Two Hundred Brothers... That's It?

Capital City, Shallow Water Pier.

Scores of merchant ships were moored at the docks, while porters hauled cargo off ship after ship. The nine canals of the Capital City and the thriving grain transport trade had given rise to a uniquely prosperous dockside culture.

The Canal Gang was the local power in this tangled world.

The Canal Gang had not been around for very long, but it encompassed the dockside porter crews and shipping firms of Lu, Jiangnan, and the Two Guang regions. Its reach was vast, its branches spread everywhere, and its organization had grown bloated and unwieldy.

In the early years of the Late Emperor Yong's reign, the treasury was empty, so he instituted the policy of returning furnace taxes to the public treasury. But if taxes were too heavy and the people went hungry, the country would fall into chaos. So he also introduced the equal-field tax system, expanded the area of cultivated land, and put agriculture first.

The Late Emperor Yong wasn't like Ganhuang, who had loved waging war in his early years and grew greedy for pleasure in his later ones. The Late Emperor knew that food was the people's paramount need and placed enormous importance on agriculture. He was a seasoned old hand at farming.

By comparison, Ganhuang was like some rich whale of a player who loved paying to show off in PvP—a cash warrior. His glorious early victories had been bought by throwing money around, and in his later years, he threw money at chasing women and choosing consorts...

After the Late Emperor put farming first and vigorously promoted agriculture, granaries were built throughout the realm, and grain transport routes were opened up. Across the Great Jing Dynasty, rice was grown in the south and wheat in the north. Transport had once relied mainly on land routes, but Great Jing was vast and rich in resources, and overland travel was difficult and fraught with danger. So the Late Emperor issued an imperial decree, ordering an imperial envoy to recruit people and establish grain transport by water.

The Canal Gang's predecessor was the Grain Boat Gang. At first, the brothers Weng, Qian, and Pan answered the imperial decree and took up grain transport by water. They became the three founders of the Canal Gang. As it grew, it branched into the Weng, Qian, and Pan lines.

The largest branch, the Pan line, was in Jiangnan. Here in the Capital City, the Weng line held sway over the Canal Gang, and now controlled the grain transport trade along the city's nine canals.

The local boss at Shallow Water Pier was Weng Deyan.

Weng Deyan had ties to the Western Affairs Party in the court. He took money from them and relied on their influence over local grain transport to smuggle and store Fortune-Longevity Paste.

Yet even though plenty of people at court knew about it, no one could find proof of their collusion. The Six Fan School had come here countless times, but they still couldn't find where Weng Deyan was hiding the Fortune-Longevity Paste.

The Canal Gang's hall at Shallow Water Pier.

A broad-faced, hulking brute sat in the middle chair, cracking into a large plate of crabs. This was Weng Deyan, the Canal Gang's local boss at Shallow Water Pier.

Below him, a group of Canal Gang members were grinning as they held down several constables, all beaten black and blue.

In the Capital City, the only people who dared beat Six Fan School constables like this—aside from the outlaw groups already wanted by the court—were the powerful local bullies of the Canal Gang.

"You're still coming around looking for trouble, huh? Looking for trouble, are you? Like sticking your nose in other people's business? I'll teach you to stick your nose in!"

The Canal Gang thugs kicked the constables mercilessly, leaving them covered in bruises, with teeth knocked out and mouths full of blood. Weng Deyan watched as he ate his crabs, making no move to stop them. He didn't seem afraid of getting into trouble with the authorities.

Afraid of trouble with the authorities? Don't make me laugh. They were in the kind of business that got your head chopped off. If the authorities came knocking, it wouldn't just be trouble—they'd lose their heads.

That was why they never tried to cozy up to the authorities in the first place. On the contrary, they had to intimidate them into staying away. Weng Deyan had ordered his men to beat the constables. Whenever they saw anyone from the Six Fan School on their turf, they were to make trouble for them and cow the constables into avoiding Canal Gang territory. Even when the constables received orders from their superiors, they'd be forced to drag their feet.

But today, they'd run into someone tough.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Several icy swords shot down!

Weng Deyan's gaze sharpened. He stamped his foot, and a surge of force rippled outward, blasting the Canal Gang members clustered together in every direction.

Thud! Thud! Thud! The swords stabbed into the ground, forming a protective circle around the battered, near-dead constables.

If Weng Deyan hadn't acted just now, the swords would likely have injured several Canal Gang members.

A figure dropped from above, a blue scarf tied around her hair and a sword case strapped to her back. She swept out a hand, and every sword on the ground flew back into the case.

When Weng Deyan saw who it was, his eyes narrowed. At last, he rose from his chair and cupped his hands.

