Chapter 332: Opportunities and Challenges
It was clear that the spots Shen Xing was offering weren’t so easy to get.
This wasn’t intentional on Shen Xing’s part.
With the foundation not yet stable, taking ten councilors to another world in one go already meant tearing a hole in that world.
You should know that with civilization developed to this degree, the web of interests behind these ten councilors was enough to involve half of the Human Federation.
If there were more, even with Wenren Caifeng’s support, Shen Xing wouldn’t be confident in taking the dominant position he wanted.
Furthermore, only releasing ten spots was also a way of sending a message.
—He was willing to open up the other world, but he demanded a certain level of dominance.
Before making this decision, he had already communicated with Wenren Caifeng and some familiar Federation councilors. This allowed him to better understand the situation at the higher levels of the Human Federation, knowing that this approach would receive the greatest support.
And that was indeed the case.
After Shen Xing made this announcement public, applications from various councilors poured in like snowflakes, covering almost 90% of the Seventh Realm councilors in the Human Federation. All the applications also generously stated their conditions.
“I want to build a space city to serve as a transit point for the other world,” Shen Xing further reinforced his conditions during the communication. “From now on, all matters related to the other world will go through this city, whether it’s goods or personnel.”
As soon as this request was made, everyone immediately realized how huge of a center of profit this space city would become.
Even some veteran councilors had to admire Shen Xing’s methods.
But this was actually beneficial to the Human Federation.
In such a space city, the biggest profit lay in the flow of goods. Only the Human Federation’s strong production capacity and huge market could truly digest the enormous benefits from the other world.
Therefore, the space city’s plan was approved at an astonishing speed. Even the councilors who didn’t get one of the ten spots turned to apply to join the project.
Shen Xing didn’t refuse this time, but agreed to all of them, having Xiaoling assign cooperation projects to each councilor, which further demonstrated his attitude.
After this series of events was completed, Shen Xing prepared to shift his focus back to the other world.
The ten councilors who had received spots had already arrived on his spaceship.
Ji Long was not among them.
It wasn’t that Ji Long didn’t want to come, but that Shen Xing didn’t want him to, or rather, that Ji Long wasn’t suitable to go to the other world at this time.
After all, based on the current information, it seemed that some force, some rule, restricted Eighth Realm experts from going to that world, or at least they couldn’t stay long on that vast continent. So, when Wenren Caifeng reached the Eighth Realm, Shen Xing would still need an absolute expert with one foot in the Eighth Realm to hold the fort.
Clearly, Ji Long was the best choice.
After communicating with Ji Long, he agreed that the moment Wenren Caifeng stepped into the Eighth Realm would be the time Shen Xing would take Ji Long to the other world.
It was estimated that it would only take at most a dozen years.
The gains Wenren Caifeng had obtained from that world were even greater than expected. In particular, those Enchantment-Type Martial Path Intents accelerated the perfection of Wenren Caifeng’s own path.
If this news were to spread back to the Human Federation, it would only make those councilors even more envious.
And at this moment, ten councilors were sitting in the reception room in front of Shen Xing.
He didn’t hold back, directly pushing the door open and walking in.
“Hello, everyone,” Shen Xing greeted first, with a smile and an obvious air of being the host.
The councilors all stood up, each with a smile and a very friendly and harmonious expression.
“Hello, Director Shen.”
“Perhaps we should call you City Lord Shen.”
“No, no, when we get to that world, we should call him Junior Brother Shen.”
“That’s right, we’re all from the same sect, a Federation sect.”
“Hahaha, there’s nothing wrong with saying it like that.”
“…”
Among these councilors, there were seven men and three women. There were also some familiar faces, such as Hong Hao, who was the first to contact Shen Xing on behalf of the Academy Home Planet, as well as Xue Zhan, a councilor from the Xue Family. There were even two from the Western cultural sphere, the largest shareholders behind “Pangu Company,” who had also been in contact with Shen Xing early on.
