The first to arrive was an elder with temples streaked with white, dressed in a black Zhongshan suit that seemed to clash with his flustered eyes. His usually meticulously neat, sparse hair was now dishevelled.
Before his feet had even fully landed, and before he could react, he was hit by a surge of immense energy. Then, inexplicably, he found himself sprawled on the ground, looking at Wang Rong, who appeared as if dead. The already panicked look in his eyes flickered with a hint of despair.
"Patriarch Li?" Seeing the elder lying on the ground, Song Ji and Jin Di, among others, couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
"Mr. Song? Mr. Jin? Why are you here?" Patriarch Li, still prone on the ground, looked at the five elders in astonishment.
He prided himself on not having committed any acts harmful to the nation, and in fact, had been discreetly providing financial assistance. So why had he been brought here so inexplicably?
Furthermore, his manifested strength had reached the Void Returning stage, yet he couldn't stir even a ripple against the oppressive aura bearing down on him. Most baffling of all, he had no idea how he had even arrived here.
"Alright, get up!" Ye Yun's indifferent voice echoed. Patriarch Li immediately felt the mountain-like pressure on him vanish. He quickly stood up and then saw Ye Yun's cold, impassive face.
"Greetings to the five gentlemen, and greetings to General Ye."
For a man who had developed his fortune in the capital for so long, becoming its wealthiest individual, Ye Yun's face was one he knew all too well. They had even interacted before. He had even paid tens of billions in ransom for his son.
"Go stand over there, don't get in the way." Ye Yun was utterly unceremonious.
"Yes." Li Maocheng replied to Ye Yun with a hint of nervousness, obediently retreating behind Elder Song and the others. Ye Yun's aura was simply too terrifying; it made him, a Void Returning stage expert, feel somewhat apprehensive, even though Ye Yun had done nothing.
In the time that followed, he watched as top businessmen from across the country appeared one after another, arriving from all corners of the land in the same manner. Half an hour later, foreigners began to appear on the open-air terrace outside Tianyue Tower. Compared to Li Maocheng, these individuals looked even more pathetic and dishevelled.
An hour later, the five top figures of Hua Yi Guo gazed at the individuals who had appeared before them. Even having experienced it once, they were still deeply shocked. With their capabilities, it was difficult to comprehend how Ye Yun had managed to find these people. Each one possessed unparalleled wealth and power globally, and each was the helmsman behind a colossal financial conglomerate.
They even spotted an elder among the foreigners who looked half-dead from being thrown.
"Mr. Rothschild?!" Song Ji's scalp tingled as he recognized the collapsed elder. Li Maocheng, standing behind them, trembled at the knees.
Among this group, nearly every single one possessed wealth several times greater than his own. In fact, many of his own businesses were mere scraps left over from these powerful figures. Yet, these individuals, whom he could normally never hope to meet, were now being unceremoniously discarded on the rooftop of Tianyue Tower, enduring the scorching sun.
Rothschild, the de facto head of the Rothschild family. The wealth controlled by this single family was far more formidable than that of all the core members of the so-called Forbes Alliance combined. This was also why the Forbes Alliance dared not venture into the twenty-three European countries.
"Very good, everyone is here. Then, all of you, get up. And also, the Patriarch of the Wang family from Su Hang, the leader of the Forbes Alliance, step forward." Ye Yun's cold voice rang out. He was also somewhat surprised by the composure of these individuals. Hundreds of old men had been brought here by him, yet not a single one had made a sound.
The Forbes Alliance had a Council of 50 elders and 300 core members, all of whom were from the top five hundred wealthiest individuals. Even Hua Yi Guo had four or five members in this alliance. It was this power that had caused this behemoth to target Hua Yi Guo and the capital city within the Heavenly Dao.
"Greetings, General Ye!" Three elders, one from Hua Yi Guo and two foreigners, stepped forward, their faces pale as they looked at Ye Yun's indifferent expression.
"The Wang family of Su Hang, is it the Wang family of Hua Yi Guo, or the Wang family of the United States, or the Wang family of some other power?" Ye Yun looked at the sole Hua Yi Guo national among the three elders, his eyes chilling.
"This... naturally, it is the Wang family of Hua Yi Guo." The elder's face turned white under Ye Yun's intense gaze. As a Dragon Palace general, Ye Yun, though he had never met him, was the subject of countless legends in the public sphere.
He was the first to manifest strength in the game, the first to possess a city in the game, the first to break through the Xiantian realm, and so on. There were too many "firsts," so many that people had become accustomed to it. As a core member of the Forbes Alliance, he was well aware of who the Sacred Elephants in Shangjing City and Fengle City were.
Consider the attribute points rewarded by a single worship session, ranging from hundreds to thousands. How powerful must that person be?
"Using commerce as a cannon to force open our borders, taking the people's wealth while still planning to control them! Within twenty-four hours, the Wang family will relocate from Su Hang and get out of Hua Yi Guo! All of the Wang family's assets will be confiscated!" Ye Yun declared, then turned his gaze to the two elders who still wore proud expressions.
Hearing Ye Yun's words, Wang Zhan's body trembled uncontrollably again. Nearly ninety percent of the Wang family's hundreds of billions in wealth had been accumulated in Hua Yi Guo. If they were expelled and their assets confiscated, an abyss of endless despair would await the Wang family.
"General Ye, Elder Wang is a member of our Forbes Alliance, and also a citizen of your Hua Yi Guo. Wouldn't it be rather unsightly for you to seize the efforts of a family for generations? We hope General Ye will consider the prestige of our Forbes Alliance and let this matter drop, how about it?" An elder dressed in a tailcoat, leaning on a cane, said calmly to Ye Yun.
"Is the Forbes Alliance very strong?"
"Whether it's strong or not, I don't know. But compared to your Dragon Palace, I don't think we are far behind." Another, plump elder was equally composed. He even took out a cigar from his pocket and lit it, as if the Forbes Alliance gave him immense confidence, making him forget his earlier dishevelled state.
In truth, they knew that the Dragon Palace's power was not something their alliance could contend with. However, their alliance's greatest advantage was its control over nearly thirty to forty percent of the global manufacturing sector. If Ye Yun dared to move against them, the global economy would descend into chaos, as would the supply of daily necessities. This was their ultimate trump card.