Longevity: Comprehending the Heart Method

Chapter 631: Chapter 96: Collective Planning and Revealed Hearts

Song Changsheng immediately made a firm decision, saying, “Aunt’s proposal is very much to my liking. This way, the bond between the clan and our various affiliated powers will grow even tighter.

Since Aunt proposed this plan, I’ll entrust this matter to her, to be handled with full authority.”

“Thank you for your trust, Clan Leader. I will not fail you.” Song Luyun smiled and cupped her hands. ‘After serving as the Foreign Affairs Elder for so many years, I finally have a real stage on which to display my talents.’

Just then, Xia Yunxue turned to Song Luyun and said thoughtfully, “Following Luyun’s logic, besides being used to acquire Spirit Stones from our affiliated powers, shouldn’t the Clan Contribution Points work just as well for exchanging other resources? As long as the incentive the clan offers is tempting enough.”

As soon as she said this, everyone else caught on. Just as Xia Yunxue had said, the principle was the same. If the affiliated powers were willing to trade Spirit Stones, it was only natural they would trade other goods as well.

To the Song Clan, Contribution Points were just a series of numbers; they could create as many as they wanted. ‘In that case, wouldn’t that mean…’

At this thought, looks of excitement involuntarily appeared in their eyes. ‘Isn’t this the perfect example of getting something for nothing?’

Seeing their expressions change, Song Changsheng tapped the table to pour some cold water on their excitement. “Everyone, don’t get ahead of yourselves. While using Contribution Points to purchase resources is feasible, don’t forget the old saying: scarcity creates value. Aunt mentioned this concept earlier as well.

If they accumulate too many Contribution Points, does the clan have enough rare resources for them to redeem? Even if we do, are we supposed to just give them all away?

When that time comes, we will inevitably face one of two outcomes: either the purchasing power of Contribution Points will plummet, or our affiliated powers will be left holding a large amount of Contribution Points with nothing to spend them on.

Then, the reputation our clan has built over hundreds of years will be destroyed in an instant. Everyone, do not be blinded by immediate profits. Once a reputation is ruined, there’s no getting it back.”

Every coin has two sides. Using Contribution Points to quickly reap the wealth of affiliated powers would come at the cost of the prestige and reputation the Song Clan had painstakingly built.

Moreover, when getting something for nothing becomes a habit, it makes people lazy and averse to hard work. For a clan, that is a fatal flaw!

Therefore, Song Changsheng would never set such a precedent. Even the exchange for Spirit Stones had to be strictly controlled in quantity, or it would lead to major problems.

Having had a bucket of cold water dumped on them by Song Changsheng, everyone looked a little sheepish.

No one present was a fool; they simply hadn’t thought that far ahead yet.

Song Luyun gave Song Changsheng a surprised look. ‘I hadn’t expected him to see things even more clearly than I have.’ She bowed slightly and said, “Your reminder is timely, Clan Leader. I will certainly do nothing to damage the clan’s reputation.”

“Good. The Foreign Affairs Hall will refine the plan further, and then you can implement it.” Song Changsheng nodded in satisfaction.

“Clan Leader, I’ve identified a problem,” Song Qingqian said, standing up. “The task board will be located in the Foreign Affairs Hall, but our affiliated powers are scattered far and wide. Wouldn’t accepting and turning in tasks be extremely inconvenient?”

“I can solve the issue of accepting tasks. In the Lieyang Sect’s Treasure Vault, there are several massive Mother-Child Stones. I can use them to craft a Mother-Child Chart. The Mother Chart will be placed in the Foreign Affairs Hall, and the other Child Charts will be distributed to our various powers.

When posting and accepting tasks, we can use the void-projection effect of an [Imaging Array] to update the charts in real time,” Song Changrong said, full of confidence.

The Mother-Child Stone is a very peculiar type of Spiritual Material. The Child Stones and the Mother Stone are two parts of a whole. They are typically used to craft long-distance Communication Spiritual Artifacts. Their advantage is that they transmit messages faster than a Communication Flying Sword and cannot be intercepted.

Their disadvantage is that the Mother Stone can only transmit to all Child Stones simultaneously, whereas each Child Stone can only transmit back to the Mother Stone individually.

Song Changrong’s design cleverly utilized this very principle. The Foreign Affairs Hall could use the Mother Chart to post tasks to all the Child Charts simultaneously. In turn, each Child Chart could instantly feed information back to the Mother Chart, minimizing the time lag for accepting a task.

The [Imaging Array]’s function would be to project the prepared task list onto the chart, like a hologram. If someone were to accept a task, the person in charge would only need to mark or edit the list, and the information on the chart would change accordingly.

“That’s a clever design. I see you have the makings of a Celestial Artisan,” Song Changsheng praised with a smile, feeling deeply gratified.

‘This is a perfect example of the proverb, “The fire burns highest when everyone adds wood.” A rough proposal has been continuously refined by the group until it’s become more and more complete.’

‘This is the result I wanted, not a situation where one person’s word is law.’

“So, the problem of accepting tasks is tentatively solved. But what about turning them in?”

At this, Song Changsheng chuckled. “That’s simple. The clan can dispatch Foreign Affairs Stewards to be permanently stationed at each of our affiliated powers. They will be responsible for all matters related to task turn-ins.

Once a task is completed, they will hand over the proof of completion to the Foreign Affairs Steward. After the Steward confirms everything is in order, the proofs will be collected and given to a designated individual. That person will then use a Teleportation Altar to send all the proofs back to the Foreign Affairs Hall. After a final verification, we can issue the Clan Contribution Points to the respective power.”

Everyone’s eyes lit up at his words. ‘This is an excellent solution. What’s more, it’s a way to openly station our own eyes and ears within each affiliated power, allowing us to detect any signs of trouble immediately.’

“Will they agree to let our people be stationed there?” Song Qingqian asked with a frown.