Chapter 253: Huge profits are attractive, Ming Dynasty builds a teleportation array Thinking of this, Jin Ao and the two elders beside him exchanged a quick glance with a hidden look, and then said, "In fact, Daoist Fellow Zhu Cong has said this before." Yan Shifan was a very capable person. He could guess what Jiajing was thinking even though he was sitting on the throne with an expressionless face. What's more, he could guess what Jin Ao was thinking who wanted to make friends with the emperor. Although he didn't know what the other party was thinking, it was not difficult to guess from his clumsy eye contact with the two elders beside him that the other party obviously agreed to his request. "Senior Zhu Cong said that he would take as many spiritual stones as my Jin family has." As expected, Jin Ao smiled and said, "Therefore, my Jin family has already made preparations in advance." "In that case, thank you very much, Chief Jin Ao." Yan Shifan smiled and bowed. "Yeah," Jin Ao nodded with a smile, but he still said, "But, this will take some time..." While speaking, he was still sizing up Yan Shifan's expression. Seeing Yan Shifan frowning, he immediately said, "It will only take half a year." "After all, time is short. My Jin family has already signed several contracts with other independent cultivator forces..." "Not only that, it takes some time to mine the spirit stone veins. After all, the spirit stone veins contain a large amount of poisonous gas that is harmful to cultivators. When mining, we must ensure that the spirit stones are not destroyed and the safety of the cultivators. Therefore, the progress of mining the spirit stone veins will be relatively slow..." Hearing this, Yan Shifan's brows relaxed, he nodded, and said, "I can understand what you said, fellow Taoist." After saying that, Yan Shifan also stood up slowly, cupped his hands, and said, "In that case, let's wait for half a year before the Jin family cuts off the spiritual stone business from the outside world."
"But in the meantime, I hope the spirit stone business can start tomorrow. Chief Jin, I wonder..." Before Yan Shifan finished speaking, Jin Ao immediately said: "Please rest assured about this, fellow Daoist! Tomorrow, my Jin family will be able to deliver the first batch of spirit stones, about 20 stones!" Twenty stones is not considered a lot for some sects and families that control huge spiritual stone mines, but in the small town of Fengling, giving away twenty stones in one transaction is already a lot. One catty weighs 16 taels, and one shi weighs 120 catties. Therefore, 20 shi weighs 38,400 taels. One tael of spirit stone is sold for two hundred taels of spirit source. The Jin family delivered 20 spirit stones in the first batch, so the total price was about million taels of spirit stones. I have to say, this price is indeed very high. Seven million six hundred and eighty thousand taels of spiritual source, such a large amount of spiritual source is enough to support a family of three who practice immortal cultivation. Moreover, if this family uses it sparingly and the quality of their life force is acceptable, it will be enough to break through to the foundation within a hundred years. As far as Yan Shifan himself knew, his father, Yan Song, had spent a full one million taels of spiritual source from the middle stage of Qi training to the current foundation-building stage since the imperial court began to provide spiritual source as materials for cultivation. Of course, considering my father's physical condition and the time he has spent on cultivating immortals, consuming one million taels of spiritual energy is already considered economical. Moreover, most of these one million taels of spiritual energy are used to polish the natal object, that is, to feed the black tiger spiritual pet. Then, with the feedback from the cultivation of his natal field and the rewards for his political achievements, he was able to break through to the middle stage of foundation building so quickly. Otherwise, given my father’s speed of cultivation, even if he was given another 5 million taels of spiritual energy, it would probably be difficult for him to break through to the foundation-building stage. "I'm curious," Yan Shifan suddenly seemed to have thought of something, and looked at Jin Ao in front of him, smiling and said, "Chief Jin, what is your family's annual income?" "Of course I'm just asking out of curiosity. If it's inconvenient, you don't have to tell me." The reason why Yan Shifan asked this question was mainly because he was curious about the Jin family. The Jin family controls a spiritual stone mine, but not the entire family. Apart from the hidden pseudo-Jindan ancestor mentioned by the emperor, there is only Jin Ao, a cultivator in the late foundation building stage. "It's not inconvenient at all." Although he was curious as to why Yan Shifan suddenly asked this, the income of the four major families could be known by just asking, so it was not a secret. Jin Ao smiled and began to talk to Yan Shifan.
