Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 1500 - 1500 0861 Truly Worth Courting_2

Chapter 1500: Chapter 0861: Truly Worth Courting_2 Chapter 1500: Chapter 0861: Truly Worth Courting_2 This statement was made by Yi Xuwen, who stood by Qi Tian’s side. After all, helping Qi Tian reclaim the benefits from the Fiery Cloud Secret Realm was also advantageous for the National Master Manor. However, that was as far as he could assist; beyond this, it was inappropriate for him to comment further. He still needed to consider the overall interests of the National Master Manor and avoid future troubles from the Ink Flood Dragon Association and Wanjie Commerce. Qi Tian was unafraid, but he couldn’t withstand it alone.

In the council hall, a sudden quietness descended. The words spoken by Yi Xuwen burst a beautiful bubble. In their view, no matter whether it was Qi Tian or Zhang Baolin, after they went up to compete in the grand competition, regardless of their ranking, they were supposed to return to Wanjie City eventually. As long as they returned to Wanjie City and abided by the rules of Wanjie City, all would be well. But they had never considered the consequences if Qi Tian and the others didn’t return afterward. That was a situation they would need to seriously measure up.

People aspire to rise higher, just as water flows downhill; this is human nature. At this moment, everyone gathered in the Wanjie Commerce council hall felt this way.

People like Qi Tian and Zhang Baolin were all thinking about finding opportunities to advance to the Nascent Soul Realm—that was their way of aiming higher. Meanwhile, individuals like Li Xuwen, Zhu Chaolun, and Zhang Chenghua also wanted to climb higher, but knowing their own limits, they realized they might be stuck in the Nascent Soul Stage for life, unable to make significant leaps in their cultivation levels. For them, aiming higher meant achieving smaller substage advancements within the Nascent Soul Realm, like reaching the third layer of the Nascent Soul Stage first.

For the prodigies of the upper echelons of the Cultivation World, reaching the third layer of the Nascent Soul Stage was merely a minor goal. However, for Zhang Chenghua and the others, this was a major goal that required many years of struggle to possibly achieve. Besides their own limited talent, there were many other critical external conditions they couldn’t meet; they lacked cultivation resources, appropriate techniques, and no one to guide them. Everything had to be managed on their own.

To obtain such external conditions, they needed to forsake the comfortable life in Wanjie City, venture out to explore, and even vie and fight desperately for resources.

If they lacked the resolve to do that, they would need to find another way, which was to have outsiders bring the external cultivation resources and other beneficial treasures to them. But why would outsiders bring their precious external cultivation resources to them?

To highly advanced cultivators, Wanjie City truly wasn’t very appealing, and they only visited it very occasionally. This path was difficult to follow through.

Thus, only one option remained: it was for their own people from Wanjie City to go out, find a way to obtain external cultivation resources, and then bring those resources back. This was something that Zhu Chaolun and Zhang Chenghua couldn’t achieve themselves; they could only rely on Qi Tian and Zhang Baolin, the four juniors at the peak of the Gold Core Realm.

Just now, both Zhang Chenghua and Zhu Chaolun took it for granted that Qi Tian and his group, after leaving, would return and not linger outside. However, this was merely their own assumption; how could they guarantee that Qi Tian and his team would definitely return? If they did not return, then Zhang Chenghua and his colleagues’ hopes of acquiring precious cultivation resources from Qi Tian and his group would become mere wishful thinking.

Although Zhu Chaolun and Zhang Chenghua’s life in Wanjie City had been relatively comfortable and lacking in great ambitions, this did not mean their lives were without challenges. Aside from focusing on breaking through their minor realms, they had to worry about the development of their own forces and compete with others at the same level for local cultivation resources. If they fell behind in this aspect, they would fail in future competitions with other Sacred Cultivation Places at the same level, which could pose serious problems. Not only would the development of their forces be impacted, but their personal situations could be compromised as well.

To continuously emerge victorious in this competition and maintain a leading position, they needed a constant influx of fresh blood. If they seriously offended Qi Tian and his group now, it would be difficult to manage the consequences once Qi Tian and his team grew stronger in the future. Besides, if Qi Tian and his team were willing to return after leaving, the cultivation resources they brought back could potentially help them achieve breakthroughs in minor realms and even gain more advantages in the competition.

Zhang Chenghua had been provoked by Qi Tian’s words just now, but after Yi Xuwen enlightened him about the critical points, Zhang Chenghua had to seriously consider the implications. At this time, was it meaningful to compete with Qi Tian for benefits and deeply offend him? Was his approach planting hidden dangers for the Ink Flood Dragon Association?

If Qi Tian were just an ordinary cultivator in the Gold Core Realm, there would be no problem. However, Qi Tian had possessed combat power comparable to the Nascent Soul Realm three years ago, even before he had reached the peak of the Gold Core Realm. What level had Qi Tian’s combat power reached now? Was it really beneficial for him and the Ink Flood Dragon Association to contend with such a promising young man?

As Zhang Chenghua thought this, similar thoughts surfaced in the minds of the president and vice president of Wanjie Commerce, who managed such a vast organization and knew well that harmony fostered wealth. Otherwise, Lu Songsheng would not have seized the moment to actively offer interest-free loans to the mentor and apprentice pair of Gao Wenlin and Liang Hansen.

Now, Lu Songsheng wished he could slap himself. Offering a loan to the mentor-apprentice duo of Gao Wenlin was a clever but minor tactic; the truly worthwhile individual to court was Qi Tian. If he had realized Qi Tian’s value three years ago, he would have advocated allocating a portion of the Fiery Cloud Secret Realm’s benefits as a special reward for Qi Tian, avoiding the current standoff and even earning Qi Tian’s goodwill and friendship. Now, when Yi Xuwen made his remarks, on the surface, he was enlightening them, but he also induced doubts in the minds of four peak Gold Core Realm cultivators, Qi Tian, Zhang Baolin, Liang Hansen, and Han Boxiang.

With today’s situation serving as a live example, how could Qi Tian and his team not consider what kind of unfair treatment they might face if they returned to Wanjie City in the future? With this thought, could they be expected to return to Wanjie City cheerfully after the grand competition ended?

Lu Songsheng and Zhu Chaolun exchanged glances and nodded simultaneously. As the president of Wanjie Commerce, Zhu Chaolun was the first to speak, “Master Yi’s words make sense. Rewards for contributions and punishments for faults are long-standing principles of Wanjie Commerce, and also form one of the most basic rules of Wanjie City. Wanjie Commerce has never opposed awarding those who have contributed in the Fire Cloud Secret Realm Battle. Initially, the reason we did not immediately reward Qi, who had made significant contributions, was because we needed to observe him further. After all, the benefits of the Fiery Cloud Secret Realm are not a small amount, and we were concerned that he might lose his way in cultivation if he suddenly received so many cultivation resources.”