Big Data Cultivation

Chapter 550: Chapter 550 Tiantong Commerce Alliance

Pan Renjie thought a bit too much; Feng Jun had never considered how many of the analytic versions of the Spirit Gathering Array he could sell and how much he could earn.

The reason was clear: cultivators who weren’t from major powers simply couldn’t handle this business.

When it came to the horror of those knockoff versions, other cultivators from the mobile phone planes didn’t feel it as deeply as Feng Jun did.

Anyway, he was determined; the goal he had set was to use this analytic array to rent another Spirit Gathering Array for three years.

If your Wuyou Platform sells well, that’s your own skill. If it doesn’t, don’t come troubling me—once you buy it, it’s yours to keep, win or lose.

But Pan Renjie was under pressure—he felt it wasn’t quite right to take advantage of Feng Daoyou like this.

He felt, after returning to Wuyou Platform, he should discuss it with Shangguan junior sister.

In this business deal, Wuyou Platform took sixty percent, with the remaining forty percent belonging to him and his junior sister.

Since Pan Renjie had obtained the Spirit Gathering Array, he had an initial investment and thus held a twenty percent share. Shangguan Yunjin was responsible for the specific sales affairs, taking fifteen percent, and the remaining five percent… Wang Botai had gone with them, all under the same master, so it wouldn’t be right to give him nothing.

As he was calculating, an elder of the clan spoke up again, “Renjie, since you came up with the formation, our Pan Family also has sales channels. Is it possible to hitch a ride with it?”

“Right, I came back just to talk about this,” Pan Renjie thoughtfully replied, “originally, I had secured a thirty percent sales quota for you all, but now that this array is selling so well… there might be changes.”

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Pan Jinxiang waved his hand and spoke confidently, “Since it was you who found this method and you’ve already submitted it to Wuyou Platform, you’ve done right by the sect. If they’re going to reneg on the agreed sales quota, I’ll talk to them myself.”

A peak cultivator in the Detached Phase has such confidence, and Mr. Pan here happens to be well-connected, with many influential friends.

Two days later, the Pan Family’s shop in Guanquan Valley began selling the Simplified Version Gathering Spirit Array, flaunting the banner—aside from Wuyou Platform, the only authorized merchant.

The Spirit Gathering Arrays sold here in Guanquan Valley did even better than at Wuyou Platform, as the cultivators were closer to being loose cultivators with quite a few down-on-their-luck individuals, at least unable to compare to a major power like Wuyou Platform.

The initial batch of five arrays sent here were sold out on the same day, with over twenty people paying deposits in advance.

In the following days, the sales continued to be excellent, selling nearly two hundred sets in just five days.

Now, some couldn’t stand it anymore. The disciples of Ten Directions Platform in this area couldn’t help but discuss, “Previously, these Gathering Spirit Array Plates weren’t selling too well, but we would still sell one every ten or eighteen days. Now, the Pan Family has used just five days to take away the shares that would have lasted us for seven or eight years.”

“Not all of it, but… a significant shrinkage is certain.”

“I’m puzzled; selling the Spirit Gathering Array so cheaply, how do they plan to make money?”

Indeed, many people thought that Wuyou Platform was selling at a loss to attract attention.

However, rumors quickly emerged that a Golden Core Great Cultivator had examined the formation and snorted coldly in the end, “Wuyou Platform’s disciples are quite ruthless, daring to sell it at such a high price.”

The Golden Core Master didn’t reveal the exact cost of the formation, only mentioning—The most expensive part of this set of arrays are those four sealed Talismans.

In fact, the emergence of this formation caused much dissatisfaction among those who relied on it for livelihood. With jobs involving Spirit Gathering Arrays already scarce, you’ve taken away our work for the coming years—how can we live?

This outcry even reached Wuyou Platform, with some approaching them, complaining about the use of mortal materials and questioning what would happen if this formation spread to the Mortal Realm.

In truth, by the fifth day of the formation’s sale, someone had already cracked the formation, and it wasn’t a Golden Core Master who did it, but a Detached Phase cultivator—there’s no shortage of various secret methods in the Cultivation World.

This cultivator destroyed three arrays and came up with a cracked version, but in the end, he sighed deeply, “Although it’s an exorbitant profit, with these Spirit Stones… one can’t earn much.”

Anyway, those well-informed knew that Wuyou Platform wasn’t dumping at low prices, but instead selling at an insanely high price.

So people were even more displeased—you selling at a loss we could barely accept, but now making an enormous profit?

Regarding the notion of “possibly falling into the Mortal Realm,” Wuyou Platform scoffed, “The rules that absolutely ensure the separation of cultivators and mortals aren’t based on array plates, but on the rules themselves… do you think the Mortal Realm doesn’t already have array plates and Spirit Stones?”

“The biggest difference is not whether the array plates have been scattered, but whether after obtaining them, they dare to cultivate?”

Sure enough, Feng Jun using mundane materials to build the Spirit Gathering Array could indeed be criticized. Fortunately, Wuyou Platform, one of the revered Five Platforms, easily provided explanations.

Would it be the same if Feng Jun had to explain it himself? The reasoning is correct, but your word isn’t enough!

As these rumors were spreading, Pan Renjie had already followed Elder Yan’s instructions and obtained eight array plates. The five disciples of the Pan Family planning to study software were also ready to set off.

