Early one morning, a luxurious carriage drawn by two Green-Tailed Beasts approached the Universal Trade Association's Lishan Branch Headquarters at a leisurely pace. Alongside it marched a squad of well-equipped Warrior Guards clad in Black Armor. Every one of them had a fierce, hardened bearing; one glance was enough to tell they were no ordinary men, but death-defying elites tempered by a hundred battles!
Before long, the beast-drawn carriage stopped at the entrance to the Branch Headquarters, and a portly, middle-aged man in brocade robes stepped down with the help of a pretty maid.
That portly, middle-aged man was none other than Lin Yu.
A full three years had now passed since he received Grand Elder Lianshan's secret orders to expand his trading operations and channel resources and profits to the Sect Order.
During those three years, the Two Sects of the Great Heavenly Realms had indeed done as Lianshan said, secretly cultivating several Aristocratic Clans among the grassroots and conducting extensive trade with the Universal Trade Association's Lishan Branch Headquarters under Lin Yu's control.
The trade involved many rare and valuable treasured materials useful to cultivators at late earth rank and even those in the heaven tier realm, allowing Lin Yu to rise swiftly to prosperity and become a Merchant Association financier renowned far and wide.
To outsiders, he had a gift for making money, raking in gold by the bushel every day and amassing astonishing wealth for the Universal Trade Association. His own standing within the Merchant Association had risen just as swiftly, like a boat lifted by the rising tide.
But only he knew what truly lay behind it all.
"Has the Treasure Tower opened?"
After entering, Lin Yu looked at the Merchant Association stewards who had come to greet him and asked the question.
The stewards