Star Odyssey-Chapter 3537: Sima Chamber Of Commerce

Lu Yin’s expression grew cold. "One person wanted to join the Grandverse Manor, and two who were already members were killed in the Hundred Grasses Domain. Clearly, this attack doesn’t consider us at all. I want to know who is so courageous."

The Grandverse Manor had only recently entered the Spirit Nidus, so they did not have their own intelligence network, which made it difficult for them to investigate many things.

However, Lu Yin had his own methods.

The Gate of Laws, the Wisdom Domain, and even the Phantom Reach’s information sources could all be tapped into by Lu Yin, and he could have them investigate the attack.

Someone who had been driven to try to join the Grandverse Manor would certainly not be unknown.

Half a year passed, but neither the Gate of Laws nor the Wisdom Domain were able to provide any of the information that Lu Yin wanted.

This was quite strange. Yue Cheng had only been a Spirit Ancestor, so why could not even the seven major powers learn anything about him?

Finally, Lu Yin spoke directly to Old Yu and Zhan Ming, only to discover that neither of them could find anything. According to the two men, there were simply too many cultivators in the Spirit Nidus. Unless a person was famous and powerful, it would not be easy to investigate them.

"Boss, I found something," Ru Mu suddenly approached.

Lu Yin was surprised. "About Yue Cheng?"

Ru Mu nodded with a smile. "Yue Cheng was not a simple person. Heavenspire needed to put in considerable effort to learn anything about him."

Lu Yin did not rush the woman, and he instead curiously asked, "Is Heavenspire willing to help me investigate this matter?"

Ru Mu replied, "It's not that they're willing to help you, Boss, but rather that they’re helping me. In the end, I’m still a member of the Ru family, and that gives me some standing in Heavenspire."

Lu Yin stared at Ru Mu. "Go on."

The woman’s expression became serious. "Yue Cheng is from the Daquan Domain’s branch of the Sima Chamber of Commerce. He was the nephew of Yue Ting, the president of the company. Yue Cheng was responsible for the chamber’s transportation, which was not a low position.

"That was all that Heavenspire was able to uncover. Even after months of investigating, we weren’t able to find anything regarding why he wanted to join the Grandverse Manor or who might have killed him. If we had, we would have informed you several months ago, Boss."

Lu Yin raised an eyebrow. "How long did it take you to uncover Yue Cheng's identity?"

"Less than a month."

Lu Yin stared off into the distance. Heavenspire was able to determine Yue Cheng’s identity within a month, yet neither the Gate of Laws nor the Wisdom Domain had been able to uncover anything at all. Interesting.

Lu Yin could influence the Gate of Laws through Zhan Yan, and on occasion, force them to cooperate with him. However, such forced cooperation had certain nuances. For matters like this investigation, even if they found something, they could claim that they had discovered nothing at all. Lu Yin could do nothing about that, which everyone was well aware of.

Lu Yin did not consider himself to be the master of the Gate of Laws, and he would not demand that they provide results unless it was a truly major issue.

However, it was quite odd that the Wisdom Domain had not returned any results. Old Yu kept insisting that he wanted to cooperate with Lu Yin, so why had the Wisdom Domain failed to turn over any information about someone as seemingly insignificant as Yue Cheng?

The Wisdom Domain must either merely be a facade that had no real influence in the Spirit Nidus or simply not want to give Lu Yin this particular piece of information.

Logically, it should not have been difficult to determine Yue Cheng's identity. The Gate of Laws should not be willing to offend Lu Yin over such a simple matter, as it would lower whatever trust they had fostered so far. Despite that, they had returned nothing at all. Considering that the Wisdom Domain had returned the same results... Lu Yin looked at Ru Mu. "Is there something special about this Sima Chamber of Commerce?"

Ru Mu was impressed. "Quite insightful, Boss. The Sima Chamber of Commerce is quite an extraordinary organization."

"How so?" Lu Yin was curious about them, and he hoped that learning about the organization might explain why neither the Gate of Laws nor the Wisdom Domain had shared anything with him.

Ru Mu thought for a moment. "How should I put this? You should already know that, because Yi Shang became a Seraph, his Chamber of Commerce in the Daquan Domain was able to become the leading commercial institution in the Spirit Nidus. Essentially, all inter-organizational transactions, including those that the Ascendant Hall conducts, have to go through the Daquan Domain’s Chamber of Commerce."

