Chapter 83: Assets

Chapter 83: Assets

Inside the palace, Yue Xingzhou was not alone; several other members of the Yue family were also present. With the palace now secured, non-combat personnel had been allowed to enter to inventory and coordinate the palace’s resources.

"This is the preliminary resource list we’ve compiled," Yue Xingzhou said, pointing to the document. "Beyond land, jewelry, artifacts, palaces, manors, and mineral resources, the royal family holds stakes in nearly all of the country’s top hundred corporations. The only difference is the percentage of their holdings."

Yaoguang took the list to examine it. The royal families in this world differed from those in his original world, or at least Dayu's royal family did; they were essentially a super-level aristocratic family. Combined with their immense control and influence over the nation, they had naturally amassed staggering wealth.

According to the list in Yue Xingzhou’s hand, the known assets alone exceeded 600 billion asters. If hidden wealth were included, the Liao family’s total assets would surpass one trillion asters!

One trillion! It exceeded the annual GDP of Dayu. This highlighted the magnitude of the Liao family’s wealth. They were truly as wealthy as a nation.

"Additionally, we have stripped the spoils of war from Liao Zhenguo, Bian Liancheng, and the others," Yue Xingzhou added, gesturing toward a platform ten meters away.

The most prominent items there were a pair of gloves and a curved saber.

"These are the Heavy Star and the Crescent Saber. Both are divine weapons," Yue Xingzhou said with envy. "And not just any divine weapon, they are top-tier. In particular, a psychic-will martial paragon once offered eight billion for the Heavy Star, but Liao Zhenguo refused to sell."

He added, "I mean eight billion aster."

"Eight billion asters." Yaoguang nodded.

While the Divine Shadow Sword in his hand was also categorized as a divine weapon, it would be lucky to fetch one billion asters. This underscored the vast difference between the two.

"Between the divine weapons and combat suits, the equipment on those people is worth well over ten billion in total."

Many might feel that these items had mediocre effects for such an exorbitant price. Buying a level S combat suit seemed less practical than purchasing several fighter jets.

However, the value of many things could not be measured that way. A level S combat suit meant immunity to guns; what one purchased was a sense of security.

"Lord Yaoguang, you will need to assemble a specialized team to manage these assets for you," Yue Xingzhou said with a smile.

"I’ll make a phone call shortly. Have your people continue the inventory and handle the preliminary preparations," Yaoguang replied.

"Alright."

"Take me to the Liao family’s treasury," Yaoguang requested.

Yue Xingzhou hurriedly led the way. Before long, they arrived at the treasury's entrance. There, Huang Yan of the Yue family stood guard with a dozen elites.

"Lord Yaoguang." Huang Yan was already aware of Yaoguang’s battle achievements. When he saw him approaching, he immediately saluted. A flicker of ardor, difficult to conceal, flashed in his eyes behind the visor.

The glory of acting as the blade that pierced the royal court and rivaling a nation was the lifelong pursuit of any martial artist.

"We have not yet opened the doors to the storage room," Huang Yan reported.

Yaoguang nodded. Once the storage room doors were opened, certain things and events would become difficult to account for. Knowing that Yaoguang’s influence was about to reach its zenith, the Yue family would not make such a mistake.

Yaoguang stepped up to the massive steel doors and entered the code obtained from the royal family’s head steward, Liao Ming.

A green light flashed, and the doors slid open after a

ding.

"We will wait for you outside," Yue Xingzhou said sensibly.

Yaoguang nodded and entered. What met his eyes were gold, silver, jewelry, porcelain, and famous paintings filling every corner of the two-story vault. Every gold or silver utensil in this room possessed deep historical significance, and every piece of porcelain or calligraphy could be considered a national treasure in some countries. They could easily sell for millions of asters, and with the right buyer, prices could soar to over ten million.

Yaoguang looked around for a moment before moving toward a storage rack. Each rack perfectly preserved a specific artifact. Everything, including sabers, spears, swords, and halberds, was there.

Yaoguang took out his phone and used a scanning camera linked to the World-Saving Society’s database. He took several photos, and without exception, none of these weapons was lower level than a treasured sword. A few even reached the level of divine weapons.

These were the foundations of the royal family. Yaoguang did some quick mental math and was shocked to find that the value of the collection in this room alone was likely no less than one hundred billion asters.

After a moment, he walked into a completely transparent partition. This section housed many books, all kept under anti-oxidation treatment. Yaoguang stepped forward and entered the code.

Liao Ming, who also served as the Liao family’s financial head, had been captured alive by Huang Yan, and everything they needed to extract from him had already been revealed. Soon, the door opened. Yaoguang entered and began flipping through the books.

After a while, something caught his eye, and he focused his attention on a specific volume. Ten minutes later, he stopped reading.

"The Great Cataclysm," Yaoguang muttered.

Recorded in these notes were the relevant investigations regarding the Great Cataclysm. History from a thousand years ago seemed to have suffered a total fracture. The official explanation was that a superstorm had brought about an ice age, destroying human civilization at the time. However, some experts had posted videos claiming that an ice age a thousand years ago shouldn't have been enough to end human civilization. Perhaps there was an unknown reason behind the destruction.

