Maoling was a major city of Jiangdong, a vital gateway.
However, Jiangdong's three top powers—the Great River Gang, the Jiangdong King Family, and the Langya Ruan Family—were all some distance away from here.
Thus, apart from Mister Lu, who occasionally passed through to watch the tides, Maoling itself did not openly possess even a single peak expert who had crossed the first Heavenly Ladder.
It was mainly controlled by a branch hall of the Great River Gang and the Wang Family's Su Garden.
Yet precisely because no single faction held overwhelming dominance, while the city itself remained very safe, and because it served as Jiangdong's western gateway, Maoling was exceptionally prosperous. Though it was merely a commandery seat, its scale and prosperity did not fall below that of any provincial capital.
Furthermore, Jiangdong's most famous and largest casino, the Heavenly Number One Casino, was located in Maoling. Beyond gambling itself, the Heavenly Number One Casino worked with Maoling's other dens of extravagance to provide a complete one-stop service.
The fact that they dared use a name like "Heavenly Number One" showed just how extravagant they were.
Yet the Heavenly Number One Casino's true owner was merely a Nine Apertures martial artist built up with medicine, named You Shaohui.
He mainly possessed some business acumen. His own strength naturally could not have supported such an enterprise.
The main reason was that he had a beautiful elder sister who had married Ye Taoguang, the head of the Great River Gang's Punishment Hall, a famed Earth Ranking expert known as "Impartial as Iron." That was how he had managed to acquire such a business.
The Great River Gang's Punishment Hall was a hall stationed at the headquarters and specifically responsible for criminal law. Though nominally on the same level as Maoling's branch hall,