by <unknown>
"Shua!"
Li Yao felt that he was in a Half-step Great Illusionary Land that was just opened, or like his soul had been split into two halves, because he could see two worlds unfolding in front of his eyes at the same time.
In one of the two worlds, he was still inside the suite, with the warship model at his hand.
In the other world, he was confined in a limited space that was surrounded by grey mist, unable to go anywhere.
In front of him was a panoramic light beam, where obscure control menus that were hundreds of times more complicated than those of a refining furnace or a crystal suit were popping up.
What was even more dazzling for Li Yao was that there was a 'giant' that looked silly inside the panoramic light beam, who, with a closer look, was exactly himself.
The weird ratio and perspective reminded Li Yao of a possibility.
"Could it be that part of my soul is in the cockpit of the warship?
"The panoramic light beam is the actual control system of the warship model?
"Is this warship model flyable?"
The moment he thought of that, the control menus blazed. Countless complicated rows of data streamed into the light beam.
Runes of the Star Ocean Imperium and those of the Heaven's Origin Sector were quite different.
Li Yao couldn't even understand most of the instructions, let alone how to drive the warship model.
"Swoosh!"
While he was all hurry-scurry, the warship model was flying staggeringly in the air with brilliant colors and twinkles of runes. There was even a mini spiritual shield!
In the meantime, Li Yao felt that he had been hammered heavily on the head.
Although his soul was quite solid, it was still not enough to steer this warship model.
Besides, the warship model was swallowing spiritual energy from him as its power source in a way that he couldn't comprehend.
"Swoosh!"
"Swoosh!"
"Swoosh!"
The warship model was dashing here and there in the suite like a headless fly and almost hit Li Yao a couple of times.
"Little Black, stop it!"
Li Yao's cold sweat broke out. He tried everything he could to withdraw his soul from the warship model.
Thankfully, the warship model seemed to have realized that the pilot was a newbie. It hovered for a while and eventually stopped.
Li Yao was finally able to pull back his soul. The brilliance on the warship model dispersed and resumed the unremarkable silver-grey color.
Li Yao's face was pale, and he was breathing heavily.
As it turned out, he had been too reckless.
If the warship model were malicious, or one of its former owners had implanted some vicious traps inside it, Li Yao's spiritual energy might've been drained.
Pondering for a moment, Li Yao came to the conclusion that the warship model could be a piece of magical equipment to train crystal warship pilots in the era of the Star Ocean Imperium.
Its control system must be a duplicate of a real crystal warship.
If a trainer could control the warship model proficiently, he would prove to be a qualified pilot to drive a real-life warship to cross galaxies and destroy planets.
The conclusion made Li Yao somewhat lost for words.
A piece of training magical equipment of the ancient time was of little value to him!
Suppose he had grasped the skills to steer a crystal warship of the Star Ocean Imperium, what then?
Thousands of years had passed. There was no way that he could find such a warship in real life to put what he learnt into practice.
However, on second thought, it was not necessarily true.
"The control pattern of the warship model is complicated enough for me to do the spiritual exercises. Besides, I can improve my crystal suit skills and super shuttle skills by driving this warship model.
"Moreover, the warship model is made of a rare and yet extremely tensile material, and it could be controlled by a telepathic thought. It will be a piece of great magical equipment for scouting!
"Also, once accelerated to maximum, it can also be used as a bullet!
"A bullet that is under full control of my spiritual energy will be a great help in combat!"
Coming up with several possible usages of the warship model, Li Yao felt happy again. He decided to practice the art of a warship pilot when he returned to the Grand Desolate War Institution.
During intense combat, the warship model would be his secret weapon!
"Nice! Nice! Not only did I retrieve so many marrow crystals in the Cosmos Ring which triggered the mutation of Little Black, I was also lucky enough to discover this warship model of the Star Ocean Imperium.
