Seeing this, Zhao Jinge stopped the two of them and said, "Alright, let's stop with all that useless chatter. Let's resolve this first, and we can discuss the rest later."
After a moment's silence, Zhao Keqin said solemnly, "I just did a calculation. We now have twenty-one spirit fish: nineteen under a hundred years old, one first-class green carp over a hundred years old, and two first-class red carp over two hundred years old. The total weight of spirit fish meat is twelve thousand kilograms."
This was no small sum. Retail sales alone were insufficient; they needed to develop new, larger customers or try selling in more distant markets.
Of course, it would be best to persuade old customers like Yudan Pavilion and Bailianfang to change their minds."
After saying that, Zhao Keqin thought for a moment and added, "This is only our production for half a year."
After he finished speaking, someone interjected, "If there were a new major buyer, we would have found it a hundred years ago. Looking for one now? In a word, difficult!"
As soon as the conversation started, all the cultivators of the Zhao family began to discuss.
Someone shouted, "We can just sell it off bit by bit and wait for a while to see if things can turn around. The family just made a little money anyway. It should last a year or two."
"No, that's too negative. I think it would be best to send someone to Bailianfang and other old customers to get information. If that doesn't work, we can lower the price a bit."
"Old Nine, isn't that a bit pessimistic? I think there's something strange going on here. We'd better hold off until the two elders have established their foundations, and then make plans."
"This isn't good either. After all, our Zhao family is a family of immortal cultivators that has produced several Foundation Establishment cultivators. The more difficult times are, the more we must stand firm. Otherwise, if others see through our family's weakness, it will be too late to regret."
Hearing this, Zhao Kezhang quickly agreed: "That's right! We can't show weakness on our own initiative."
At this moment, Zhao Jinpeng suddenly cursed: "Bullshit! Without a Foundation Establishment cultivator in charge, the more forceful we act, the more we appear weak inside. Do you think those Foundation Establishment cultivators are all idiots?"
Zhao Jinpeng is a radical member of the Zhao family's first branch, and he is always the first to lag behind in criticizing the second branch.
After he finished speaking, someone else offered his suggestions and opinions.
Zhao Sheng listened silently, nodding and shaking his head in his heart.
Through this incident, he discovered that the Zhao family also had several capable members, and not all of them were good-for-nothings.
When everyone else spoke, Zhao Sheng was the only one who remained silent.
This seems very strange.
Zhao Jinge looked at Zhao Sheng and thought about what happened a few days ago.
So he tried to ask: "Chonghe, can you tell me?"
Zhao Sheng smiled and didn't refuse. He said directly, "Everyone here is my elder. If there is anything I say that is wrong, please correct me."
At this point, he began to speak: "First, we need to clarify one question. In this matter, who is our enemy? Who is our friend?"
Without giving everyone time to think, Zhao Sheng asked again: "Yudan Pavilion, are Bailianfang our enemies?"
He said decisively, "No! They are not enemies, because even if the Zhao family is ultimately defeated, they won't gain much benefit."
"Then who is our enemy? Whoever can gain the greatest benefit in the end is our enemy."
At this time, Zhao Sheng saw that everyone was listening with some impatience, so he quickened his pace and said: "The spirit fish was returned. The interests of not only our Zhao family but also our old customers have been damaged.
So someone must have offered a greater benefit. For example, they promised that after the Zhao family's fall, the price of spirit fish would drop significantly, or some other empty promises like that."
At this moment, Zhao Jinpeng suddenly interrupted him and questioned, "You've been talking a lot, but it's all nonsense. Our most urgent task now is to resolve this matter."
Zhao Sheng smiled slightly and said, "This is actually very easy to resolve. Since they don't want it, we might as well not sell it for the time being and just be patient for a few months."
As soon as these words were spoken, they caused an uproar.
Zhao Jinpeng immediately sneered, "No! That's easy for you to say. If you don't sell the spirit fish, how can we cultivate in the future?"
Zhao Sheng responded: "Someone just said that without a foundation-building master, no matter how the family reacts to the outside world, it will seem insecure. Therefore, the best option is not to overreact and let everything take its course.
We should try to delay as much as possible until the two elders come out of seclusion, and then we can make a decision."
"Haha, you've said a lot of nonsense, but to sum it up in one sentence, you should remain unchanged in the face of ever-changing situations!" Zhao Jinpeng sneered sarcastically.
"Sixth Master, you are right." Zhao Sheng nodded with a smile.
Zhao Sheng actually had a way to solve this problem, but he chose to stand by and watch.
Because he deeply understood one truth: "Sometimes, appropriate external threats can promote unity within the family."
In his opinion, the Lingyu incident came at the right time. Although the actions of the mastermind behind the incident could not be said to be stupid, they were not very smart either.
If it were him, he would take the initiative to raise the purchase price of the spirit fish, and then unite a number of forces to place a huge order with the Zhao family.
When delivery is approaching, the order is suddenly cancelled.
At that time, the Zhao family, who had consumed a large amount of spirit stones and elixirs in order to catch enough spirit fish, finally regretted it too late and had to be slaughtered.
After Zhao Sheng's speech, the meeting ended quickly and hastily, and no one proposed an effective solution.
Finally, I decided to take a multi-pronged approach.
The Jin generation went to lobby various forces to see if they could persuade them to change their minds.
Several members of the "School" generation took a batch of spirit fish to several nearby markets to sell. Although independent cultivators were reluctant to buy, and the general spirit food halls had limited purchases, they still sold as much as they could.
The remaining younger generations of the Chong generation had to stay at home and not go anywhere.
Soon, most of the Zhao family's immortal cultivators in the middle and late stages of Qi training went out, leaving only a group of immortal cultivator rookies at home.
To prevent accidents, under Zhao Sheng's strong suggestion, the family did not hesitate to waste spirit stones and activated the Ten-fold Water Dragon Formation, a mountain protection formation.
For the next half month, Zhao Sheng devoted himself to practicing hard while drawing the invisibility talisman.
The invisibility talisman is indeed one of the nineteen most difficult first-level talismans to draw.
Even with his talent, Zhao Sheng still failed repeatedly.
After half a month of hard work, his face was pale and lifeless, his eyes were as dark as a panda's, and his spirit and body seemed to be hollowed out.
However, most invisibility talismans still fail, with only two or three out of ten being successful.
However, the sad news does not end there.
As expected, Zhao's persuasion ended in failure, and after selling the spirit fish for half a month, only about two thousand kilograms were sold.
As I said, although spirit fish meat is good, it is not a necessity like elixir.
As the Zhao family cultivators returned in failure one after another, the atmosphere in Longli Lake became more and more depressing. Even the mortal relatives were affected. Many mortal clansmen felt very panicked, as if the sky was falling.