Chapter 66: A Small Dilemma

Li Xian, or rather, the Brilliant Star Group, is facing its first major challenge. Traditional arrays, due to the instability of movement, have once again hindered the group’s development.

If movement is impossible, then mobile tools will become a mirage, and Li Xian’s industrial plan will also come to a standstill.

However, Li Xian was still somewhat unwilling to give up, “Weren’t celestial artifacts flying all over the place in the past? Weren’t those celestial artifacts also mobile, and they moved even faster!”

Tang Rong shook his head, “All spiritual tools and magical treasures rely on the cultivator’s own spiritual power. Even in cultivation, we still need to sit quietly with five hearts facing the sky.

Looking at all cultivation, demon beasts quietly absorb the essence of the sun and moon, and we also need to meditate with five hearts facing the sky.

As long as one draws spiritual energy from the outside world, whether it’s a spiritual gathering array or cultivation, it all requires ‘peace’ and conformity with the balance of heaven and earth’s yin and yang.

Additionally, there are some large war spiritual tools, but they also need spirit stones to provide spiritual energy.”

Xu Ren immediately followed up, “Even if the young master wants to re-study or modify the array, it’s still not feasible. That would require opening a new path of cultivation, something only a sage could do.

For now, let’s focus on the study of spirit stones. Compared to that, studying spirit stones is much more reliable.”

Xu Ren’s words extinguished Li Xian’s last glimmer of hope. Li Xian stood there in a daze for a long time before finally sighing, “Then let’s research spirit stones.”

Tang Rong cautiously said, “Young master, we’re running out of spirit stones.”

Not just running out — since the last trade with the Sea Tribe, they hadn’t acquired more. There had been a few more trades since then, but they were small, mainly focused on Sea Soul Silk — minerals were just incidental, not counted.

“Next time we trade with the Sea Tribe, we need to exchange for more spirit stones!” Li Xian gritted his teeth and said, no matter how expensive, they had to exchange! There was no other option!

As luck would have it, the day after testing the motorbike, Wei Zhe came again to discuss a trade.

“50 million jin of stainless steel weapons! All in the form of tridents, 360 tridents in total!” Wei Zhe opened with a number that shocked everyone.

Fang Shijing quickly did the calculations: “Last year, it took us 50 days to complete 1 million jin of weapons. For 50 million jin, it will take 2,500 days. But considering potential issues over such a long period, it’s estimated to take more than 2,700 days, which is about seven and a half years.

Additionally, based on our agreement, 50 million jin of stainless steel is exchanged for 10,000 jin of Sea Soul Silk and 1 billion jin of ore.”

Wei Zhe frowned slightly, “The Sea Soul Silk and ore are no problem. But the time… if there are delays, that’s nearly eight years! That won’t work, it must be completed within one year!”

Fang Shijing turned to look at Li Xian. Li Xian immediately shook his head, “Even if we commit all our current capacity solely to your weapons, it would still take four years.

Moreover, Senior Wei, there’s something you need to explain to us. The quality of the Sea Soul Silk in the last two transactions has declined. While our product quality has improved, yours has been dropping. We need an explanation for that.”

Wei Zhe remained firm, “Sea Soul Silk is not some industrial product like you think. It’s naturally produced, so it’s impossible for it to be identical every time.”

“Alright, we’ll consider it,” Li Xian said. Using delay tactics was always effective, and Li Xian was well-versed in it.

As soon as he heard that the Sea Tribe wanted it done within a year, he knew they were in a hurry! If they’re in a hurry but don’t know how to compromise, then just delay it! Anyway, since the wiring issue was resolved, Li Xian wasn’t in a rush anymore.

Currently, the Sea Soul Silk Li Xian trades with the Sea Tribe is mainly used to control the engine market. But if he didn’t have the Sea Soul Silk, he could still sell black iron wiring—although the black iron wiring he was using had an impurity content as high as 95%, which might cause some issues, it wouldn’t be too much trouble.

