Zhao Hai wasn’t in the mood to think about these matters as his attention was focused on the Carrion Swamp. Laura had told him that Buffy was heading towards the Carrion Swamp, and Zhao Hai had previously tasked Drunk to explore there. Unfortunately, they weren’t that deep in the swamp. So long as Buffy entered the area, they would definitely be found.

This time, as Green had said, their goal was to catch Buffy off guard. People on the continent knew that the Carrion Swamp wasn’t an easy place to explore, and even a Rank Nine expert would face dangers, Even if they survived and came out, they would be severely wounded. If Buffy came out from the Carrion Swamp injured, then Zhao Hai definitely wouldn’t let him return to the Purcell clan.

Although Zhao Hai already knew that Evan wasn’t the one who moved against them, the truth remained that the Purcell clan did attack them. They could let Evan go, but the enmity between them and the Purcell clan wouldn’t be easily forgotten.

Moreover, Buffy had injured Green and even went to the Black Wastes to search for them. His aim was to eventually kill them, which then led to them retreating back into the Space. Such a big enmity, how could Zhao Hai not repay it?

Zhao Hai wasn’t worried about what would happen to Drunk and his team. Although Drunk was a zombie that looked like a human, he could still be easily be found out by a Rank Nine expert’s divine sense. Even so, if Buffy found them, he wouldn’t be able to lift his hands so easily. After all, they were in the Carrion Swamp, an extraordinary place. If he did move, then it wouldn’t be any different than courting death. Don’t forget, probably more than two Rank Nine experts had died in the Carrion Swamp,

Since Zhao Hai wasn’t sure when Buffy would be arriving in the Carrion Swamp, he didn’t let the slaves leave the Space. Right now, all they can do was wait.

Zhao Hai wasn’t worried, especially now that the land inside had increased greatly. Even if he obtained more than a hundred people, there wouldn’t be a problem. Now, all he had to do was wait.

Fortunately, Zhao Hai was a patient person. They weren’t aware that Buffy had already left Casa City and immediately came and searched Fort Iron Mountain to once again look for them1. He’s stayed for some time at Fort Iron Mountain. After careful observations, he still found no one. Thus, he decided to enter the Carrion Swamp.

While Zhao Hai waited patiently, the situation in Casa City was different as it became very lively recently. The Second and Third Elders moved in all directions. They vied for the support of the large clans, and naturally, they even went to look for Laura.

However, this time, it wasn’t just a single clan that was looking for Laura. Instead, all of the clans joined together to look for her.They wanted to force her to admit defeat.

It was very clear to these large clans that if they wanted to make their plans successful, Laura would have to be a part of it. She was the biggest hindrance to making the First Elder step down. If they couldn’t convince her, then Laura would continuously provide food, thus making their plan impossible to execute.

So regardless of how they wanted to deal with the First Elder, they should first clear the hurdle that was Laura. That was why these clans joined up to look for her.

They thought that Laura would be difficult to persuade, but they hadn’t thought that Laura would so easily agree. Of course it was relatively easy. Laura, however, had her own conditions, and that was to have a share in their success.

Laura wanted to get a share of the sales in the Purcell Duchy. Now, no matter who would sit at the top, she wouldn’t be suppressed. Furthermore, she would also like to increase her share of the sales of daily necessities in the Purcell Duchy.

Such conditions were already expected by these big firms, but they were still surprised. They then thought they were the same people crossing the same river, and thought that Laura’s decision to help them against the Purcell clan was so that she could reap the benefits2. Otherwise, it would be in vain if she stayed with the Purcell clan. Now, with this failure of the First Elder, impending changes were at hand. Naturally, one needed to prepare a way out for oneself. Since she had helped the Purcell clan in the competition against the firms before, this was the condition she placed on them now.

These merchants didn’t know that their actions were already known by Kaiser. Kaiser had managed the business of the Purcell clan for many years, which wasn’t a joking matter. He had a very large influence within the Purcell clan. This time around however, he suffered a major loss. Still, it wouldn’t be easy to move him, even if the Second and the Third Elders make their move.

The actions of these large clans were reported to Kaiser at the earliest possible time. Kaiser saw the reports and immediately knew he was in big trouble. If he couldn’t handle the large clans, then his position would really be taken away.

Kaiser immediately went to seek out these large clans and promised a lot of conditions in order to get their support. The problem was that during these past years, Kaiser had been too dominant inside the Purcell Duchy. He hadn’t had much interactions with these large firms and he even suppressed them occasionally. Thus, these big firms were already offended. On the surface, they complied to his conditions, but deep inside they were snorting and laughing loudly. This made Kaiser somewhat depressed.

