Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Celestial Maiden Tian Shou led An Lin into the conference palace.
The legendary conference palace of the Heavenly Palace wasn’t all that impressive and luxurious. Instead, it was much more plain and simple, with some intricately crafted wooden screens and simple wooden seats.
Aside from that, there were a few pieces of artwork created by Lin Junjun. Those were probably the most beautiful things within the conference palace.
The Celestial Thearch didn’t wear his imperial robe. Instead, he wore a white robe with a black sash while holding a foldable fan as he greeted An Lin’s arrival with a smile.
An Lin and the Celestial Thearch had met a few times, but he was still a little nervous.
This was mainly because he was a little apologetic about earning all that money from the human piggy banks… ptui! His daughters!
To his surprise, the Celestial Thearch was quite friendly today, and An Lin’s heart soon settled.
An Lin pulled out the photographic crystal for the Celestial Thearch, and the Celestial Thearch’s eyes gradually lit up as he viewed the footage.
“An Lin, your lightning manipulation ability can even slow down the descent of tribulation lightning?!” The Celestial Thearch was astonished.
He had witnessed An Lin helping Liu Qianhuan with her tribulation transcendence, but at that time, he was only able to manipulate the direction of the lightning. But who would have thought that he would also be able to control the speed of the divine lightning as well?
“That’s right, I do indeed have that ability.” An Lin nodded.
“This is fantastic! You are the lucky star of this world!” The Celestial Thearch laughed heartily.
A sudden influx of large quantities of violent energy could quite easily overwhelm a cultivator, but if the violent energy entered their bodies at a curtailed rate, then they would be able to digest it slowly.
An Lin paused for a moment before continuing, “However, I require some compensation from other cultivators for helping them transcend their tribulations.”
The Celestial Thearch nodded with a smile. “That’s quite reasonable. We can’t expect you to do things for everyone for nothing in return.”
An Lin was a little surprised at how reasonable the Celestial Thearch was being.
He hesitated again before continuing, “Hmm, I would like you to use the power of the Heavenly Court to advertise my ability to the entire continent. And I’m going to charge a million spirit stones per person.”
The Celestial Thearch took a deep breath upon hearing this. One million spirit stones per person? This was quite a hefty price!
“What if there are some Soul Formation Stage cultivators that don’t have that much money?” the Celestial Thearch asked.
One had to realize that there were even some Return to Void Stage cultivators that didn’t have a million spirit stones. It would be quite difficult for Soul Formation Stage cultivators to fork out so much money.
An Lin shrugged. “If they don’t have that much money, then they’ll just have to start saving! In the vast majority of cases, cultivators are only poor because they couldn’t resist spending their money. They buy pills, immortal fruits, weapons… It would just be spirit stones if they leave them in their storage rings. Only by spending them on assets can the value of the spirit stones truly be exemplified!
“If a cultivator at the pinnacle of the Soul Formation Stage work hard and save up, a million spirit stones is not an unrealistic target. Even if they can’t save that much, they can still borrow money! Spirit stones can be saved up again, but you only have one life, isn’t that right?”
The Celestial Thearch was convinced upon hearing this.
“Then how are you going to guarantee your success rate?” the Celestial Thearch asked.
“In any case, I can only slow the tribulation lightning down to the extent that you can see on the photographic crystal footage. As for whether the cultivators can handle it, it would be down to them!” An Lin replied with a smile.
The Celestial Thearch fell silent for a moment before shaking his head. “That’s not good enough. Even with the Heavenly Court’s endorsement, your power is still not enough to attract other cultivators. If we’re going to do it, then we have to make it the best it can possibly be. Is there something we can do to make cultivators think that you’re really reliable?”
An Lin stroked his chin before a smile suddenly appeared on his face. “No problem! I can raise the price to one million five hundred thousand spirit stones!”
“Gasp… What kind of solution is that?” The Celestial Thearch’s eyes widened.
“Let me finish.” An Lin held up a hand before continuing, “I can give them a guarantee for a successful tribulation transcendence, and we’ll return the one million five hundred thousand spirit stones to a person of their choice if the tribulation transcendence fails! How about that?”
The Celestial Thearch faltered for a second before slapping his folded fan into his palm. “That’s genius!”
Celestial Maiden Tian Shou was a little perplexed. “Isn’t raising the price going to make fewer people willing to employ An Lin’s services? And that guarantee to return all the spirit stones upon failure. Isn’t that a bad deal for An Lin no matter how you think about it?”
A smile appeared on the Celestial Thearch’s face. “Let me explain this to you. An Lin’s mark-up in price is only to encompass the successful tribulation transcendence guarantee.
“Doesn’t it make his service feel a lot more reliable and instill confidence in others when we offer a money-back guarantee? However… His actual ability has not changed, nor has the rate of success.
“As for your concern that a failed tribulation transcendence would result in losses for An Lin… Think about it this way. Just the money-back guarantee alone would attract a huge number of cultivators. We would earn much more from those that succeed in their tribulation transcendence with the money-back guarantee in place than if we were to go without a money-back guarantee and have a smaller client base as a result!”
Following the Celestial Thearch’s explanation, Celestial Maiden Tian Shou finally understood.
This was actually just a psychological trick!
Did a money-back guarantee make the whole thing more trustworthy?
No! In reality, An Lin’s skill level hadn’t changed, nor had the success rate. All he was doing now was to earn money from successful tribulation transcendences!
He could also use this as a promotional tactic to attract a large number of Soul Formation Stage cultivators. In comparison with just charging ten Soul Formation Stage cultivators, they could attract maybe a hundred Soul Formation Stage cultivators with this marketing tactic, which would result in much higher earnings, even if the success rate was only fifty percent!
This was undoubtedly an extremely clever move!
Celestial Maiden Tian Shou’s eyes lit up as she beamed at An Lin. “Mr. An Lin, you’re so smart!”
A faint smile appeared on An Lin’s face. “I am indeed!”
“You sure are honest and frank, An Lin.” The Celestial Thearch chuckled. “Next, we have to discuss the Heavenly Court’s share. I’m not asking for much. I’ll only be taking ten percent of your earnings!”
An Lin’s eyes widened. “You want compensation as well?”
This was something that could benefit the entire world! Was the Celestial Thearch taking it upon himself to save the world? Then shouldn’t he just be silently giving instead of receiving…
“Hehe…” The Celestial Thearch chuckled lightly. “Don’t you remember what I said to you? You can’t expect people to do something for you for nothing in return. This is quite a reasonable notion, and I recall you were quite approving of my words…”
An Lin’s lips twitched slightly. F*ck! No wonder the Celestial Thearch was so willing to support him, this was a trap!
“The Heavenly Court has to promote your service and provide endorsement as well. This is going to require a lot of labor, time, and money, as well as incurring risk to the reputation of the Heavenly Court. As such, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for some compensation, right?” The Celestial Thearch was still wearing a harmless smile, giving him the appearance of a benevolent, amiable, middle-aged man.
Even though An Lin’s heart was throbbing with pain, he had no way to refuse!
“Alright… Deal!” An Lin gritted his teeth before spitting out an agreement.
This would actually provide more security for him as well as this was now a joint business venture between himself and the Heavenly Court, from which both parties would stand to profit.
“Hahaha, you’re an open and honest person, An Lin. Then I’ll set things into motion, you just wait to pick up the money!” The Celestial Thearch was feeling quite elated.
An Lin pursed his lips. He had to expend energy to control the tribulation lightning. Meanwhile, the job of spreading the news was a much easier task. Once a reputation was built up, they wouldn’t even have to put any more effort into promotion.
The Heavenly Court was the one truly waiting to pick up money…