It could be said that these ten councilors were almost the ten closest to Shen Xing in the Human Federation.
At least from the perspective of their interests, that was the case.
“You all have a general understanding of the situation in the other world,” Shen Xing said with a smile. “This time, we need to firmly establish ourselves in the other world. Besides you, there is no specific limit on the number of people below the Seventh Realm. Send as many people as you need, and you can choose them directly.”
As soon as these words were spoken, all the councilors’ expressions visibly brightened.
Having reached their current positions, each of them had a pile of juniors and disciples.
Many of them were exceptionally talented.
Clearly, going to a world with such a brilliant martial arts civilization was a great opportunity for every martial artist!
All of them immediately became active.
“If we want to build our own base camp, we can’t do without a lot of equipment and weapons,” Hong Hao, being the most familiar with Shen Xing, asked impatiently, “Junior Brother Shen, what’s your transport capacity? How many people and how much stuff can you take at once?”
The others also listened intently.
The councilors of the Human Federation had long since decided on their attitude towards Shen Xing.
One of them was that as long as Shen Xing was willing to open up the other world, they shouldn’t casually offend his control over the other world’s passage.
This was mainly because the strength and talent Shen Xing had displayed had already earned their recognition—no one had the confidence to control Shen Xing or the passage.
However, under this premise, everyone was very concerned about Shen Xing’s ability to cross over to the other world.
The transport capacity was a crucial aspect of this.
So, after Hong Hao asked his question, the originally chaotic scene immediately quieted down.
All the councilors looked at Shen Xing, waiting for his answer.
Shen Xing naturally knew what they were expecting.
He smiled slightly and said directly, “Taking this entire spaceship with us is not a problem.”
These words immediately caused everyone to reveal expressions of surprise mixed with disbelief!
It was indeed unbelievable!
◈◈◈
They could actually access some information, such as the fact that Shen Xing had likely taken a small spaceship to the other world. Therefore, they had high expectations for Shen Xing’s transport capacity.
However, the spaceship in front of them was a large spaceship!
This was a spaceship that Shen Xing had customized after creating his company. It was over 200 kilometers long and 60 kilometers high. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a space city.
This kind of transport capacity, to put it bluntly, was even enough to provide sufficient logistical support for a full-scale invasion war!
Even large battleships could be transported over!
Just thinking about this made all the councilors’ gazes towards Shen Xing become fiery.
They naturally understood where their advantage lay. Compared to martial arts strength, they might not really be able to compare to the other world. Even if they had a deeper foundation and higher talent, the number of Seventh Realm experts alone was enough to overwhelm the Human Federation’s mere hundred or so Seventh Realm experts.
But if they considered technology, all kinds of powerful weapons, and even new technologies that had absorbed the other world’s martial arts techniques, then the Human Federation’s strength and potential would be unimaginable.
This undoubtedly meant even greater profits!
“In that case, we can be even bolder,” Councilor Xue Zhan suddenly said, his tone fiery. “Let’s directly occupy a region, then learn martial arts techniques while carrying out large-scale construction. When the time is right, we’ll use this region as a base to occupy and control the entire world!”
In the Human Federation, there was no concept of avoiding war.
As martial artists, the desire to fight was ingrained in them.
In the face of profit, nothing was off-limits!
In this situation, the other world’s vast profits, coupled with Shen Xing’s incredibly powerful transport capacity, was simply an unprecedented call to war. The profits were even worth mobilizing the entire Human Federation into a full-scale war.
Shen Xing had expected this scene.
However, he had to pour cold water on them at this moment.
“It’s still too early to talk about this. We don’t fully understand that world yet, and we haven’t grasped a lot of secret information. Not to mention, there are definitely a good number of Eighth Realm experts in that world, and even powerful forces from ancient times.”
Shen Xing’s words calmed the excited councilors down.
In fact, they were naturally aware of this.
They were just stirring up enough fighting spirit in the face of profit.
At this moment, they all nodded, indicating that the most important thing right now was to use everything from that world to improve their own strength.
