The Chamber of Commerce's Development, You Chen's Reflection

This world is never short of people who will take risks for wealth.

In the early stages after the Beast Soul Pill was first introduced, the price of a single Beast Soul Pill was already being driven up to far exceed its true value.

Even if one is already Soul Ancestor and can no longer use Beast Soul Pill, one can still make a fortune by simply reselling them.

Naturally, many people had wicked ideas, thinking that they could steal the pills, resell them to the nobles, then run away, hide for a year or two, and then come out without any problems.

Those who would even consider this would have to be at least Soul Elder, or even Soul Ancestor.

As for Soul King? Soul King are basically all respectable figures. Why would they join a powerful faction and get a salary instead of engaging in such shameful and disgraceful banditry?

However, this backfired spectacularly.

The Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce wasn't stupid; they placed every Beast Soul Pill sales point in a major city.

After all, this kind of product has no demand or financial resources in rural areas.

There are only a few dozen first-tier cities like this in the entire Douluo Continent.

Over the past few years, the Soul Arena Beasts in the Beast Soul Alliance have grown, and the core members have risen from the original Soul Grandmaster level to the Soul Elder level.

The fact that they would release something like the Beast Soul Pill to the public naturally means that they had already digested it internally.

Sending one or two Soul Elders to guard each important location poses no pressure for the Beast Soul Alliance.

The strength of the Soul Arena Beasts goes without saying; with their Soul Ring Configuration, they could even put up a fight against the Soul Ancestor of the old era.

Although that was the case before, decades have passed since You Chen brought about changes to the world, and it seems that the outside world has generally iterated from version 0.0 to version 1.0... but that's not actually the case at all.

It's just that You Chen's social circles are too high, consisting of the Spirit Hall, the Upper Three Sects, and the great nobles. These people naturally caught up with the latest version of the game as soon as possible.

But how could someone who has resorted to robbery possibly come from such a powerful organization?

The martial prowess displayed by the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce when facing robbers and troublemakers made the people of the Douluo Continent, especially the upper class, realize the hidden power of the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce.

This chamber of commerce, which appeared out of nowhere, is not as lacking in substance as it seems on the surface!

This made some forces that originally had ulterior motives and wanted to get a share of the pie think twice before backing down.

"From which nook and cranny did this Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce just pop up?"

When the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce was first established, many people had this question. As the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce prospered, fewer and fewer people ignored the issue, but now it has been brought up again.

Ning Fengzhi, the president of the Seven Treasure Chamber of Commerce, who was facing off against the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce, could not possibly be unaware of this.

"Based on the armed forces that the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce has currently displayed, their true strength... must be at least a hundred Soul Elder. It takes several years or even more than ten years of training for a Soul Master to go from Soul Scholar to Soul Elder. It is absolutely impossible for them to appear out of thin air."

As the head of the sect, Ning Fengzhi was in charge of all the manpower and finances of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

They are acutely aware of the time and financial resources required to cultivate a talent.

In version 0.0, the vast majority of Soul Master only reached the Soul Grandmaster level throughout their lives.

After six years of study at the junior academy, only a very small percentage of students are able to break through to the Soul Master upon graduation.

Those who can break through to become Soul Master at this stage and go on to study at intermediate academies will have more than half of them able to break through to become Soul Grandmaster within a few years, thus looking forward to even higher realms.

However, most of those who fail to overcome the first hurdle will have to waste several more years before they can break through, and then stumble and struggle to reach the Soul Grandmaster realm before their vital energy and blood completely weaken.

But it's different for those major sects and powerful forces.

Needless to say, the geniuses who will be directly absorbed by them.

Among those loyal family branch members who have been passed down and multiplied from generation to generation, there are actually quite a few people with very ordinary talents. In theory, they are all ordinary Soul Grandmaster Soul Master.

However, with the more comprehensive training programs and abundant cultivation resources offered by sects and families, as long as one does not give up on oneself, one can generally cultivate to the Soul Elder realm.