"This trip to the Dark Desolate Domain has been truly rewarding
"Although you are just a warship model, I might as well give you a name. You looked like a fierce dragon… I'll just call you 'Neltharion'!"
…
Li Yao and Peng Hai met again in Peng Hai's personal training room.
Over a year ago, Li Yao had received a month of special training in this place, which was the biggest reason why he had won the title of Floating Spear City's Champion of College Entrance Examination.
He had been missing Peng Hai's personal training room.
"Senior Brother Peng!"
After one year away from each other, Li Yao found that Peng Hai was more complex than before, who, at first look, looked like a successful businessman instead of a strong Cultivator that fought in the depths of the Grand Desolate Plateau all the time.
Peng Hai had been Li Yao's role model when Li Yao was in high school. He offered generous help to Li Yao unhesitatingly when Li Yao was most in trouble.
Besides, both of them had been set on the path of cultivation by Sun Biao.
There couldn't be a closer senior-junior brother relationship in the world.
"Good boy! I've been hearing your name all the time over the past year. You even broke my credits record in the Grand Desolate War Institution. That's impressive!"
Fiend Blade Peng Hai was glad, too.
He was planning to create his own sect. A strong junior brother would be really helpful when he started to recruit his own men.
"Do you know that 'Vulture Li Yao' is quite famous in the world of Cultivators now? When I was training in the Grand Desolate Plateau, many Cultivators were asking me about you. You've been putting a lot of pressure on your Senior Brother's shoulders, Li Yao!"
Peng Hai smiled.
"I got the 40,000 credits mostly because of luck. At first, I came across a large-scale beast tide outbreak in downtown. Then I managed to let the Iron Fist Club and the Chaos Edge Hall turn against each other in the Thunderbolt Cup. That's how I earned the most crucial 10,000 credits."
Li Yao was not very confident about his achievement.
"It's all insignificant. 40,000 credits, or the Thunderbolt Cup, are nothing but campus games. Experts of the Cultivation world won't bother any of that."
Peng Hai shook his head and said, "I'm afraid you are not aware of it yet, but the true reason why you got famous is that you wandered in the Thunderous Sound Mountain for more than ten days and walked out safe and sound.
"Everyone in the Cultivation world knows what kind of place the Thunderous Sound Mountain is. Even many Building Foundation Stage experts have walked inside never to be seen again. As a Refinement Stage Cultivator, you survived more than ten days inside the Thunderous Mountain and retreated without being crippled. It was truly a miracle!
"It is because of this accomplishment that 'Vulture Li Yao' has become known by everyone on the Grand Desolate Plateau!"
Li Yao thought of something. He took out a brand-new Demon Beast Detector from his backpack and said, "Senior Brother Peng, the reason why I could survive so many days in the Thunderous Sound Mountain is partly because I was lucky, and partly, because of this magical equipment refined by myself!"
Chapter 281: Sharehold
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"This is the Demon Beast Detector?"
Fiend Blade Peng Hai had been paying close attention to Li Yao's work. He knew that Li Yao's patent had been approved and that he was cooperating with the Mountain Sea Sect to manufacture it. However, there had been some trouble during the promotion.
While Li Yao was on his way here, Li Yao had briefly introduced the recent events that happened to the Mountain Sea Sect, too.
The commercialized Demon Beast Detector included a body and an introduction jade.
Peng Hai inserted the introduction jade to his mini crystal processor and browsed through the document. He nodded his head while he was reading.
"Good. If its actual performance could fit the description, no, if the actual performance could be above 80% of what it is depicted, the Demon Beast Detector will be a piece of very competitive magical equipment."
"Senior Brother Peng, are you questioning the quality of the magical equipment refined by myself?"
Li Yao smiled. He never lacked confidence when it came to magical equipment.
Peng Hai smiled, too. He put the Demon Beast Detector on his left ear.
As Peng Hai's telepathic thoughts flooded in, the Demon Beast Detector emitted a faint red light, making him look ten times stronger than he already had looked.
