"What what?" Zhang Junbao seemed stunned by Ye Yun's words. The guy in front of him had just criticized him for being stationed in the US, and now he wanted to join them?
"I said, next time there's a demon tide and you can't handle it, call me! Of course, other money-making projects are also possible. I understand!" Ye Yun showed understanding towards the old man's hearing.
"Uh, okay?" Zhang Junbao blinked, then nodded, at the same time becoming even more convinced that Ye Yun's strength far surpassed his own.
"That... General Ye, can you tell me what your current strength is?" Zhang Junbao couldn't bear the inner torment any longer and tentatively asked.
After all, he had been stuck in the early stage of the Xiantian realm for over five hundred years! Now, seeing Ye Yun, he saw hope for a breakthrough and didn't want to miss it. If he hadn't sensed Ye Yun's superior strength, he might have resorted to torture to get the answer.
"My strength? Want to try?" Ye Yun looked at him and smiled coldly.
Although Zhang Junbao's face showed nothing, his eyes betrayed his inner thoughts. In Ye Yun's eyes, Zhang Junbao's current strength was almost the same as his own in his past life. Therefore, in Ye Yun's eyes now, the difference was like that between an infant and an adult.
"This..." Zhang Junbao was conflicted.
"I know exactly what you're thinking, so put away those thoughts in front of me. Let me tell you something: someone of your strength, I can kill a thousand enemies with one blow! However..."
Ye Yun looked at him coldly, but in an instant, his expression turned warm and friendly again!
"If you can agree to my terms or pay the price, I can tell you a fast track to breaking through to the Xiantian realm and even higher realms! I can guarantee that you'll reach it in a few years, or even less!"
To be able to kill a thousand enemies with one blow in the Xiantian realm—this was far beyond the Xiantian realm. He never expected Ye Yun to be so powerful. But the moment he heard Ye Yun's following words, Zhang Junbao exploded.
"You say, you say." Breaking through to the Xiantian realm, this was Zhang Junbao's ultimate goal for over five hundred years. For this, he would spare no expense!
"First, swear upon your inner demons to serve me for a hundred years, and I can guarantee you'll break through the shackles of Xiantian within two years! And reach a higher realm!"
"Second, the price is 200 billion US dollars! Within a year, your strength can at least break through your current realm, but you must swear that you will never be an enemy of the Dragon Palace! And never cause trouble in China."
Ye Yun calmly held up two fingers. This was Ye Yun's main objective!
For a nation or a certain force, the value of a Xiantian realm cultivator and 200 billion US dollars, they would choose the former without hesitation, because the existence of a Xiantian expert was more terrifying than nuclear weapons! It could greatly reduce annual defense expenditures! This was also the root reason why some countries like the US, no matter how much conflict they had with China, dared not start a war easily!
As for Xiantian realm experts, let alone the wealth they could accumulate themselves in a hundred years, their proud hearts would not tolerate serving others, preferring death to humiliation.
However, for Ye Yun, money was king! As long as he had enough money, he could create ten, a hundred, or even ten million experts of this caliber. You old geezer, following me, and I still have to take care of you?
"200 billion? US dollars?" Zhang Junbao looked at the young man in front of him and exclaimed incredulously.
This price completely exceeded his ability to bear it. Even after living for over 800 years, he couldn't accumulate such a vast fortune. That was over 200 million US dollars per year on average! 200 billion US dollars, this price was comparable to the wealth of many countries in the world!
Zhang Junbao thought about how he had guarded the demon lair in the US for over 120 years, earning only 700 million US dollars annually. And as a great philanthropist, he donated 100 million US dollars to China every year. Ye Yun's request in one go was equivalent to his total income for over a hundred years, which was difficult for anyone to accept.
"That's right! You can find your two Xiantian sworn friends! Don't tell me the three of you celestial beings can't come up with this much money." Ye Yun smiled. He had been famous worldwide hundreds of years ago, so he wouldn't have few private collections. Even if he couldn't come up with that much himself, Zhang Junbao had just said there were three Xiantian realm experts! Surely the three of them combined could afford it?
...
Zhang Junbao fell silent, his head lowered, lost in thought. If it weren't for his Xiantian realm intuition telling him of Ye Yun's power, he might have tried to force Ye Yun to speak.
"Don't rush, Old Zhang. 200 billion. Can't you each contribute a bit more? Why make it so difficult?" Ten minutes later, Ye Yun looked at the still silent Zhang Junbao and asked doubtfully.
"General Ye, although the three of us appear to be sworn friends, we each belong to different countries. The peace we maintain is our respective balance. Once any one of them surpasses me in strength and disrupts this balance, our China will be in danger."
"General Ye, can the price be lowered? My total assets are only around 120 billion US dollars!" Zhang Junbao's expression was somewhat dejected, and he looked at Ye Yun with hope.
"Haha, Old Zhang, have you forgotten my existence? If they dare to start a war, I can guarantee that their country will be annihilated."
"200 billion is non-negotiable, but you can extort this money from them. The more they pay, the less you'll have to contribute. In fact, if you're ruthless enough, you might even profit."
Hearing Zhang Junbao's concerns, Ye Yun burst into laughter. For Ye Yun, his only concern was making money. Who cared if someone's strength broke through? He was stronger than them anyway!
Moreover, with the advantage he had in "Tiandao," every improvement in the game would be 10% reflected in his real-world self!
Most importantly, in a week, the cooldown for "Gold Touch" would reset again, and his progress each time would be extraordinarily terrifying!
Ye Yun's words immediately made Zhang Junbao's eyes light up. That's right, how could he forget about Ye Yun, who was several times stronger than him? With Ye Yun guarding China, even if they broke through, they wouldn't be Ye Yun's match, not to mention himself.
"Deal! General Ye, how do you want to proceed?" Zhang Junbao's face began to smile, a particularly lewd smile.
Half an hour later, Zhang Junbao, with a happy smile, headed straight for the US. Meanwhile, Ye Yun once again logged into the Tiandao forum.
An hour later, an article titled "The Possibility of Humans Cultivating into Warriors!" burst onto the forum. Despite the high browsing fee of 666 gold coins, led by Ye Yun's tens of millions of fans, it quickly swept across the internet. In just a few minutes, it topped the hot searches, with a readership of over a million!
It involved the game "Tiandao" and some secrets from ancient times, but it only hinted at them vaguely. At the end of the article, a link to another article was included: "Breaking the Limits of the Blue Star's Xiantian Realm is Not Impossible!"
Many people clicked on it and were stunned, because upon entering this link, the forum prompted that the browsing fee for this article was a staggering 100 billion US dollars! It also required signing a series of confidentiality agreements, with a confidentiality period of 100 years. Violating the agreement would result in sanctions from Tiandao!
This almost extinguished the curiosity of the vast majority of people. They simply didn't have enough money.
That's right, this was the result of Ye Yun and Zhang Junbao's discussion. He could afford the money and didn't want to take advantage of Ye Yun!
This article was packed with valuable information. Ye Yun provided a detailed explanation of Tiandao's development and listed the corresponding strength divisions in reality: Body Tempering (0-10) - Ming Jin, Body Refining (11-20) - An Jin, Spirit Refining (21-30) - Ju Shen, Golden Core (31-40) - Grandmaster, Nascent Soul (41-50) - Xiantian.