Wu Long’s morning started earlier, as it began when the two suns started rising over the Emerald Falls City, a few hours before a sun appeared in the skies of the Dream Realm and Silver Wing City.

He took a stroll along the shopping district of the city - which was busy with morning preparations and opening up the shops - with Gong Liwei and Sui Luxiao.

They already had at least a vague impression of how the city’s commerce was structured from their prior visit.

Which market segments were exclusive or massively occupied by nobles, where non-noble merchants made their money, and what parts of the trade were strictly regulated by the Imperial Family.

Their biggest rival here, of course, would be the Thousand Treasures Hall which had a direct branch - an inverse situation with the Soft Meadow Continent where they faced a proxy small trade company with their own direct branch.

Knowing all that, they didn’t exactly need to go through the markets to gather information.

However, while they did walk at a leisurely pace and took time to enjoy this distinct atmosphere of antnest-like quiet and monotonic busyness of the waking up market in the early hours of the morning, this wasn’t a stroll without a destination either.

They were headed for a trading company owned by a commoner family of merchants without a particularly strong backing of nobles, called the Beastscale Trading House.

Until quite recently, a fairly successful middling merchant organization that traded in a specialized market segment practically all alone in the entire city, but at the same time didn’t encroach on the interests of anyone even remotely important.

"Is their business that unattractive to other merchants?", Gong Liwei asked, knowing that if there was profit to be had other merchants would at least try to compete for that market. And since they were commoners with weak nobles as backers they obviously didn’t have the means to shield their market in other ways.

"It’s because their main segment is not a particularly lucrative or popular one in the Emerald Falls City - goods for Demonic Beast hunters like stink pills, traps, species-specific and general lures and baits, specialized talismans, beast cadaver dismantling gear and kits, and more", Sui Luxiao replied.

"There aren’t many Demonic Beast Hunters in the capital, especially since the Imperial Family periodically sends out armies to clear out Demonic Beasts all over the continent, so a specialized store like this only caters to a very tiny segment of population and travelers", Wu Long shrugged his shoulders adding a bit more context.

"It is, of course, a saving grace for local Demonic Beast Hunters who don’t really have much alternatives, as well as those from the outside who came to make a raid on a specific Demonic Beast in a Spiritual Land of a local Sect, but find out in the last minute they lack some type of equipment or supply since their target prey had advanced in cultivation realm or their intel was a bit wrong so it saves them a trip back to a regional city. But that’s it. There really isn’t much money to be made in this market in this particular city", Sui Luxiao then added, "This business wouldn’t attract much competition here, and the big traders won’t even look at it, let alone touch it"

"How were they successful then?", Gong Liwei became even more curious, since logic dictated that they would barely break even with just the cost of importing their supplies if not many were interested in even peddling these goods to this city to begin with. Unless they were producing them locally, but that also added much heavier production costs with presumably non-existent exports and only local consumption.

"They weren’t for a long time. Beastscale Trading House was a small and almost unprofitable family business that barely scraped by - driven more by enthusiasm in the trade as they also have a small team of Demonic Beast Hunters in their employ", Wu Long made a wry smile.

"Until a few generations back, when they came up with a strategy of selling the same goods as more popular general stores for higher prices in their store alongside their specialties", Sui Luxiao chuckled, "More common cultivation goods like common low level cultivation pills, more common-use types of talismans, meditation-helping incense sticks, even empty jade slips, and so on"

"For higher prices...", Gong Liwei thought for a bit and then raised her eyes with realization, "So they were gambling on their customers coming for Demonic Beast Hunting supplies grabbing some of those even for a slightly higher price, for the simple convenience of not having to go to a separate store for them"

"Exactly, and the funny thing is that it worked", Wu Long chuckled, "The beauty of it is that those are also safe goods that don’t alarm any competition - their sales aren’t hurting anyone in the quantities they manage to sell on the level of middle and small local businesses, and they are buying them up from the Thousand Treasures Hall in bulk so the big business is even making a small negligible profit of it, but that trick boosted profits for the Beastscale Trading House and made it into a stable generational family business and even expanded their store buying out a few neighboring properties"

"Convenience can be a scarily effective strategy", Sui Luxiao smiled, speaking with experience, "And they are aided by the fact that young scions of noble families sometimes like to go on hunting trips outside the city - it is a hobby that goes in and out of fashion periodically"

"Ah~, just like the group of young nobles we saw on our way", Gong Liwei instantly remembered the group they traveled on the Beast of Burden with.

"Yes, it’s currently back in fashion - so just adding goods popular with young masters and young ladies of noble houses to their store in small quantities, even if the price is much higher than elsewhere, they can make a lot of profit from a young noble’s impulsive buy as they come in for hunting gear", Sui Luxiao nodded.

