Gathered Together

Wang Xiong's heart tightened. He hurriedly closed the door and stood to one side, bowing slightly as he cupped his hands in respectful greeting.

"Greetings, Azure Lord!"

"Mm."

The figure wore a black hooded robe. In the dim lamplight, his full face was impossible to make out; only a somewhat pointed chin and two small mustaches were visible.

"The Black Pole Gang was wiped out some time ago. The Order was furious about it, but certain matters delayed my dispatch until today." The man called the Azure Lord had a somewhat shrill voice as he played with the writing brush in his hand.

"What orders do the higher-ups have? I've been investigating in secret all this time, but I still haven't found out who did it. Judging by the traces at the scene, and from asking some of the goods that were there at the time, it should have been the work of one person. And lately, it hasn't just been the Black Pole Gang—the Black Kill Pavilion has had trouble too. From the methods used, I reckon it was the same person!"

"Hmm? The Black Kill Pavilion?" The Azure Lord narrowed his eyes in the darkness. "What happened to them?"

"They were wiped out!"

"Haha, no wonder. When I came out, I happened to run into a few people from the Black Kill Pavilion, and their faces looked terrible. So that was why."

The Azure Lord was a little pleased.

"Do you know why they were wiped out?"

"I don't, but it might have something to do with the Flying Eagle Horse Gang. Words were written in blood on the Black Kill Pavilion's wall, and the name Flying Eagle Horse Gang was left there."

"It probably wasn't them. That's not their style, and they have no connection to the Black Kill Pavilion. I reckon someone else framed them to muddy the waters."

The Azure Lord shook his head.

"Enough about them! I came today for three things. First, Zhao Defu is dead, and the Black Pole Gang is gone. We must find out exactly who did it, or where will we show our faces? Second, the goods Shahu County supplied to the higher-ups are gone, and they're very unhappy. You need to make up the shortfall. If you can't, you'll make up the numbers even if you have to use your own son!"

Wang Xiong looked down at the floor, his face twitching.

The Azure Lord paid no attention to Wang Xiong's expression and continued, "Third, the Black Pole Gang is gone, so a new one still needs to be established here. You're responsible for that. I can help you find some of the manpower, but you'll have to handle the bulk of it yourself. Don't let the gang get wiped out again this time, or you know the consequences!"

"Yes, yes!" Wang Xiong's back was nearly soaked through.

Although the man before him spoke quietly and never raised his voice, that sinister feeling that made him tremble with fear still left his heart clenched.

"Azure Lord, how far short are we on the quota, and when must it be filled?"

"Fifty, within five days. You must deliver them to Shanyang. Not one fewer, and not one day late!"

"This... all right! I guarantee I'll complete the task!"

Wang Xiong waited a long time without hearing a sound. He cautiously raised his head and found the seat empty. The window was open, and the man had left at some unknown point.

Wang Xiong let out a long breath and wiped away his sweat, his gaze grave.

Fifty children in five days...

He considered it for a moment and decided he definitely couldn't do it alone.

Perhaps I can seek out Hao Cheng in Yuncheng County!

The thought pained him.

I'll definitely have to bleed for this!

At that thought, he hurriedly wrote a letter, summoned a trusted subordinate, and had him leave the city that very night.

"Fuck, he'd better not let me find out who did it. Otherwise, I'll skin him and pull out his tendons! If he has a family, I'll kill every last one of them! Fuck!"

His gaze was venomous. He bitterly hated the person who had slaughtered the Black Pole Gang.

Yet after all these days, he hadn't made the slightest substantive progress.

He simply couldn't find out who had done it.

He didn't have a clue.

Maybe I could just find someone to take the blame?

Who was it Meng Ping mentioned last time?

Zhuo Li, the Six-Fingered Flying Stone of Tianmu County?

If he really couldn't find anyone, he might have to "impose" on him!

After all, he used hidden weapons and knew Hu Bufan, didn't he?

Wang Xiong worried that if he kept failing to give the higher-ups an answer, they would take his head as their answer instead!

There were plenty of people like him. If one died, it would mean less than a cow losing a single hair.

