The Almighty Dominance novel Chapter 631

That night, Qingshui City lit up like a festival nobody had planned.

Every tavern, every pleasure house, and every merchant’s private courtyard rang with laughter and clinking cups. The same men and women who had watched a mercenary get sliced in half that morning now toasted Lord Bai as if he were the greatest fool alive.

Gold from the City Lord’s own treasury weighed down their tables, and they spent it like water.

In the Golden Lotus Restaurant, a fat silk merchant slammed his cup down and roared with laughter. “Triple! The man paid us triple! City Lord Bai Xaichun—still the same drunken idiot he was before Wudang. Remember how he used to stagger in here, gambling away everything and chasing skirts? Nothing’s changed!”

His friends howled. A woman in faded rouge leaned across the table, eyes sparkling with wine and greed. “He slept with half the city for free back then. Now he’s handing out gold like it grows on trees. We should have asked for ten times!”

Word spread faster than spilled wine. By midnight, every corner of the city knew the story: Lord Bai was soft. Lord Bai was stupid. Lord Bai could be milked dry.

In a dimly lit teahouse down the street, a group of younger merchants huddled together, already plotting. “We’ll write new contracts tomorrow,” one whispered. “Old promises, new amounts. He’ll pay. The man has no spine.”

Another grinned. “Or we’ll throw another party in his name and send him the bill. He’ll cover it. Watch.”

They raised their cups again, drunk on victory and the sweet taste of easy money.

The night passed in a haze of celebration and scheming.

Dawn broke cold and unforgiving.

By mid-morning, the inspection teams moved like locusts. Zhuge Liang had assembled them quietly—sharp-eyed officials, city guards, and a handful of clerks who carried ledgers thick enough to crush a man. They hit every business that had taken gold the day before.

They started with the Golden Lotus Restaurant.

The head inspector stepped into the kitchen, nose wrinkling. “Ceiling grease older than my grandmother. Rat droppings in the corner. This toilet?” He pointed at the back room with open disgust. “Hazardous. One spark and the whole block burns. Shut it down.”

The fat merchant’s face went white. “But—but we just—”

“Misconduct,” the inspector said flatly. “Building condemned until full repairs and fines are paid. All treasury seized pending review.”

Across the city it was the same story. Warehouses with leaking roofs. Shops with blocked fire exits. Kitchens that could make a health inspector faint.

Every violation was real—merchants had cut corners for years—but the timing made it feel like divine punishment wearing official robes.

Zhuge Liang made sure it hurt more than the rules required. He had opened the complaint boxes. Old servants who had been cheated, rival traders who had been undercut, even a few bitter ex-lovers stepped forward with signed statements.

The strategist listened to every one, then turned them into official cases.

One merchant who dealt in rare herbs stood frozen outside his stockhouse as inspectors slammed heavy padlocks and a bright red official seal across the doors.

“Your neighbor filed a formal complaint,” the head inspector read from the scroll, voice flat and merciless. “He claims you poisoned his well last spring to ruin his business. The evidence checks out. All assets are now frozen. This shop is closed until further notice.”

The merchant’s face drained of color. His knees buckled and he dropped hard into the dusty street, robes dragging through the dirt.

“Please!” he begged, hands clasped together like a man drowning. “Don’t close my business! Don’t take everything! I’ll pay whatever you want—just let me off the hook this once!”

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