Ancient Martial Artists Association, Underground City.
Li Feng, wearing a mask, arrived here once again. Unlike the last time, this time he came directly from the Underground City to the hall of the Ancient Martial Artists Association. However, this time Li Feng did not come alone; he came with Ge Feng and Ge Ying.
“Is this the Tianhai City branch of the Ancient Martial Artists Association? It is so rudimentary,” Ge Ying said, looking around.
“Rudimentary?” Li Feng was stunned. In his view, this branch was already very luxurious. How could it be rudimentary in Ge Ying’s eyes?
“Yes, compared to the headquarters of the Ancient Martial Artists Association, it is far inferior,” Ge Ying nodded.
“Where is the headquarters of the Ancient Martial Artists Association?” Li Feng asked curiously. Tianhai City was the economic centre of Hua Xia. This was only a branch. Could the headquarters be in Yanjing or Jinling?
“Shennongjia,” Ge Ying replied.
“Shennongjia?” Li Feng was surprised and asked puzzledly, “Isn’t Shennongjia a remote, wild mountain area? How could the Ancient Martial Artists Association be there?”
Li Feng naturally knew where Shennongjia was. Legend had it that in ancient times, a divine dragon died there, hence the name. If the Hundred Thousand Mountains were a forbidden zone in Hua Xia, then Shennongjia was the forbidden zone among forbidden zones.
In his previous life, Li Feng had been to Shennongjia once, and the dangers there remained vivid in his memory. For him, he would rather go to the Hundred Thousand Mountains than Shennongjia.
But Li Feng never expected that the headquarters of the Ancient Martial Artists Association was in Shennongjia. Given its dangers, would anyone go to the headquarters?
However, he quickly shook his head. If no one went, how would Ge Ying know that the headquarters was more luxurious than this branch? At the very least, Ge Ying must have been there.
“Yes, it is Shennongjia. If you have time, go to the headquarters in Shennongjia and see for yourself. That is where the truly good items are. Moreover, the auction held every three years offers things that simply cannot compare to the one held in this branch last time. For example, the thousand-year ice dew auctioned in the Underground City last time was the best item here, but at the headquarters, while thousand-year ice dew is not ordinary, it would not count as particularly good,” Ge Ying nodded.
“If that is the case, I will go and take a look,” Li Feng said, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes. He knew the effects of thousand-year ice dew well, but he had not expected the headquarters auction to have even better items. This sparked great interest in him regarding the headquarters auction.
“I wonder when the next auction at the headquarters will begin?” Li Feng asked.
“The next one? It should be in about a year,” Ge Ying thought for a moment and said.
“A year from now?” Li Feng was surprised.
“Yes, probably around the end of next year,” Ge Ying nodded. “However, at the Ancient Martial Artists Association, auctions do not use Hua Xia coins.”
“Not Hua Xia coins? Then what do they use?” Li Feng was puzzled and asked. He realised he did not know much about the Ancient Martial Artists Association. Now that Ge Ying was explaining, he naturally needed to ask clearly. Although he did not know how Ge Ying knew so much, it was probably because she was from the Ge family.
But for Li Feng, this was an opportunity to learn about the association. He felt that bringing Ge Ying this time was absolutely the right decision. If he had not brought her to the branch, he would not have known the headquarters was in Shennongjia, nor that it held a triennial auction.
“Points,” Ge Feng replied.
“Points?” Li Feng was stunned. He had never considered that the association’s points had this use, but he quickly thought of the benefits.
“Yes. At the last auction, a third-grade spiritual artefact sold for one hundred thousand points,” Ge Ying nodded.
One hundred thousand points?
Li Feng’s expression changed dramatically. What was a tycoon? This was a tycoon. Based on the exchange rate between Hua Xia coins and points, one million Hua Xia coins equalled one point, so one hundred thousand points was one trillion Hua Xia coins. This could truly be described as immensely wealthy.
“Moreover, a third-grade spiritual artefact is only on the same level as something like thousand-year ice dew. The truly valuable items are far beyond that price,” Ge Ying continued.
Li Feng was shocked, utterly shocked.
This was not even the most valuable. How many points would truly valuable items require?
Li Feng recalled his last visit to the branch, when he saw a spirit stone, a low-grade one, priced at one million points. That meant ten third-grade spiritual artefacts could exchange for one low-grade spirit stone. It seemed spirit stones were the truly profitable items.
Li Feng thought of the benefits of cultivating with spirit stones. He had originally planned to find a chance to exchange a few for cultivation, but now it seemed that even if he sold himself, he could not afford one.
