The Battle for Resources

On their first night in the capital, the Patriarch Zhang, accompanied by a group of important members of the Zhang Clan, hosted a very lavish banquet for Ma Feifei and his entourage.

They raised their glasses in a toast, chatted merrily, and enjoyed themselves immensely together.

During the meal, Ma Feifei also spotted the young man in white from the trio. He was sitting in a middle-to-upper seat, drinking with guests. The lively atmosphere couldn't ease his sullen expression; he remained unhappy. Ma Feifei only learned the young man's identity through the Patriarch Zhang's introduction. His name was Zhang Jinlin, the Patriarch Zhang's third son. Despite his young age, he was actually thirty-five or thirty-six, already married with a son old enough to run errands.

However, the Patriarch Zhang seemed to favor Zhang Jinlin. Although he lost ten million Spirit Crystal to Ma Feifei, the Patriarch Zhang did not seem to Punishment Zhang Jinlin in any way.

In fact, ten million is not much to the Zhang Clan. The Zhang Clan ranked relatively high in the resource competition among the "Twelve Kings" ten years ago. The Spirit Crystal Vein Mine alone can bring the Zhang Clan more than one hundred million in income a year. Not to mention that the eldest son of the Zhang Clan, Zhang Yunji, married the daughter of Elder Chang Kong Sword Sect and boarded the ship of the top power, the Sword Sect. In recent years, unlike other "Kings", the Zhang Clan has been on the rise.

Besides the sullen Zhang Jinlin, there was also an overjoyed Yun Qingyang, who kept his eyes half-closed while eating, occasionally stealing a glance at the Spirit Crystal in his ring...

However, Ma Feifei could understand; after all, it was normal to be excited after earning 100 million Spirit Crystal.

For example, Ma Feifei himself was so happy that he got drunk that night, and Lin Wuchi and Li Beiguo had to carry him back to the courtyard.

"Qingyang, where are you?" Ma Feifei called out as Lin Wuchi and Li Beiguo carried him along the way.

"This..." Yun Qingyang appeared beside Ma Feifei with a 'whoosh'.

"Huh, why are there two Yun Qingyang?" Ma Feifei asked in confusion, reaching out a hand to poke them.

With a 'smack,' Yun Qingyang slapped Ma Feifei's hand away. Ma Feifei felt the pain and became more alert. The two Yun Qingyang then returned to one.

"Aren't you very happy today?" Ma Feifei asked cheerfully.

Yun Qingyang nodded.

"Is this the first time you've earned so many Spirit Crystal?" Ma Feifei continued to ask.

Yun Qingyang nodded with a hint of excitement.

"Hehe, don't worry, don't worry, this is nothing. There's a long road ahead. Follow me, and I can help you earn even more Spirit Crystal," Ma Feifei patted his chest, looked up at the starry sky, and said.

Yun Qingyang looked at Ma Feifei with admiration and nodded. For Yun Qingyang, humans who could earn Spirit Crystal were the ones she liked the most.

"Hehe," Ma Feifei chuckled as she looked at Yun Qingyang's expression.

The next morning, Ma Feifei felt a little thirsty and was about to get up to get some water when the door was suddenly kicked open, Yun Qingyang appeared in front of her with a serious expression.

"What are you going to do?" Ma Feifei asked, startled, clutching the blanket.

Yun Qingyang looked at Ma Feifei and said seriously, "There's a thief!"

Ma Feifei looked puzzled and said, "A thief? What do you mean?"

Yun Qingyang raised the hand wearing the spatial ring and said, "The Spirit Crystal inside have been stolen."

"Hiss!" Ma Feifei exclaimed in shock, "All the Spirit Crystal in the spatial ring have been stolen?"

Ma Feifei was truly shocked. To be able to enter the spatial ring from Yun Qingyang's side and steal the Spirit Crystal was something virtually no one on the Azure Dragon Continent could do, unless it was a being of a higher level, such as a Spirit Saint or an Immortal!

Yun Qingyang shook his head and said, "Not all of it was stolen, but 130 million was stolen."

"Huh?" Ma Feifei was a little confused, her face showing some awkwardness, but she quickly recovered, clapped her hands, and asked, "Why only steal 130 million? If you're going to steal anything, you should steal it all!"

Yun Qingyang's face was very serious. She was quite surprised that someone could steal so many Spirit Crystal from her spatial ring so quietly. In all her years of life, this was the first time she had encountered such a thing.

