Chapter 377: A Body Full of Debt

Chapter 377: Drowning in Debt

Chai Lun was a decisive and efficient person. The two immediately began discussing the various technical terms related to the puppet factory right there at the dinner table.

“Back when Teacher Che helped the Immortal Sect’s Fourth Armament Factory design automated machinery for weapon assembly and puppet crafting, I also tagged along as a helper. I originally thought that something like a puppet factory would only be adopted by the Immortal Sect given its massive scale,” Chai Lun remarked with emotion, stating that using puppets to replace manual labor was a very luxurious endeavor.

This was because the Immortal Sect had an abundance of cultivators, making manual labor inexpensive.

However, even the most basic first-tier puppet cost at least 100,000 meritorious deeds.

The latest data showed that the average annual salary for Qi Cultivators in the Immortal Sect was 14,750 meritorious deeds per person. In Danxia City, a remote locale, this average wasn't even met.

In other words, the cost of making one puppet was enough for Chen Mobai to hire a Qi Cultivator for nearly ten years.

Furthermore, the scope of puppet usage was quite narrow. First-tier puppets could only recognize a few common commands, making them far inferior to humans.

As for their advantages, puppets were absolutely obedient, never made mistakes, and required no rest. As long as they had sufficient energy, they would work tirelessly.

“I intend to expand and strengthen my factory; after all, I have at least two hundred years of lifespan remaining. Once the puppet factory is initially invested in, it should recover its costs in about ten years. Tightening my belt for a while now to gain substantial profits in the future seems quite worthwhile to me.”

Chen Mobai’s words were half-truths. The main reason was that puppets were absolutely obedient and discreet, ensuring they wouldn't expose his resources from the Tianhe Realm, which he was laundering within the Immortal Sect.

“But your funding seems a bit insufficient?” Chai Lun put down his wine glass, a troubled expression on his face.

He had already reviewed Chen Mobai's proposal before coming. The cost for one hundred puppets alone would amount to tens of millions of meritorious deeds. Adding the custom new equipment and assembly lines needed for the puppets, the total investment might reach nearly twenty million meritorious deeds.

Of this, just the “Heavenly Calculation Pearl” accounted for 1.8 million meritorious deeds.

“It's fine, I have a backup funding plan. And my idea is to complete the overall planning first, without a single large investment. The magical artifact equipment for making talismans and ink can be modified from existing old ones for now.”

“However, I mainly need your help, Senior Chai, in crafting the puppets to reduce costs.”

“The main body and non-critical parts of the puppets will be made of wood, which will save nearly two million meritorious deeds.”

Upon hearing Chen Mobai's words, Chai Lun couldn't help but show a surprised expression.

“While using wood can reduce costs, it ages and breaks down much faster. Originally, a puppet could last twenty to thirty years, but with wood, it might not even last ten.”

The most expensive part of a puppet was its chip, or main controller. This component was entirely about technology; if he wanted to use the Heavenly Calculation Pearl for identification and control, there was no way to cut costs.

Next came the driving mechanism. However, since Chen Mobai possessed spirit stones himself, he could save a significant amount there.

Other components like spiritual power conduits, movable joints, and regulating gears couldn't have their standards lowered for future maintenance.

However, for the majority of the remaining puppet body, any material was acceptable as long as the client (Chen Mobai) had no objections.

The most advanced materials were naturally the bionic materials used for formless puppets, which could perfectly simulate the human body.

Next were hard spiritual materials like refined iron alloys. Among these, wood was the cheapest, because it was prone to damage.

However, Chen Mobai himself was now an excellent puppeteer. He only needed the puppet factory's framework to be built first. Later, he could personally stay in the factory for maintenance and repairs.

Another major reason was that he possessed the Divine Tree Secret Realm, where spiritual wood resources were virtually inexhaustible and could be obtained for free.

In fact, there was another issue: before using spiritual wood for puppet crafting, one actually needed to check relevant documents from the Immortal Sect's Forestry Bureau to ensure the wood was approved, legally harvested, and traded.

However, Chen Mobai himself was the client. Chai Lun was hired by him to make the puppets and had implicitly assumed his junior's material sources were legitimate and wouldn't go through the extra trouble of verifying them.

Nevertheless, for safety, Chen Mobai, under the name of the Flying Talisman Factory, ordered a batch of spiritual wood from a supplier in the neighboring Yumou City with whom he had previously cooperated.

This way, even if relevant departments investigated in the future, he could produce the corresponding documents.

The quantity might be an issue, but in Danxia City, Chen Mobai was confident that with his background, the Immortal Sect's authorities wouldn't investigate to that extent. After all, Qin Baipeng had already provided him with significant policy support to help him settle down.

Furthermore, once his business grew stronger in the future, Chen Mobai planned to contract a forest farm in Yumou City. By controlling both the upstream and downstream processes, he could perfectly resolve this issue.

