(First update)
Heaven Dou Empire, the Sky-Blasting Gang's headquarters.
During the half year and more that Yang Ming had been away, the headquarters had become noticeably livelier. People came and went along the streets, most of them boys and girls under twelve. Yet because they practiced a Qi cultivation method, they radiated a sense of harmony with heaven, earth, and nature, inside and out. Confident and poised, every one of them had the makings of a peerless beauty.
Prince Xue Xing had a real talent for management.
He trained the orphans he had secretly gathered from across the Heaven Dou Empire. Not all of them were suited for combat, but he did not let those who were unsuited go to waste, either. He had each of them learn a trade, and industries such as metallurgy, tailoring, and woodcarving began to flourish with the influx of these youngsters.
Within the Sky-Blasting Gang's headquarters, however, several places were forbidden grounds that these ordinary members could never enter.
Many cast envious glances as they passed the entrances to the Azure Dragon Hall, Vermilion Bird Hall, Black Tortoise Hall, and White Tiger Hall.
In the Azure Dragon Hall's rear courtyard, beneath a large banyan tree.
Tang San sat cross-legged, magnificent blue light surging around him.
Compared to over half a year ago, Tang San was clearly much stronger. Evidently, spurred on by Yang Ming's meteoric rise in strength, he had been working especially hard lately.
A small clump of Blue Silver Grass sprouted from his right palm. Its translucent blades lacked the barbs bestowed by the Ghost Vine, and it appeared only a little thicker than ordinary Blue Silver Grass. Yet those sapphire-like blades were exceptionally beautiful.
The trace of golden veining within them, in particular, lent them a uniquely striking beauty.
This was