Paid myself a salary.

White Ivy raised her forelegs high and cheered, "Red Peach! Let's keep it up! Our next goal—total wealth of 5 million source stones!"

Red Peach bounced in agreement, "Five million! Five million!"

Red Peach picked up the stone slab with order records, flipping through it again and again, her eyes scanning rapidly as she mentally tallied up the numbers, and gave her report:

"White Ivy Mountain Lord, next year's total order amount for Origin Force Honey is exactly 3 million source stones! Preliminary estimate: final profit is 450,000 source stones. If we add Bee King Honey and Divine-Given Origin Force Food trades, next year's total profit will surpass 500,000 source stones. In four years, we can reach the five million goal."

"Four years?"

"Isn't a five million target a little too modest?"

White Ivy pondered, asking, "Red Peach, take a guess, how much wealth does that old Spider King Spurge have?"

Red Peach: "…"

Red Peach: "…Impossible to estimate."

Red Peach reminded her, "White Ivy Mountain Lord, the purchase price for Divine-Grade Ghost Lotus Seed is as high as a million source stones per piece. Last time, Spider King Spurge collected six! What's the selling price? What's the profit?"

Red Peach: "And there's Divine-Grade Soul-Stabilizing Fruit. Just a single one of those would be enough for a small target of ours…"

White Ivy: "…That's true, huh!"

White Ivy: "What about Melde, that brat? Red Peach, try estimating Melde's wealth."

Red Peach: "Maybe, just a tiny bit more than us, but definitely not exceeding five million!"

White Ivy: "Alright! Red Peach, our next target is set at five million source stones!"

White Ivy used a spider silk rope, tidied up swiftly, and strapped the spider silk bag filled with Spider King Silk Scrolls to her carapace.

"Red Peach! It's winter now. The tribe has been gathering for a few days already, we need to hurry back and stock up for next year's trade."

"Right!"

"Charge!"

"Wait! Wait!"

Red Peach called out, "White Ivy Mountain Lord, hold on, one more thing."

White Ivy turned back and asked, "What is it now?"

Red Peach raised her foreleg and pointed northwest, "White Ivy Mountain Lord, from here, if we head that way, it's about 400 kilometers to Cloud Crown Mountain!"

White Ivy: "Red Peach, roving merchant trade can't aim too high and be unrealistic."

Red Peach: "…"

White Ivy: "When I was younger, I once took Melde to Cloud Crown Mountain. Unlike Hidden Wing Mountain, Cloud Crown doesn't let outsiders in at all."

White Ivy: "It's to do with tribal governance. Hidden Wing Mountain is an open-type great tribe; as long as you're a Flame Spider Roving Merchant with some strength and resources, you can go in, and trade is relatively free. Cloud Crown Mountain is the exact opposite. The Beautiful Ji Bug is an extremely conservative tribe—they only trade with a fixed two or three dozen big caravans. All Origin Force Food is centrally procured and sold by the tribe. Each caravan has fixed trade items. Other caravans, no matter how rich or powerful, aren't allowed in, and even if you get in, it's hard to break in."

Red Peach: "Not even if we have Divine-Grade fruits?"

White Ivy fell silent.

Red Peach once again raised a claw, pointing due north toward Purple Back Mountain, "White Ivy Mountain Lord, that Mud Ke Bug King is really stingy!"

Field tests proved the Night Fragrance ability perfectly matched the Ji Bug Tribe's talent ability.

White Ivy had negotiated with Mud Ke Bug King, and confirmed the next batch of Divine-Grade Night Fragrance Fruits: Purple Back Mountain would buy two, at the same ultra-low price of 500,000 source stones each.

In return, Purple Back Mountain would raise its annual purchase quota of Origin Force Honey from White Ivy Trade Caravan directly from 500,000 to 1 million source stones, all at 5,000 or 10,000 source stones per jar, exclusively for use by Mountain Lords, Lords, or even Insect Kings.

Sounds like a decent volume, with good profits too.

But due to raw material, transport capacity, and Bee King Jelly limitations, White Ivy had already pushed the Origin Force Honey trade to its absolute limit. Even without Purple Back Mountain's purchases, other places—such as Hidden Wing Mountain—could easily make up the difference.

If White Ivy wanted more profit and more wealth, the only way was to get into Divine-Given Origin Force Food trading on the side.

Divine-Given Origin Force Food fetches higher prices, juicier profits, and a bigger upside.

However…

White Ivy sighed and said, "This is my third time seeing Mud Ke Bug King. The first time was after Carpesium died. It asked me a few questions, then told me the Cloud Crown Divine-Given Seed and Mud Ke Divine-Given Seed quota was gone. Second time I met it… It said trades could happen with Purple Back Mountain, but Carpesium's seed quota was gone…"

White Ivy: "Roving merchants running around, hitting walls everywhere, not being welcomed by insects—that's totally normal. You see it enough, you get used to it. But the Divine-Given Seed quota for Purple Back Mountain was once Carpesium's big ace—it's the most valuable legacy Carpesium left me. I've always been thinking, every single day, I've wanted to prove myself and steal back what I lost!"

White Ivy: "But now, that's not what I want anymore. This time meeting Mud Ke Bug King, it didn't bring up the Divine-Given Seed quota, and I didn't ask. My target is no longer Purple Back Mountain, it's not about what I lost, not about Carpesium's inheritance."

Red Peach: "!!!"

Red Peach raised a claw again, pointing toward Cloud Crown Mountain.

