Chapter 281 - Shareholder
"This is the Demon Beast Detector?"
Fiend Blade Peng Hai had been paying close attention to Li Yao's work. He knew that Li Yao's patent had been approved and that he was cooperating with the Mountain Sea Sect to manufacture it. However, there had been some trouble during the promotion.
While Li Yao was on his way here, Li Yao had briefly introduced the recent events that happened to the Mountain Sea Sect, too.
The commercialized Demon Beast Detector included a body and an introduction jade.
Peng Hai inserted the introduction jade to his mini crystal processor and browsed through the document. He nodded his head while he was reading.
"Good. If its actual performance could fit the description, no, if the actual performance could be above 80% of what it is depicted, the Demon Beast Detector will be a piece of very competitive magical equipment."
"Senior Brother Peng, are you questioning the quality of the magical equipment refined by myself?"
Li Yao smiled. He never lacked confidence when it came to magical equipment.
Peng Hai smiled, too. He put the Demon Beast Detector on his left ear.
As Peng Hai's telepathic thoughts flooded in, the Demon Beast Detector emitted a faint red light, making him look ten times stronger than he already had looked.
Peng Hai shook his head hard, but the Demon Beast Detector was absolutely still.
"Such a work pattern indeed makes it much more convenient than the traditional probe magical equipment that is usually worn on the wrist. Besides, it is very light, too. Not half as cumbersome as what the three magical equipment magazines exaggerated. They say that it will influence the body balance? The target users of the Demon Beast Detector are middle-level and low-level Cultivators, whose speed will be too low to be affected by the Demon Beast Detector," Peng Hai said unapprovingly.
He took off the Demon Beast Detector and thought for a while before he said, "Your assumption makes sense. The Zephyr Guild must be stirring things up behind your back.
"Back when I was in the Crimson Nimbus Guild, I reached out to the Zephyr Guild due to business affairs several times. Their young master, Qiu Guanyu, was indeed brutal and merciless. No wonder everybody calls him 'the shark'!
"The Zephyr Guild is a major refining sect that has survived for over a hundred years. It is particularly good at refining precise magical equipment.
"However, the crystal processor technologies have greatly advanced in recent years. The functions of many kinds of traditional precise magical equipment can be replaced by a small crystal processor now, resulting to a significant loss of market for the Zephyr Guild.
"The Zephyr Guild still seems to be thriving at present. But when a boat is too large, it is very difficult to turn its direction. If it goes on like this, chances are that it will collapse within the next ten years.
"That's why the vigorous and resolute young master Qiu Guanyu has, in effect, become the true leader now. He is working hard on the transformation of the Zephyr Guild and shifting it to a bigger market.
"This year, the Zephyr Guild has released miscellaneous detectors, hoping to dominate the market of the probe magical equipment.
"However, the detectors that they put out to market are all meant to worn on the wrist. However precise the detectors may be, they're congenitally defective compared with your Demon Beast Detector.
"Stopping others from making money is like killing their patents. The Zephyr Guild has been a powerful sect for a hundred years. It can do anything in order to survive when it is pushed too far. The business tricks that you've seen are only the beginning.
"In its long history, the Zephyr Guild has been in a good relationship with the three magical equipment magazines. There won't be any trouble for it to find some second-rate critics to post several negative reviews.
"The crystal camera supplier's violation of contract is easy to explain, too. The Zephyr Guild has a high demand of crystal cameras every year. I assume that it placed a tremendous order to the crystal camera supplier in order to let the supplier breach the agreement with the Mountain Sea Sect. This way, even if the supplier has to pay a penalty to the Mountain Sea Sect, it can still gain a much higher profit from the Zephyr Guild.
"It is even possible that the crystal camera supplier has been bought out by the Zephyr Guild. Yet the Mountain Sea Sect didn't know anything about it.
"According to your description, financial information of the Mountain Sea Sect, which should be a top secret, was leaked out. The upcoming rupture of capital chain is known by the entire Cultivation world. There must be a mole in the Mountain Sea Sect."
Li Yao nodded in agreement. He knew that he was right to visit Peng Hai.
From the little information that Li Yao had given to him, Fiend Blade Peng Hai had inferred the causes and the possible outcomes of the whole event. He was truly one of the most brilliant Cultivators of his generation.
Li Yao sighed and said, "I've managed to get a sum of money that can get the Mountain Sea Sect through the trouble temporarily. But a few hundred million is far from enough to fight against a conglomerate such as the Zephyr Guild.
Peng Hai pondered a while. Eyes glaring sharply, he said, "It's not completely undoable to compete against the Zephyr Guild. But I need to confirm something with you first. Is this personal? If you are only angry because you have been humiliated by the Zephyr Guild, I suggest you just put it down and let it go. The road of Cultivation is long and hard. It's best if you can save the time and effort for training, isn't it?"
Li Yao was silent for half a minute. He looked at Peng Hai in the eyes and said, "It's not personal that I want to defeat the Zephyr Guild.
