Li Yao was rather surprised. "Now that you mention it, the Imperium right now is truly a mess. It is truly a miracle that it has survived for a thousand years and is even showing signs of resurgence!"
"Yes. Such an Imperium where the strong prey on the weak should've collapsed in the cruel exploitation and internal strife a long time ago," Di Feiwen said. "But an external factor helped it maintain the fragile stability, which was the Holy League.
"However greedy, unpardonable, and scheming the Immortal Cultivators were, the Holy League was everybody's common enemy. No Immortal Cultivator was willing to be deprived of their feelings and free will and end up as a pathetic puppet.
"It was exactly because of the existence of the great enemy that the forces in the Imperium were able to maintain the basic order. Even though the strong preyed on the weak, there was still a set of rules that everybody could accept. However strong the Kurfürsten were, they never thought to usurp the throne themselves because the throne of the emperor was a hot potato. If the Imperium was destroyed by the Holy League because of their usurpation, wouldn't they be the biggest idiot in the world?
"Therefore, instead of saying that the authority of the emperor ruled the Imperium, it was more like that the mutual fear of the Holy League gathered the forces with ill intentions under the lightning trident flag of the Imperium of True Human Beings.
"Because there was absolutely no room for compromise between the Imperium and the Holy League, barely any nobles and warlords chose to surrender to the Holy League. That was why the Imperium of True Human Beings ruled for a thousand years."
"That explains a lot."
Li Yao nodded slowly. The Imperium of True Human Beings and the Alliance of the Holy Covenant were indeed mutually reinforcing and counterproductive. Although the Immortal Cultivators were detestable, the puppets of the Holy League were even more inhumane. Compared to the life of walking dead that was completely deprived of feelings and self-will, the rule of the Imperium seemed more acceptable. That was basically the case.
"But right now, the situation has subtly changed," Di Feiwen said calmly.
"In the past thousand years, the Holy League has been on the offensive most of the time. The fear of the Holy League united all the Immortal Cultivators and temporarily ignored and eased their conflicts.
"As the Imperium's strategic counterattack unexpectedly went well, the Holy League has been expelled from the most prosperous area at the center of the cosmos and is no longer a threat to the Imperium. The threat from the outside seems to have been completely shattered.
"Then, aren't the Immortal Cultivators who are looking at the trophies like dogs that have been starved for a thousand years and have seen bones with meat on them?
"If the Immortal Cultivators are stupid and greedy enough, the Imperium will probably be in chaos soon. As for whether or not the turmoil of 'hungry dogs fighting for food' will affect the edge of the cosmos, only the heavens will know."
"Got it …"
Deep in thought, Li Yao looked at Di Feiwen thoughtfully. "I remember that you once said that there was an enormous organization of merchants behind you that was deeply connected to the four Kurfürsten, the nobles, and the warlords. They were very well-informed and had their own plans, didn't they?"
"The universe is a vast place with dangers everywhere. The merchants are wandering among different Sectors. They have to form associations to protect themselves in order to survive."
Di Feiwen said, seemingly dutifully, "In the past thousand years, part of the merchants of the Imperium have indeed established a loose chamber of commerce named 'Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors'. I am one of the senior managers of the Business Alliance too."
"Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors? How bold of you!"
Li Yao said, "Then, what are your demands in terms of core interests?"
"I did not lie to you at all, my king. Since it is named 'Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors', it is naturally the purest association of businesses. It is a place for us to exchange information and negotiate business. If we do have the slightest demand, it will still be business, the most profitable business."
With cunningness flashing in his eyes, Di Feiwen said, "My king, do you know what the most profitable business in the world today is?"
Li Yao pondered for a moment. "If both legal and illegal are counted, drugs?"
"No. Although the profits of the drug business are high, the risks are too high. Even with the acquiescence of the rulers, it is still a short-term business that will only drain the pond. It is definitely not the best choice for a decent businessman."
Di Feiwen shook his head and stopped playing tricks. He confessed his answer quickly. "My king, I want you to know that the most profitable, stable, and long-term business in the universe today is' training '."
Li Yao was dazed for a long time. "… Training?"
"Yes. 'Training'," Di Feiwen said solemnly.
"As a high-level Cultivator who is about to enter the Divinity Transformation Stage, my lord, you must know very well how costly training is. Before your spiritual root was awakened, you had to lay the foundation since you were seven or eight years old all the way to the Refinement Stage, the Building Foundation Stage, the Core Formation Stage, and the Nascent Soul Stage. The so-called 'spending money' referred to buying and selling, and then there would be business. It was a large-scale and all-encompassing industry!
