"No money? How could there be no money?" Du Shang seemed to have heard the joke of the century.

As the oldest and largest chamber of commerce in the entire Haotian Continent, could the Haotian Chamber of Commerce really have no money? Does that make sense?

Although nurturing talent consumes a lot of resources, it's a positive cycle; bringing up more powerful individuals would only strengthen the earning capacity of the Haotian Chamber of Commerce. However, a substantial portion of the daily revenue was still accumulated.

It might not be as rich as a nation, but if the Haotian Chamber of Commerce's cash flow ever encountered issues, the savings could help them get through it.

"Elder, you're not joking with me, are you?" Du Shang said.

"Shang'er, I'm not joking. Although it sounds like a joke, our Haotian Commerce Guild is indeed in a difficult situation."

"Elder, what exactly is going on?" Du Shang asked hurriedly.

An issue with a branch of the Haotian Chamber of Commerce in the Land of Chaos might not be serious, but if the entire Haotian Chamber of Commerce is in trouble, that's something no one can accept.

"We still haven't figured out what is going on; starting from yesterday, all the branches in every region of the Haotian Continent have experienced severe malicious competition. Someone either set up a stall or purchased shops at the closest locations to our stores, and began snatching business from us, even hanging up signs."

"What kind of signs?" Du Shang asked nervously.

"They are acquiring various goods for several times the price we offer, selling them for half or even a third of our prices, and even the grades of those goods are far superior to ours."

"This..." Du Shang suddenly felt a chill on his back. Isn't this precisely Zhang Menglong's behavior? Did he actually extend this tactic to other branches of the Haotian Chamber of Commerce across the Haotian Continent? How could it be done in just a few days?

Moreover, the number of chambers of commerce across the Haotian Continent is surely in the tens of thousands, a commercial map built upon countless years of development by the Haotian Chamber of Commerce. Undertaking such a massive strategic layout surely couldn't be completed in just a few days!

And, although the resources required to confront a single chamber of commerce are significant, they are not exaggeratedly so. However, once scaled to the entire Haotian Continent, the daily losses might be calculated by billions of Martial Arts Crystals, and that's just the starting price. How wealthy and foolish must one be to devise such a strategy?

"Those people are all wearing black cloaks and are incredibly powerful. We sent people intending to capture a few for interrogation to find out who is pulling the strings behind the scenes and what their goals are, but those sent out have all disappeared, likely met a grim fate."

Du Shang took a deep breath, "But we shouldn't be out of money. What about our chamber's years of accumulation?"

"If it were just this malicious competition, that would be one thing. Haven't we survived such situations before? Every time, we stood till the end. But this time, even the Haotian Bank got involved."

"What happened with them?"

"The Haotian Bank froze all our funds," the Elder sighed. "You know, as we have developed and expanded over the years, our infrastructure loans have all been through the Haotian Bank. Just this morning, for some reason, they demanded immediate repayment of all principal and interest."

"After the higher-ups failed to negotiate, they imposed penalties, freezing, or transferring to recover all our funds."

"How could this be?" Du Shang was somewhat numb. Even the Haotian Bank had sanctioned them; could Zhang Menglong be behind all of this?

"Today, I've received countless requests for help, but now the headquarters truly cannot assist you," the Elder said. "The most baffling part is that we don't even know who we've offended; let alone how to turn the situation around. If I ever find out who orchestrated this, I'll skin them alive!"

"Elder, don't we have connections in the higher world? Can't those esteemed individuals support us?"

"Even if they wanted to support us, we should at least know who the adversary is, right?" the Elder replied. "We did reach out to one of the esteemed individuals. That esteemed person intended to capture someone to inquire who's had the audacity to target us, but..."

"But what?"

"Due to the suppression of the World Force, even the esteemed individuals from above can only exert power at the God-breaking Peak."

"But even at the God-breaking Peak, those esteemed individuals' Gifts and strength far surpass the God-breaking Peak of our world."

"Under normal circumstances, that's how it should be. But after that esteemed individual ventured out at night, they never returned," the Elder sighed deeply. "The opponent is much more troublesome than we imagined; we've somehow provoked an unmanageable existence this time!"

...

Ending the call, Du Shang's hands began to tremble. The situations at all the branches seemed like a replica, and the entire Haotian Chamber of Commerce had plunged into an unprecedented crisis.

The losses the chamber is suffering this time, if people found out it was all because of him, the consequences would be unimaginable.

The root cause of everything lies in that damned auction. Forget about the auction in over a month's time, without financial support, this auction might not even take off!

"Lord Du Shang, a piece of news just came in; I'm not sure if I should say..."

"Can there be any worse news now?" Du Shang gave a bitter laugh; things were at rock bottom.

"Those two also said they're hosting an auction. The location is set on a plain on the outskirts of the Land of Chaos, and they've even chosen the same date as ours."

"Are they trying to crush us emotionally?" Du Shang smashed the table in front of him with his palm. "They've already battered us enough, do they still plan to wipe us out?"

"This time, the treasures in their auction include the Life Fruit, Soul Core, Primordial Level cultivation techniques, weapons, single-use elixirs, and so on; even the lowest-valued item in their release is priced in the hundreds of thousands of Martial Crystals!"

"Who on earth is he?" Du Shang smiled bitterly.

Even if the Haotian Chamber can hold on until the auction day, just those auction items alone would effortlessly draw everyone's attention. When the time comes, their auction might see barely any attendance.

When that happens, the items will either fail to sell or be scooped up at extremely low starting prices. Forget profits; breaking even would be a miracle.

Given that Haotian Commerce Guild's auction fees are very high, they usually promise sellers a high selling price. If they cannot reach the promised amount, they might even have to compensate!

Such a situation would undoubtedly add insult to injury for their already impoverished state.

"Lord Du Shang, what should we do now? We cannot contend with them!"

"What can we do," Du Shang showed a helpless expression, "apart from humbling ourselves and seeking reconciliation, what other option do we have?"

"But will they accept it?"

"There's no conflict that cannot be resolved, only insufficient sincerity," Du Shang was also a smart man.

"The items in our auction cannot compare to theirs at all; the only possibility is that they are after a particular item among them, something with a price and significance unknown to us."

"Regardless of that item's true value, we can only offer it with both hands; otherwise, the Haotian Chamber of Commerce might be erased from the Haotian Continent in the future!"