When Wei Zhe heard that Li Xian needed to “consider,” his heart sank halfway. After hesitating for a while, he finally gritted his teeth and said, “For future transactions, half will be in spirit stones and half in Sea Soul Silk, with the Sea Soul Silk matching the quality of the first batch. For the last few transactions, I will compensate you with three spirit stones.”

Li Xian smiled, “Alright, we guarantee to complete it within four years.”

“One year! It must be done within one year!” Wei Zhe refused to back down. At this point, Wei Zhe realized he had messed things up—he had essentially handed the stick over and allowed others to beat him with it. But there was no other option.

Li Xian looked at Xu Ren, then at Beichen Yuqing, and finally at Fang Shijing. He tapped the table as he thought and calculated: the Sea Tribe must have promised something to someone else, which is why they’re in such a hurry. But if they squeeze too hard, the negotiations might collapse, and that would be bad for both sides.

The factory’s production capacity is indeed tight. To produce 50 million jin of stainless steel, and then forge it into tridents, completing it within a year would require tripling the mining volume, doubling the smelting factory area, and increasing the number of related machines by half. Most importantly, they would need to expand the workforce!

If done correctly, the factory could double in size within a short period, but the pressure would be immense! It’s worth noting that they had just finished the bidding and distributor arrangements, and the distributors’ products must be guaranteed, as oaths had been made.

Beside him, Xu Ren, Beichen Yuqing, and Fang Shijing were also calculating. After a moment, the four exchanged glances and came to an understanding.

Li Xian stood up, “Senior Wei, please allow us to discuss this. Compressing four years into one is indeed very tight; we need some time to deliberate. One hour should be enough.”

“Alright,” Wei Zhe was already sweating, calculating internally how much compensation would be appropriate—because there was no way out of this without paying up.

After Li Xian and the other three entered the back office, everyone looked to him. After all, Li Xian was the “leader,” and he needed to set the tone.

Li Xian thought for a moment, “The deal must still proceed. What I value isn’t just the resources from the sea, but also the maritime navigation capabilities. So, if possible, we should avoid offending the Sea Tribe.

However, avoiding offense doesn’t mean we should be overly accommodating, let alone allow ourselves to be bullied! This time, we will strive to complete the transaction, but the costs incurred will be calculated honestly, without any falsification, and the Sea Tribe will have to cover it. If they are unwilling, then we cancel the deal.”

“That’s a good plan,” Xu Ren and the others nodded in agreement, thinking Li Xian was still very generous. Of course, if this were on Earth, Li Xian would be scolded to death—expanding the factory yourself but making others pay for it. How could such a thing exist? But here, everyone praised Li Xian for being “generous”—a good man, indeed.

With the plan set, the four quickly estimated the costs and returned in less than a quarter of an hour.

Wei Zhe looked on with concern.

“Senior Wei, after discussing, we concluded that to produce 50 million jin of stainless steel within a year, we must expand the factory, increase manpower, and delay other production. For this, an additional cost of around 150,000 to 180,000 taels of gold will be incurred.

If you’re willing to cover this cost, I, Li Xian, swear to the heavens that by this time next year, you will see 360 flawless tridents laid out before you.”

“Just gold?” Wei Zhe was stunned—not because the price was high, but because it was cheap. For the Dragon Palace, gold was as common as paving material.

Indeed, Li Xian was being quite generous, not demanding any other conditions. For the Dragon Palace, paying in gold was no different from paying in ore. After all, both gold and ore were worldly things that held no value for cultivation.

Seeing Li Xian nod again, Wei Zhe smiled, “Young Master Li, I won’t say much in thanks. Within 10 days, I’ll deliver 200,000 taels of gold!”

And so, the matter was happily resolved.

5,000 jin of Sea Soul Silk, 5,000 spirit stones, and 1 billion jin of ore—that’s 1 million tons of ore—plus 200,000 taels of gold, Li Xian was smiling so broadly that his soul almost flew away.

To express gratitude and prevent Li Xian from running out of resources like ore, Wei Zhe even promised that, besides delivering the gold within 10 days, the remaining ore, Sea Soul Silk, and spirit stones would be delivered gradually over the next month.

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