He really wanted to immediately extinguish these people. However, he only had Rank Eight experts and no Rank Nines. Moreover, these past few years, he had been too busy handling the affairs of the clan. This resulted in a stagnation for his own cultivation and he had only reached Early Rank Eight. These large firms also had their own Rank Eight experts, so even if he wanted to begin exterminating them, he feared that in the end he would just end up failing.

Since he was a greater elder of the clan, he could ask those other enshrined deities to move. These enshrined deities would at least be Rank Eight experts. There were a total of over thirty Rank Eight enshrined experts in the clan. A force of over thirty Rank Eight experts was an extremely powerful force.

In the end, he couldn’t do it this time as he had just suffered a huge blow to his reputation, not to mention the Second and the Third Elders were ready to attack him. If he wanted to ask those enshrined deities, he would first have to convene the Elders Court and let them decide if they would allow it or not. However, if he really did decide to convene the Elders Court, he would only be able to gain the time needed to eat a turtle. If he couldn’t succeed in convincing the elders of the Elders Court, then that would pave the way for the Second and the Third Elder to oust him by using the clan rules3.

Having said that, even if he could ask those enshrined deities, he still wouldn’t dare to do so. Behind those large firms was the support of large clans. These large clans didn’t have poor relationships with the Purcell clan. If these large clans united to move against the Purcell clan, then he wouldn’t just be stepping down as the First Elder. Instead, most of the lives within the Purcell clan wouldn’t be saved. He didn’t dare do such thing.

The First Elder paid attention to the movements of the Second and Third Elder and had actually ignored Evan instinctively. In fact, he really didn’t mind Evan. Since the time Evan became the Clan Lord, he had been completely pressed and had become a complete figurehead. In his opinion, Evan was stupid, so there wasn’t a cause for concern.

However, he had forgotten that humans grow. Evan was still young, but already a Rank Eight warrior. It was impossible to be stupid after reaching such a height. Though in the past he didn’t have any experience in political struggles, after some time of being suppressed by this elder, he had grown. Adding his forbearance of having to painfully watch from the sidelines, he understood a lot. The present Evan, compared to the Clan Lord Evan of the past years, was completely different.

But however different Evan was, nobody had seen it. Everyone inside the Purcell clan had underestimated Evan. They didn’t know that during these past few years, Evan had been secretly in contact with those centrist elders. Presently, his power matched equally with those of the Second and Third Elders.

These centrist elders couldn’t get used to the First Elder being so rampant. They also didn’t want to help the two other greater elders seize power. Therefore, they became centrist in the struggles. However, being a centrist would naturally push themselves on the opposite side of the three greater elders, which meant they didn’t get anything good and were usually on the unfair end of deals. Evan, however, had observed them for a long time. He understood their situation and started to secretly meet with them to slowly increase his power.

Several people were preparing for the storm that will soon come to Casa City. This time however, Laura had gone out of the city and went towards Stony Mountain.

Laura’s trip this time to Stony Mountains didn’t have much of a reaction from the large forces of Casa City. They thought that Laura would once again talk to Zhao Hai about the increase in food prices, so naturally, they didn’t stop her.

The previous time she went to Stony Mountain was three days ago. Laura had come to Stony Mountain that time to tell Zhao Hai of her plans.

* * * * *

Zhao Hai really hadn’t thought much of Laura’s plan and also wasn’t opposed to it. Although the plan would make the commoners of Casa City suffer, they would only experience it for a short time. As long as Evan regained his position, the storm would fly over, which would make everything better.

Moreover, it could be considered as giving back what they owed Evan. Helping Evan occupy the leading position could be considered as paying him back. Plus, this could only end up as good for them

Zhao Hai knew that this time, Laura helping Evan would be a favor. When Evan regains the leading position, he would then support Laura back. This in turn will allow Laura to sell more, which was good for him.

If Laura’s sales increased, his income would also increase too. Then Zhao Hai would have more gold available for use.

Actually, Zhao Hai wasn’t short on money. Zhao Hai had been the only one selling bamboo rice to the Purcell Duchy during this period of time. His income was around ten thousand gold coins. It could be said that he was the entire Purcell Duchy’s food supplier. What this meant was that he had the monopoly of the business. This would obviously give him a lot of profit.

However, if these ten thousand gold coins were to be dropped into the Black Waste, he feared that not a sound could be heard from it. The Black Waste was too big and the foundations were too thin. There were many things that needed to be improved.

Zhao Hai found himself with more money. The problem was that the more money you thought you needed to spend, the more ways you needed to come up with to make money.

Notes:

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1 This is probably the most work conscious crazed murderer I’ve ever seen...↩

2 以己渡人 - yǐ jǐ dù rén. I had no real good way to figure out a good translation for this. However, the basic idiom means to “judge others by oneself”. I used the words in the literal translation to come up with a sense of that, just a wordier version. Basically, these merchants assume Laura is acting for the same reason they are, money and power.↩

3 Remember, there has to be a good reason for the greater elders to use the emergency bell.