“Taking a region, that’s not difficult,” Shen Xing thought for a moment and said directly. “The area around the secret realm we currently occupy is a no-man’s-land, but it’s not large and borders the territories of seven sacred grounds. If we want to expand outwards to a region, I’m afraid we’ll have to fight for it.”
Although Wenren Caifeng was now revered as a Martial Venerable and was in the limelight, that was only because she hadn’t yet touched on the core interests of some sacred grounds.
Those powerful sacred grounds had all produced Eighth Realm experts, and who knew what kind of trump cards they had.
Clearly, territory was the core interest of the sacred grounds.
In such a transcendent world, more territory meant more transcendent resources, more population, and more martial arts geniuses. Especially in the Middle Ruins Land, where Yuan Qi was abundant, each sacred ground was fighting for every inch of land.
It was normal for conflicts to arise between them over territory.
The last time there was a large-scale change in territory was ten thousand years ago.
In that conflict, countless sacred grounds were destroyed, and the Mysterious Dragon Palace was one of them.
The existing territories were all fixed at that time, a kind of default rule.
Even a single, weaker sacred ground like the White Bone Sage had its own small White Bone Region and didn’t have to worry about being taken by a powerful sacred ground, because if a sacred ground did that, all the relatively weaker sacred grounds would worry about their own territories.
Therefore, this fragile yet solid balance wasn’t so easy to break.
After understanding this, all the councilors knew that the other world didn’t just mean opportunity, but also challenges.
“No matter what, we already have a small piece of land,” a councilor suddenly said at this time. “Let’s first manage this piece of land well. The rest is just a matter of strength.”
“That’s right,” Shen Xing looked at this councilor.
His name was Xin Bing.
He was also from a great clan, his strength was at the mid-Seventh Realm, and he was one of the families that had been closest to Shen Xing recently. He was also one of the directors behind Pangu Company. The construction of the spaceship Shen Xing now owned was completed in the Xin Family’s heavy industry factory.
It could only be said that these ten councilors in front of him were indeed people that Shen Xing could influence. At least on the surface, no one would refute Shen Xing’s suggestions.
In this situation, the entire meeting was quite harmonious.
Finally, Shen Xing stood up from his seat again.
“We’ve discussed everything that needs to be discussed. It’s time to set off.”
These words, even for the incredibly powerful councilors who were Seventh Realm experts, made them unable to suppress their anticipation and excitement.
After all, this wasn’t just about huge profits, but also about their own martial arts!
And Shen Xing didn’t delay any further. With a wave of his Yuan Power, he directly took everyone away in one go.
Yes, in the past, he needed physical contact to take people away, but after stepping into the Sun and Moon Realm, his body was Yuan Power, and Yuan Power was his body.
As for the councilors, they could only feel an irresistible force sweeping over them in an unfathomable instant. Then, the scene in front of them changed.
This scene, this feeling, undoubtedly shocked these powerful councilors.
Having reached the Seventh Realm, they were no longer completely ignorant of space. They could even tear through space and complete spatial jumps on their own.
But even so, they still didn’t have the slightest power to resist this forced transfer.
They couldn’t even perceive it.
All at once, their understanding of Shen Xing’s methods was elevated to an immeasurable degree.
This was definitely not Shen Xing’s own power, and it didn’t even seem like something an Eighth Realm expert could do!
However, this wasn’t the time to focus on this matter. These ten councilors all took a deep breath, feeling the abundant, gentle, and pure Yuan Power in the air. For a moment, they were actually a little mesmerized.
For martial artists, this kind of environment was their paradise!
“This Yuan Qi is indeed abundant. I’m afraid only the front lines can surpass this,” Xue Zhan was the first to sigh.
He was the only one among the ten who was stationed on the front lines, and he indeed had the qualifications to say such a thing.
Hearing this, Shen Xing became a little curious.
“The Yuan Qi on the front lines is actually stronger than here?”
