Starting My Cultivation With Time Management-Chapter 794 - 31: The Debate Over the Discourse of Tool-Making
Chapter 794: Chapter 31: The Debate Over the Discourse of Tool-Making
The Shennong Cauldron was a bronze quadrupedal cauldron with two ears, looking unremarkable on the outside. In fact…
In fact, it seemed nothing special as well.
When True Yuan was injected into it, it was like injecting into a stone, without any reaction.
The two didn’t have the time to test everything, and rushed toward the Penglai Jade Pure View at full speed.
Meanwhile, within the Penglai Jade Pure View, things were far from calm.
All seven elder Magic Artifact experts of the Sect had come together to visit the Master of Xuandu to discuss the matter of resource reallocation.
“When Elder Shi Ding was still with us, the output and quality of the Heavenly Craft Workshop’s Magic Artifacts were the best in Yuqing View, so it was reasonable for us to take the largest share of the Sect’s resources,” grumbled one elder, “But now that Shi Ding has tragically fallen, the number of high-rank Magic Artifacts produced by the Heavenly Craft Workshop has drastically decreased. If the original allocation of resources remains unchanged, it would seem quite unreasonable.”
“Ahem,” the Master of Xuandu clearly wanted to smooth things over, and coughed before speaking, “It seems to me that the income brought in by the Heavenly Craft Workshop has not decreased by much.”
“That’s only because they’ve been selling poorly made and cheap Flying Swords in bulk to Loose Cultivators, which has led to a slight rebound in revenue!” another elder said while bringing out a Flying Sword for everyone to see, “Look at this, the most basic Daoist Magic seals haven’t even been applied. If it’s hit by any strong Daoist Magic, it’ll immediately be damaged and fail!”
“A few days ago, an old friend brought this very Flying Sword to me, asking if it was from our Yuqing View. I was too embarrassed to even answer!”
“That’s…” Although the Master of Xuandu was not a Sword Caster himself, he knew how to distinguish good from bad. When the elder presented the sword right before his eyes, he couldn’t possibly lie and say “This sword is fine,” and could only insist, “There’s no regulation within the View that the Magic Artifacts sold to the outside world have to be of a certain quality.”
“The Sect Leader is not wrong,” said the third elder, joining in the conversation, “However, selling good products naturally requires good materials; if you’re selling poor products, why would you need so many resources?”
“The Heavenly Craft Workshop can certainly choose a strategy of thin margins and high volume, but everyone knows how much that costs. Our point is, if the Heavenly Craft Workshop is only going to produce Golden Core Rank Magic Artifacts, then they might as well be treated as Golden Core Rank Artifact Refiners, with materials and salaries adjusted downward for the time being.”
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“Once the quality of their Magic Artifacts improves, it won’t be too late to increase it back!”
“Exactly, exactly!” the elders chorused noisily.
The Master of Xuandu could only give a wry smile without saying a word. Although these people were talking about “temporary adjustments,” once the extra portion of resources was cut, wouldn’t it immediately be snatched up by these elders?
And later, when it was time to increase it back, from whose share would it come? Could the meat that reached their mouths be spat back out? Obviously, it would become a muddled mess of disputes!
After pondering for a moment, the Master of Xuandu turned to look at Elder Miaoling of the Jade Light Pavilion.
Since the passing of Elder Shi Ding, the Jade Light Pavilion had become the leading Artifact Refining faction, and Elder Miaoling’s reputation among the View’s refiners had risen rapidly, seemingly poised to replace Elder Shi Ding.
As for Master Jingyun… even though he was Second Grade Golden Core, he had not yet reached the Nascent Soul Realm.
For the Sect, he might be a Cultivation Seed, but the Artifact Refining circle didn’t care about one’s potential. If you couldn’t refine a Magic Artifact of sufficient grade, your seniors wouldn’t give you the time of day.
With the wisdom of the Master of Xuandu, how could he not see that although these people had “come together to visit,” in reality, they were revolving around Elder Miaoling?
