Chapter 275

"Ezhou Chamber of Commerce?"

Li Yan and Sha Lifei looked at each other.

They had dealt with the Ezhou Chamber of Commerce before.

Although the Ezhou Chamber of Commerce was composed of wealthy merchants from various places.

The president of the Chamber of Commerce was named Wu Honglin. The Wu family he belonged to had massive power in Ezhou, and there were also two officials in the imperial court who had entered the palace as ministers.

Not only that, the other party's methods were quite formidable; relying on overseas trade, they had bound together numerous forces such as the Wuchang Prince's Mansion and also shared the transportation of military supplies with the Pai Sect.

That greedy and muddled Magistrate Wu of Zigui County was his younger brother.

Even after causing such a big mess, the Wu family hadn't been affected in the slightest, which showed their extraordinariness.

Thinking of this, Li Yan continued to ask, "Why does Squire Tian feel that the black hand is that person?"

Squire Tian sighed, "Opening up maritime trade yields a lot of profit, but the risks are also quite significant; not many people dared to gamble at the time."

"I happened to have some spare money and was quite curious about the customs overseas, so I gritted my teeth and invested, but I didn't expect the profit to be a hundred times more."

"Now the shares of the Chamber of Commerce have become hot commodities, and several people have come to discuss buying the shares at a high price."

"The most active among them is this Wu Jiucheng, and he offered an extremely low price, which was flatly refused by me."

Sha Lifei touched his big beard and asked somewhat strangely, "The Wu family's people have the most shares; do they still need to be so base?"

"You all don't know."

Squire Tian shook his head, "The Wu family is wealthy and powerful, but there are many family members—direct line, collateral line, first branch, second branch; all in all, there are hundreds of people."

"If everyone has shares, wouldn't it be a mess? The shares occupied in the Chamber of Commerce are family property and can only be used for dividends."

"Moreover, the Wu family has strict hierarchy; direct line, collateral branch—who gets how much is fixed and cannot be overstepped."

"That Wu Jiucheng is a son of a concubine; logically speaking, he gets quite a bit, but he spends his time in debauchery and acts extravagantly, so the dividends from the clan are not enough, and he set his sights on me."

As he spoke, his eyes were already full of anger, and he bowed respectfully, "I ask you all to help me find evidence; I will definitely not let him off easily!"

Sha Lifei's eyes rolled, and he pretended to be in a dilemma, "Squire Tian, logically speaking, this matter is our duty, but the situation is not what you said."

"Originally it was just looking at Feng Shui, but now we have to offend people, and it's the Wu family that calls the wind and rain in Ezhou; you also saw that the previous sorcerers all suffered, and they didn't even dare to speak..."

Squire Tian was not angry at all, but laughed instead, "Brother Sha, I have come all this way, how could I not know your temperament?"

"We are not outsiders, no need for this. Rest assured, I am not a stingy person; as long as this matter is handled, I am willing to give you thirty thousand taels!"

"Money is easy to talk about."

Li Yan interrupted his words and said sternly, "We have two things that we also need Squire Tian's help with."

"The first is the tournament held by the Wuchang Prince's Mansion; my hands are itching, and I want to spar with experts from all walks of life."

"The second is that we want to find a powerful Mystic Sect artisan, and one who is reliable and tight-lipped afterward."

"Oh?"

Squire Tian pondered for a moment, "The tournament is easy; the Chamber of Commerce has spots, so Li Li Shaoxia can participate in the name of my Chamber of Commerce's consultant."

"As for this Mystic Sect artisan, let me inquire about it first; after all, the person you are looking for is probably not an ordinary person. Once I have a clue, I will give Li Li Shaoxia an answer."

"Good!"

After the conditions were negotiated, the matter at hand naturally had to be solved first.

Li Yan asked again, "Squire Tian, I am very curious, after getting the evidence, how do you plan to handle it?"

"Knowing how big the matter will be, we can have a sense of proportion in doing things."

