About half an hour later, the Yi Qi carriage arrived outside the city.

At the city gate.

Lin Ziming had no interest in marveling at the majestic forty-meter-high outer structure of Ziqiong City. After hastily paying the entrance fee of a few copper coins, he turned to signal to Wu Fan to tell the driver:

"Driver, head to the south of the city."

The driver was a small elderly man with a straw hat, his face full of weathered wrinkles.

Upon hearing this, he couldn't help but glance at Wu Fan and said in a slightly hoarse voice:

"Shopkeeper, the market set up by the Yang Family is in the north of the city."

Wu Fan waved, replying with what Lin Ziming instructed him:

"We have other business to attend to. Just head south, and make it as quick as possible."

Since the employer requested this, the driver naturally didn't say more and drove the carriage towards the south of the city.

"Given the current situation, the Yang Family has surely sealed the news, preparing for a big feast."

Inside the carriage, Mu Ge said to Lin Ziming, Ma Ning, and the others:

"According to our intelligence, a significant portion of the caravans do not have spatial bags, so loading and unloading will take some time, and the market opens at a uniform time.

When these caravans arrive at the market and complete the leasing, setting up of venues, and other processes, it will take at least half a day, or even a full day.

Once the market opens collectively, the secret of material shortages will be exposed. Even if the other receivers are slow-witted, half an hour is enough for them to react.

This means we have a window of up to 24 hours, or as short as 10 hours, to make our move."

Lin Ziming nodded and responded:

"Let's stick to our habit and consider the ten-hour scenario.

Everyone, time is really tight.

The Yang Family has already set their sights on the docks, so the chances of us picking up scraps are slim.

But, an opportunity is still an opportunity, no matter how small, so I left five thousand spirit stones with Wei Qiangsheng, to see if he could sneak in a few bites."

According to what Wei Qiangsheng previously said, there are many unfamiliar faces among the caravan leaders this time.

Thus, the rabbits deduced that the original caravan leaders were likely severely injured or even killed in the beast tide.

Such commercial talents are not numerous in ordinary cities, and those with the prestige to lead are even rarer.

So under such circumstances, those replacing them must be prioritized by cultivation, followed by a few stewards for assistance.

For example, in Chixian City, if something happened to Wei Qiangsheng and the caravan had to set off, the leader wouldn't be Wei Fan but one of the few Qi Cultivation Seventh or Eighth Layer meridian masters.

These temporary replacement leaders, if not all, then at least a considerable portion are rather dull in business decision-making and intuition, unable to detect the impending rise in the price of monster materials.

Though most of these dull ones might be consumed by the Yang Family, doing it too quickly still follows a sequence.

So before the Yang Family sweeps the board, there is still a chance to find a few stragglers.

As for the excuse to 'catch fish,' the rabbits have thought it out:

A client wants a large quantity this time, the amount we brought from our city is insufficient, could you spare me a little, brother? I'll treat you to a big banquet... no, I'll give you a five-point increase!

In short, it's about taking a shot regardless, there's no loss even if we don't buy it, but if we do, it's a huge gain.

After all, large beast tides occur only once every few years, this time the number of caravans has nearly halved, and the volume of goods has also decreased significantly, with monster material prices expected to rise by at least 50%!

So, as instructed by the command center, Lin Ziming left five thousand spirit stones with Wei Qiangsheng to test the waters for luck, while he led the team charging towards.....

the south of the city!

......

Tang's Commerce Association.

This is an industry under the mid-sized Tang Family in Ziqiong City, located outside Hutong East Alley in the south of Ziqiong City.

Under the Tang Family's name, besides Tang's Commerce Association, there are Tang's Pawnshop and Tang's Freight, among other enterprises.

It can be considered a standard one-stop commercial and freight service.

However, within Ziqiong City, the reputation of the Tang Family is actually quite poor.

Not only do they like to squeeze out competitors, but they also exploit their laborers to the extreme.

Most of these laborers were enslaved by the Tang Family during times of famine, with no rights or freedom.