“I generally understand, but during production, I'll still need some guidance from you, Junior.”

After the meal, Chai Lun regarded Chen Mobai with newfound respect; his tone of voice had become notably more polite. During their discussions about the puppet factory, Chai Lun sometimes found himself unable to keep up with Chen Mobai's ideas. This indicated that his attainments in the Way of Puppetry were already inferior to this junior before him.

However, Chai Lun harbored no superfluous emotions. He even mused internally that it was only natural for Chen Mobai, as the Chief Disciple of the Martial Arts Institute, Teacher Che's favored closed-door disciple, and the Immortal Sect's First Foundation Establishment cultivator, to surpass him.

Little did he know, Chen Mobai's attainments in the Way of Puppetry were entirely thanks to the Enlightenment Tea.

“You’re too kind, Senior Chai. I'll still need you to put in some effort to gather some puppet technicians to complete the general framework of this puppet factory.”

Chen Mobai knew Chai Lun was genuinely capable, so he entrusted this business to him.

“Leave it to me.”

Chai Lun patted his chest, then immediately called his company staff, instructing them to bring various tools to Danxia City.

Upon arriving at the Flying Talisman Factory, the two signed a custom order contract.

The agreement stipulated the custom creation of one hundred first-tier labor-model puppets according to Chen Mobai's specifications, for a total price of 2.2 million meritorious deeds. In this arrangement, Chai Lun's side was only responsible for the manufacturing. Chen Mobai, as the client, was responsible for procuring all the various puppet materials. After the custom order was completed and passed inspection, the client would also be responsible for subsequent maintenance and upkeep.

Knowing Chen Mobai's financial limitations, Chai Lun generously only requested a 1 million meritorious deeds advance payment. The remaining 1.2 million meritorious deeds could be paid in installments over the next three years.

Naturally, Chen Mobai was immensely grateful.

A few days later, after helping settle Chai Lun's puppet manufacturing technical staff, he personally made a trip to Yumou City, negotiating with several timber factories. He made it seem as though he was genuinely purchasing a large quantity of spiritual wood.

Since the Flying Talisman Factory usually only stored talisman ink and paper, it didn't require a large warehouse. Thus, when the first batch of truly purchased spiritual wood arrived, there was no place to store it.

But this was intentional on Chen Mobai's part. He used this as an excuse to ask Qin Baipeng for help. He rented a large open space outside the city and placed the spiritual wood purchased from Yumou City there.

Each time before Chai Lun's team made puppets, he would arrange for staff from the Talisman Factory to come over. They would first saw the spiritual wood into various lengths as required, then transport it into the city by cart.

Most of the time, this empty plot storing spiritual wood was deserted. It only had a simple formation for enclosure and protection, to which Chen Mobai added a Mystical Mist Talisman for concealment.

Then, he painstakingly bundled the Scarlet Sun spiritual wood he had previously felled in the Divine Tree Secret Realm with his Primal Yang Sword Aura, placed his hand on them, and transported them here batch by batch via the Turtle Treasure.

Within the Divine Wood Sect, Scarlet Sun spiritual wood was primarily used for kindling fires.

This type of spiritual wood had a mild wood energy, and the spiritual fire generated by its combustion was easy to control, making it highly suitable for alchemy.

However, in the Immortal Sect, it was considered a medium-to-high-grade spiritual wood. The Green Cypress spiritual wood Chen Mobai purchased from Yumou City was even inferior to Scarlet Sun spiritual wood.

“Junior Chen, the quality of the first batch of spiritual wood isn't very good. Puppets made from it might only operate for two or three years before becoming scrap. I think we shouldn't economize too much on this cost.” In the Talisman Factory workshop, Chai Lun pointed to the first ten puppets he and his technical backbone had made using Green Cypress spiritual wood. His expression showed dissatisfaction.

“Alright, I'll listen to you, Senior. We'll return all the spiritual wood from this supplier and use wood from the second supplier for the subsequent batches.”

Chen Mobai had originally been thinking of how to naturally phase out the Green Cypress spiritual wood and switch entirely to Scarlet Sun spiritual wood. Chai Lun's words simply allowed him to go with the flow.

“Materials like spiritual power hoses, gear plates, and movable joints are sufficient, but the main controller chips haven't arrived yet. If we want to debug the puppets, we really need to expedite this material.” Chai Lun was pleased to hear Chen Mobai's ready compliance. However, he still brought up requirements regarding material supply.

Other materials were easily handled. Chai Lun's puppet manufacturing factory had its long-term suppliers. After his introduction, Chen Mobai completed the procurement at the lowest prices, and the materials were being shipped in batches to Danxia City.

However, only the main controller, which needed to be from the chip factory under the Heaven-Mending Dao Academy, could perfectly match the Heavenly Calculation Pearl.

