"One-Hit Deal?" Shi Feng asked to make sure he'd heard correctly.
"That's right. He posted a thread on the official forums specifically calling out the shameless blacksmith who forged the Guardian Armor. That post has already racked up over seven million views—it made him an instant celebrity across the White River City region. I heard a bunch of major guilds are throwing out offers, trying to recruit him with big money." The logistics player looked envious as he spoke, practically wishing he could become Yichui Maimai himself and live the good life with fancy cars and beautiful women.
Shi Feng just smiled and walked over to an empty seat on the other side, sat down, and pulled up the official forum.
He wanted to get a good look at this Yichui Maimai, the guy who had nearly screwed him over.
In his previous life, Yichui Maimai hadn't risen to prominence so quickly. Before being recruited by the Shadow Guild, he'd been playing Divine Realm with a few dozen classmates. With their support and a few lucky encounters of his own, he'd become an intermediate blacksmith apprentice. That was when he came into contact with the Shadow Guild's upper management. Back then, intermediate blacksmith apprentices were rare, and the Bronze Equipment he forged sold like hotcakes. The Shadow Guild wanted a piece of the action, so they paid a fortune to hire Yichui Maimai. With the studio's continuous funding, Yichui Maimai shot to fame and became a well-known blacksmith, earning the Shadow Guild a great deal of money.
On top of that, Yichui Maimai had acquired the Blacksmithing Talent and the Shadow Guild's full backing, eventually becoming a Master Blacksmith. Even when he ran into Shi Feng, the Shadow Guild's guild master, he couldn't have cared less—he didn't take Shi Feng seriously at all.
In the end, when Xiong Ba Tian Xia acquired the Shadow Guild, the Lan Hua Financial Group agreed without hesitation. Among those who pushed for it were Yichui Maimai and several other Master Blacksmiths and Potion Masters who strongly supported the deal. Otherwise, Lan Hua wouldn't have agreed so readily—and fired Shi Feng at the same time.
Shi Feng opened the Star Moon Kingdom forum, marveling at how fate loved to play tricks.
Here, in this life, the Guardian Armor had barely started selling hot, and Yichui Maimai had already appeared to cut off his income.
There was no denying it—Yichui Maimai and he were fated to clash.
He'd snatched Yichui Maimai's Blacksmithing Talent, and Yichui Maimai had turned right around to cut off his revenue stream.
Scanning the Star Moon Kingdom forum, Shi Feng quickly spotted a red pinned thread.
"Justice Starts with Me—I Will Not Let Shameless Blacksmiths Get Away with It"—signed, "A Blacksmith with a Conscience."
Those bold crimson characters made Shi Feng frown slightly.
What was this all about?
Over ten million views!
Out of curiosity, he clicked into the thread.
It was a sweeping, ten-thousand-word denunciation, complete with detailed reasoning, claiming that the cost of a single piece of Bronze Equipment was less than one silver coin, yet that shameless Shi Feng had priced it at a staggering thirty silver coins—robbery, plain and simple. So he was going to take a stand. He was offering unlimited sales of Tier 3 Bronze Equipment, and accounting for the success rate, he'd only charge four silver coins to break even.
The post was met with widespread support from players, all declaring they would never buy the Guardian Armor again and praising Yichui Maimai's conscience-driven initiative.
After reading through it, Shi Feng was completely speechless.
The entire article was nothing but character assassination against him, hyping up Yichui Maimai at every turn, all while making it clear that Yichui Maimai could forge Bronze Equipment too.
This was obviously a calculated move—using Shi Feng as a stepping stone to boost his own reputation and visibility, attracting offers from major guilds so he could shop himself around. A textbook publicity stunt.
But Shi Feng had to admit—Yichui Maimai had succeeded. Not only was his popularity through the roof, but even second-rate guilds had sent out invitations, and a first-rate guild was willing to sit down and discuss cooperation with him.