"The overall average for the tea leaves was fifty thousand spirit crystals," Caz replied with a smile on his face.
"Fifty thousand? For a single tea leaf?" John exclaimed, almost unable to believe what he was hearing.
"Well, not exactly," Caz continued. "When we first started the auction, the first leaf sold for a few thousand spirit crystals, as its incredibly hard to tell just how valuable a tea leaf is before brewing it. We sold a few like this, and word quickly spread like wildfire regarding your tea leaves. The next auctions brought in tea enthusiasts from all around, and a bidding war quickly broke out. The last tea leaf sold for over a hundred thousand spirit crystals," Caz explained.
John sat there in stunned silence as he listened to Caz explain what had happened. He knew the tea leaves were rare and valuable, but didn't know it was this incredible. A single tea leaf would be able to brew a single cup of tea, and there were cultivators willing to spend a hundred thousand spirit crystals on it.
John's thoughts shifted to his collection of those tea plants in his spatial realm, and mountains of spirit crystals started to appear in his vision. He had dozens of those plants that quickly churned out more leaves, making it an almost unlimited source of money.
"It's also why I've arrived today in person," Caz spoke once more. "I want to establish a more permanent relationship between you and I, with your tea leaves as our first joint endeavor, assuming you have more. What do you say?"
John remained silent for a moment as he thought it over, and decided that Caz's offer was more than worth it. While selling the tea leaves himself would net more profit per leaf, there were two issues with that.
The first was that he would have to focus on the selling aspect, which would take away from his cultivation and training. Such a thing was out of the question.
The second was that if he sold it directly, others out there would know the source of the leaves. The Mystic Trade Hall provided a shield of anonymity when it came to these leaves, and John didn't know just how crazy some people would be if they learned of him as the source.
Tea enthusiasts were one of the most cult-like groups in the martial world, and so John didn't want to have to deal with them constantly.
"I do have more leaves," John eventually replied. "How many are you looking to sell?"
John's answer was open ended, but Caz could quietly guess that based on John's words, the limiting factor here was Caz's ability to sell, not John's ability to supply. Caz raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, as he did not initially assume John to have such a large supply. Clearly John had a plant or more at his disposal, instead of some leaves he gathered one time only.
"We need to be careful about the quantity of leaves we sell, as selling more isn't necessarily the best for our bottom line," Caz replied. "These leaves have never been seen before, and the word on the street is that they provide incredible Dao insights to those with high enough cultivations to perceive them. As such, the excitement and intrigue around these leaves is growing incredibly fast, and is the reason there are bidding wars. Everyone wants to get their hands on a leaf, but only a select few can buy them. If we flood the market, the leaves will still be purchased due to their incredible properties, but the hype around it will die. This will reduce our profits in the long run, so we need to maintain a careful balance of supply, thus maintaining both market interest and profits," Caz explained.
"It seems as though you have this all figured out," John replied after a moment of contemplation. "In that case, I'll leave everything to you. How many leaves do you want?" John asked.
"How many can you provide? If your batch is large enough, although we will not sell it all at once like I just explained, it would be good to have a steady supply on hand in case you become hard to find for a while. You will be entering the Jade Dragon Empire realm afterall," Caz replied.
"Good point," John replied while musing it over.
'I doubt Caz would try to scam me. He's sitting on a gold mine of steady revenue in the future as long as we have an amicable relationship. A trade hall of their size wouldn't break relationships for a deal like this over a few million spirit crystals.'
"I can provide up to a thousand leaves at the moment," John replied calmly.
"A thousand!" Caz replied, both surprise and excitement in his voice.
A thousand leaves at the top value for the leaves yielded one hundred million spirit crystals. With Caz himself getting a portion of the profits, such a sum was not negligible, and was something that could seemingly be renewed constantly by John.
"Then I'll take a thousand," Caz replied with great enthusiasm. "A thousand should take several months to sell, as we'll need to drip feed the market to maintain exclusivity around the product, but you can be assured we will sell it all. I take it the previous split of profits is acceptable this time as well?" Caz asked.
"It is," John replied. "Give me a short moment."
John immediately sent his divine sense into his spatial realm and his soul form entered the room in the palace that contained the artificial sun above, and the fertile fields below. Dozens of the tea plants were growing beneath the light, the leaves infusing the room with a rich fragrance.
John quickly collected the one thousand leaves, which was about a fourth of the current leaf supply.
'You know what. I never took time to see how long the leaves take to grow. I'll have to come back here in a few weeks and see the progress.'
John collected the leaves in a large barrel, at which point his attention returned to the real world once more. The barrel suddenly appeared on the ground before him, instantly catching Caz's attention. His eyes lit up upon seeing the barrel, and he quickly inspected the contents contained within.
"Marvelous, truly marvelous," Caz exclaimed. "Each leaf is pristine, as if made by the heavens themselves. There is no damage or imperfections at all."
"I'm glad to hear it's of sufficient quality," John replied with a smile.
Caz stored away the barrel after his inspection, and a large smile appeared on his face as he stared at John.
"My instincts were truly right the first time I saw you. When I saw you, I had a vision of friendship and profits. It seems as though that vision is proving to be quite true," Caz said to John as he quickly stood up. "I must return to the trade hall to begin preparations for selling these leaves. Until we meet again!"
John stood up and reached out to shake Caz's outstretched hand. After a few more words, Caz left John's house, and John quickly made his way up to his bed and collapsed into it, exhausted and battered. He fell into a deep sleep, and before he knew it, the morning sun had already crested over the mountains.
John's weary eyes opened slowly, and a tired sigh escaped his lips as he mentally prepared for the training to come.
"Here we go again…."