Chapter 50: Negotiation
Chen Chuan had been in the City Defense Camp for over forty years, experienced plenty of bloodshed and gore, and handled countless major and minor cases, but the horrific scene in the courtyard still sent chills through his entire body.
The Chang Lin Gang Guest Elder with a black mole on his brow, a Seven Springs opener master, was now lying in a pool of blood, severed at the waist, with both arms missing.
Under the courtyard wall, about ten corpses lay scattered haphazardly, all killed with a single sword strike.
There were also Ao Spider fierce insects and sturdy spiderwebs stretching everywhere on the ground, frozen under frost ice crystals, clearly from someone activating a large-scale destructive magic tool.
……
This could already be called a big scene!
And the creator of this horrific big scene was just a young man who looked not yet twenty years old.
If the other party was truly from the Cang Li Tribe, then he was absolutely the tribe’s potential rising star. He couldn’t afford to provoke such a person now, and even less in the future. Reporting upward… that would dig up even more things, involving power struggles among Jiu Li City’s higher-ups.
Li Weiyi lit the bone lamp and hung it back on the old locust tree.
Under the light, the bloodstains in the courtyard appeared unusually vivid, and with corpses everywhere, it added a demonic, intimidating sense of terror.
Chen Chuan’s expression had softened as he asked, “Who is the owner of this courtyard?”
“It’s me.”
Zhao Meng strode out, his six-meter-tall body making the ground tremble slightly.
Magic power circulated in his body, turning his skin golden, his hair burning like flames, his voice booming like thunder.
It was Coffin Senior who told him to appear in this posture, to act as strong as possible.
“Senior Disciple Brother, this is the City Defense Camp’s Chen Captain…” Li Weiyi was seeing Zhao Meng in such a divine form for the first time and was quite shocked.
Zhao Meng was not polite at all, striding toward Chen Chuan like a dragon or tiger, demanding, “When we rented this courtyard, we paid the city defense silver. We were attacked by villains and nearly all killed—why did the City Defense Camp arrive so late?”
In Chen Chuan’s eyes, Zhao Meng’s oppressive presence was too strong, surpassing even the iron-blooded Xie Jin.
His flesh and blood cultivated like golden cast, something unheard of in the Spring Gushing Realm. He felt Zhao Meng could easily tear him in half with just his physical body.
This was Xie Jin’s senior disciple brother, the master here—absolutely a more terrifying figure.
He could never have imagined Zhao Meng had only opened one spring.
Facing a strong practitioner, Chen Chuan quickly cupped his hands in respect, not even daring to ask Zhao Meng for the commoner’s register, explaining, “We didn’t expect anyone to be so bold as to break into homes and rob so close to the city area. Your Excellency, please don’t be angry. The City Defense Camp won’t ignore it, and such things absolutely won’t happen again.”
Li Weiyi hadn’t expected his senior disciple brother’s deterrent power to be so great. He consciously stepped aside, like a junior disciple brother following the lead of his senior, to highlight Zhao Meng’s even stronger presence.
A quarter of an hour later, the two finished talking.
Chen Chuan walked out the courtyard gate, patting his chest and guaranteeing he would quickly find the mastermind behind it. Then he ordered the more than twenty city defense soldiers outside to remove all the corpses from the courtyard and clean the ground spotless.
Li Weiyi stood with hands behind his back, looking at the departing city defense soldiers: “Senior Disciple Brother, you saw it, right? Only with powerful strength will others respect us; otherwise, we’d definitely have been taken away by now. Of course, it also shows Chen Chuan himself isn’t clean.”
Zhao Meng laughed, “I just feel our so-called power now is a bit fake. Others probably think of me as a Five Seas Realm powerhouse. If the real or fake is exposed, the City Defense Camp and Chang Lin Gang will have countless ways to make us pay back with interest.”
“Five Seas Realm!”
Li Weiyi uttered these three words.
These three words, in his heart at this moment, completely represented dignity, status, and security—he must ascend to it.