In terms of cost-effectiveness alone, it is not worthwhile. However, just like how You Chen initially used resources that could cultivate Soul Ancestor and Soul King to solve the problem of Beast-mutated mutants, the short-term benefits were very poor. But what is important is the added value they possess—loyalty.

Family Soul Master trained through clan systems may lack talent, but their loyalty is unmatched by outsiders.

The only problem is that it costs a lot of money.

Fortunately, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect has no shortage of money, so under Ning Fengzhi's arrangement, every Soul Master in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect can basically receive this kind of basic training that is incredible to outsiders.

Even the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect can only support such expenses for a few thousand people.

This is assuming their Seven Treasure Chamber of Commerce is always open.

Of course, the core force of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, numbering several thousand, is maintained in a mobile manner, and cannot be directly converted into the resource expenditure of several thousand people; in reality, it is far more than that.

But the problem is... the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce has only just started operating.

Surely these Soul Elder couldn't have just been recruited, right? You're kidding me!

Ning Fengzhi was 100% certain that there was powerful backing behind this.

"It really is Prince Xue Xing?"

Ning Fengzhi naturally thought of Prince Xue Xing: "Dugu Bo was sent by Prince Xue Xing to maintain the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce. On the surface, Prince Xue Xing deliberately distanced himself from Dugu Bo in public, saying that Dugu Bo had regained his freedom, but in reality, their relationship was never severed. The real president of the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce Merchant Guild is Prince Xue Xing! Was Dugu Bo sending his granddaughter away under the pretext of becoming a disciple to protect Dugu Yan from the impact of this business war? Not only that, but the reason for having Dugu Bo act as a front was also to take into account the exclusion factor from the Star Luo Empire, right? It's Bi Lin Douluo's merchant guild, not a merchant guild opened by a prince of an enemy country, which leaves room for negotiation."

Prince Xue Xing has money, manpower, time to train a large armed force, and the ability to hide them!

Everything... seems to make sense now!

Actually, Ning Fengzhi didn't just realize this now.

However, he always felt that the background of the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce was not that important.

However, after suffering setbacks at every turn in this business battle, Ning Fengzhi finally began to have some bad thoughts...

As we all know, the most effective and authentic business warfare is not about price wars or product wars, but about directly attacking the opposing player!

So why didn't we use it before, or even consider it before?

It's very simple. After all, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect are righteous people, and they're out doing business. Doing things like this would have a very bad influence!

Of course, while it's called "directly attacking the opposing player," as long as Ning Fengzhi still wants the Tiandou Empire market, he wouldn't actually attack Prince Xue Xing himself.

He only wanted to use force to solve business problems, not to use force to defeat his opponents.

The first solution Ning Fengzhi thought of to resolve their current predicament was...

The most direct method is to cut off the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce's key trade routes! Directly cut off their supply of goods!

However, Dugu Bo, that shameless fellow, always personally provided the assistance and escort. During this period, the Seven Treasure Chamber of Commerce only received information that their trade route was opened up through the Cataclysm Mountain Range.

To cut off the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce's main source of goods, we must confront Dugu Bo!

To target Titled Douluo, the only option is to send out Titled Douluo!

However, this undoubtedly signifies true hostility! It marks a shift from business rivalry to a real-world battleground!

Although Ning Fengzhi had already deduced that Dugu Bo was merely an agent acting on behalf of Prince Xue Xing, he was, after all, the guild leader in name only—though he hadn't explicitly stated it—and this behavior was tantamount to a provocation and declaration of war against a Titled Douluo. Even for the sake of Titled Douluo's reputation, Dugu Bo had to show a confrontational attitude.

As mentioned earlier, for the ruling class like Soul Master, fighting and killing are always a last resort, not like in folk tales where they go straight to the point of fighting and killing.

Titled Douluo are considered "nuclear weapons" by any force. Even in the realm of struggle, they are the ultimate means.

Given the current scale and market dominance of the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce, is it worthwhile for them to break ties with a Titled Douluo like this?

