Supreme Emperor of Mist

"Some people are disturbing our business." said a mysterious individual after a few of his merchant's carriage was either inspected, destroyed, or taken by force. And because some of the destruction was done by the magistrate officials, they won't be compensated.

"Did I not tell you to bring them into the country in secret? Look at what happens now. You should choose better people to help with the transportation. Getting those smugglers and lousy merchants will undoubtedly ruin your usual trading route." another individual said.

The individual looked proud with a pair of treasured gauntlets done on his two fists. It was colored in both crimson and gold, which is his favorite.

"Please give our side another week. We'll try our best to bring the merchandise into the province." the mysterious individual continued.

"I don't mind, but make sure that you don't take too long. Do you know that some of our clients were officials from the royal court? Try not hindering their entertainment, or there will be nowhere for you to be in this Country of Shu." the individual with the treasured gauntlets said.

"I will... I will... The delivery will be done."

"Anyway... I'm not that cold-blooded and selfish individual. These two were some of the few elites guards I have. They will give you some help in transporting the drugs to this Xiancheng Province." the individual clapped his hands, and two experts entered the room.

"Young Master." the two greet this individual with the treasured gauntlets. It was evident that his position in public is quite significant.

"Give the merchant a hand in transporting the Joyous Unification Salve back to the capital. You may take whatever action you see fit. But always make sure to be clean in everything you do." the individual added before he left the room.

"This two young sirs... Please." the mysterious individual said and took the two experts away with respect.

...

...

"What is the meaning of this?" it seems that someone was throwing a tantrum in Secretary Qian's office in the middle of the afternoon. From that someone's appearance, he does not look like a magistrate official at all.

"Meaning? Are you asking me to question the Marquis why he's assigning people to tighten the security of his border and ports? Do you want me to drag everyone else down because something happened at your side?" Secretary Qian retorted.

With such a reply from his side, it was evident that the secretary has no control over the landowner's decision in how he's ruling his land. If the magistrate is hell-bent on preventing illegal smuggling, there was nothing the smugglers can do.

All they could is looking for people to blame and searching for the culprit that caught the Marquis's attention.

Of course, most of those affected were the twelve smuggling groups that did not cooperate with Qin Lan's alter persona. As for the ten groups that slowly distance themselves from smuggling after the border between Wuyue County and Shuiyue County tightened, they were tipped.

In the end, it was just a battle of schemes and profit. Since everyone is equal, the only difference was to choose a winning side to stand.

And the ten smuggling groups are evidently hugged the correct honey-thigh of Qin Lan's another persona.

"Secretary Qian, you have to solve this. I'm sure you don't want any rumors to get to your employer. It wouldn't be good for you or your reputation if those shady profits of yours were exposed to the Marquis, correct?" the smuggler's head said.

"Are you threatening me?" his words made Secretary Qian's facial expression turned gloomy. From how it seems, the two had some history of doing something together before Qin Lan came.

"I don't dare, but I'm not sure if my boys are as tight-lipped as I do. Just a help, and I distance myself from this. Can you help me?" the smuggler's head asked.

"Humph!" Secretary Qian harumphed and tossed a wooden token to the smuggler's head.

"Solve your matter immediately and destroy the token after you pass the border. Don't you dare to speak a word about it. If anything happened, that is your own responsibility. Now get the hell out from my office." Secretary Qian said.

"Hahaha! Thank you, secretary." the smuggler's head took the wooden token and left in a hurry. It seems that he got what he wants from the visit today.

Minutes later, an individual was coming out from the hidden room behind Secretary Qian's document table.

"Milord," Secretary Qian cupped his fists together and greeted Qin Lan. It seems that someone has bitten the lure Qin Lan cast.

"Good job, secretary. Keep up the good work." Qin Lan praised him vaguely and left the office without speaking too much.

...

Because the token was a single-use item, the smuggler's head went big with his plan and transported as much merchandise he could. Almost all workable members from his Smuggling Group were a part of this operation.

