Cultivation: But Not a Game-Chapter 243 - 154: Persuasion and the Idea of Heading Overseas
Xiao Qingli curiously asked:
"Where have you been lately?"
Facing the surprised looks of everyone, Su Yu laughed and said:
"I went overseas."
"But not to take refuge, I went to seek relatives. My second brother is overseas."
Chu Xinyue immediately asked:
"Did you find him?"
"I found him. My second brother is on Jinjiao Island overseas and is the direct disciple of Master Mingsu from Mingsu Palace."
"Master Mingsu?"
Everyone was quite surprised. Chu Xinyue nodded and said:
"Master Mingsu’s cultivation is extraordinary, with the bearing of an Earth Immortal. Your second brother seems to be doing quite well."
Su Yu smiled and said:
"Indeed, he’s doing well. My second brother’s cultivation is now not much different from the leader’s. He has also successfully passed the first Great Celestial Tribulation and has forged a Top Grade Dao Foundation. My sister-in-law is also the daughter of Master Mingsu and is now the vice-chairman of the Canglan Association on Jinjiao Island...."
At this point, a light bulb suddenly went off in Su Yu’s mind, and his eyes lit up as he said:
"Speaking of which, leader, should we consider going overseas? The Canglan Association is the overlord of Jinjiao Island and is a top guild no less than the Celestial God Association. With my brother and sister-in-law’s connections, we won’t be excluded when we go there, and the resources overseas are much richer. Moving there offers better prospects than staying here."
"Overseas...."
Chu Xinyue hesitated a little.
"I remember Mingsu Palace is deep overseas, beyond the Feixing Islands, and it’s probably more than a million kilometers away?"
Su Yu immediately explained:
"In terms of distance, yes, it’s farther, but for us, it’s actually closer to the sect. Mingsu Palace has a teleportation array directly to the sect, and the main city of the Feixing Islands, Feixing City, also has teleportation gates to Xuanzhen Immortal City. It just costs a lot of money, which isn’t really a problem for us."
Chu Xinyue hadn’t spoken yet, but Xiao Qingli nodded:
"Indeed, it’s closer."
Silence ensued, and Chu Xinyue seemed to be hesitating, conflicted.
Su Yu did not rush her; it was up to her to decide.
Personally, he favored going overseas since he would be spending most of his time there in the future. If the team moved there, it would be easier to both level up and develop the guild, benefiting both individual and team growth.
Chu Xinyue did not immediately make a decision, only saying:
"Let me think about it and give an answer within two days."
Su Yu earnestly stated:
"This is my personal suggestion, but I’ll follow the leader if there’s another destination."
"Okay!"
Leaving the residence, Su Yu exhaled deeply and heard someone calling his name. Turning back, he saw Gu Zhiqiu, Zhuang Zhuo, and others waving at him.
"You’re finally back. If you’d been any later, the guild might have disbanded."
Their first words mirrored Gu Zhiqiu’s exactly.
Su Yu smiled, stepped forward, and fist-bumped and embraced each of them, then handed everyone a gift of three vermillion fruits and a portion of Five-Colored Spirit Fish sufficient to increase their physical strength to 1000 points.
Zhuang Zhuo opened the storage bag on the spot without ceremony, glanced inside, and excitedly punched him:
"That’s more like it; you’re forgiven for being late this time."
"Let’s go, drink."
"Let’s go."
The group found a roadside shop in town and sat down. Even before the drinks arrived, people recognized them.
However, most knew Gu Zhiqiu, the acting main leader, while others didn’t recognize him as the hands-off main leader, and even those who knew him weren’t familiar anymore.
That was understandable; they weren’t very familiar from the start. When he assumed the post, he didn’t stay long, and he’d been away for half a year, so they were bound to be strangers.
But it wasn’t a big deal; they could get familiar again by organizing more guild activities.
The brothers, who hadn’t met for a long time, did not have the same unfamiliarity. A few drinks in, they were just like before.
After a few rounds of reminiscing and catching up on his current situation, the conversation shifted back to the guild’s current state.
After taking a few sips, Su Yu suddenly asked:
"If the second group leaves here to develop elsewhere, will you go?"
Gu Zhiqiu quickly caught on and asked:
"Has the leader made a decision?"
Su Yu nodded. Given the behavior of the second vice-chairman of the Sword Spirit Pavilion, Chu Xinyue was unlikely to stay here; leaving to develop elsewhere was only a matter of time, just a question of where.
"There is that idea."
Everyone went silent and sipped their drinks quietly. Gu Zhiqiu downed his drink and said:
"Changing venues is fine. This place is mediocre, and the guild atmosphere isn’t great; a fresh start somewhere else is good."
"By the way, is there a decision on where to go?"
"Hard to say; it’s not confirmed yet."
Just then, Su Yu received a new message. Checking his communicator, he saw it was from Chu Xinyue:
"Going overseas."
Su Yu immediately stood up, waved at his puzzled brothers, walked to the side, and asked:
"So quick to decide, not going to consider it carefully?"
"You’re right; overseas does suit us. Please liaise with the Canglan Association."
"No problem. Do you want to merge with a team or remain independently affiliated?"
"Let’s start by operating independently."
"Okay, when do we set off?"
"The sooner, the better. We’ll announce it today and prepare to leave tomorrow."
"Alright."
