Pagoda Peak, inside the Central Peace Hall.
Today, all the Foundation Establishment Cultivators of the Zhou Family had gathered in the Central Peace Hall, not to discuss a matter of life and death for the clan.
But the importance of the matter being discussed was clearly no lesser than any such critical issues.
Especially after the financial problems of the Zhou Family were exposed, all the Elders were shocked.
In the past, the Elders of the Zhou Family indeed had the rights to inquire about clan affairs and had supervisory duties.
However, unless the Clan Leader faced a major decision he could not easily make and actively invited the Elders to participate, the Elders would not usually inquire about clan affairs.
First, this showed trust in the Clan Leader, and second, they did not want to waste time on these matters.
After all, the real value of these Elders to the clan lay in the powerful combat capabilities they could provide and the Cultivation Techniques they mastered.
Therefore, the Clan Leader managing the internal and external affairs and governing the clan, with the Elders focusing on their Cultivation and providing combat support, is the operational model for many Cultivation clans and even sects.
The Zhou Family was naturally no exception.
But "not usually inquiring" did not mean that the Elders were completely unaware or did not understand how some matters could harm the clan.
After all, those who could become Family Elders had cultivated for dozens or even hundreds of years and experienced all kinds of events, both large and small.
With such experience, even those without much talent could discern the pros and cons of some matters and understand the severity of certain situations.
As the saying goes, having an Elder in the family is like having a treasure.
Therefore, when Zhou Chun explained the potential financial crises the Zhou Family might soon face, all the Elders present immediately paid great attention to the issue.
Indeed, as Zhou Chun said, although the population crisis was equally serious, its effect would take a long time to manifest, and there was time to slowly resolve it.
But a financial crisis was completely different.
The effect of a financial crisis could be felt very quickly.
If they waited until the crisis erupted before finding a solution, then everything would be too late!
So, at this time, all concerns like the population issue were temporarily set aside by the Elders, who only cared about one thing.
How to solve or delay the potential financial crisis!
And now, facing the expectant gaze of Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi and the other Family Elders, Zhou Chun spoke confidently, "To resolve the current financial crisis the clan is facing, there are essentially two methods, increasing revenue and cutting costs!"
"The Family's current revenue streams and methods are too few, which seriously limits our income. Therefore, we must find ways to expand new revenue channels and improve the earning efficiency of existing ones!"
"Cost-cutting naturally involves halting some unnecessary expenses for the time being to reduce outlays."
Speaking to this point, Zhou Chun did not shy away from saying, "In fact, the younger generation has already analyzed the Family's income and expenditure records of the past decade and found that if not for the major sales of the Red Shine Iron Mine and the Touch of Despair providing substantial income, the Family's financial crisis would have started two years earlier!"
Although he was praising his own achievements, what he said was the truth.
Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi also sincerely nodded and replied, "Yes, if it weren't for the Red Shine Iron Mine that Zhengchun you discovered, and the Touch of Despair poison you helped the Family develop to stabilize the clientele at Spirit Beast Restaurant, our accounts would indeed be empty by now!"
The other Family Elders were also aware that these were Zhou Chun's achievements and their gazes filled with appreciation and gratitude when looking at him.
Zhou Chun, however, shook his head and said, "But now the output of the Red Shine Iron Mine is nearing depletion and is about to completely lose its value for large-scale mining, and the raw materials for the Touch of Despair have also increased in price by a lot, so it's difficult for this item to bring much effective income to the Family now."
"What should we do then? Zhengchun, when you mentioned increasing revenue just now, do you have any better ideas?"
Fourth Elder Zhou Jiarui looked at Zhou Chun with hopeful eyes, wishing that this impressive younger member of their Family could once again contribute greatly and bring a new lease on life to the clan.
The others also turned their expectant eyes toward Zhou Chun, full of anticipation.
Seeing this, Zhou Chun immediately nodded and said, "Let us now talk about the Family's ways of making money."
"At present, the Family's revenue sources can be broadly divided into three major categories: Marketplace shops, rental fees for Loose Cultivator's Cultivation, and trade with other powers."
"The shops in the Marketplace, although currently stable, would be very good to maintain the current income in the presence of strong competition. If we want any high growth, that's unless we can introduce a new product that is effective and can be produced in large quantities!"
"The rental fees from Loose Cultivators is very much feasible. Our Zhou Family currently has a good reputation and has attracted quite a number of Loose Cultivators to settle around Jiufeng Ridge for Cultivation. If we can have three to five hundred Loose Cultivators considering our Zhou Family as the place for Cultivation, then just the annual rental income alone would be considerable!"
"Hence, the younger generation suggests that the Zhou Family should allocate some funds to form a security team to protect the safety of Loose Cultivators settled around Jiufeng Ridge, and harshly crackdown on those who rob and kill others within the nearby area, so as to attract Loose Cultivators to settle!"
"Of course, doing so will also clearly bring some possible negative consequences, such as attracting deliberate targeting from Bandit Cultivators, and possibly secret attacks from powers that are envious of our Zhou Family. Whether to proceed with this or not, we'll need to consider the Elders' opinions."