Chapter 49: Five Seas Realm?
“Coming well!”
Li Weiyi was filled with heroic spirit, shouting loudly, then executed Qing Xu Cicada Escape Step, taking the lead to intercept the thick-bearded Seven Springs expert who had already developed fear toward him.
One sword cleaved forth like parting the sea, the yellow glow extending over a zhang long, forcing him back.
Not pursuing, Li Weiyi turned and charged toward the man with a mole on his forehead, arriving at his back with the sword tip just before the opponent could punch open the building gate.
The man with a mole on his forehead was forced into a desperate move and could only crouch low and roll to the right.
Li Weiyi was waiting precisely for this opportunity; once the opponent clumsily dodged, a blind spot would appear in their vision. All battle techniques, mind, and courage would collapse uncontrollably.
“Swish! Swish! Swish…”
Li Weiyi attacked like a storm of wind and rain, each sword faster than the last, the sword shadows pouring down like a waterfall.
By the time the thick-bearded Seven Springs expert rushed up to rescue, both arms of the man with a mole on his forehead had been severed, his shoulders dripping with blood, turning him into a human stick.
He let out a hoarse scream from his mouth, unable to accept such a miserable state of himself.
The thick-bearded Seven Springs expert was utterly terrified, all his battle intent gone, turning to flee.
But the human-stick-like man with a mole on his forehead had even stronger survival instinct and had already taken a step ahead, lunging his legs toward the gate.
“Crossed that gate and still think you can leave?”
Li Weiyi pursued.
If a Seven Springs martial arts cultivator had resilient battle will, the courage to fight to the death, a calm and rational mind, and an indomitable spirit, then in a direct confrontation, it would not be easy for Li Weiyi to deal with any one of them.
The two together could even pose a life-and-death threat to Li Weiyi.
But once their spirit collapsed and they started fleeing, it became much easier for Li Weiyi to clean them up.
…
“What on earth is happening in that courtyard? They’re fighting so fiercely, it sounds like people are dying—it’s quite frightening.”
In the distance, in the brothel diagonally opposite, many beautifully dressed young women stood by the railing, some curious, some frightened, some excited, discussing and chatting with the wealthy guests beside them.
“Such thick black mist—could it be departed spirits and fiend demons?”
“Don’t worry, this place definitely won’t be affected. It’s those Chang Lin Gang people who tried to loot the newcomers, but it seems they kicked an iron plate!” A martial arts master who vaguely knew the inside story laughed.
“These newcomers, who exactly are they to dare challenge the Chang Lin Gang to an arena fight? Don’t they know that in this urban area of ours, the Chang Lin Gang calls the shots?”
“Look, city defense camp people have arrived.”
“They’re so late—definitely in cahoots with the Chang Lin Gang.”
…
“Boom!”
The courtyard wall was smashed open by the thick-bearded Seven Springs expert into a hole as tall as a man, his body flying out over a zhang, landing supine on the street as if punched out.
Gravel from the courtyard wall scattered across the long street.
Screams came from the direction of the brothel.
“Splash!”
Almost in the same instant, Li Weiyi leaped out of the courtyard wall, his flying knee striking the chest, followed by a punch that mangled his face, cracking the stone slabs on the street.
“Stop!”
“Rebellion—daring to kill on the street in Jiu Li City.”
…
A team of over twenty city defense guards on sturdy horses, all armored and holding spears, shouted loudly from afar to stop him.
“Boom rumble!”
The sound of iron hooves approached from far to near, quickly surrounding Li Weiyi.
They wore white armor, their mounts having swallowed exotic beast blood and mutated, nearly twice as strong as ordinary horses.
Li Weiyi slowly stood up, his fists covered in blood, his gaze sweeping over the city defense guards like an impregnable wall, undaunted by their murderous aura, cupping his hands in salute: “Cang Li Tribe commoner Xie Jin, greets you all, officers. These villains broke into a private residence with ill intentions; I have subdued them.”
The captain of this city defense team was named Chen Chuan, a Seven Springs deformed humanoid race practitioner, around sixty years old, with a tiger head and a three-meter-tall body, extremely robust and powerful in appearance.
“No breathing or heartbeat left—you call this subdued?” Chen Chuan snorted coldly.
