Secret

"Go on."

"This should have been the Eastern Army's business. Armies fight wars; the Embroidered Uniform Directorate handles the martial world. Each has its own duties. Now the Embroidered Uniform Directorate has snatched the Eastern Army's work, while the Eastern Army has come to Cloud Province to requisition grain. Don't you think these two things are pulling against each other?"

"Master Black, aren't you overthinking it? The Embroidered Uniform Directorate is suppressing the Demon God Palace, while the Eastern Army is preparing for a rainy day."

Qian Lingyun did not finish, but the meaning behind his words was clear.

"At the end of the day, isn't the Pearl Radiance Chamber of Commerce strengthening Cloud Province's martial artists precisely to prepare for the Eastern Army to conscript them?"

"If only it were that simple. I always feel something is off."

"The Embroidered Uniform Directorate is making huge moves, and the Eastern Army is also preparing to hold the Grand Military Tournament. If this were truly for war preparations, then with the Embroidered Uniform Directorate's wealth, it would be no more than a drop in the ocean."

Master Black's tiny eyes squeezed together. He could not make sense of it; everything was far too strange.

The two froze. "Why?"

"Back then, the Founding Emperor ordered the creation of the Embroidered Uniform Directorate. To ease the court's financial burdens, those Gold Embroiderers of the Directorate founded the Pearl Radiance Chamber of Commerce. That is how it appears on the surface, but the wealth within is far more than a few scraps of silver."

The two nodded slightly. The Pearl Radiance Chamber of Commerce being immensely wealthy was a fact universally acknowledged in the martial world.

To build a business dealing in martial resources, with the Embroidered Uniform Directorate at its back—saying it was