"Just look at the Federation today and you will be able to see part of the industry.
"In the Federation today, not only is the country investing heavily in the implementation of the system of 'nine-year and twelve-year compulsory training', the families who have spare money are also spending a lot of money and time on their children's training regardless of whether or not their children have potential. As a result, not only are the famous schools with the guidance of experts, the prices of the houses in the school districts have skyrocketed, and the training classes of all kinds are popular, too. There are also all kinds of nutrition liquids, strengthening packages, remote education videos, virtual training techniques, and so on. How enormous of an industry is it?
"What is even more amazing is that nobody can tell whether or not the secret training techniques and the nutrition packages are effective. If the same secret training techniques and nutrition liquids are effective for only three to five people but not for hundreds of other people, they can only blame themselves for not working hard enough or for not being talented enough. There is absolutely no reason for the merchants to be blamed for it.
"This is just the basic phase. As one's level rises, the expenses in various aspects will multiply, too. There will be an automatic 'consumption upgrade' that will never end.
"When one's level is very high, they will be very generous, too. Even if a certain pill or magical equipment can only increase the odds of their strength by 1%, most of the trainers will still buy it without caring about the cost. Few of them will bargain. After all, they only have one life, which is more expensive than anything else, right?
"This is just the training industry itself. As for the upstream and downstream supply chains that are attached to the training industry, there are too many of them to count. Traditionally speaking, there is the magical equipment refining industry that my king is best at. In the innovative industries, there are the streaming industries that stream battle and training videos. All in all, there is nothing that can't be done, as long as it is unimaginable.
"If the upstream and downstream chains are completely integrated, how important is the 'training industry' for the development of the national economy, and how much profit can it bring? Most importantly of all, it is an industry that is closely related to the evolution of the civilization of mankind. Once it is developed well, it will be a virtuous cycle. It is certainly incomparable to the dirty industries such as' drugs'! "
Li Yao was quite amazed. He nodded quickly and said, "Now that you mention it, it does seem to be the case!"
"That is exactly the case. This is the power of capital," Di Feiwen said in high spirits.
"In fact, over the past few years, some of the specialists and scholars in the defeated soldiers of the Black Wind Fleet have been studying the mysteries of the rise of the Xing Yao Federation, too. At the very least, in my personal opinion, the rapid rise of the Federation in only a hundred years is related to your advocacy of 'universal training' and the development of the training industry, which stimulated the exuberant domestic demand and activated the maximum productivity potential of most of the citizens.
"Of course, my king, you will consider the issue from the perspective of 'natural talents and human rights, and everybody has the right to train', while I, as an unembarrassed merchant of Immortal Cultivators, will consider the issue from the perspective of 'earning excessive profits'. However, if we get to the bottom of it, our purpose is the same, which is to create a world where everybody has the right to train."
"Everybody has the right to train …"
Li Yao suddenly had an absurd feeling. "The Immortal Cultivators of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors are truly eccentrics!"
"This is not eccentrics but expanding domestic demand," Di Feiwen said solemnly.
Di Feiwen said solemnly. "Businesses and merchants are only necessary when there is a demand. If there is no demand at all, we will create an eternal demand ourselves! Yes, 99% of the people will never awaken their spiritual root however hard they train themselves, but so what? We do not care how many Cultivators or Immortal Cultivators there are in the universe. We only care about whether or not those people have a high demand for training and how much profit those demands can be transformed into. That's all.
"Everybody has the right to train. What a magnificent and beautiful dream. If the billions of people in the three thousand Sectors are all free to train themselves and are willing to spend a fortune for their training, what an enormous industry it will be, and how much profit will be hidden in it? Such inestimable profits are enough to drive any merchant crazy. He will overthrow all the regimes in the world, slay any gods that stand in his way, and destroy all the forces that are in his way! "
Di Feiwen's bloodshot eyes and intimidating appearance slightly surprised Li Yao. Thinking for a moment, he said again, "Under the system of the Imperium, the dream of 'everybody has the right to train' is probably just a dream."
"My king, you are right."
Di Feiwen sighed rather sadly. "You are absolutely right. Under the current system of the Imperium, the dream of 'everybody has the right to train' is just a beautiful bubble with nothing but colorful brilliance.
"The Imperium has divided human beings into 'true human beings' and 'hominoids', which has directly killed 99% of the market.
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