Once the negotiation was successful, these factions would leave Treasure City. By that time, the city's strength would be weakened again. This was the scenario that the local factions in Treasure City were most unwilling to see.
However, there was no way to avoid this situation. Ultimately, it was impossible to force these powerful factions to remain in Treasure City.
Even if local factions were inclined to do so, they lacked the capability to. They could only hope that the star pirate group would be stronger than those factions and refuse their requests.
The star pirates never feared retaliation. If they were afraid of retaliation, they would not have taken such actions.
The star pirates plundered everywhere and did not hesitate to employ methods like void passages to control a large city under the jurisdiction of Honor Absent Palace. They did not care about Honor Absent Palace, so why would they care about these factions?
On the other hand, the star pirates had taken this matter into consideration. Agreeing to negotiations that allowed a portion of the species to leave Treasure City was equivalent to revealing a piece of news—that the star pirates lacked the strength to take down all the factions in Treasure City. Letting the people in the city entertain such thoughts would greatly bolster their inclination to resist.
Furthermore, if the star pirates let a certain faction go, there would be no way to prevent the news from spreading. The disappearance of the forces in the city would eventually become known to the people in the city.
The turmoil quickly spurred various factions within Treasure City to commence their power play.
After confirming that Lin Yuan was prepared to get involved in this mess, Winter said, "Young Master, given the current ambiguity surrounding Treasure City's situation, why not allow me to investigate it thoroughly? It's also good for us to have a clear understanding of the situation."
Lin Yuan smiled and said, "I shall trouble you, Winter. After investigating the situation, we can assess whether Treasure City is qualified to fight with the faction that has sealed it off. More importantly, we need to ascertain if it's really a group of star pirates behind this, as Zhan Lu said."
Lin Yuan was no longer a greenhorn youth and had gained an understanding of the dangers of human nature. Hence, he would never easily believe others' words and guesses.
Now that Lin Yuan possessed such an ability, it was only natural for him to conduct a thorough investigation.
Lin Yuan was very well aware that, regardless of whether the factions besieging Treasure City were formed by star pirates, the official faction should initiate mobilization efforts. This was not only the City Lord of Treasure City exercising the authority granted by Honor Absent Palace but also an act of self-preservation.
When Winter went to investigate the situation, Spring suggested, "Young Master, why don't we summon Kani back? During this period, I can tell that Kani is quite concerned about the Purple Feather Rain Pigeons. Kani is really too playful.
"Even if the Purple Feather Rain Pigeons submit to you, they won't be able to bring you much benefit. If you want to support a local faction in Treasure City, it would be a very easy thing to do. As long as we throw in the resources and completely control them, they will be as obedient as the Four Species Overlords of Lonely River.
"The best loyalty lies in obedience to the rule of the species. The Purple Feather Rain Pigeons are really too weak. Moreover, their bloodline doesn't have much potential."
Lin Yuan had a noncommittal attitude toward Spring's words. Indeed, as she had mentioned, it was very simple to control a species as long as they had enough strength and resources.
With his strength, Lin Yuan would be able to control them. Providing them with resources would gradually increase their loyalty to Lin Yuan. The entire Sky Beyond the Clouds operates under this reality.
"We don't need to inform Kani. She will naturally come back after she learns about the situation. She should be able to differentiate between priorities!
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Spring, if I set up a chamber of commerce in Treasure City, what are your thoughts on having the Purple Feather Rain Pigeons serve as my figureheads?"
While the Purple Feather Rain Pigeons were weak, they were obedient. It was said that Yu Run had already become their leader with Kani's help.
Apart from the supply channels that Lin Yuan maintained, the faction that he had established in the Sky Beyond the Clouds had to have some other channels to trade resources. Establishing a chamber of commerce in Treasure City to exchange and trade resources was undoubtedly an excellent choice.
The Purple Feather Rain Pigeons had no problems with the business model of the chamber of commerce. The reason they were in such a sorry state was that the Purple Feather Rain Pigeons were too weak. Without sufficient strength, it was impossible to guarantee control over huge resources.
In the Sky Beyond the Clouds, the resources controlled by the major factions had to be commensurate with their own strength. Otherwise, it would lead to their doom!