Peng Hai shook his head hard, but the Demon Beast Detector was absolutely still.
"Such a work pattern indeed makes it much more convenient than the traditional probe magical equipment that is usually worn on the wrist. Besides, it is very light, too. Not half as cumbersome as what the three magical equipment magazines exaggerated. They say that it will influence the body balance? The target users of the Demon Beast Detector are middle-level and low-level Cultivators, whose speed will be too low to be affected by the Demon Beast Detector," Peng Hai said unapprovingly.
He took off the Demon Beast Detector and thought for a while before he said, "Your assumption makes sense. The Zephyr Guild must be stirring things up behind your back.
"Back when I was in the Crimson Nimbus Guild, I reached out to the Zephyr Guild due to business affairs several times. Their young master, Qiu Guanyu, was indeed brutal and merciless. No wonder everybody calls him 'the shark'!
"The Zephyr Guild is a major refining sect that has survived for over a hundred years. It is particularly good at refining precise magical equipment.
"However, the crystal processor technologies have greatly advanced in recent years. The functions of many kinds of traditional precise magical equipment can be replaced by a small crystal processor now, resulting to a significant loss of market for the Zephyr Guild.
"The Zephyr Guild still seems to be thriving at present. But when a boat is too large, it is very difficult to turn its direction. If it goes on like this, chances are that it will collapse within the next ten years.
"That's why the vigorous and resolute young master Qiu Guanyu has, in effect, become the true leader now. He is working hard on the transformation of the Zephyr Guild and shifting it to a bigger market.
"This year, the Zephyr Guild has released miscellaneous detectors, hoping to dominate the market of the probe magical equipment.
"However, the detectors that they put out to market are all meant to worn on the wrist. However precise the detectors may be, they're congenitally defective compared with your Demon Beast Detector.
"Stopping others from making money is like killing their patents. The Zephyr Guild has been a powerful sect for a hundred years. It can do anything in order to survive when it is pushed too far. The business tricks that you've seen are only the beginning.
"In its long history, the Zephyr Guild has been in a good relationship with the three magical equipment magazines. There won't be any trouble for it to find some second-rate critics to post several negative reviews.
"The crystal camera supplier's violation of contract is easy to explain, too. The Zephyr Guild has a high demand of crystal cameras every year. I assume that it placed a tremendous order to the crystal camera supplier in order to let the supplier breach the agreement with the Mountain Sea Sect. This way, even if the supplier has to pay a penalty to the Mountain Sea Sect, it can still gain a much higher profit from the Zephyr Guild.
"It is even possible that the crystal camera supplier has been bought out by the Zephyr Guild. Yet the Mountain Sea Sect didn't know anything about it.
"According to your description, financial information of the Mountain Sea Sect, which should be a top secret, was leaked out. The upcoming rupture of capital chain is known by the entire Cultivation world. There must be a mole in the Mountain Sea Sect."
Li Yao nodded in agreement. He knew that he was right to visit Peng Hai.
From the little information that Li Yao had given to him, Fiend Blade Peng Hai had inferred the causes and the possible outcomes of the whole event. He was truly one of the most brilliant Cultivators of his generation.
Li Yao sighed and said, "I've managed to get a sum of money that can get the Mountain Sea Sect through the trouble temporarily. But a few hundred million is far from enough to fight against a conglomerate such as the Zephyr Guild.
Peng Hai pondered a while. Eyes glaring sharply, he said, "It's not completely undoable to compete against the Zephyr Guild. But I need to confirm something with you first. Is this personal? If you are only angry because you have been humiliated by the Zephyr Guild, I suggest you just put it down and let it go. The road of Cultivation is long and hard. It's best if you can save the time and effort for training, isn't it?"
Li Yao was silent for half a minute. He looked at Peng Hai in the eyes and said, "It's not personal that I want to defeat the Zephyr Guild.
