Awareness

As Wu Dao left Red Fire Mine.

Far away, hundreds of miles off, in Qingyuan County City, an important stronghold of Guangqing Prefecture, someone had already taken notice of him.

Inner city.

Four Seas Gang headquarters.

Deep within an expansive, luxurious, and imposing garden compound.

Splash, splash~

Koi frolicked in the water, green lotus leaves swaying.

Meng Huaishan, the renowned current leader of Guangqing Prefecture's Four Seas Gang, had white hair draped over his shoulders. A plain gray robe covered his broad-boned, powerful body, old yet far from frail. He squatted beside the pond, scattering feed and teasing the koi within.

His temples were grizzled, his face deeply lined.

Yet his weathered face, carved by years and hardship, wore a gentle smile. He reached out to stroke the koi fighting over food, looking for all the world like a kindly old man peacefully enjoying his twilight years—one people could not help but feel close to.

Provided that—

One ignored the bloody, violent scene behind him.

Crack!

The long whip split the air, tearing flesh open!

"No... I won't dare again... spare me just once... ah!"

Weak, miserable screams rang out endlessly from the center of the courtyard.

Bound to a wooden stake—

Was a frail young man with disheveled hair, his luxurious brocade robes soaked through with blood, suffering beneath the lashes of a skinny, dark old man.

"You little bastard, even your uncle has to show our Four Seas Gang some respect, or he won't remain county magistrate. Yet you..."

Crack!

Another lash.

Though dressed like a refined scholar, the old man was vicious by nature. His sinister face twisted as his triangular eyes flashed with ferocity. "You dared snatch food from our bowl? You've got the gall of a leopard, haven't you!"

"No... I don't want them anymore... Changle Ward... Changle Restaurant... they're... they're all yours... please, let me go..."

The tortured young man was barely alive and almost lacked the strength to speak. He could only beg through tears.

"Ah, now that's more like it. A wise man submits to the times!"

The sinister old scholar immediately beamed. He personally untied the young man, then beckoned to a servant nearby with a false smile.

"Hehe, notify that county magistrate. Tell him to bring ten thousand taels to collect his man. That old bastard has squeezed plenty of blood and sweat from the people lately."

The young man, bloody as a gourd, was dragged away, leaving a long trail across the ground.

The sinister elder stretched his body, bloodstained whip in hand, and asked the servant beside him, "Who's next again?"

"Reporting to Secretary, it's Squire Chen of Jinxiu Cloth Shop in Shang County. His bones are quite hard."

The servant answered fawningly.

"Hard? Hehe."

Mockery flashed through his triangular eyes as he was about to order the man brought forward.

Crack!

But at that moment, the sound of paving stones splitting suddenly came from behind him. An icy aura, cold as the wind of the twelfth lunar month, surged like a tide, making his body abruptly stiffen.

Cold sweat covered him as he shivered and turned around.

By the pond, Meng Huaishan—once benevolent and amiable—now clutched his chest. His face was twisted like an Evil Ghost's, and the frigid light in his eyes seemed ready to transform into venomous snakes and leap out.

The fine stone tiles within several yards beneath him became the first victims of his fury, shattering and collapsing into a web of cracks.

Everyone in the courtyard felt as though black clouds were pressing down upon their heads, as though a giant hand had seized their hearts. Trembling, they stood as if on the brink of an abyss.

"M-Master... what happened?"

Lu Yutao, the Four Seas Gang's Secretary, had lost all his former swagger. His teeth chattered as he asked in a trembling voice.

He had followed Meng Huaishan for thirty years and personally witnessed the Four Seas Gang rise from a second- or third-rate force to an overlord capable of dominating an entire prefecture. Through every storm and wave, Meng Huaishan had never revealed joy or anger on his face. He had never seen him lose control so completely.

Hoo~

Meng Huaishan let out a long breath and reined in his terrifying aura. He forcibly calmed himself, though he still gritted his teeth slightly. "Go... go to Liu Xian Hall and see whose Life Lamp has gone out."

Liu Xian Hall... Life Lamps...

Lu Yutao shuddered in alarm. As the Four Seas Gang's Secretary, he naturally knew of the gang's hidden, dark side—and he knew what Liu Xian Hall was for.

A great demon was enshrined inside!

The Four Seas Gang had risen abruptly over the years, with experts springing up like bamboo shoots after rain. Behind it all was the shadow of that great demon.

Otherwise—

The Four Seas Gang would never have dared to cover the sky with one hand in Guangqing Prefecture and act with such unrestrained impunity. After all, those who dictated the rules governing the world were no mere mortals.

"Yes!"