Moreover, he is a Titled Douluo who uses poison!

"It's not time to take this path yet."

Ning Fengzhi shook his head.

If we don't fight openly, then we can only resort to indirect struggle.

The Soul Master who targeted the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce to rob their Beast Soul Pill gave Ning Fengzhi an idea.

"I can easily send my family's private soldiers disguised as robbers to cause trouble for the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce. At least in terms of manpower, they are no match for us at this stage."

As for hiring someone to do this kind of thing?

Soul Master are the elite and ruling class of this world. As mentioned before, apart from SkyNet, there has never been a truly respectable organization that hires Soul Master to do their bidding.

At most, they would temporarily act as mercenaries outside the Soul Hunting beasts, helping people hunt for Soul Ring.

However, Ning Fengzhi also had to consider the risks involved.

If you become a robber and get killed, then you've died in vain.

Most importantly, in the Heaven Dou Empire region, the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce's shops, with the help of Prince Xue Xing, are all located in the city center.

If robbers appear in the city center, they will not only have to face the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce, but also the city's guards, and even the patrolling deacons of the Spirit Hall. All the forces in the open will target them.

"Then, should we target the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce in the Star Luo Empire region? No, that won't do. That's not our operational center. If we're caught red-handed, all the people we send out could be wiped out. The risk is too great."

Ning Fengzhi had a headache.

Ultimately, he couldn't bear to part with his clan's private army.

"In that case, let's target Prince Xue Xing directly!"

Ning Fengzhi suddenly realized that this was a good choice.

Instead of worrying about how the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce manages to transport and distribute its goods, why not just attack their spawn point directly?

If Prince Xue Xing is busy dealing with everything, he won't be able to attend to matters concerning the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce.

This is a brilliant strategy of attacking Wei to rescue Zhao!

Especially...

"We are fortunate to have the strong support of Qinghe!"

Ning Fengzhi knew that his nominal disciple was also a shrewd person. Apart from making a mistake regarding the public opinion against Bibi Dong, he was the type to not act until he saw a clear benefit.

But if it could weaken one of his current top political rivals, he would be more than happy to provide assistance!

After Ning Fengzhi and Xue Qinghe put forward their proposals, the two quickly reached an agreement.

Prince Xue Xing: "?"

As a result, for a long time afterward, Prince Xue Xing found himself frustrated at every turn.

At court meetings, Xue Qinghe would directly stand up and oppose any topic he raised.

Several of his retainers were secretly and swindled away by Xue Qinghe at great expense...

Even worse, law enforcement officers came to his door, claiming that some of his shops and entertainment facilities were suspected of tax evasion, and shut them down directly...

Nothing really went particularly smoothly.

With Prince Xue Xing drawing the fire, the Beast Soul Chamber of Commerce entered a period of peaceful and tranquil development.

Half a year passed just like that.

During this period, You Chen's assessment of his own strength proceeded smoothly and without any setbacks.

Let's go back to when Dugu Bo and the others had just left the Cataclysm Mountain Range camp.

You Chen first used up all the "Muscle and Marrow Cleansing" techniques in one go. Unlike before, he accumulated them until now and used them all at once in order to better understand the system's operation of Immortal Spiritual Energy.

Even though he could never imitate the power of the system, he still gained something after acquiring new knowledge, which was reflected in his understanding of the "Godly Elephant Suppressing Prison Strength".

Both involve the sublimation of the body, but they follow different paths. However, the great paths lead to different goals. When You Chen comprehended the Muscle and Marrow Cleansing process, he was able to draw inferences from similar cases and gain some understanding of the Godly Elephant Suppressing Prison Strength.

However, in the short term, it will take him a long time to fully comprehend the Dragon Elephant Chapter.

Then came "The Soul Power Manipulation Insights of the Porcupinefish Douluo and the Snake Lance Douluo".

Those who can become Titled Douluo generally have reached the Great Accomplishment level in their control over Soul Power.

The experience of two different Great Accomplishment of Soul Power control was no less valuable to You Chen than experiencing their Soul Power changes from zero to the peak, from which he benefited immensely.

