Quote of the Day: "When your opponent moves to break the board, you do not stop them. You simply ensure the broken pieces fall in a pattern that benefits you."
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The backlash from the Jade Flame Sanctuary was not a subtle market manipulation or a legal challenge. It was a declaration of war, delivered with the blunt force of a volcanic eruption.
A caravan of Serene Heart Premium Catalyst, escorted by Void-Severing Pavilion guards, was ambushed in the Serpent's Pass, a narrow defile leading out of Blue Spirit City. The guards were not just killed; they were incinerated, their remains fused with the melted stone of the pass itself. The cargo was destroyed, the spiritual residue of the catalytic solution seared from existence by overwhelming fire Qi.
It was a message, written in ash and agony: Your rules do not apply here.
The news hit the network, a sharp, painful spike of discord that echoed in Lin Feng's [Conglomerate Core]. The efficiency rating dipped another 2%. Market confidence in the Karma-Backed Bonds wavered. The regional stability metric flickered.
Elder Bai was pale. "They've broken the covenant. This is no longer about commerce. This is a sect war."
Chu Yue's report, delivered via a grim-faced messenger, was terse. "The Pavilion's board is divided. Some see this as a provocation that demands a martial response. Others see it as proof that your model is too fragile for the real world. My authority to support you is now conditional on your next move."
The old world was reasserting itself with brute force. They were trying to shatter his board.
Lin Feng sat in the sanctum, the hum of the core formation a steady counterpoint to the chaos outside. He closed his eyes, not in meditation, but in analysis. The [Conglomerate Core] projected the problem in his mind, a complex web of cause and effect.
Problem: The Jade Flame Sanctuary has initiated kinetic warfare.
Objective:Restore market confidence and eliminate the threat.
Constraints:Direct military conflict is inefficient, costly, and would destabilize the entire regional economy, harming the Conglomerate's core metrics.
His solution was not one of retaliation, but of acquisition. He would not destroy the Jade Flame Sanctuary. He would make it a subsidiary.
He issued three orders, his voice calm, each word a line of code in a new, brutal program.
1. Total Embargo: Effective immediately, the Serene Heart Conglomerate and all its partners, including the Void-Severing Pavilion, ceased all trade with the Jade Flame Sanctuary and its allied sects. No herbs, no ores, no formation materials, no food. They were cut off from the economic bloodstream of the region.
2. Asset Freeze: Using the financial ledgers of the Karma-Backed Bonds, he identified every sect and merchant who owed debt to the Jade Flame Sanctuary. He offered to buy that debt at a 150% premium, payable in Serene Heart equity. Within hours, he became the primary creditor of the Jade Flame Sanctuary's entire economic network.
3. The "White Flag" Dividend: He announced a special, one-time dividend to all bondholders and franchisees—except those who continued to do business with the Jade Flame Sanctuary. He was paying his allies to stay loyal, and financially penalizing anyone who aided his enemy.
The economic noose tightened with terrifying speed. The Sanctuary, built on centuries of alchemical pride, found its pill furnaces cold for lack of fuel, its disciples hungry, its coffers empty as its debtors now answered to Lin Feng. They had prepared for a siege of swords, but they were being starved by a siege of numbers.
Elder Wu's response was predictable, desperate, and perfectly within Lin Feng's models. He gathered his elite disciples and marched on Blue Spirit City, intending to shatter the Sanctum and behead the serpent.
They never reached the city walls.
They were met on the road by a force they did not understand. It was not an army. It was a coordinated strike by every franchise team, every certified alchemist, every minor sect that held Serene Heart bonds. They didn't attack the Jade Flame disciples. They attacked their supply train, their communication lines, their morale.
Team Beta collapsed the road behind them, cutting off retreat. Team Gamma, using the catalytic solution on the environment, triggered a landslide that blocked their path forward. Certified alchemists in nearby towns suddenly found their stocks of anti-toxin pills "mysteriously" depleted, leaving the fire-affinity cultivators vulnerable to their own Qi imbalances.
Lin Feng did not leave the Sanctum. He watched it all through the network, a conductor leading an orchestra of economic and psychological warfare. He used the [Karmic Echo] to project waves of doubt and fear into the hearts of the advancing disciples, amplifying their natural anxieties about their empty stomachs and their sect's crumbling future.
The Jade Flame Sanctuary's march faltered, then stalled. They were not defeated in battle; they were rendered irrelevant, a ghost army in a world that had moved on.
The final blow was not struck by a sword, but by a contract.
Elder Wu, isolated, humiliated, and facing a mutiny from his own disciples, received a visit from Chu Yue. She carried a single scroll.
"It's a merger offer," she told the defeated elder, her voice devoid of triumph. "The Serene Heart Conglomerate will absorb the Jade Flame Sanctuary. You will become our Alchemical R&D Division. Your disciples will be retrained in our methods. Your debts will be cleared. In return, you will receive a 5% equity stake in the division's future profits."
It was an offer of surrender so complete it was almost a parody. They would lose their name, their identity, their entire way of life. But they would live. And they would, ironically, be richer than they had ever been.
Elder Wu looked at the scroll, then at the demoralized, hungry disciples behind him. He saw the future—a slow, ignoble death by attrition, or a transformation into a cog in Lin Feng's machine. The fire in his beard had gone out.
He took the scroll.
[Hostile Takeover: Complete.]
[New Asset Acquired: Jade Flame Sanctuary (Now: Serene Heart Alchemical Division).]
[Efficiency of New Division: 42% (Projected to reach 80% within 6 months).]
[Regional Stability: Restored. Conglomerate Core Efficiency: +10%.]
[New Trait Unlocked: 'Predatory Acquisition'.]
Lin Feng felt the shift in the [Conglomerate Core]. The hostile, black thread of the Jade Flame Sanctuary was severed and re-spun into the vibrant tapestry of his network, a new, powerful node glowing with reluctant but binding loyalty.
He had not fought a war. He had executed a leveraged buyout of a thousand-year-old sect. He had turned their attempted destruction into a profitable expansion of his R&D department.
Chu Yue returned, a new, profound wariness in her eyes. "They signed. You didn't just beat them. You… consumed them."
"They were an inefficient asset," Lin Feng said, turning back to his regional map. A new, larger territory now glowed with the Serene Heart sigil. "Now, they are productive. The outcome is optimal."
The message was sent across the region. The Serene Heart Conglomerate did not wage war. It conducted mergers. And resistance was not met with annihilation, but with assimilation.
The board had not been broken. It had simply been expanded, with Lin Feng holding every share. The hostile takeover of force was complete. And the other major powers in the region now understood the terrifying new rules of the game.