"You did this?"
Miao Wuyin stared at Shi Feng, who remained as calm as ever, and was momentarily stunned, thinking he must be joking.
The news of Star Ring being kicked out of the Heavenly Mystery Trading Company by the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion had already sent shockwaves across the entire Divine Realm. Every major superpower was deeply unsettled, to the point where none of them dared to make a move, instead devoting all their efforts to investigating the matter.
They had only one goal: to figure out what kind of terrifying force could compel the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion to make the decision to abandon Star Ring.
Yet here was Shi Feng, claiming he was the one behind this. How could she possibly believe that?
"That's right." Seeing the utter disbelief on Miao Wuyin's face, Shi Feng couldn't help but smile. "Star Ring kicked us — Zero Wing — out of the Heavenly Mystery Trading Company once before. I simply returned the favor."
"Returned the favor?! Guild Leader, how can you joke around at a time like this!" Miao Wuyin was rendered speechless. "Star Ring is going absolutely crazy over this right now. If they find out it was Zero Wing behind it, things will get very ugly…"
The Heavenly Mystery Trading Company's distribution network was one of the widest in the entire Divine Realm. For a force like Zero Wing, which lacked deep foundations, the help it provided was fairly limited. But for those superpowers, it was a completely different story.
Now that Star Ring had lost access to the Trading Company's channels and resources, its development speed would be cut by at least half. On top of that, it was a devastating blow to the guild — after all, gold coins and resources were the foundation of everything. Without sufficient gold and resources, forget about guild growth; it wouldn't be surprising if they actually regressed.
Just from this alone, countless plans Star Ring had in motion would likely have to be cancelled or shelved. The losses were simply incalculable.
If Star Ring found out that Zero Wing was behind this, they would absolutely retaliate with extreme prejudice and wouldn't stop until Zero Wing was completely destroyed. They certainly wouldn't let it slide like before — this had struck at the very foundation of the Star Ring guild. Besides, so many superpowers already knew about Star Ring being expelled and were watching from the sidelines. If Star Ring didn't take decisive action, they would become the laughingstock of every major superpower.
Moreover, the current Star Ring was nothing like what it used to be. According to information she had obtained from the Azure Trading Company, after the planar passages had opened, Star Ring had not only grown significantly in strength but had also established close partnerships with several superpowers from other planes. The adventurer alliances that had recently risen to prominence in various kingdoms and empires all had Star Ring's fingerprints on them. Even the super guilds in the Fire Dragon Empire now treated Star Ring with considerable wariness.
These newly risen adventurer alliances were terrifyingly powerful. In normal times, their influence might not be obvious, but if they ever targeted a specific force, the blow would be absolutely devastating.
After all, while the major guilds in the Divine Realm might have large member counts, a significant portion of the materials they needed on a day-to-day basis were purchased from independent players. And independent players made up the overwhelming majority of the Divine Realm's population. With just a few internal point systems set up within the adventurer alliances, they could cause enormous trouble for every major power on the Divine Realm continent.
And Star Ring could inflict this double blow of resource denial and guild member attrition on the major powers of the Divine Realm without even having to pay a significant cost.
Just as Miao Wuyin was trying to figure out how to keep this explosive news under wraps, the various superpowers that had been frantically investigating the matter all received feedback reports from their undercover agents within the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion at roughly the same time.
The ones who had Star Ring expelled: Zero Wing!
Though it was only a handful of words, the major superpowers who received the news all drew in a sharp breath, each and every one of them stunned into silence.
"How is this possible?!"
"Just Zero Wing, and the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion actually chose to kick out Star Ring? Have the higher-ups in the Pavilion completely lost their minds?!"