With his cultivation, even from several zhang away, he could hear the subtle state inside the body lying on the ground.
Li Weiyi said: “I might have gone a bit heavy-handed! But I had no choice; the villains were too strong and too vicious—I had to fight desperately.”
Chen Chuan recognized the middle-aged man lying on the ground and knew his strength, so he was very aware that this kid before him had unfathomable cultivation. He hesitated for a moment, unsure whether to offend such a formidable figure for the Chang Lin Gang.
After all, the Chang Lin Gang only sent him a thousand silver coins each month.
“You say you’re a Cang Li Tribe commoner—do you have a commoner’s register?” Chen Chuan asked.
“Yes!”
Li Weiyi pulled out the commoner’s register that Zhao Zhizhuo had helped him obtain in Yaoguan City from his bosom.
Over eighty percent of the people in Li Zhou were born in the Nine Great Tribes, collectively called commoners.
The commoner’s register could be obtained in every city in Li Zhou; with Young Tribe Leader Cang Li’s word, many assessments were skipped, just going through the motions.
Of course, things that were easy to obtain were also easy to fake.
In recent years, with the decline of the Nine Great Tribes in Jiu Li, plus constant warfare in the various prefectures outside, many external forces flooded into Li Zhou, either to escape the war or to seize benefits and territory.
Many crooked evil path practitioners used faked commoner’s registers to rampage in Li Zhou.
Chen Chuan, born in the Chi Li Tribe, naturally saw that Li Weiyi’s commoner’s register was not simple; it even had a village fief marked with an accurate geographical location.
Nothing else could be confirmed, but at least it proved this kid’s commoner’s register was not faked.
Because faking such a commoner’s register was easy to expose, and the price paid after exposure was very high.
With a clatter, Chen Chuan jumped down from his sturdy horse also clad in white metal armor plates, tossing the commoner’s register back to Li Weiyi, then stepping over the gravel through the large hole in the courtyard wall into the courtyard.
Seeing the scene inside clearly, Chen Chuan sucked in a cold breath, his gaze toward Li Weiyi immediately gaining several degrees of wariness.
At the end of the street, two Chang Lin Gang members responsible for keeping watch fled in panic, disappearing into the darkness.
…
The mansion of the Chang Lin Gang Leader covered nearly a hundred mu, with high walls and large courtyards, the gate three zhang wide.
Bone lamps hung high at the gate, with four deformed humanoid race martial arts masters standing on each side, all armed with weapons.
Yang Qingxi wore a veil, sitting in the main building in the position originally belonging to Gang Leader “Xu Changlin,” flipping through the accounts for the past three months. As a pure immortal body, her hair and skin had an otherworldly luster; even her five snow-white jade fingers were breathtakingly beautiful.
The pair of wonderful eyes not covered by the veil were spirited and focused.
Standing beside her were Xu Changlin, Deputy Gang Leader Tang Yan, and Flag Master Shi Chuan Yu—ruthless figures feared by all in this city area—but at this moment, all restrained their gazes, not daring any presumptuous behavior.
This was because they knew that this young lady before them not only possessed the beauty of a pure immortal body but also Five Seas Realm cultivation and the iron-blooded wrist to kill with a smile.
Yang Qingxi finished flipping through and closed the account book.
Her slender fingers picked up a bamboo brush from the brush holder to toy with; her beautiful eyes calmly swept over the three: “Your Chang Lin Gang is getting better and better at making money; this season’s income tops last year’s half-year. Should I praise you, or reward you?”
Deputy Gang Leader Tang Yan smiled obsequiously: “Making money for the young lady is our duty… Ah…”
“Swish—”
The brush flew from Yang Qingxi’s fingers like a streak of light, grazing Tang Yan’s cheek and striking a fake mountain six or seven zhang away.
The fake mountain could not withstand the surging magic power contained in the brush and collapsed with a boom.
The gravel from the collapse splashed up layers of water flowers in the pond.
One could imagine what would happen if that strike landed on a person.
A blood mark appeared on Tang Yan’s cheek; his legs shook like chaff in fright. In that instant, he almost felt certain he was dead, his head about to explode, utterly unable to dodge.
Even at the same Five Seas Realm, the pure immortal body was far stronger than him; killing him required only an ordinary brush.