Lu Yin was indeed aware of this. During the thirty-seven years that had passed in the branch stream of the River of Aeons, when the Spirit Nidus had invaded the Tianyuan Megaverse, Lu Yin had heard of the Chamber of Commerce when he first confronted Seraph Yi. Ru Mu’s explanation was not at all surprising.

With their president holding the position of Seraph, it had not been difficult for the Chamber of Commerce to dominate the entire Spirit Nidus.

"However, the Sima Chamber of Commerce is an exception to that. All of the Sima Chamber of Commerce’s transactions are completely independent from the Daquan Domain’s Chamber of Commerce, and they answer solely to the High Seraph," Ru Mu explained.

Lu Yin was caught off guard. "Why?"

Ru Mu shook her head. "I don't know."

"Can’t Heavenspire find out?"

"They don’t dare to investigate this. Heavenspire won’t try to look into anything that involves the High Seraph, even if they are capable of doing so," Ru Mu said.

Lu Yin called Yuan Qi over and asked him about the Sima Chamber of Commerce.

However, the old man reacted with utter confusion. "What’s the Sima Chamber of Commerce?"

Ru Mu explained, "The Sima Chamber of Commerce hasn't been around for very long. Senior Yuan Qi spent many years in the Tianyuan Megaverse, so it’s only natural that he doesn't know about them."

Lu Yin then called Old Tao over. "Do you know about the Sima Chamber of Commerce?"

Old Tao blurted out, "The Yue family’s Sima Chamber of Commerce?"

"Boss, are you going to go make trouble for the Sima Chamber of Commerce now?" Ru Mu asked.

Lu Yin calmly replied, "Just tell me what you know about the Sima Chamber of Commerce."

Old Tao looked horribly distressed. "Third Boss, the Sima Chamber of Commerce has nothing to do with us. Why would we make any trouble for them? Doing so would be disastrous."

Lu Yin retorted, "More of a disaster than destroying the Consciousness Domain or going after a Seraph?"

Old Tao laughed awkwardly. "Not quite that bad, but close. After all, this involves the High Seraph and the Gate of Laws."

Lu Yin and Ru Mu were both caught off guard, and Yuan Qi was completely astonished.

"Is the Sima Chamber of Commerce involved with the Gate of Laws?"

Old Tao nodded. He let out a long breath before explaining in a grave manner, "We all know that the Spirit Nidus has ten sequence bases and eighty-eight sequence techniques. Many powerful individuals have risen to power with these sequence techniques, and the ten sequence bases are even more important than the sequence techniques.

"The sequence bases are created by the Gate of Laws. Building them doesn’t only require the necessary sequence particles, but also special materials. The Sima Chamber of Commerce is the organization that is responsible for finding those special materials, which are sent to the Ascendant Hall, who forwards them along to the Gate of Laws. This is why there’s an independent chamber of commerce from the Daquan Domain’s Chamber of Commerce. The Sima Chamber of Commerce does not get involved in any power struggles and is solely responsible for procuring these special materials. That is why they answer to the High Seraph alone."

Seeing everyone staring at him, Old Tao said, "Don't look at me like that! I learned this from the Phantom Reach. As their former Number Four, I was able to access a great deal of information. While the Sima Chamber of Commerce is very important, information about them isn't too sensitive. After all, they’re just a company, and they don’t have anyone with the strength or influence of a Seraph.

"However, while they don’t have anyone at that level, anyone who tries to mess with the Sima Chamber of Commerce will face serious trouble. After all, interfering with the construction of sequence bases will not only trigger an immediate response from the Gate of Laws, but also from the Ascendant Hall."

Old Tao thought back. "I remember that the Daquan Domain’s Chamber of Commerce once considered merging with the Sima Chamber of Commerce, but nothing came of that. They did absolutely nothing, and that was under Seraph Yi Shang’s orders."

Yuan Qi was still surprised. "The materials to build sequence bases are now provided by a single supplier? That’s impossible."

Old Tao replied, "Senior, you left the Spirit Nidus too long ago, so you don’t know this, but you’re right in that it was impossible before the Sima Chamber of Commerce appeared.