Naturally, Chen Mobai called Lou Fengcheng again. Lou Fengcheng initially didn't want to bother, but having already helped with the first request, refusing this small one would be contradictory; it would have been better to just refuse him when he bought the Heavenly Calculation Pearl directly.

Having no choice, Lou Fengcheng could only help again, introducing a junior responsible for chip sales to Chen Mobai.

Out of respect for Chen Mobai, the Immortal Sect's First Foundation Establishment cultivator, the contract for one hundred first-tier puppet main controller chips was finalized.

However, the total value of this contract amounted to only 3.8 million meritorious deeds. Within the Heaven-Mending Chip Factory, it was arguably the most insignificant. And due to its low technical complexity and thin profit margins, it wasn't given any attention at all.

Even so, Chen Mobai needed to transfer the full payment after signing the contract before the Heaven-Mending Chip Factory would arrange for processing and production, unlike spiritual wood procurement and similar transactions, where payments could be slightly delayed and settled by the end of next year.

The Heavenly Calculation Pearl cost 1.8 million, Chai Lun's team's initial processing fee was 1 million meritorious deeds. Adding miscellaneous costs for other materials, the 5.8 million meritorious deeds in the Flying Talisman Factory's startup fund were no longer enough for the full chip payment.

Chen Mobai lamented the insufficient funds, feeling that the items from the Heaven-Mending Dao Academy were simply too expensive.

Even so, this was already a discounted price, and he only managed to acquire it through Lou Fengcheng's connections.

The Immortal Sect's most cutting-edge technologies had always been in the hands of the Heaven-Mending Dao Academy. If it weren't for the Immortal Sect keeping them in check, the prices would likely be even more outrageous.

Chai Lun's production fee had already been granted a courtesy, allowing installment payments. As for the procurement of other materials, since it was their first cooperation and Chai Lun had introduced them, Chen Mobai didn't delay payments to avoid putting his senior in a difficult position.

Left with no alternative, he activated his backup funding plan. He once again approached the Immortal Sect Bank in Danxia City and mortgaged his Six Yang Divine Fire Mirror.

Of course, only the ownership was mortgaged; the right to use it remained with Chen Mobai.

This meant that although the Immortal Sect Bank provided Chen Mobai with meritorious deeds, they did not take possession of the magical artifact. Chen Mobai still carried and used it himself.

However, if he ever failed to pay the interest or repay the loan, the bank would exercise its ownership, having the Immortal Sect's Hall of Justice forcibly seize the Six Yang Divine Fire Mirror from Chen Mobai.

This was also the most common type of mortgage loan in the Immortal Sect.

If it weren't for this being the only magical artifact he possessed with a clear origin and a well-defined provenance within the Immortal Sect, making it suitable for rigorous bank scrutiny, Chen Mobai would have wanted to mortgage his Flying Sparrow Hairpin, Golden Jade Axe, and other items as well.

However, although Chen Mobai possessed the Six Yang Divine Fire Mirror, legally, its ownership would still belong to the Martial Arts Institute after his death. This meant he only had half ownership.

Therefore, when mortgaging it at the Immortal Sect Bank, a statement of consent from the Martial Arts Institute was required.

Chen Mobai had already discussed this matter with Che Yucheng. The latter, hearing it was due to insufficient funds for building the puppet factory, hesitated but ultimately approved it.

Only for Chen Mobai would this be the case. If it were anyone else from the institute, Che Yucheng certainly wouldn't have been so accommodating.

Half ownership of the Six Yang Divine Fire Mirror was mortgaged for 13.5 million meritorious deeds at the Immortal Sect Bank.

Chen Mobai, despite being completely in debt, paradoxically felt relaxed. Holding this substantial sum, he planned to personally make a trip to Xixuan Grotto-Heaven to sort out the chip matter.

“Senior Lou? It’s Chen Mobai. I’ve booked a flight to Xixuan Grotto-Heaven for the day after tomorrow and wanted to personally thank you for your help…”

Lou Fengcheng, who was drinking tea, answered the call and heard Chen Mobai's words. He choked on a mouthful of tea, suddenly felt as if ants were crawling all over him, and couldn't help but tremble and cough violently.

“Uh, I haven't been feeling well lately, caught a slight cold. I probably can't host you, and no thanks are necessary…”

Lou Fengcheng immediately rejected Chen Mobai's offer to come over and personally thank him for his help. He then pounded his chest, promising that as soon as Chen Mobai transferred the meritorious deeds, the Heaven-Mending Chip Factory would fully prioritize production and ship the goods to him in the shortest possible time.

“Oh, I see. Alright then. Next time, if Senior Lou comes to Chicheng Grotto-Heaven or Danxia City, remember to give me a call. I'll treat you to a good drink.”

*Get lost! I never want to see you again in my life.*

After hanging up Chen Mobai's call, Lou Fengcheng immediately rushed to the chip factory in a frantic hurry.

(End of Chapter)