Lu Yutao did not ask any unnecessary questions. He bowed with clasped hands and hurried away.

A short while later—

Lu Yutao returned to the courtyard, his face deathly pale. His expression hesitated briefly before he finally gritted his teeth and bowed. "Master, it's... it's Fourth Young Master's Life Lamp. It has gone out."

"..."

Silence. Oppression. Dead stillness!

The temperature throughout the courtyard seemed to have dropped by more than ten degrees, turning it into the depths of winter.

By the time Lu Yutao's back was drenched through and his waist was nearly broken beneath that terrifying aura—

Meng Huaishan finally spoke. There was no imagined rage or madness, only ice-cold indifference. "Notify Third Brother Qingshan. Have him ride at full speed and leave for Red Fire Mine immediately. Find out who Shuang'er provoked to bring disaster upon himself, and whether the matter of the Demon Seeds has been exposed.

"If it is someone we should not provoke, then treat it as though nothing happened.

"But if it is some rootless madman..."

As he spoke, blood-red light flickered in Meng Huaishan's eyes. He opened his crimson mouth and spat out a foot-long little green snake.

The little snake possessed Vitality and Spirit, and bore the exact same face as Meng Huaishan. It was eerily horrifying.

"The one who killed Shuang'er bears the Liu Xian Mark. Within one li, there will surely be a reaction."

Meng Huaishan instructed as he handed the little snake to Secretary Lu.

At the end—

His expression shifted, as though he had recalled something else. He continued, "Since that person could kill Qingshuang, his cultivation cannot be low. To guard against unexpected changes, Qingyun may select and deploy one of Black Sea Hall's Five Cocoon-Breaking Sharks to accompany him."

"Yes, yes, this subordinate will see to it at once."

Lu Yutao carefully committed the orders to memory. Straightening up, he revealed a worried look. "Master, Jingzhe of the imperial court has been watching us very closely lately. Most likely, Liu Immortal's matter has already been exposed.

"If the Five Sharks are split up and transferred away, while the branch masters in various places cannot rush to support us at once, then should they make a move..."

"Heh, it doesn't matter."

Meng Huaishan gave a disdainful laugh, his gaze distant. "Da Li is now battered by wind and rain, Humanity's Luck is declining, and Demons and Monsters are breaking from the earth at the scent of it.

"Jingzhe, that blade for suppressing evil forged by Taizu, has passed through the hands of several generations of foolish rulers and long since lost its former sharpness.

"Keeping those great demonic powers that have been suppressed for centuries under control is already its limit. It cannot possibly spare much effort for trifles like us. Even if it can, there will only be two or three little cats—nothing to fear.

"Compared to them, I am more concerned about Prince of Nanyang..."

"Prince of Nanyang?"

Lu Yutao's expression changed in alarm. "Would he really dare?"

"What is there for him not to dare?"

A trace of gravity appeared on Meng Huaishan's weathered face. "The land is now filled with wailing refugees, while corruption gnaws at power. Apart from some stubborn fools blindly loyal to the throne, the people's hearts have long ceased to belong to the Son of Heaven. If rebellion truly rises, there will not be many cries to suppress it. Instead, one call will draw a hundred responses.

"Prince of Nanyang understands this. That is why, over the past few months, he has openly formed factions throughout the Nine Prefectures of the Southern Frontier. His aides travel everywhere to lobby others. Wherever they pass, wealthy gentry, local magnates, government offices, and garrisons all pledge allegiance.

"Even among those ancient hidden sects upon the mountains, and the thousand-year aristocratic families below them, several have already spoken in support.

"At this point—

"He likely only lacks a single proclamation."

"That is troublesome."

Lu Yutao's face was full of concern. "Though Prince of Nanyang is fierce and domineering, he cares for the common people and possesses considerable virtue and prestige. He hates sinister, ghostly things most of all.

"If he rises in rebellion, he will first pacify the interior before resisting the outside. He will surely purge the scheming filth of the Southern Frontier at once. Then the Four Seas Gang's situation..."

"That is precisely why I have my concerns. However..."

Meng Huaishan exhaled softly. Turning back to look at the golden koi endlessly leaping and playing in the pond, a hint of ruthlessness surfaced in his eyes. "The Four Seas Gang has endured two generations and a hundred years of struggle to achieve its present glory. Becoming homeless dogs driven from our native land is absolutely impossible!

"If it truly comes to that, then I can only choose to become the enemy of all mankind."

The enemy of all mankind...

Lu Yutao shuddered. In his mind, the statue of an "Immortal Sect" deity enshrined in Liu Xian Hall surfaced—the one with its gaping, blood-filled maw. He could not help but tremble.

