The bird flew into a branch of the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce located in the capital of the Luohai Kingdom. It was a large manor house. On either side of its front gates was a stone statue of a mythical beast symbolizing good fortune and prosperity. People going in and out of the house were all successful merchants in the capital.

The bird flew into a corner of the chamber of commerce which nobody was paying attention to, and then someone caught the bird and detached a roll of cloth from the bird's leg. Then he unrolled it, glanced at it and set the bird free. After destroying the piece of cloth, he left the corner in haste and went to a secluded courtyard house in the chamber of commerce.

Seen from the outside, this courtyard house was rather run-of-the-mill, except for its high outer walls and vast size. There was no well designed paths or deluxe furnishings. Hardly anybody would notice this courtyard house. Also, it was isolated and normally nobody would come to this place.

The man first greeted the two guards on duty at the front gates. "Guard Zhao, Guard Zhou, I just received a message and I'm here to seek an audience with Childe Ling."

"Please wait a moment, Chairman Lian."

"Thank you."

The chairman of the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce was a renowned figure in the capital of the Luohai Kingdom. Merchants and even the monarch's relatives had to show him some respect. However, on this occasion, at the front gates of this courtyard house, he was, in a deferential and humble manner, waiting for permission to go inside.

The past five years, apart from frequent frictions between the Wan Kingdom and the Luohai Kingdom and the rejuvenation of the Great Wen, had also witnessed the rise of a new force – the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce, which had branches in all the three countries. Within merely five years, it had achieved the feat of having its caravans travel to every area of the three countries and at the same time opening stores in all important cities and towns of the three countries. The commercial forces it had united were amazingly powerful – one third of all successful merchants of the three countries had joined the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce, which was why the organization had quickly grown into an enormous trading power within five years.

Also because of this, many people had been paying special attention to and making speculations about the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce. Some said that it had originally been a Jianghu sect; some others believed it had been founded by the richest family of one of the three countries; there were also some who claimed that it had a royal family member as its prop. In a word, there were a large variety of rumors about it, but the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce was totally unaffected and thriving. There were intense conflicts between the Wan Kingdom and the Luohai Kingdom near the border, but caravans of the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce could always safely get through. Its business was booming, and more and more people were coming to know about it...

Currently, hardly anybody in business hadn't heard of the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce.

The headquarters of the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce was located in not one but three places – the capital cities of the Luohai Kingdom, the Wan Kingdom and the Great Wen, which seemed to be the reason why nobody was sure about the identity of the founder, or the owner, of the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce.

Businesses affiliated to this newly emerged organization had sprung up all over the three countries over the past five years, striking the attention of the world.

And now, a leading figure who wielded enormous power within the chamber of commerce was respectfully waiting for the owner of a nondescript courtyard house to give him the permission to enter. Hardly anybody, if told about this story, would believe it.

"Please come in, Chairman Lian. Childe Ling requests your presence."

After Chairman Lian waited at the front gates for a while, the one who had gone inside to send word of his arrival came out and told him to go in.

Chairman Lian thanked him and then entered the courtyard house.

On the surface this courtyard house was not at all eye-catching, and only by going inside it would people come to know that it was not what it seemed.

It'd been under Chairman Lian's supervision that this courtyard house had been built. It could be said that he better than anybody knew that this courtyard house was the most exquisite and luxurious in the whole chamber of commerce. The furnishings in this house were so costly that people's jaws would drop if the price of any of these items came to their knowledge. When supervising the construction of this house, Chairman Lian, picturing how his mater would praise him after moving into this place, had felt smug for a few moments, but when his master had really come, Chairman Lian, at the sight of his master's impassive countenance, had come to realize that he might well be mistaken, and the complacency on his face had instantly vanished and never appeared again.

Chairman Lian quietly walked through an ornamental arch, across a small garden and up the stairs in front of the reception room. In the doorway, he made a bow and said, "Your humble servant Lian Hai requests an audience with you, Childe Ling."

"Come in," said an unhurried, brisk, male voice. The tone was bland but aristocratic.

Chairman Lian entered the reception room, deferentially paid his respects to his master, then slightly raised his head and reported, "Childe Ling, a group of horsemen from the Wan Kingdom are heading for this city. Judging from the time of the arrival of the message, they'll get here in about an hour. There are twelve of them. The one heading the team seems to be Xue Yi, Xue Chi's son. All of them are in disguise."

"I see." The man inside the room put down the account book in his hand and looked in the direction of Chairman Lian, who hastened to lower his head as he sensed the gaze from the man's clear, piercing eyes, not daring look back at the man, keeping his head down respectfully.

"That tallies exactly with the intelligence I received. Because of the serious trouble Chen Feng caused in the border city, the monarch of this country is displeased with the Chen family, but what with the forces at the queen consort's and her father's back, he's powerless to mete out punishment to the Chen family, which was why he reinstated Xue Chi whom he'd clamped down on with all his might previously...It would seem Shan Congli trusts Xue Chi's son pretty much, considering he's entrusted such an important task to Xue Yi."

"Do you think we should stick to the plan, Childe Ling?"

