The Longmen Escort Agency originated from the Longmen Inn, having spent its early years making a living by transporting goods for major families.
Weapons, mineral deposits, fabrics, jade, and more were all within their scope.
This was not the first time the Longmen Escort Agency had cooperated with Cangjian Villa, as the ties between the two families ran deep.
Unlike Cangjian Villa, which still needed to manage worldly business, the overall combat strength of the Longmen Escort Agency was clearly much higher on average than that of Cangjian Villa.
The distance between the two families was not far, spanning a mere hundred miles or so.
For Shen Han's current strength, this posed no difficulty whatsoever.
Even late at night, the large city where the Longmen Escort Agency was located still had many shops welcoming guests.
Having spent some idle cash to purchase a wooden mask, Shen Han officially headed toward the estate where the Longmen Escort Agency was located.
...
Chen Yu, the head of the Longmen Escort Agency, had messy hair. A burly man, he was having a meal in the dining hall.
A table of men and women, young and old, held chopsticks while the red glow of oil lamps reflected on everyone's faces, creating a depressing atmosphere.
Until a certain moment.
Finally, someone could no longer hold back: "Muyun Prefecture is going back on its word—are we just supposed to swallow this?!"
As this person spoke, a stout-looking middle-aged man beside him slammed down his chopsticks and angrily rebuked, "Exactly! The escort silver agreed upon with us earlier keeps getting slashed again and again!"
"If this goes on, how are we at the Longmen Escort Agency supposed to survive?"
"That's right! Not only has the promised silver been cut in half, but they also want to pay it off in installments over five years!"
"Do they really take the Longmen Escort Agency for pushovers?"
"If it were my temper, we should grab our sharp blades, assemble the agency's top fighters, and go straight to their sect to demand it!"
"I'd like to see if their thick skins can block the sharp blades in our hands!"
In the span of just a few breaths, the dining hall became extremely noisy and boisterous.
Chen Yu ate his meal in silence, completely ignoring the righteous indignation of the family and friends around him.
After everyone chimed in back and forth for a full half-an-hour, they all suddenly fell silent.
One by one, their gazes landed on Chen Yu's face.
Chen Yu put down his bowl and chopsticks. "Why aren't you all talking anymore?"
Everyone lowered their heads, feeling both helpless and distressed.
Chen Yu said calmly, "I will handle the matter of Muyun Prefecture later. Of course, I will also visit the other sects that have recently cut ties with our Longmen Escort Agency to negotiate."
"I know this will make everyone feel unconvinced, and I know it makes you feel wronged."
"But there is no help for it. The world is about to descend into chaos. If we want to seek a pocket of peace in these turbulent times and protect the stability of our city, we must swallow our pride when necessary."
Everyone let out a long sigh.
Chen Yu's second younger brother said helplessly, "The main thing is that a few months ago, the escort mission for Cangjian Villa failed, and the reputation our Longmen Escort Agency lost in that incident was simply too great."
Cangjian Villa and the Longmen Escort Agency enjoyed a very good relationship, counting as sister sects.
Yet such precious items belonging to Cangjian Villa had been lost by the escort agency. Although the outcome was something no one wanted to see, a loss was a loss.
The loss of so many precious weapons directly plunged Cangjian Villa into a dilemma.
The prestige of the Longmen Escort Agency also plummeted sharply at that moment.
Many sects had already chosen to sever ties with the Longmen Escort Agency; after all, as an escort agency that could not even sustain its own business, it was bound to cause worry.
Let alone the fact that no one knew who the mastermind behind the scenes really was this time.
Nor did anyone know what kind of overwhelming advantage this mastermind sought to exert over the Longmen Escort Agency.
Therefore, many sects chose to protect themselves. A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall; from a matter of principle, they had done nothing wrong.
At the dawn of such turbulent times, the pressure on every sect to survive was immense.
When everyone present brought up the failed escort mission of Cangjian Villa, it felt like a fishbone stuck in their throats.
Everyone's mood shifted from initial high-spirited defiance to helplessness and pain.
Seeing the expressions on his siblings' faces, Chen Yu said, "Alright, that is enough said for today."
He stood up and issued a few further commands, the main one being that the younger members of the Longmen Escort Agency must step up their cultivation time and under no circumstances show any slackness.
What else could the others in the Longmen Escort Agency say at this point? Everyone could only accept the order with utter helplessness.
It is hard for people to live in this world—truly too hard to live!
When Chen Yu left the place alone and walked through the estate, the painful expression he should have shown surfaced completely in his eyes.
"Hard, truly too hard."
Chen Yu sighed heavily, stepping down onto the snowy ground step by step, the crunching sound grating on his nerves.
During this period, he knew deeply why things had reached this point today—it was primarily because the weapons of Cangjian Villa had been lost.
If the weapons of Cangjian Villa could be found, the suffering of the Longmen Escort Agency would surely be greatly alleviated.
Yet wanting to truly recover such weapons was impossible.
Thinking of a certain faction, a cold sweat broke out across his back, accompanied by an even greater sense of powerlessness.
"Sigh! Since when did this world become like this?"
Chen Yu pushed open the door to his study, preparing to review many of the details once more.
Yet upon pushing the door open, he froze on the threshold.
For greeting his eyes was a stranger wearing a bamboo hat,
dressed in a gray long gown, and wearing a mask, sitting quietly by the desk in his study.
In just that fraction of a second,
Chen Yu was like a startled cat, his fur instantly standing on end.
In his eyes, he was completely unable to sense just how powerful this person before him truly was.
Even though the opponent carried no weapons whatsoever, and even though the opponent merely sat quietly there,
such a terrifying sense of tranquility, within an estate heavily guarded by soldiers, was truly terrifying.
This feeling was no less startling than waking up in the middle of the night to find a corpse lying beside the bed.
After a full three breaths had passed,
Chen Yu, enduring the cold sweat on his forehead, forced a calm demeanor as he entered the study, closing the door behind him with one hand while earnestly asking, "I wonder what urgent matter brings Your Excellency to the agency today, and how I might be of assistance?"
The visitor was none other than Shen Han.
Shen Han said, "My purpose in coming here is very simple: it is precisely because of the weapons robbed from Cangjian Villa a few days ago."
"I need to know what kind of people robbed the villa's blades, killing the people of the villa and harming the people of your agency as well."
Facing Shen Han's straightforwardness,
Chen Yu was completely unable to determine what faction Shen Han belonged to.
The other party seemed to have come for Cangjian Villa, or perhaps for his Longmen Escort Agency—was it really that simple? Perhaps not.
The world was so chaotic that people often deliberately concealed their tracks.
Under Shen Han's gesture,
Chen Yu trembling supported himself against the desk and sat down. "Replying to Senior's words, I truly do not know who robbed this batch of weapons."
Without fully figuring out the identity of the person before him, speaking rashly would likely invite a fatal disaster.
Shen Han shook his head. "You don't know, or you don't dare to say?"
As Chen Yu sat stunned,
Shen Han said gently, "Rest assured, if I wanted to kill your people, you certainly wouldn't survive."
Chen Yu instantly felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
He was, after all, an Innate Great Perfection expert who had opened three meridians; such strength placed anywhere nearby was absolute powerhouse level.
If someone else had uttered such terrifying words, he probably would have felt some defiance, but spoken with such calm composure by the mysterious person before him, it was truly extraordinary.
After a pause,
Chen Yu finally spoke: "It is most likely the Twelve-Link Docks."