But it is precisely by oppressing their laborers that the Tang Family's labor costs are extremely low.

Therefore, whether it's a commerce association or a pawnshop, they can offer better rates to customers—lower sales prices and higher purchase prices. Consequently, though some people despise the Tang Family, they cannot change the fact that the Tang Family keeps making money.

Currently, the shopkeeper of Tang's Commerce Association is called Tang Si, a direct descendant of the Tang Family's main lineage, just over forty years old, and in the Third-Layer Qi Cultivation realm.

As for his character....

According to Wei Qiangsheng, who interacted with him:

He appears gentle and amiable, but in truth, he's a person who doesn't even spit out the bones.

High offers and the Tang Family's poor reputation are the reasons why the rabbits set their sights on the Tang Family.

Inside Tang's Commerce Association.

At this moment, Tang Si was holding a teacup, leisurely sipping tea, and swaying his head as he hummed a tune unique to the Damo Realm:

"Dou Li sinks into oblivion, dances charmingly yet melancholy in the dust of the world....."

As he sang, Tang Si didn't know what he thought of, suddenly letting out a long sigh:

"The dust of the world, oh the dust of the world... How wonderful it would be to travel through the dust of the world, it's just a pity for that little rabbit..."

Perhaps he recalled some touching scene, as Tang Si's eyes gradually moistened.

It looked as though he held deep feelings for a character in the story.

Yet, just as he was contemplating whether he should close the shop for a day to listen to this song again, several figures suddenly walked in from outside the shop:

"Is the old... shopkeeper here?"

"Here, here!"

Hearing business coming in, the previous sadness in Tang Si's eyes vanished at once, replaced by a fascination with business... or rather, money.

What ballad, what sentiment, to hell with them, none of these matters compare to spirit stones!

Then Tang Si stood up, adjusted his sleeves, and greeted the visitors with a gentle, amiable smile.

As he glanced at the appearance of the visitors, the abacus in his mind began clicking away.

The visitors were seven or eight robust men, mostly dark-skinned and plainly dressed except for the young man leading them, one of them tightly holding a black box.

Though unable to discern their cultivation levels, Tang Si judged from their appearance that these people likely belonged to an ordinary or below-standard cultivator team.

Such teams mostly engaged in adventures, occasionally hunting some low-level monsters.

Yet, Tang Si did not underestimate them because of this, his gaze firmly locking onto the black box.

According to his commercial experience, this kind of team is quite likely to sell some good items.

The significant business deals Tang Si had made in his life mostly occurred with such teams.

Once inside the shop, the young leader glanced around and then said:

"Shopkeeper, do you buy goods here?"

Tang Si was waiting for this question, and upon hearing it, he clapped his hands:

"Ah, you've come to the right place, have you recently arrived in Ziqiong City?

Let me tell you, of all the businesses in Ziqiong City, ours offers the highest prices."

The young man smiled modestly upon hearing this:

"We've heard of Tang Family's reputation before, otherwise, we wouldn't have come to you, right?"

Hearing the young man's words, Tang Si felt even more confident.

He first beckoned them to sit down, asked the attendant to serve tea, and then rubbed his hands, saying:

"I wonder if the items in your hands... may I have a look?"

After taking a seat, the young man exchanged a glance with a middle-aged man with bushy eyebrows next to him, then beckoned to the man holding the iron box.

The man holding the iron box immediately stepped forward, placed the iron box on the table, and glanced around warily.

After checking everything was normal, he pressed a few times on the iron box.

With a click,

the iron box opened.

Tang Si leaned in to take a look and instantly drew a sharp breath: "Hiss——"

In the center of the iron box, five clusters of flames were neatly arranged, emitting a faint blue light.

"Earth Vein Fire?!"

......

Note:

Yesterday, the wound opened up and started bleeding again, so tomorrow I'll return to two updates, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The word count won't be less, just the timing reverting to the original.

Otherwise, updating all at once in the morning puts too much pressure on my fingers.

Updating ten chapters on the 26th is a bit daunting, but I will definitely do it...

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