"The materials to build sequence bases are very special, and they come from various regions of the Spirit Nidus, as well as from different individuals. In the past, all seven major powers fought hard to obtain the necessary materials, but ever since the Sima Chamber of Commerce appeared, they have been the ones solely responsible for collecting the necessary materials, for some unknown reason. How they succeeded is also a mystery. The bottom line is that the Sima Chamber of Commerce is very important, to the point of being vital to the megaverse."

Lu Yin then understood why the Gate of Laws had not given him any information about Yue Cheng. The Sima Chamber of Commerce was connected to the Gate of Laws, which meant that they certainly knew about Yue Cheng.

Similarly, the Wisdom Domain had refused to share even Yue Cheng's identity, because they were worried about the sequence bases.

They feared bringing trouble down upon themselves by making trouble for the Sima Chamber of Commerce.

Yuan Qi still could not understand how a single organization could find all the necessary materials.

If that were possible, then building sequence bases was a completely different process than what he understood. Were there still just ten sequence bases? How many had the Gate of Laws actually made?

It had become clear that there was far more to things than what the old man had initially believed.

He could not hold back from giving a warning. "Lord Lu, if the materials needed to build sequence bases is no longer a factor, then they can be produced very quickly."

Ru Mu countered, "But if the issue lies with sequence particles, then there wouldn’t be so many sequence powerhouses lingering on the brink of death."

Yuan Qi did not argue against that. Both he and Lu Yin were aware of the Lesser Spirit Megaverse’s existence, but that did not mean that they had any idea just how many sequence powerhouses were hidden within Heavenspire.

Heavenspire was an entire megaverse. Even if it was tiny, it had been controlled by the High Seraph for countless years, and there could not be a small number of sequence powerhouses.

If both the required materials and sequence powerhouses were problems that had been solved, then just how many sequence bases might have been made? Yuan Qi could not even begin to imagine it.

Fortunately, the Sima Chamber of Commerce had not been around for very long. Even if sequence bases could be produced quickly, there was only one Gate of Laws, which meant that reality could not be too different from what they had previously understood.

Lu Yin was relieved that he had arrived in the Spirit Nidus when he had. If he had been any later, there might not have been just ten known sequence bases, but rather twenty, or even more.

The Cauldron Bell and the Rivers and Mountains Painting sequence bases might not be particularly useful against someone at Lu Yin’s level of strength, how many others in the Tianyuan Megaverse were at his level?

With enough sequence bases at play, the Spirit Nidus could sweep away any and all opposition.

Lu Yin and Yuan Qi exchanged glances. "In that case, we have no choice but to go after this Sima Chamber of Commerce."

"If we do nothing out of fear of just the Sima Chamber of Commerce, everything that’s been done so far will be for nothing. Besides." Lu Yin paused for a moment. "I want to see if this Sima Chamber of Commerce is the High Seraph's reverse scale."

While Yuan Qi did not want to directly face the High Seraph, he also knew that Lu Yin was right. The Grandverse Manor had only recently established a reputation, and their observers had only just left. If they did not pursue this matter, then everything that Lu Yin had previously done to intimidate people would be seen as just a joke. The Sima Chamber of Commerce would end up benefitting from all that Lu Yin had done.

If Heavenspire was able to investigate the Sima Chamber of Commerce, then so too could other forces.

The Sima Chamber of Commerce represented the Ascendant Hall. If the Grandverse Manor refused to pursue them, then it would show that they were afraid of the Ascendant Hall. Even if Lu Yin's combat strength made him nearly invincible in the Spirit Nidus and he demonstrated no fear of even the High Seraph, if the matter was not pursued, people would see Lu Yin’s attitude as nothing more than an act.

He would forever be limited to being equal to the Seven Seraphs.

It was possible that the Sima Chamber of Commerce would be the first direct clash between Lu Yin and the High Seraph after time had been reversed by thirty-seven years.

Old Tao's eyes shifted. "Third Boss, might I ask, are we certain that Ba Liu and Yi Yao were killed by the Sima Chamber of Commerce?"

Yuan Qi replied, "That hasn’t been confirmed yet."

Old Tao said, "In that case, we can't rule out that someone might be trying to create enmity between us and the Sima Chamber of Commerce, wanting to use us against them. The Phantom Reach tried to use you like that before, and they were only recently dealt with. Could this matter have any connection to Qianmen Feidu?"

Lu Yin looked at Old Tao. "What are you trying to say?"