This time, Li Chen had paid a considerable price to conceal the truth that his Fifth Avatar was an artificial puppet. No matter what, that debt had to be laid at the Everflow Merchants' Association's door.
Without their support, the Centipede Daoist could never have overcome his earlier apprehension, and Li Chen would still have had plenty of room to develop.
But he had unleashed killing moves in rapid succession from the outset and fought desperately against the enemy's four-star puppet not to vent his anger, but to buy more time to regroup.
His forces had now lost a substantial amount of Foundation Establishment combat power. Although there were no casualties to burden him, and he could restore his strength relatively quickly with his reserves of cultivation provisions, doing so would still place a heavy financial strain on the entire Spirit Peak. Only by damaging or even destroying their strongest combat asset could he retain the initiative.
Li Chen might have seemed like the lord of his own domain, with money and supplies aplenty and even a newly acquired treasure ore deposit, able to afford funding Qi Maigu's research into Blazing Sun Divine Thunder. But precisely because his operations had grown so extensive, his expenses and debts were enormous. Once he fell into a strategic disadvantage, his losses would be devastating.
He could not afford to fail now, much less lose the initiative in the public eye!
Li Chen understood all too well the principle of buying on the rise and selling on the fall. He might be as steady as an old hound, but that did not mean his financial backers could bear the pressure. In managing the situation, he also had to account for how his various allies perceived it.
"This is bad! The Ancient Thunder Beast has