In another spacious courtyard in Shahu County.

The courtyard's former owner had disappeared, and another group had taken his place, having only moved in during the past two days.

"Boss, you're finally here! Did anything happen on the road?"

A horse-faced man ushered a group of more than ten people inside.

"What could have happened to us? You, on the other hand, Ma Jun—you've been here for two days. How are things? Have you gotten a clear picture?"

A burly man with his chest bare strode into the main room, dropped into a chair, and poured himself a cup of tea.

The others came in after him and found places to sit.

Ma Jun's expression was a little odd. "Big Brother, I've been asking around these past two days, and something's not right!"

"Not right? How so?"

The burly man sat with his legs spread wide, frowning at the horse-faced Ma Jun.

Ma Jun thought for a moment before saying, "There's something strange about Shahu County everywhere you look! Some time ago, we contacted the Canal Gang and the Great Whale Gang to join forces against the Green Bamboo Gang, and they did make their move. The Green Bamboo Gang now has only one hall master at the Organ Tempering Realm left, and he's become the gang leader."

"Brother Eight, isn't that great? What's strange about it?"

Someone asked, and the others looked curiously at Ma Jun as well.

"Thirteen, let me finish!" Ma Jun continued, "After that, Shahu County's Black Pole Gang was wiped out for some reason! The county commandant's second son died stark naked at the Black Pole Gang's headquarters. Then, a few days later, the county commandant died too!"

"Then, on the same day, the county commandant's eldest son died at the Black Kill Pavilion's headquarters! The Black Kill Pavilion was wiped out too!"

"Holy shit, everyone in the Black Kill Pavilion died? Hahahaha, the Black Kill Pavilion's had some rotten luck!"

Someone burst out laughing, his face full of schadenfreude.

The others were smiling too.

They'd had little dealings with the Black Kill Pavilion, but they knew the two sides weren't of the same kind. Now that the pavilion had fallen on hard times, they naturally laughed at its misfortune.

"Hmm? The county commandant died? He wasn't one of ours, was he?" Big Brother asked.

"No!" Ma Jun shook his head. "But his family should have originally come from the military. He practiced the Formation-Breaking Spear."

"Mm. Since he wasn't one of ours, we won't concern ourselves with it. A county commandant dying doesn't affect us. Go on!"

Big Brother nodded, signaling Ma Jun to continue.

"That's where it gets strange!" Ma Jun's expression darkened. "The Black Kill Pavilion was wiped out! County Commandant Li Ziren's whole family died. But words were written in blood at both places, and the name left behind was ours!"

Ma Jun told them what the blood-written words at both places said.

The smiles vanished from everyone's faces.

"Motherfucker, what does this have to do with us? This is a complete frame-up!"

"Exactly! Fuck, who did this? I'll fucking kill him!"

"We absolutely can't let this go! If our Flying Eagle Horse Gang wanted to kill someone, would we need to leave some bullshit words in blood? This is utter nonsense!"

Everyone was furious, their expressions extremely ugly.

The Big Brother at their head frowned.

They'd run into something like this as soon as they arrived?

A frame-up?

Who would do this? What was their purpose?

They had planted people in Shahu County before coming and had carefully studied the place. It was remote and weak; as far as they were concerned, it was practically defenseless and wouldn't interfere with their plans.

How had they suddenly become the target of everyone's arrows?

They hadn't done a thing, and they'd already offended the Black Kill Pavilion and the authorities?

"In these past two days, have you learned anything about who did it? Do you have any guesses?" Big Brother Zhou Chu raised a hand to stop the other furious men and asked Ma Jun.

Ma Jun's face was bitter. "No, not a clue! The Black Kill Pavilion is best at gathering intelligence, but all the intelligence inside was looted, and the place was burned. There wasn't a trace left. All we know is that it should have been done by one person, and the methods were the same as those used to wipe out the Black Pole Gang. There's a good chance it was the same person!"

"One person? It wasn't a group, just one person? Are you sure?"

Zhou Chu stared at Ma Jun.

The others watched Ma Jun as well.

