Douluo Continent: My Days in the Tang Sect.

Chapter 585 The Poisonous Dragon's Sudden Visit

Chapter 585 The Poisonous Dragon's Sudden Visit

"Ju Zi, what's wrong with her?" Xu Tianran asked casually.

The guard carefully considered his words before saying, "Lord Lü is complaining that the Commander is wasting military funds and making excessive expenditures in places outside the army."

Upon hearing this, Xu Tianran subtly gestured to the guard. If Lü Qiao was complaining about Ju Zi, a bill for Ju Zi's purchases would surely follow.

As expected, the guard took out an envelope coated with sealing wax from his pocket.

Xu Tianran's remaining shadow suddenly began to wriggle, and a jet-black arm reached out from it, took the envelope from the guard's hand, and placed it in Xu Tianran's hand.

Xu Tianran opened the envelope in his hand, glanced at it, and found that the whole thing was rambling and verbose, full of examples. He skipped to the end and looked at the Ministry of Revenue's records of military expenditures after the National Protection War.

The Guardian Hand is one of the Sun Moon Empire's trump cards, and the required military expenditure is naturally quite high. However, Xu Tianran does not see these as problems. As long as the Guardian Hand is strong enough, no amount of military expenditure is too much.

Having arrested rare metal merchants and confiscated the property of numerous prominent families across the country, Xu Tianran is now incredibly wealthy. The national treasury's wealth is enough to support him building a Mingde Hall in every first-tier city in the country.

After reviewing the Ministry of Revenue's records, Xu Tianran found nothing unusual about Ju Zi's use of military funds. If he really had to find something unusual, it might be that Ju Zi had doubled the treatment and compensation of the soldiers of the Guardian Hand and updated and maintained all their equipment.

Xu Tianran saw nothing wrong with this; a sharp blade simply needs careful maintenance.

"Has the commander been anywhere recently?" A purple flame appeared in Xu Tianran's hand, burning the letter in his hand to ashes.

The guard immediately replied, "The Commander's daily routine is fixed. Apart from occasionally going to the Audu Chamber of Commerce, he spends the rest of his time carrying out missions with the Fire Phoenix Soul Mentor Group."

"The Aodu Chamber of Commerce," Xu Tianran thought, his eyes darting around. This chamber of commerce, so loyal to him, seemed to be one he had never met with before, nor had he tried to build a relationship with, the current president of the Aodu Chamber of Commerce.

Xu Tianran was naturally very satisfied with the Aodu Chamber of Commerce's willingness to obey his orders and provide a huge amount of wealth for the national treasury's consumption and the royal family's entertainment.

Furthermore, since the Aodu Chamber of Commerce was acquired by Ju Zi, Xu Tianran didn't pay much attention to it. After all, it was a force acquired by his trusted confidant, and he understood Ju Zi's methods.

However, he is now somewhat curious about the Audu Chamber of Commerce, and his brain has just been stimulated, leaving him with a lingering desire for oranges.

"Get ready, I'm going to visit the Aodu Chamber of Commerce." Xu Tianran straightened his clothes at his chest and casually summoned a layer of purple soul power to cleanse himself.

Before the guards could react, they saw half a person emerge from the shadows beneath Xu Tianran's feet.

"Your Majesty, you just stimulated your brain. The imperial physician said that you need to rest for at least two hours after each use of this method. You must take care of your health, Your Majesty!"

The guards quietly observed that the one who emerged was Xu Tianran's guardian Douluo, Shadow Douluo Xue Chen.

However, Xue Chen looked somewhat different from before. There was a long, narrow scar on her left cheek, and her exposed neck was covered with strange, bluish-black crawling patterns.

Just one glance was enough to make the guard feel his stomach churn and he felt nauseous. The lines on Xue Chen's neck were enough to make him feel so uncomfortable.

"Elder Xue, I still have you." Xu Tianran smiled gently.

"With Elder Xue here, what villain would dare to plot against me?"

Xue Chen wanted to say a few more words of advice, but seeing Xu Tianran's firm tone, she had no choice but to retreat into Xu Tianran's shadow.

"Yes, Your Majesty, we will make the arrangements immediately!" the guard said decisively, then leaped backward and disappeared into the shadows.

The emperor's travels were major events, which put a strain on the few remaining secret guards in the palace.

In the past, when they had plenty of manpower, all kinds of matters concerning the emperor's travels could be prepared within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. But now they only have five people left, and each of them is frantically squeezing out their soul power to act quickly.

The Guardian Army quietly deployed half of its forces, most of them disguised, to the road leading from the Sun and Moon Palace to the Aodu Building, secretly separating pedestrians and vendors and keeping an eye on each road.

Xu Tianran leaned back lazily on a floating chair, his knees still covered by a thick black blanket, concealing his entire legs.

The five guards decided not to hide anymore. Since the guards were in charge of the national protection, they simply positioned themselves around Xu Tianran.

The trip didn't take long, and soon the magnificent Aodu Building came into Xu Tianran's view.

Xu Tianran raised his head slightly, carefully observed the Aodu Building, and smiled slightly. "The Aodu Chamber of Commerce is incredibly wealthy. It seems that our intelligence underestimated them."

He could sense the powerful fluctuations of the barrier surrounding the Aodu Building.

"Li Yuanren probably received a lot of help from Soul Masters to build such a powerful protective barrier. It seems that the recent desertedness of the Mingdu underworld is related to the Aodu Chamber of Commerce." Xue Chen's words reached Xu Tianran's ears.

