Placing Pieces on the Board Early

Howling Wind Market was neither especially large nor especially small. These people saw one another almost every day. Occasionally, they competed for commissions from wealthy clients, or tried to snatch a valuable Soul Beast from one another if they came across one in the canyon that was easy to deal with.

But from what Ling Yi had observed, these people were all of decent character. Their competition was fairly healthy, with no grudges or underhanded tricks.

Now that Ling Yi had brought them together, they were also interested in growing closer to one another.

The market near Howling Wind Canyon was already no smaller than an ordinary town, and even more prosperous. These people were all locals who had put down roots here.

Aside from the Soul King-level lone wolf who ranked first among the ten strongest experts, there were three others who were outsiders-dragons crossing the river.

How did that saying go again?

Where there were people, there were rivers and lakes, and with them came a whole host of problems, such as divisions of power and the choice of which side to stand on.

Over the previous month or so, Ling Yi had guided things, sometimes deliberately and sometimes seemingly by chance, until the Soul Masters making a living in Howling Wind Market began discussing two approaches: "uniting and cooperating" or "fighting their own battles."

Leaving aside the few with hardline personalities and the one or two cautious types who preferred to plan before acting, the three of them-Shu Xin, Yu Liang and Chen Yuanzhi-had made some effort to reach out to one another.

Kang Zhan had previously belonged to the cautious camp.

Judging by the look of things, did he now intend to cooperate with Shu Xin and the other two?

Though he was about to leave,