The Ding Sheng Building also stood in Golden Market Ward, though closer to its center, beside the main avenue. It was the finest establishment in Salt Spring County.
Wealthy merchants, wandering martial heroes, and officials hosting banquets generally chose this place.
Its four stories of sweeping eaves, interlocking brackets, and glazed tiles displayed lavish grandeur, gleaming like crystal beneath the light.
The first floor served walk-in guests, while the second and third held private rooms that only wealthy merchants could reserve. As for the fourth floor, only the true leading figures of Linjiang Prefecture qualified to enter.
The Ding Sheng Building was usually lively, but today it was unusually quiet, with a "No entry" sign hanging outside.
Several dozen elite guards stood watch at the entrance, discouraging disgruntled martial artists from making trouble.
On the fourth floor of the Ding Sheng Building, lamps burned constantly in the spacious main hall, even in broad daylight.
More than a dozen people sat within the hall.
Chen Jiulang, exuding a lean, fierce presence, occupied the seat of honor, with the others seated to his left and right.
Chen Jiulang surveyed everyone, his gaze lingering on several figures.
The three similar-looking men on his left radiated such savage menace that even he felt a twinge of alarm.
They were brothers born of the same mother: Helian Tao, the eldest; Helian Feng, the second; and Helian Hai, the youngest.
The three Helian brothers had originally been mounted bandits who ran rampant across the north. With several hundred vicious riders under their command, they had formed the Sand Wolf Gang, terrorizing the region and committing countless murders.
Later, however, they had offended someone powerful. Troops had wiped out the Sand Wolf Gang, forcing the three Helian brothers to flee south.
Even so, Chen Jiulang would not