“You have to keep playing this Five Seas Realm tonight; there’s still a tough battle to fight.”
Li Weiyi didn’t believe Chen Chuan would offend Chang Lin Gang for them; the so-called “find the mastermind” was absolutely just empty words.
To truly solve the big trouble of Chang Lin Gang, they had to rely on themselves.
……
The night was deep, the air slightly cool.
Li Weiyi sat alone on the doorstep of the gate, using a gray cloth to repeatedly wipe the blood from the Yellow Dragon Sword. The water in the basin next to him for rinsing the cloth gradually turned deep red.
Zhao Meng sat under the old locust tree in the courtyard, looking calm and composed, though he actually had no confidence at all.
Old Liu and Old Guan were cleaning the bloodstains in the courtyard.
No one took this chance to flee; at this point, fleeing would only mean dying faster. They had to put on the stance of fighting Chang Lin Gang to the death to possibly force the other side to weigh pros and cons and give them a chance of survival.
“Splatter!”
“Splatter!”
……
Dense footsteps quickly approached from the end of the four-zhang-wide long street.
Led by Deputy Gang Leader Tang Yan and Flag Master Shi Chuan Yu, dozens of Chang Lin Gang gang members marched out grandly from the shadows of buildings, all in black clothes, scaring the vendors and residents on both sides of the street into silence.
The air on the entire street seemed to thicken instantly.
Li Weiyi glanced over and saw the Chang Lin Gang crowd wasn’t carrying weapons, so he immediately felt reassured.
Since that’s the case…
He needed to put on an even more strong posture.
Soon, the Chang Lin Gang gang members all stopped in front of the courtyard gate, all eyes falling on Li Weiyi. But he continued wiping his long sword as if they were nothing.
This boldness, calmness, and confidence made the Chang Lin Gang gang members not even dare to breathe.
Shi Chuan Yu stepped forward to salute Li Weiyi, glancing at Zhao Meng sitting in the courtyard, and got straight to the point without beating around the bush: “Junior Shi Chuan Yu failed to recognize a true expert despite having eyes. Tonight, Chang Lin Gang admits defeat. For the fright to you two, our gang has prepared generous gifts as a token of sincerity, only seeking to turn hostility into friendship.”
Li Weiyi said nothing, his gaze falling on Tang Yan behind Shi Chuan Yu.
He sensed an extremely dangerous aura from this old man—clearly, he was the real big shot in Chang Lin Gang who could make the final call.
Tang Yan had been sizing up Li Weiyi; he was much younger than expected.
But this young man had a terrifying battle record tonight, causing heavy losses to Chang Lin Gang, making them tomorrow’s laughingstock among the many gangs in the suburbs.
The other side was full of confidence, clearly having no fear.
Tang Yan forced a friendly smile on his old face, walked to Shi Chuan Yu’s right, cupped his hands, and gave his title: “This old man is Chang Lin Gang Deputy Gang Leader Tang Yan. The subordinates below lacked eyesight and brought big trouble to the gang; they deserved to die at little friend’s hands. This is the land deed for this courtyard, just urgently prepared—please little friend accept it.”
After Tang Yan took out the land deed, Shi Chuan Yu presented it.
Li Weiyi glanced at it, naturally greatly shocked inside.
One had to know, even a small house in this area cost tens of thousands of silver coins.
Their three-mu large courtyard couldn’t be had without two hundred thousand silver coins.
What a big move!
Li Weiyi withdrew his gaze without changing expression, saying flatly, “Where are my people?”
Tang Yan raised his hand to signal.
Four black-clothed gang members carried Zhao Zhizhuo over in a sedan and helped him to Li Weiyi.
Zhao Zhizhuo’s wounds had been treated, his dislocated arms reset, but it was still clear he had suffered inhuman treatment. Li Weiyi waved his hand, letting Old Liu and Old Guan help him down.
The four gang members who carried Zhao Zhizhuo all knelt on the ground, kowtowing and begging, faces full of fear.
Clearly, they were the ones who had done this to Zhao Zhizhuo.
