Vicious Cycle

Xuanyuan Haoyue then put away her notebook and pen and began to explain in detail, "You see, in the Immortal Cultivation Realm, many tasks, such as planting spirit fields and raising low-level Demon Beast, involve a lot of complicated and trivial matters that high-level cultivators are too lazy to handle. So they need to find low-level cultivators and mortals to do them, and the tools used by these low-level cultivators and mortals are often provided to them by high-level cultivators."

"The tools for those who do the work are provided by those who don't, which causes a lot of inconvenience. But think about it, these people certainly wouldn't dare to explain the inconvenience to high-level cultivators, right? Even if they have any hardships, they can only endure them and grit their teeth to continue working."

In most cases, they will likely need to maintain these tools and supplies themselves. The wear and tear costs might not seem like much to those at the top, but they are a significant financial burden for those at the bottom, right?

"Oh..." The group seemed to understand.

Xuanyuan Haoyue extended her slender white right hand, raised her index finger, and continued, "For example, a Foundation Establishment cultivator hires a Qi Refining Early Stage cultivator to work for him. He might provide the tools he used when he Middle Qi Refining Stage, or common tools available on the market. Generally, these common tools are quite difficult for Qi Refining Early Stage cultivator to use. If the Qi Refining cultivator finds them difficult to use, he might complain to his Foundation Establishment Realm employer, but would the employer heed his request?"

That's mostly not the case.

Although no one spoke, everyone had their own answer.

Before joining the Lingxian Sect, most of them had witnessed or personally experienced the coldness and warmth of human relationships in their own lives, so they naturally knew that this kind of situation was quite common.

Xuanyuan Haoyue continued, "Even if the employer is kind and listens to the needs of the employee, he may still be helpless because it is difficult for him to tailor a tool suitable for the Qi Refining Early Stage, since it is not available on the market."

"And such a backward-compatible tool, while also considering its performance and efficiency, is not something that just any Foundation Establishment cultivator can create."

This creates a vicious cycle.

Capable people won't think about helping lower-level cultivators research and innovate these tools and items, while the lower-level cultivators who need these handy tools and items lack the ability to research and create them.

Not only were they incapable of researching and crafting, they were also poor. They struggled to even acquire the Spirit Stone needed to repair and replace their tools and equipment, let alone the necessary materials.

Therefore, the products recently developed by the Lingxian Sect can be considered a boon for those at the bottom of the Immortal Cultivation Realm.

Then, Xuanyuan Haoyue raised a second finger with his right hand. "However, this raises two issues."

At this moment, everyone had already adopted the posture of listening attentively in class, and they were all listening intently to Xuanyuan Haoyue's lecture.

The first question is: how can a product convince people to buy it?

"After all, our products are targeted at low-level cultivators and even ordinary people. Earning Spirit Stone is not easy for them. How can we convince them that Lingxian Sect's products are not counterfeit and that they will be willing to buy them?"

If no one is willing to spend Spirit Stone to buy them, then no matter how effective these products are, they will only gather dust on the shelves.

Moreover, retail profits may not actually be that high, since most of these lower-level people work for large organizations such as sects and Aristocratic Clan, and the number of individuals employed is completely insignificant compared to the sheer number of these sects and aristocratic Aristocratic Clan.

Therefore, the best way to sell these products is to sell them to major sects and aristocratic Aristocratic Clan.

But how can we get these powerful clans and Aristocratic Clan to accept the new product?

It's important to understand that many products on the market today have mature supply chains, and the procurement channels of various sects and Aristocratic Clan are intricately intertwined, involving numerous vested interests.

Simply trying to disrupt this already established industry chain is extremely difficult; one wrong move and you could easily become a target of public criticism, because it would infringe on the interests of many people.

Bai Zhu understood and said, "Therefore, the key is how to get the major sects and Aristocratic Clan to accept our products and be willing to replace their previous products."

Xuanyuan Haoyue nodded. "Yes. And once we solve this first problem, the second problem will immediately follow."

"You mean those supply chains that our goods have replaced?" Although Yuan Jinsheng was not clear about the intricacies of doing business, he had lived for over a hundred years. Xuanyuan Haoyue explained so much and clarified the details for them, he could naturally understand what came next.

"That's right," Xuanyuan Haoyue replied. "So for the Yuan Household, if it's just scattered sales, it's not a problem. They can just put them in some of their shops. That way, it's not on a large scale, the profit is small, and there's no conflict. But if they want to achieve scale and control fixed sales channels, then they will inevitably run into those mature industry chains."

"It's so troublesome." Mo Yuanjiao frowned. "Isn't the Yuan Household the number one Lineage in Yuanling City? They also have a good relationship with the Heavenly Profound Sect. Isn't the Heavenly Profound Sect the number one sect in the Southern Spirit Domain?"

Xuanyuan Haoyue then said, "But Yuanling City isn't even ranked highly in the South Spirit Domain and North Spirit Domain. Besides, the Heavenly Profound Sect has a good relationship with the Yuan Household, which can also help them to have better relationships with Lineage in other cities."

Han Weishu understood. "No wonder the Yuan Household didn't agree as readily as before, only saying it was a trial sale."

Xuanyuan Haoyue continued, "Actually, we had already shipped a batch of these products to the Immortal Cultivation Realm before. At that time, because we had already made several transactions with the Yuan Household recently, we were afraid that having too many new products at once would be detrimental to their business, so we didn't give them to them. Instead, we handed them all over to Su's General Store. However, the feedback from Boss Su is that they are not selling well."

"It's not selling well even with Boss Su?" Han Weishu was somewhat surprised, because in the past, their sect had some special goods that were difficult to sell, but as long as they handed them over to Boss Su, he could always find a way to sell them, and at a pretty good price.

Xuanyuan Haoyue sighed and said, "Yes, many special goods that were difficult to sell before were able to be sold to Boss Su because they were relatively high-level and rare items. Boss Su had black market channels, so they were easy to sell. But this time, although our items are new and took a lot of effort to develop, they are ultimately basic items for low-level cultivators or even mortals. This means that their price is also very basic, and it is difficult to circulate in large quantities in a place like the black market."

This stuff, if it changes hands a couple more times, can turn a profit into a loss. Going through the black market is simply not feasible. If it were just sold normally in the store by Su's General Store, the sales volume wouldn't even be as good as Yuan Household's.