The Great Luo Dynasty's territory was vast, its mountains and rivers stretching for hundreds of millions of li. Water and land trade routes crisscrossed throughout it, with merchants large and small and trading caravans constantly coming and going. Its commercial prosperity surpassed all four directions.
Yet among the countless trading firms, only five supreme merchant companies truly stood at the pinnacle and held sway over more than half of the realm's commercial lifelines.
These five foremost merchant companies were Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, Mystic Heaven Tower, Hundred Rivers Trading Company, Star Spirit Pavilion, and Azure Cloud Treasure Pavilion.
The reason these five companies had risen above the hundreds of millions of others was that each had an overwhelmingly powerful force behind it—one ordinary people could scarcely contend with.
Behind Heavenly Treasure Pavilion stood the imperial family of the Great Luo Dynasty. Behind Mystic Heaven Tower stood Heaven-Dominating Sect, one of the Four Great Martial Sacred Lands. Behind Hundred Rivers Trading Company stood Mountain-Shaking Sect, likewise one of the Four Great Martial Sacred Lands. Star Spirit Pavilion was backed by Galaxy Sword Sect, while Azure Cloud Treasure Pavilion was backed by Blazing Sun Sect.
The five merchant companies belonged respectively to the imperial family and the Four Great Martial Sacred Lands. Their forces interlocked like the teeth of dogs, and while there was competition and friction between them, they also reached tacit agreements to maintain the order of commerce.
Their branch towers were spread throughout every city of the Great Luo Dynasty, like five colossal pillars holding up the entire dynasty's commercial system.
Today, at Mystic Heaven Tower in Myriad Peace Prefecture, a handsome middle-aged man clad in white released the pressure of a Grandmaster. The tower's steward personally came forward and respectfully invited him into an elegant room on the highest