Swallowing the Stars: 100x Return for Teaching Apprentices

Chapter 77 Haze
Virtual universe, Lanting Continent, Yunlan City.

Yunlan City is a super city on the Lanting Continent. The size of this city alone is ten times larger than the corresponding island of the entire Eternal Empire!
The virtual universe is an infinitely vast space, so achieving this is naturally quite easy.

Inside the rather luxurious mansion-style building 'Guanlan Mansion' in a bustling area of ​​Yunlan City.

Sitting on the soft sofa, Qi Yuan casually browsed the items on the screen in front of him, but a wry smile appeared on his face.

"Damn, the nutrient solution that can rapidly upgrade a Domain Lord level cultivator is already a restricted item. Even with my limited permissions, I can't buy it."

However, he wasn't too bothered by it, since even without restrictions, he couldn't afford it with his current funds.

Let alone the nutrient solution used by Domain Lords, even the nutrient solution needed to quickly upgrade a Universe-level first-order to the ninth-order is incredibly expensive!
The stellar-level nutrient solution that Qi Yuan bought for Liao Li cost billions of cosmic coins per ton, equivalent to the value of tens of thousands of life-bearing planets.

The nutrient solution used at the cosmic level requires more than 5 trillion cosmic coins and more than five Chaos Yuan per ton!

Unless Qi Yuan sells a batch of his treasures, such as Origin Crystals, he really won't be able to raise enough money to buy enough nutrient solution for the time being!

In the original work, only a few behemoth forces, as well as top human races such as the Manka Clan and the Dream Wing Clan, could provide such luxurious cultivation conditions for their core members and clansmen.

"Looks like I need to find a way to raise some cash. Sigh, I really envy Luo Feng; he has such a good wife and brother who make so much money, it saves him so much trouble."

Qi Yuan sighed inwardly, but couldn't help feeling a slight headache for the predicament he was facing.

He realized that his current development was vaguely stuck in a bottleneck.

The most important issue is that he lacks a sufficiently secure channel for selling and purchasing goods.

Like the thousands of Origin Crystals he received last time, if he sold a few of them individually, he might be able to find a way to distribute them to some reputable shops.

However, if he were to take out hundreds or thousands of them at once, even if he distributed them to different shops, he would still be very likely to be noticed by someone with ulterior motives, who would then kill him to steal his treasure.

Moreover, the purchasing channels are even more problematic. Most of the high-level and precious resources are monopolized by powerful forces.

The Lanting Auction is currently the highest-level channel he can access for purchasing precious resources.

However, the auction is held only once every three years, and the items auctioned each time are not fixed, so there is no guarantee that he will find what he needs.

This means that although he has a lot of precious treasures in his hands, he cannot convert them into what he needs for cultivation in time, which seriously slows down his speed of rapid improvement with the help of the system.

"Should we try to pass the internal assessment of the Virtual Universe Company and become a core member?"

Qi Yuan was quite confident in passing the internal assessment of the Virtual Universe Company, and it was indeed an excellent solution to his current predicament.

But he was still somewhat hesitant.

After all, the core members of the Virtual Universe Company not only have their freedom greatly restricted, but also have to undergo various life-and-death trials according to the requirements of the higher-ups.

As for Qi Yuan, he has a return system, which allows him to improve quickly as long as he teaches his disciples steadily. He really doesn't want to be subject to that kind of constraint.

"Forget about that for now, let's figure out how to raise the money to get a cosmic-level nutrient solution first!"

"Liao Li should be breaking through soon too. Then, with the help of the return system, I should be able to get a suitable nutrient solution for me."

Once he obtained the nutrient solution, it was time for him to set off back to the territory of the Eternal Empire.
"Master, there is a communication request from Mr. Samonka."

Just as Qi Yuan was making his decision, he heard Xiao Ai's voice reminding him.

"Samonka? Perfect, that's exactly what I was looking for."

Qi Yuan's eyes lit up. "Let's connect the communication."

"Yes."

As Xiao Ai's voice faded, a large amount of light converged in front of Qi Yuan, quickly coalescing into the image of the white-haired old man, Samonka. "Mr. Qi Yuan."

Samonka seemed to have a hint of melancholy between his brows.

"What's wrong, Mr. Samonka? You don't seem to be in a good mood."

Seeing his appearance, Qi Yuan couldn't help but ask a question with a smile.

"Mr. Qi Yuan, there is indeed a troublesome matter I need to report to you regarding the territory redevelopment."

Samonka first gave Qi Yuan a slight nod, and then explained in detail,
"In the past month or so, we have detected no fewer than ten incidents of space pirate raids in the starry sky surrounding your territory, and just today, one of our transport ships carrying a large amount of precious materials was also attacked."

"And the attack took place in outer space of Maple Moon Star!"

"Maple Moon Star? Isn't that a level-two administrative star of the territory?"

Upon hearing this, Qi Yuan frowned. "What's going on? How did space pirates end up inside our territory? Mr. Samonka, where are your guards?"

"Ahem, Mr. Qi Yuan"

Samonka coughed slightly and explained softly, "Our escort legions are scattered across various planets, but the outer space around these planets is simply too vast. When space pirate ships suddenly appear in the dark universe, our current defense system is simply unable to prevent them."

"So what about those space pirates? Have they been caught yet?" Qi Yuan asked.

"No, no."

Samonka looked slightly embarrassed. Since their team had signed a renovation and development contract with Qi Yuan, they were, in principle, responsible for security and defense during this period.

"Mr. Qi Yuan, our team is mainly responsible for reconstruction and construction tasks. Our defense level is limited; at most, it's used to prevent potential rebellions within the territory."

Samonka forced a smile and explained, "But there's more than one cosmic-level pirate among those who attacked our transport ship. This... this is beyond our capabilities."

"A cosmic-level space pirate!"

Qi Yuan was taken aback upon hearing this, and a slight sense of vigilance crept into his heart.

Currently, in his territory, apart from himself, Liao Li who is about to break through, and Samonka, who is currently on a conversation with him, there is not a single other universe-level being.

If a cosmic-level space pirate were to appear, apart from Red Leaf Star and a few first-level administrative stars that could protect themselves thanks to their powerful planetary defense systems, the other tens of thousands of planetary territories would be utterly powerless to resist!
"Mr. Qi Yuan."

Samonka on the screen hesitated slightly at first, then gave a somewhat uncertain reminder.
"You might need to pay a little attention to your neighbor."

"Neighbor?"

Qi Yuan was slightly taken aback, then realized what he meant, "You mean that person from Blood Sun Star?"

"Yes."

Samonka nodded. "Through the company's intelligence system, I learned that in recent years, the Belon family, the backer of Blood Sun Star, has been willing to offend a large number of partners, frantically seizing and appropriating a large amount of their funds. Moreover, they have imposed extremely heavy taxes on the major merchant groups that have entered Blood Sun Star, and even some small families that are dependent on Blood Sun Star have been forced to 'invest' in the Belon family."

"Moreover, more than half a month ago, that person from Blood Sun Star seemed to have personally ordered the massacre of a large number of small organizations and forces that wanted to break away from his command. And these organizations and forces were among the wealthier ones among the many forces on Blood Sun Star."

"In addition, there are frequent incidents of space pirate raids in the surrounding areas."

As Samonka spoke, he glanced cautiously at Qi Yuan. "Mr. Qi Yuan, you should understand what I mean by all this, right?"

"Hehe, I roughly understand."

Qi Yuan nodded, but a shadow of gloom rose in his eyes. "Are you saying that the one from Blood Sun Star has reached the final moment and is preparing to make a last-ditch effort at all costs?"

(End of this chapter)