Seeing Yun Qingyang's serious expression, Ma Feifei panicked a little and quickly said, "Don't worry, maybe you've miscalculated, and the Spirit Crystal weren't stolen at all?"

Yun Qingyang immediately denied it, saying seriously, "Impossible. I divided the Spirit Crystal into two small mountains, each worth one hundred million. There were twelve in total. Yesterday I earned one hundred million, so there should be thirteen now. But when I checked this morning, I found there were only twelve, and the twelfth mountain only has a little over seventy million Spirit Crystal."

"Uh..." Ma Feifei froze, unsure of what to say for a moment.

"It must have been the Zhang Clan who did it! I'm going to kill them all!" A powerful killing intent suddenly erupted from Yun Qingyang's body, and the building inside the room instantly froze into ice blocks with a series of cracking sounds.

"Qingyang, don't get agitated!" Ma Feifei quickly grabbed Yun Qingyang.

What a joke! Kill them all? That would be a huge disaster! Ma Feifei really believed that Yun Qingyang could do it. For dragons, the importance of Spirit Crystal is self-evident. Besides, which Spirit Saint or higher figure didn't come from a mountain of corpses Blood Sea? Human lives are worthless to them.

Yun Qingyang was pulled back by Ma Feifei, who looked at him with a serious expression.

"Ahem," Ma Feifei said somewhat awkwardly, holding Yun Qingyang's arm with one hand and touching his nose with the other, "If I confess now, can I get leniency?"

For the next few days, Ma Feifei spent her time in bed. It wasn't until Lunar New Year's Eve that people saw Ma Feifei again; she looked quite haggard.

January 21st, 351st year of the Great Chu Dynasty.

A new year has begun.

Originally, Ma Feifei was preparing to leave the capital today and head to the Emperor's Tomb, three thousand miles south of the capital. However, he was unexpectedly invited by the Patriarch Zhang to watch the once-every-ten-year 'Twelve Kings' resource competition. Ma Feifei could not refuse, so he went with the Zhang Clan family to Canglong Fort to watch this 'Twelve Kings' resource competition.

Canglong Fort is located two hundred miles outside the capital city. It is the property of the Sima family, one of the "Twelve Kings". In fact, Canglong Fort is a place similar to a dueling arena. On weekdays, cultivators can fight each other without using Spiritual Power, which is used by high-ranking officials and nobles for entertainment.

This year's 'Twelve Kings' resource battle is being held inside this Canglong Fort.

According to the Patriarch Zhang's introduction, Ma Feifei also learned who these so-called 'Twelve Kings' were: Zhang, Zhou, Sima, Li, Cao, Ouyang, Jiang, Han, Shangguan, Song, Wen, and Baili.

These twelve surnames were the twelve kings of different surnames who were enfeoffed by Emperor Chu the Conqueror.

However, as time went by, the prestige of the 'Twelve Kings' had long since faded, and they had essentially lost all their influence in official circles, becoming just an ordinary family.

If it weren't for the decree issued by Xiang Yu, the Emperor Chu the Conqueror, that as long as the Great Chu did not perish, the twelve Spirit Crystal Vein Mine would forever belong to the 'Twelve Kings,' these twelve Spirit Crystal Vein Mine might not have been preserved.

In short, the 'Twelve Kings' family is now in a state of decline.

This is why they are so concerned about the internal resource wars within the 'Twelve Kings,' because the quality of Spirit Crystal Vein Mine can, to some extent, determine the rise and fall of a family over the next ten years.

Of course, none of this mattered to Ma Feifei. The main reason he came today was to see just how powerful the Purple Ying Sword in Liu Ying's hand really was. After all, according to previous practice, everything that appeared in books would be enhanced to some extent, such as the martial arts techniques in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and the Pokémon in "Pokémon"; by extension, the eighth-tier spirit sword Purple Ying Sword should also be a bit stronger than the Purple Ying Sword in the original book.

"Should I tell Miss Liu Ying to promote Mysterious Bookstore at the competition later?" Ma Feifei thought to himself.

Ma Feifei then shook his head. The Mysterious Bookstore was already famous throughout the Great Chu, and its reputation was already sufficient. There was no need for further promotion. Even if it were promoted, the Bookstore could not accommodate so many cultivators at present.

"When will I be able to expand the Bookstore?" Thinking of this, Ma Feifei couldn't help but sigh. A large amount of Spirit Crystal were placed in front of him, but he couldn't earn them. It was really frustrating.