White Ivy replied coolly, "About that Divine God-Given Seed at Cloud Crown Mountain, Mud Ke Bug King definitely knows, but it didn't say a single word. Its relationship with Carpesium ends here. As for the Ten Thousand Years Lord, it didn't mention that either—it might know, might not, but it doesn't matter anymore. It's helped me enough…"

White Ivy paused, sighed again, "The more wealth you have, the more strength you need to guard it. The current Banded Assassin Bug Tribe—too few insects, too much wealth—they're always under threat from the northern Beast Clan and other Insect Tribes. They really need to boost individual combat ability. Divine-Grade Night Fragrance Fruit is huge for Purple Back Mountain. Just for the Ten Thousand Years Lord's sake, let's sell them more."

White Ivy: "Same logic applies to us—before we have enough strength, it's not wise to make a big show of Divine-Grade fruit trades! Let's just quietly sell the Divine-Grade Night Fragrance Fruits to Purple Back Mountain for now."

Red Peach: "Makes sense! White Ivy Mountain Lord, you're always so thorough in your thinking!"

That's a given!

White Ivy got cocky again, brimming with spirit and confidence, declaring:

"Red Peach, once I evolve to Lord Level, and you evolve to Mountain Lord Level, and after we land that Divine-Grade White Poplar Fruit, we'll gradually pull the plug on places like Wind Wheel Mountain, Vinegrowth Mountain, Blood Paulownia Mountain, Shuiqu Mountain, Purple Back Mountain, etc. If Grass Dragon and Lupine want to take them over, let them—if not, just give it up. It's not about anyone in particular, it's a major shift in our caravan's development strategy."

"We'll only go to big places like Hidden Wing Mountain and Cloud Crown Mountain, only do deals with tribal Lords and Insect Kings who handle tribal business, only sell high-end Origin Force Honey at 5,000 or 10,000 source stones per jar, only do premium Divine-Given Origin Force Food trading, and… Divine-Grade fruit trading!"

White Ivy said, "As we gradually finish this whole transformation, overtaking Old Spider King Spurge will just be a matter of time."

Red Peach: "…"

Red Peach reminded again, "White Ivy Mountain Lord, roving merchant business—you can't set your sights too high~"

Red Peach's brain spun, then eagerly asked, "White Ivy Mountain Lord, Divine-Grade fruit trading? You mean the Night Fragrance Fruit? What's the plan?"

White Ivy: "Easy. Every batch of Night Fragrance God-Given Seed fruit yields three, right? We can use two Night Fragrance Fruits to trade for one Divine-Grade fruit from Cloud Crown Mountain that grants the Waterwood System hallucination ability. Then, one Night Fragrance Fruit and one Cloud Crown Divine-Grade fruit make a combo package to sell."

White Ivy: "Red Peach, what do you think—a combo of fruit that bestows Water, Wood, and Soul hallucination abilities, how much should we sell it for?"

Red Peach: "The two abilities could blend into one, so selling for three million source stones wouldn't be too much. And all we invest is buying three Divine-Grade Night Fragrance Fruits at 1.2 million source stones, and we clear 1.8 million in profit!"

Red Peach: "Divine-Grade fruits can't just be sold for cash, need something of equal value. We could also try to get a batch from another top-tier great tribe at 'market price,' then mark it up, sell it, or use it for more 'swaps'…"

Red Peach: "The key is with Dragon Cypress Ant King—when we buy Divine-Grade fruits from Dragon Cypress Ant King, we don't need to fork over Divine-Grade fruits of equal value. Just plain source stones can buy Divine-Grade White Poplar Fruit and Night Fragrance Fruit, so we'll always have two kinds of Divine-Grade fruit left over!"

White Ivy: "Exactly!"

White Ivy: "Night Fragrance Fruit at forty thousand each is way too cheap, can't get too greedy! Gotta raise the price! Next year, tell Dragon Cypress, we're selling them for fifty thousand source stones a piece, and we buy from them at fifty thousand per as well, with zero mark-up for us."

Red Peach: "Uh—"

Red Peach agreed, "Spider King Spurge, Aconite Spider King, Seven-Leaf, Melde and all those Flame Spider roving merchants are all really curious where we're selling the Night Fragrance Fruit. I bet, once they catch wind, they'll try to grab a share of that, too! Seven-Leaf and Melde are easier to handle, but those two Spider Kings…"

Red Peach: "So while raising the price, we absolutely have to make Dragon Cypress Ant King promise the entire share of Night Fragrance Fruit goes to our White Ivy Trade Caravan…"

Red Peach, saying this, shook her antennae emphatically, "No! No! Dragon Cypress Ant King's sharp—if we hike the price ourselves, it'll be suspicious. And if we ask for the whole Night Fragrance Fruit quota, it'll just confirm its doubts and backfire!"

White Ivy shot Red Peach an approving look, "Red Peach, you've leveled up again!"

White Ivy said, "That Dragon Cypress has been under my watch since it was young, I know its personality inside out. Next year's deal—no way it'll have the 1.2 million source stones for the Divine-Grade Lightwing Seed, it'll definitely ask us for credit. That's when, Red Peach, you can slip in talk about supporting it in the attack on the Termite Kingdom. We can up the Night Fragrance Fruit price, make it pay up front for three fruits—full price, 1.5 million source stones. And we won't take its source stones for Lightwing Seed, actually give it thirty thousand back instead."

White Ivy: "We're helping Dragon Cypress and Ink Orchid with everything we've got, just when they need it most. This way, Dragon Cypress has no reason to give the Night Fragrance Fruit share to any other spider. No other spider could fight us for it anyway—otherwise, word gets out and good luck keeping their place in the tribe!"

Red Peach's eyes lit up, full of admiration, "White Ivy Mountain Lord, you're a genius!"

White Ivy calmly waved a foreleg, "Red Peach, just keep learning and you'll get there too."

White Ivy raised a leg, pointed south, "Let's go home to the Kingdom!"

Red Peach: "Charge! Charge! Charge!"

One big, one small, two shadows dashed down the slope, stepping onto the business road home.

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