Chapter 1956: Forging a Peerless Heavenly Vessel

"Good, good, good!"

"I agree!"

"I agree!"

Long Zhidu hurriedly agreed.

He was perfectly clear in his heart now: the other man could slap him to death with a single palm, yet he still wanted to negotiate terms with me — I've made a huge profit!

"Let him go!" He Pingsheng waved his hand, and Yu Si untied the ropes on Long Zhidu.

"Sit down!" He Pingsheng said blandly, "Letting you go is fine; even releasing all your remaining elders would be no problem, but I have a few conditions!"

Long Zhidu let out a breath of relief and said respectfully, "You speak!"

When these two words came out, Long Zhidu even suspected he had misheard.

It had been far too long since he had spoken to anyone so humbly.

"First..." He Pingsheng extended a finger: "I can let the five of you go, but the two elders I detained earlier cannot be returned to you — those two must become my servants!"

Long Zhidu said: "No problem!"

He was practically happy enough to jump up.

What did this mean?

It meant all five of us could be released.

Excellent!

"Second!" He Pingsheng continued: "All of your Long clan's artifact refiners, not a single one left out, send them all to me — from now on they will serve only my He clan; your Long clan's shipbuilding operations can cease!"

"Mm!" Long Zhidu nodded.

This was no problem for him either.

After all, even Fu Bo Daoren, the leader of their shipbuilding, had already become He Pingsheng's servant — their Long clan's shipbuilding livelihood certainly could not continue!

"Third!" He Pingsheng said blandly: "Your Long clan, every year you will tribute to our He clan a proportion of the profits gained from operating and exploiting the clans below — I won't take much, just fifty percent of your net profit!"

Hiss, hiss, hiss...

The Lu clan's Laozu beside him sucked in several cold breaths: Good heavens, good heavens...

Getting half the profit for nothing.

The He clan has made a killing.

Long Zhidu frowned, but he only hesitated for a single breath before agreeing crisply: "It can be done... absolutely no problem!"

At least he still left me half, didn't he?

"Good!" He Pingsheng said: "However... if I find out you dare deceive me, under-report the gains, then the consequences need no explanation from me — you should be able to imagine them!"

The reason He Pingsheng did not directly exterminate the Long clan, or take all the other Long clan members as servants, lay right here.

Could he take all the Long clan elders as servants?

Of course he could!

But the result would definitely be too conspicuous!

Moreover, this fellow is a Vice City Lord after all; openly taking a Vice City Lord as a servant means opposing the City Lord's Mansion. To put it broadly, opposing the City Lord's Mansion means opposing the God Emperor of the Divine Kingdom.

This He Pingsheng really isn't that bold.

Furthermore, once they become someone's servants, the Long clan's qi fortune would decline, and their status in Tianfeng City would only grow lower and lower!

In that case, the Long clan's profits would decrease greatly.

The loss would outweigh the gain.

Swallowing the Long clan directly would be an even more foolish choice.

Swallowing the Long clan is simple, but even if he swallowed the Long clan, He Pingsheng absolutely could not take over the Long clan's industries in a short time.

Then those industries would flow to the other clans of Tianfeng City, or even be directly confiscated by the City Lord's Mansion.

So after comprehensive consideration, Old Cao gave He Pingsheng this method — this is the method that can maximize profit.

Thud...

He Pingsheng waved his hand again, and two people were thrown onto the floor.

One was Fu Bo, one was Long Yi.

Both were twisting their bodies, in agony to the extreme — one look and you knew it was from Buddhist Heart Seal torture.

"Pat, pat..." Yu Si patted each of them a few times, and only then did the two gradually shake off the Heart Seal's torture.

"Daoist Friend Fu Bo, Junior Sister Long Yi..." Long Zhidu smiled bitterly and said: "I have wronged you two... from today on, just peacefully be servants in the He clan — Young Master He shouldn't mistreat you!"

"This old man is incapable; I apologize to you two!"

Finished speaking, Long Zhidu actually knelt directly on the ground and kowtowed to the two.

The two's faces were ashen; they said nothing.

They knew the Long clan could not possibly be a match for the He clan.

"Now, hand over your two God Servant Marks!" He Pingsheng said blandly.

Then the two obediently condensed their God Servant Marks and handed them over.

After so many days of torture, they had long since lost any thought of resistance.

That kind of torture — they definitely did not want to experience again.

"Young Master He... that... that..." Long Zhidu hesitated: "Our clan's... Seventeenth Young Master, how to handle?"

He Pingsheng said: "He was rude to my Lady — he definitely won't live... but before he dies, I still want him to experience a bit more of this world's beauty..."

"You may leave now!"

"Right... Lu clan Elder, I don't want today's matter to spread, to be known by anyone other than those present today!"

The Long family's twenty large ships turned their bows and flew toward Tianfeng City once more.

The void stretched vast and boundless!

He Pingsheng looked around at his surroundings.

The Lu family's Biyun Laozu, Lu Tianci, cupped his fists: "Young Master He, I take my leave!"

"Go on!" He Pingsheng waved his hand.

Then only He Pingsheng, Yusi, Old Cao, Long Yi, and Daoist Fubo remained in the void.

"Young Master..." Fubo and Long Yi walked over and paid their respects to He Pingsheng.

He Pingsheng said: "Fubo, you're a fourth-grade Artifact Refiner, aren't you?"

"Let me ask you — can you refine a type of fourth-grade Divine Warship that transports people directly from Tianfeng City to Tianxie Wangcheng, to earn passage fees?"

"Impossible!" Fubo stated directly: "Young Master, I actually already researched this problem back when I was with the Long family!"

"Leaving aside... the City Lord's Mansion here would obstruct it, and the City Lord's Mansion over at Tianxie Wangcheng would obstruct it too!"

"Just the Divine Warship itself is unfeasible!"

"Oh?" He Pingsheng asked: "Why?"

Fubo said: "Divine Warships fall into three types — small, medium, and large!"

"Small ones are ruled out; a medium Divine Warship, even if made top-grade, could take several years to fly from Tianfeng City to Tianxie Wangcheng, and that would be meaningless!"

"Because the number of passengers it can carry is simply too few — only a few hundred, at most one or two thousand!"

"In that case, the passage fees collected wouldn't even cover the Divine Gold energy consumed on the journey!"

He Pingsheng nodded: "What about a peerless-grade one?"

Daoist Fubo said: "Even a peerless-grade one would likely still run at a loss!"

"Or rather, the profit would be extremely low, and it would waste time and effort!"

"And the risk is very high!"

He Pingsheng said: "Continue."

Daoist Fubo said: "Last is the large Flying Warship!"

"This kind of warship is likewise driven by a fourth-grade energy array formation, but with too many people the warship must be built massive, and with that the same thrust struggles to achieve speed!"

"For instance, even a top-grade Heavenly Warship would probably need twenty years to arrive!"

He Pingsheng asked: "What about that kind of large peerless-grade Heavenly Warship?"

"Impossible!" Daoist Fubo said: "First of all, we can't get our hands on a peerless-grade array formation..."

Meeting He Pingsheng's stern gaze, he hastily corrected himself: "Young Master, if it were peerless-grade, it would take two years from Tianfeng City to Tianxie Wangcheng, and each trip could carry thirty thousand people!"

"Charging ten million Divine Gold per person, that would bring in three thousand pieces of low-grade Divine Gold!"

"While each trip consumes only about one hundred and eight pieces of Divine Gold, so we'd net over two thousand eight hundred!"

"Still... very worthwhile!"

"Good!" He Pingsheng nodded: "Then build this kind..."