Chapter 1433: The Ding family’s Shock Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios There were a few Class 4 Creation Masters in the Lu family, and the Ding family could not afford to offend them. However, when Ding Jian thought about how Song Dingzhen and the rest were burnt to ashes and how even an emperor-class expert like him was unable to determine the source of the fire, this meant that the Ding family also could not afford to cross the people from the young man’s side. Ding Jian stood up and did his best to explain the situation to Ding Chengshuo. “Today, Ding Kai and I did our rounds to investigate the fire at the Deep Freeze Chamber of Commerce’s tree castle. We found out that someone had started the fire.” Ding Chengshuo’s frown furrowed even deeper, and he became even more annoyed. I was disturbed because of a trivial matter like the Deep Freeze Chamber of Commerce’s tree castle being set on fire? Just as Ding Chengshuo was about to explode with rage, Ding Cheng continued. “The Deep Freeze Chamber of Commerce was set on fire by a young man wearing black. His servant wields power that even Ding Kai and I couldn’t detect. My guess is that the servant is at least pinnacle emperor-class. They may have reached thearch-class.” Ding Chengshuo’s breath was caught in his throat. He knew full well what such a powerful expert indicated. Even if it was just a pinnacle emperor-class expert, it meant that the young man who set fire to the Deep Freeze Chamber of Commerce’s tree castle would have a Class 4 or Class 5 Creation Master supporting him. If the young man’s servant was truly an emperor-class expert, it meant that he definitely had a pinnacle Class 4 Creation Master supporting him. According to what Ding Chao had told him on the way here, the young man in black had black hair and eyes. This meant that he was from the Great Lush Federation. As such, he had to be a direct descendant of one of the top elite families from the Great Lush Federation. Did he attack the Deep Freeze Chamber of Commerce because he had a bone to pick with the Lu family? Ding Chengshuo decided to ask Song Dingzhen about the details of the situation. He was also going to ask her if she knew who the young man dressed in black was. Ding Chengshuo’s skill as a Class 4 Creation Master was not high. Although he could enjoy being treated as a Class 4 Creation Master and lorded over a city, he could barely master most of a Class 4 Creation Master’s skills. Hence, the Ding family badly wanted to find a more skilled Creation Master family to support them. This would allow Ding Chengshuo to learn from them but also enable the Ding family’s power to climb. Such events were very common in Sacred Forest City. A pinnacle Class 4 Creation Master family often supported numerous less skilled Class 4 Creation Master families. This was the reason why the aristocrats in Sacred Forest City were all closely linked. Anything that happened to one of them would affect the rest as well. Even if the Ding family obtained the support of pinnacle Class 4 Creation Master families in Sacred Forest City, they were situated too far away to obtain any practical benefits. It would not be feasible to ask the elderly pinnacle Class 4 Creation Masters to travel from Sacred Forest City all the way to Oak City. But at the same time, Ding Chengshuo could not abandon the Oak City side of things to head to Sacred Forest City as it would be difficult for the Ding family to function normally without their key figure. Moreover, the Ding family would not need to swear their loyalty if they gained the support from a secret family from the Great Lush Federation like they would have to do with a pinnacle Class 4 Creation Master family from Sacred Forest City. Before Ding Chengshuo gave the order to fetch Song Dingzhen, Ding Jian said, “The young man dressed in black killed every person from the Deep Freeze Chamber of Commerce, including Song Dingzhen. His retainer even summoned more than 100 Diamond/Fantasy insect-type feys.” Ding Jian gulped, and Ding Chengshuo’s chest contracted. More than 100 Diamond/Fantasy insect-species feys!? That is insane! Besides the question of whether a person could comprehend more than 100 Willpower Runes, any Creation Master below Class 4 would die of exhaustion trying to nurture so many Diamond/Fantasy insect-species feys. Like the Lu family, the young man was also from the Great Lush Federation. Yet, he had done such a thing without hesitation. Evidently, he could not care less about the Lu family. Ding Chengshuo’s heart started to beat quicker. But before he decided to form a link with the young man, there were still some questions that he needed to ask. For example, he wanted to know why the young man and the Deep Freeze Chamber of Commerce clashed. “Ding Jian, after saying all that, do you know the reason behind the incident? We control Oak City and need to act properly in order to satisfy all the factions in Oak City.” Ding Chengshuo hoped that the young man dressed in black was not completely at fault because this would mean that Ding Chengshuo would have to scramble to come up with a reason to make the Deep Freeze Chamber of Commerce into a scapegoat before he could rope in the young man. Ding Jian said angrily, “The Deep Freeze Chamber of Commerce has been attracting merchant groups with over-the-top benefits. But the true story is that they’ve been secretly killing off merchant groups. We have also discussed how the number of merchant groups in Oak City has decreased by 1/3. The Deep Freeze Chamber of Commerce probably killed all of these merchant groups.” Ding Chengshuo was livid and slammed his hand down on the table. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎 At that moment, he not only wanted to push the blame onto the Deep Freeze Chamber of Commerce, but he utterly loathed them as well. A city’s development and prosperity depended on not only the number and skill of Creation Masters but also the number of merchant groups in the city. If the number of merchant groups in the city decreased by 1/3, it meant that the opportunities for Oak City to prosper fell by 1/3 as well. Ding Chengshuo could not permit such actions that negatively influenced Oak City in such a serious manner. At first, Ding Chengshuo had struggled to come up with a reason to get the young man dressed in black on his good side. But now, an idea popped into his head. He stood up and said, “This matter is wicked in nature. I will personally report the Deep Freeze Chamber of Commerce’s actions in Oak City to the Divine Wood Federation’s imperial court so they can conduct an investigation. They will find out if similar incidents occurred at the other branches of the Deep Freeze Chamber of Commerce. “If no other such incidents took place, the Lu family will have to compensate Oak City for what Song Dingzhen did. If there have been other instances, the imperial court will decide if they should continue to allow the Lu family to open another chamber of commerce in the Divine Wood Federation.” At the same moment that Ding Chengshuo made the decision to look into Lin Yuan’s whereabouts so he could go and meet with Lin Yuan personally, Lin Yuan had already arrived at the entrance of the Prosperous Chamber of Commerce’s tree castle. Li Wan had only just returned to the Prosperous Chamber of Commerce. Her mind was still filled with images of the way that Lin Yuan had ordered for the Deep Freeze Chamber of Commerce to be destroyed. No one benefited more from the Deep Freeze Chamber of Commerce’s destruction than Li Wan.