Who would have expected that Huang Gun, due to embezzling from the inner treasury of dicine King Hall, was reported by a Naless Person, and shortly after, died a bizarre death, leaving no complete corpse.
Originally, if it were just a matter of sending an ordinary steward, it would have been fine. However, as the Twin Rivers Guild was ultimately a family business, many of its professional stewards were relatives by blood or marriage.
Huang Gun, surnad Huang, was thus suspected of being killed by dicine King Hall to silence him.
At that ti, it was these clan elders who banded together to force Huang Muxia to demand an explanation from dicine King Hall. Although Huang Muxia deftly handled the matter, employing the tactic of ’finding a convenient way out,’ which allowed him to both assert his stance and save face.
But this inevitably led to a grudge against dicine King Hall. This animosity later culminated in him conspiring with Zhao Chuanzu, Qu Feng of Firewood Iron Shop, and Xie Qingfeng to plot against Chen Ku’s "docking station."
"You’ve all heard," Huang Muxia said, "Xie Qingfeng and Xie Qi of Firewood Iron Shop, both Fourth Realm experts, died at the hands of that seventeen-year-old boy, Chen Ku. It’s impossible that he doesn’t bear a grudge against for past affairs."
Huang Muxia took a deep breath and continued, "So, what do you want to do now? I’m afraid that even if we align ourselves with them, given Chen Ku’s current high status within dicine King Hall, he might openly accept our goodwill but secretly move against the Twin Rivers Guild. By then, I might not even know how I died. So... since neither aligning nor refusing to align promises a good outco, we might as well wait for now."
"Wait?"
A number of clan elders pondered.
With his hands behind his back, Huang Muxia looked out from the ancestral hall towards the unceasing flow of the Dragon River beyond the guild’s archway and said, "Wait for Prefecture City to send soone to stabilize the situation. After all, our Twin Rivers Guild is different from the local powers of Baojiao County; we have roots. Now that Baojiao County has undergone a major change, I’ve already sent soone at the earliest opportunity to deliver a ssage to our Guild’s Prefecture City branch. I believe that Prefecture City will not want the Guild to lose the established operations and interests it has accumulated over so many years in Baojiao County. If so, they will send soone to take charge. When that ti cos, all I have to do is present the leadership of the Guild to that person, and I can still preserve the Twin Rivers Guild!"
"Sect Leader is wise."
Hearing this prudent and considered approach, many of the clan elders imdiately praised him.
However, after the ancestral hall eting of the guild concluded, a few individuals with their own agendas still secretly chose to make private contact with dicine King Hall.
After all, their identification with the Twin Rivers Guild as a ’world-renowned signboard’ was one thing. Many, however, had lived and grown in Baojiao County for decades, if not a century. They had long been assimilated by the local customs and rules and possessed their own understanding of the state of affairs in Baojiao County.
Instead of letting Huang Muxia hand everything over to Prefecture City, they felt it was better to find another way out for themselves. After all, so of them, along with their families and children, intended to continue living in this county town for generations to co.
Opinions within the Twin Rivers Guild were divided.
「Inside the county governnt office.」
"Remarkable, truly remarkable!" County Magistrate Qi said, his voice heavy. "What audacity from Firewood Iron Shop, secretly manufacturing thirty Divine Force Crossbows and sharing only ten with the Official Residence! Truly possessing the heart of a wolf and the gall of a leopard, to dare deceive even !"
"County Magistrate, Baojiao County has already dispatched the twenty Divine Force Crossbows to the Official Residence. Lord County Magistrate is there overseeing the reception. Baojiao County claims this is ’evidence of Firewood Iron Shop’s rebellion’," reported Wang Yixian, standing before County Magistrate Qi in the county office.
"dicine King Hall is likewise remarkable! They were able to keenly grasp what County Lieutenant Ma and I were thinking, haha... This completely absolves them of the cri of instigating conflict and simultaneously allows them to don the cap of ’loyalty to the Imperial Court’," County Magistrate Qi said, chuckling as he stroked his beard.
"They had no choice but to do so," Wang Yixian said, his hand resting on his official saber, a faint smile on his lips. "After all, those are Divine Force Crossbows. No faction can possess them without a proper explanation. Failure to surrender them is a cri, tantamount to treason, unless dicine King Hall truly intends to revolt."
That was an impossibility.
Although dicine King Hall boasted Yang Luochen—one of only two Fifth Realm experts in the county, the other being County Magistrate Shangguan Yun himself—if they were convicted of ’rebellion and treason,’ dicine King Hall would face not just experts, but the full might of the military.
