YM778.TV Chapter 212: 205: The Good Days Are All Ahead
In the second week, once users got used to it, the Shadow Puppet Sect began to raise prices.
By the third week, the price of the Perception Transmission Talisman had gradually been raised to five thousand per piece, and Spirit Stones poured into the Shadow Puppet Sect’s warehouse like rain.
The turnover of the Shadow Puppet Sect almost doubled every few days.
Since the production cost of the talismans was already low, these turnovers were essentially pure profit.
What did that mean?
If the current trend continued, within a few years the Shadow Puppet Sect would amass a sizable sect fortune.
Within a few decades, they could spread their subdivision sects all around the Liang Kingdom, and ascend from a second-tier Demon Sect to a first-tier one!
In light of these excellent prospects, everyone in the Shadow Puppet Sect was pleased with themselves, even the salaries of the ordinary disciples had increased by a lot.
However, there were still some clear-headed disciples within the Shadow Puppet Sect who had a certain sense of crisis.
They noticed that the current performance of the Shadow Puppet Sect relied entirely on the Perception Transmission Talisman and, should this stream of income stop, the prospering Shadow Puppet Sect would be beaten back to its original shape in an instant.
“Deputy Sect Master, should we establish a new sect solely dedicated to the operation of Perception Transmission Talismans?”
“What do you mean?” Fan Yue didn’t understand.
“After all, the Perception Transmission Talisman is just a first-tier talisman; it’s bound to be cracked by someone eventually, which would sever our income. Better to establish a new sect with a clean background and apply for talisman certification from the Immortal Sect Association in its name. That way, we wouldn’t have to worry about it being cracked.”
“That’s superfluous,” Fan Yue chuckled, “I’ve had people try to crack the Perception Transmission Talisman before. Its ancient inscription technique is so profound that modern Talisman Masters have no idea where to even begin. Unless we provide the blueprint for its creation, it’s impossible to crack it. You’re worrying too much.”
With this assurance, that Shadow Puppet Sect disciple finally felt at ease.
The next day, the talisman revenue of the Shadow Puppet Sect did not increase but decreased.
On the third day, the sales of the Perception Transmission Talisman continued to plummet.
After two consecutive days of sharp declines, the higher-ups of the Shadow Puppet Sect realized something was wrong.
As they were also a Demon Sect, the Shadow Puppet Sect’s investigation into the Hehuan Sect was much easier than it would have been with an Immortal Sect.
Within a day, they concluded—the Hehuan Sect had cracked the Perception Transmission Talisman!
“That’s impossible!”
Fan Yue slammed the table, exclaiming, “I had several third-tier Talisman Masters try, and they all said it was impossible to crack. There’s no way the Hehuan Sect could have cracked the talisman!”
Elder San suggested, “What if the Hehuan Sect could get in touch with a fourth-tier Talisman Master?”
The Great Elder said calmly, “All of the fourth-tier Talisman Masters in the Capital except for Song Hai are from the Immortal Sects, how could they possibly help the Hehuan Sect?”
“Is Song Hai a possibility?”
“Unlikely, his Song family has always been good at staying out of trouble and wouldn’t touch anything that could offend others. Besides, this involves the Demon Sects and could easily make them a target for others.”
“The only possibility then, is that someone inside our sect leaked the method of drawing the talismans.”
Elder Er, who was in charge of making the talismans, shook his head, “That’s also impossible. Chen Jiang and those few Talisman Masters haven’t even left the production workshop, how could they leak it? Unless Chen Jiang had given the drawing method to the Hehuan Sect before he came to us.”
“That doesn’t make sense! If Chen Jiang could contact the Hehuan Sect, why would he come to us? Isn’t that doing unnecessary work? And what would he gain from providing two sets of drawing methods? It can’t possibly be because he’s afraid that the talismans are selling too well, right?”
The Shadow Puppet Sect members discussed for half a day without being able to find a motive for Jiang Cheng to leak the Perception Transmission Talisman.
Unless Jiang Cheng came with the intention of causing trouble, there was no reason for him to leak the Perception Transmission Talisman to the Hehuan Sect.
The Great Elder tapped the table and said, “Enough, instead of speculating wildly here, we should consider how to deal with the leaked talisman issue.”
Everyone was at a loss for what to do.
The Hehuan Sect was “super first-rate” within the Demonic Tao, not only with profound resources but also with numerous disciples. Their Cultivation Techniques made them intricately involved with various powers around the world.
Although the Shadow Puppet Sect could compete with the Hehuan Sect in the Capital, when looking at the entire continent, the two sects were not on the same level at all.
Fan Yue said, “I suggest we call for a Capital Demon Sect Conference and condemn the Hehuan Sect’s piracy in front of all the sect members!”
Elder San remarked, “My suggestion is not to hold a conference; merely mouthing off is too embarrassing.”
Elder Er suggested, “Why not send someone to negotiate with the Hehuan Sect to try to recover some of our losses?”
The Great Elder shook his head, “No, negotiating with them shows weakness; it’s like admitting defeat before negotiations even start. They should be the ones coming to us.”
After an afternoon of discussion, the Shadow Puppet Sect members couldn’t think of any good strategies.
Finally, it was Fan Yue who spoke up, “Why don’t we ask Chen Jiang? See how the Dayan Sect deals with situations like this.”
Given Jiang Cheng’s previous impressive performances, everyone in the Shadow Puppet Sect felt it wouldn’t hurt to ask.
After all, there was no cost to trying.
Fan Yue led the Elders to the production workshop and found Jiang Cheng.
After listening, Jiang Cheng looked quite puzzled.
“You know, your methods are all so upright and proper,” he said.
Upon hearing this, several Elders of the Shadow Puppet Sect felt they couldn’t save face.
In the Demonic Tao, there is no adjective with a greater killing power than “you are a good person.”
Jiang Cheng said, “Since the Hehuan Sect is in the wrong for stealing the talisman, why are you being polite with them? Just disable their ability to draw the talisman, won’t that solve it?”