Just as Squire Tian said, the Wu family is powerful, but Li Yan and the others are really not afraid; after all, they have offended the Heaven-Saint Sect and the Ghost Sect miserably, so why fear a merchant?

But first, they must figure out how bold Squire Tian is.

Squire Tian naturally heard his meaning and shook his head, "Although the business world is like a battlefield, there are rules, and one won't make it too difficult."

"The Wu family is powerful in the Chamber of Commerce, but they don't cover the sky with one hand; there are many who covet their position."

"My few old partners and I are the neutral faction, joining forces to protect ourselves; both sides want to win us over, and using secret arts to seize people's property is a major taboo in the Chamber of Commerce."

"After the Dragon Boat Festival, a new president will be elected; at such a critical moment, Wu Honglin won't dare to be careless. As long as I get the evidence, I will definitely make him give up some key positions."

"Being able to accomplish this, it is worth it for me to suffer some grievances."

Li Yan was not surprised after hearing this.

This is the nature of a merchant; they won't be like Jianghu disputes, where they resort to weapons at the slightest disagreement.

Maybe in the end, they will even drink and be merry together.

"In that case, this matter is easy to handle."

Sha Lifei had many ghost ideas; he touched his bald head and had an idea, "Leave finding the person to us, and you secretly send people to find those few sorcerers and make the evidence solid."

"Also, tell us the name of the artisan who built your house."

Squire Tian nodded, "The one who built the residence for me is the Xu family troupe in the city; they come from the Huizhou gang, and the troupe leader Xu Qingquan is an honest man with a good reputation in Hanyang City; I didn't expect him to do this."

"I'm going to settle the score with him right now!"

Li Yan pondered for a moment and shook his head, "Not urgent."

"Didn't Squire Tian notice? They are so blatant because they are certain this sorcery is secret; even if it is discovered, they can completely deny it."

"This Yansheng technique is somewhat strange; it doesn't have half a bit of Yin Sha energy, so it's hard to become evidence. The top priority is to find the key point."

"Only then will they have nothing to say when we go to their door."

As he spoke, he turned his head to look at Wang Daoxuan, "Daoist, do you have a way to break it?"

Wang Daoxuan stroked his beard, "According to what Squire Tian said, this poor Daoist guesses that this Yansheng technique relies on nightmares to consume people's essence."

"Tonight we will set up a Dharma altar to see what is causing the trouble; as long as we find the cause, we can solve it."

"Good!"

Squire Tian was able to make his business so big, so he was naturally not a timid person and agreed immediately.

…………

Late at night, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse.

In the courtyard of the front hall of the Tian family mansion, the Dharma altar had been set up.

On the table of the square table, it was covered with bright yellow brocade, embroidered with the Eight Trigrams, sun, moon, stars, and dragons and phoenixes, looking quite magnificent.

In front of the Dharma altar, there were eight ghost jars, all of which were Chang soldiers caught by Wang Daoxuan; the most powerful one among them was the Earth Dragon demon soul.

The Chang soldiers were fierce, so they were naturally suppressed by the statue of the patriarch of the Western Mystic lineage.

In front of the statue were five offerings: water, fruit, flowers, pastries, etc., and next to them were various Dharma artifacts: red platform candles, sandalwood incense burners, sandalwood incense dishes, clean water cups, Dharma slips, tokens, wooden fish, and yellow paper.

The most powerful one was the gold coin sword.

Around it, there were eight Dharma flags, fluttering slowly in the breeze.

Li Yan's team now had some assets, so they naturally equipped Wang Daoxuan with all the gear.

All the Dharma artifacts were top-grade from the Yichang City God Temple.

Of course, they couldn't compare to the Mystic Sect Orthodox Sect.

When they hold a large-scale Dharma ritual, the Dharma altar has to be built in several layers, not to mention the Dharma artifacts, and the Dharma ritual also requires many people to cooperate.

High-ranking priests, lecturers, temple monitors, scripture attendants, incense attendants, and ritualists... everyone has their own duties and cooperates tacitly.