Yang Qingxi looked coldly at Tang Yan, now scared to his knees on the ground, and said: “You think the Yang Clan’s unaware of what your Chang Lin Gang has been doing these past few months and the exact sums earned?”
Xu Changlin hurriedly explained: “Young lady, it was Deputy Gang Leader Tang who recruited a powerful insect tamer for the Chang Lin Gang. That insect tamer raises a nest of ao spiders, which must feed on human martial arts cultivators. Each time, he personally kills and feeds the spider bugs; we just handle the aftermath. Over time, we’ve reaped quite a bit of unexpected wealth.”
Yang Qingxi did not believe the Chang Lin Gang could recruit any powerful insect tamer and was uninterested, her gaze stern: “For a gang to stand firm, ruthless methods are acceptable. But in as short as three months or as long as half a year, Li Zhou will surely be in great chaos; I’m afraid you’ll ruin major affairs for petty gains.”
“In the next few days, several important friends of the Yang Clan will arrive in Jiu Li City from out of town; their identities are special, unsuitable for entering the city, so you’ll host them temporarily. During this time, all of you behave—don’t expose their whereabouts because of you.”
An old man hurried to the outside of the main building, his expression urgent.
Xu Changlin gave Shi Chuan Yu a look; Shi Chuan Yu saluted Yang Qingxi, then quickly went out to ask the old man what had happened.
After some whispering, Shi Chuan Yu’s expression changed instantly: “Confirmed Five Seas Realm?”
The old man nodded: “Extremely strong! The lookout brothers said just one person acted and killed over a dozen of our experts, including two Seven Springs guest elders; even Insect Tamer Master Qi was grappled. Moreover, the opponent wields a magic tool and set up spirit tablets in the courtyard—full of confidence. If not Five Seas Realm, what is it?”
“Even more terrifying, the owner of that courtyard, that six-meter-tall giant deformed humanoid race member, never appeared from start to finish, clearly even more unfathomable.”
Shi Chuan Yu’s heart pounded; he realized that when he had shaken hands with the other party during the day, he hadn’t detected magic power likely because the opponent’s cultivation was too high.
The old man added: “There’s also another matter.”
Shi Chuan Yu struggled to calm the shock in his heart, gazing toward Yang Qingxi in the building, his mind settling somewhat. He said: “Speak!”
“City defense guard Chen Chuan has already gone over; the opponent claims to be a Cang Li Tribe commoner.”
Immediately after, the old man beckoned to the distance.
Two sturdy gang members carried over the barely breathing Zhao Zhizhuo, beaten half to death.
Zhao Zhizhuo lay on the ground covered in blood marks, face mangled, arms dislocated and swollen from bruises; his eyes struggled to open a slit, weakly saying: “They really are guests of the Cang Li Tribe young tribe leader; your Chang Lin Gang… had better not harbor evil thoughts—the young tribe leader won’t let you off…”
After being captured, Zhao Zhizhuo had no other recourse but to name the young tribe leader, hoping to scare off the Chang Lin Gang.
But he was met with mockery from the gang members and even more brutal beatings. Some asked why he didn’t name the Cang Li Tribe tribe leader; others said naming Xu Fudu would be more effective.
Shi Chuan Yu looked at the old man with questioning eyes.
The old man was also troubled: “Who could have thought Cang Li’s guests would rent a courtyard in the suburbs? Moreover, an old servant who opened Two Springs—how credible could his words be? If I checked everyone who namedrops, anyone could fool us. But if the people inside really are Five Seas Realm… then it’s hard to say!”
Yang Qingxi, sitting in the room, naturally heard every word of the crowd outside, glancing at Xu Changlin with a cold laugh: “This is the powerful insect tamer you spoke of? Whoever caused the trouble solves it themselves.”
“This subordinate will handle it properly.”
Tang Yan quickly stood up and headed out, only wanting to leave this room that oppressed him to the point of breathlessness as soon as possible.
Thinking of something, Yang Qingxi called him back, pondering carefully before saying: “Cang Li has always been generous and lavish, spending freely; if it’s truly someone he befriends, it’s unlikely he’d arrange them in the suburbs. Unless there’s another purpose… Investigate—definitely investigate clearly for me; find out exactly who they are.”
