Douluo Continent: Starting with a Heavenly Fire Judgment

Chapter 221 Liyue Chamber of Commerce

Mu En lay on the recliner, his eyes slightly open, and said calmly, "We have already witnessed the effects and abilities of the Holy Mark. It can indeed replace soul beasts to allow soul masters to obtain soul rings, and can even provide soul masters with additional amplification and new skills. The existence of the Holy Mark will surely be sought after by soul masters all over the continent, but your Star Luo Empire alone cannot protect the Holy Mark. This is probably why you came to my Shrek Academy this time."

Xu Jiujiu's eyes widened slightly, and he secretly sighed in his heart, "As expected of an old fox who has lived for hundreds of years, he pointed out their intentions incisively and found the key point in an instant."

However, Xu Jiujiu was already mentally prepared. She nodded and said, "That's right. Our Star Luo Empire, no! Our Star Crown Sect can't keep the technology of making Sacred Marks. Even if we win over a group of small and medium-sized sects to stand on the same side as us, we still can't keep it. But if Shrek Academy joins us, then we can keep the technology of making Sacred Marks."

As one of the three top forces in Douluo Continent, Shrek Academy is untouchable by any force other than the hidden ones like the Clear Sky Sect and the Holy Spirit Cult. With Shrek Academy supporting the Holy Mark Project, Ji Lin and his group will have far fewer troubles.

Yan Shaozhe then spoke up, "If Her Highness intends for Shrek Academy to publicly bear the risks and pressure, then I wonder what Shrek Academy will gain in return."

Xu Jiujiu's smile widened. Now that they were discussing the distribution of profits, the matter was settled. No one could refuse the Holy Mark, and Shrek Academy was no exception. She solemnly said, "We are willing to share the Holy Mark production technology with Shrek Academy, and jointly develop, research and produce the Holy Mark. The profits brought by the Holy Mark will be shared by our Star Luo Empire, Shrek Academy, Zizai Sect and other sects."

The elders of the Sea God Pavilion exchanged glances, all seeing the intense gleam in each other's eyes. The mere prospect of sharing the technology for creating Holy Marks was enough to excite them.

Yan Shaozhe was also intrigued. He asked in a deep voice, "How will it be distributed, and what are the details?"

Xu Jiujiu said with a smile, "The Zizai Sect is the creator of the Sacred Mark. His Highness the Red Kite Douluo, the Grand Elder of the Zizai Sect, made great contributions. Without the Zizai Sect, there would be no Sacred Mark. Therefore, the Zizai Sect takes 40% of the profits."

Yan Shaozhe and the elders of the Sea God Pavilion exchanged glances, and then looked at Mu En.

Mu En nodded and said, "The Zizai Sect is the creator of the Sacred Mark and is willing to use it to benefit the entire Douluo Continent. Their contribution is invaluable and it is only right that they do so."

Seeing that Mu En had agreed, the other elders naturally had no objections, since the Zizai Sect had a Limit Douluo just like Mu En.

Seeing that Mu En agreed, Xu Jiujiu continued, "Shrek Academy will face the greatest external pressure and bear the most risks, so Shrek Academy can take three layers of the benefits. Our Star Luo Empire can be responsible for selling the Holy Marks and undertaking logistical responsibilities, thus taking two layers of the benefits. The remaining layer will be allocated to other sects and forces willing to cooperate with us. I wonder if Your Excellencies are satisfied with this allocation method?"

Upon hearing the long-awaited allocation, the elders of the Sea God Pavilion all showed faint smiles. The Star Luo Empire was showing great sincerity, and they had no reason to disagree.

With three layers of benefits and the shared technology for creating Sacred Marks, they only need to withstand the pressure from other sects and the other three great empires. Given the current situation in Douluo Continent, other forces are unlikely to engage in a real war with Shrek Academy. At most, it will be a matter of military intimidation and disputes over interests. By appropriately giving up some benefits, they are very confident that they can protect the technology for creating Sacred Marks.

Ji Lin was also satisfied with this distribution method. For the current Zizai Sect, the technology of making Sacred Marks was a double-edged sword. At most, Chi Yuan could protect Ji Lin and a few people with whom he had a good relationship. Other disciples of the Zizai Sect were likely to become targets of other sects that coveted Sacred Marks. Chi Yuan was more than capable of protecting Ji Lin, but in the end, she could not hold the line alone. For Ji Lin, there were four layers of benefits now, but in the future, there might be seven layers of benefits.

Once Ma Xiaotao and Zhang Lexuan take over Shrek Academy, where will the other three levels of Shrek go? Considering his relationship with the Star Crown Sect, it's no exaggeration to say that he can take nine-tenths of the benefits.

The Holy Mark is open to all Soul Masters across the entire continent. The benefits of four layers are already astronomical. From now on, even the disciples of the Free Gate can sleep on top of gold Soul Coins if they want to.