Even on the altar, there are various rules and regulations, and there are special Dharma altar enforcers to rectify discipline.

Of course, this level of altar ritual is extremely powerful and usually responsible for disaster relief and prayer for an entire region.

For those of them who are running solo, the current configuration of Dharma artifacts is already enough.

The night grew deeper, and the servants had all been driven back to their rooms.

Sha Lifei accompanied Wang Daoxuan, responsible for protection.

And Li Yan and Lu San jumped onto the roof to keep watch. As for Squire Tian, he slept in the side room on the left side of the front hall, his heart pounding, waiting for what would cause trouble after he fell asleep.

Before he knew it, the hour of the Rat was approaching.

Wang Daoxuan was already dressed neatly and opened the Dharma altar.

Listening to the creaking of the wooden bed in the room and the sound of turning over, Wang Daoxuan shook his head, "Squire Tian, don't worry, just sleep."

Although he said so, Squire Tian inside said helplessly, "This... I have something on my mind, I really can't sleep."

Although he said so, when the hour of the Rat arrived, he still felt a wave of sleepiness surge up, his upper and lower eyelids fighting, as if he had been drugged, and he fell into a deep sleep directly.

"Sure enough, there is a problem."

Wang Daoxuan narrowed his eyes, drew a yellow talisman from the table with the gold coin sword, stepped on the Gang steps, pinched the seal, and chanted: "Heavenly gods and earth deities, all spirits return together; I obey the Mystic Qi to manifest the power of Chen Tianjun, pursue the soul from all directions, evil ghosts manifest, obey!"

Having said this, he shook the sword, and the yellow talisman burned instantly.

He waved the gold coin sword, pinched the Dharma seal at the same time, entered the name, and drew a talisman in the air on the Eight Trigrams mirror.

Afterward, he picked up the Eight Trigrams mirror and shone it at the room.

！.

Under the moonlight, there seemed to be a flash of black fog on the copper mirror, but it disappeared immediately afterward, and nothing could be seen.

This is the method of manifesting ghosts, which is a Dharma method of Wang Daoxuan's Western Mystic lineage.

Most of the sorcery in the world borrows the power of ghosts and gods to drive the innate Gang and Sha energy to perform sorcery.

If something is causing trouble, it can be manifested on this Eight Trigrams mirror; although it is not as good as the Yin-Yang eyes, it can roughly see the appearance.

However, this method didn't reveal the root cause either.

Wang Daoxuan frowned, grabbed a handful of incense ash from the incense burner, chanted incessantly, and then blew it out suddenly.

*Whoosh*~

A Yin wind rose suddenly, and the incense ash rolled into the room.

Wang Daoxuan took the opportunity to pick up the copper mirror and continue watching.

This is using incense ash to force it to manifest.

However, he still didn't see anything.

"Not right!"

Wang Daoxuan pondered, "I'm afraid what's causing the trouble is not an evil ghost."

Having said this, he picked up a lamp from the Dharma altar.

This lamp was made of rhinoceros horn and was the treasure "Rhinoceros Horn Lamp" obtained from Tongtian Tongtian San Niang.

Tongtian Tongtian San Niang had three treasures.

Rhinoceros Lamp, Necklace Pearl, and Mourning Heart Nail.

The "Necklace Pearl" and "Mystic Yellow Heaven Talisman" could avoid the investigation of the Yin Office and were all handed over to Yulongzi.

The "Mourning Heart Nail" was an attack Dharma artifact; Li Yan didn't have the ability of Tongtian Tongtian San Niang to spray gas and shoot nails, and he also found it disgusting.

Fortunately, this treasure was used to suppress the drought demon, so its greatest function was to restrain all kinds of zombies, thus becoming a team treasure.

As for the "Rhinoceros Horn Lamp," it was a Dharma artifact refined from the horn of a Tongtian rhinoceros, which could illuminate Yin and Yang and make ghosts manifest.