"First of all, as a refiner, every piece of magical equipment created by me has undergone painstaking procedures. They're like my children. If I don't counterattack when my magical equipment is being smeared, I will feel guilty whenever I see my own work and I won't be able to refine better magical equipment in the future.
"Secondly, Brother Guan Xiong of the Mountain Sea Sect saved my life before. I have to return the favor.
"Thirdly, my dream goes far beyond just being a random refiner. I am going to be the best refiner in the Heaven's Origin Sector!
"Daily work of a refiner costs much more than the training of a battle-type Cultivator does.
"For a battle-type Cultivator, as long as he has enough strength, he could just go to the Dark Desolate Domain where, by any luck, he would improve significantly after just one trip.
"Things are different for a refiner. In order to be the best refiner in the Heaven's Origin Sector, I'll need to build the most advanced refining workshop, not to mention the amount of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that I need to purchase, which could be a waste of money if I chose the wrong ones.
"Cultivation is a money-burning job. Cultivation of a refiner is a tremendously money-burning job!
"I need money. A lot of money!
"The Demon Beast Detector has very bright market prospects. I'm confident that it will bring me huge returns which can resolve my shortness of money and allow me to be fully dedicated to refining.
"Those are my reasons why my struggle against the Zephyr Guild is not personal, but because of a fundamental contradiction of interests."
The seriousness in his junior brother's words touched Peng Hai, who, to him, did not look like a college student, but more like a master of a sect.
Li Yao had grown a lot during the last year!
Peng Hai was more optimistic about Li Yao's future now.
He smiled and said, "Alright. Since it is not personal and is related to your fundamental interests, it is reasonable to try to beat the Zephyr Guild with all the resources at your hand!
"It's true that the Zephyr Guild is a conglomerate in the field of magical equipment refining, where it can deploy much more resources than you and the Mountain Sea Sect can.
"But don't underestimate yourself. The resources at your disposal are not insignificant.
"However, before you put the resources into use, there is a critical question that needs to be answered, which is about your position. Where exactly is your position in the competition between the Zephyr Guild and the Mountain Sea Sect?
"You are just a partner of the Mountain Sea Sect. Ostensibly speaking, the Zephyr Guild has not been targeting you. How would you justify your undertaking to summon your resources to fight against the Zephyr Guild?"
Li Yao was dazed for a moment.
"Senior Brother Peng, I don't understand. Why do I need to justify myself? And what resources do I have?"
Peng Hai smiled. He pointed at himself.
"Am I not one of your resources? However, I am not going to help you that easily. It's true that you are my junior brother. But the Mountain Sea Sect has nothing to do with me. Why would I help the Mountain Sea Sect?"
Li Yao felt he was getting what Peng Hai was trying to say,
"Senior Brother Peng, do you mean—"
Peng Hai interrupted him.
"You said just now that you have a sum of money at hand. What was your original plan to solve the capital chain problem of the Mountain Sea Sect?"
Li Yao answered honestly, "I was planning to lend the money to the Mountain Sea Sect."
Peng Hai smiled and said, "If you lend the money to the Mountain Sea Sect, the only profit you can get will be the interest. But if the Demon Beast Detector project is really as promising as you described, the Mountain Sea Sect is definitely going to flourish once it defeats the Zephyr Guild, and when that happens, the Mountain Sea Sect will gain astronomical revenues from the Demon Beast Detector.
"In that case, why don't you buy its shares now?"
Li Yao was dazed.
"Buy the shares of the Mountain Sea Sect?"
Peng Hai answered, "Correct.
"Right now, the Mountain Sea Sect is at a dead end. Nobody has hopes in them. I think it will be open to negotiations if anyone wants to buy part of its shares, provided that the majority of the shares is still under control. This way, when the Mountain Sea Sect rises in the future, you'll be able to receive a lot of dividends as a big shareholder. Isn't it much better than relying on the interest?"