Chapter 714: Two Clans Join Hands
In a vast snowfield, there stood only one city.
The city had been meticulously laid out, was made mainly from light and dark blue ice bricks, had round roofs, round arched doors, and other similar architecture that filled the city with elven grace and artistic flair.
These gentle and beautiful buildings alleviated the ice-cold and harsh environment, the vitality of the vegetation and people adorning the white-blue city.
This was Igloo City, the Li Jian Clan’s main city.
As a great noble clan of the Ice Sculpture Kingdom, the Li Jian Clan perfectly controlled this city, like how they controlled the Kingdom’s Second Navy Fleet.
Mian Li Zang was the Li Jian Clan’s current elder, and he was currently in his study, handling onerous affairs.
The window to the outside showed a tranquil scene, sunlight sprinkled on the city and there was no wind or now.
However, the Li Jian Clansmen knew that an invisible blizzard had engulfed the Li Jian Clan already.
This powerful clan seemed as frail as a tiny boat in this blizzard.
And Mian Li Zang was the only one steering this boat, the one facing this immense challenge!
During the battle with Da Han, the Second Navy Fleet retreated in defeat, and although the main force was intact, the Li Jian Clan was in a terrible situation, almost the entire kingdom hated them, pushed them aside, and even were hostile towards them.
While this was happening, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ conflict with the Li Jian Clan was made public, adding insult to injury.
“Lord Clan Leader, this is the information you were asking for.” An attendant opened the study door and came in with a magic crystal ball.
Mian Li Zang nodded, indicating that the attendant put the crystal ball on the desk.
The attendant respectfully withdrew from the study, and after the door was closed, Mian Li Zang stroked the crystal ball.
A moment later, a magic image appeared in the crystal ball.
A large group of people were surrounding a store.
The store sold only three magic potions, Dragon Rider, Spirit Stimulation, and Smooth Stride.
“Line up, please everyone line up, one customer at a time!” A salesclerk did their best to maintain order but didn’t have much impact.
The customers swarmed like bees into the store, snapping up the magic medicines.
“I bought it, I bought it!!”
“Don’t take mine, are you courting death?!”
“I want to buy 60 sets, no matter what kind, just take my money.”
“Here is the money, I want to buy 120 sets!”
The customers frantically clawed at the mount potion stock. The reason was because of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ new marketing strategy: so long as someone bought 60 or more sets of magic medicine, they could receive an ice sculpture of Long Fu.
The customers who managed to buy them clutched or held high their ice sculpture of Long Fu in great delight, squeezing out of the store with uplifted spirits.
The magic image was magnified, giving a close up of an ice sculpture of Long Fu.
Mian Li Zang looked at it closely, and even he had to concede that the ice sculptures had extremely remarkable workmanship. The ice sculptures were not just made of carefully selected materials, but it was also sturdy and engraved superbly, vividly depicting the dragonman youngster dragging his battle qi ball as he dove from the sky.
The magic image continued to play.
Blood Kin City, Snow Bird Harbor, Munitions Harbor, Snow Rabbit City, Rime City, Ice Sculpture Capital…
The stores in every town and city were virtually the same, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ mount potion sales were booming!
“After Long Fu defeated Mi Fang, his renown increased sharply.”
“Based on the latest information, Long Fu even got Long Meng’s eye, the latter really admires Long Fu and personally advised and trained him. This news further fostered Long Fu’s renown, like pouring oil onto a fire!”
“It is very clear this information was deliberately disseminated. It would have taken a lot of energy to spread this news in so short a time.”
“Was this done by the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps themselves, or were they working with another power?”
Mian Li Zang deeply sighed.
When it came to dealing with their relationship with the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps, Mian Li Zang had personally shown interest in it.
Previously, he decided to propose and demand that the Li Jian Clan be the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ sole partner when he saw the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps quickly establishing themselves, and the impact and value of the Li Jian Clan was rapidly being reduced. He prepared for the rainy day and decided to respond in advance.
Regretfully, the dragonman youngster secretly returned, used Hun Tong to act as Hua Tang, and ruthlessly smacked the Li Jian Clan back in a smooth comeback.
After this series of operations, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ conflict with the Li Jian Clan was made known to the masses.
If it was during normal times, then Mian Li Zang could calmly act. But after the Second Navy Fleet was defeated, it was now a hundred times more difficult for Mian Li Zang to deal with the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps.
Mian Li Zang finished looking through the images in the crystal ball, then bowed his head in contemplation, his brows locking up as he pondered how he should cope with the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ tutting offensive.
Some clansmen proposed that they simply stop mount potion production at all of their clan’s workshops and factories.
Since the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps wanted to obviously separate themselves, the Li Jian Clan should stop producing magic medicine, despite every part of the country having a massive demand for it.
Mian Li Zang didn’t think much before rejecting that suggestion, on the contrary he ordered to increase production, including all night overtime and increasing staff, striving to achieve production 24 hours a day.
As a remarkable politician and manager, Mian Li Zang knew that “cooperation benefited both, and division harmed both”. Currently, both sides were still cooperating, and if it continued, everyone would benefit.
