The proposal Bai Qingxue put forward was nothing short of tempting.
Even the Snake of the Body elders standing beside her, along with Zhao Yueru, had their jaws hanging open.
The Snake of the Body was, after all, a first-tier guild. It was a vast organization built on years of effort to reach its current standing. Despite heavy internal strife, its strength remained formidable—far beyond what any second-tier guild could match.
And yet, for a mere 20% stake in a single trading company, she was willing to hand over 30% of the Snake of the Body's shares, not to mention provide all manner of resource channels. This was sheer madness.
"Qingxue, have you lost your mind? You only control 50% of the Snake of the Body's shares as it is, and you're giving 30% to Black Flame? What if Black Flame teams up with Cao Chenghua?" Zhao Yueru urged in a hushed voice.
It wasn't that she distrusted Black Flame, but 30% of the Snake of the Body was no small matter. Bai Qingxue could have used those shares to win over more elders, making it far harder for Cao Chenghua to stir up trouble. That would have been far more useful than securing a 20% stake in Candlelight Trading Company.
"That's right, Miss Qingxue, you need to think this through carefully," chimed in a man approaching fifty, dressed in butler's attire. "Those shares were the last lever the Young Master painstakingly left you to keep Cao Chenghua in check. If you give them away now, Cao Chenghua may not be able to act inside the Divine Realm, but in the real world his power within the company remains completely unaffected. Without this safeguard, he can easily rally the other shareholders against you."
"There's no need to say more. I know what I'm doing." Bai Qingxue shook her head and quietly waited for Shi Feng's response.
She was no fool, of course—she knew the terms weren't favorable on paper. But she was making this deal to deepen the bond between their two guilds.
She might be the guild leader of the Snake of the Body and a major shareholder in the company, but the power and voice she wielded were practically meaningless. What was worse, though she had cultivated many people over the years, the number of truly reliable allies at her side remained pitifully small—especially powerhouse players in the Divine Realm.
Cao Chenghua had been running the Snake of the Body for years and had groomed countless experts under his command.
She, on the other hand, had only had a few short years. There was a limit to how many people she could develop.
She had pushed for a decisive showdown with Cao Chenghua inside the Divine Realm too early, forcing him to go all in. He had ordered every expert under his command to carve out their own domains, won over a number of elders, and was secretly spiriting away personnel. The Snake of the Body was beginning to look like it might split cleanly in two.
If that actually happened, her 50% stake would be worth nothing. So she might as well invest it in securing the Zero Wing guild's loyalty.
Zero Wing currently held only a single city—a position that paled beside many second-tier guilds. But that city was the second most populous in the entire Star Moon Kingdom, far surpassing what one would gain from occupying three or five small towns of a few hundred thousand people.
She had also witnessed what Ye Feng and Ziyan Liuyun were capable of back then.
Zero Wing's wings might not yet be fully grown, but Bai Qingxue had already glimpsed the small but razor-sharp fangs beneath. Given the right moment, they would tear apart every enemy standing in the way of their domination of the Star Moon Kingdom.
Just the fact that Candlelight Trading Company had been established in prime real estate within the Star Moon Kingdom spoke volumes about how formidable Black Flame's methods truly were.
On the other side, Shi Feng was stunned into silence for a moment. He hadn't expected Bai Qingxue to offer such an extravagant price.
Thirty percent of a first-tier guild's shares was an enormous sum. That represented a staggering amount of assets, and when combined with the guild's long-established channels across the virtual gaming world, the value far exceeded what Candlelight Trading Company was worth.
But Shi Feng still shook his head. "Miss Bai, your offer is certainly tempting, but I'm afraid I have to decline."
"Decline? Why?" Bai Qingxue's beautiful eyes widened, unable to believe what she was hearing.
Her proposal was practically handing him free money. Zero Wing and the Snake of the Body joining forces, complementing each other's weaknesses—it would provide enormous advantages in their bid to dominate the Star Moon Kingdom. She couldn't understand why Shi Feng would refuse.