"I wonder what methods the Aodu Chamber of Commerce used to get the Soul Masters who circulate between the underworld and the major families to work for them." Xu Tianran chuckled. He had a certain disdain for the Soul Masters in the civilian world.

A red carpet stretched for over a hundred meters in front of the Aodu Building, and many people stood on both sides of the entrance. The two outermost rows of people were all beautiful young women.

Li Yuanren put on his most formal clothes and followed behind Ju Zi with Wang Yu.

Orange's expression was calm, but there was a deep sense of apprehension in her eyes. She didn't understand why Xu Tianran had suddenly come over.

Ye Nanxiao stood beside Ju Zi with his hands behind his back, glanced at the large-scale scene in the distance, and said softly, "Do you think he would demolish my building if he knew that the Aodu Building was actually as tall as his palace?"

Ju Zi rolled her eyes at Ye Nanxiao. "Can't you be serious for once? Aren't you afraid Xu Tianran is after you?"

Ye Nanxiao touched his hard face, a sharp glint in his eyes. "Whether it is or not, it doesn't matter now. He's here, so he's a guest. If he came with ill intentions, your Protector of the Nation wouldn't have been disguised."

He could tell that the pedestrians and vendors within 50 meters of the Aodu Building could be disguised, such as those middle-aged women carrying baskets, who were 1.8 meters tall and paid without haggling.

Following Ye Nanxiao's gaze, Ju Zi noticed many soldiers of the Guardian Hands upon closer inspection.

"Your disguise skills are really bad, as if you're afraid others won't be able to tell." Orange said with a pout.

Although she is the leader of the Guardian Hand, in reality, only the Fire Phoenix and Terror Claw Soul Master Corps are completely under her command.

The Royal Soul Master Corps is merely a figurehead under the banner of the Guardians of the Nation; in reality, they only obey the Emperor.

Xu Tianran planted some people within Huanglong and Xiejun, ostensibly as soul masters to replenish their losses, but Ju Zi knew in her heart that this was Xu Tianran's way of checking her, so that after protecting the country, he could not completely obey Ju Zi.

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Standing on the other side behind Ju Zi, Li Yuanren and Wang Yu were so nervous that their palms were sweating as they watched the emperor slowly approaching from afar.

Even though Li Yuanren had seen many storms, he felt extremely nervous at this moment.

Having worked for the Audu Chamber of Commerce for so many years, he was familiar with all sorts of methods, including intelligence gathering and assassination, and naturally knew just how terrifying that lazy emperor not far away was.

"Just one glance and I was terrified. Is this the Emperor? That old codger An Litong was like a dumb chick in front of him. My god, why did he suddenly come to Aodu? I didn't dare to shortchange him by a single penny. Luckily, my boss was here, otherwise I would have had to step in. Wait a minute? In the eyes of outsiders, I am now the chairman of Aodu!!"

Li Yuanren muttered to himself. He glanced at the "pedestrians" around him, then looked at his boss standing next to Ju Zi. The latter didn't seem to be showing any intention of greeting the emperor.

"I'm just here to make an appearance! Boss, don't you dare sell me out again!"

Ye Nanxiao felt the burning gaze of his loyal employee and turned to look at Li Yuanren, who was staring at him expectantly.

He seemed to remember something; had he once tricked Fatty Li?

That doesn't make sense. When I was fooling this fat guy, the background I used was an orange. Did this fat guy think that the emperor was his backer when he imagined me?

"It seems like Fatty thinks I'm pretty close to Xu Tianran?" Ye Nanxiao thought to himself. Could Xu Tianran's sudden visit be because of him?

Orange shook her head slightly. "I haven't revealed any information about you. The emperor thought I had subdued the entire Aodu Chamber of Commerce, and he hasn't inquired about the details. I think it's possible that those old fogies in the court who have been eating too much have their eyes on me lately."

Ever since she became the leader of the Guardian Hands and, at Xu Tianran's behest, took Bai Yueqian and Wen Ziyi under her command, these old fogies have had a lot of complaints about her.

Since Xu Tianran and his group dared not impeach him, they could only shift their focus to themselves.

In the eyes of those old fogies, the identity of the Commander of the Protector of the Nation was just that of a military man. As for her former status as the Crown Princess, in their view, the Emperor had been on the throne for a long time and had not restored Ju Zi's status, which clearly meant that he had no intention of making Ju Zi the Empress. This is what emboldened them.

"Oh, I see. It seems there's a little trouble." Ye Nanxiao stroked his chin.

Is the pseudonym "Mu Shiyi" about to be exposed?

While he was thinking, Xu Tianran had already arrived in front of the Aodu Building. When he saw Ju Zi, a fiery glint flashed in his eyes, but it quickly cooled down, as his mental energy had not yet recovered.

"Ju Zi, it's been quite a while since I've seen you, and I miss you terribly." Xu Tianran said with a gentle smile, reaching out to cover Ju Zi's small hand.

A hint of sadness flashed in Orange's eyes.

Ye Nanxiao suddenly coughed a few times, which drew Xu Tianran's attention.

Xu Tianran's attention instantly fell on Ye Nanxiao, and he slowly withdrew his outstretched hand.

"Who is this gentleman?" A hint of displeasure flashed in Xu Tianran's eyes.

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(End of this chapter)