Martial arts ascend to the gods

Chapter 614 Merchant Guild
Zhou Lengdao said, "Next, a company under the Ice and Snow Cult will invest in your family. Apart from that, you will still be the Trupp family. Moreover, not only will the Ice and Snow Cult and the Demon Spirit Masters provide strong support, but the Ferocious Beast Clan will also gradually enter the fray. At that time, I will ask a demigod from the Ice and Snow Cult to project his support onto you. Your goal is to make the Trupp family the number one conglomerate in the Eagle Alliance. I don't require you to control every Grand President, but you must control enough councilors."

“Rest assured, if given the opportunity, I could even run for the position of Hawk Alliance President myself,” Jax said.

Zhou Leng smiled and nodded, "Alright! Then our next goal is to recommend you to be the Grand Commander of the Eagle Alliance. All worldly money, resources, status, power, and fame will be yours. But high-level martial arts resources, especially those at the Martial Saint level, will be mine."

“We are not worthy to use the resources of the Martial Saint,” Jax said sincerely.

"You, as a branch of the Ancient River Sect, will infiltrate the Eagle Alliance and assist me when necessary. You cannot learn the martial arts of the Ancient River Sect, as it would expose your identities. Instead, I will translate some martial arts from the starry sky books of the Demon Spirit World for you to study."

“Your command is my honor,” Jax said.

"As for the heirs who are higher in line than you, the Ice and Snow Church will take care of that for you. You just need to take the power of the Ice and Snow Church back to the Eagle Alliance and reorganize the Trupp family."

“From the moment we first met, the Trupp family was prepared to be the sword that would pave your way,” Jax declared.

"However, before you leave, you must witness a battle."

Jax's heart skipped a beat, and he bowed slightly, saying, "Please give your orders."

"When the time comes, the masters will ask you about Aiden, and you will answer truthfully, right?"

"Under the watchful eyes of the masters, I will truthfully reveal Aiden's malice and schemes against you."

"Let's go."

The two went out and headed towards the Great Arena.

Aiden and the Trupp family drank alone in silence.

Several legendary masters approached and said with smiles, "Your Highness Aiden, there is an important meeting that you would like to attend."

"Oh? Oh." Aiden put down his wine glass and followed the legendary spirit masters.

Along the way, everyone chatted and laughed. Aiden forced a smile and walked while circulating his inner energy to slowly dispel the effects of his drunkenness.

The group entered the arena.

Aiden looked at the legendary sorcerer beside him with a puzzled expression.

"You'll know it soon enough."

The legendary sorcerer led Aiden to the left side of the arena.

The right gate of the arena opened, and Zhou Leng and Jax walked out.

"You can stand here and watch," Zhou Leng said, continuing to walk forward.

Jax stood there, looking at Aiden across from him, his expression complex and his eyes flickering.

"What are you going to do!" Aiden's drunkenness vanished instantly, replaced by a strange surge of anger and fear.

He looked around and saw more than a dozen legendary magic masters standing on all sides of the arena, calmly looking down.

The Frosty Hand floated in mid-air and said, "Members of the Ice and Snow Cult should be united. But there are always some who, for various reasons, hate each other. To avoid escalating internal strife, today, His Highness Zhou Leng requests a duel to the death. Aiden, you are the opponent in this duel. Do not be afraid. This duel will be conducted under the witness of God, and everything will be fair and just."

Aiden froze for a moment, then almost burst out cursing.

Wait a minute, Zhou Leng couldn't possibly have any evidence; he couldn't possibly start a duel based on mere speculation.

He looked towards Jax in the distance.

“You betrayed me!” Aiden roared.

Jax sighed and said, "I was simply telling God the truth about what you did. How can that be called betrayal?"

Aiden immediately looked at Zhou Leng and said loudly, "Your Highness Zhou Leng, I was wrong! The reason I did what I did in the past was because I was worried that you would take away my resources, and I would still have the strength to compete with you. But now, I no longer have the strength to compete with you. I voluntarily leave the Ice and Snow Cult and give up competing with you for the Ice and Snow Cult's resources. Please let me go!"

"The Trupp family's words are worth less than a fart."

Zhou Leng looked at Frosthand, who recited the duel rules and finally chanted an incantation to ensure fairness.

"Zhou Leng! Do you really intend to wipe us all out?"

Zhou Leng strode forward, faster and faster.

"Since that's the case... then let's go!" Aiden's eyes were bloodshot, like a crazed beast, as he gathered all his strength.

A surge of violent true energy coursed through his body as he took a step forward and charged towards Zhou Leng.

The two broke the sound barrier and met amidst a continuous series of airbursts.

Zhou Leng raised his arm, shifted his feet, and swung his hand in a katana motion, brushing past him.

With a soft hiss, Aiden's head flew into the air, his body continuing to run, crashing down in front of Jax.

Jax remained silent for a moment, then took out a demonized short sword from his magic pouch and stabbed Aiden's corpse more than a dozen times.

When Zhou Leng approached, Jax said, "Please allow me to cremate him and bury him in the family cemetery, Your Highness."

Aiden is ultimately the current head of the family.

“Alright.” That night, the legendary master of the Ice and Snow Cult took action, slaughtering Aiden’s subordinates and other successor forces.

The next day, the remaining members of the Trupp family saw Jax leading a whole squad of mages to announce the deaths of Aiden and the others, and declare himself the first in line to inherit the Trupp family and become the current head of the family.

Afterwards, Jax led the Trupp family and the group of sorcerers back to the Eagle Alliance in a sorcerer carriage.

The team consisted of four legendary masters and a total of ten legendary ice golems.

