After Liu Shishi and Glory Echo departed, the tension in the reception room finally eased, though Water Color Rose still felt a lingering sense of dread.
Liu Shishi's indifferent gaze upon leaving had clearly revealed the fury simmering within her. This matter was unlikely to end so simply.
"Thank you," Water Color Rose said, looking at Shi Feng, who remained as calm as ever beside her. Her eyes were filled with gratitude.
She was no fool.
Shi Feng's provocation might have seemed foolish, but Water Color Rose understood that he was actually helping her. She had already refused Glory Echo, and the Kaiyuan Financial Group would never let her or her family off the hook. But Shi Feng had gone out of his way to provoke the Kaiyuan Financial Group, drawing all of their hatred onto himself. That way, the Kaiyuan Financial Group would no longer be targeting her and her family.
If it were any other guild, not a single one would be willing to make an enemy of the Kaiyuan Financial Group just for one member.
"For the time being, stop worrying about Stone Forest Town. Focus all your effort on leveling up and getting stronger. I'll hand Stone Forest Town's affairs over to Melancholy Smile to manage," Shi Feng said with a smile, waving it off nonchalantly.
"But the Kaiyuan Financial Group..."
Water Color Rose understood. Shi Feng was trying to keep her away from this conflict so that the Kaiyuan Financial Group would pay even less attention to her and her family. However, this whole affair had been caused primarily by her. She couldn't just sit back and stay out of it.
"Don't worry about it. Stone Forest Town is far too valuable a piece of land. Even without Glory Echo and the Kaiyuan Financial Group, other guilds and financial groups would try to get their hands on it," Shi Feng said. He could see the guilt in Water Color Rose's expression, but she was thinking too simply about it. "In the Star Moon Kingdom, no force can openly seize Stone Forest Town. So what is there to be afraid of?"
Competition in the Divine Realm far surpassed that of any virtual game before it.
Though Shi Feng didn't know exactly why, he was someone who had lived through it before. He understood all too well what kind of dangers awaited after taking Stone Forest Town. Those dangers would surface sooner or later, so rather than sitting around waiting to die, it was better to strike first.
Facing the Kaiyuan Financial Group right from the start was something even Shi Feng hadn't anticipated. But fortunately, the Kaiyuan Financial Group's real-world economic pressure tactics had very little effect on him. The only way to bring him down was through the Divine Realm.
And the Divine Realm was his home turf. Dealing with him there would be no easy task.
"Both the guild and I need to rapidly increase our strength," Shi Feng murmured, his desire for Solomon's Treasure growing ever stronger.
If Solomon's Treasure was connected to the Sword of Solomon, perhaps he could obtain it.
With his current personal strength, his impact on large-scale guild wars was extremely limited. Facing several major guilds allied together, he was stretched thin at best. But if he had the Sword of Solomon, who was to say he couldn't follow in the footsteps of the Magic God Gaia and hunt down major guilds in a devastating rampage.
Afterward, Shi Feng handed Stone Forest Town's affairs over to Melancholy Smile and Hei Zi to manage together, and sent Water Color Rose to lead the Black God Legion to the Stone Claw Mountain Range to level up and farm monsters.
As for Shi Feng, he took several magic scrolls and survival items from the guild warehouse and set off alone to the Summit of the World to complete a quest.
The Summit of the World was actually a new continent at an extremely high elevation.
The location indicated by Solomon's Treasure pointed to a region within this continent — Mount Sogaal.
Fortunately, Mount Sogaal was not a particularly high-level area. The levels there ranged only from 40 to 60, and with Shi Feng's current level of 32 and his exceptional equipment, exploring it was not beyond his reach.
Deep within a snow-covered forest in the Mount Sogaal range, the fabric of space suddenly tore open. A figure flickered out of the pitch-black spatial rift.
"So this is the Summit of the World?"
Shi Feng surveyed his surroundings and took a deep breath, finding the oxygen surprisingly thin. The gravity was also immense — roughly three times that of normal. The ambient temperature hovered around minus twenty degrees Celsius. The environment was brutal.
After the Divine Realm underwent its third evolution, gravity was only one factor. The oxygen concentration in the air and the surrounding temperature also significantly affected a player's combat capability.
Temperature wasn't a huge problem for players, since all you needed was resistance. In an environment this cold, having 20 points of ice resistance would eliminate any discomfort, and if that wasn't enough, you could always wear some cold-weather clothing. But the thin oxygen posed a serious problem, because as a player fought, their stamina drain would skyrocket.
A player with no stamina was practically combat-ineffective, meaning they couldn't fight for extended periods. Quite often, the monsters wouldn't even be dead yet before the player couldn't move at all.