I Cultivate Immortality With Scientific Thinking

Chapter 61: Platform

"Platform?" Xu Mengyun immediately noticed this word, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. "What does this mean?"

"It means that I am not a seller or a buyer, but rather someone who wants to be a middleman between the two," Lin Chen explained.

"Just a book transporter?" Xu Mengyun pondered for a moment, finding it difficult to understand. "What's the benefit in that?"

"The benefits are huge. We can gain the most spirit stones with the least amount of effort," Lin Chen lightly tapped the table, smiling.

"How is that possible?!" Xu Mengyun was surprised.

Her family had always emphasized honest business practices, where each party involved received a fair share of the profits. This was the first time she had heard of such an idea.

"Let me give you an example, Senior Sister. Do you know the price at which the sect buys back the Purple Cloud Pill refined by alchemy disciples?" Lin Chen didn't directly answer her question, but instead asked in return.

The Purple Cloud Pill was a pill commonly used by Qi Refining Late Stage cultivators to enhance their cultivation.

"One pill costs two spirit stones," Xu Mengyun recalled for a moment and immediately gave the answer.

As an information broker for the sect and someone who was knowledgeable about pills and cultivators, she naturally paid attention to this aspect.

Then, on the sect's exchange order, what is the price for a bottle of Purple Cloud Pills? And how many pills are there in total?" Lin Chen continued to ask.

"A bottle costs thirty spirit stones, with a total of six pills. If we calculate it like this, it means that one pill..." Xu Mengyun paused, her eyes widening. She understood what Lin Chen meant.

To act as the transporter between buyers and sellers, thus profiting from both ends in the process!

Lin Chen didn't want to be a seller because he didn't want to invest too much energy into it. So he chose to be a middleman, profiting from both ends with the least effort and the most gain!

"But in that case, would the sellers agree? After all, it would harm their interests," Xu Mengyun raised a question.

"Would they dare to disagree?" Lin Chen smiled, his voice carrying a hint of coldness. "At that time, we would monopolize the entire market. Whether these books can be redeemed or not would be up to us. If anyone has objections, we can directly suppress them."

"Even if some sellers have a bit of reputation, can those cultivators who buy their books really go against us for these books? Of course, if they unite, we can divide and conquer, giving some benefits to the top level and having them help us in return."

"And Senior Sister, don't underestimate the fact that we profit from both ends. By forming a platform and controlling the entire market, we expand our influence and can bring more spirit stones to the authors. From this perspective, although we do less, the benefits we bring to the sellers are not insignificant!"

Xu Mengyun fell silent, calculating in her mind before looking at Lin Chen and sighing lightly. "Junior Brother, you are quite suitable to be a businessman."

"Haha, I'm just talking on paper. If we really take action, we still have to rely on Senior Sister!" Lin Chen laughed and shook his head, continuing to speak.

"And we can also penetrate the market and find more buyers to earn more spirit stones!"

"Penetrating the market? What does that mean?" Xu Mengyun furrowed her eyebrows.

"It's simple. It means expanding the sale of books to the entire Azure Cloud Sect region and establishing sub-markets in various major districts."

"Independent cultivators need an outlet for their bloodthirsty lives, and low-level cultivators need to relax under the pressure of competition. These are all potential customers."

"The Azure Cloud Sect is vast, containing countless cultivators. Even if only one-tenth, no, even if only one percent of them are tempted to purchase, how many spirit stones would that bring us?"

"And we also need to transform in the Late Stage."

"Transform?" Xu Mengyun hadn't had time to digest Lin Chen's previous words when a new term came up. Without thinking, she asked.

"When you see and experience more, you gradually become accustomed to it. At that time, when the spiritual needs caused by physical desires cannot be satisfied by the books we provide, we will need higher-level spiritual sustenance."

"What is that?" Xu Mengyun asked instinctively.

"That is the carefree pursuit of longevity, which is the purpose of our cultivation." Lin Chen looked up and gazed into the distant sky.

"Human beings are short-lived creatures. In the eyes of the heavens and earth, they are nothing more than a fleeting dream. That is why they yearn to coexist with the heavens and earth, to shine alongside the sun and moon."

