All Heavenly destiny reduced to ashes
Chapter 371 - 21 Military Style (1/3)

Chapter 371: Chapter 21 Military Style (1/3)

The old official residence, now the entrance to Linlang Commerce Chamber, has twelve steps leading up to its doors, with two martial artists guarding on either side.

"Brother, where do you hail from?"

Seeing Xu Tai approach as though intending to enter, the martial artists promptly stepped forward to stop him.

They could tell that Xu Tai’s strength was extraordinary, so their tone was still fairly calm, "This is an important area of the commerce chamber, and idlers are not allowed to enter. If you have any business, tell us, and we will notify the appropriate party."

"I am the Escort Leader of Hanlang Escort Agency."

Xu Tai did not beat around the bush, "Our shipment was intercepted, by the True Demon Sect disguised as a Guidance Squad. They used controlled demons to attack our convoy, so I came to give you a heads up."

"True Demon Sect?"

The guards seemed puzzled, clearly thinking this was beyond normal, and instinctively began to shirk responsibility, "The loss of your freight is your problem, and it’s not our job to verify whether the Guidance Squad is genuine or not. Besides, delivering the goods was your task; failure to do so is your dereliction."

"Right," another guard warned, "All this talk of True Demon Sect and Heavenly Demons, don’t go spreading alarmist notions here, or throwing around confusing and frightening words to scare people."

Xu Tai sighed internally. Had he not grown accustomed to this group’s penchant for shifting blame as swiftly as the wind, a younger person would definitely be fuming by now.

He patiently emphasized, "I’ve lost the cargo and will go back and face the client’s retribution, but you must take the movements of the True Demon Sect and Heavenly Demon seriously."

"Mhm, mhm, mhm."

The guard was nonchalant, "Got it, we’ll pass the message along."

It was obvious they weren’t taking it to heart.

At this point, Xu Tai had nothing more to say, but this outcome was within his expectations, so he bowed his hands and turned to leave.

"Brother, please wait a moment!"

However, just as Xu Tai was about to step down the stairs, a voice from inside called out, prompting him to turn back, and he saw a manager hurrying over, "What about the True Demon Sect? Please come inside and explain in detail!"

As the manager approached and scrutinized Xu Tai’s face, his expression suddenly changed and he became furious, turning to slap the gatekeeper, "Are you blind? This is ’A Promise Worth Thousand Gold’ from the Hanhai Escort Agency! His reputation precedes him for over a decade, how dare you question him?"

After speaking, he respectfully gestured, "Master Xu, please come in!"

Witnessing this, Xu Tai felt no pleasure, instead becoming even more vigilant, "This is certainly not just a trading company..."

The manager clearly had strength, and not a weak one at that, even possessing Inner Strength—befitting a major commerce chamber that spans across three territories of Hanhai. The headquarters even had three Martial Meridian Grandmasters in residence.

But the manager’s method of delivering that slap, with an air of brisk efficiency, and the fact that the slapped guard stood erect without the slightest attempt to dodge, accepting the slap without any signs of resentment or unwillingness, seemed totally normal to him.

This attitude was only seen in the Martial Arts Academy when instructors disciplined the students, a simple pain that definitely wouldn’t cause injury.

—Martial Army background?

Keeping his suspicion to himself, Xu Tai had his guesses but still followed the capable manager into the commerce chamber.

This place was originally the official residence, and this manager led Xu Tai into an inner chamber. After serving fine tea, he formally inquired about Xu Tai’s encounter with the True Demon Sect and demon attacks, requesting details of the incident.

Through this questioning, Xu Tai’s suspicions were further confirmed because the manager’s words were straightforward and to the point, very much in the style of the military.

But what was strange was that when Xu Tai had walked through the commerce chamber earlier, he had seen several of the chamber’s personnel displaying familiar, casual behavior... Could it be that only this manager came from the military?

Xu Tai recorded the entire conversation using the walkie-talkie’s recording function that An Jing had given him. Soon, the manager finished asking questions and nodded in thanks, saying, "Thank you very much for your report. We will pay close attention to the issue of the True Demon Sect’s infiltrators... It seems then, that the loss of the escort’s cargo was not an issue on your part, but rather a fault in our intelligence."

"Please wait a moment, I will apply for a document of exoneration for you, and there is also a small gift to offer as a token of appreciation. We must not chill the heart of a righteous man."

Having said this, the manager left, leaving Xu Tai alone in the room.

"Interesting."

Based solely on the manager’s actions, Xu Tai felt he was quite agreeable, with public relations skills that could be described as perfect — if it wasn’t for the fact that Xu Tai had seen the Linlang Commerce Chamber forcibly buying and selling from the common folk, he might have actually left a good review for them.

It was probably because he was a high-ranking Inner Strength Martial Artist close to a Martial Meridian breakthrough. Were it not for the rarity of Divine Abnormalities, he might have already started preparing for the Martial Meridian breakthrough, considering his good reputation and value for strategic alliances.

Not long after, the exemption document was issued — this swift action further convinced Xu Tai that a portion of the Linlang Commerce Chamber must have already been replaced by military personnel arranged by the higher-ups, efficiency that was simply not possible for a normal commerce chamber.

But the question arose... What exactly were these people doing? Had they not seen the chaos in the city, or did they simply not care, having more important tasks at hand?

Xu Tai’s visit to the commerce chamber was to see whether the Linlang side was indeed collaborating with the True Demon Sect. Now it seemed that the manager probably knew something, but he didn’t know that the True Demon Sect had already reached the point of being able to control demons to attack people.

His being called over this time was most likely to gather evidence to rebuke their collaborators, warning those True Demon Sect fanatics not to be too arrogant and not to release demons at will.

"Now we’ll see whether they plan to silence me by killing me or to offer me money to keep quiet," Xu Tai said.

Xu Tai closed his eyes to think, conserving energy and waiting. He didn’t drink any tea from the chamber, ready to call An Jing for help at any moment. The Thunder Beads in his water bottle were also ready to be energized and unleashed at any time, preparing him for battle.

The outcome turned out to be subtle: The Linlang Commerce Chamber didn’t seem to have the immediate intention to silence him, but neither did they immediately offer money to make him stay quiet.

Because the manager, with his military demeanor, came back and brought news that was neither clearly good nor bad.

"The young master wants to meet you," said the manager with a helpless expression. He seemed a bit troubled but had no authority over the ’Young Master’: "Please go upstairs, Brother Xu. But allow me to forewarn you, our young master’s temperament... may not be very pleasant."

"Young master..."

Xu Tai narrowed his eyes. From the manager’s attitude, he could roughly guess who the real power broker in Linjiang City’s Linlang Commerce Chamber was.

"Then let’s meet," he said with a smile. "After all, being a young master, how bad could it be?"

Ten flicks of a finger later, Xu Tai realized he was wrong.

Because the young master’s first words upon seeing him were, "Is this the Escort Leader who lost our goods?"