"The four major families in Fengling Town mine spiritual stone veins according to the seasons." "There are only two mining seasons in a year. For example, the first mining season is from January to the end of March." "Oh? Why is this?" Yan Shifan knew nothing about the spiritual stone mines and was naturally full of curiosity. Seeing the curiosity in Yan Shifan's expression, Jin Ao couldn't help but flash a hint of doubt in his eyes. This man is backed by a powerful sect and family, but he doesn't even know that there is a season for mining spirit stones? Could it be that the powerful sect behind the other party is a hidden sect in the southern continent, or is it the first time to do the spirit stone business? Jin Ao couldn't help but start to imagine again. Although he was confused, Jin Ao did not hesitate to explain to Yan Shifan: "This is mainly due to the spiritual stone vein itself." "Fellow Daoist, you should know that the spirit stone veins are formed after the spirit veins 'die'." Seeing Yan Shifan nod, Jin Ao continued: "The reason why the spirit stone is more effective than the spirit source is mainly because of the poison gas contained in it." "When we mine the spiritual stone veins, we need the monks to use some special instruments to chisel open a whole piece of spiritual stone ore. In this way, the external spiritual energy will enter the spiritual stone veins, causing the poisonous gas inside the spiritual stone to be contaminated." "This will destroy the purity of the spirit stone." "If too much spiritual stone ore is mined in an entire area, there will be a risk of contaminating the entire ore vein." "So the mining process is very cautious." "The longer the mining process takes, the more fragile the spiritual stone veins in this area will become. If we are not careful, the poison gas will be contaminated." "So we have to stop mining for a while, and wait until the poison gas has penetrated and the spirit stone veins have recovered before we can continue." "So, if we mine for one season, we have to stop for one season. In a year, we can only mine for two seasons in total." Jin Ao said with a sigh, "However, some medium-sized and large sects and families control more spiritual stone mines, so naturally there is no such thing as a break." "After one vein stops, we can continue to move to another spiritual vein, and the season we stopped can be made up." After hearing this, Yan Shifan suddenly realized that this spiritual stone vein was different from ordinary mining. But some operating procedures are similar. In the Ming Dynasty, when mining some mineral veins, they could not dig deep in one place, but had to mine in sections. "In one season, if my Jin family goes all out in mining, we can get 40 stones of spirit stones, which means eighty to one hundred stones a year." Jin Ao said, with some uncertainty in his tone. After hearing this, how could Yan Shifan not understand that the Jin family had not yet fully exploited the spiritual stone mines under their control. If you think about this, you will understand that as for spirit stones, controlling a vein of minerals does not necessarily mean that you will make a fortune, especially when the purity of these spirit stones is only of low quality. In addition, spiritual stones also require a sales channel and a sales market. For families like the Jin family and the other three major families in the town, the spirit stone sales channels and markets are only in a corner of Fengling Town. Although Fengling Town is as big as the entire Nanzhili, it is still not big enough. Moreover, although spirit stones are free in the Western Continent, there are still more normal cultivators. The number of cultivators who use spirit stones to practice can only be said to be more than that of people in the other three continents. As a result, the large market is monopolized by large sects and families, and small families and sects can only occupy one side. Moreover, in Yan Shifan's opinion, part of the market in Fengling Town will probably be given to larger forces. After all, no matter how small a mosquito is, it’s still meat, right? "My Jin family, if we spread it out, can only mine 20 stones at most every year. And because of the restrictions on sales channels and the market, the spiritual stones are mainly sold to retail investors, so..." Jin Ao said with some embarrassment, "We have a lot of inventory every year."
