A while after leaving, Cherry sensed the intense aetheric activity coming from the bookstore.
She immediately thought of that mysterious man that had passed her by.
"Looks like that person was more foe than friend," murmured Cherry. "The Church of the Dome will still struggle and not go down without a fight, but it looks like Mr. Lin expected this and is waiting to get them all in one fell swoop."
With Mr. Lin's strength, it's tantamount to suicide for those that come!
Bella could faintly sense the aetheric fluctuations as well and nodded. "Personnel from Secret Rite Tower are involved, and they have already been lurking near the bookstore."
The two of them exchange a glance, marveling at how well Mr. Lin had foreseen how things would play out.
Cherry put this matter aside rather quickly as they returned to the Ash Chamber of Commerce's site that belonged to the Chapman Family.
The headquarters of the Ash Chamber of Commerce was the Temple of Druids that lay in the forests beyond Norzin. The offices of the three branches were situated at the fringes of Norzin in the shape of a triangle with the Central District as its center, which facilitated the movement of goods.
As an organization founded by merchants, its purpose was naturally to seek more benefits for its members but also included the collection of information, dispute resolution, and other functions, which was popular among scattered merchant groups.
After all, Rolle Resource Development, a behemoth that was formerly military, basically only accepted the elite and had nothing to do with the ordinary folk. In order to ensure their own interests, small businessmen naturally had to unite.
The Ash Chamber of Commerce was controlled by the druids and was reputed for their logistical distribution and auctions, providing normal goods to ordinary folk as well as distributing and circulating extraordinary goods to the transcendent community.
Thus, in actuality, the druid priest only controlled the upper echelons while the middle and lower echelons were kept afloat by ordinary merchants and workers who were oblivious to the transcendent community. The channels were also separate, and the trade of sorcery tools and other extraordinary materials were strictly controlled, with a special secrecy in place to ensure that nothing went wrong.
The three branches were respectively controlled by the three druid families. The Chapmans of the Eagle Totem, the Waltons of the Bear Totem, and the Sapirs of the Wolf Totem. The headquarters was managed by retired elders of the three clans and they were responsible for important decisions.
The druids of Azir viewed bloodline as extremely important, thus, a hybrid like Cherry wasn't viewed favorably.
Especially so given her half-druid and half-dark elf blood whereby her dark skin severely invalidated the natural favorable vibe that druids normally had.
Anyone would know that dark elves were the epitome of promiscuity and cruelty.
Even though she was never brutal to her enemies and only waited for them to switch to her side, she was still given the nickname, 'witch.'
But Cherry no longer cared about all these sorts of whispers.
All she needed was one person's approval.
"Bella, call David, Herat, and the others here. This is top secret, make sure nobody else knows."
Back in her respective branch, Cherry went straight to her office and prepared to gather her own subordinates as well as some 'advisors' that had 'submitted' to her to plan the interception of Congreve's exchange point with the Church of the Dome.
As this was a secret operation, only the most trusted members were involved this time.
Cherry had specially placed the mole who had previously gotten the human skin book by Congreve's side so he would be out of the picture this time.
While nothing had seemed out of the ordinary or flawed, Mr. Lin had said that there was a problem, so it was a very real one.
The exact exchange location had been determined long before.
Now, after having the spy probe back and forth a few times, they had encountered a problem that couldn't be solved.
"You are telling me there's no way we can break through the territorial boundary setup at that location?" Cherry frowned. "Congreve has really put in a great effort to actually use the family's secret druid technique..."
Just like how wild beasts would mark out their territory, a territorial boundary was a sort of high-level domain technique. Generally, such techniques are used when preparing to develop a new area, and when set up, could defend and prevent others from coveting it.
This type of boundary was a chore to set up, but it could withstand Destructive-rank attacks and only someone with the family clan's bloodline could traverse through freely.
David, who was in charge of their military strength, nodded helplessly. "Although we know the strength of the barrier and tried breaking through it, this boundary seems to have been established temporarily and isn't as strong as it usually is.
"However, breaking through the barrier would cause quite a disturbance, and our movements would immediately be exposed."
Cherry frowned and sent her subordinates out of the office first.
Bella lowered her voice in worry. "Congreve did this to get you to go in personally and probably has an ambush lying in wait to kill you... If the human skin book was indeed a setup, then this would be a trap!"
With such a huge territorial boundary in place there, anyone could tell that it was a conspiracy.
Cherry shook her head. "Congreve's deranged. He's simply staking it all, burning all his retreat paths in desperation. He must have seen that he was already standing on the edge of a cliff this time round.
"This is such blatant and illegal usage of the Chapman Family's secret technique, and anyone would be able to see that. Once the Church of the Dome is exposed, our family clan will be implicated. Those old fogies will definitely sever all ties and cast him out, making him bear the responsibility alone. At that time, he won't even have his last refuge.
"But if the Church of the Dome comes out on top, he will be able to use the Chapman Family's reputation and ally with the church and build connections. With everything in his grasp, he would have won."
Cherry sneered as she went on, "He's betting that I wouldn't dare go in along and that our investigations would hit a rut at this place... However, he's not the only one with a gambler's nature as a merchant. Every single one of us in Chapman are all gamblers through and through!"
Congreve was nominally Cherry's young brother, but he was already forty-seven.
He didn't have a drop of elven blood on him, neither had he achieved a transcendent level that would extend his lifespan. As a human of forty-seven, he was a tall, broad-nosed middle-aged man with an air of considerable authority.
With a frozen gaze, Congreve asked, "Is the deal all set up?"
"Everything has been arranged at the usual spot. We are still in the process of arranging with Blood Feast. The Church of the Dome has ordered a large number of materials this time round, about three times the usual," answered the subordinate.
"They are really loaded indeed." Congreve gave a slight chuckle. "The others have to be prepared as well. By the way, I heard Blood Feast has a new member?"
"Yes," The subordinate answered. "A black magician with a dog."
"Dog? Is it a summon?"
Congreve lost interest and changed the subject. "Is Cherry still searching for clues regarding the transaction?"
"She's already found it," came the subordinate's reply.
"I'll bury her on the spot if she dares come this time!" uttered Congreve with a hint of malevolence in his eyes.