If not for the Water Flame Crystal Vein, the Purple Feather Rain Pigeons would not be in such a miserable state.
If Lin Yuan allowed the Purple Feather Rain Pigeons to serve as his figureheads, he would definitely arrange for people with a certain level of strength for them.
Through the Tongue of Relinquish, Red Thorn could already control Divine Kingdom Weapons at the pinnacle World Emperor/Divine Kingdom with its current bloodline grade.
Experts who had just reached the Divine Kingdom level were insignificant in the Sky Beyond the Clouds. However, peak World Emperor/Divine Kingdom experts could establish a foothold in the Sky Beyond the Clouds held significant influence.
This was Kani's strength before she met Lin Yuan.
Even in Honor Absent Palace, reaching Higher Divine Kingdom was already a requirement to become a member of the Honor Absent Palace Council.
No matter how far Red Thorn was, as long as there were no layers of space-time barriers, it could control the weapons controlled by the Tongue of Relinquish.
Red Thorn was the best intelligence gatherer on Lin Yuan's side.
Lin Yuan had already made arrangements for many things in his mind.
Spring was silent for a moment before she said, "Young Master, if you only require the Purple Feather Rain Pigeons to operate the chamber of commerce, they are capable of serving as figureheads. It's actually better to choose a weak species as figureheads than a powerful species! Actually, if Young Master is interested, controlling a few star pirates is also not a bad choice!"
Lin Yuan shook his head decisively.
Lin Yuan had already verified the composition of star pirates. The star pirates in the Sky Beyond the Clouds were even more despicable than the bandit groups in the main world. They were a group of monsters that burned, murdered, and plundered for a living and then reaped the benefits from each planned hunt.
Every time they undertook an operation, the resources obtained were immediately squandered by these star pirates. Some star pirate groups would even hire evil, cunning, and strange lifeforms like devils to be their advisors.
Lin Yuan had always been very principled. He could accept and understand the species competing with other species for their development. However, Lin Yuan could not agree with the actions of these unscrupulous star pirates.
On a large scale, they had brought about the downfall of numerous species and were like locusts in the Sky Beyond the Clouds. On a small scale, it was unknown how many families had crumbled due to the action of the star pirates and how many people had suffered the pain of losing their loved ones for no reason.
Lin Yuan knew very well what Spring meant. If a species like the Purple Feather Rain Pigeons could be regarded as figureheads by Lin Yuan, then the star pirates that roamed the Sky Beyond the Clouds were the best choice to act as the behind-the-scenes manipulators to assist Lin Yuan in handling matters that were not convenient to deal with on the surface.
But in reality, Lin Yuan, who was no longer constrained in the Sky Beyond the Clouds, no longer had any worries. The relatives and companions who could previously be considered constraints on Lin Yuan had now grown up.
With Lin Yuan's resources, he could nurture those behind-
the-scenes manipulators himself. He had long been prepared to select some skilled combatants from the white-clothed followers to become Sky City's dark side.
"Spring, I will not consider the star pirates. However, I am very interested in the devils who serve the star pirate group."
Lin Yuan harbored less animosity toward devils compared to his feelings toward star pirates.
Devils themselves were a group of evil and strange lifeforms. Their purpose of existence was to constantly stir up the hearts of others and stimulate the evil desires of other lifeforms.
Nevertheless, there were two sides to everything. The devils could be said to be extremely high-quality tactical commanders. No matter how large-scale a plan was, as long as there were devils involved, it could be meticulously crafted and perfected.
However, their devilish behavior was extremely difficult to control. Even if Lin Yuan used his divine kingdom to control the devils' fountain of faith, it was very likely that the devils would plot against him.
The reason for such a situation was that devils were extremely vengeful. Some devils with extreme personalities would even risk their lives to take revenge on their own factions.
Furthermore, it was because these devils had grown to a certain extent before they were controlled by other factions.
Enhancing the devils' bloodline or strength required a significant amount of resources. No faction would be willing to invest in nurturing devils from a young age, especially those star pirates who prioritized immediate gratification.