The entire Sea God Pavilion agreed to jointly promote the Holy Mark project with the Star Luo Empire, with Shrek Academy responsible for safeguarding the project and the Star Luo Empire responsible for logistics and sales.

Ji Lin and his Zizai Sect only needed to hide behind the two major powers and collect their money.

Yan Shaozhe took the data on the creation techniques of the Holy Mark from Xu Jiujiu and presented it to Mu En. Mu En glanced at it a few times and put it down. He didn't need to bother studying these things; he didn't have the energy for it anymore. He was about to die.

Moon's eyelids twitched slightly, and he said calmly, "This document recording the technology for creating Sacred Marks has been sent to the Sea God Pavilion's library for safekeeping. It has been classified as a Red Confidential document. In the future, anyone who wants to read it will have to go through a meeting of the Sea God Pavilion."

The elders all nodded in agreement; this technique for creating sacred marks was extremely important. And the library was the most heavily guarded place in Shrek Academy. It was the perfect location.

Just then, Ji Lin gave Chi Yuan a wink, and Chi Yuan nodded. She suddenly said, "I have a suggestion."

Upon hearing Chi Yuan's sudden speech, all the elders of the Sea God Pavilion and Mu En were taken aback. Even Xu Jiujiu was full of surprise, as she had not expected Chi Yuan to suddenly offer her opinion.

Yan Shaozhe said, "Your Majesty Chi Yuan, please feel free to speak your mind."

Chi Yuan nodded and said, "After all, this is the first time that multiple forces have cooperated. In order to prevent things from becoming too chaotic, I suggest that each force contribute personnel, resources, and funds to form a new chamber of commerce. This chamber of commerce will be supervised by people from our various forces, and it will be responsible for the research, development, production, and sale of Holy Marks under unified management, while our share of the profits will remain unchanged. This will make things simpler and more convenient to implement the Holy Mark project."

"Even if we temporarily suppress the dissatisfaction of other forces, this dissatisfaction will eventually erupt. Therefore, I propose to establish seven positions in this new Chamber of Commerce, let's call them the Seven Stars. The Seven Stars will be responsible for all affairs of this Chamber of Commerce. Our Zizai Sect will send someone to serve as a Seven Star, and Shrek Academy and Star Luo Empire can each send someone to serve as a Seven Star. As for the remaining four positions, I suggest that they be allocated to Douling Empire and Tianhun Empire, as well as other top forces. We will win over the two empires and other forces to promote the Sacred Mark Project together. As for the profit sharing, we will each share a portion with the other two empires and other forces. In this way, the three empires and Shrek Academy will jointly supervise this Chamber of Commerce. This Chamber of Commerce will only produce and research Sacred Marks and sell them to the outside world. Apart from this new Chamber of Commerce, other forces are strictly prohibited from selling Sacred Marks, including the three empires, Shrek Academy and our Zizai Sect."

Upon hearing Chi Yuan's words, the elders of the Sea God Pavilion couldn't help but gasp. Xu Jiujiu's expression also changed. They were all intelligent people and knew that this new merchant guild possessed enormous power from the moment it was born, holding the right to create, research, and sell holy marks.

The Holy Mark is destined to be the object of pursuit for Soul Masters in the future, and the new Chamber of Commerce that holds the exclusive right to sell the Holy Mark will undoubtedly have a huge restraining effect on Soul Masters. Sooner or later, it will become the number one power on the continent, just like the Spirit Hall ten thousand years ago. However, Chi Yuan proposed to establish seven star seats to supervise this Chamber of Commerce, which is equivalent to dividing the power of this Chamber of Commerce. This also put everyone at ease. If it were not restrained, they would never have agreed to the birth of such a Chamber of Commerce.

Whoever controls this merchant guild alone will become an enemy of the Douluo Continent, not even Shrek Academy. Perhaps, if Shrek Academy were to control the guild alone, its strength would temporarily increase significantly, but at that point, they would become the enemy of the entire Douluo Continent. Possessing a treasure is a crime!

Therefore, it is necessary to divide the power and jointly establish a chamber of commerce. Representatives from various forces will be stationed in this new chamber of commerce, and all future decisions of the chamber of commerce will be controlled by the Seven Stars.

The Seven Star positions are rotated. In the Douluo Continent, strength is paramount, and whoever is stronger can win a Seven Star position. However, the Free Gate holds a permanent Seven Star position because they are the creators of the Sacred Mark. They have the qualifications and the strength to do so. Chi Yuan is the source of the Free Gate's confidence.

As for the rules of the new chamber of commerce, those rules will need to be jointly formulated after the seven leaders are in place.

