Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 105 What to do when there's a shortage of people?

In the original game, each top-tier crystal requires 3 premium crystals to synthesize, and each premium crystal requires 3 common crystals to synthesize. Therefore, the 30,000+ crystals in your inventory will eventually amount to only 3,000+ top-tier crystals after synthesis.

Zhang Chengdao had specifically observed these three types of crystals. In addition to their size, there were indeed some differences in quality. For example, the concentration of the finest crystals was higher, while that of ordinary crystals was the lowest.

The synthesized crystals all have the same appearance, and theoretically only he could do it. Therefore, he held the "right to mint coins" in his hands—and for the time being, he didn't have to worry about "counterfeit coins".

With more people, the sect's "communal dining" system needs to be changed to free trade. In addition to food, other resources can be purchased as needed, so that disciples won't be left bewildered with excess resources.

In other words, Zhang Chengdao simply replaced the previously allocated resources with spirit stones; the total value remained unchanged.

Of course, if they stopped issuing currencies that circulated in the market, they would have to set up a special "money exchange" to exchange for gold and silver—since they didn't lack gold and silver anyway.

If someone is unwilling to exchange spirit stones for gold and silver directly, they can purchase some low-level spiritual materials from within the sect and then resell them. How much they sell depends on their individual abilities, and the sect will not prohibit them from doing so.

Anyway, the resources available for purchase within the sect are all common and not particularly valuable. We can just set up a separate "Sect Shop" later...

The more Zhang Chengdao thought about it, the more he felt it was becoming too gamified...

He glanced silently at the cheat code panel in his field of vision, and swallowed back the urge to complain.

In addition, Zhang Chengdao decided to simply rename these three types of crystals as "superior spirit stone", "medium-grade spirit stone" and "inferior spirit stone". Of course, the exchange ratio cannot be one to three, as such a calculation is too abstract, even more abstract than hexadecimal, which is not conducive to promotion. It would be best to use decimal.

In short, the so-called high-grade, mid-grade, and low-grade spirit stones are all overused concepts in various cultivation novels and games, so... here you go!
After briefly explaining his thoughts to Xu Ying, Xu Ying frowned.

"The sect leader is right. If the sect can buy those immortal items with gold and silver, then there's no guarantee that some people won't be greedy and hoard large quantities of the sect's goods to resell... You can't test people's hearts. The sect leader's arrangement is indeed thoughtful, but..."

Xu Ying tentatively asked, "If we were to determine the exchange rate between spirit stones and gold and silver, how would we do so?"

Good question. Zhang Chengdao had no idea either.

But as the sect leader, he can't be oblivious to the implications.

So he thought for a moment and said, "Well, set the price a little lower, and you can only exchange spirit stones for gold and silver, not gold and silver for spirit stones."

Xu Ying's brows furrowed even more: "But if that's the case, I'm afraid some people in the common people will use large amounts of gold and silver to exchange for spirit stones, and in that case, the spirit stones will fall into the hands of the common people."

Zhang Chengdao replied, "But no matter how many spirit stones are scattered among the people, the number of spirit stones distributed by the sect each month is fixed. Even if someone collects more, they can only use a limited amount. There will be no situation where they buy up all the spirit materials I have prepared for everyone in the sect."

Xu Ying breathed a sigh of relief and bowed slightly, saying, "What the sect leader says is very true!"

“Build a shop in the sect and let…” Zhang Chengdao thought for a long time but couldn’t think of a suitable candidate. He had no choice but to bring up Ye Shuyun and said, “Let Ye Shuyun be in charge. Give him the position of purchasing manager. He can manage the purchasing of goods and the shops within the sect.”

This guy is too rich, and his character is based on the Hua Qitong template, so he definitely wouldn't embezzle!
"As for the shops... let's choose another open space on either side of the square, expand the area, and build a commercial street. The money exchange for spirit stones can also be located here." At this point, Zhang Chengdao suddenly remembered that there seemed to be a building in the original game that he had always overlooked: the Night Market.

This is a very simple building, just a platform made of a few broken wooden planks surrounding a huge tree. In the original game, there were many stalls within the Night Market area, and these stalls came from various villages. Every night, villagers from each village would come to set up stalls and sell resources...

Back when he was playing the game, Zhang Chengdao always used the Night Market to sell resources to earn money whenever he ran out of cash, which was very useful.

However, since the villages in the game don't exist in reality, there's no way to open night markets or buy and sell resources, so Zhang Chengdao hadn't paid much attention to it. But now that he thought about it, he realized that in the early stages, the few stall buildings he had manually created could be put into use immediately, and the currency system and free trade system could be established as soon as possible.

Thinking of this, Zhang Chengdao continued to make arrangements: "Tell Ye Shuyun about these things when you have time, but don't rush. Have him draw out the location of the commercial street first, and I can set up a few temporary stalls for use."

Xu Ying nodded in agreement, but then cupped his hands and said, "Sect Leader, I have something else to report."

"That's it."

"Sect Leader, our sect is short-handed; we simply don't have enough people!"

Xu Ying looked bitter and resentful.

Zhang Chengdao glanced at the dark circles under Xu Ying's eyes and felt rather guilty.

Indeed, with such a large operation, there's a real shortage of manpower. But if they were to buy and sell servants like other sects... Don't be ridiculous, he didn't transmigrate here to become an emperor!
If you really want to be the emperor, this isn't a sect building novel, but a cultivation battle, killing spree, dragon supremacy, and astronomy!
Moreover, they've all become immortals, yet they still exploit ordinary people. Is this some kind of feudal slave-owning restoration?
Haven't you seen how the Southern Chu Kingdom is constantly clamoring to abolish slavery, despising the practice of keeping slaves, and vigorously promoting the employment system?
As a transmigrator, he can't possibly be more backward in his thinking than the natives, can he?
However, the lack of manpower is indeed an urgent problem.

"In that case..."

Zhang Chengdao coughed lightly and said, "Then let's officially hold the first recruitment conference for disciples of the White Stone Immortal Sect... let's call it... the Immortal Fate Conference!"
"Leaving aside the past, from today onwards, I will personally design a trial formation as a test. All those who wish to become disciples must undergo this trial, questioning the Dao, their hearts, and themselves. Only those with unwavering will and sincere desire for the Dao will be accepted..."

Xu Ying listened with great interest and asked, "May I ask, Sect Leader, should we send out an invitation?"

"Just spread the word. It will be held three months from now, on a day in August... However, we can send out some invitations for people to attend the ceremony. Everyone in the sect will have a blank invitation and can choose who to give it to. In the world, one invitation can be given to anyone above the Grandmaster level, and no one else needs to be given one."

Xu Ying then asked, "This...the person holding the invitation, could they possibly bring someone with them?"

Zhang Chengdao pondered upon hearing this.

It's not appropriate to not allow anyone to bring anyone. Take Ye Shuyun for example, she has given so much to the sect, and if in the end she can't even invite her parents with a single invitation, that would be a bit heartless.

But if you can bring a lot of people, wouldn't that be like taking cabbage? That's not suitable either!
After careful consideration, Zhang Chengdao finally made the final decision: "At most, two people can be brought in. Only three people can enter the mountain with one invitation."

(End of this chapter)