Amid Lin Qi's wild, unrestrained laughter, Blackbeard's face turned as black as his beard. He clenched his fists and glared at Lin Qi, who was rolling on the floor clutching his belly. After a long while, he finally roared, "What are you laughing at? What's so funny? Is it so hilarious that I'm going to become mayor?"
Lin Qi laughed for a long time before he finally managed to stop. Gasping in fits and starts, he lay on the floor and pointed at Blackbeard, laughing as he said, "Old man, you said you were going to wipe out Dunkirk's mayor and his whole family, and I believed you. You said you were going to seduce the mayor's wife, and I believed you. Even when you said you'd bring the mayor's daughter back to be my stepmother, I almost believed you!"
Drawing in a long breath, Lin Qi burst out laughing. "But you're going to run for mayor? Hahaha! Have you even looked at yourself? What about you looks like a mayor?"
Iron Hammer and Butcher Knife suddenly burst into laughter at the same time. Iron Hammer laughed so hard that spittle sprayed everywhere. "Master, the young master's right. When you said you were going to run for mayor last time, I thought it was hilarious. If you wanted to kill and burn, the brothers would gladly follow you, but becoming mayor? You're just not cut out for it!"
Butcher Knife had a rather gloomy temperament. He merely covered his mouth and gave a strange, "Heh heh," laugh, not nearly as wildly as Iron Hammer.
Blackbeard flew into a rage. He let out an angry shout, glared at Iron Hammer, and swung a punch at him. Across a long table that could seat a hundred people for a meal, a blast of force whooshed from Blackbeard's fist. Pale black on the outside and deep purple at its core, it took the shape of a black tiger as it struck Iron Hammer in the belly, sending him flying and slamming hard into the wall behind him.
Even after being sent flying, Iron Hammer kept laughing uproariously. Blackbeard's punch had looked fearsome, but he had used a gentle force. It had merely sent Iron Hammer flying; the blow itself had barely hurt him. Iron Hammer laughed so hard his whole body cramped. Pointing at Blackbeard, he chuckled, "Master, look. The young master agrees with me. You really don't look like a mayor!"
Enzo didn't find it funny at all.
Blackbeard's punch wasn't merely unfunny; it was downright terrifying, so terrifying that Enzo's whole body stiffened and his mind went blank.
Across the Western Continent, people spoke of the nine colors and nine levels of the heavens, dividing knights into three ranks from highest to lowest: Heavenly, Earthly, and Human. A knight's battle qi was also classified by those nine colors. But aside from the common, run-of-the-mill cultivation methods, the continent had many secret techniques: family secrets, for instance, and even special methods passed down through the bloodline.
There was no doubt that Blackbeard's punch had just come from a genuinely special technique. The deep purple core of his battle qi proved that he was a true Heavenly Knight, and that he was close to breaking through to purple-gold and becoming one of the mightiest Great Heavenly Knights.
But the thick layer of black battle qi surrounding his punch was an added effect of the special technique he practiced. Some special techniques made battle qi burn like fire; others made it as cold as ice. Still others imbued it with poison or corrosive power. Enzo didn't know what extra property Blackbeard's black battle qi had, but there was no doubt that any such special technique was extraordinary.
Did Lin Qi practice this technique too? No wonder Lin Qi was a few months younger than Enzo, yet despite spending his days managing the Iron Fist Brotherhood's affairs and earning gold coins, his battle qi had always advanced much faster than Enzo's.
It was shocking—utterly shocking. Lin Qi's father was actually a Heavenly Knight, one with such deep cultivation, and, even more astonishing, he practiced one of those fabled special techniques! Tsk, the Iron Fist Brotherhood really did have an extraordinary leader!
No wonder Lin Qi dared to oppose the Round Table Knights so recklessly. With family backing like that, a father like this behind him, and experts like Iron Hammer and Butcher Knife at his side, the Bavier Family hardly seemed like much of a problem anymore, did they?
Lin Qi and the others' uproarious laughter made Blackbeard furious. But one was his only son, and the other two were brothers who had lived and died by his side for decades, with generations of their families serving the Black Tiger Family loyally. No matter how angry he was, Blackbeard couldn't do anything about them.
He snorted in exasperation and took a sharp breath. The foot-long cigar clenched between his teeth suddenly burned at an incredible speed, consumed in a single breath. Blackbeard inhaled all the smoke into his lungs. After letting the thick smoke sear them for a moment, he blew two dragons of smoke from his nostrils. A gust of wind spread out around him, lifting Lin Qi bodily into the air.
Only then did Lin Qi stop laughing. He looked at Blackbeard with a straight face and asked, "Old man, are you serious?"
Blackbeard puffed out his chest and looked Lin Qi in the eye just as seriously. "Of course I am!"
He stepped back a few paces and sat down on the Black Tiger Throne, then gave a heavy snort and ground out, "I'm doing this for the good of the family."
He slapped the armrest of the throne and scoffed. "The family's prospered over the years. We've got more and more brothers under our banner, and our territory keeps growing. But business has gotten tough! It's been thirty years of good weather, and not even a small-scale battle involving a thousand men has broken out anywhere on the continent in all that time. Money's hard to come by, Lin Qi. Money's hard to come by!"
Lin Qi thought of how he'd struggled to earn every copper in Berely, and couldn't help nodding repeatedly. "That's right, dear father. Money really is hard to come by! Ah, every copper coin has to be soaked in sweat!"
Blackbeard nodded vigorously and said gravely, "We can't just eat away at our savings. Not only that, we need to have a large surplus every year if we want the family to stay strong forever. But the old trades aren't doing well anymore! Tsk, last time we robbed two Vias Commercial Federation gold ships, the haul was rich, but plenty of our brothers were killed or injured!"
Enzo's calves gave a violent twitch. Gold ships belonging to the Vias Commercial Federation? That was the heinous crime that had caused a sensation across the continent half a year ago!
Looking at Blackbeard with boundless admiration, Enzo couldn't help thinking, Like father, like son. The son of a rat knows how to dig a hole. Lin Qi's father really was extraordinary. His business was many times bigger than Lin Qi's!
Blackbeard swept his arm with great vigor and smiled. "So we have to find new sources of profit beyond the family's traditional trades! We need to expand the family's business and broaden its reach! What's a mere mayor of Dunkirk? Someday I'll fight for the post of provincial governor, and maybe even get myself a noble title!"
Lin Qi stared blankly at Blackbeard. "But how would that count as a new source of profit?"
Blackbeard glared at Lin Qi as if he would never live up to his potential. "Don't you know that every year the empire gives the provinces a huge sum in administrative funding, and that the provincial governor gets to decide how all local administrative expenses and tax revenue are spent? You fool!"
Lin Qi's eyes suddenly lit up, shining like two gold coins.
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