The gang leader was preparing to stop being human altogether.

"Oh, right."

As Lu Yutao was leaving, Meng Huaishan's calm voice, carrying shards of ice, sounded again. "Pass a message to Qingshan. If he catches the murderer, he must leave him with one breath and bring him back. I want to see exactly what insignificant god he is!"

"Rest assured, Master. We will make him beg for life but unable to die!"

Lu Yutao gritted his teeth in hatred as well. He nodded heavily, then quickly left the courtyard.

The courtyard fell quiet once more.

Meng Huaishan stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the school of carp. The grief and indignation over losing his adopted son had vanished from his face, replaced by cold ruthlessness. "Fifty Demon Seeds, gone just like that... incapable of success, yet more than capable of ruining things. What utter trash!"

Something had happened to Meng Qingshuang.

That meant the Red Fire Mine he guarded must also have suffered calamity. The only question was which side had done it.

Jingzhe?

Or the other two great powers of Guangqing Prefecture—White Whale Martial Arts Hall and Fangcun Sword Hall?

"Hehe, you and I split it fifty-fifty. Don't forget that. Half a month from now, if the share is insufficient..."

A sinister, icy cackle suddenly rang through his mind, interrupting Meng Huaishan's thoughts. His heart felt as though it were being bitten and wrung apart.

Fear flickered through Meng Huaishan's eyes before vanishing. His face darkened as he beckoned over a trusted guard. "How is the recruitment of refugees outside the city going?"

The guard bowed and answered, "Reporting to Gang Leader, according to your instructions, there are over a hundred young and strong men. They have been fed well for half a month now and are nearly ready. They are clamoring to earn merit for our Four Seas Gang. Most can be planted now."

"Mm. Have Second Brother keep a close watch. I do not want another Red Fire Mine incident!"

"Yes!"

Black Stone Desert.

By afternoon, the clouds had parted and the rain had stopped.

Heat waves billowed as the scorching sun once again baked this barren land.

A stretch of rocky Gobi.

Caw, caw, caw...

Vultures circled low overhead, having caught the thick scent of blood on the ground. Yet they seemed wary of something and did not dare descend.

On the ground—

In the distance, wind and sand churned as four turbaned men dressed in foreign garb fled in terror atop fierce horses, as though some primordial beast were pursuing them from behind.

On the Gobi flats not far away—

The stench of blood mingled with the windblown sand, piercing the nose and soaring into the sky. Severed limbs lay scattered everywhere, like a small slaughterhouse.

Bang!

A tiger-paw-sized foot crushed the head of a terrified, pleading man.

Wu Dao's bear-like, imposing body was shrouded in a bloodstained black robe. Facing the wind and sand, he looked around in every direction.

After a while—

Once he had identified the direction—

He turned back to look at the chunks of flesh covering the ground, then glanced at his black robe smeared with bloody filth. His face was gloomy and irritated.

After leaving Red Fire Mine—

He had sprinted nearly a hundred li. The blazing sun burned down on him, and he had pushed his stamina to its limits, nearly turning himself into a torch.

He had intended to rest on the spot for a while.

Yet he had unexpectedly run into a band of Sand Bandits roaming about and howling. Without a word, they surrounded him, shrieking bizarrely.

After his intense journey, Wu Dao's blood and qi had already been roiling. Then a pack of flies had come buzzing around him. His mood was easy enough to imagine.

Normally—

Though Wu Dao revered the natural law of the strong devouring the weak, the greatest difference between humans and beasts was self-control.

He was still a human being with social emotions, not some bloodthirsty beast of dim intelligence that only slaughtered and fed under the command of instinct.

He also disdained using the slaughter of the weak to display his strength, because that was the behavior of someone vain and insecure.

But every one of those principles rested on the premise that there was neither grudge nor profit involved!

If those Sand Bandits had merely passed by, then even if they had been dragging a person behind them and playing with him at will, Wu Dao could not be bothered to spare them another glance.

Unfortunately—

They wanted to find some excitement.

So Wu Dao could only satisfy them.

"But can this godforsaken place even support bandits?"

After the slaughter, the fire in Wu Dao's heart had subsided. He ignored the few Sand Bandits who had escaped, merely staring at the bloody scraps covering the ground with a baffled expression.

He had sprinted across Black Stone Desert, and along the way he had not encountered a single village—not even more than a few wild beasts. It was completely barren land.

In such an extremely harsh environment—

Did they make their living robbing sand?

"Hm?"

Just as Wu Dao was wondering, a harsh, agonized panting rose from the pile of sand and flesh, drawing his attention.

Someone still had one breath left?

That made things easy.