Chapter 367: Sock Puppets

"Wait a moment," An Jing answered with such a full and even tone that it stunned the fee collector from the Bejeweled Traders Guild outside.

From that, he was able to tell that An Jing was a martialist, so he toned down his arrogance. However, he didn't show any fear and still spoke loudly. "Then hurry up! Stop dallying!"

The voice got softer and softer, a sign that the collector was moving to another household to collect their fee first.

"What do you plan to do?" Bai Qinghan asked.

An Jing was in a good mood after finally reuniting with his mother, so he generously said, "It's just an uncouth thug from a rural area. I will not split hairs with them. I'll ask my mom what their deal is first."

The two of them then stepped out of the tiny building.

"Mom, what's going on here?" An Jing asked. Shen Mubai had already stepped outside and looked in the direction of the gate. "Is this what it's like across the entire city?"

"It's always been like this," she complained, finally having someone to vent to. "When I first came to this city, they were nowhere as blatant. But since the beast tide started, Bejeweled's collectors started going door to door to demand payment."

Shen Mubai continued to brief him on the situation in the city. To the north of Riverside was the Brokeblade Mountain Range, an area filled with dense spirit energy that promoted the growth of spirit herbs and formation of spirit ores, making it quite the treasure trove in the northern frontier. However, it was also populated by many great feys, the six-fanged white boar that An Jing saw not too long ago being one of them. The strongest great fey was a four-winged lunar snake at the Crown Fey Realm, the fey equivalent of the Treasures Realm. The snake was called New Moon Shadow and was the ruler of Palespirit Cave.

The feys and humans had a mutual understanding with each other. The feys living in Brokeblade Mountain would not take the initiative to harm any humans, while human herbalists and hunters were forbidden from entering the autonomous zone of the feys deep in the mountains. Trespassing into it could result in death without redress.

While the spirit items around the outer reaches of the mountain range was more than enough for humans in the cities of Riverside, Riveryond and Refuge to make a good profit, human greed was insatiable. There were always those who were bold enough to try their luck by sneaking into the deeper parts of the mountain to seek out more valuable treasures.

"Our clan also had a small team stationed at Brokeblade Mountain back then. But all they did was roam the outer reaches of the mountain range to collect spirit items and information, establishing a local presence."

Shen Mubai wasn't just a housewife whose job was to raise the kids. She was a practitioner of the martial path and had also learned the clan's trade. During the years of the Hanhai Fiend Calamity when An Qianshan went missing, she was the one who ran the An clan's businesses, making her quite familiar with the deeper workings of it. "While going deeper into the mountains could well result in death, even powerful crown feys have to hold back on account of Grand Chen's might. Instead of actually killing a whole group of people, they would try to chase them away instead.

"However, these daredevils were typically able to reap quite a lot of benefits before they were detected and chased out. Eventually, they amassed enough wealth and influence to form a capable faction called the Mountainguard Alliance. In a way, their deathly gambles paid off. But when they grew to a certain size, they began to monopolize the resources around Brokeblade Mountain and prevented any other party from extracting those resources, proclaiming themselves to be the owners of Brokeblade Mountain."

"I see..." An Jing looked at the gate in deep thought, thinking about why his mother would give him that history lesson. "Are you saying that the Mountainguard Alliance is backed by Bejeweled?"

"That's right." Shen Mubai shook her head in disapproval and resignation. "Keeping the whole pie for yourself is something that'll make people hate you. Bejeweled is the most hated of them all. If you don't join the Mountainguard Alliance, they'll apply pressure on you from all avenues they can find. Over the years, they've forced away lots of smaller traders guilds as they grew their monopoly over Brokeblade Mountain's resources.

"They started acting even more blatantly after the snow calamity hit, taking control of the beast diversionary squads and claiming villages and herb farms that are situated at terrestrial-vein nodes. While the beast tide is a problem for us, it's a boon to them, because the feys in Brokeblade Mountain are all migrating away. While the feys took whatever spirit items they could bring with them, there's still quite a lot left behind. As long as Bejeweled can dominate Riverside, the natural treasures that have been piling up in Brokeblade Mountain for tens of thousands of years will ultimately belong to them!"

Shen Mubai sounded more envious than angry. This was a massive opportunity for anyone in the position to exploit it, after all. As long as they played their cards right, Bejeweled could grow from a regional player into a massive faction not to be trifled with. Occupying the treasure trove that was Brokeblade Mountain for an extended period of time would be enough for any local bully to grow into a powerful hegemon.

"So that's how it happened!" An Jing came to understand why the Bejeweled Traders Guild wanted to drive the residents of the nearby towns away. It wasn't just for their estates, but the terrestrial-vein nodes! The city itself was constructed on the main node of the region, while the towns and villages nearby were built at branch nodes. If they took over all of them, they could control the terrestrial veins in Grand Chen's stead after the divine armaments withdrew, making them the de facto rulers. Maintaining full control over the local terrestrial veins and access to Brokeblade Mountain during the divine armaments' absence and defending Riverside from the invading northern barbarians was considered an act of service to the empire, so they would be heavily rewarded for it. There's no way they would give up on this chance to become a big player.

Still, there were some things that didn't make sense to An Jing. "Why are they demanding payment from the locals then? Aren't they already profiting enough from the spirit items of Brokeblade Mountain?"

"Sigh... Son, you're too focused on martial cultivation. You don't understand merchants at all." Shen Mubai smiled and looked toward the city center. In a mocking tone, she said, "While it looks like Bejeweled is making massive profits, they're nothing but sock puppets. I didn't get it either at first, at least not until the divine armaments left. No doubt, the decision to withdraw them was made in the divine capital. Bejeweled has to have a source in the divine capital that knew about this move years before it actually happened. This contact told them to start taking over the place. After all that is done, how much of the profit do you think Bejeweled has to pay to this source of theirs?"

"Hmmm... Half of it?"

"Seventy percent at least! I wouldn't be surprised if it's ninety percent either!" Shen Mubai said with an indignant humph. "Bejeweled's the one doing all the dirty work and suffering a hit to their reputation, yet they have to hand over most of their profits. The bosses at the top get the lion's share of what's left over, so what do you think their subordinates will do? They barely get a share of the spoils and still have to work despite the snow calamity! Do you think they'll miss out on a chance to line their pockets?"

She rolled her eyes in disdain as if she had witnessed it all herself.

An Jing thought about it even more and found it rather familiar. With an odd expression, he said, "Come to think of it, back at our home in Gufeng County..."

Shen Mubai sighed. "That's right. Things worked smoothly because we knew people in high places. There's no way to conduct business otherwise unless you're foolishly brave. It's all over, however. The city manager who backed us all those years ago was most likely killed by the northern barbarians at Greenjade Pass. He's probably fertilizer by now.

"So, we end up with the people at the bottom rung of Bejeweled trying to squeeze money out from the locals however they can by charging for water, firewood and food. I brought quite a bit of dry rations myself, so I have enough, and as a martialist, I don't need much firewood. A few days ago, I told them I won't buy anything, but they tried to force a sale anyway. I had no other choice, so I just spent some money to resolve it."