the thought once she knew about the pay.
To everyone’s surprise, Han Ling’er shook her head. “It’s fine even without pay.”
Han Ling’er believed that, from the Sky Crystal that Zhang Zhi used to refine her Flying Swan to the Qi Concentration Pill, she owed Zhang Zhi a great deal because the items were extremely valuable, she would work for him without pay.
The cultivators were shocked by their goddess’ action. Why would she lower herself to this point?
Several of them got nervous.
“Hahaha, are you joking Senior Sister Ling’er, Owner Zhang’s business is doing great, he would never treat you badly…”
“Owner Zhang, Lingtai Sect will give the inner disciples a monthly salary of a few hundred low-tier spirit stones. I don’t think you should pay her lower than that.”
The cultivators tried their best in praising Zhang Zhi so that he would feel bad about the offer and eventually give up on the thought of recruiting Han Ling’er.
Even though Han Ling’er said she could work without pay, Zhang Zhi still had to consider it. A few moments later, he said, “Immortal Han, I can only pay you 5 mid-tier spirit stones every month, what do you think?”
Before Han Ling’er could say anything, the other cultivators laughed.
“Hahaha! 5 spirit stones and you want Senior Sister Ling’er to work for you? What a joke!”
“Owner Zhang, I think you better give up. Senior Sister Ling’er is a busy person…”
As expected of the scrooge Zhang Zhi, everyone criticized the amount that he offered: 5 spirit stones.
5 spirit stones? 5 mid-tier spirit stones?
Some of them finally realized what Zhang Zhi said. He clearly said 5 mid-tier spirit stones!
Han Ling’er was the first to react to the amount. 5 mid-tier spirit stones would equal to 500 low-tier spirit stones, which was five times the sect’s salary!
Even though the sect disciples could get extra bonus by doing missions, it would be difficult or even impossible to earn 5 mid-tier spirit stones in one month even if they did missions everyday.
Han Ling’er thought Zhang Zhi offered that high of a pay because he did not want to embarrass her. She shook her hands and said, “Zhang Zhi, it’s too much…”
“It’s too much? I thought I was offering a bit too little.” Even though Zhang Zhi was heavily exploited by the system, he was still earning a lot more than the disciples who received a fixed salary from their sect.
It was just 5 mid-tier spirit stones, he could earn it back in three to five days and he would only earn more from there. 5 mid-tier spirit stones were nothing to him.
Zhang Zhi’s offer made everyone excited. Service at the blacksmith was expensive and business was outstanding, of course he was able to offer such a high price.
However, since he was a well-known scrooge, it was considered as rare as the sun rising from the west. Many of the Foundation Building cultivators were deeply moved.
Then, the cultivators came up with a new possibility: Zhang Zhi must be trying to do something to Han Ling’er by offering such a high pay. It must be a trap and once Han Ling’er fell into it, Zhang Zhi would take advantage of her.
That must be it! That was the only explanation why the scrooge, Zhang Zhi, would offer a 5 mid-tier spirit stones pay.
The new thought made everyone angry and some of them could not hold their anger back.
“Owner Zhang, why are you offering such a high pay to Senior Sister Ling’er? What are you trying to do to her?”
“Anyone who tries to take advantage of Senior Sister Ling’er will face the wrath of the entire sect!”
“Hmph! Jerk! Pervert!”
There were even whispers that criticized him.
Zhang Zhi was stunned. He was just trying to recruit a new employee, how did it turn out like this?
Nevertheless, Zhang Zhi had to tell Han Ling’er the job scope. “The job scope is a little wide and difficult.”
“Look, he’s showing his tail now!”
“If he dares to make Senior Sister Ling’er do all the hard work or even make him tea, I’ll show him!”
The cultivators continued to criticize Zhang Zhi.
Han Ling’er was not overly bothered, she was actually thinking about how to repay Zhang Zhi’s favor. She said, “I’ll finish the job no matter how hard it is, can you go into details?”
She was curious about the job scope since she had never really worked before.
“Details…” Zhang Zhi paused and looked at the angry mob. He smiled and said, “You are in charge of the money.”
Zhang Zhi’s words felt like a lightning bolt from the sky and electrocuted those who heard it.
Taking charge of the money was considered a difficult job?
All Han Ling’er had to do was count the money everyday and she could earn 5 mid-tier spirit stones per month! It was practically free lunch!
“Uhm Owner Zhang, do you need another employee? I’m a Late Foundation Building cultivator, I can count pretty quickly!” said one of the Foundation Building experts as he gave in to the temptation.
“Go away Wang! Owner Zhang wants an employee with a good personality! You have money written all over your face, how could your filthy personality be fit for the blacksmith?”
One of the cultivators spoke the truth and embarrassed everyone.
After all, most of them looked down on Zhang Zhi when he made an offer to Han Ling’er, but now they were trying to flatter him and package themselves for the job by praising their own personality.
“You bastard…”
The other cultivators regained their senses and got irritated. They ganged up on that particular cultivator and beat him up.
Zhang Zhi was speechless. “My shop is just a small establishment earning peanuts, so I’m only recruiting one person.”