Li Weiyi looked up at Tang Yan, eyes sharp as swords.
Tang Yan waved his hand: “They committed wrongs and must pay the price. Break all their hands and legs, let them fend for themselves.”
After the four were dragged away, piercing screams and bone-cracking sounds followed one after another.
Li Weiyi felt no pity or sympathy; with Chang Lin Gang’s style, there were probably few good people in the gang, and whatever end they met was well-deserved.
“With such sincerity from the Deputy Gang Leader, this land deed, Xie Jin will accept.” Li Weiyi added, “But I’m afraid something similar might happen again some night…”
Zhao Meng’s tiger-roar dragon-chant voice came from the courtyard: “Then we’ll hit Chang Lin Gang, have a contest of strength, see who is tougher.”
Tang Yan’s eyes darkened slightly. If not for the matter already blowing up, if not for the Young Lady telling them to settle it peacefully, if not for these two possibly having Cang Li as backing, how could Chang Lin Gang swallow such humiliation?
Tang Yan smiled and promised: “You two rest assured, such things absolutely won’t happen again. Dare I ask, is Master Qi still well?”
Li Weiyi had kept that White Robe weirdo precisely because he seemed like an Insect Tamer of some value, usable as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Chang Lin Gang.
Originally planned to exchange for Zhao Zhizhuo.
Now, Li Weiyi had a new idea: “That old fellow is still alive. How much silver coin does the Deputy Gang Leader plan to use to redeem him?”
Tang Yan inwardly cursed Li Weiyi for greed, but thinking they only dared rent in the suburbs, they must truly be poor.
Matters solvable with silver coin weren’t matters.
He’d endure this time!
After some haggling, Tang Yan finally redeemed Master Qi for one hundred thousand silver coins.
When Tang Yan learned that what was redeemed was only Master Qi, without those Ao Spiders, his face turned green with anger.
Li Weiyi stood up, looking at the Chang Lin Gang crowd that had come grandly and was leaving grandly, putting on a stance that he was not to be trifled with, and said loudly: “A reminder to the Deputy Gang Leader: best not send people to monitor us. If I discover it, I’ll personally send the corpses back to Chang Lin Gang.”
Tang Yan, already a hundred steps away, had his chest heaving violently, killing intent clear in his eyes.
Shi Chuan Yu said, “Deputy Gang Leader, did you gauge the depth of that person in the courtyard?”
Tang Yan said, “Can confirm, definitely Five Seas Realm without doubt. He swallowed blood of two kinds of Ancient Immortal Giant Beasts—didn’t you see yesterday?”
Shi Chuan Yu quickly explained: “Yesterday he deliberately hid his cultivation, divine light restrained on his body; with my realm… sigh, this subordinate’s cultivation is insufficient… I was wrong…”
Tang Yan’s expression was grave: “Deformed Humanoid Race can only drink the second kind of Ancient Immortal Giant Beast blood upon reaching Five Seas Realm. Of course, except those with special physiques, but such people are rarer than Pure Immortal Body, no reference value.”
“Can’t we just swallow this? The price we paid tonight is too great.” Shi Chuan Yu was very unwilling.
Tang Yan said, “First investigate clearly what relationship they have with Cang Li. If distant, this humiliation, if not vented tonight, will surely make them pay a horrific price in the future. Even if close, if open ways don’t work, can’t we use covert ones?”
“Right, that kid Xie Jin probably isn’t Five Seas Realm, most likely an Eight Springs opening Martial Arts Cultivator.”
Shi Chuan Yu had the same feeling; the pressure Xie Jin gave him was far less than Zhao Meng’s. He said, “Should we put his name in the Five Burial Temple, have the Buddha Bandits probe again for us? If we can kill him, wouldn’t that vent some anger?”
Five Burial Temple was Jiu Li City’s largest assassin organization in the Underground Underworld Market, rumored to be backed by Coffin Mountain’s Xu Fudu, one of the Southern Territory’s Three Great Barbarian Thieves.
