Perhaps, before obtaining information about the Water-Repelling Pearl, these individuals would only place their hopes in the advancements of biological science, rather than blindly pursuing immortality like the rulers of ancient times.
But now that magical items like the Water-Repelling Pearl have truly appeared, these people naturally have other thoughts. Since there's a Water-Repelling Pearl that repels water on contact, are there also items that increase lifespan, or even grant immortality? If so, where are they?
As long as the items are still on this planet, the leaders of these financial magnates will not give up searching.
Thus, when the United States, the most powerful nation on Blue Star, and its numerous financial magnates were drawn into this turmoil.
The waves grew ever larger.
The Blue Star landscape began to undergo new changes.
...
"Seeking immortality?"
This was a snow-capped mountain.
A handsome youth clad in blue, like a snow sprite amidst the ice and snow, stood there.
The cold wind blew his black hair, making him appear even more aloof and proud in the wind and snow.
His cool, high-class demeanor became even more captivating.
In his hand, he held the Sky Origin Jade.
The Sky Origin Jade could absorb emotional energy.
Information about "emotional energy +100" and "emotional energy +300" continuously flowed from it.
To this day, the Sky Origin Jade in Fang Ming's hand possessed a colossal sum of over a hundred thousand emotional points.
This was an immense figure, but given Fang Ming's actions that had stunned the high-ranking officials of two Blue Star nations, such a large amount of emotional points was entirely normal.
The Sky Origin Jade's method of collecting emotional points was not based on everyone having equal emotional value.
The more advanced the life form, the greater the emotional points the Sky Origin Jade could absorb when it emitted emotions.
Of course, this world was a technologically advanced one, and Blue Star lacked any extraordinary powers, so there were no "advanced" life forms; everyone was of the same life level.
However, this did not mean that the emotional energy absorbed from an ordinary civilian was the same as that absorbed from a first-rank official, or a high-ranking official of a powerful Blue Star nation.
Social status also represented the level of emotional points.
The emotions of the President of the United States, even a simple burst of anger or fear, could be equivalent to the emotional points of tens of thousands of ordinary people.
Therefore, although the Water-Repelling Pearl was unknown to ordinary civilians, it still brought Fang Ming a vast amount of emotional points.
"The world is stirring... Since some people desire immortality, then I shall grant them immortality..."
The youth with the aloof demeanor murmured to himself, "Will it be the Blood Orchid bloom, or the True Ancestor of Blood Sucking?"
"The appearance of the Blood Orchid seems too easy..."
"A so-called immortality with some accompanying price is easier..."
In reality, the essence of both was the same to Fang Ming.
Both were illusions.
Illusions did not need to consider what happened hundreds of years later... Illusions only needed to make various medical instruments, and the user themselves, feel as if they had gained eternal life...
And then restore their current body to youth and health.
Even if it only extended their lifespan by twenty years, Fang Ming could package it to appear as if it could maintain a lifespan of a thousand or ten thousand years.
This was not difficult, and compared to truly extraordinary items that could extend life to eternal levels, this approach also significantly reduced the consumption of emotional points.
...
United States.
Top Ten Financial Conglomerates.
Within the Fonia Conglomerate.
Arnold was the de facto leader of the Fonia Conglomerate. Approaching eighty, he still held all the power of the conglomerate, unwilling to delegate authority to his son.
Even though he was advanced in age and needed to reside in a specialized convalescent estate, he refused to relinquish his power, which caused his two sons to curse his early death.
Originally, Arnold had placed his hopes of extending his life on the medical research institutions under his name, hoping they could develop "immortality drugs" or "longevity drugs."
But one expert after another failed to produce the results Arnold desired.
Funds were provided, time was given, yet the results remained unsatisfactory, always in the process of research.
Under normal circumstances, even if these experts failed to deliver results, Arnold would not have turned his hopes elsewhere—after all, some of the drugs in the laboratory theoretically had the ability to keep him alive longer, even if only theoretically, it was better than pursuing myths and legends—that would be superstition, and throughout history, no one had ever achieved true immortality.
And technology, at least, had raised the average lifespan in the United States from forty years in ancient times to seventy or eighty years today.
However, this was the situation before.
Now, ever since Arnold received information about the ancient East and the Water-Repelling Pearl.
After repeated confirmations of its authenticity, that it was not a low-level deception but a fact believed even by the President.
In the eyes of Arnold's two sons, Arnold had gone mad.
He constantly fantasized that the numerous myths and legends of ancient times were true.
That churches truly had priests with supernatural powers.
That the witches hunted in the Middle Ages possessed genuine witchcraft.
Recently, Arnold had been dispatching his subordinates to search for "witchcraft artifacts," hoping that ancient witches and sorcerers could produce some elixirs or similar items to extend his lifespan.
This old man, who could only move in a wheelchair, had become mentally invigorated.
He began to be filled with hope, and he started to anticipate his subordinates finding the items he desired.
This also led his two sons to believe that their father was suffering from senile dementia—not everyone knew about the Water-Repelling Pearl incident. Apart from those who personally experienced it, even within the United States, only the President and the leaders of financial magnates were qualified to know about it.
Old man Arnold clearly saw no need to inform his two sons about this matter.
Therefore, his two sons' worldview remained materialistic. When they saw their father seeking to extend his life with witchcraft items, they naturally assumed he had gone mad in his pursuit of longevity.
"Even those who could create great achievements and build empires in their youth can go mad in old age."
The elder son, Kyle, said from behind.
No matter how much he revered his father Arnold in the past, at this moment, in his father's old age, he felt his father's weakness.
This also made him incredibly excited, believing that his father Arnold's time was drawing near and he would soon inherit a vast fortune—royalties have always been devoid of familial affection. For the position of leader of the top ten financial conglomerates in the United States, it was comparable to the status of ancient emperors in Eastern countries. In the face of immense profit, familial affection was all but void.
Ordinary people valued kinship, but for someone like Kyle, power and money were everything.
In Kyle's estimation, his father Arnold would likely only live for a few more years.
Kyle began to constantly plan in his mind how to eliminate his rivals. After his father Arnold's death, the first person to be dealt with would be his father's youngest son...