And to make it safer, he took a different route and not the one with the highest security.

"Boss, everything is ready. Shall we make our way to travel past the border now?" his subordinate asked. It seems that their work was done.

"Great job. Are you sure that there are no misplaced goods on the surface?" the leader asked. 

"Boss, I've been working with you for more than three years now... How can there be a mistake that I missed? If there is, it must be because you're adding them in without getting through me." the subordinate chuckled.

His face was filled with confidence when the talk was about how discreet he kept the contraband. Unless the carriage was lifted and taken apart, it wouldn't be easy for the border guards to spot the contraband inside the carriage.

"Then... Let's go! This trip is a highly profitable one. Everyone should pay attention until we reach our destination! Once we're done, let's go on a brothel trip for three days and night. My treat!" the smuggler's head said.

Such a sentence was essential to arouse his men's spirit as there's nothing better than getting treated to be accompanied by courtesans right after risking their lives.

The convoy moved carefully. The trip from the seaside port to the outskirt of the City of Ye was their first challenge. But this was the part with the less risk on their route. After getting out from the City of Ye's territory, their attention moves to their surrounding.

In the wild, their concern was not the magistrate's official but Yao Beast and bandits. Merchant Convoys were still targeted often by Yao Beast that loves to group together in a pack. Bandits were also a concern as they're worst than the Yao Beast.

But it seems that their trip was going smoothly without a hindrance. The convoy managed to get to the border's outpost without getting held in a risky situation. 

"Hold it right there. What is your purpose for leaving the border? Do you have any documents to justify your journey?" the captain of the border control stopped the convoy. Since it was quite a big group with over 200 men, the gate was closed to prevent them from escaping.

"Captain, this is the token from Secretary Qian and the Marquis. We're ordered to deliver these products to the Xiancheng Province in a hurry. Please take a look." the Smuggler's Head shows the wooden token to the person in charge.

"Hmm... This is indeed the Marquis's token." the captain inspected the badge in his hand and nodded.

"What is inside the carriage? Is there anything else except the merchandise you're allowed to sell?" the captain asked.

"Captain, this merchant is working on behalf of the Marquis's order, so how dare I put something else inside? There's no point to do so, don't you think?" the smuggler's head replied.

"Even if the Marquis allowed you to do so, I think you might not dare to do it." the captain returned the wooden token and waved to the guards on the upper wall.

"OPEN THE GATE! OFFICIAL CONVOY PASSING THROUGH!" he said.

"Be careful, from what we heard, there are a few groups of bandits that are getting very active across the border. Make sure you don't get caught by them." the captain added before making way to the convoy to drive past the border's gate.

"Thank you, captain. This merchant will make sure he remembered your kind words carefully." the smuggler's head left. It seems that he went through the three obstacles smoothly.

"Boss... Shall we?" the subordinate asked.

"No... Let's get further from the border first. It won't be too late for us to fire the signal after we reach the exchanging point. After we emptied the carriages, we'll be going to the Wuyue County to restock anyway..." the leader continued.

But that was the start of his nightmare.

The moment they got further away from the border, a group of people dressed in black came and attacked them. Each of them was a specialist as the smugglers were murdered one after another without the opportunity to retaliate.

All it took was a slash to their throat before they were placed by the side of the carriage.

The killers then rummage through the carriage in search of something.

"Officer, they're indeed smuggling the drugs called as Joyous Unification Salve." one of the killers reported to their leader.

"Great job. Keep everything in the Qiankun Pouch in our hand and make a mess. It's time to follow up with what our Lord asked us to do." the leader said.

A flare was then fired at where the smugglers were killed. But when another group of merchants was here with two elite Bone Experts, they were shocked to be greeted with a gore sight filled with blood.

"How can this be?" the merchant wanted to cry.

"Search the carriage, quickly! Make sure that the merchandise is still in there! Just a little would be fine!" the merchant panicked as he gets his men to rummage the carriage that was filled with blood.

"Arrest everyone!" then, another group of people arrived at the crime scene.