"Of course. No matter who it is that has come here, we must make sure they won't have their way. Since Xue Chi will soon arrive, you should go and make preparations. It's time people of the Dugu family proved themselves useful."

"Yes, Childe Ling."

Chairman Lian reverently made a reply and then quietly backed out of the reception room. It was not until he made towards the front gates after descending the stairs that he felt some cold sweat on his back, which had broken out in spite of himself when he'd narrowly avoided meeting his master's eyes a few moments before. It struck him that no matter how many audiences he had with his master, he would never be able to straighten his back in front of his master, and nor would he ever be able to summon up the courage to make eye contact with his master. He didn't even dare have the faintest disrespectful thought or a single idea that was not supposed to appear in his mind.

After lightly heaving a sigh of relief, Chairman Lian walked through the ornamental arch, making towards the front gates. When he had left the seemingly run-of-the-mill courtyard house, his eyes gradually became penetrating. Looking in the direction of the north-eastern corner of the city, he gave a little sneer.

He would do whatever he could to fulfill the task his master had assigned him, even if he had to sacrifice his life. Xue Yi? Xue Yi didn't scare him at all. 'The Wan Kingdom are going to have to go through me first if they want to make some secret alliance with the Luohai Kingdom to work against the Great Wen!' he inwardly snorted.

...

Sitting in his chair, Ling Zhang pondered for a while, wondering if he was really being too stern. He was positive that a few moments before he hadn't emanated any menacing air. Why Lian Hai had still broken out in a cold sweat and acted like he were running for his life when leaving?

"Young Master," said Yang Liuzi, walking inside. "Here's some freshly made snack. Would you care to give it a try?"

Ling Zhang always brought his twenty-four bodyguards with him wherever he went. This time around, Ling Zhang had sneaked into the capital of the Luohai Kingdom, and they had followed him to this city to protect him.

On hearing this, Ling Zhang looked at Yang Liuzi.

After a brief moment's eye contact, Yang Liuzi slightly bowed his head, walked over and lightly put the tray down on to the table.

Eyes on him, Ling Zhang asked, "Do I scare you as well, Liuzi?"

Yang Liuzi looked up at Ling Zhang and then shook his head earnestly. "No, I'm not scared of you, Young Master. It's just your eyes are so clear and piercing I...ahem, I'd have trouble walking steadily if I make eye contact with you for too long."

Ling Zhang, "..."

"When did you first find yourself in this situation?"

Yang Liuzi thought back carefully for a while before he answered, "I think it was after you made a breakthrough and reached the sixth layer, right before your departure from the capital city. I'm not the only one. Brother Wang and all the others are experiencing the same thing. We all feel that this is actually a good thing, because you'd be safer if others don't dare get close to you."

Ling Zhang listened carefully as Yang Liuzi talked. It turned out that even Wang Dashan, Yang Liuzi and the other bodyguards all of whom had served him for years didn't dare look him in the eye for too long. No wonder Lian Hai had reacted that way. Ling Zhang suspected that Lian Hai's stress response could well be minor compared with those of others. If he were now in the Great Wen, this would, naturally, be a good thing, for he was the consort there, but this was the Luohai Kingdom, and he had a mission to accomplish. Surely he should at least make sure those he needed to have dealings with wouldn't be deterred from clapping eyes on him? He had to figure out a way to fix this. He had just made a breakthrough and reached the sixth layer of the mental cultivation method of internal energy, and maybe he'd been radiating some kind of sense of power unawares.

"I'll be in closed-door cultivation in the next two days. Go and invite Mr. Han over. And, tell Dashan and Liu Yi to come here later."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Yang Liuzi accepted the order and then left. Ling Zhang picked up a piece of snack and put it into his mouth, chewing with bulging cheeks, beginning to mull over what he needed to arrange for his men to do in the following two days.

He and Yuwen Tong were behind every one of the frictions between the Wan Kingdom and the Luohai Kingdom. They were the ones who'd lit the fuse and afterward added fuel to the rage of the two sides. Their objective was, naturally, to hinder the two countries from joining hands to work against the Great Wen. It'd been several years since the last war and the Great Wen was getting stronger and stronger. Thanks to the Great Wen's unique advantageous geographical location, it had recovered from war injuries much faster than the Wan Kingdom had. Presently the Great Wen was far more powerful than the Wan Kingdom in terms of overall national strength. The North-western Army had been drilling day and night and at the same time recruiting new members, and its combat power was greater than ever.

Shan Congli had definitely perceived the widening gap between the two countries' military strength unless he was a fool. If he stood by and did nothing as the Great Wen's advantage grew, the Wan Kingdom would not only never be able to get a chance to annex the Great Wen but also might be annexed by the Great Wen. He was scared, which was why he'd sent Xue Yi, Xue Chi's son, who'd been very much in favor with him recently, to the Luohai Kingdom to seek an audience with Mu Hengtian, the Luohai monarch, with the intention to forge a secret alliance against the Great Wen, despite the frictions between the two countries.

Once they successfully made an alliance against the Great Wen, the latter would be under heavy pressure.