Just as in the main world, once the members of royalty from the federations or Lin Yuan contracted the devils, even if some were arrogant, their loyalty remained unwavering. The more Lin Yuan understood the devils, the more interesting he found them.
Devils were a species that was full of schemes, and their obedience to bloodlines was not inferior to fairies. It was many times stronger than dragon-species feys, which were widely acknowledged as lifeforms with outstanding bloodlines.
Although the Flower Calamity Beautiful Devil wasn't very strong now, it was already a Satan and had absolute dominance among the devils. Lin Yuan could get the Flower Calamity Beautiful Devils to govern these devils and form a council of devilish advisors led by the Flower Calamity Beautiful Devil.
In the future, this council of devilish advisors would definitely play a beneficial role in the development and expansion of Sky City.
Spring knew that Lin Yuan had contracted the Flower Calamity Beautiful Devil, so it was normal for him to be interested in devils.
Basically, all the major species in the Sky Beyond the Clouds were very interested in devils.
Despite the cunning, treacherous, and evil nature often associated with them, the reality was that the survival environment for devils in the Sky Beyond the Clouds was actually quite harsh and poor.
Regardless of how bad the devils were, they were constantly targeted by other factions.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmSpring said softly, "If Young Master is really sure that the star pirates are colluding to carry out a plan against Treasure City, I will keep an eye on these devils for you and bring all of them to you!
"To dare to devise such a plan, there must be numerous devils within these star pirate groups."
"If there are exceptionally powerful top-tier star pirate groups participating in this operation, there's a chance that these star pirate groups might go as far as to capture and domesticate a group of devils.
"Star pirates plunder everywhere, and it is much easier to discover the existence of devils than other forces.
"Because these star pirates won't spend any effort to nurture the devils, they will only leave behind those devils with enough outstanding potential. Those without any potential are basically eliminated when the star pirates discover them.
"Don't worry. The potential of the devils in the star pirates will definitely be relatively outstanding."
…
After the turmoil erupted, Lin Yuan didn't just stay idle. Instead, he studied the flames that were even more top-notch than the strange flame.
Lin Yuan had traded for a large amount of strange water in Fortune Treasure Palace's treasury, but he had not found any strange flames, which made it impossible for Chimey to continue improving.
Chimey could only stay anxious in the Spirit Lock spatial zone.
Chimey still wanted to enhance its strength to World Emperor/Divine Kingdom before restarting its acting career in the Sky Beyond the Clouds!
Lin Yuan had heard Kong Huan mention that those factions and species that had been certified in Honor Absent Palace could obtain a special card. Through this card, one could enter a place like Star Web, known as the Second Eastern Region.
The four dominant factions of the East, West, North, and South controlled similar existences.
If Lin Yuan's Radiance Federation hadn't possessed Star Web, it would have been very difficult for him to understand the Second Eastern Region that Kong Huan had mentioned.
As a frequent visitor to Star Web, Lin Yuan discovered from Kong Huan's description that the illusory world controlled by the dominant factions closely resembled Star Web and could even be considered more perfect.
Those powerful forces and species would conduct serious operations in the Second Eastern Region. However, there was a threshold to operate in the Second Eastern Region, and the threshold was quite high!
Kong Huan's Alluring Foxes did not have that many resources to invest in the Second Eastern Region. Therefore, Kong Huan couldn't provide too detailed an explanation of the situation there.
Lin Yuan had asked Kani before, but she had never heard of the Second Eastern Region. The King Blood Jackals lived in seclusion in the wilderness North of the Lonely River. It was normal for them to be unaware of the situation in the Second Eastern Region. Lin Yuan knew that Kani would not lie to him about that.
Lin Yuan had already asked Zhan Lu about this matter, and the latter had provided an affirmative answer, which enabled Lin Yuan to confirm the Second Eastern Region's existence.
Lin Yuan believed that Sky City needed to develop in the Second Eastern Region. Having understood Star Web's convenience, Lin Yuan believed that the Second Eastern Region would be able to facilitate many of his plans and also allow Sky City to quickly connect with the Sky Beyond the Clouds.
Even though Sky City was located in the wilderness North of the Lonely River, it could still accomplish many things without being constrained by geographical limitations.