"And in life, not everyone is wealthy with countless spirit stones. Naturally, they have to face various constraints and cannot be free, oppressing their own will. That is why they yearn for the freedom without any constraints."

"With desires, naturally comes needs. With needs, naturally comes a market. So we can create this type of book."

"From now on, the books of romance and passion will correspond to the lower-level cultivators, while the books of carefree longevity will satisfy those who seek immortality and have no hope of reaching the Gold Core stage in Foundation Building."

"We can even produce books with abundant cultivation knowledge and practical information to sell to those determined seekers of the Dao."

"In this way, cultivators with different needs will correspond to different types of books, catering to all levels. How many spirit stones will that bring?" Lin Chen asked with a smile.

"Well..." Lin Chen's words made Xu Mengyun instinctively calculate.

There are tens of thousands of cultivators in the sect, and if there are tens of thousands more outside the sect, even if they only earn a few spirit stones per year, that would still be hundreds of thousands of spirit stones...

Hundreds of thousands?!

Stacked together, these spirit stones would probably form a small mountain. Xu Mengyun had never even seen such a sight, let alone possess it!

"Not only that, we can also sell a book in volumes, divided into five parts, and release them in batches."

"Of course, we need to output enough books to the market, so we need a sufficient number of writers."

"We can allocate some extra spirit stones to certain disciples, allowing them to continuously improve their cultivation and create a situation where low-level disciples can advance to the Foundation Building stage through writing books. This will attract many people to join us... Of course, this can only be arranged after we reach the Foundation Building stage ourselves."

"Hmm... The purpose of cultivating in various arts is to earn enough spirit stones for oneself. There is no rule stating that it must be in a certain form."

In other words, if writing books can earn spirit stones, who knows how many cultivators would invest in it.

Perhaps thousands of years later, it will become one of the various arts of cultivation. At that time, there might be cultivators proclaiming, "I have achieved the Dao through writing!"

"But, will the benefits brought by this cause others to become greedy?" Although Xu Mengyun was confused by Lin Chen's words, she hadn't forgotten the most crucial aspect: the benefits.

"A platform is not so easily formed. It will take at least several years, or even around ten years. By that time, I will have reached the Foundation Building stage."

"And the interest group formed by the writers and cultivators supported by this market will be strong enough to contend with other cultivators." Lin Chen took a sip of spiritual tea.

"As for Gold Core Ancestor? They don't care about these benefits. Maybe they will even give us preferential treatment because of the effect of these books," Lin Chen said meaningfully, putting down his teacup.

Then, he changed the subject and said, "Since we have already envisioned the future, shouldn't we talk about something more practical, like how to do it and how to divide it?"

When it came to dividing the spirit stones, Xu Mengyun finally woke up. She couldn't understand what Lin Chen had said before, so she could only nod in agreement. Now that they were talking about money, she finally returned to her familiar territory.

"How do you plan to divide the work? How do we divide the spirit stones?"

"Sister, what are you talking about? It's not good to divide the spirit stones separately. We should work together and reap the rewards together!" Lin Chen said in surprise.

"Don't try to deceive me, you little brat. You keep contradicting yourself. Sister is really afraid of being sold by you and still having to count the money for you," Xu Mengyun rolled her eyes.

Although Xu Mengyun couldn't understand what Lin Chen had just said, she understood that Lin Chen also had means in business, so she had to be on guard!

Our relationship is one thing, but money is another. The two cannot be mixed together!

"I have a clear conscience, but the moon shines on the ditch!" Lin Chen's face showed a bitter expression as he sighed lightly. "I don't want to do business with Sister, I want to invest in Sister!"

"Invest?!" Xu Mengyun was completely confused.

"I will write the books, provide labor, seize the market, and let Sister be the host. In the end, we will split the profits 70-30."

"Wait a minute! I am the host, why do I get 30% and you get 70%?" Xu Mengyun quickly caught onto this point.

"I will do the work, write the books, not to mention the promotion, operation, and advertising..." Lin Chen said confidently.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Xu Mengyun couldn't understand another bunch of words and her head started to ache. "Don't say those things anymore, let's split it 60-40!"

"I get 60% and you get 40%..."