Even if it was a time to divide the spoils, these people were just the knives for cutting the meat, and in the end, the matter still had to be negotiated with the person holding the knife.
“Hehe,” Elder Miaoling, still looking like a kind-faced old woman, tapped her cane on the floor upon noticing the Sect Leader’s gaze, “Elder Shi Ding’s body is barely cold, and you all press so hard, is that really alright?”
The several elders, who were still arguing loudly, suddenly fell silent, each showing an expression of some embarrassment.
Act! Keep acting! Master of Xuan Du sneered inwardly.
“Sect Leader, I too shall speak a word of justice,” Elder Miaoling continued, “The distribution rules within our sect were set by Wan Xiang Immortal in the past, and they emphasize one thing above all: fairness. You get as much as you contribute in resources and produce.”
“Ever since Elder Shi Ding’s fall, the production of magic artifacts from the Heavenly Craft Workshop has sharply decreased, which everyone can understand… Master Jingyun has just formed his Golden Core, and it’s unlikely that he could have mastered his father-in-law’s artifact crafting skills so thoroughly in such a short time.”
“Therefore, this distribution system has been maintained for several years, mainly to give the Heavenly Craft Workshop time to recover.”
“Now that enough time has passed, it’s natural that we, the elders, must think of ways to fill the gap in the output from the Heavenly Craft Workshop; otherwise, we can’t explain ourselves to the various Daoist friends from outside, can we?”
Master of Xuan Du pondered in silence, unable to deny in his heart that Elder Miaoling was correct.
The standing of Penglai Jade Pure View today is partly due to its political alliance with the powerful Kunlun Taiqing Sect, and partly because it has made many good connections outside.
Elixirs, Talisman Scripts, Magic Artifacts… Many high-rank cultivation resources can only be produced by Penglai Jade Pure View; hence those high immortals in need naturally have to give Penglai some face.
The fall of Elder Shi Ding of Heavenly Craft Workshop led to a production shortfall in high-grade magical treasures.
The high-rank cultivators who used to seek out Elder Shi Ding for artifact crafting now don’t even know whom to approach, and some have even come to the Master of Xuan Du with their inquiries.
What could the Master of Xuan Du do? Indeed, there was no one to replace him, so all he could do was to patiently appease them and send them away.
If Elder Miaoling and the others could make progress in the art of crafting and fill eight or nine parts out of ten of the gap left by Elder Shi Ding, that would certainly be ideal.
But this meant that the Heavenly Craft Workshop’s share of resources would have to be correspondingly reduced… Since the Protective Sect Array still relied on Master Jingyun for maintenance, how could he kick the Heavenly Craft Workshop while it was down!
“I hear that it is Master Jingyun who is currently in charge of the Protective Sect Array?” Elder Miaoling suddenly asked.
“Indeed,” replied the Master of Xuan Du with a nod.
“Hehe, it has been many years since the Demon Cult besieged Penglai,” said Elder Miaoling with a gentle smile, “After working on it for so long, it still hasn’t been fixed? I suppose it’s because Master Jingyun is not very familiar with formations.”
“I happened to meet Elder Yun Zhen while I was out visiting friends recently. Upon hearing that the Penglai Great Formation had been breached by the Demon Cult, the elder expressed a willingness to come back and take a look.”
The Master of Xuan Du was slightly taken aback.
Elder Yun Zhen, once an elder of Penglai Jade Pure View, specialized in Talisman Scripts, but he also dabbled in Formation research.
However, this elder went outside to establish his own sect later on, so many Penglai cultivators today don’t recognize this senior.
The Protective Sect Array, if left to Master of Xuan Du’s preference, should absolutely not be handled by anyone outside of Penglai cultivators.
But strictly speaking, Elder Yun Zhen is not an outsider, but a “former Penglai resident”… It’s hard to say whether he can be trusted or not.
He will need to seek guidance from Wan Xiang Immortal before proceeding.
