Walker Of The Worlds

About five days had passed since the day when the Fen clan agreed to join the alliance.

The overall progress had been steady, and everything had been going well. Even the other members of the merchant council seemed to have stabilized by now and the initial panic after the massacre of the three clans was now mostly gone.

Though Shantung still seemed to be at a loss for what to do next. He had exhausted every means of contacting his backer but had gotten no response. At this point, he was close to believing that it might be his own backer that had massacred the three clans and was now refusing to answer him.

Shantung sat in his clan's mansion while nervously drinking some wine.

"Patriarch, you need to mediate. So much worrying is not good for you." A man spoke to Shantung.

~tap~

Shantung put the cup of wine on the table with a clack before rubbing his forehead.

"Even if I want to, I can't… if it really is as everyone is expecting, then our troubles would increase many folds. With the backer changing the stance, we are left between a cliff and a ravine.

If we still decide to stick with them, while we might have a chance to survive, we would also be excommunicated from the merchant council. Not to mention the final intentions of the backer are still unknown to us." Shantung said to the man.

"Then what are we supposed to do, patriarch? As you said, the backer is very powerful, so what does he even want with a place like the Jiao Long city? Even if the merchant council members are based here, that is only because of the safety.

Our actual businesses are all spread across the empire. We don't even keep our wealth here." The man asked, feeling confused.

Shantung had cold sweat appear on his forehead after hearing the words of the man. For about five minutes, Shantung went silent before letting out a sigh.

~Sigh~

"My son… you might be right. When I was asked to support him, I wasn't 'asked' exactly… more like threatened." Shantung answered.

Why didn't you tell us so patriarch?" The man, who was evidently the

~Sigh~

another sigh, Shantung shook his

The backer said that he would exterminate me and our clan if I opposed him.

would have gotten the news that the three

could have had the same fate as that of those clans?" The

Shantung nodded his head

~thud~

but fall on the

this is just our worst fears coming true…" he spoke while

about ten minutes

~pata~

wine and drank it all in one go before putting it back on the table. The heat from the wine roused

We can't just be on the passive any more." He said, changing the title

being a bit more mature than him, Shantung couldn't help but feel emotional. The mix of wine and

right. Do you have any suggestions? I don't think I can do this alone anymore…"

of action should be to reverse our stance. We cannot associate with the backer anymore… whoever they are. We need to consolidate support from the

first, they will still have some semblance of trust. Even if we are merchants, we should aim for the target that brings us profit, and associating with the backer is no longer good

to be reasonable. While they may have to pay some penalties to overcome the initial problems of mistrust with

we shall do that then."

~clap~clap~clap~

that he was shocked by the sound of someone clapping. He and