"Not possible!"

After a heated argument, Xu Mengyun finally had a pained expression on her face. She took out a precious spirit contract from her storage bag and signed a contract to split the spirit stones 50-50.

"Goodbye, Sister!" Lin Chen waved his hand and sent Xu Mengyun away. Then he sat down on the chair, raised a cup of spirit tea, and took a sip.

"I am good at talking on paper, but when it comes to actually doing it, I may not be able to handle it," Lin Chen looked towards the distant horizon with a deep gaze.

Creating a platform where both sides benefit, how much profit would that bring? Lin Chen was not unaware. If there was a choice, he would also want to monopolize it.

But the reason he brought Xu Mengyun along was not because of their relationship, but because he himself didn't have the ability to do it alone.

He transmigrated, that's true, but it doesn't mean he knows everything.

He just has a different way of thinking and understanding from this world, but he can't be proficient in everything.

Although he seemed knowledgeable when he was talking just now, he would probably be confused when it came to actually doing it.

After all, in his previous life, Lin Chen was just an ordinary college student. Maybe he could gather some knowledge from the internet, but when it comes to business, he is a layman.

You should know that when it comes to business matters, having ideas is one thing, but being able to execute them is another.

Ideas are just beautiful visions. In order to succeed, you need startup capital, connections, reputation, subordinates, buyers who trust you, and so on. However, these things cannot be accumulated overnight.

If he had a few hundred years of lifespan, he wouldn't mind slowly accumulating these things while doing research. But he only has about a hundred years of lifespan, and he has various research projects and promotions to consider. Time is pressing, and he can't afford to be distracted.

So the best way is to find a business-savvy partner who can do the work while he takes a share of the profits.

And this partner must have a certain influence and power within the sect.

But their strength cannot surpass Lin Chen's, otherwise they won't be able to control him. They also can't have too much involvement with other forces, otherwise they will be restricted by higher-ups. So all things considered, Xu Mengyun is the best candidate within the entire sect.

Coincidentally, Lin Chen happens to know her and their relationship is quite good. They have the basic level of trust, so they can naturally cooperate.

However, it's interesting that the beginning of their relationship was when Xu Mengyun accidentally encountered Lin Chen bathing in the creek. From then on, they had a connection.

But Lin Chen has always been a very cautious person. He wouldn't relax his vigilance in an unsafe situation, so how could he be bathing in the creek naked and unexpectedly be discovered by her?

"So it's true that life is like a play, all depending on acting skills!" Thinking of this, Lin Chen smiled slightly and looked at the setting sun sinking on the distant horizon, finishing the spiritual tea in his hand.

He stood up, just about to leave, but suddenly he paused and took out a communication talisman from his hand.

After reading the information on it, Lin Chen fell silent for a long time and softly said, "It seems it's time to resolve the matter with the Lin family..."

On the other side, Xu Mengyun, who was returning to the Cave Mansion, felt more and more uneasy.

During the profit sharing just now, although Lin Chen had been arguing with him, she felt that he was too relaxed.

This junior brother of hers is not an easy person to deal with. How could he be so accommodating?

Xu Mengyun took out the contract and carefully examined the terms written on it.

"He will help me with promotion, operations, advertising, and even publishing. Although I'm not quite sure what this means, it seems like he's doing a lot... There doesn't seem to be any problem, but why do I always feel something is off?"

"Junior brother, junior brother..." Xu Mengyun closed her eyes and carefully recalled the information about Lin Chen.

"Lin Chen, always likes to be alone, during the outer sect competition... Wait a minute, alone?!"

Xu Mengyun instantly realized something was wrong.

Lin Chen doesn't have enough capital, connections, or influence. He doesn't have much reputation in the market. He claims to be helping, but how much can one person really do?

In the end, it's still up to her, the host, to do everything. He only needs to publish a book.

No, even later on, he doesn't even need to publish the book. Other cultivators can write it, and he will be responsible for the platform and do the grunt work, while he just waits for his share of the profits. So in the end, his only role is...

To lie down and collect money?!

Finally, the matter with the review is settled, and I can bring the chapters back. I apologize for the delay.

(End of this chapter)