Thirteen masked men surrounded three chariots and seven carts of packaged trade goods. Each wore brown leather armors and pants and wielded long scimitars. But unlike the usual bandit, greed didn't shine in their eyes, and while some suppressed the merchants and killed their servants, the rest calmly unloaded the carts.
Although the merchants didn't have an ounce of cultivation base, each of their chariots carried a white wing-shaped crest—emblem of the World Association. With only 50 years of history, to maintain at least one branch in every state capital of the world, the World Association couldn't rely on cultivators alone. At least on the business side of its operations, mortal merchants well versed in trading were of critical importance, and the World Association treated them very well.
"Y...you are stark raving mad. In this time and age, who still has the nerve to assault a caravan of the World Association? Was life so sweet that you got tired of living?!" Pressed under a bandit's boot, a merchant barked in a mixture of confusion and rage.
The World Association's caravans didn't invest much in bodyguards because safety-wise, the white-wing crest alone could deter deities. One has to remember that the World Association represents the joint interests of the Holy Lands. Besides their trading division, they control the bounty system and also host peace treaties. More importantly, large numbers of God-level experts drive or protect the Association's work. An attack on a random caravan would trigger the investigation of deities. There was no shortage of sects and clans destroyed for threatening the Association's workforce.
Throughout the First Range, who could bear such consequences? To say nothing of the merchants, Harun who observed this scene couldn't understand the motive, especially so since those brigands...were all celestial-level experts.
"Why would celestials turn bandits, in the Dark Stone Country, and risk upsetting the World Association? Never mind that…" Harun wondered. And before he opened his mouth, Jiyan snapped her fingers, forcing their driver to stop. The two exchanged a knowing glance and vanished from the chariot. No matter how reclusive this place was, an attack on the World Association would lead to global consequences and bring rampant Gods upon the First Range. Harun was still too far from being able to take those on with confidence. Even low-level Ascending Gods posed serious threats, able to trigger endless disasters. Now, the only way out was to stop those celestials and take control of the situation.
Using the Mystery of Life, Harun modified both Jiyan's and his appearance, turning them into an ordinary looking pair of auburn-haired individuals. Of the 13 celestials, the strongest was just a sixth-level Celestial Kin, no match for the pair. Harun's right hand jerked forth in a casual palm strike. One hand became six that smashed the celestial brigands right in the face—their heads burst into blood and gore. Nearby, Jiyan chopped at six celestials with her bare hand, beheading them in one swipe.
Harun landed at the leader's right, backhanded him across the cheek, and sent him hurtling. Seizing the confused celestial's neck, Jiyan released her Devil Essence, overwhelmed his Sea of Consciousness, and took control of his psyche. The leader's eyes glazed over. The merchants gawked and silence dropped on the scene.
At first, the merchants felt no relief. One moment they stood at the mercy of ruthless raiders, the next, their assailants led dead or broken. The change was too sudden for them to process it well, and they didn't know how to respond. Ignoring them, Harun glanced toward Jiyan.
"So?" Although she couldn't affect those above her cultivation level, Jiyan's ability to take control of the weak-willed or mind-broken was more convenient than Harun's Karmic Attachment. As for the Attachment Venom, that was an ultimate skill he wouldn't waste on any Tom, Dick or Harry. Letting go of the leader's neck, Jiyan spun to face Harun.
"The Immolation Blade Sect. Apparently, they have a deal with a senior member of the Dark Stone City's World Association. Mehram will take the blame for the attack, and they will evenly split the carriage's goods which…" Here Jiyan paused, and a smile mixing amusement and expectations took hold, "...seem to have a lot to do with you."
Instantly, Harun's brows arched up, and he turned toward the carts' bags, sweeping them with his Divine Sense. An obvious problem of mortal traders was that they couldn't use cosmic pouches. Thus, without protection, they couldn't conceal the contents of their caravans. At that time, the leading merchant regained his wits, and crawled toward Harun.
"Benefactor, thank you for your assistance! As long as you can help us expose those criminals, we're willing to cooperate with you!" He proclaimed, and prostrated himself toward Harun. Awoken from their stupor, his fellow merchants glanced at their servants' corpses, then did the same. More often than not, merchants had a deep care for their subordinates. Be it in a medieval or industrialized society, a merchant's success relied on more than business deals. How well they used and managed their subordinates, freeman or not, was critical to their success.
As merchants of a World Association branch, they belonged to the elite of their field, and invested considerable resources in grooming and ensuring the loyalty of their servants. For that alone, seeing those retainers bathing in a pool of blood was, to them, no different from having a 1,000 years old vase destroyed by a vindictive rival. But above that, by investing so much in securing loyalty, they subconsciously created strong bonds between the servants and themselves. They loved those people—for the wrong reasons, yes—but they still loved them, and couldn't stomach their slaughter. The need for revenge thus took hold.
Unlike most cultivators, across the 160 years he spent in the Noxious Flame World, Harun never disconnected himself from mortals, and so fully understood what went on in those merchants' minds.
"Don't bow, I'm not your lord or master. If helping you helps me, helping you I shall. If not, I will just move on. First, explain to me why Sin-Glazed Lilies fill your carts, and from there, I will make my choice," Harun said, making the merchants' eyes widen in disbelief. On the surface, they brought water and unique flower wine ingredients to the Dark Stone Capital. But all those resources were decoy to hide the Sin-Glazed Lilies.
Though those mortal merchants had little experience of the cultivation world, they knew that even celestials couldn't easily identify Sin-Glazed Lilies. After all, on the surface, they weren't any different from normal flowers. If not for that insurance, why would they trade in such dangerous goods. But since Harun already spotted their true packages, they didn't bother concealing it.
"As Your Excellency must know, following the destruction of the Noxious Flame World by the Saint-Empress, the Plague Overlord's inheritance was salvaged by the World Association. But many of his researches are encrypted in a code known only to himself. It was only three years ago that we cracked the code of how to breed Sin-Glazed Flowers."
The leading merchant began, and it took Harun all his self-control to not let his eyes widen in disbelief. Jiyan didn't have that much discipline, and alarmed, directly asked:
"The Noxious Flame World was...destroyed?"