Chapter 1048: Chapter 1048: Attitude Towards Piracy

“Three thousand Spirit Stones?” Elder Yan couldn’t help but call out in a low voice–although right by his side was the Loose Cultivator Liang Zhongyu from Mount Zhige.

The place where Liang Zhongyu resided was essentially a contact point for loose cultivators on Mount Zhige, and this site was established on Feng Jun’s territory–because the loose cultivators lacked an Ascended-phase expert, which was originally a weakness, it now became an aspect that made them the envy of major powers.

This contact point was previously managed by Feng Jun’s comrade-in-arms, Ji PingAn, but now it was Liang Zhongyu’s turn, as he was an old businessman.

Mount Zhige seemed bustling, but not many significant events happened daily–places where big events occurred every day are called the United Nations.

As soon as Liang Zhongyu heard that Hei Luan had arrived, he definitely wanted to join in the excitement–being a liaison, responsible for spying on intelligence, joining the excitement was his primary job.

Actually, the people of Mount Zhige treated him quite well–knowing that these individuals were considered “friends” by Mountain Master Feng, and Mountain Master Feng really didn’t have many friends; even the Crimson Phoenix Sect, one of the Four Great Sects, could only set up a small courtyard outside the mountain gate.

Thus, after Liang Zhongyu came out, he quickly understood what had happened.

The sales of generators… well, there weren’t many places they could sell, but they were in charge of all the associated after-sales service.

Barely having dealt with Tiantong, and now… another one’s showing up?

Liang Zhongyu had to analyze clearly what had happened–of course, even if he didn’t figure it out, he could just ask Feng Jun, but if they had to consult Feng Jun about everything, what would their value be?

So, while rubbing shoulders with others, he heard these pieces of news; people from Wuyou Platform were aware of his background and did not shun him from getting closer.

Elder Yan was extremely surprised by this news, “Botai, have you gone mad… giving me so much?”

Upon hearing this, Wang Botai’s heart swelled a bit, “Elder Yan, this is what you deserve.”

He himself had earned ten thousand Spirit Stones and honestly, Elder Yan hadn’t helped much, but merely the status of an Ascended-phase expert was a golden signboard; he too, like Feng Jun, wanted to give half to Elder Yan–it’s important not to forget one’s roots.

But then he thought again, sure Elder Yan had helped him a lot, but hadn’t Elder Brother Pan and Shangguan Yunjin helped a lot, too?

Shangguan Yunjin aside, Pan Renjie was either working at Mount Zhige or running around for him.

Benefiting from Feng Jun’s distribution plan, Wang Botai also felt that he couldn’t be too stingy.

Elder Yan was stunned for a good while before he digested the news and when he heard that Wang Botai had collected a total of ten thousand Spirit Stones, he didn’t feel envious; he was just very curious about one thing, “Why would Thunder Plains pay such a high price for the generator technology?”

What Liang Zhongyu was thinking was something else, “Fellow Daoist Wang, if Thunder Plains were to make their own generators, who would be responsible for the after-sales service?”

Wang Botai knew that Liang Zhongyu and his group had undertaken all the after-sales, so he responded with a smile, “At the beginning, you guys may have a role to play, but eventually, Thunder Plains will definitely train their own maintenance staff.”

A hint of a shrewd glint flashed in Liang Zhongyu’s eyes, “Thunder Plains training their own? Heh, I’m really looking forward to them training some talents…”

He was originally a small trader and had done his fair share of deceiving and cheating. If it wasn’t for Feng Jun buying the title of Love Knight, he would still be deceiving people; he was not short of dirty tricks.

Wang Botai also came from a small family and understood the tricks within the loose cultivators quite well. Hearing this, he laughed and shook his head, “You’re overthinking it, Elder Brother Liang. As long as you closely follow Mountain Master Feng, there will be too many opportunities; why restrict your gaze here?”

“It’s easy for you Wutai Disciples to say,” Liang Zhongyu replied unconvincedly, “You don’t know how many people are involved in this business… Do you know how many retired Combat Cultivators there are?”

Wang Botai, hearing that it involved retired warriors, was also taken aback, but still responded with a smile, “Alright, I admit that I don’t know the number, but Mountain Master Feng said that Thunder Plains will eventually be able to manufacture all spare parts on their own.”

Liang Zhongyu was also surprised by this statement, “No way, wires, light bulbs and the like… they can make all that? Are you kidding me?”

“I’m not the one who said this,” said Wang Botai, spreading his hands and responding openly, “Mountain Master Feng said it… He said Thunder Plains have such a foundation, and he said that we should look forward, not dwell on these primary products.”

Upon hearing that it was Feng Jun who said it, Liang Zhongyu believed it by eighty percent and didn’t get hung up on it, but rather muttered softly, “How can he be so confident about Thunder Plains?”

Feng Jun’s confidence in Thunder Plains was not in oil or anything like that, but if a cultivation power wanted to produce industrial products and had certain artifact refining capabilities, they could definitely find alternative methods.

Products produced in this way might have high costs at first, but as they ramp up mass production, the costs would definitely decrease gradually, until reaching an astonishingly low level.

However, Feng Jun was indeed quite tempted by the Cultivation World’s “oil,” instructing Wang Botai to see if he could acquire some land with “Fossilized Insect Corpses” after returning to the Cultivation World.