It was equivalent to an extremely powerful Yin-Yang eye and could also cooperate with sorcery to summon Yin ghosts for manifestation.

Unfortunately, the lamp oil was indeed hard to get; it was corpse oil mixed with a kind of mirage pearl powder.

Li Yan found the booklet for refining lamp oil from Tongtian Tongtian San Niang, but mirage pearl powder was hard to find, so there was only a little bit of lamp oil left.

Using it once meant one less time.

A trace of heartache flashed in Wang Daoxuan's eyes, but he still pinched the seal to open the light and then lit it with an incense candle.

In an instant, green light flickered all around.

Sha Lifei, who was next to him, immediately widened his eyes.

Under the direct green light, around the few ghost jars on the Dharma altar, they were all permeated with a layer of black fog, churning above, vaguely revealing the ferocious appearance of the Chang soldiers.

Wang Daoxuan handed the Rhinoceros Horn Lamp to Sha Lifei and said in a low voice, "Go inside and shine it to see what is on Squire Tian."

"Good."

Sha Lifei swallowed, but still carried the Rhinoceros Horn Lamp, trotted all the way, and entered Squire Tian's side room.

The green light flickered, and the originally pitch-black side room became even more eerie.

They saw that on Squire Tian's body, there seemed to be a black thing.

Sha Lifei's heart was pounding, but he still mustered his courage, carried the "Rhinoceros Horn Lamp," slowed his pace, and stepped forward carefully.

When he reached the bedside, he finally saw clearly.

It was an old man wearing a pitch-black burial shroud, his face pale, his eyes dull, squatting on Squire Tian's chest in a strange posture, almost face to face.

Cowardly!

Sha Lifei cursed secretly, then retreated carefully, left the room, and came to the Dharma altar.

Wang Daoxuan took the Rhinoceros Horn Lamp and blew it out immediately, then asked, "What did you see?"

"An old man..."

Sha Lifei gestured and described it.

"Wearing a burial shroud?"

Wang Daoxuan frowned slightly, looked at the stone steps that had been put back, and suddenly realized, "This poor Daoist understands..."

"Someone!"

Just at this moment, Lu San on the roof suddenly stood up.

And Li Yan had already stepped on the roof beam, exerted force with his feet, *whoosh*, soared into the air, and jumped directly into the back alley of the Tian family mansion.

They saw a black shadow running away.

The other party had clearly stepped into the dark energy, exerted force continuously with his feet, and moved fast, rushing forward like a sharp arrow.

"Hmph!"

Li Yan snorted coldly and chased after him directly.

Although he couldn't compare to those veteran experts, he divided various energies according to Yin-Yang and Eight Trigrams, used the method of borrowing momentum, and was considered to have stepped into the Hua Jin level.

The energy under his feet exploded continuously, as if shrinking the ground into an inch.

What was even more wonderful was that every time he stepped on the ground, he used the vibration energy; the energy echoed between his body's fascia and the ground, and his speed increased by another fold.

This was his preliminary use of the Undying Seal.

Although he couldn't absorb the enemy's energy and borrow momentum to hit back, it was far beyond ordinary martial artists for traveling.

If someone were nearby at this moment, they would feel his figure flickering, as if he were a ghost, and it was about the same as using sorcery.

In a few breaths, the distance between the two sides was closed.

Just at this moment, the other party suddenly stepped on the Seven Star steps, his figure stopped suddenly, borrowed this power to flip over, his figure was like a swimming dragon, and he kicked at Li Yan's forehead.

This was extremely sudden.

However, Li Yan's reaction was faster; he turned his body, twisted his figure, let this leg pass, and then used a top-heart elbow.

*Bang*!

That figure flew out sideways, rolled three times on the ground, stopped, and struggled to climb up.

And Li Yan's face was gloomy, and he said:

"Red Dragon Flips Over, Dragon Flower Fist?"

"People from Wudang, how did they also eat Ge Nian..."

The second update will be before twelve o'clock.

(End of chapter)