"Yes, one person. It should be someone skilled in hidden weapons and Swordsmanship, especially hidden weapons like throwing knives and flying locust stones," Ma Jun said gravely. "As for the Swordsmanship, it's very likely the Bao Household's Ox-Cleaving Saber Technique. The Green Bamboo Gang's previous gang leader also used the Ox-Splitting Saber, but now the Green Bamboo Gang's Wang Hu and his younger brother Wang Bao are both dead."

"How did the Bao Household get involved too?" Zhou Chu felt the matter was getting a little troublesome.

"I know the Ox-Cleaving Saber Technique, but the version circulating outside certainly doesn't go beyond Organ Refining. Since this person could wipe out the Black Kill Pavilion alone, his strength is no weaker than mine. If he has the Ox-Cleaving Saber Technique at the Marrow Washing Realm, he can only be a member of the Bao Household. Could it really have been someone from the Bao Household? What are they after? They came all the way from Mingde Prefecture to Shanyang Prefecture, to a remote little place like this, just to kill a few people?"

He muttered to himself, several thoughts flashing through his mind.

"Big Brother, I heard the Bao Household seems to have joined that side. Do you think they might have come specifically for us?"

Zhou Chu's heart jolted. Thinking it over carefully, he realized it wasn't impossible.

"Don't panic. No one knows what's going on yet. Wild guesses will only unsettle the troops! We just need to carry out our task step by step. As for everything else, I'll make the decisions!"

"All right." Ma Jun nodded, feeling much more reassured.

With Big Brother as their mainstay, nothing felt like a major problem.

Zhou Chu continued, "Over the next two days, bring all the gangs in Shahu County under one command, including the Green Bamboo Gang, Zhang Dajing and his Great Whale Gang, and Liu Wenjing's Canal Gang. I want mine to be the only voice heard in Shahu County!"

He spoke loudly, baring teeth as white as the fangs of a man-eating beast.

"Starting tomorrow, recruit people. We need both blacksmiths and miners. Work must begin at the Green Bamboo Gang's iron mine as soon as possible! Starting tomorrow, every shop in Shahu County must pay me a monthly fee! If that's not enough, the villages below will have to pay us too!"

"Yes!"

The others answered one after another, excitement and savagery on their faces.

The Black Kill Pavilion's former headquarters was still a charred ruin. The bodies had been carried away, and with no one to claim them, they had long since been dumped in a mass grave.

It was pitch-dark there now. No one had lived nearby to begin with, and after what had happened, it seemed even more sinister and frightening.

"Do you think this has anything to do with the Flying Eagle Horse Gang?"

A tall, slender figure dressed in white stood before the wall bearing the words written in blood and asked dispassionately.

"In my view, probably not!" Beside the person in white stood someone dressed in black, nearly invisible in the darkness.

"Then who do you think did it? According to the people who examined the scene, they found traces of only eight people. Take away Li Jun and our own six, and that leaves just one person! Who do you think this person is? How strong are they?"

"I don't know. That covers too many possibilities. Unless I were an immortal, where would I even start investigating under the circumstances? If I remember right, the strongest person here should have been Crippled Blade, with Four-Star strength. To deal with the six of them, this person should be no weaker than you or me, and might even be Xiantian!"

"Xiantian..." The white-clad figure paused. "That won't be easy to deal with!"

"Or how about we squeeze some money out of the Flying Eagle Horse Gang? The higher-ups sent us down to rebuild the branch, but where are we supposed to get that much money? We don't have the people, either. We'll have to borrow some from our brothers in Yuncheng County, and we can't do that without money."

"Extort them? They seem to have already come to Shahu County... It's not out of the question, but would Zhou Chu agree?"

"Hmph, they came here from Mingde Prefecture, so they must have some secret! We may not be able to make things happen, but can't we ruin them? He's a smart man. He'll definitely agree!"

"That works!"

Without saying it aloud, the two abandoned the idea of looking for the killer.

This person had killed all six right in their own home without letting a single one escape, and might not even have been injured. With that kind of strength, killing the two of them probably wouldn't be too difficult either.

Why go looking for trouble?

The dead weren't close friends or family of theirs.