"If it's for short-term use, batteries will do. Batteries are things that store electricity, and every bathroom needs one. But batteries are like our spirit stones. There's only so much spiritual energy inside, and you can't draw on it endlessly, can you?" Tang Wen said.
"Of course. A spirit stone only holds so much spiritual energy. Once you've drained it, it's gone," Xifang Xiangyun said with a nod.
"Batteries are the same. Once they run out of electricity, they can't light the electric lamps.
"It's the same principle as adding oil to an oil lamp. But batteries have to be shipped from the distant Mysterious Nether Domain, and they're expensive too.
"So, thinking long-term, my suggestion is to install wind turbines," Tang Wen said.
"What's a wind turbine?" Jiang Deputy City Lord asked, unashamed to ask someone less senior.
"It's a little like our windmills, but very tall-forty or fifty zhang high.
"Stand one on the mountain behind the City Lord's Residence, and it can generate electricity as it turns.
"Then copper wires can carry that electricity to the electric lamps and make them shine.
"Of course, many complicated mechanisms have to be installed as well.
"There are also mechanisms made with copper, silver, and other materials inside.
"Once you have wind turbines, you won't need batteries anymore. But wind turbines are very expensive," Tang Wen said.
"Something that tall must be expensive," Xifang Xiangyun said.
"That goes without saying. How much effort would it take to transport a giant forty or fifty zhang tall back here? The shipping cost alone must be frightening," Deputy City Lord Xifang Heluo said.
"Forty or fifty zhang high-that would stand as tall as a pagoda more than ten stories high. Something so enormous must be heavy, mustn't it?" Even the Grand Elder spoke