In the meantime, Luo Lieyang had gained quite an understanding of generators, and he believed that with Wang Botai’s company, Thunder Plains would soon be able to make their own generators, but before he left, he still had to discuss one thing with Feng Jun–that was, battery storage.

As a Thunder cultivator, Feng Jun had a great interest in anything that could store electricity, and Thunder cultivators themselves possessed objects that stored thunder–the Yunlei Stones.

Yunlei Stones are naturally occurring wonders and quite rare. Even during the High Tier of Qi Refinement for a Thunder cultivator, it could not be guaranteed that every person would have one. Furthermore, these stones have a lifespan, approximately able to charge and discharge a thousand to eighteen hundred times before shattering.

Therefore, for Thunder cultivators, these items are not only luxury goods but also consumables, with prices remaining consistently high.

Feng Jun exported generators and Boiler Camel Motorcycles but rarely sold batteries. Even with the communication systems, he did not include batteries–if the power went out, so be it. At the beginning of the industrial revolution, one shouldn’t expect uninterrupted communication.

The key point was that if a Boiler Camel Motorcycle or generator broke down, it couldn’t be fixed in a short period. Having a battery wouldn’t make much difference.

However, contrary to “ordinary circumstances,” the world is so vast that there are always some “special cases.”

For example, the Prefectural Governor of Baiyue County acquired a Boiler Camel Motorcycle for his home that allowed lighting and the use of fridges and air conditioning, making the hot summers comfortable.

But soon, the Prefectural Governor’s mansion realized that one generator was not enough–once broken, they would have to endure candlelit nights, and the air conditioning and fridges would become unusable.

It’s easy to transition from frugality to luxury, but difficult to return to frugality. Having gotten used to cool summers, the mansion could hardly bear the heat anymore, so they got another Boiler Camel Motorcycle as a backup, hoping to switch seamlessly.

This involved batteries. Feng Jun quoted a high price for them, but they simply didn’t care–money speaks!

One can infer that wealthy people in the Mortal Realm have access to batteries, and naturally, this is even more the case in the Cultivation World.

However, the batteries Feng Jun usually sold were lead-acid batteries; the price of lithium batteries was too high–since he received Gold for selling Boiler Camel Motorcycles and it was hard to spend, he certainly had to consider cost issues.

Of course, he had also sold high-capacity lithium batteries before. One client was the supplier for the Wuyou Platform’s mission point system.

What Luo Lieyang was interested in was this high-capacity lithium battery. In his view, it was still quite inferior to the Yunlei Stones, but you couldn’t beat the low price.

A 100-degree lithium battery pack, costing roughly 100,000 Huaxia currency on Earth Plane, would have a 500-fold profit margin for Feng Jun, which was about 50 million Huaxia currency, equivalent to 200 kilograms of Gold.

In Feng Jun’s eyes, even if a Spirit Stone was priced at 1 billion Huaxia currency on Earth Plane, he would not part with it.

That is to say, if he sold such a 100-degree battery to the Thunder Cultivators of Zhige, even for half a Spirit Stone, he could ensure a 500-fold profit, which is an absolute killing.

But what could Thunder Cultivators of Zhige do with half a Spirit Stone? Only buy fifty pieces of shattered Spirit Stones, the price of staying in an inn for two days. To be able to buy a rechargeable battery with that, wouldn’t that be quite a steal?

Feng Jun felt this was a business worth doing, but Luo Lieyang obviously had higher aspirations–he even wanted the technology for these batteries.

Feng Jun flatly refused, “I can’t give you the technology; I will only sell the finished product.”

“Why is that?” Luo Lieyang expressed his incomprehension, “We have already grasped the basic principles of the batteries, which are nothing more than Yin Yang electrodes and some charge-retaining liquid. Given enough time, we could certainly figure it out.”

“It seems you have only analyzed lead-acid batteries,” Feng Jun said with a faint smile, “I can say responsibly that high-capacity batteries are different–lithium batteries… they can explode, and the complexity of the process is beyond your imagination.”

Batteries are different from generators; they are consumables, and if used frequently, one will soon need to purchase new ones. Furthermore, the technology involved in high-capacity batteries is much more advanced than that of generators.

Feng Jun hoped to promote generators as quickly as possible, for only after entering the electric age would his numerous electrical products be useful, allowing him to better rake in money.

As for batteries, he would rather spare the idea. Profitable consumables are something he wasn’t willing to hand over easily.

Luo Lieyang seriously stated, “We could soon launch a replica of your lead-acid batteries.”

Feng Jun’s eyes narrowed, and he sneered coldly, “If you insist on doing so, the consequences will be severe… I hope you can believe that.”

Of course, his thoughts were not about using force against Thunder Cultivators to achieve the purpose of punishing piracy; he saw no need to do so.

As long as they dared to produce counterfeits, he would not mind teaching them a lesson and showing them what “dumping at low prices” means.

Industrial products from a different plane, even if sold at a tenth of the price, would still boast dozens times more profit–how intimidating is that!

“I didn’t mean that,” Luo Lieyang quickly waved his hand upon hearing this, “Casually using another’s critical technology… I would never stoop to doing something so shameless.”