He immediately spotted five or six rowdy young men. Each carried a club in one hand and a large chunk of stewed offal in the other, chewing away with relish.
As they ate, their faces wore looks of satisfaction.
"I've gotta say, Li's Stewed Offal really is delicious."
"Yeah. Second Brother, do you think we'll get in trouble for this?"
"I heard the owner of Li's Stewed Offal is a Grade Entry martial artist."
"What's there to be afraid of? My big brother's a Grade Entry martial artist too. He'll back us up!"
"Oh? Who's your big brother?"
Li Beichen blocked their path.
His powerful, imposing frame made the hooligans look like chicks in front of him.
"Y-you... who are you?"
A vicious grin curled Li Beichen's lips.
"You smashed up my sign, and now you're asking who I am? Weren't you just talking about me?"
"Run!"
With a shriek, the hooligans scattered in every direction.
But no matter how fast they ran, they couldn't outrun the Locust Stones.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Li Beichen struck from both sides, pulling out stones and hurling them one after another with lightning speed.
Now that he had reached Flesh Tempering, he could unleash ten consecutive sonic booms. His brute strength was astonishing, and each punch carried a thousand jin of force.
The stones he threw were even more devastating.
Several screams rang out. The hooligans' lower legs were all mangled, their shinbones smashed by the stones.
They fell to the ground, clutching their legs and howling without pause.
When they saw Li Beichen walking toward them, terror filled their faces.
"Talk. Who put you up to this?"
He picked up a brick from beside him.
"It was Wu Ming! Wu Ming!"
"Spare us!"
"The Meat Guild? Wu Ming?!"
Li Beichen instantly remembered the invitation he'd received not long ago.
"When cooperation didn't work, they resorted to this..."
His gaze turned icy. He dropped the brick and headed straight for the Meat Trade Association.
In the guild's upper-floor office,
Zhou Zhongru stood behind the window, looking out through the half-shut panes at the bustling main street.
Market Ward, Thirty-Six Trades.
As the head of the Meat Guild, he naturally had a keen ear for anything that happened in front of the public.
What's more, Wu Ming had used such a despicable trick at his behest.
Just as he'd expected, Li Beichen would soon come looking for him.
Before long, a smile appeared on Zhou Zhongru's face. He saw Li Beichen's figure appear on the street, just as expected.
As he watched Li Beichen approach, Zhou Zhongru imagined a great slab of fat walking toward him.
"Fourth, quick! Boil some water and brew tea. Someone's coming to bring us money!"
"President Zhou."
"Attendant Li, come sit and have some tea."
Li Beichen looked at Zhou Zhongru's unruffled expression and set his teacup down.
"President Zhou, may I ask who this Wu Ming is?"
"What's wrong? Wu Ming is an attendant of my Meat Guild. He's mastered Flesh Tempering, and his martial arts are quite impressive."
"So President Zhou knows nothing about it, then."
Li Beichen fixed his gaze on Zhou Zhongru.
"Today, I received an invitation. Wu Ming said he wanted to cooperate with me. I turned him down, and not long after, my stewed offal shop was smashed up."
"The men who trashed my shop were sent by Wu Ming."
"Such a thing happened?!"
Li Beichen watched Zhou Zhongru feign surprise, then said,
"I won't hide it from you, Attendant Li. Consultant Wu was once an Inner Courtyard disciple of Thunderbolt Martial Hall, and he still has deep ties to the hall."
"Besides, Consultant Wu has a fiery temper. At the slightest disagreement, he's ready to shout for a fight."
"This is a bit of a headache..."
Hearing Zhou Zhongru go on about what a headache it was, Li Beichen's gaze sharpened, and he cut him off.
"President Zhou, how did Wu Ming learn about my stewed offal business?"
"Well... your stewed offal business is booming in Ram City, Attendant Li. It's only natural that Wu Ming heard about it."
"Attendant Li, you seem like an honest man, so let me speak from the heart."
"Wu Ming isn't someone to trifle with. In business, harmony brings prosperity. I'm willing to mediate and help you put this trouble to rest."
"Oh?"
Li Beichen wore a smile, but his eyes grew colder by the moment.
"President Zhou, then tell me how you plan to help me out of this mess."
At those words, Zhou Zhongru's smile grew even brighter.
"In business, cooperation is how everyone wins. If you let others take a stake in your business, you can grow it bigger and stronger. And with more people behind you, no one will dare provoke you."
"Look at the Thirty-Six Trades of Ram City. Not one of them has a monopoly. They all work together to get things done."
"Cooperation—that's the way of business."
A murderous glint flashed in Li Beichen's eyes. Just a few days ago, he'd offered Zhou Zhongru a share of his profits, and now someone had come knocking.
It was another attendant of the Meat Guild.
And Zhou Zhongru was saying all this.
He'd already guessed part of the truth.
Li Beichen stared at Zhou Zhongru, his voice turning grim.
"Then I'd like to ask President Zhou: what would this cooperation look like?"
Zhou Zhongru was so blinded by greed that he didn't notice the change in Li Beichen's tone—or perhaps he simply didn't care.
"I've spent over thirty years navigating the ups and downs of business. Allow me to offer you some advice."
"First, you must give something to get something. According to the rules of the trade, you need to hand over seventy percent of the profits and keep thirty percent for yourself."
"That seventy percent will be used to grease the wheels and work together with everyone. This needs to be handled by a seasoned, steady elder to ensure everything goes smoothly."
"I can take care of that for you. You won't have to worry about anything else."
Looking at Zhou Zhongru, whose greed was plain to see even as he put on the face of someone acting in Li Beichen's best interests, Li Beichen suppressed his disgust and asked for confirmation.
"President Zhou, are you saying I need to hand over seventy percent of my profits to settle this?"
"You can't put it that way. Once you hand over that seventy percent, the business can keep growing. It may seem like you'll only have thirty percent of the profits, but in the end, you might actually take home more than you do now."
"This is a win-win! It's—"
"Enough!"
Li Beichen didn't want to hear another word from Zhou Zhongru. He cut him off.
"There's no need to trouble President Zhou with this. Just take me to see Consultant Wu."
"No need. Your Uncle Wu is already here!"
Before the words had even faded, an ugly-looking brute walked over.
"President Zhou, this new attendant you've recruited injured my men. This isn't over."
The villain was playing the victim.
Li Beichen's gaze turned completely icy.
"This isn't over, that's for sure."
"You're both attendants of my Meat Guild. You're on the same side. Don't let this damage the peace between you."
Zhou Zhongru was still pretending to be a good man. He hurried forward to separate Wu Ming, then quietly said to Li Beichen,
"Attendant Li, you've only been Grade Entry for a little over a month. Wu Ming has spent more than a decade honing himself at Ninth Grade. If you clash, you won't come out ahead."
"If you agree now, I can still do my best to mediate."
"No need."
Li Beichen pushed Zhou Zhongru aside.
"Old Zhou, you meant well, but he doesn't seem to appreciate it!"
Hearing Wu Ming say that, Zhou Zhongru dropped the act. His expression changed, and he said coolly,
"Since that's how it is, Li Beichen, you're on your own. If you come back to me, it won't be a matter of seventy percent anymore."
Watching the two of them play off each other made Li Beichen sick. His killing intent had already risen.
He pointed at them both.
"There's nothing more to say. Let's settle this with a martial duel!"
He'd deal with these two, one by one!
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