Thinking of this, Li Feng could not help saying, “How do they have so many points? Even doing tasks, no one could accumulate that many in a lifetime.”
“Doing tasks alone is certainly impossible,” Ge Ying nodded.
“Then how…” Li Feng was puzzled.
“Points can be transferred,” Ge Ying replied.
“You mean they have groups doing tasks and pooling the points together?” Li Feng began to understand.
“In addition, behind every force, they control numerous companies in the outside world. Those companies earn money for them,” Ge Ying glanced at Li Feng and said, “Just like your company. Our Ge family has dozens.”
“Dozens?” Li Feng was deeply shocked. Fengyuan Group’s registered capital was ten billion, but based on the profits from its various businesses now, last month alone it generated over a billion. If the Ge family controlled dozens of companies like Fengyuan Group, their monthly profit would be hundreds or even thousands of billions.
However, Li Feng also knew that Fengyuan Group had only just been established, and its profits were not yet stable. The companies controlled by the Ge family were different; even if not that profitable, their earnings were certainly more stable than Fengyuan Group’s, amounting to a considerable sum over a year.
But were there that many companies in the world?
After thinking about it, Li Feng shook his head. The world was vast; nothing was impossible. Take Fengyuan Group: though large, there were countless larger enterprise groups in Tianhai City alone.
If the Ge family was like this, what about the Murong family and the Nangong family?
In that instant, Li Feng realised he had underestimated these families. He had always been proud of establishing Fengyuan Group, but now he saw that he was no tycoon at all. Compared to forces like the Ge family, he was merely a minor player.
“Yes, otherwise how would we sustain ourselves,” Ge Ying nodded.
“Sustain yourselves?” Li Feng’s eyes widened as he looked at Ge Ying incredulously. A Ge family with dozens of companies could only sustain itself? What kind of family was this?
If someone else had said this, Li Feng would have thought they were boasting, but he fully believed Ge Ying. She had never exaggerated in anything she said.
“Yes. The family usually provides limited resources, otherwise when we met you last time, we would not have had only that level of strength,” Ge Ying nodded.
Li Feng fell silent upon hearing this. He thought of Zhong Shuhui. The first time he gave her cultivation resources, she had said that the resources she received in a year from the Li family were less than what he gave her in a week.
Now it seemed not only the Li family was like this, but the Ge family as well. Otherwise, when they obtained the Foundation Solidifying Pills in the Hundred Thousand Mountains last time, Ge Feng and Ge Ying would not have been reluctant to use them.
“This time my brother and I came out, the family gave us limited funds. If we had not bet on you in the Underground City last time and made a profit, we would not have been able to auction the things we wanted. Moreover, most of that money was still my brother’s private savings,” Ge Ying explained.
“You must control several companies too, right?” Li Feng turned to Ge Feng and asked. Since they were in the Ancient Martial Artists Association, they did not use each other’s names.
“I only control two,” Ge Feng replied.
“Impressive,” Li Feng said admiringly. He had only one company, yet this martial arts fanatic Ge Feng controlled two. Although he did not know what they were like, Li Feng felt that any company under Ge Feng’s control could not be ordinary.
“I merely took them over from the family. Unlike you, who built from nothing,” Ge Feng shook his head. He did not care much about his companies; what he cared about was his cultivation.
“With two companies, is the money you earn not enough to buy cultivation resources? If you had used resources like now a few years earlier, your strength would not be just this,” Li Feng asked puzzledly.
“I am different from you. The companies I control belong to the family. I receive less than five percent of the annual profits; the rest goes to the family. After all expenses, not much remains. To buy a few good items, I need to save for several years,” Ge Feng shook his head.
“I see,” Li Feng nodded. Cultivation resources nowadays were astonishingly expensive. For him, if he did not find other ways to obtain funds and resources, relying solely on Fengyuan Group’s profits would be far from enough.
“Alright, let us go exchange points,” Li Feng said to the two of them. “When we have enough points one day, we can also exchange for a few spirit stones to cultivate with. With spirit stones, our strength will surely advance by leaps and bounds.”
“Spirit stones? You country bumpkins think you can exchange for spirit stones?” At that moment, a man wearing a black tiger mask passed by. Hearing Li Feng’s words, he sneered disdainfully, “I truly do not know where this trash came from, so ignorant of the heights of heaven and the depths of earth, actually making a fool of himself here.”
“Who do you think you are, daring to speak to us like that?” Li Feng’s expression turned cold, a chill flashing in his eyes.
