Shang Han gave him a number—it was just half of what Qin Feng and Tung Yang harvested together. This was even less than the Glittering Golden Sand that Qin Feng secretly harvested himself. It was just a small drop of what he got from the Devil Mountain and Siren Cherub.
Naturally, Qin Feng frowned. “Then how much stock shares do I get?”
Shang Han answered, “5%.”
“What?!” Qin Feng was obviously unsatisfied with this offer. “This isn’t a fair deal for me!”
Shang Han, however, seemed to not agree. “Beihua City’s annual income from tax collection is around 100 trillion. You’ll be taking a five-percent cut, which nets you around 5 trillion. This isn’t an income that any mere B-tier could dream of earning in a year, you know?”
Qin Feng said, “But I have Glittering Golden Sand. These are valuable treasures. If I sell some of those that I have right now, I could at least get 1 trillion in total. But if I’m signing this contract with you, I’ll need to wait for twenty whopping years to get this amount of money. How is this a good deal for me?”
“Qin Feng, I can also grant you greater access in the city. Like, you could get your hands on the other treasures in our vaults. There are a lot of high tier martial art manuals in there.”
“Do I get to read even the S-tier manuals?”
After hearing this, Shang Han was tongue-tied.
Beihua region did not have many S-tier martial martial arts or power manuals. The ones that they had were limited—and those were only granted to the ones with the highest authority. The city was built upon these things after all!
To be even more specific, these S-tier scrolls did not really belong to Beihua—they belonged to the Shang family, the founders of the city.
“But you’re still a B-tier. It’s too early for you to touch S-tier manuals!”
Qin Feng smirked. “Dear Regent, I didn’t know that you think so poorly of me. But I am more than that. I give you my word, I won’t need twenty years to ascend to greatness. In fact, I could ascend to A-tier within a year! And if that’s the case, I cannot agree to this unfair deal.”
Shang Han was stunned after hearing what he had to say. The expression that she showed, however, was not when one had heard a bluff. On the contrary, it seemed that she was moved and convinced by his words.
Therefore, she clenched her teeth and replied, “Alright then. I’ll grant you access to the manuals. But you are only allowed to make a copy of them and not to ever bring them out in the open. And after you’re done learning them, you must destroy the copies at once and never teach them to anyone.”
“Certainly.” Qin Feng nodded. This was a fair request.
After he was reborn, Qin Feng had only gotten his hands on just one S-tier manual, which was the S-tier neigong “Asteroid Assimilation”. Aside from that, he was not able to find and acquire other S-tier manuals. Right now, all that he had were low-tier moves, like Sky Burning Sword Style and Dragon Steps. With his power growing so much recently, these moves were starting to feel insignificant and were not enough to wield the great power he held within him.
Without his Verdant Emperor Saber, his formidable internal energy and years of combat experience, Qin Feng would not be able to defeat any stronger enemies with just these moves.
As such, seeing that they had finally come to an agreement, Qin Feng signed the deal. After signing the papers, Qin Feng was eager to visit the vaults to read the manuals.
“I thought of making you a general first. But… since you’re so excited to get the S-tier manuals, let’s go there first then!”
Shang Han took out a blue stone and started to fuel it with her internal energy. Qin Feng could feel that the runes that were swirling inside were resonating the same way as his Battlegod Token did. A moment later, Shang Han gave Qin Feng another stone of the same kind.
“Bai Li, stay here. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay!”
After fueling their internal energy into the blue stones, suddenly a rune energy field enveloped them in an instant. Qin Feng was briefly blinded by the bright light that was emitted from the energy field; when he came to, they were already at another location.
They were standing at a pavilion in the middle of a pond; there was a small pathway that led to another tall tower across the lake.
“This is Beihua City’s secret library. Inside, you’ll find numerous scrolls and manuals that have recorded C-tier ancient warriors’ martial arts and C-tier ability users’ powers. The library has three levels. And the S-tier manuals that you’re looking for are at the top level. We only have three S-tier manuals here.”
Qin Feng frowned after hearing this. Only three manuals? This meant that he might not actually find a scroll that was suitable for him.
When they reached the top level, Shang Han carefully took out the manuals and presented them to Qin Feng. When he laid his eyes on them, Qin Feng could feel an intense pressure coming from these books.
This was expected since these manuals were made of S-tier ultra beasts’ hides!
Beihua City, like other cities, was built by S-tiers a long time ago. These S-tier manuals recorded the martial arts that these pioneers used in their time. They slayed S-tier ultra beasts and used their hides to make these manuals so that they would last for centuries.
As Qin Feng was reading the first book, he could feel the scent of the ocean from it. Qin Feng took a good look at the cover of the book—the title was “The Benevolent Loch”.
“The Benevolent Loch is the S-tier neigong that we, the Shangs, have used for generations. The neigong is able to double one’s internal energy reserves at a fast rate in the beginning. This is why the Shangs are able to become so powerful and have been reining in the Northern Region for such a long time. My father was able to ascend to A-tier before he was even thirty years old. People thought that he would have become an S-tier within the next ten years.”
Yet, Shang Han’s father did not live to see himself ascending to S-tier because he died fighting in the Northern Region’s abyss.
“I… I am not as talented as my father. I only reached A-tier when I was forty years old. I was able to ascend to A5-tier at fifty-five now. The Benevolent Loch can improve your internal energy reserves very quickly in the beginning but the more you train the harder it gets. It’s not like a walk in the park if one aims to ascend to S-tier. I might be able to do it in another thirty years’ time. But… in this post-apocalyptic world… no one can say for sure that they could live for another thirty years.”
When Qin Feng died in his previous life, Shang Han indeed had not reached S-tier too. He died around A.C 226; right now, it was A.C 219. That meant that seven years later, Shang Han would still be at A7-tier. So, Shang Han was correct in her calculation—that she would probably need to train thirty years to reach S-tier. Yet, it was difficult for anyone fighting at the frontline to live that long.
“Maybe you will need thirty years in the past. But this isn’t the case anymore for you.” Qin Feng said.
“?”
“You now have Glittering Golden Sand in your possession.”
Tung Yang was able to ascend to S-tier when he thought he had passed his prime. As such, naturally, Shang Han could do the same too. Besides, fifty-five-years-old was not all too old for one to continue climbing to greatness!
Putting down the manual for “The Benevolent Loch”, Qin Feng set his eyes on the other two manuals. This neigong indeed was not a match for Qin Feng. Besides, he had Asteroid Assimilation already.
The other two manuals were striking techniques, one of which was a palm strike style while the other was a sword style. After taking a few glance, Qin Feng concluded that even they too were not suitable for him.
This was so unexpected.
Seeing that he had put down all the manuals, Shang Han was puzzled. “Are you sure all of them are not for you? In my opinion, that palm strike style suits you quite well.”
The palm strike style was a style that relied upon massive amounts of internal energy to overpower its opponents. So long as one had great reserves of internal energy, it did not matter if the user was compatible with it in terms of their internal energy elements.
Still, Qin Feng decided that he should be content with what he had already. Learning too many skills might lead to one being a master of none.
“It’s alright, Regent. There’s something that I have in mind… and I think I know where to find the martial arts that is suitable for me.”
