Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 157 Three Strategies
“The itinerant merchants led by Zhang Mazi refuse to join the guild hall and are now disrupting the market and stealing customers. They should indeed be taken seriously.”

Li Xiangming tapped the table to express his stance.

If Zhang Mazi were a member of the guild, and he stole Zhao Jindou's customers, he could still try to smooth things over and appease Zhao, since he had collected the seating fee himself.

However, Zhang Mazi was reluctant to part with the 100 spirit stones and repeatedly refused to join the Puyin Mountain Guild. Now that he was acting so arrogantly, Li Xiangming naturally had to stand up for Zhao Jindou.

One was the president of the Puyinshan Guild Hall, and the other was the big boss behind the guild hall. When they spoke out together, others naturally echoed their sentiments and condemned Zhang Mazi's shameless behavior.

However, when it came to specific methods, everyone fell silent and looked around in disbelief.

However, Madam Feng suggested a wicked plan: to lure Zhang Mazi out under the guise of a transaction and then kill him.

Upon hearing this, Li Xiangming glanced at her, feeling a pang of emotion.

In this chaotic place of Puyin Mountain, there are no good people.

Despite being a woman, Lady Feng has killed countless cultivators.

“This is inappropriate. Our goal is to drive Zhang Mazi away, not to kill him.”

Zhao Jindou led the opposition, and Zhang Mazi had extensive connections, as evidenced by his willingness to defy the Li family, refuse to join the guild, and still thrive in Puyin Mountain.

Although he hated this person, Zhao Jindou never thought of killing him.

Because a single move can affect the whole situation, Zhang Mazi's influence is widespread. His sudden death will inevitably cause panic, and a large number of demon-hunting groups and independent cultivators associated with Zhang Mazi will surely leave Puyin Mountain.

This was not what Zhao Jindou wanted, nor was it acceptable to the Li family.

As expected, Li Xiangming stood up and drew a line: "Puyinshan Club is a platform for mutual respect, communication, and cooperation to protect the interests of all members, not an assassin organization. The matter of killing should not be mentioned again."

If Li Xiangming wanted to kill Zhang Mazi, he could simply send a few members of the animal trapping house. Why would he need the Puyin Mountain Guild Hall?

But while killing is quick, it doesn't solve the problem.

Today, Zhang Mazi has become too powerful, and everyone feels threatened, so they choose to get rid of him.

What if tomorrow, chambers of commerce and large business alliances from Puxian County and even beyond come and steal our business?

Should we kill them all too?

This is impossible!

Therefore, from now on, Li Xiangming must correct everyone's misconceptions. The Puyinshan Guild Hall is not a chamber of commerce, but a platform that brings together many "chambers of commerce" to provide cooperation opportunities. Its purpose is to set "rules" that are favorable to itself for the entire Puyinshan market.

To deal with Zhang Mazi, and any potential competitors in the future, we must naturally use the "rules."

As the first person to support the establishment of the Puyin Mountain Guild Hall, Zhao Jindou naturally understood the guild hall's intentions and potential. He immediately took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "I have three plans. Please listen to them quietly."

Upon hearing this, the room fell silent as everyone looked at Zhao Jindou, eager to know what the chairman would say next.

"The reason why Zhang Mazi is able to thrive is simply because he has the support of various demon-hunting groups. These demon-hunting groups have abundant output and high demand, and are the main force in the Puyin Mountain market. Our first step is to compete with Zhang Mazi for these demon-hunting groups."

After a pause, Zhao Jindou continued slowly, "I know that everyone usually has their own established demon-hunting groups, so we didn't have much interaction, but this gave Zhang Mazi an opportunity."

“This person has been in Pushui Market for ten years and has a notorious reputation, though it’s mostly for his bad reputation. But outside cultivators don’t know that. If you don’t contact these demon-hunting groups, they will have no choice but to cooperate with Zhang Mazi.”

Upon hearing this, everyone whispered among themselves. Old Man Wu spoke up, "It's not that we don't want to find these demon-hunting groups, but we can't handle the goods they have."

Larger monster-hunting groups typically consist of several or even a dozen people who hunt monsters and then sell them off in bulk after one or two months.

These monster materials are worth anywhere from a dozen or so spirit stones to thirty or fifty. Some monster-hunting groups even hunt down rare monsters and, after skinning and gutting them, they might be worth hundreds of spirit stones.

It's not that itinerant merchants can't afford to buy them, but once they buy them, they have to consider reselling them, right?
However, most of the people present were just ordinary itinerant merchants who relied on traveling around the country or setting up stalls in markets to sell their goods little by little.

Once you accumulate a lot of monster materials, they will sell very slowly, which is not only detrimental to cash flow, but also makes it easy to miss many business opportunities.

"Go ahead and contact them, even if you don't necessarily buy anything. Just send this signal so that the demon-hunting groups in Puyin Mountain know that there's more than just Zhang Mazi here."

"If you find something good, you might as well buy it. If you're worried about not being able to resell it, bring it to Taibai Restaurant and we'll take a look together."

Zhao Jindou's eyes flickered. His partners were several sects in Daishan, so he wasn't worried about not being able to sell his products. However, he had limited energy and couldn't contact every demon-hunting group, so he could only rely on other traveling merchants for help.

He would inevitably suffer some losses in this way, but he was willing to do anything to cut off Zhang Mazi's roots.

Seeing Zhao Jindou's strong determination, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, while simultaneously making their own calculations.

Zhao Jindou didn't wait for their reply and continued, "Although Zhang Mazi buys and sells a lot, there are still priorities. I've found out that the monster materials Zhang Mazi buys are mainly forging materials such as monster bones, monster tendons, and monster hides. We can increase the purchase price of these materials to squeeze Zhang Mazi out of the market."

"Don't be fooled by Zhang Mazi's current success. If he can't get enough refining materials, his clients will definitely be dissatisfied. I'm sure everyone knows that."

Zhao Jindou's words resonated with everyone present.

As itinerant merchants, it's normal to make boastful claims, but sometimes market changes mean that goods may be unavailable.

But the aloof employer will not show any understanding.

If a traveling merchant defaults on a deal, almost 90% of employers will terminate the cooperation. The goods that the traveling merchants have already purchased will be stuck in their hands, in a state of utter despair, with no idea when they will be able to recoup their investment.

Many people have suffered from this!
Therefore, they were well aware of how ruthless Zhao Jindou's actions were.

Zhang Mazi's willingness to purchase large quantities of refining materials must mean he has received orders from a refining master, or even a refining sect or family.

If you breach the contract, you'll be severely punished, if not ruined.

However, this move would kill a thousand enemies but also lose eight hundred of your own.

While boosting prices might annoy Zhang Mazi, those present also genuinely benefited.

“I know everyone has concerns, but the significance of the Puyinshan Guild Hall lies precisely in dispelling these concerns. If we cooperate sincerely, what difference would it make if there were ten Zhang Mazis, let alone one?”

"If we are a disorganized mess, Zhang Mazi and Wang Mazi will keep emerging, and we will have nowhere to stand."

Zhao Jindou's words were resounding, and everyone fell into silent contemplation.

Seeing this, Zhao Jindou continued the topic: "In addition to restricting Zhang Mazi's acquisition of refining materials, we also need to cut off his income."

"These days, Zhang Mazi earns a lot of spirit stones by using his Burning Fiend Pill."

"However, most of the Burning Fiend Pills on their bodies are of inferior quality. They only have such a market because they are cheap. If we can collectively lower the price and sell off the Burning Fiend Pills, we will surely deal them a heavy blow."

(End of this chapter)