My brother is so cunning

Chapter 910 You get what you pay for
Meanwhile, in the Heavenly Court, within the Immortal Palace of Creation.

Wen Rui sat on the throne of the Heavenly Venerable, receiving a Western Buddhist bodhisattva dressed in a purple kasaya, wearing a golden crown, with a kind and solemn face.

In the past, the Bodhisattvas of the Western Paradise were treated with great respect. Even the Jade Emperor in the Lingxiao Palace treated these Western envoys with courtesy. However, Wen Rui had a sour face and seemed indifferent. His attention was not on the Bodhisattva, but on the images projected on the screen in the main hall of the celestial palace.

The screen was playing a live broadcast of the elite mosquito raid on Lingjiu Cave, captured by satellites and high-altitude drones.

The beam of light, tens of meters thick, swept back and forth through the swarm of insects, occasionally burning a few slow-moving demonic mosquitoes to death, but it did nothing to turn the tide of the battle or avert the annihilation of the Spirit Vulture Cave.

"Lord Wen, as the patriarch of the merchant profession, how can you be so dishonest? When you were teaching me to sell your sun-blocking canopy, you demonstrated that it produced more than a dozen beams of light that could change size and thickness at will, and could burn away thousands of demonic insects in an instant."

The Bodhisattva suppressed his anger, his Buddha light turning slightly red, and gritted his teeth as he said, word by word, "When it came to actual combat, how come there was only a pillar of fire left? Moreover, its operation was clumsy and its movement was slow, completely different from the demonstration. Buddha sent me here to ask Venerable Wen for clarification!"

"Once an item leaves the store, it cannot be returned or exchanged. Go ahead and sue us wherever you want, there's no consumer association these days..."

Wen Rui subconsciously blurted out the same line he used when he set up a stall and opened a shop to swindle his junior sister back in the Lishan Immortal Sect. He then suddenly realized his mistake, quickly put on a professional fake smile, and changed the subject, saying, "Bodhisattva Lingji, please calm down and put down the Flying Dragon Staff. I was just joking. Don't be impulsive... Besides, you can't beat me even if we really fight."

Perhaps it was the last sentence that reminded Lingji Bodhisattva that made him angrily put away the Flying Dragon Staff and say, "Although my disciples of the Western Paradise have the heart of a Bodhisattva, we also have thunderous methods. If you openly defraud my sect and rely on force to act like a rogue, don't forget that there are two saints living in seclusion in my sect's Western Paradise!"

"Who are you trying to scare? It's not like my sect doesn't have any saints. When it comes to fighting, even if those two saints from your sect were tied together, they might not be able to beat my sect's Tongtian Master, right?"

Wen Rui wasn't buying it. He stubbornly retorted, suppressing the other's arrogance, and then calmly said, "As the saying goes, harmony brings wealth. I've always been fair and transparent in my business dealings, treating everyone fairly, young and old. Who in the Three Realms doesn't know about my excellent reputation? You dare to do this military procurement business with me because you trust my consistent reputation for integrity?"

"There must be some misunderstanding here. Let me check it out and I'll give you a satisfactory answer right away."

Lingji Bodhisattva frowned in thought, as if he had thought of something, and his attitude softened slightly.

The purchase of the right to use super weapons from the number one enemy of Buddhas was a military procurement project that also caused a heated debate at the Vulture Peak Dharma Assembly, with many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas expressing their opposition.

Their reasoning was also quite sound. Wen Ruiming was clearly targeting the Western Religion at every turn and harbored deep prejudices against the Western Family. How could he possibly sell the Western Religion the key weapon to defend against the attack of the demonic mosquitoes?

Even if the deal goes through, the weapons he provides will definitely be tampered with, and he will surely rip off the Western Church badly.

However, the situation was too dire at the time, and some other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas pointed out that although Wen Rui was a bad person, he had accumulated a very good reputation over the years.

From the gods of heaven to the demons and rakshasas of the underworld, and even the demons and ghosts of the mortal realm, Wen Rui would sell anything as long as he was willing to pay. He never discriminated against customers, and he never failed to deliver on his promises. He was particularly committed to honesty and fair dealings with all customers, young and old.

He'd sell even the noose that hanged him if the price was right. In the end, it was Buddha who used his divine powers to deduce that Wen Rui would never sell counterfeit goods in this deal, and only then was the military purchase decision finalized.

Unexpectedly, even the Buddha made a mistake. When the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas opened their heavenly eyes to observe the battlefield at Lingjiu Cave in the Great Hall of Mount Ling, they saw a super-downgraded version of the Heavenly Fire Pillar that was many times worse than the one shown in the product demonstration.

The Buddha immediately dispatched Bodhisattva Lingji to the Heavenly Court to seek clarification from Wenrui. Bodhisattva Lingji dared not delay and used his supernatural powers to the fullest extent, traversing tens of thousands of miles in a single step and directly entering the Creation Palace.

After all, it was a matter of life and death. If Bodhisattva Lingji did not rush to demand that Wenrui rectify the product quality problem, the sacred site where Tathagata attained enlightenment would fall, his two direct disciples would perish in the insects' mouths, and the Buddhist treasure in the cave would be lost. The loss would be too great.

"What else can be investigated? You must have tampered with the sky screen, otherwise how could there be such a big time difference from the demonstration?"

Lingji Bodhisattva said urgently, "Quickly restore it to its power as it was during the demonstration. Otherwise, your reputation built up over hundreds of years will be nothing but a joke, and you will have to bear the brunt of the evil karma of the destruction of the Buddhist holy land and compensate us for our huge losses!"

"That's a bit unreasonable of you. An advertisement is an advertisement, and a cure is a cure. I also made it clear during my demonstration that the demonstration was for reference only, and the actual product shall prevail."

Wen Rui curled his lip and retorted, "Besides, you get what you pay for. When I demonstrated, I used VIP level 4 access, which requires purchasing a monthly premium package and a minimum monthly data consumption of ten million. Didn't I already provide you with the product manual? Didn't you even read it carefully before you came?"

Lingji Bodhisattva was also taken aback, only then remembering that Wen Rui had indeed provided the instruction manual, which he had indeed studied, but he had come in too much of a hurry today, and his concern had clouded his judgment, so he hadn't paid attention to it for a moment.

Just thinking about that instruction manual filled Lingji Bodhisattva with resentment that he had nowhere to vent.

Wen Rui, the ancestor of all cunning merchants, does indeed have clearly marked prices, but his charging model is far too shrewd and calculating.

For example, this minimum monthly subscription requires paying a large amount of rare and precious materials each month in exchange for a seemingly large amount of celestial light traffic. If all of that traffic is used up, it would be enough to burn a billion demonic insects.

However, the data allowance for this monthly plan is settled monthly. Regardless of whether you use it all or not, it will not be carried over to the next month. The data allowance for the next month will still be the same as the previous month's allowance. Even if you don't use it all, you will still have to pay the same monthly data allowance.

The problem is that the worms aren't stupid; they won't actively crawl out from underground to wait for you to burn them. Often, you won't encounter worm attacks more than a few times a month. You might buy a large monthly data plan, but it's often useless and you end up paying for nothing.

It's better to be safe than sorry. What if the demonic insects launch a massive attack involving a billion of them? If we haven't bought enough monthly data, and our weapons run out of credit halfway through the battle, then we'll have to pay with the lives of monks and believers to annihilate the demonic mosquitoes that haven't been burned to death.

They have a perfect grasp of consumer psychology.

Later, it was the Buddha who made the final decision, allocating a large sum of money from the secret treasury of the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, which Venerable Ananda brought to the Heavenly Court to handle the military procurement.

(End of this chapter)