The matter was far from over.
About four months after the Xinfei Mining Merchant Guild was founded, the Freshwater Valley Merchant Guild, the largest mineral resources merchant guild in the Malo Empire, issued a joint statement with thirty-six other mineral resources merchant guilds. Together, they established a mineral resources consolidation organization similar to the Chino Federation, named the Valley Mineral Coordination Association, or the Valley Coordination Association for short.
The Freshwater Valley Merchant Guild controlled more mineral resources than any other merchant guild in the Malo Empire. Together with those thirty-six other mineral resources merchant guilds, it controlled almost all the mineral resources in the northern Sains Continent.
Although their holdings fell slightly short of the mineral resources under the Chino Federation, the difference was not great.
The purpose behind the Valley Coordination Association's founding was even more obvious than that of the Xinfei Mining Merchant Guild: to contend with the Chino Federation.
Unlike the Xinfei Mining Merchant Guild, which everyone regarded as far inferior in strength, the Valley Coordination Association had brought together almost all the mineral resources in the Candel Empire and dozens of northern countries. It truly had the strength to stand on equal footing with the Chino Federation.
Moreover, given the backing behind these two organizations, this undoubtedly represented another direct confrontation between the Malo Empire and the Candel Empire.
Previously, whenever the two great empires clashed, the continent's other countries and organizations could only choose which side to support. They had no way to make their own voices heard. This time, however, the Xinfei Merchant Guild had emerged, forcing its way into the contest through the Xinfei Mining Merchant Guild and making a genuinely different voice heard.
Many people naturally hoped that the Xinfei Mining Merchant Guild could truly contend with the Chino Federation and