Therefore, Ling Zhang had journeyed from the Great Wen to the Luohai Kingdom, intending to thwart the Wan Kingdom's plan to ally themselves with the Luohai Kingdom, and to do his best to help the Great Wen strike up a relationship and reach an agreement with the Luohai Kingdom in the Wan Kingdom's stead.

If the Great Wen was to break the balance of power between the three countries and unify them, he and Yuwen Tong would have to figure out a way to subjugate the other two countries one by one. It was very difficult for the Great Wen to fight two opponents at the same time. The Wan Kingdom's monarch was greedy, cruel and full of wild ambitions, and also had a personal vendetta against Yuwen Tong, so it was impossible for the Great Wen to make an alliance with the Wan Kingdom, which made the Luohai Kingdom the only potential provisional ally. It would be much easier for the Great Wen to handle the Luohai Kingdom when the Wan Kingdom was out of the game.

By means of the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce and the secret agents Yuwen Tong had long since planted in the Wan Kingdom and the Luohai Kingdom, they had made some arrangements in both of the two countries. Speaking of the Luohai Kingdom...

Presently, the Luohai Kingdom was in the same situation that the Great Yue used to be stuck in when the Zhou family was in power. There was intense political infighting. The internecine struggle in the court was becoming increasingly white-hot.

The current situation in the Luohai Kingdom was the same as that in the Great Yue during the reign of its former emperor surnamed Zhou. There was fierce covert infighting going on in the court. Three forces, headed respectively by Mu Rongfeng the crown prince, the Dugu family who were relatives of the queen consort, and a group of generals with Nian Feng the General-in-chief as the leader, had shaped the political landscape into a tripartite confrontation. Mu Rongfeng, undoubtedly, was fighting for himself; the Dugu family were in support of a puppet prince; Nian Feng the General-in-chief was also assisting one of the potential heirs to the throne. In recent years, Mu Hengtian, the incumbent monarch, had been in worsening physical condition, and could well kick the bucket in a couple of years, which was why the three forces had been fighting at outrance for the throne.

What with what happened in Jiangzhou five years ago, Mu Rongfeng hated Ling Zhang's and Yuwen Tong's guts, and in no circumstances would he cooperate with them. Nian Feng, who had the majority of the Luohai Kingdom's troops under his command, believed that his victory was certain, so it was next to impossible to convince him. The Dugu Family was the only potential ally. Although the Dugu family had almost half of the court at their service, in fact they were relatively less dangerous compared with the other two sides, despite the fact that they were quite formidable on the surface, because firstly, the prince they were in support of was not the queen consort's son but a concubine's, which left him in a very low position in the line of succession to the throne; secondly, the Dugu family had no armed forces at their disposal and thus didn't stand a chance of defeating Nian Feng.

As a result, both Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong had chosen to use the Dugu family to make inroads into the Luohai Kingdom.

The strategy they'd adopted was not to reveal their identities to seek cooperation with the Dugu family, because after all, for the Luohai Kingdom, people of the Great Wen were outsiders, which meant that it'd be very difficult to get the Dugu family to trust them completely even if he agreed to cooperate. Therefore, Ling Zhang had made use of the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce to carry out his plan.

As early as three years ago, when the Luohai headquarters of the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce was set up in the capital of the Luohai Kingdom, Ling Zhang dropped a hint to the chairman of the chamber of commerce, who then made contact with the Dugu family. In others words, the Dugu family was now one of the shareholders of the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce. In the Luohai Kingdom, the patriarch of the Dugu family was one of the three people who shared the final say in important decisions. For years people had been speculating who the owner of the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce was. The Dugu Family didn't know the truth either, but they believed that they did, and they were also under the false impression that they owned eighty percent of the Luohai branch of the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce, that they actually ran the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce de facto. They were very ambitious – they were seeking to put the whole Luohai branch of the chamber of commerce under their complete control, and even had plans to gobble up its branches in the Wan Kingdom and the Great Wen. Ling Zhang had deliberately had his men create these spurious impressions to hoodwink the Dugu family into believing that they had securely controlled the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce.

Of course Ling Zhang was not so stupid as to hand the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce to the Dugu family on a silver platter. He was just utilizing the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce to get the Dugu family to drop their guard. On the surface the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce was a trade organization, but actually it owned a secret intelligence network which had been growing and improving, and which had helped the Dugu family win a lot of rivalries for interests and solve many troubles. Correspondingly, the Dugu family had been getting more and more dependent on the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce. The intelligence and funds this trade organization had been providing for the Dugu family were like some kind of tasty, slow-acting poison, one that the Dugu family were becoming increasingly addicted to...This was exactly what Ling Zhang wanted. The greater the Dugu family's dependence on the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce was, the more he would be able to do to manipulate the political situation in the court of the Luohai Kingdom. Presently, the Dugu family was like a pawn, a weapon that the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce had in hand.

Back at the time when Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong had first made this plan, the former had worried about it for quite some time, fearing that the Dugu family might not take the bait.

It was not until Ling Zhaowu had come to the Luohai Kingdom, secretly helped Lian Hai hook up with the Dugu family and tricked the Dugu family on board that Ling Zhang had felt a sense of relief.