Chapter 211: Wisteria Cache
Qing Xin’s words held deep meaning, causing Cang Xu’s eyes to contract slightly.
At the other end of the communication device, Zi Di was silent for a bit, then asked, “Are you saying father had connections to necromancers?”
Qing Xin smiled slightly, gazing at Cang Xu as she replied to Zi Di, “You have assumed control over your father’s cache, don’t tell me you need me to prove this?”
Zi Di: ???
She couldn’t help but fall into another silence as she rapidly pondered.
“Cache? What cache?”
“Why did older sister Qing Xin link Cang Xu to a cache after she saw Cang Xu reveal himself as a necromancer?”
“What sort of cache?”
“Based on what older sister Qing Xin is getting at, it seems its not merely riches, did my father secretly cultivate some power?”
“Furthermore, this power involves necromancers?”
“Qing Xin knows the inside story; therefore, she wasn’t shocked when she saw Cang Xu reveal himself, on the contrary, she considered it proper and matter of course and ended up following Cang Xu onto the Iron Lump.”
“This misunderstanding existing instead made older sister Qing Xin trust me more.”
Zi Di hesitated.
Should she resolve this misunderstanding?
The present situation seemed to be more beneficial for her.
But as she thought on it, from the bottom of her heart, Zi Di didn’t want to deceive Qing Xin, but was trending towards confessing the truth.
Thus, she replied, “Cache? Older sister Qing Xin, I don’t know what you are talking about.”
Qing Xin pursed her brows, “You don’t know about the Wisteria Cache?”
“That can’t be.”
“Then how did you obtain this…necromancer’s help?”
Zi Di answered, “It is a complicated matter, I can’t explain it right now.”
“This magician hasn’t told you the pertinent information?” Qing Xin looked at Cang Xu.
Cang Xu shook his head, “As a matter of fact, I don’t know what the Wisteria Cache is.”
Qing Xin nevertheless said, “No, perhaps you just don’t know.”
“Although I don’t know the whole inside story, I do know there really is a Wisteria Cache.”
“The president, your father Zi Di, has kept it a clandestine matter.”
“When the Wisteria Merchant Alliance sank into desperate straits, the president established this cache to equip one to revitalize the merchant alliance in the future.”
Zi Di replied, “Older sister Qing Xin, please continue.”
Qing Xin seemed to recall some memories, “Zi Di, your father was an outstanding businessman, his insight was singular, and his thinking was ahead of his time.”
“Almost by himself, he built the Wisteria Merchant Alliance. At its height, the Wisteria Merchant Alliance was second only to the six great merchant alliances.”
“Unfortunately, the Wisteria Merchant Alliance had emerged from the lowest rung and had a massive innate failing. Military forces!”
“Early on, your father sensed this systemic problem and began to plan how he would cultivate his merchant alliance’s strength.”
“The merchant alliance carried out your father’s determination and immediately acted.”
“You know, after my aptitude and loyalty were proven, I was cultivated by your father and became a magician step by step. I was one of those that benefited from this project.”
“It’s a true pity that this project didn’t succeed.”
“There were many that were cultivated, but only a few gained anything. I am one of them.”
“There were many reasons. Chief among them was that we all came from the lowest levels of society, our bloodlines are thin, and we lacked both extraordinary talent and potential.”
“But the biggest reason was that imperial nobles were secretly destroying it!”
“The Wisteria Merchant Alliance’s sudden rise was beyond the imperial nobles’ foresight.”
“But don’t underestimate those upper class people!”
“Even before the Wisteria Merchant Alliance truly became large, many nobles had been following it secretly already.”
“When the merchant alliance wanted to train its own cultivators, although these nobles didn’t openly act, their suppression in the dark was constant.”
“Of those being cultivated, some lacked potential and didn’t grow. Another part were crowded out, suppressed, and even assassinated. The last part went through tribulations and by a fluke still remained, I am one of those people.”
Zi Di understood this clearly, “As it turns out, father had thought of a method.”
Qing Xin nodded, and continued, “This project failed, but it also caused the merchant alliance higherups to finally sense the nobles’ malice.”
“The president didn’t give up, and while he was actively contacting imperial higherups to try to gain protection, he never gave up cultivating his own force.”
“Since the best selected from the merchant alliance were hindered severely and it took too long, the president threw his gaze to foreign races.”
This world didn’t just have humans, it also had elves, dragons, dwarfs, barbarians, goblins, and more.
“As the Wisteria Merchant Alliance grew bigger, through its transaction channels, it contacted many foreign races.”
“However, the president wasn’t able to draw anything notable from these outsider races.”
