"Oh? Senior Feng Mingzhu? Thank you for all your hard work."
Li Chen was very satisfied with Lan Boyuan's performance of late.
Ever since Li Chen had settled into the Black Market, Lan Boyuan had eagerly busied himself on his behalf, helping him gain a foothold. From recommending clients and spreading his reputation to arranging his admission into the association, both men understood what he had done.
This time, however, Li Chen himself had asked for an introduction to a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
He had learned by chance that the true power behind the scenes here was a senior cultivator named Feng Mingzhu.
Originally a rogue cultivator, the man had attained Foundation Establishment and presided over the area for nearly two hundred years. The entire Feng Household had prospered almost entirely under his guidance, gradually gaining the authority of the city lord.
Almost every aristocratic clan that truly controlled its locality had a Foundation Establishment cultivator like him presiding over it. Without one, it would have been impossible to hold the city lord's seat securely.
But time spared no one. As the years passed, another reshuffling of power would soon arrive.
The Feng Household had held the position of city lord for several generations. Even after sparing no effort to cultivate the next generation of Foundation Establishment cultivators, they had achieved little. Along the way, they seemed to have suffered the devastating loss of a newly advanced Foundation Establishment cultivator who had died unexpectedly while traveling abroad.
This had left several other aristocratic clans watching like hungry tigers, intent on taking their place.
The locality's main sources of income were the city's commercial taxes and the teleportation magic array at East Pass Port, which handled travel to and from the Linhai Region.
The latter, in particular, was seen by countless