After closing the communication, Su Yu returned to his seat with a smile on his face.
Zhuang Zhuo teased him:
"What’s the good news?"
"It’s indeed good news. The leader has decided; we’re going overseas."
"Overseas?"
Everyone was taken aback, exchanging glances.
"Going overseas won’t be easy. There probably aren’t any Gu Dao practitioners overseas, right?"
It was Gu Zhiqiu speaking, who specialized in Gu Dao. It seemed challenging to find suitable places for Gu refinement overseas, which would greatly affect his strength.
The Gu pits were one thing, but refining Gu required a large number of poisonous insects, which were hard to find.
Su Yu chuckled and said:
"Have you ever heard of Ten Thousand Poison Island? It’s an island far surpassing the Poisonous Mist Swamp, covered with all kinds of poisonous creatures and Gu insects, even Gu insects over a hundred levels, all practicing Gu refinement."
"Really?"
"Why would I lie to you?"
"If that’s the case, then it’s not a problem."
Having convinced one, Su Yu looked at the other brothers:
"What about you guys?"
Zhuang Zhuo laughed and said:
"We have nothing to hold us back; we can go anywhere."
"Don’t worry, overseas is a great place, definitely better than here."
After chatting for a while, having eaten and drunk their fill, Su Yu immediately assigned them tasks to sort out the team’s assets and conduct psychological work with team members.
He wasn’t idle either, needing to understand the team’s situation well, after being away for so long.
To be honest, Chu Xinyue’s choice was expected by him; she really didn’t have too many options right now.
Either merge into another guild or strike out independently, either way, she’d have to leave here.
Going solo was immediately ruled out. Developing a team into a guild would require an immense amount of effort that neither of them had the time for.
Merging into a guild didn’t offer much choice either; there certainly were no familiar guilds to choose from. If there were suitable guilds run by acquaintances, she wouldn’t need to bother with this; she would have chosen them long ago.
Without acquaintances, finding a suitable guild would take an unknown amount of time.
At this moment, the Canglan Association that Su Yu brought was a perfect match for her.
The Canglan Association was powerful and wouldn’t require her to worry too much. With acquaintances, there wouldn’t be all sorts of messy issues, offering independent or merged options at will. Although overseas is far, transportation is convenient, and the potential for development is great. With all these advantages combined, he couldn’t think of anywhere more suitable.
Returning from the street back to the mayor’s mansion in Li Shui Town, Su Yu opened the main team panel to check the current situation of the team.
First, looking at the team structure, it showed 550 people.
"It’s actually fewer than when I took over."
He remembered that when he initially took over the three main teams, there were over six hundred people.
The missing people, needless to say, were either poached or had left the guild.
He glanced at the distribution of team members: the first squad had 129 remaining, led by Gu Zhiqiu, with a squad treasury of 850 gold.
The second squad had 104 remaining, led by Tang An, with a squad treasury of 653 gold.
The third squad had 111 remaining, with temporary leader Qiao Xuan, and a squad treasury of 510 gold.
The fourth squad had 103 remaining, led by Gu Yao, and a squad treasury of 560 gold.
The fifth squad had 103 remaining, led by Hu Qingfeng, with a squad treasury of 720 gold.
Upon detailed examination, he discovered that the original third squad leader, He Dongyu, had been poached by another guild, taking a portion of the third squad with him.
Aside from the third squad, other squads also experienced poaching. Although the squad leaders remained, several smaller teams within had been poached in their entirety.
If he hadn’t returned, who knows how many more would have been poached, possibly leaving less than 500 people.
Currently, the entire team consists of 550 people, with the team treasury totaling 4,924 gold. As the team leader, Su Yu could receive 20% of the team’s income, amounting to nearly a thousand gold to claim.
"The team’s development is quite good."
The combined total of the team and squad treasuries amounts to nearly 8,000 gold, which is quite impressive.
It’s important to note that this reflects a team with consistently unsatisfied personnel, and that in the latter half of the year, little opportunity for guild-related activities to make money occurred; otherwise, the amount would be even greater.
Besides, the team warehouse also contains a large amount of materials.
Including materials for brewing, arrays, artifact refining, alchemy, shipbuilding, and other life-related professions, with a total value estimated to be three or four thousand gold.
Considering the need to maintain the team’s ongoing operations, Su Yu temporarily decided not to withdraw his salary, leaving it in the team treasury as reserves.
After closing the panel, he opened the team member panel, contacting various squad leaders and team leaders to speak with them individually.
The main aim was to reassure and make promises, as well as to inquire about their thoughts. If anyone felt like leaving, they could do so now; he wouldn’t hold them back.
A forced arrangement wouldn’t last; if they were unwilling to leave this place to venture overseas, they could not be retained.
After spending several hours talking with the various squad leaders and team leaders, he saw the team interface showing a decreasing number of team members, with notifications of people leaving the guild constantly appearing.
In just one hour, over a hundred people left, with fewer leaving afterward, but it continued.
As this wave of guild exits concluded, he wasn’t sure how many would be left.
But there was no alternative; parting from one’s homeland is difficult, and only a minority dared to follow him to a foreign land to start anew. Regardless of private communications or collective announcements, many would leave the guild. This was an inevitable phase.
After handling these matters, Su Yu exhaled deeply, thinking again and reopening the panel, looking at each name, slowly contacting those listed above.