“On the one hand, the Sheng Ming Empire is the strongest power, and these foreign races had to be very cautious when standing off against imperial higherups if they were to help the merchant alliance.”
“On the other hand, the imperial nobles also seized the opportunity to plant many of their cultivators into the merchant alliance.”
“The final result that was brought about was this. Although the merchant alliance had a huge cultivator force, these cultivators had questionable loyalty, many of them harbored unfathomable motives, and they all came from all sorts of powers.”
“These cultivators superficially became the merchant alliance’s external aid, but in practice, they were the tentacles of imperial lords and foreign races permeating into the merchant alliance.”
Qing Xin deeply sighed, “The merchant alliance’s situation was growing worse, thus, the president had to take a risk out of desperation and begin to contact some unusual cultivators.”
“That included necromancers.”
“Zi Di, you should know that necromancers are always out of sorts. They are enemies of the gods, wanted by basically every power, and everyone despises them.”
“With the help of the merchant alliance’s channels, the president simply ran a few trade fairs and easily obtained a few necromancers’ acknowledgement.”
“Necromancers greatly lack changes to trade and communicate with each other.”
“At the same time, they have a hostile relationship with almost all powers, allowing both the merchant alliance and them to be more reassured when they use each other.”
“So that’s how it is.” Zi Di was silent for a bit, then asked, “Working with necromancers is rather dangerous, weren’t there any other ideas in the merchant alliance?”
Qing Xin faintly smiled, “Little Zi Di, you are still too young.”
“First of all, although everyone despises necromancers, do you really think others don’t work with them on the sly?”
“As a matter of fact, some imperial higherups have even actively cultivated necromancers.”
“Second, you underestimate your father. He founded the Wisteria Merchant Alliance, and it was he who expanded it. Although he was an ordinary person, his merchant alliance’s influence was always immense.”
“Finally, the necromancer cooperation affair occurred at the tail end of the merchant alliance. The situation then was already very nasty, noble powers were constantly meddling with, overtly recruiting, kidnapping, and threatening merchant alliance elders. The merchant alliance leadership all explicitly recognized that the imperial higherups wouldn’t let them off, therefore, we were forced into a tight spot and had to use this strategy.”
“It was during this time that I learned of the Wisteria Cache’s existence.”
“Actually, your father had prepared this plan early on.”
“It was because of the Wisteria Cache that we had hope. Even if the merchant alliance collapsed in the future, we still had capital to restart it.”
“But I don’t know what specifically is in the Wisteria Cache.”
“In fact, only a few of the elders really knew about the cooperation with necromancers.”
“After all, the fewer that knew about these matters, the better.”
“But I hypothesis that since it was established in the event the merchant alliance was destroyed and rebuilt; the cache must have a way to contact necromancers.”
“I believe that the Wisteria Merchant Alliance’s secret partnership with necromancers gained the friendship of many necromancers that derived benefits from it.”
“This piece of transcendent power can be utilized, of course, one must be prudent!”
Qing Xin’s explained it all in detail.
On the other end of the alchemy communication device, Zi Di went silent.
Qing Xin warmly said, “Little Zi Di, please don’t blame our incompetence.”
“We really tried our hardest.”
“But the empire is too powerful, much too powerful, a kind of power that throws people into despair.”
“Your father really was outstanding, despite not being a cultivator.”
“That he persevered in leading the Wisteria Merchant Alliance to this step exceeded the expectations of many, me included.”
“The enemy was just too powerful.”
Qing Xin’s words showed her esteem of Zi Di’s father.
Cang Xu muttered silently to himself.
From this conversation, he had heard about all kinds of battles that revolved around the Wisteria Merchant Alliance these last few years, there were plenty of bright edges and plenty of sinister and furtive dark sword shadows.
In this challenging contest that lasted at least ten years, countless people exhausted their wise actions and choices.
The Deep Sea Monster Fish.
In the cockpit, Zi Di sat motionless for a moment.
Many feelings emerged in her thoughts.
She recalled her father, now that she heard from another close to him how down on its luck the merchant alliance was, she felt how difficult it had been for her father.
However, her father had never placed this pressure on her.
Once upon a time, her father wanted her to marry.
But after she refused, her father never asked that of her ever again.
“If I agreed to the marriage connection then, would it have saved the merchant alliance, would my father have died?” This question lingered in her heart, chilling her body and mind.
At that moment, Qing Xin spoke again, “Zi Di, regardless of whether you have the cache or not, be careful.”
“This time, although you haven’t been exposed, your companion has been revealed to be a necromancer.”
“You can’t stop.”
“Because the cache hasn’t been found yet.”
“This was the reason why I hid my identity.”
“We cannot remain here; we have to leave as soon as possible.”
“I worry that pursuers will appear soon.”