But it was, after all, something that happened a millennium ago. These experts could not produce enough compelling evidence, and since the propaganda of various nations always focused on living in the present and looking toward the future, the claims never caused much of a stir.

This book did not uncover the full truth behind the Great Cataclysm, but... it did have a conclusion at the end. The Great Cataclysm was man-made.

"Artifact-Nurturing World," Yaoguang read the name aloud.

The books mentioned another designation for their world, a name that had also appeared in Xia Wuyuan's video.

"His information... likely came from the Baisheng Chemical Plant." Yaoguang guessed.

Based on the World-Saving Society's forces stationed in Dayu, the identity distribution of those within the Rebirth Society could be roughly determined. High-level members equivalent to Zong Yan or Fang Lu would include Zhao Sheng, Xie Yusheng, and one other—the daemon at the Baisheng Chemical Plant that he and Xia Wuyuan had once hunted.

This highlighted the critical importance of the Baisheng Chemical Plant as an operational hub. It stood to reason that Xia Wuyuan could obtain various pieces of information from there, investigating and verifying them one by one until he glimpsed the truth of the world.

"This world... is very dangerous," Yaoguang said, setting the book down.

A strong sense of insecurity surged in his heart once more. It was no less intense than when he had first transmigrated and seen a daemon consume several people's brains in his previous life's memories. That hair-raising sensation, like an electric shock, had swept through his entire body; even now, the memory remained vivid.

He wanted to go back, but he could not. And so...

"Immortal." He placed his hopes on the ethereal concept of an immortal. To achieve longevity, to look upon the world from afar, and to live beyond the reach of worldly concerns. And now, step by step, he was working toward that goal.

"Becoming an immortal," he whispered.

He did not seek to become a divine immortal who wielded the authority of rules, nor a heavenly immortal who merged with the Heavenly Dao to execute its will. He did not even seek to become a Great Golden Immortal who transcended the three realms and existed outside the five elements. He simply wanted to become a human immortal, one who retained a human form and human emotions.[1]

He wanted to possess longevity, to be free from disaster and pain, to remain unblemished through ten thousand tribulations, and to stay unworn by ten thousand laws. That was all.

"Becoming an immortal will ensure my personal safety," Yaoguang said.

He did not look at any other books. Most of them were manuals for cultivation arts or secret techniques. They even included a unified-martial-paragon-tier method and a heavenly-being-tier combat technique.

To him, however, these were meaningless. Among the information bestowed upon him by the Martial Dao branch, he could easily find dozens of methods far more sophisticated than these.

After spending over an hour completing a preliminary inventory of the treasures in the room, he stepped out of the storage room. Huang Yan was still waiting outside. Yaoguang nodded to him, then took out his phone and dialed Su Chiming.

The phone rang for a long time before Su Chiming finally answered.

"Did something happen?" he asked solemnly.

"Uh..." Yaoguang glanced at the time displayed on his phone.

It was already past three in the morning. He had been so busy, and with the palace lights restored after emergency repairs, making it as bright as day, he had forgotten the hour. It was no wonder Su Chiming asked such a question.

"There is something," Yaoguang said. "Arrange for a team of professional financial personnel to come to the palace immediately."

He then added, "They must be trustworthy. Those trained in-house are best."

"Financial personnel? No problem. Ever since our Su family was about to reach the top of Tiannan ten years ago, we’ve been consciously preparing to become an aristocratic family. We’ve trained several batches of talent in finance, law, markets, and management. How many do you need? I’ll send them over right now!" Su Chiming replied without hesitation. His readiness to provide whatever was needed fully demonstrated his trust in Yaoguang.

"Send them all," Yaoguang said. "There’s quite a lot to inventory." After a moment’s thought, he added, "Also, if there’s nothing urgent at the Buzhou Group, you should come as well. Bring your team; there are companies you’ll need to coordinate with."

Over the years, the royal family had held shares in a significant number of corporations. The combined value of these shares amounted to hundreds of billions of asters. Taking them over one by one would be no small task.

"Bring people from the Buzhou Group? But the Buzhou Group... still needs to coordinate with many local authorities..."

"It’s fine. Those in Tiannan are our own people," Yaoguang said.

The night of fighting side-by-side had proven that the Yue family was trustworthy.

"Prioritize the most urgent tasks. Once the key departments are controlled, the remaining companies can be taken over gradually," he added.

"Prioritize? Isn't controlling Tiannan the most important thing...?" Su Chiming paused abruptly, seemingly recalling the grand scene at the Xingyu Center the day before, where the core figures of the aristocratic families had gathered.

His heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't help but ask, "What did you do?"

"Nothing much," Yaoguang replied. "I wiped out the Liao family. Now, I’m waiting for you to bring your people to take over their assets."

1. Divine Immortal, Heavenly Immortal, and the Great Golden Immortal are all immortals in Chinese mythology. ☜