"But since you said they were successful until recently...", Gong Liwei didn’t finish, implying the rest.

"Yes, they have been on the receiving end of some trouble in the last year or two", Sui Luxiao nodded, "We haven’t investigated them for long enough to know the details though. We only know they had problems importing their main supplies... though that was solved about half a year ago"

"Half a year ago was when we were in the city, and if it’s importing the trouble was in the Docks and Warehouses of the Harbor District... was it our move with Princess Wei Zhenhui?", Gong Liwei connected the dots.

"Yes, it was an unforeseen consequence of Wu Long’s plans and actions regarding the Harbor District that helped them", Sui Luxiao confirmed, and then shook her head, "But their troubles didn’t end there, or rather they became more direct as now their store is directly harassed while the City Watch looks the other way"

"The reason this trading company that we didn’t really pay attention to came up first when thinking of where we could expand from, is because it conveniently popped up a few hours ago in the work that Guanting-led team is doing", Wu Long chuckled with some amusement, "Through the people who control the Quiet Lake Hall, the Scarlet Blade Gang" 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Are they the ones who were behind the gangs in the Harbor District?", Gong Liwei asked with realization.

"Yes. One of the Scarlet Blade Gang’s main identities, and where they began their rise in ranks of the underbelly of the Emerald Falls City to their current position at the very top, was being thugs that were used in secret wars of merchants and nobles to disrupt the existing powerful competition and prevent new competition from appearing - muscle for money", Wu Long started explaining in more detail, "Their meteoric rise coincided with the downfall of some powerful noble houses some time ago, as they seemed to have been employed by another noble who profited from the situation"

He then continued as they turned the corner, "In recent centuries they were rarely required to move directly, employing an extensive number of lower-tier organizations to work under them while they branched out to grabbing ahold of places like the Quiet Lake Hall, and other more ’sophisticated’ types of underworld business. It was parts of their lower-tier groups that were decimated by now General Chen Hui under the ’orders’ of Princess Wei Zhenhui in her campaign to clear out the Harbor District of harmful gangs"

He then saw a question in the eyes of both beauties - such thugs would’ve just tried to foolishly reclaim the Harbor District by now.

"Despite their beginnings, they aren’t an impatient bunch who move without thinking as you might assume - it was their caution that allowed them to rise to the top of the dark side of this city. They knew what you are thinking right now - that after clearing up the docks brought so much popularity to the Princess, all eyes, at least for a while, are now on that Harbor District. If they tried expanding their influence with low-level thugs there again, the Imperial Family’s heirs, hungry for achievements, would now fight for a chance to clean it up, so it is off limits at the very least until the Imperial battle of succession is over. Rather, they even had to slightly lay low with their main activities as the Imperial heirs could get desperate and bite them despite their connections with powerful nobles"

"So how are they involved in the Beastscale Trading House’s case then?", Gong Liwei asked, "If they are pressuring a merchant organization, stretching their hands out of the city’s underworld into the daylight during such a sensitive time, they must be moving on the orders of nobles..."

"That we don’t know yet", Wu Long shrugged with a smile.

"Heh, I was expecting you to know the answer", Sui Luxiao snorted with light surprise and amusement, adding a bit wistfully, "I guess people get used to good things very quick~... I suddenly feel the sharp contrast with the Silver Wing City where we know almost everything that’s happening"

"Hehehe, right? I asked on instinct as well, thinking we already looked into it", Gong Liwei nodded enthusiastically, completely agreeing with the sentiment.

"But it certainly sounds like they’re someone who could benefit from our help, right?", Wu Long added, "And it’s even convenient since we’re going to take down the Scarlet Blade Gang anyway - we can even add that to the list of achievements that our Princess and General couple will make for the sake of the Empire"

"Whoa~, you don’t miss a chance to profit, do you?", Sui Luxiao turned a look of slight amazement to him, "Are you sure you’ve never tried being a merchant?"

"Quite sure", Wu Long began laughing as he imagined a merchant shop with a slogan ’Buy from the God of Slaughter, or else...’ or something like that.

His laughter then changed into a sudden serious look as he looked ahead into the distance, muttering, "It seems they are lucky we decided to give a visit today..."

Both beauties exchanged looks, understanding that he must’ve seen something happening at their destination.

His hands that were placed leisurely behind his back extended to the sides, landing on the waists of his two beauties, and as they stepped closer and leaned onto him from both sides, he hugged them tight and all three silently disappeared from the spot.

Almost no one noticing their abrupt departure - since no one really noticed when they were there in the first place as Wu Long was now more proficiently using Fen Baihu’s attention misdirection technique. Only the sudden gust of wind that raised fallen leaves alerted a few people who turned confused gazes to the empty spot, feeling like there was someone there but not exactly sure since they weren’t paying attention.