Even though the Baojiao County City Defense Forces suffered a defeat while subduing demons in Snake Fish Town, losing over one hundred of their number, one must not forget this: Precisely for this reason, Prefecture City dispatched an additional one thousand soldiers from the ’Divine Machine Camp,’ led by Commander Ye Zhong. They are due to arrive in the city tomorrow.
The Divine Machine Camp was of far superior quality compared to a county’s City Defense Forces. They were the true elite force of Qiu Dragon Mansion, ard not with Divine Force Crossbows, but with the even more powerful and farther-reaching ’Divine Machine Crossbow.’ This weapon could also be reconfigured into formidable siege engines.
The power of a single Divine Machine Crossbow was comparable to ten large trebuchets combined. The ’Heavy Spear’ bolts it fired could obliterate a thirty-foot-high city wall with one shot!
The impending arrival of this formidable thousand-strong force from the Divine Machine Camp carried significant implications. Not only would dicine King Hall, even after absorbing Firewood Iron Shop, be forced to remain an obedient Jianghu guild, but even the main altar of Peace Path—whose overall strength still surpassed that of dicine King Hall—would likely be completely eradicated.
One should never underestimate the profound resources and strength of the Imperial Court, the most formidable power in the land.
Inside Hongyan Tower, Di Jianqing furiously smashed the long bench beside his seat to splinters with a single punch, exclaiming, "It’s truly infuriating! Last night, we wiped out a Peace Path branch in Snake Fish Town and even joined forces to kill Yao Wensu. True, that mysterious person in the Conical Hat snatched the final kill, but the credit should still be ours! Yet... it just so happens that on the very sa night, right here in Baojiao County, sothing even bigger occurred!"
"Why are we so unlucky!"
Opposite him, Cai Feihong and Fu Huangfei also appeared sowhat helpless and speechless.
After resting in Snake Fish Town the previous night, they had dispatched ssengers the next day to spread the news. They also contacted the newly re-established official residence in Snake Fish Town to corroborate their deeds. The news reached Baojiao County that very day, indeed shocking many within the city.
Their feat was significant: the Three Heavenly Pride of Prefecture City had joined forces to eradicate a Peace Path stronghold in Snake Fish Town. They had crossed borders to defeat their enemies, destroying a Fourth Realm Incense Master and killing more than ten Third Realm Demon People.
This should have been sensational news, enough to astound everyone and prove that their reputation as the Three Heavenly Pride was well-deserved.
But unexpectedly, at the very sa ti, even more explosive news erged from Baojiao County, completely overshadowing their achievents.
In truth, it was primarily one individual, soone of similar age, who had stolen their thunder.
Chen Ku of dicine King Hall.
During the clash between the two major powers, he had personally slain two Fourth Realm experts. One of them was Xie Qingfeng, an already renowned Outstanding talent from Qiu Dragon Mansion, a celebrated master in his own right.
Although the minute details of last night’s battle between the two factions would not be fully disclosed, the reasons behind Chen Ku’s ability to kill two Fourth Realm experts were likely complex.
Nevertheless, his prestige and strength undeniably outshone theirs.
After all, they had acted as a trio. In contrast, according to intelligence from the Ming Family’s informants last night, Chen Ku had, at the very least, personally slain Xie Qi single-handedly.
Even a child could understand which feat held more weight: a group assault versus a solo kill. This was especially true considering one of the victims was Xie Qingfeng, a far more significant figure.
"This Chen Ku, rumored to have been in Cultivation for only half a year, has already made consecutive breakthroughs. It was said that when he killed Xie Qi last night, he had already reached the ’Red Jade’ stage of the Initial Period of the Third Realm in his Cultivation Realm."
Cai Feihong sighed lightly, "His Cultivation is comparable to ours, yet his strength far exceeds it."
"And that’s not even ntioning the mysterious youth who snatched our kill last night."
Fu Huangfei’s mood was heavy. "Could there truly be so many Outstanding talents in Baojiao County capable of surpassing us?"
They were all renowned young prodigies from Prefecture City.
They had never imagined that upon arriving in a small county town, they would struggle to make a na for themselves, their Dao Hearts suffering repeated blows.
Each of them ntally engraved the na Chen Ku—the youth who today basked in ’endless glory’ and ’unrivaled prominence’—as a formidable adversary. They silently began to pay close attention, gathering and analyzing all information related to him.
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