Shi Feng's words landed like a sledgehammer, slamming directly into everyone's hearts. Those who had been planning to use other means to negotiate with Shi Feng and extract generous benefits were, for the moment, at a complete loss for words.
Even the confident Elder Wu found himself momentarily speechless.
Shi Feng's show of force was simply too staggering!
Zero Wing's strength had far exceeded his expectations—by an astronomical margin.
Four Tier 4 players, plus the three Tier 3 players originally from the Twin Towers Kingdom. That kind of firepower would be difficult even for NPC forces to contend with.
From everyone's perspective, Shi Feng had been trying to put them in their place. But Shi Feng himself had absolutely no such intention.
He was genuinely busy.
After entering Dragon Heart City, Shadow God was supposed to contact Purple Violet and the others from Sky Edge, but for some inexplicable reason, communication had been cut off entirely—even offline contact was impossible, forcing their planned cooperation to be temporarily suspended and throwing quite a few of Shi Feng's plans into disarray.
Fortunately, Shadow God had managed to rally the remaining members of Sky Edge, and Shadow God was willing to have Sky Edge temporarily fall under Zero Wing's banner as a subordinate adventure team, answering to Shi Feng as guild master.
Sky Edge had already disbanded, and their territories in the World Tower had long since been carved up by the various major powers on Dragon Heart Island.
However, the collapse of War Blood had also created new opportunities for those same powers to vie for control.
So Shi Feng had sent Shadow God to lead the charge and recapture all the territories War Blood had previously seized. After all, those resource nodes were a source of Ancient Gold Coins—he couldn't very well support all of Sky Edge's members for free.
Beyond that, the dozen-plus shops belonging to Sky Edge were also critically important. These shops were all prime locations in Dragon Heart City, and Shi Feng intended to bring some of Candlelight Shop's merchandise into them for sale.
As for the land plots around the World Tower, with Purple Violet absent, Shadow God had no authority to make decisions on his own. The only plot he could authorize was a medium-sized one, and what to do with it was entirely up to Shi Feng—though the profits would be split evenly, since Sky Edge still had a large number of people to support.
Shi Feng had no objection to this. On the contrary, gaining operating rights to a medium-sized plot delighted him. After all, Zero Wing's members would eventually need to explore the World Tower, and a single small plot with its inn simply wasn't enough. Having an additional medium-sized inn would alleviate considerable pressure in the future.
He would need to give careful thought to what kind of inn to build there.
But what surprised Shi Feng the most was that the Wandering Merchant Shop was eligible for a promotion to three stars. He had originally come to the shop simply to collect the Epic-tier materials he'd previously commissioned it to acquire, as well as purchase some rare components needed for constructing a small mobile fortress.
He hadn't expected that after some time apart, the shop had already met the criteria for a three-star promotion.
Once the Wandering Merchant Shop reached three stars, it would undergo a qualitative transformation. So Shi Feng immediately spent the thirty thousand Ancient Gold Coins the shop had earned over this period to promote it to a three-star establishment.
But before Shi Feng even had time to study his newly upgraded three-star Wandering Merchant Shop, the major powers of Dragon Heart City had come knocking, forcing him to grit his teeth and enter into all manner of negotiations with the various factions eager to carve up War Blood's remains together.
After a brief silence in the hall, Intoxicated, the vice president of the Four Saints Alliance, was the first to step forward.
"Guild Master Black Flame, I know Zero Wing intends to ally with Sky Edge this time to absorb all of War Blood's resource territories. However, while War Blood's current leader, Oath Blood Soul, has been captured and the entire adventure team is in disarray, the Hidden Hand Society standing behind War Blood is still not to be underestimated. In fact, even seizing the seventeen resource territories that War Blood currently holds in the Fourth Underground Layer won't be easy."
"Of course, I have every confidence in your strength, Guild Master Black Flame—taking them would be effortless. But holding on to those seventeen territories is another matter entirely. It requires a large number of experts; it can't be accomplished with just a handful of Tier 4 players. That is why the Four Saints Alliance wishes to cooperate with Zero Wing in dealing with War Blood and the Hidden Hand Society behind it." Intoxicated spoke with considerable confidence. "If we join forces, we can split the land plots War Blood holds in the Fourth Underground Layer down the middle. Naturally, we won't let Zero Wing come out at a disadvantage."
With that, Intoxicated produced a City Construction Token from his inventory.
"We at the Four Saints Alliance are well aware that your guild has been holding the Covenant Tower in a desperate siege, with absolutely no backing or defensive barrier. But with this City Construction Token, your guild could instantly establish a guild city right beside the Covenant Tower. With a guild city as a stronghold, it would be far more difficult for those superpowers to move against you."
"What's more, the Four Saints Alliance can also engage in trade of rare materials with your guild—even Mythril Rank weapons and equipment above Level 110, we would sell to your guild at full market price. What do you think, Guild Master Black Flame?"
The City Construction Token that Intoxicated produced left every major faction present dumbfounded, and those who had still been hoping for cooperation were struck with a sudden wave of despair.