"Previously, Senior Zhu Cong has already purchased a batch of 20 stones to be delivered to you tomorrow. They are all goods in storage." "In other words," Yan Shifan smiled, "there is no such thing as seasonal mining for the Jin family's spiritual stone veins?" "Ahem," Jin Ao coughed lightly, knowing that the other party had found a loophole in what he said before. A hint of embarrassment appeared on his face, but he still said, "I can't hide it from you, fellow Taoist." "The inventory of my Jin family is indeed only 20 stones left, but now that you have purchased it, in order to ensure the integrity of the spiritual stone vein, we will have to mine it in different seasons in the future." Now that he had been exposed by Yan Shifan, Jin Ao stopped pretending. Previously mentioned were orders with other people, mining seasons, and so-called inventory detention, all of which were to create the illusion that the Jin family's spirit stone sales were good. The purpose is also to leave more room for the Jin family, so that the "dragon crossing the river" in front of them will think that the Jin family is very strong. In fact, the four major families, whether it is the Jin family or the other three families, can only mine very few spirit stones every year. After all, the sales channels and markets are limited, and there are too many individual cultivators and retail investors, so the market is still divided among the four major families. Moreover, how much spiritual energy can be obtained from a casual cultivator? Therefore, the mining of Lingshi ore veins is just a matter of mining and selling at any time. The so-called inventory does exist, but that is because the goods have not been sold and are stored, not because too much has been mined. "I understand." Yan Shifan smiled and did not ask about the income. Instead, he bowed to Jin Ao and said: "Chief Jin, in that case, I will take my leave. I will come to pick up the goods on time tomorrow." Based on the mining information provided by the other party, Yan Shifan knew without a doubt that the Jin family did not earn much from the spirit stone business. However, this is also a good thing, as Zhang Juzheng's previous plan to control the entire Fengling Town can be easily realized. When the Jin family becomes stronger and stronger with the spiritual power provided by the Ming Dynasty, the other three families will definitely not sit idly by. Then, it depends on what choice the Jin family will make, whether to cooperate with the three major families or to destroy the three major families... By then, the Ming Dynasty will only need to stand aside and watch. The Ming Dynasty is sure to take over this small Fengling Town! Moreover, through this contact, although not much was said, Yan Shifan already had an estimate of the Jin family members. In terms of strength and cultivation, they might be stronger than them. But playing with brains and manipulating power, it's not that Yan Shifan is conceited, he can easily kill these people. In fact, in his opinion, this long-standing immortal cultivation family is not as good as a merchant family in the capital of the Ming Dynasty. For example, before this, merchants who were loyal to the Yan family, such as Mr. Shen, were talented, smart, and shrewd merchants who came to this area and were able to play the Jin family around. The Jin family and their group reduced Yan Shifan's awe, which he had always had since he entered the world of cultivating immortals. Although the Ming Dynasty started cultivating immortals very late, it might not be inferior to others in terms of political schemes and calculations. Doesn’t a mortal country also have its own advantages? "Okay, take care, fellow Daoist." Jin Ao immediately led a group of family leaders to see him off with a smile. After watching Yan Shifan leave, Jin Ao gave a wink to the family's senior leaders, and then everyone returned to the meeting room. "Two elders, what do you think?" Jin Ao asked directly. "The sect or family behind the other party is very large, there should be no doubt about that." The serious and dark face of the great elder Jin Zhong relaxed slightly, and he spoke first. "That's right," the second elder Jin Yi also nodded and analyzed in a deep voice: "But this person is not simple either." "I didn't really start testing you until I was about to leave, just to make you relax your guard. I tested you with just a few words and made you reveal your vulnerability." Hearing this, Jin Ao's face was a little embarrassed. How could he not know that the Second Elder was talking about the fact that he concealed the true situation of the Jin family's spiritual stone mine mining and was discovered by Yan Shifan.
"But what puzzles me is that the other party's expression when he asked about the mining situation of the spirit stone vein did not seem to be false." "If the other party is from a powerful sect or family in the southern continent, he would not have such doubts." "There are three possibilities," the Great Elder said at this time: "Either the other party did this on purpose to test the clan leader, or the other party has never done any spirit stone business." "Or, the other party is really a member of a hidden sect family. Now he has come out of seclusion, but there is no suitable source of spirit stones in the southern continent. In addition, the family is powerful and has no scruples, so he came directly to the western continent to seek cooperation." "As for why we don't directly seek cooperation with those powerful families and sects, it must be out of caution." "I think the third possibility is more likely!" Hearing this, the second elder thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "I agree with my elder brother." He paused for a moment and continued: "I don't know if you noticed that it was only two days after the Jindan-stage cultivator named Zhu Cong left, these people came today." "There is no large-scale inter-domain teleportation array in Fengling Town. If you want an inter-domain teleportation array, you must go