If magic medicine production was stopped, the Li Jian Clan’s benefits would suffer. The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps would be more pressed to extricate themselves from the Li Jian Clan and accelerate their ties with the Jing Xiang Clan and other powers.
Therefore, stopping production seemed like a punishment, and would put a spotlight on the fact that the Li Jian Clan was essentially venting their negative feelings.
If that was done, then this entire incident would be even less conducive to the Li Jian Clan’s growth.
As an experienced clan leader, Mian Li Zang would never do that.
“To deal with the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps, I can adopt other measures.” Mian Li Zang’s brows smoothed out a little; he had thought of some already.
He transmitted an order to a sentry.
After a moment, he came to another room.
Inside the room was a gigantic alchemy module, it nearly took up all of the space in it.
It was an emergency communication device.
The Li Jian Clan was one of the Ice Sculpture Kingdom’s great nobles and had plenty of political resources that could obtain this device, said device could contact almost all of the high class powers.
This time, Mian Li Zang was not contacting just anyone but the Jing Xiang Clan itself.
The alchemy device turned on, and not long after, the Jing Xiang Clan Leader’s magic image condensed and appeared.
The Jing Xiang Clan Leader looked gloomy.
For the last several days, he had been in a bad mood.
His favored Mi Fang had been defeated by Long Fu in a humiliating fashion.
This caused the Jing Xiang Clan’s business negotiation with the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps to be enveloped by a dark shadow.
The sad news was not limited to just this.
Very quickly, the Jing Xiang Clan heard that Long Meng took Long Fu under his wing.
This put the Jing Xiang Clan Leader on the spot, and he decided to suspend the clan’s talks with the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps. If talks were carried out under these circumstances, they were bound to get the worst of it!
Anyways, the Li Jian Clan Leader Mian Li Zang decided to contact him, and when he saw the former, the Jin Xiang Clan Leader’s expression allayed a lot.
When someone with bad luck came across another with even worse luck, then naturally their mood would improve.
“Li Jian Clan Leader, why have you contacted me?” The Jing Xiang Clan Leader appeared somewhat haughty.
Mian Li Zang smiled, “Because of a mercenary corps, or to be more accurate, an outsider. He has given us both a lot of trouble, right?”
The Jing Xiang Clan Leader coldly snorted, “Long Fu has indeed given my clan some trouble, but he will produce far more benefits. Mian Li Zang, do you really think I’d stand with you against the Dragon lion Mercenary Corps?”
Mian Li Zang shrugged his shoulders, “Why can you not?”
The Jing Xiang Clan Leader was just about to sneer, but a moment later, Mian Li Zang stated his intentions, “In that duel, Long Fu displayed a saint level aptitude. He could break away from my clan today, and even if he works with your Jin Xiang Clan, what about in the future?”
The Jing Xiang Clan Leader’s pupils contracted, and he became even more gloomy, sinking into silence momentarily.
Mian Li Zang’s words had struck at the deepest concerns in his heart.
Saint level…
There were only three experts of such level in the entire Ice Sculpture Kingdom. The reason why Da Han was such a significant threat was because he was a saint level pirate!
During Long Fu’s duel with Mi Fang, he took on many enhancement spells, revealing his strong bloodline talent, and showing the shining qualifications of a saint level!
In other words, given enough time, he might become a saint level.
If the Jing Xiang Clan had an inseparably close cooperation with the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps, then when Long Fu became a saint level one day, how would they conduct themselves?
Long Fu could use his saint level to suppress and force more benefits out of the Jing Xiang Clan, how could the latter resist?
It didn’t seem possible.
The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps could even annex the Jing Xiang Clan; stopping that would be hard.
When that happened, their cooperation with the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps would not be happiness, but a disaster!
“All right, Mian Li Zang. You don’t really think using some nebulous future calamity can persuade me to stop my collaboration with the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps so yours can continue?” The Jing Xiang Clan Leader sneered.
He continued, “If you are afraid, why aren’t you breaking away from the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps, why are you increasing magic medicine production?”
Mian Li Zang’s smile dwindled somewhat, and he cordially replied, “Because that is just one possibility.”
“Growing to the saint level is no easy thing.”
“Please don’t misunderstand me.”
“I don’t want to throttle Long Fu’s plans ahead of time. Since he has been deployed by his arms merchant backer, he must have powerful protection methods.”
“Leaving the rest aside, a saint level teleportation scroll is instantaneous. The Ice Sculpture Kingdom does not forbid spatial teleportation, and we don’t need to try anything meaningless.”
“To tell the truth, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps is our friend, and if we work with them, we can earn a lot of money.”
The Jing Xiang Clan Elder narrowed his eyes, “Do you want our clans to work together?”
Mian Li Znag nodded, “Everyone will get wealthy together, isn’t that good?”
The Jing Xiang Clan Leader coldly snorted, “Even if I agree…the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps might not, then what?
Mian Li Zang smiled, “Then let Long Fu taste our Ice Sculpture Kingdom’s power. We don’t need our clans on the forefront; I heard that the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps made a betting agreement with the Alchemy Guild.”
The Jing Xiang Clan Leader’s eyes suddenly shined, exposing a smile for the first time, “Hmm, that’s a decent measure.”