37 Chapters on Promoting Unity through Threats

Zhao Jingge, seeing this situation, stopped the two and said, "Enough, no need for those useless words. Let us solve this matter first, and discuss the rest later."

After a moment of silence, Zhao Keqin, with a solemn expression, said, "I have just calculated. We currently have twenty-one spirit fish in hand, nineteen under a hundred years old, one First-Rank Green Carp over a hundred years, and two First-Rank Red Carps over two hundred years. The total of the spirit fish meat is twelve thousand jin.

This is not a small number. Relying solely on retail is far from enough; we must develop new major customers or try to send it to further workshops for sale.

Of course, it would be best to persuade old customers like Jade Pill Pavilion and Hundred Refinement Room to reconsider."

After finishing, Zhao Keqin thought for a moment and added, "This is only our production for half a year."

After he had spoken, someone interjected, "If there were new major buyers, we would have found them a hundred years ago. Now, looking for one? A single word, difficult!"

Once the topic was broached, members of the Zhao family began discussing vehemently.

Someone exclaimed, "The worst we can do is sell a little bit at a time, drag it out for a while, and see if there's a turn of events; after all, the family just had some surplus. We can still support for a year or so."

"No, that's too passive. I think, it's best to send someone to old customers like the Hundred Refinement Room to gather information, and if needed, lower the prices a bit."

"Ninth, aren't your words passive as well? I think there's something odd at the core of this issue. We'd better stay idle for now. Let's plan after the two elders have reached Foundation Establishment," another argued.

"That's not good either. Our Zhao family, after all, is a Cultivation Family that has produced several Foundation Establishment Cultivators. The more difficult the times, the more we need to hold our ground. Otherwise, letting others see the frailty within our family will lead to late regrets," someone contended.

Hearing this, Zhao Keshang quickly agreed, "That's right! We cannot show weakness proactively."

At this moment, Zhao Jinpeng suddenly cursed, "Nonsense! Without a Foundation Establishment to stand guard, the harder we act, the more obviously frail we appear. Do you think those Foundation Establishment Cultivators are fools?"

Zhao Jinpeng, the radical member of the Zhao family's main branch, was always at the forefront when it came to conflicts with the second branch.

After he spoke, others began to express their suggestions and views.

Zhao Sheng listened quietly on the side, nodding or shaking his head occasionally.

Through this matter, he realized that not all members of the Zhao family were incompetent; some were quite capable.

When everyone else had spoken, only Zhao Sheng remained silent.

This appeared quite strange.

Zhao Jingge looked at Zhao Sheng, recalling the events from a few days ago.

He then tried asking, "Chong He, would you like to share your thoughts?"

Zhao Sheng smiled and did not decline, directly stating loudly, "All present are my elders. If there are any discrepancies in what I am about to say, please correct me."

Having said this, he began, "First, we need to clarify one issue. In this matter, who are our enemies? Who are our friends?"

Not giving the crowd time to think, Zhao Sheng continued, "Are Jade Pill Pavilion and Hundred Refinement Workshop our enemies?"

As he spoke, he declared decisively, "No! They are not the enemies, because even if the Zhao family were to be defeated, they wouldn't benefit greatly."

"Then... who are our enemies? Whoever stands to gain the most from our downfall is our enemy."

At this point, seeing that the people were growing impatient, Zhao Sheng sped up his speech, "The spirit fish were returned. Those who suffer are not only our Zhao family but also our old customers.

So, there must be someone offering greater benefits, such as promising that after the downfall of the Zhao family, the prices of spirit fish will drastically reduce and other such empty promises."

Just then, Zhao Jinpeng suddenly interrupted him, challenging, "You've rambled a lot, but it's all useless talk. What we urgently need now is a solution to this issue."

Zhao Sheng gave a slight smile and said, "Actually, this matter is quite easy to solve. Since they don't want it, let's not sell it for a while and just endure for a few months."

As soon as he spoke, it immediately caused an uproar.

Zhao Jinpeng scoffed, "Not sell! You make it sound so easy. If we don't sell the spirit fish, how will we continue to cultivate in the future?"

Zhao Sheng replied, "Someone has already mentioned that without a Foundation Establishment elder, no matter how the family reacts outwardly, it seems weak. So, the best choice is to avoid any drastic reactions and let things take their natural course.

We should try to stall for time until the two elders come out of seclusion, then making a decision won't be too late."

"Heh, talking in circles just to summarize it in one sentence, 'remain unresponsive to myriad changes' eh!" Zhao Jinpeng derisively said in a mocking tone.

"Sixth Master, well said." Zhao Sheng responded with a smile and nodded.

Zhao Sheng actually had a way to solve this issue but chose to sit on the sidelines.

Because he deeply understood a principle: "Sometimes, an appropriate external threat can promote unity within the family."

In his view, the timing of the spirit fish incident was just right. The tactics of those pulling the strings behind the scenes, although not foolish, were also not particularly clever.

If it were he, he would have actively raised the purchase price of the spirit fish and then collaborated with various powers to place an extremely large order with the Zhao family.

Right before the delivery, they would suddenly cancel the order.

At that time, the Zhao family, having expended a large amount of spirit stones and elixirs to catch enough spirit fish, would truly regret their actions too late and be at the mercy of others.

After Zhao Sheng spoke, the meeting quickly concluded in a hasty manner, and ultimately no effective solutions were proposed.

In the end, it was decided to take a multi-faceted approach...

Members of the Jin generation went to various powers to negotiate and see if they could persuade them to change their minds.

A few from the Ke generation took a batch of spirit fish to several nearby workshops to sell. Although loose cultivators were reluctant to buy and general spirit food restaurants had limited purchase volumes, selling even a little was better than nothing.

The remaining younger members of the Chong generation stayed home, going nowhere.

Soon, most of the Qi Refinement mid and late-stage cultivator members of the Zhao family went out, leaving only a bunch of cultivation novices at home.

To prevent accidents, under Zhao Sheng's strong recommendation, the family, not minding the depletion of spirit stones, activated the Mountain Protection Array, the Ten-layered Water Dragon Formation.

Over the next half-month, Zhao Sheng buried himself in intense cultivation while also fully devoting himself to crafting the Invisibility Talisman.

The Invisibility Talisman truly is among the hardest to craft of the nineteen First-Order Talismans.

Even with his talent, Zhao Sheng still frequently failed.

After half a month of hard work, he looked pale and lifeless, with dark circles under his eyes like a panda, and appeared as though he were physically and mentally drained.

But the majority of Invisibility Talismans still ended in failure, with only about twenty to thirty percent success rate.

However, the bad news did not stop there.

Unsurprisingly, the Zhao family's attempts at persuasion also ended in failure, and after half a month of scattered selling, only about two thousand kilograms of spirit fish were sold.

It's the same old story; although spirit fish meat is good, it's not an essential item like elixir pills.

As each member of the Zhao family Cultivator returned from their unsuccessful endeavors, the atmosphere around Dragon Carp Lake grew increasingly oppressive. Even the mortal relatives were affected, feeling extremely panicked as if the sky were falling.