CHAPTER 268: CHAPTER 160: I HAVE A BOLD IDEA

After decades of development, the Dongji Kingdom has shed its image of being poor and weak at its founding and has now grown into a powerful nation capable of toppling the former overlord, the Western Pole Kingdom.

In contrast, although the Western Pole Kingdom flourished for a time and spent decades as the overlord of the Blue Star, the path of strengthening through Thought Ability it is pursuing is a path the Dongji Kingdom already walked during the Golden Crow Sacred Dynasty more than 3,600 years ago, with an obvious conclusion.

It’s worth noting that during the Golden Crow Sacred Dynasty more than three thousand years ago, the last monarch, King Zhouu, personally initiated the Great God Sealing War.

This led countless Martial Arts powerhouses, who practiced Refining Spirit with Incense and Candle Power, to enter the world to meet their doom, eventually causing the heavens to overturn and rivers of blood to flow.

The Golden Crow Sacred Dynasty suffered greatly from this battle; it was achieved through divine investiture but was also its downfall, and was ultimately replaced by the Radiant Feather Sacred Dynasty, which rose from Phoenix’s Cry at Qishan.

Having learned from the fall of the Golden Crow Sacred Dynasty, the Radiant Feather Sacred Dynasty began to strictly manage the matter of divine investiture, thereby creating a whole new path of Emperor’s Martial Arts.

Because of the endless disasters left behind by the path of divine investiture, the Dongji Kingdom is very strict in controlling the media, and Ye Qingzhou now has to report in advance to do live streaming to gain Power of Thought Ability.

"I’ve already secured the spot for you."

The news Xu Yunxi brought was undoubtedly good news.

After thanking her again, Ye Qingzhou hung up the phone, feeling very good: "As long as my Sword Intent successfully soars and transforms into a dragon, my spiritual power should be enough to perfectly control the Second Gear."

The development idea of the Second Gear, to put it bluntly, is just two words—overclocking.

If the First Gear is the ultimate explosive force of Inner Breath within the body, then the Second Gear is the ultimate extraction of the body’s potential based on the Six Techniques of Wind, Fire, Mountain, Forest, Yin, and Thunder.

The critical difficulty lies in how to maximize the body’s entry into the full-load operation mode of overclocking, similar in thought to the Celestial Demon Dissolving Technique, but not to the extent of actually killing oneself.

Therefore, there is a problem here, which is that hardware overclocking must be controlled and guided by software.

Otherwise, if you overclock too much, really dissolving like a celestial demon would be a joke.

Ye Qingzhou developed the Second Gear mode to become stronger, but he does not want to die young because of it.

Therefore, he needed a powerful independent will, so he created the Sword Intent Dragon Transformation move, and when he starts the Second Gear, his body enters a powerful "Dragon Transformation" mode, maximizing the extraction of his potential.

While Ye Qingzhou was immersed in his practice, he received a request from Zheng Zhiguang, the chairman of the Linjiang Commerce Association: "Younger Brother Ye, do you have time this Saturday?"

"No, I have make-up classes during the day."

"..."

On the other end of the phone, Zheng Zhiguang felt a deep sense of frustration, and he was silent for a long time.

If Ye Qingzhou hadn’t mentioned it, he would almost have forgotten that Ye Qingzhou was still a high school student!

"Ahem, it’s like this, our Linjiang Commerce Association has a gathering on Saturday night, and I think you would definitely be interested?"

Hearing this, Ye Qingzhou’s mind was also stirred: "Could it be there’s an arena battle?"

Zheng Zhiguang laughed and said, "You’re right, our association has a little trade dispute with Lotus City, and to avoid damaging harmony, we plan to hold a ’Fight to Decide the Universe’."

A "Fight to Decide the Universe" involves each of the two commerce associations sending one person, and the ownership of market share is decided by the outcome of an arena battle.

"Sure, I’ll definitely be there."

Ye Qingzhou was indeed very interested in this kind of thing, so he readily agreed.

Saturday, 7 PM.

The Xianyun Manor on the outskirts, here is one of the properties of the Linjiang Commerce Association, and the serene environment often makes it a venue for member gatherings.

Today, with an arena battle, luxury cars are gathered outside the manor, and the elites and powerful officials are all here for this martial arts event.

The Linjiang Commerce Association has enormous local influence, attracting not only members but also many wealthy individuals eager to join, who usually buy invitations from others.

If they buy genuine invitations, that’s fine, but the fear is buying fakes; losing money is trivial, but losing face is a big deal.

At this moment, Liang Zhendong was sweating profusely, "Could you please check again? I really have an invitation."

"Sorry, your identity verification failed, please don’t disturb the other guests."

The attendant standing at the door stopped Liang Zhendong expressionlessly.

Standing beside him were his wife Liu Lijuan and daughter Liang Yawen. The family of three had become a joke, pointed at and laughed at by those around them, becoming a spectacle.

Liang Zhendong felt utter despair; he had spent 30,000 to buy an invitation through a friend’s connections, only to find out it was fake!

He wasn’t concerned about the wasted money, but if this incident spread, he would lose face and have no chance of joining the Linjiang Commerce Association in the future.

Just as Liang Zhendong was in despair, Ye Qingzhou’s voice reached his ears, "Uncle Liang? What are you doing here?"

Liang Zhendong turned around, saw Ye Qingzhou, and greeted him with a smile, then explained the situation bitterly: "Sigh, it’s my fault for not knowing people well enough, I got cheated by a friend."

"Ye Qingzhou!"

Liu Lijuan and Liang Yawen both wore awkward expressions; after all, this was too embarrassing.

Especially Liang Yawen, who wished she could find a crack in the ground to hide in; being seen in one’s most embarrassing moment by someone familiar was truly unbearably humiliating.

Ye Qingzhou was puzzled, "Uncle Liang wants to join the Linjiang Commerce Association?"

Liang Zhendong sighed, "Of course I do, in these times, you can’t do business alone, you need to group together for warmth."

The competition between the Dongji Kingdom and the Western Pole Kingdom has become increasingly fierce, and the economy and trade are heavily affected, with capital entering an era of stock.

To survive, you need to become more competitive.

Liang Zhendong was rolled back to his hometown from Modu, and if he can’t stay in his hometown, where else could he go?

Ye Qingzhou smiled, "I’m not in charge of the association’s matters, but I can ask Chairman Zheng for you, let’s go, I’ll take you inside."