to a large Xiuxian city." "And the distance between us and the Xiuxian Great City is such that even if we use a flying shuttle, it will take us three months to travel." "Moreover, the other party did not seek cooperation from those big forces. It is obvious that they want to keep a low profile. Therefore, the biggest possibility is that we have built a teleportation array in the manor given to Zhu Cong." "To be able to independently build a cross-domain teleportation array in such a short time, and to build it without any noise..." As he spoke, the Second Elder took a deep breath, his face showing fear, and said: "You should know that no matter how powerful your force is, if you want to build a cross-domain teleportation array, you must obtain the approval of Dazhu Academy and register it." "And building it in secret would cause quite a lot of noise. It would require building a large protective array in advance. Once it is built successfully, it would instantly drain the spiritual energy within a radius of thousands of miles." "This is definitely a big deal in our town, but the other party built it without making any noise. What does this mean?" "This shows that the other party in the southern continent is definitely a huge force with a history of more than ten thousand years." "I'm afraid that some families that can be compared with the academy may have existed when the academy was first established." "Hiss!" Following the Second Elder's logical and careful analysis, the sound of gasps was heard in the hall. Well, I can only say that there is something to the Second Elder’s analysis. According to common sense, it is indeed true. It’s a pity that the people of the Ming Dynasty traveling between the two worlds is something they cannot understand. While everyone in the Jin family was discussing Yan Shifan, the young minister had already returned to the manor. "Twenty stones, more than seven million taels of spiritual energy..." At this time, everyone in the cabinet was also shocked by the huge profits of the spiritual stone business. It’s not that they haven’t seen Lingyuan. The spiritual source comes from the spiritual vein. You should know that the grade of the spiritual vein under the Ming Dynasty is only grade three. Without damaging the spiritual veins, the amount of spiritual resources mined every year can be said to be countless. A mere seven million taels of spiritual energy is nothing to these high-ranking cabinet officials. What's more, North and South Zhili have added 72 spiritual veins of high quality, which can produce more spiritual sources. For example, the elders in the cabinet, in addition to the immortal salary recorded on the surface, each of them can get more spiritual source. In other words, the current Ming Dynasty, although its overall cultivation strength is not as good as those super sects and families in the world of immortal cultivation, but in terms of spiritual source, it is definitely a super sect standard. The most important thing is that the potential of Ming Dynasty is much stronger than that of super bulk. What surprised everyone in the cabinet was the contrast between value and price. For example, a certain shuttle with the strongest performance and the latest model from a certain shuttle shop was priced at more than 7 million taels of spiritual energy. There was no problem with that.
But if twenty stone of spiritual rice is sold for more than seven million spiritual sources, the profit hidden in it is enough to be tempting. Unfortunately, in the eyes of everyone in the cabinet, spirit stones are completely worthless. Although the effect of this thing on cultivation is much stronger than that of spirit sources, using spirit stones for cultivation is equivalent to destroying one's own path to immortality. But this kind of poisonous stuff, with only twenty stones, was sold for more than seven million taels of spiritual energy. It was impossible not to attract people's attention. For these old foxes, the profit was almost instantly understood. It would be a lie to say that they were not tempted. For a moment, except Qingfeng and Chanshuang, everyone, including the two kings, had eyes shining. In the Ming world, the spiritual stone market is not circulated, but how huge is the world of cultivation? If they also do spiritual stone business, how much spiritual source can they collect every year? And not only spiritual sources, but also other resources can be obtained, such as skills, magical powers, ancient beasts, magic tools, spiritual herbs and medicines, etc. With these things and sending them to the Ming Dynasty, how fast will their family develop in the future? As for the Ming Dynasty's conquest of the world of immortal cultivation in the future, it is too far away for them. When the Ming Dynasty conquers the world of immortal cultivation and establishes a unified system, the spiritual stone thing will definitely have to be abolished. However, during this period, they had already accumulated enough resources for the development of the family, and it was time to clean up their mess and get out of trouble. We also want to do the Lingshi business! This is the voice of all the old foxes present. Even Zhang Juzheng, a "good guy" who had already written the dangers of spiritual stones into his strategy for reforming the country, now secretly decided in his heart that he must get involved in the spiritual stone business. For a moment, everyone in the Cabinet and the Imperial Household Department understood each other tacitly, and the atmosphere became strange. "Hmph," Qingfeng, who was sitting at the side and always talking about the spiritual fruits that are specialties of the world of cultivation, turned his bright eyes around. He keenly sensed the plans of these old foxes and couldn't help but hum in his heart, thinking to himself, "I knew that these old guys would not let go of the spiritual stone business." Sitting next to her, Zen Shuang, who was always well-behaved, wearing a simple white linen dress and with Buddhist beads hanging around