"Well, well! Officer Xue Ning of Divine Constable Hall. I heard you went to the Western Regions to hunt down a notorious bandit. When did you get back to the Capital? You should've given your brothers a heads-up, so we could prepare a feast and welcome you back. Tsk, tsk. Look at these fresh sea-red crabs, the first catch of the morning. How about some?"

Weng Deyan's hand, slick with crab grease from eating, held up a crab claw in front of Xue Ning.

Ding! A cold sword flashed out and back into its scabbard. Before anyone saw the blade, the crab leg had already been sliced in two.

Weng Deyan grimaced and cursed.

"You ungrateful bitch."

Ding! Ding! Ding! Clang!

In a sudden clash of blades, Weng Deyan had a Muddy Water Staff in his hand. He deflected three of Xue Ning's strikes in a row, then retreated ten paces, a cut marking his face.

Xue Ning, meanwhile, still stood where she had been, one hand behind her back. She hadn't taken a single step, and her sword was already sheathed. It had all happened too fast for ordinary people to see her moves.

"As expected of the Six Fan School's top expert. We're both top-tier fighters with a century of internal cultivation, yet I couldn't fend off three of your strikes. You really are the best among the top-tier fighters."

Weng Deyan's face twisted into a sneer, and he let out a wild laugh.

"But so what? You still haven't crossed the threshold into the master realm. No matter how strong you are, you're no match for a master—not even for one move."

Xue Ning's expression remained blank, her face cold as stone. She hadn't said a word from beginning to end. After listening to Weng Deyan's blather, she was about to strike again when someone spoke up.

"Stop. We're taking our injured brothers back."

Zhuifeng appeared in the hall without warning. No one had seen where he came from. His peerless lightness skill made him as elusive as a shadow. He hoisted an injured constable over his shoulder, glanced at Weng Deyan, then turned to Xue Ning.

"I just received a secret report. A master from the Canal Gang has arrived in the Capital. He's already inside the city."

Xue Ning frowned but didn't draw her sword.

Seeing that Xue Ning wasn't striking again, Weng Deyan secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He planted his Muddy Water Staff upright and lowered his guard, but his face remained arrogant.

"Officer, you really don't know how to show a man a little kindness. I invite you to eat crabs, and you come in here and smash the place up."

Zhuifeng gave a cold laugh. "Weng Deyan, your men beat my Six Fan School brothers. Your Canal Gang is smuggling Fortune-Longevity Paste. I should be inviting you to the Ministry of Justice prison today, so you can try their jailhouse fare."

Weng Deyan chuckled. "Now, Officer, don't try to fool me with your words. Do you have any evidence that I'm smuggling Fortune-Longevity Paste? Where did I supposedly take it? You have no proof, yet you want to pin a crime on me. Isn't that an official using his power to bully the people?"

"Weng Deyan." Zhuifeng's voice turned colder. He snapped his steel-hard Elegant Fan shut and pointed it at Weng Deyan like a blade.

"Don't think we leave you alone just because the Canal Gang has a master backing it. We're only following the rules. But one of our brothers died at your Shallow Water Pier. I haven't forgotten. When the Fortune-Longevity Paste case is over, I'll come see you off myself."

"Ha! What a fine display of official power. What does it have to do with me if someone from the Six Fan School dies? Maybe they were just useless."

Weng Deyan let out a wild laugh and pointed at the constables who had just been beaten half to death.

"I'll tell you Six Fan School people right now: I've got two hundred brothers at Shallow Water Pier, and every one of them is a tough fighter. If you dare mess with us, we'll beat you every single time you come around..."

Now that Weng Deyan had heard the Canal Gang's master had finally arrived in the Capital, he felt emboldened. Today, he was determined to challenge the Six Fan School and humiliate them. Just then, a Canal Gang member came hurrying into the hall and shouted,

"Boss, we're in trouble! Someone beat up our brothers!"

Weng Deyan frowned and clicked his tongue. He was in the middle of mouthing off to the Six Fan School. Who was this killjoy?

"Why didn't you take some brothers and beat them back?"

"We went. We couldn't beat them."

"If you couldn't beat them, why didn't you call more? We've got two hundred brothers! Why didn't you bring more people?!"

"We went. All two hundred brothers went."

"Then why are you standing here yapping? Get lost!"

"All two hundred... all of them were beaten flat!"

"What?!" Weng Deyan was shocked. Fury and alarm flared in his eyes. "What expert dares attack my Canal Gang?!"

"It... it... it was..."

The Canal Gang member stammered "it" again and again, but it was as if his memory had gone hazy. He couldn't remember who the terrifying figure was that had crushed all two hundred of the Canal Gang's brothers. Deep in his eyes, a vast golden sea of Yellow Millet Land shimmered, and he muttered strange words.

"I forgot. I only remember a vast, vast Yellow Millet Land..."