If Zhang Zhi’s blacksmith was earning peanuts, then the other shops would be losing money. The cultivators reacted strangely but understood that Zhang Zhi wanted only one new employee for his shop and it defeated them.
Han Ling’er also regained her senses. She did not expect to be paid 5 mid-tier spirit stones just by taking care of the payment and stuff. She said, “Zhang Zhi, if I’m only doing that, you don’t need to pay me that high…”
“Oh? So you are looking down on this position? Then I guess I’ll have to find someone else.” Zhang Zhi feigned sighing.
The other cultivators’ eyes glowed when they heard him. They raised their hands and said, “Owner Zhang! Me! Me!”
“No, I’ll take the job.” Han Ling’er was forced to agree to the terms because she really wanted to help Zhang Zhi. She did not expect to get such good pay from the job and it seemed like she was the one who got the better end of the deal.
However, Han Ling’er told herself she would do everything she could to make it up for the high pay that she was getting from Zhang Zhi.
The cultivators looked at Han Ling’er in jealousy. Even though she was everyone’s goddess, it sparked jealousy among everyone when Zhang Zhi offered her such high pay. The cultivators, including those who thought that recruiting Han Ling’er was an insult to their goddess, believed that Han Ling’er was being too lucky.
Zhang Zhi sighed a breath of relief for getting a decent employee. He got a notification in his mind, telling him that he had completed the mission and was awarded the Big Flying Sword Forging Pack.
In the blink of an eye, Zhang Zhi mastered all the forging skills for flying swords, be it forging, restoring or refining of any tier. He could finally expand his service.
A quick thought later, he walked to the signage outside the shop with a brush and wanted to add new services to the list. However, he fell into silence when he had to think about the pricing.
How should he charge for his new services?
The system then popped up in his mind. “Since you are already a rather popular blacksmith, you should fix your price based on your time and material used, be it low-tier or epic-tier, restoration or forging. You can change the same price of 10 high-tier spirit stones for every service.”
Zhang Zhi could not wrap his head around what he heard. 10 high-tier spirit stones were equal to 10,000 low-tier spirit stones and the system basically told him that he should charge the same price even if he was to restore a low-tier flying sword.
His main customer base were mostly Qi Refining and Foundation Building cultivators, none of them could afford such a ridiculous price.
“System, the cultivators are having a hard time themselves. Isn’t the price a little ridiculous? People might riot because of this,” Zhang Zhi asked.
“It’s fine.” The system was brief.
Zhang Zhi was speechless. ‘Of course it’s fine for you, you are not the one who will end up getting beaten!’
However, Zhang Zhi realized that as the future God of Forging, he should be confident in his own craft and work. Maybe in time, the things that he restored or forged would raise in value.
On top of that, he was running a blacksmith, not charity. If he kept thinking about helping others, he would end up hurting himself and others.
He accepted the system’s suggestion and started to wipe off the old pricing.
“Woah! Owner Zhang, you are wiping off one refinement per day? Are you going to increase the refinement quota?”
“Owner Zhang is the best!”
Zhang Zhi was going to wipe off the pricing only but the cultivators misunderstood his intention, especially those who were in line for refinement.
Everyone was as excited as a happy dog welcoming its master back.
Zhang Zhi reacted strangely to the crowd’s question. He vaguely answered, “Yeah, the quota is gone…”
The cultivators cheered and screamed excitedly when they got an answer from Zhang Zhi. It was such a huge commotion that even Elder Wu was startled and he warned everyone through telepathy, “Keep it down!”
The crowd got quiet immediately, they were able to hold their excitement back but they were still jumping around like rabbits.
The system did not limit the number anymore but if the cultivators found out why the limit was removed, they would cry a river.
Zhang Zhi sighed and wiped off the entire line from the signage.
Then, he wrote something new on it. “All kinds of services for flying swords are available (artifacts only)”
The cultivators cheered again when they saw what Zhang Zhi wrote.
“Owner Zhang! All services for flying swords, does it mean that you are taking requests for high-tier flying sword forging as well?”
“Included,” Zhang Zhi said.
The cultivators were already happy enough when Zhang Zhi removed the number, they did not expect him to expand his services.
The scene of Zhang Zhi forging Nouveau Riche made a deep impression on them, everyone wished for a high-tier artifact for themselves.
A lot of them were so happy that they almost passed out.
“Owner Zhang, you are my father reincarnated!”
“May you live long and forever!”
A lot of them even started to dance around as if it was some festival.
Then, someone woke up from their illusory excitement and remembered that Zhang Zhi usually charged ridiculously for his services.
They nervously asked, “Owner Zhang, how much is it to forge a high-tier artifact?”
The crowd quieted down when they heard the question, they hoped that it would not be too ridiculous. Everyone was looking forward to Zhang Zhi’s answer.
Zhang Zhi did not answer. He continued writing with his brush.
“All kinds of services for flying swords are available (artifacts only). 10 high-tier spirit stones per service.”
Everyone gasped in shock and cursed ceaselessly.
A lot of them lost their balance from the shock and started passing out.