But Shangguan Yunjin hoped he would leave a bit later because she was also heading to Mount Zhige and was currently busy handing over the matters related to the Spirit Gathering Array.

For a month the two journeyed, finally arriving at Mount Zhige. However, not far from the Wuyou Platform’s courtyard, they spotted a newly built residence under construction.

The scale of this residence was at least ten times larger than the Wuyou Platform’s courtyard, constructed by various stonemasons and the like, but at the entrance of the residence stood two Qi Refining Initial Stage cultivators.

Pan Renjie recognized the attire of the two disciples at a glance, and furrowed his brows, “Tiantong Commerce Alliance?”

The Tiantong Commerce Alliance was a renowned large business in the Cultivation World, originally starting out at the Ten Directions Platform and later introducing other shareholders. As he knew, the Pine Cypress Peak Yan Family was one of them.

In short, this was a shareholder company with the Ten Directions Platform as the majority shareholder and several minor ones. Because they understood profit-sharing, they were now practically the most prominent business in the Cultivation World.

Their merchandise was abundant and assorted, and although their foundation was somewhat lacking, their target market was all cultivators, unlike internal shops of the Four Great Sects which only sold to their own—no matter how good the products, ordinary cultivators were out of reach, rendering it pointless.

However, the Tiantong Commerce Alliance was not particularly friendly towards competitors. The Pan Family had its own sales storefront and, though there was some cooperation with the Tiantong Commerce Alliance, the overall relationship wasn’t particularly good.

Shangguan Yunjin, coming from a small clan, usually shopped in the platform stores and was now in charge of selling Gathering Spirit Arrays, dealing with the takeaway stores of the Wuyou Platform. She harbored no good feelings toward the Tiantong Commerce Alliance either.

Upon entering the courtyard of Wuyou Platform, they saw Wang Botai and Elder Yan arguing over a small green slab.

Impatient, Shangguan Yunjin called out, “Brother Wang, why let those people erect a residence right next to ours?”

The point was that the residence was so much larger than their own!

“We can’t stop them,” Wang Botai could only respond with a wry smile, “It’s unclaimed land, they can build as large as they want, can’t they?”

Pan Renjie glanced at Elder Yan, “Uncle Master, might this damage our Wuyou Platform’s image?”

Elder Yan shook his head, his stern face betraying no emotion, “It’s just the Mortal Realm… By the way, did you bring the Array Plates?”

“Brought them,” Pan Renjie slapped his Storage Bag, retrieving eight Array Plates.

Elder Yan checked the sky, “There’s still time. Which of you will notify Daoist Feng?”

Shangguan Yunjin, less concerned with details, pointed to a nearby table, “Isn’t there an intercom right there?”

The color of Elder Yan’s face immediately darkened while Wang Botai gave an awkward smile, reluctantly speaking, “That… I accidentally took it apart.”

As he said this, he cautiously glanced at Elder Yan, thinking it wasn’t him who wanted to disassemble it, but Uncle Master who did!

Shangguan Yunjin blinked, “Then put it back together. After all, it’s a mundane object, it doesn’t need any spiritual patterns or anything.”

Wang Botai laughed awkwardly again, shaking the green sliver in his hand, “This… It can’t be put back together now, can it?”

He was also rather frustrated. Lately, Elder Yan had been quite idle, scrutinizing everything with a microscope. At one point, he even borrowed the Intermediate Level Gathering Spirit Array from Feng Jun, intending to cultivate—paying for his own Spirit Stones.

After cultivating for five or six days, Elder Yan stopped, finding it too expensive in terms of Spirit Stones. So he picked up the microscope again, discussing with Wang Botai whether they could identify the essence of the Thunder Yin Yang.

As for this intercom, Wang Botai didn’t know how many times he had opened it up. But seeing the intricate circuitry inside, he didn’t dare to proceed any further; whereas Elder Yan was overjoyed, claiming that none of those things could elude the scrutiny of the microscope.

And thus… Pan Renjie saw the current situation.

The microscope was indeed useful, allowing them to see objects that were hard to distinguish. However, the unfortunate fact was, despite having seen these things clearly, Elder Yan and Wang Botai still didn’t know what they actually were.

While they were talking, they heard two faint rumbling sounds from afar.

Pan Renjie blinked, “Is that… Did Daoist Feng have another explosion?”

Although he hadn’t spent much time on Mount Zhige, he had heard about the rumors of Doctor Feng’s recurrent explosions.

“He’s conducting some experiments and some practice with Thunder Techniques,” Elder Yan answered seriously, “Analyzing the Formation improperly can lead to explosions.”

This wasn’t some casual comment; Feng Jun had explained this to him and he had tried it out himself, indeed finding that if the Gathering Spirit Array Plate was set up incorrectly, it could explode.

Impulsive by nature, Shangguan Yunjin turned and headed out, “Then I’ll go and notify Daoist Feng.”

Since the sales of the Gathering Spirit Array went well and a Tiantong Commerce Alliance residence had been established nearby, Sister Shangguan, who was quite concerned about customs, didn’t head directly towards the source of the noise but first went to Feng Jun’s courtyard.

As fellow cultivators, it was best to be mindful of one’s behavior within another’s domain.

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