Even among those Great Accomplishment, there are still differences. It should be noted that even Limit Douluo may not be able to fully control their Soul Power.

The Soul Power control abilities of You Chen, the Porcupinefish Douluo, and the Snake Lance Douluo are roughly at the same level.

Having gained experience from both of them, You Chen's ability to control Soul Power has now reached the level of Super Douluo.

This directly saves at least several years, or even longer, of painstaking work.

Then, he looked at the pills dropped by the two Titled Douluo.

Having completed so many tasks and used the system's pills multiple times, You Chen now has his own understanding of pill levels.

Generally speaking, the grades of pills and their optimal usage levels correspond as follows: beginner (Soul Scholar to Soul Grandmaster), intermediate (Soul Elder to Soul King), and advanced (Soul Emperor to Soul Douluo).

The range of high-grade pills was deduced by him based on the effects of low-grade, intermediate, and high-grade pills.

Taking experience pills as an example, if a low-level Soul Master uses a high-level pill, the effect will be wasted because the pill cannot be fully absorbed; conversely, it will have no effect at all.

As for enhancement pills, using high-level ones at lower levels works the same as using experience pills, but conversely, the effect is greatly weakened.

Regarding the grades of pills, the only ones You Chen knew, besides the top-grade one he had, were the "special grade" pills from Bibi Dong's mission.

Top-tier pills are at least equivalent to Titled Douluo to Super Douluo, while special-grade pills might even be effective against God-level opponents. Of course, it's also possible that it corresponds to Limit Douluo, or even just the Super Douluo to Limit Douluo range.

In short, You Chen doesn't plan to consume the top-tier experience pills from the system rewards for the time being.

With eight or nine rings in his First Incarnation and four, five, or six rings in his Second Incarnation, he is already exploring suitable target Soul Beast through the newly established network of the Chamber of Commerce.

Once he completes these Soul Rings, he will be able to quickly break through to the Titled Douluo level. Only then will it be time for him to consume top-tier pills.

You Chen has temporarily absorbed all the direct boosts to combat power provided by the system.

Those that are not yet in use are all things he judged to be not ready for the time being.

Then, he began to reflect on himself.

It wasn't just reflections on the battles after breaking through to Soul Sage, but also reflections on my own conduct and style.

—I've been suppressing it for too long.

His words to Dugu Bo were not just a perfunctory response; he genuinely believed it.

Or rather, he realized his own restlessness.

This is not hard to understand.

What we repressed or lacked in our youth, we often seek to make up for in a retaliatory and intensified manner once we grow up and have the ability to do so.

For example, if you were forbidden by your parents from eating junk food like KFC or spicy snacks when you were a child, you might indulge in them to your heart's content when you grow up.

Having always been a bookworm with virtually no contact with the opposite sex, he used the confidence and charm that came with his status and position to make up for decades of sexual repression...

Such cases are not uncommon.

Looking back at You Chen's life over the past few decades, what has he been lacking? What has he been suppressing?

It is strength, and it is the forced forbearance and concession in the face of Bibi Dong's power.

This repression lasted for decades.

He suppressed his true feelings and played the role of a low-key, uncontroversial research scholar.

So after his Martial Soul underwent a transformation and his strength suddenly increased to the point that no one could defeat him, he could no longer suppress his desire to show off.

He wanted to demonstrate his newfound power.

That urgent expectation was like a mountain torrent that had been blocked for many years and finally broke through the dam.

That's why he became "careless" and even became much more flamboyant.

It's not just because he no longer needs to be cautious, but because he needs this way to release his repressed needs.

So...

'Do I need to continue suppressing this?'

The answer is—no, it's not needed.

After seeing his own heart clearly and giving himself that permission, You Chen's heart became calm.

After telling himself that he no longer needed to suppress himself and that he could express himself freely, You Chen became less eager.

A relieved and relaxed smile appeared on his face as he murmured to himself, "Yes, finally I don't need it anymore."