The guild master's office of Dusk Echo had fallen deathly silent. Over a dozen of Dusk Echo's senior officers stood throughout the hall, stunned for a long while after receiving the sudden intelligence about Senluo Hall.
"Senluo Hall gave up? How is that possible?"
"What on earth did the people from Zero Wing do?"
The guild executives present couldn't recover from the shock of the sudden turn of events.
Senluo Hall had intended to use Dusk Echo as an example — make an example of them to consolidate control over the Storm Empire and further expand outward. There was no way they would have let Dusk Echo off the hook.
They had been discussing how to safely withdraw from the Storm Empire and how to defend against Senluo Hall's attacks going forward. But after hours of discussion, all they had found was despair, because the gap between the two sides was simply too vast. Senluo Hall only needed to commit a fraction of its strength to wipe Dusk Echo from the face of the Divine Realm.
Even with Zero Wing's help, they hadn't believed they could deal with Senluo Hall — after all, Zero Wing was merely a first-rate guild.
Yet now Senluo Hall had abandoned its plans against Dusk Echo because of Zero Wing.
How had Zero Wing managed this?
Connections? Some kind of deal?
They had gone through every possibility, but not a single one seemed plausible or realistic. Yet Zero Wing had pulled it off all the same.
At that moment, Cang Ming, the guild master himself, stared at Shuise Qiangwei beside him with an expression of pure disbelief, his gaze mixing shock with deep emotion.
Earlier, when Ziyan Liuyun had declared before Xiao Ming that Zero Wing would protect Dusk Echo, he had merely treated it as a statement of Zero Wing's position toward Senluo Hall — something to make Xiao Ming take them somewhat seriously. He hadn't actually believed Zero Wing had the ability to shield them. But now it appeared that those words had been entirely genuine.
The overlord of the Storm Empire itself!
He didn't know what methods Zero Wing had used to stop Senluo Hall, but the fact that they could stop them was proof of their power.
Back when Shuise Qiangwei had left Dusk Echo to join an insignificant new guild in some minor kingdom, many people had secretly mocked her, thinking she had lost her mind. If only she hadn't been so stubborn, she wouldn't have had her honorary elder title stripped away, wouldn't have thrown away a promising future and the opportunity to spread her wings.
Dusk Echo was a veteran first-rate guild with decades of development behind it — not something some no-name guild without backing could compare to.
Who could have imagined that the Zero Wing Shuise Qiangwei had joined would reach its current stature?
Not only was it the overlord of the Star Moon Kingdom, it now possessed the strength of a first-rate guild. It had even come to Dusk Echo's rescue, forcing a superpower like Senluo Hall to abandon its original plans. Even he, the guild master of Dusk Echo, could no longer gauge just how powerful Zero Wing truly was.
If word of this reached the ears of the guild's veterans and the major corporate backers, those who had once mocked the old guard would surely regret it bitterly. After all, they had been among those pushing hardest to strip Shuise Qiangwei of her honorary elder status. And now, thanks to this event and Zero Wing's standing, Shuise Qiangwei's influence within Dusk Echo was bound to skyrocket. In the future, it was entirely possible that all of Dusk Echo would have to defer to her.
Cang Ming wasn't the only one thinking this. Every guild executive present had reached the same conclusion, and one by one, the looks they directed at Shuise Qiangwei changed completely.
Meanwhile, Shuise Qiangwei herself was reeling with a mixture of joy and astonishment. She hadn't expected Shi Feng to have actually stopped Senluo Hall.
Shortly after, Ziyan Liuyun relayed Shi Feng's message to Dusk Echo: as long as they withdrew from the Storm Empire, Senluo Hall would take no further action. She then immediately led her people out of Dusk Echo and headed back to the Star Moon Kingdom. As for Shuise Qiangwei, she still had some matters to attend to within Dusk Echo and planned to stay behind for the time being, returning once everything was resolved.
The Dusk Echo executives were only too happy to have Shuise Qiangwei remain. Even though they would have to leave the Storm Empire and seek development in other kingdoms, where they would inevitably face the local overlord guilds, having the backing of a powerhouse like Zero Wing would make establishing themselves far easier.
The news of Senluo Hall's decision spread quickly and reached the ears of numerous superpowers throughout the Divine Realm. After all, Senluo Hall was one of the superpowers, and even something as minor as abandoning its plans against Dusk Echo drew at least some attention.
Beastman Empire, Red Flame Fortress.
"That Senluo Hall must have lost its mind — giving up the chance to consolidate the Storm Empire because of Zero Wing? Did Zero Wing offer them some outrageous bribe?" Jing Yang stared at the newly arrived message from his office in the vice guild master's quarters, frowning in bewilderment.
Senluo Hall had been developing at a frightening pace recently. Among the newly risen superpowers, it could easily rank in the top ten, enough to make many of the established top-tier guilds nervous.
For them to change their plans simply because of Zero Wing's intervention was genuinely surprising.
"Indeed — for Senluo Hall to alter its plans, this Zero Wing clearly has some tricks up its sleeve. No wonder they dared refuse my offer of cooperation." Xuanwu Chisha smiled faintly, a sight that could have captivated all living beings.
"Just a mere Zero Wing — Vice Guild Master, you think too highly of them," Jing Yang sneered. "Who knows what benefits Zero Wing offered Senluo Hall to smooth things over. But White River City is a different story entirely. Setting aside the fact that several major powers have their eyes on the fat prize that is the White River City Auction House, Zero Wing itself is riddled with problems. Star Ring has been pouring funds into suppressing Zero Wing lately, even offering triple the market rate to poach their executives and core members, while undercutting their quest commissions with low prices. Zero Wing's finances are growing more precarious by the day. Give it less than a month, and they'll collapse on their own."
As a guild grew larger and stronger, it brought both advantages and disadvantages. When membership was small, expenses were low and funding was easy to manage. But as numbers swelled, costs ballooned, and financing became far more complicated — especially when a financial conglomerate was actively strangling your cash flow.
So while Zero Wing may have appeared more powerful than ever, it also had more vulnerabilities than ever before.
Previously, Zero Wing had been so small that the guild hadn't even had a proper headquarters, let alone the capacity to cultivate its own roster of top experts. Expenses had been negligible, making the conglomerates' financial campaigns pointless — after all, pocket change was easy to come by. But things were different now. Not only had they taken over the former Snake of the Body headquarters, their scale of operations had grown even larger than what the Snake of the Body had been. Monthly expenditures had multiplied tenfold, even several dozen-fold.
This was precisely why first-rate guilds were so wary of the superpowers. It wasn't just the overwhelming gap in combat strength — the superpowers could crush them financially without breaking a sweat. The reverse was true for the top independent adventurer teams, who had no such vulnerability.
Back in White River City of the Star Moon Kingdom, Shi Feng had returned and immediately sent Fire Dance and the others back into team dungeons, pushing them to gather as many epic-grade materials as possible in preparation for the upcoming auction arena.
"It's time to deal with these Elemental Cores."
Shi Feng glanced at the Elemental Cores in his bag and allowed himself a slight smile. He then found a secluded spot and used the Devil Mask to disguise himself once more. Through White River City's teleportation hall, he paid four gold and thirty silver and teleported straight to the distant Sea of Illusions.