her neck, shook her head gently, then lowered her head silently, picked up the Buddhist beads with both hands and rubbed them. At the same time, she kept chanting "Amitabha" in her heart. She felt that these ministers were too greedy. Unfortunately, she was also a part of it. If light can coexist with darkness, then is it a false light? The Buddhist Zen master began to comprehend the Zen. "Hypocritical Buddha." Qingfeng, who was eating the spiritual fruit, noticed the actions of Chanshuang beside him, puffed his cheeks and muttered. These words made Chan Shuang, who was trying to comprehend the Zen in his heart, pause in rubbing the Buddhist beads in his hands. The masseter muscles on his delicate face were slightly visible. He tried hard not to argue with this bad woman. After taking a deep breath, he continued to rub the Buddhist beads, comprehending himself in his heart and thinking. "Ahem!" At this moment, noticing everyone's excitement about the spirit stone, Yan Song coughed lightly, drawing everyone's attention back to himself, and said slowly: "Regarding how to gain a foothold in the world of immortal cultivation, according to what Yan Shifan said, it shows that Uncle's plan is feasible." "The other three families will not sit idly by and watch the Jin family dominate. It all depends on what the Jin family chooses next." "But this matter has nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty," Yan Song paused and said, "The next focus is on how to transport spiritual stones and other supplies to the Ming Dynasty." "The spirit stones will be transported from the manor to the capital, and we will each take them to our respective homes. However, the spirit stones will eventually be delivered to the two factories." Yan Song looked at Qingfeng, who was only focused on eating the spiritual fruit with puffy cheeks, and Chanshuang, who was rubbing his Buddhist beads with his head down. However, after seeing the state of the two women, he turned his gaze to Huang Jin and Chen Hong and said, "I think we can build a transportation channel from the various cabinets to various places along the southeast coast." "However, this is a serious matter. Spiritual stones are something that cannot be seen in public, so it is not appropriate to transport them openly." "In addition, since the emperor has allowed us to enter the world of immortal cultivation, we cannot just focus on the spiritual stone resources. This world of immortal cultivation also has many resources such as refining equipment, elixirs, spiritual herbs, etc." "Any resources that my Ming Dynasty doesn't have can be transported over from the Xiuxian World."
"In this case, the pace of development must keep up." "The establishment of spiritual energy factories in overseas countries and the transportation of industrial products in the future will be too slow if they rely solely on shuttles and ships..." Hearing this, Prince Yu's heart moved, thinking of a material that everyone saw in the market today when they were strolling around, and said, "What Lord Yan meant is..." "Yes, as your highness thought," Yan Song bowed slightly to Prince Yu and said, "It's time to build a teleportation array in Ming Dynasty." "Today, when we were strolling in the market, we saw a kind of refining material called 'Ethereal Stone'." "This item is necessary for refining storage bags, storage rings, and building teleportation arrays." "A space teleportation array can be built by a cultivator in the Jindan stage, but this requires the Emperor's help." "We don't need too many for now. One in each of the southern and northern Zhili provinces, and one in Europe, or two or three will be enough." Hearing this, everyone looked at Prince Yu and Prince Jing. After all, the two kings assist the cabinet, and after the cabinet holds a meeting and makes a decision, it can report to the two kings. Now that the problem of the source of spirit stones has been solved, spirit stone factories will be quickly established and used in large quantities for construction, and products to strengthen the Ming Dynasty will also be produced continuously. Indeed, building a teleportation array within the territory of the Ming Dynasty can greatly improve efficiency. Relying solely on today's immortal tracks and shuttles is too slow. Besides, how can a dynasty of immortal cultivation not have a teleportation array? It’s not like the Ming Dynasty couldn’t afford a teleportation array! Moreover, after the teleportation array is established, the products of the world of cultivation can be directly transported through the teleportation array. If they could establish a stable foundation in the world of cultivating immortals, they could then build a stable delivery chain just like the "Nanlingzhongshu" project proposed in the era of spiritual energy industry. "Okay, I will report this to my father." Thinking of the various benefits of building a teleportation array, Prince Yu nodded in agreement. Afterwards, everyone discussed some follow-up issues and then dispersed, while Prince Yu and Prince Jing contacted Jiajing. From the moment they entered the world of cultivating immortals, everyone, like Lu Fang, could freely enter their natal plateau to contact Jiajing. Of course, this is just a way for everyone to enter their own Ming Dynasty and then contact Jiajing through their own Ming Dynasty. It was the same scene as before, when Jiajing pulled everyone into his destiny and conferred titles on them as immortal officials. After receiving the reports from Prince Yu and Prince Jing on the cabinet discussions, Jiajing agreed without much thought. Afterwards, he asked Lu Fang's Mingri Tower to collect a large amount of "empty spirit stones" and bring them into the Ming Dynasty. Since we have decided to build a teleportation array in Ming Dynasty, we should build a few more, especially in North and South Zhili. We can afford it. Moreover, if Ming Dynasty wants to plan its future plans for the cosmic star world, teleportation arrays will be indispensable. "..." (End of this chapter)