"First of all, as a refiner, every piece of magical equipment created by me has undergone painstaking procedures. They're like my children. If I don't counterattack when my magical equipment is being smeared, I will feel guilty whenever I see my own work and I won't be able to refine better magical equipment in the future.
"Secondly, Brother Guan Xiong of the Mountain Sea Sect saved my life before. I have to return the favor.
"Thirdly, my dream goes far beyond just being a random refiner. I am going to be the best refiner in the Heaven's Origin Sector!
"Daily work of a refiner costs much more than the training of a battle-type Cultivator does.
"For a battle-type Cultivator, as long as he has enough strength, he could just go to the Dark Desolate Domain where, by any luck, he would improve significantly after just one trip.
"Things are different for a refiner. In order to be the best refiner in the Heaven's Origin Sector, I'll need to build the most advanced refining workshop, not to mention the amount of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that I need to purchase, which could be a waste of money if I chose the wrong ones.
"Cultivation is a money-burning job. Cultivation of a refiner is a tremendously money-burning job!
"I need money. A lot of money!
"The Demon Beast Detector has very bright market prospects. I'm confident that it will bring me huge returns which can resolve my shortness of money and allow me to be fully dedicated to refining.
"Those are my reasons why my struggle against the Zephyr Guild is not personal, but because of a fundamental contradiction of interests."
The seriousness in his junior brother's words touched Peng Hai, who, to him, did not look like a college student, but more like a master of a sect.
Li Yao had grown a lot during the last year!
Peng Hai was more optimistic about Li Yao's future now.
He smiled and said, "Alright. Since it is not personal and is related to your fundamental interests, it is reasonable to try to beat the Zephyr Guild with all the resources at your hand!
"It's true that the Zephyr Guild is a conglomerate in the field of magical equipment refining, where it can deploy much more resources than you and the Mountain Sea Sect can.
"But don't underestimate yourself. The resources at your disposal are not insignificant.
"However, before you put the resources into use, there is a critical question that needs to be answered, which is about your position. Where exactly is your position in the competition between the Zephyr Guild and the Mountain Sea Sect?
"You are just a partner of the Mountain Sea Sect. Ostensibly speaking, the Zephyr Guild has not been targeting you. How would you justify your undertaking to summon your resources to fight against the Zephyr Guild?"
Li Yao was dazed for a moment.
"Senior Brother Peng, I don't understand. Why do I need to justify myself? And what resources do I have?"
Peng Hai smiled. He pointed at himself.
"Am I not one of your resources? However, I am not going to help you that easily. It's true that you are my junior brother. But the Mountain Sea Sect has nothing to do with me. Why would I help the Mountain Sea Sect?"
Li Yao felt he was getting what Peng Hai was trying to say,
"Senior Brother Peng, do you mean—"
Peng Hai interrupted him.
"You said just now that you have a sum of money at hand. What was your original plan to solve the capital chain problem of the Mountain Sea Sect?"
Li Yao answered honestly, "I was planning to lend the money to the Mountain Sea Sect."
Peng Hai smiled and said, "If you lend the money to the Mountain Sea Sect, the only profit you can get will be the interest. But if the Demon Beast Detector project is really as promising as you described, the Mountain Sea Sect is definitely going to flourish once it defeats the Zephyr Guild, and when that happens, the Mountain Sea Sect will gain astronomical revenues from the Demon Beast Detector.
"In that case, why don't you buy its shares now?"
Li Yao was dazed.
"Buy the shares of the Mountain Sea Sect?"
Peng Hai answered, "Correct.
"Right now, the Mountain Sea Sect is at a dead end. Nobody has hopes in them. I think it will be open to negotiations if anyone wants to buy part of its shares, provided that the majority of the shares is still under control. This way, when the Mountain Sea Sect rises in the future, you'll be able to receive a lot of dividends as a big shareholder. Isn't it much better than relying on the interest?"
Li Yao was tempted. But he felt it was too complicated for him to handle.
Things like shares and holdings were too far away from him. He didn't even know where to start.
Besides, it was going to be embarrassing for him to talk to his old friends such as Guan Xiong and Jiang Wenbo about buying their shares.
Peng Hai saw through his hesitation. He smiled and said, "It does not work as you're imagining right now.
"I have a proposal that I would like you to hear.
"First, I'll invest part of my assets and register a new sect, and you will buy the shares of the new sect to be its second largest shareholder.
"Then, we'll negotiate with the Mountain Sea Sect in the name of the new sect about the investment that we just discussed."
Li Yao's eyes opened wide in excitement. He exclaimed, "Senior Brother Peng, you're finally creating your own sect!"
If Peng Hai were to invest the Mountain Sea Sect in a big way under the name of his own sect, the potential benefits would be much more than the money itself.
It was well believed that Peng Hai would be the youngest Cultivator of the Heaven's Origin Sector to enter the Core Formation Stage someday. His fame and influence were intangible assets. Once he became a shareholder of the Mountain Sea Sect, or even an honorary board member, it would be a life line for the Mountain Sea Sect.