Bargaining with a Lie

Hearing his words, Pu Zhen narrowed his eyes even further and asked "What kind of bargain?"

"Ten Percent of our Elemental Veins for ten years in exchange for Thirty Thousand Spirit Stones for five years, Fifty Kilogram of Dragon Rice for five years, Ten Pieces of Fiery Fruit and Ten Gram of Silver Mercury Essence." Gu Tan opened his mouth and swiftly told his bargain.

Bam!

"Impossible! Are you out of your mind? Do you think Thirty Thousand Spirit Stones grows on a tree? We can barely mine Hundred Thousand Spirit Stones a year. And, Dragon Rice is even more impossible. We can barely produce a Hundred Kilogram of Dragon Rice a year. How can you expect us to give half of it?"

"Village Chief Gu, if this is your way of bargaining, then I have to decline it. I might be desperate to turn my village into a city but I won't weaken my forces because of my selfishness." Pu Zhen instantly smashed his fist on the desk and shouted at Gu Tan while standing up.

Seeing his reaction, Gu Tan sighed "And, for a second I thought Village Chief Pu was smarter. I guess I was wrong."

His words made Pu Zhen angrier as his cultivation was fully exposed but he quickly calmed himself down and went back to his seat.

"I might not be a smart one but I don't see the benefits here. So, care to explain why do you think our village will not suffer loss? Because all I can see is loss."

Bam!

"Village Chief, is everything alright?" Suddenly, the door opened and Captain Youko rushed in. Then, he saw a few scratches on the table but everything seemed normal so he paused for a moment while asking.

"Everything is fine! Wait outside and don't barge in like that!" Pu Zhen sent Captain Youko out while swinging his wrist.

Gu Tan clapped his hands instantly drawing Pu Zhen's attention and spoke "Village Chief Pu, I was just joking. You are indeed smart. Because if you weren't then you would've already exploded your rage and kicked us out."

"But, you don't think too far, do you? As I mentioned in the bargain, you will be getting ten percent of Elemental Stones each year for ten years. And, do you think comparing Spirit Stones with Elemental Stone is fair?"

"No, if we talk statistically, spirit stones are five times less valuable than elemental stones but what makes elemental stones even more valuable is their rarity. In other words, you will be sucking ten percent of elemental stones for ten years from us."

"We both have Common Rank Vein. Assuming the output to be the same, we will be giving away ten thousand elemental stones each year which would be a total of a hundred thousand elemental stones. And, currently, we haven't started mining yet."

"That means our first year will have even more elemental stones. And unlike yours, we have to give you ten percent. So, if we mine two hundred thousand, then we have to give you twenty thousand elemental stones. Of course, I know how you feel so we can adjust this bargain."

"How about fifteen thousand elemental stones a year no matter how much we mine. That would mean you would get One Hundred Fifty Thousand Elemental Stones in total. And, comparing it to Spirit Stones we would get, you will still have four times more profit."

"Of course, this is a bargain and we can't have that. So, that profit will be offset by Dragon Rice and those two materials. And, remember, we will only take Dragon Rice for five years. After that, we can't ask for anything. That means we will be at a loss because we will still provide you elemental stones for the next five years."

Hearing his explanation, Pu Zhen calmed down even more but his eyes were full of suspicion as he asked "So, why are you willing to bear loss rather than slowly developing the village? After all, you don't need to get these at once, right?"

Gu Tan suddenly pulled on a sad expression. His expression made Pu Zhen even more curious. Gu Tan sighed and spoke "Village Chief Pu, truth to be told, our village has suffered a catastrophic event."

His words instantly brought up the attention of Pu Zhen and his dad. Gu Chen had no idea what his son was talking about but he kept his mouth shut. After all, Gu Tan had already told him to keep his mouth quiet in the entire meeting no matter how absurd things he might say.

Gu Tan raised his head and continued "You should have got the news that we have kicked out people from other villages, right?"

Pu Zhen nodded his head and Gu Tan continued "Actually, we did that to save them. I had a recent encounter with an extra ordinary person who enlightened me about the survival of our village. If not for him, I wouldn't have become the village chief."

"According to him, our village has caught a deadly chronic disease known as Burning Skin Disease and you already know what kind of disease is that, right?"

"Seriously?" Pu Zhen instantly stood up from his seat and asked.

Gu Tan nodded his head and continued "Yes, his words are true. But, Burning Skin Disease needs four years to completely erupt which means we have four years until we find a cure. And, that man..... or I should say, that monk has given me a chance to cure my village. But since Burning Skin Disease can spread wildly, we need to put a lockdown in the village for four years."

"You mean the person who told you about this is a monk?" Pu Zhen's eyes slowly returned to calmness as he sat down and asked.

"Yes, he wanted to make me as his disciple for my extraordinary talent but seeing the fate of my village, he gave me a chance to cure my village. He gave me a way to cure the village and he also said that we aren't allowed to spread this disease to others. That's why we will have a lockdown in our village for four years."

"We need necessary food that has enough nutrients to fight against this disease. We need the necessary ingredients to create medicine for this disease. And, most of all, we need a lot and a lot of spirit stones to provide enough spiritual qi into the medicine."

"This is why I am willing to suffer loss. I just want to keep my village safe. And, I know you can say that why should we help you. After all, if we all die because of Burning Skin Disease, our village can be conquered by any nearby village which also includes you."

"But, you haven't forgotten about a catastrophic incident that happened twenty years ago in the lands of Great Desolate Kingdom, have you?" Gu Tan was a little surprised to find that Pu Zhen knows more about this disease than he initially thought.

Hearing his last words, Pu Zhen was completely shaken for a moment. There was a trace of fear in his eyes. He knows this event very well. In fact, Great Desolate Kingdom was previously called the Great Spirit Kingdom but this disease made the mass death event in the kingdom.

Millions of People died and the kingdom almost fell until every single person suffering from this disease died. This is why the monks took action instantly to cure that disease. In fact, that wasn't an actual cure.

It was a complete slaughter. But, because monks had to maintain the proper image in front of the world, they made it seem like they cured the disease but they were too late. There was no cure to this disease but these monks made a great lie and showed the reality that everyone wanted to see.

Unfortunately, the monks didn't share this cure to anyone. After all, there was no cure. This made Pu Zhen believe Gu Tan might have this cure as soon as he mentioned the monk.

Pu Zhen stared at Gu Tan for a moment and asked "So, Village Chief Gu, you want to save the village from this catastrophe and if we don't provide you a helping hand, then you plan to let people loose. Is this a way to threaten others to help you?"

Gu Tan shook his head and spoke "In fact, I want to create a bond with Yellow Stone Village. And, just think about it, Village Chief Pu. You don't have an Elemental Vein. We don't have Spirit Vein. If we just sign a proper contract and maintain a good relationship with each other, then we can develop our villages without hindering each other."

"Of course, next time, neither I nor you want to suffer any losses but that's all for the next time. For now, let's start a new diplomatic and economic relationship between our villages. Don't you agree, Village Chief Pu?"

Gu Tan stood up and extended his arm. Pu Zhen paused for a moment before doing anything. But, suddenly, the window behind them broke.

Bang!

"Village Chief!" Gu Chen instantly caught Gu Tan and jumped away while a powerful rod of metal struck Pu Zhen from behind and smashed him to the walls.