Currently in a large house in the Jiao Long city a man was sitting in a large office.

"That is the final shipment for today, my lord." A servant spoke.

"Hmm… that's enough. You can leave now." Jingming Shang replied and digressed the servant.

Once the servant was gone, the man opened the box that had just arrived and checked the items inside, which looked like dried herbs and mushrooms. He read through the dossier that was brought along with the box and ensured that everything was right.

But just as he was doing that, he felt the communication jade slip hidden in his robes hum. It was different from the one that was hanging on his waist and made his eyes go wide.

He stumbled and hurriedly took out the communication jade slip before checking who was contacting him.

"S-senior Lin Mu!" Jingming Shang greeted.

"How are things going there in Fenlong kingdom?" Lin Mu questioned.

"Everything is going as plan, senior. There were a few problems, but we managed to solve them." Jingming Shang answered.

"That's good. Prepare a report for it later, and I also wanted some information from you." Lin Mu replied.

"Oh? Do you want me to send the report to you?" Jingming Shang questioned.

"No, not necessary. If anything, I might come there myself in a month or two." Lin Mu answered. "Perhaps, it's not confirmed yet." 

"I see… and what information did you want?" Jingming Shang asked.

"I want you to find out information about Horse Manticore materials. Get me everything, what materials were sold, who bought them, who supplied them and where they came from." Lin Mu replied.

"Horse Manticore… Hmm, it'll take a few hours, but I'll get it." Jingming Shang stated.

"I'll wait then. Contact me when you have it." Lin Mu said before stopping.

Jingming Shang put away the communication jade slip and quickly got to work.

"SERVANT! I WANT ALL THE TRADE MISSIVES!" 

While Jingming Shang was getting busy, the people in the hall were all watching Lin Mu.

"Did you contact Jingming Shang?" Jing Luo questioned.

"Mmmhmm, if it's anyone, it would be him that can find the information. His network is good enough to find a lot of hidden information. Plus, he is a merchant too, so the others are less likely to find fault with him." Lin Mu answered.

"You'll be able to get the information about the Horse Manticore?" Patriarch You Yi inquired.

"Most likely, yes. If the person I contacted can't find it, then it will be close to impossible and we will have to look for other alternatives." Lin Mu spoke.

"I see… how long till they respond?" You Yi asked.

"It should be within a day's time." Lin Mu replied.

"That's quick enough. We can discuss other matters in the meantime." The Patriarch spoke, finding it decent.

"Yes, we need to make the best use of time." Lin Mu agreed.

"The elders had some questions, so I ask them to go ahead with them and ask." You Yi ordered.

"I shall take the lead then, Patriarch." One of the high elders said before looking at Lin Mu.

"I understand that this new alliance has other members in it than just the Noon Grass sect and the Hong Lin kingdom, I'd like to ask who they are so that we can properly prepare." The High elder questioned.

"Oh yes. The other allies we have in this are the Fenlong kingdom and the clans of the Jiao Long city along with the entire merchant council." Lin Mu answered.

"You got the entire kingdom as an ally?" The elders were surprised, as they had no inkling of something like this happening.

"We did. Started by helping the clans of the Jinan Long city and stopping them from being killed by Gu Yao. They too, suffered under his hand. The clans then got the royal family involved and they are our allies too now." Lin Mu explained.

The Fenlong Kingdom's royal family becoming their allies was something Miss Fen, the head of the Fen family did. She convinced them when Lin Mu helped resolved their bloodline problems and the same was done by her for the royal family.

Unknown to the other sects and kingdoms, the power of the Fenlong kingdom as a whole had risen in the past few months as more people had broken through to the Nascent soul realm. 

This not only included the members of the merchant council but also the members of the royal family. Jingming Shang had also recruited more people into their fray, which were mostly merchants that had been troubled due to Gu Yao and his people in some way.

Secretly, their power was expanding and they did their best to keep it hidden.

"Regardless, the Fenlong kingdom is far too small to be of help to us. They barely have a couple of Nascent soul realm cultivators." One of the other elders listening spoke.

"No… there are about twenty eight Nascent soul realm cultivators there." Lin Mu corrected.

"WHAT!?" This time, all the elders were surprised.

"We have been keeping them hidden. But our power there has grown, including the royal clan and the merchants." Lin Mu said with a smile.

Patriarch You Yi looked at Lin Mu and felt like he was not looking at a young man who was barely twenty one years old, but rather at a sly old man who was at least a millennium old.

He couldn't help but feel goosebumps on the back of his neck.

'This boy… he's far too clever and his strategies are on a different level… he managed to hoodwink all the sects for all these years and even raised the power of an entire kingdom on his own. 

Not to mention that's just one of the kingdom's he has under his influence…' You Yi couldn't help but think deeply.

With that revelation, the elders couldn't help but take Lin Mu far more seriously than before and had a new version of him in their eyes.

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