The Legend of Min Hong

"It was said that the inheritance ground's dimensional barrier works in tandem with a unique, mysterious and ancient energy gathering formation which takes energy from the surroundings to power it..."

"But as this was the biggest strength of the barrier, it was also its undoing; since all formation needs to be powered by a source of energy, there is a time when this energy gathering formation itself would run out of energy, and that is when the barrier becomes weak enough for experts of different backgrounds to enter…"

"But despite being at its weakest point, it would still take an expert with Nirvana Stage battle prowess to break through this barrier, and this was one of the reason why people felt the person who setup the barrier must be a God Realm expert…"

The flying ship soared ahead as they were listening to Huan Ji talk to them about the city in the distance, and soon enough, they reached the city…

"Settled just outside the Southern borders of the Jun Empire, the Fallen God City is home to experts from the Imperials, the top 10 Super Clans of four different Empires as well as several mercenary groups and merchants of diverse origins…" Huan Ji continued;

"It is a place led by Lord Ji; an expert with a Middle Level Nirvana Stage battle prowess, and also the leader of an alliance made from the merger of all mercenary and merchant group in the Fallen God City…"

"He was voted as the as the Leader of the city because none of these neighboring Empires wanted their neighbors to assume control of the place, and I return, the Empires decided to allow this alliance under Lord Ji to be the fifth power which would gain access into the inheritance grounds…"

"This city wasn't built by the desert by accident, as it has natural defenses, which is of great importance to the people of Fallen God City and its success..."

"The city in itself looks ordinary with its metal shingle rooftops, half cracked walls, and stony terrains…"

"But Fallen God City has a bizarre atmosphere, and its main attraction was nothing other than the inheritance ground which according to the stories have been around for almost 900 years…"

"The city was said to have been created by the Fallen God Mercenaries who were the first to discover the inheritance grounds, before some merchant tribes then joined in to help them market every resource and treasures they retrieve from within the inheritance grounds…"

"It was at this point that the Fallen God Alliance was born and the moment its resourceful value was discovered, the rest of the surrounding Empires came over to stake their claims on the city, and the Fallen God Alliance were reduced to nothing other than the caretaker of the entire city…"

"It also has a troubled economy in the sense that most of the things sold within it are super expensive because they are either essential materials one must have to survive within the inheritance grounds or some of the treasures that have been recovered from within the inheritance grounds over the years…"

"As a result of the overwhelming hike in price there is no short of robbery, plundering, scamming and finally lots of murders…"

"But as these things serve as the economic weakness of the city, it also serve as its prosperous strength in the sense that, the mercenary groups of Fallen God Alliance then began to offer protection to any of the several powers, external merchants or unique individuals that comes to the city either to try their luck with the inheritance grounds or simply buy some goods..."

"They also created a security department which comprised of the experts from the Fallen God Mercenary whose job was to ensure that the level of crime in the entire city was controlled and minimized to its lowest possible level, whilst all the merchants and experts within the city pay a certain amount as tax to the Fallen God Alliance…"

"Thus the alliance then take all these taxes and invest it back into the city by constructing better roads, new buildings for accommodation, better market hub and different auction houses to provide all the merchants with a valuable location where they can meet with their buyers other than the rowdy streets…"

"As a result of this level of governance, the Fallen God city is most likely headed towards a booming future under the leadership of Lord Ji and the Fallen God Alliance…" Huan Ji finished;

"No wonder the Empires allowed him to continue ruling whilst giving his alliance a chance to enter the inheritance ground…"

Gong Yi was impressed by what he had heard so far, and thus he had to commend this Lord Ji and his Alliance with a repetitive nod…

"Yeah… it is very likely that these Empires had realized that they wouldn't be capable of governing the city like Lord Ji would, and that is why they made a unanimous decision to allow him govern the area…" Xiao Gui added;

"But how are they able to keep this massive city running with the little taxes they receive from the normal residents, visitors and merchants?" Mao My curiously asked;

"Well, apparently, the Empires would also pay a certain amount of money to the Fallen God Alliance to run the city based on the value of what they have obtained from the inheritance ground…" Huan Ji answered;

"They might also choose to either pay it with any form of resources including powerstones, techniques, divine abilities, spirit or magic beasts, and weapons…"

"Thus, the Empire goes into the inheritance ground and once they are out, the Imperials pay one percent in value of everything they have obtained within the inheritance ground whilst each of the top 10 Super Clans pays ten percent in value, and this is the major source of income the city survives on…" Huan Ji added…

"That's an impeccable system of governance…" Mao My complimented at the response she received;

"One percent from four Imperials and ten percent from 40 Super Clans, that source of wealth alone could make the city wealthier than most Super Clans…" Elder Fu chipped in;

"If one then adds the taxes and rents the residents and merchant pays, as well as the services the alliance itself renders to the public..."

"If this city decides to become a Super Clan, they would most likely be the strongest Super Clan in all the four Empires of this Dynasty…" Gu Ming also added whilst everyone nodded their heads in admittance;

"That's not possible…" Min Hong suddenly blurted as everyone looked towards him with surprise;

"There are three reasons why that isn't possible…" He continued as everyone paid total attention to him to listen to his reasons;

"Firstly, there is no Super Clan within these four Empires that would want a city like that to grow stronger than them, because it would most often than not undermine their own value and significance within their Empires, and that might cause several of their citizens, families and sects to change allegiances with these Super Clans and move to join the Fallen God City…"

"Should that happen, not only would the Fallen God City grow in size and wealth, but also power, and sooner or later, they would possess enough power to stand on equal grounds with these Empires, and the next thing they would want is to seek independence which would not be accepted by these Empires, and as a result, a war might begin that would not only see the destruction of the city, but also stir up chaos within these Empires…"

"Secondly, it is because of this possible threat that each of these Empires sent representatives of their Imperials and Top 10 Super Clans into the city to not only stake their percentage of control over the city, but to also monitor and supervise the Fallen God Alliance itself…"

"So it is like a ruling system where the government of the city is being governed by the representatives of these Empires…"

"A butler is never the owner of the mansion he takes care of, no matter what…"

"Not even all the generation of the mansion owner dies, except if the mansion owners or its family decides to will it to the butler…"

"It is the same relationship that is shared between the Empires and the Fallen God Alliance…" Min Hong continued;

"Each Empire can claim 20 percent of the Fallen God City and the inheritance grounds whilst they pay the Fallen God alliance the remaining 20 percent as wages for taking care of the city itself…"

"Thirdly and Lastly, these one percent and ten percent resources they receive from these Imperials and Super Clans is for a long period of time; 300 years if I am not mistaken…"

"Thus, if you take the size and population of the city and try to calculate the heavy expenses the Fallen God Alliance would have to dish out yearly, you would notice that, over a period of 300 years, the Fallen God Alliance would end up suffering a loss…"

"Thus, I don't think the Empires are the major source of income for the city; instead, I think their major income comes from the yearly rents and taxes they receive from their residence, whilst the Fallen God Alliance itself lives on the value of whatever they manage to obtain from within the inheritance grounds, whilst the payments from the Empires is just more of a resource injection to support them a bit…"

"This is all I can come up with based on the information Huan Ji just gave us… But who knows, I might be wrong…" Min Hong finished and relaxed into his seat with a deep breath…

The Princess smiled at Min Hong's mentality and manner of approaching and thinking about things, whilst the rest of the group went silent in thought thinking about all he had just said, as they try to understand everything from Min Hong's point of view…