After becoming the Holy Son, Da Huang was waited on hand and foot, eating and drinking to his heart's content all day long. In just three days, he gained a lot of weight.

On the fourth day, the master of the eight-toothed mammoth tribe arrived, and Zhou Leng acted as the middleman to establish a cooperative relationship with the Ice and Snow Cult.

On the surface, the trade of the eight-toothed mammoth tribe was entirely handled by the Ice and Snow Cult, but in reality, Zhou Leng and the Ice and Snow Cult each controlled half of it.

The Ice and Snow Cult is in charge of the market in the Demon Spirit World, while the Blue Star market is exclusively controlled by Zhou Leng, but it is openly operated under the names of the Ice and Snow Cult and the Trupp family.

Afterwards, the Ice and Snow Cult also cooperated with Zhou Leng.

Zhou Leng helped the Ice and Snow Cult expand its market for Iron Dwarves, Giants, and Dragons, while the Ice and Snow Cult provided Zhou Leng with resources to expand its power on Blue Star.

On that day, two trading companies were registered in the world of Demon Spirits.

The Snow Eagle Trading Company, ostensibly established with the support of the Ice and Snow Cult and the Trupp family, is actually controlled by Zhou Leng and primarily operates a business dealing in ferocious beast resources on Blue Star.

The Deep Cold Trading Company, ostensibly a magic spirit master academy under the Ice and Snow God Cult, is actually controlled by Zhou Leng and mainly responsible for its operations in the Dragon Kingdom, with business spanning various sectors.

In this way, the messy things on Zhou Leng's body can be resolved through the Deep Cold Trading Company.

Aside from maintaining operations, expanding, and distributing dividends to shareholders, all the remaining funds, resources, and profits belonging to Zhou Leng were used to exchange for cultivation resources at the Grandmaster and Martial Saint levels.

The reception room of the Ice and Snow Cult.

After dinner, Zhou Leng chatted with the legendary players, including Frosthand.

The situation in the Ten Realms, wars between various races, cultivation and growth, commerce and trade—everything related to cooperation was discussed openly and frankly by everyone.

"Your Highness, why don't you establish a company in your own name? In our Demon World, outsiders' companies incur additional costs."

“In our land, on the contrary, outsiders’ companies are treated well, which is the only way to avoid being taken away by our grandchildren. I don’t want to fake losses and transfer profits to prevent being taken away, so I’d rather just use your name.”

"I understand, we've all been through this..."

When discussing rigging and manipulating products, as well as playing musical chairs, several legendary masters over two hundred years old spoke eloquently.

For example, they might buy up a large quantity of works by a famous artist at a low price, or sign a contract to buy out a painter's works at a high price, then find one of their works to be auctioned for tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of yuan, thereby driving up market prices, and then sell other works for millions of yuan.

Those who are pretentious and connoisseurs buy such items and hang them on their walls, boasting that they are the same as items auctioned for hundreds of millions, only to be ridiculed by those in the know.

More than a decade later, the market became oversaturated, and the speculators decisively withdrew and looked for the next commodity to speculate on.

A legendary expert casually remarked, "Recently, many commodities have been speculated to their peak, such as high-energy snail shells. I've already made dozens of times my initial investment and stopped three months ago. Hmm... I made the most money from Earth."

"Is the high-energy snail shell market about to collapse?" Zhou asked coldly.

"With the approach of the Ten Realms War, the turmoil intensifies, high-energy mineral resources increase, and high-energy snail shells will inevitably be produced in large quantities. In addition, everyone is preparing for war, and this low-value resource will inevitably collapse during wartime."

"I personally really like high-energy snail shells, but unfortunately they are too expensive for me to afford."

A legendary master laughed and said, "There's plenty of that stuff, the cost is extremely low, and it can even fetch millions or tens of millions. You really want it?"

“Yes, I want to build a palace using high-energy conch shells,” Zhou Leng casually made up a reason.

“That requires a lot of quantity… Well then, since this market has already peaked, we’ll just lend you a hand and pop the bubble ahead of time.”

The next day, the Ice and Snow Cult spread a message that they had discovered that the high-energy shells contained mild toxicity and cosmic radiation. People below the Grandmaster level would suffer radiation damage upon contact, and it could even reduce their fertility and shorten their lifespan.

The news caused an uproar in the world of magic. No matter how the major speculators explained it, no one dared to gamble with fertility and lifespan, and the price of high-energy snail shells plummeted.

The news spread throughout the Ten Realms, and related merchants frantically sold off their holdings.

High-energy conch shells, like tulips, clivia, stamps, antiques, some artworks, and some real estate and stocks, are a means for powerful players in the capital market to reap wealth. They have value, but not much, and cannot last long. They are far less valuable than genuine antiques and collectibles.

Amidst the panic, the speculative market for high-energy snail shells collapsed. Just like with other speculative commodities before it, those who had entered the fray quickly came to their senses, while outsiders ridiculed the hype, and then everyone moved on to chasing the next project.

Secretly, a force is buying high-energy snail shells at extremely low prices.

Eagle Alliance.

The mad prince Aiden died inexplicably in the Demon World, and the little-known Jax succeeded him as the head of the family.

However, the Ice Cult provided Jax with far more support than Aiden, granting him unimaginable resources.

In a very short time, the Trupp family rose to fame due to the resources of the Beast World, completely overcoming its low point and becoming a highly sought-after force in the Eagle Alliance.

Many forces that were originally planning to take action against the Trupp family quietly withdrew.

Many people speculate that the Trupp family is controlled by the Ice God Cult, but how many of the Eagle Alliance's financial groups haven't been controlled by the Demon Worship Cult?
(End of this chapter)