Ji Lin only came up with this idea a few days ago and hadn't had time to discuss it with Xu Jiujiu. He thought about it for a long time and felt that relying solely on Shrek Academy and the Star Luo Empire wasn't safe enough. After all, no one knew if those hidden sects would suddenly emerge. The Sacred Mark was too important, just like the Haotian Sect. No one knew how many hidden sects were lurking in the shadows. If they were exposed by the Sacred Mark, Ji Lin was afraid that Shrek and the Star Crown Sect wouldn't be able to withstand it. That's why he came up with this method: to establish a new Chamber of Commerce, jointly supervised by various forces, and with exclusive sales rights. The seven-star seats and the rotation system were prepared for these hidden sects, clearly telling them that if they wanted to interfere with the Sacred Mark, they should openly compete for the seven-star seats and send people to the new Chamber of Commerce. This way, they could avoid becoming the target of everyone's attacks.

This will also allow for a better implementation of the Stigmata Project. Otherwise, if Shrek Academy, the Star Luo Empire, and the Zizai Gate were all selling Stigmata, conflicts and contradictions would inevitably arise. By unifying the management of the sales rights and having the New Chamber of Commerce handle all matters, it would be clean and efficient. They would only need to wait to collect the money and send people to supervise.

This approach allows for the rapid implementation of the Holy Mark, while also attracting various powerful factions and preventing the New Merchant Guild from expanding its influence through the Holy Mark, ultimately becoming too powerful to control.

Therefore, this chamber of commerce can only be jointly managed by Zizaimen and the other six forces that have won the seven-star seats.

Of course, only Shrek Academy and the Star Luo Empire have joined in so far. They still need to persuade the other two empires before the Saint Mark Project can be truly implemented. This is what Ji Lin is worried about. Even if the Star Luo Empire and Shrek Academy join forces to promote the Saint Mark, if the other two empires intend to make things difficult, the implementation of the Saint Mark will be very difficult on their territories. The Star Crown Sect can only guarantee implementation within the Star Luo Empire and cannot interfere with the other two empires. Shrek Academy has always maintained neutrality, which is their tradition. They cannot stand up and confront the two empires head-on. So they are good at self-preservation but not good at making progress.

That's how Chi Yuan came up with her suggestion.

Mu En fell into deep thought. The other elders of the Sea God Pavilion were also pondering. Xu Jiujiu gave Ji Lin a coquettish glare. She knew that Chi Yuan would not have taken the initiative to formulate such a detailed plan. It must have been Ji Lin who made her say it. She had already discussed the matter, but she did not expect Ji Lin to interfere. Although she also thought the suggestion was very interesting, she was still very unhappy with Ji Lin's betrayal.

Ji Lin smiled awkwardly. He had come up with the idea on the spot and didn't have time to discuss it with Xu Jiujiu and the others.

After a long pause, Moon spoke up: "We at Shrek Academy agree to Crimson Douluo's proposal. We will send people to this new chamber of commerce and guarantee that we will not sell Holy Marks privately."

After a long while, seeing that Mu En had agreed, she could only nod and say, "This proposal is not bad for our Star Luo Empire. We also agree to send people to this new chamber of commerce, and we also guarantee that we will not sell the Holy Marks privately."

Mu En looked at Chi Yuan and asked, "So, Chi Yuan Douluo, have you considered how to establish this merchant guild? What would you name it?"

Chi Yuan nodded and said, "Let's call it the Liyue Merchant Guild. The headquarters will be established in Shrek City, which is supposedly neutral. Branches will be set up in the main cities of the major empires. Stigmata research and production will take place at the headquarters, while the sale of Stigmata will be handled at the branches. As for the specifics of how to establish it and the rules and regulations for the Liyue Merchant Guild, these need to be agreed upon by the high-ranking officials of the major powers. As for the seven stars, let's call them the Liyue Seven Stars: Tianquan, Tianshu, Tianji, Tianxuan, Yuheng, Kaiyang, and Yaoguang. Our Zizai Sect will permanently occupy the Tianquan Star. What does Dragon God Douluo think?"

A glint flashed in Mu En's eyes, and he nodded in admiration, "The Big Dipper, the creator of the order of heaven and earth. The appearance of the Holy Mark will surely disrupt the previous order of the Douluo Continent. The Liyue Merchant Guild is the beginning of the new order, and the Seven Stars of Liyue are the creators of the new order. A good name. I have no objection. Let's proceed as Chi Yuan Douluo said."

Ji Lin's lips twitched. He had only chosen this name as a tribute to a game he played in his previous life, without thinking much about it. Mu En, however, thought of the meaning of the Big Dipper, the creator of the order of heaven and earth! He didn't know what kind of expression to make.

Everyone reached a consensus that Shrek Academy would also become the guarantee for promoting the Stigmata Project. Since it was a matter of great importance, Shrek Academy began to make preparations immediately. While Mu En was still alive, they would use his reputation to negotiate with the other two great empires. It was believed that before long, the Liyue Merchant Guild and the Stigmata would officially appear on the Douluo Continent.

(End of this chapter)