Hidden Undercurrents

Xia Daoming didn't return to his residence in Pear Blossom Alley until noon.

Before that, he had taken a long detour outside the city.

Although it seemed completely unnecessary, Xia Daoming felt that being cautious and taking a detour was more appropriate than swaggering into the city with a large bag.

The bloodstains in the courtyard of the Xia residence had already been cleaned up and were no longer visible. Last night, a Fifth-Rank Great Martial Master had nearly lost his life in the courtyard.

He closed the door to the backyard.

Xia Daoming entered his study, then opened the bag and took out the boxes one by one.

"As expected, a horse doesn't get fat without night fodder. I've truly struck it rich this time!" After a long while, Xia Daoming emerged from his study, his face beaming with a smile.

The most abundant items in Wu Yueli's private treasury were gold, jewelry, and bank notes, which amounted to thirty thousand taels of silver when converted.

Next were the Wu family's Black Cloud Strength cultivation techniques and the Hidden Strength Mysterious Divine Rhyme Diagram.

These items could naturally be exchanged for money, and certainly more than thirty thousand taels of silver. However, with the current situation, it was inconvenient to sell them for now.

Finally, there were pills, ointments, and medicinal herbs such as wild ginseng that could be directly consumed for replenishment.

Among the pills and ointments, nearly one-third were produced by the Ji Family, which made Xia Daoming sigh in admiration that the Ji Family truly lived up to its reputation as a major medicinal merchant in Li City.

Having taken medicine daily for the past three months and meeting with Ji Wenyue from time to time, Xia Daoming had now become a semi-expert on the medicinal market.

Xia Daoming estimated that the pills and ointments collected by Wu Yueli were worth at least seven to eight thousand taels of silver.

However, Xia Daoming believed that all the pills, ointments, and medicinal herbs combined were likely not as valuable as a single herb with a stem as red as fire but with three leaves as black as ink.

This herb gave Xia Daoming the feeling that it contained very potent medicinal properties.

It should be a great tonic.

However, one should not take medicine indiscriminately.

Furthermore, the fact that Wu Yueli had collected it without consuming it must have had its own reasons and concerns.

Therefore, Xia Daoming planned to arrange a meeting with Ji Wenyue to consult this expert.

The sun began to set.

In a private room on the second floor of the Quiet Heart Tea House on Qing Shi Street, Xia Daoming and Ji Wenyue sat opposite each other, sipping tea.

Ji Wenyue was dressed in an elegant light green dress. Her skin was as white as snow, with a delicate luster. Her eyebrows were like smoky willows, her eyes were like water, and beneath her upturned nose was a small, captivating mouth as bright as cherry blossoms.

Her waterfall-like black hair was tied back with a simple ribbon, casually draped over her chest. She appeared even more graceful and poised than she had in the desert, with an added touch of mature charm.

"My grandfather suddenly took out some precious medicinal herbs that the family had treasured for many years today and asked me to try and refine a pill according to an ancient formula within this period.

Therefore, for the next three to four months, I probably won't be able to go out easily. Here are some pills and bank notes. Combined with what I gave you last time, it should be enough for you to use during this period."

Ji Wenyue put down her teacup, took out a bundle placed by her side, placed it on the tea table, and pushed it towards Xia Daoming.

"It's hard to bear the kindness of a beauty. You doing this puts me in a difficult position, Big Brother!" Xia Daoming said with a look of "difficulty."

"Hehe, if you truly feel troubled, Big Brother, why don't you offer yourself and marry into my Ji Family?" Ji Wenyue teased Xia Daoming with a playful grimace.

As they spent more time together, Ji Wenyue became increasingly accustomed to Xia Daoming's flirtatious remarks and had started to learn how to retort.

"Big Brother only sells his charm, not his body. You can give up on that idea!" Xia Daoming said with a serious expression.

"Ah!" Ji Wenyue was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter, her chest heaving, which made Xia Daoming feel uneasy and his heart flutter.

"What you've given me these days is more than enough. Please take this back. No matter how much power you have in the family, if you use it like this, others might not say anything, but they will surely develop opinions and dissatisfaction in their hearts." Xia Daoming reluctantly pulled his gaze away from Ji Wenyue's increasingly mature and alluring figure, and pushed the bundle back with a serious expression.

"Without Big Brother, I wouldn't be where I am today! This is for Big Brother, so how can it be considered misuse? Moreover, Li City is likely to be unsettled soon. The stronger Big Brother is, the better he can protect himself. What does it matter if people in the family have opinions and dissatisfaction?" Ji Wenyue looked at Xia Daoming pushing the bundle back, becoming even more resolute in her actions.

"Li City is going to be unsettled? What do you mean by that?" Xia Daoming's expression changed slightly.

In the past six months, he had not only settled down in Li City, living a life of luxury and comfort with beautiful women warming his bed, but his martial arts had also advanced by leaps and bounds. It could be said that his life had been peaceful and pleasant, and he naturally did not wish for it to be disturbed.

"The owner of Wu Family Fortress, Wu Yueli, and his steward, Jing Xuanying, were killed this morning. In the entire Li City, only four forces have the ability to kill these two without anyone knowing. They are the Xu Family, the Lin Family, the Ding Family, and the Hegemon Blade Sect.

The Xu Family stands alone in Li City, towering above all other forces. However, the Lin Family, Ding Family, and Hegemon Blade Sect also have considerable influence in Li City. These three families are mutually restraining each other, while also forming an alliance with a tacit understanding to resist the suppression of the Xu Family, thus avoiding being defeated one by one.

Of course, the Xu Family has a Grandmaster guarding it. As long as the Xu Family does not attempt to destroy the other three families, they will outwardly show respect to the Xu Family and obey their commands.

However, a while ago, news spread that the Xu Family's ancestor seemed to have met with an accident, and the situation was not very favorable. The three families have since made some moves in secret, with the Lin Family being the most active.

The Wu Family Fortress has always been considered a force dependent on the Lin Family. Now that Wu Yueli and Jing Xuanying have been assassinated, my grandfather believes it is a warning from the Xu Family to the Lin Family.

But the occurrence of such an event at this time indirectly confirms that the news about the Xu Family's ancestor is not just a rumor.

The Xu Family has been dominant for years, and they have engaged in many acts of bullying the weak and favoring the powerful, leading to resentment among the various forces in Li City. The Lin Family, Ding Family, and Hegemon Blade Sect, in particular, are eager to overthrow the Xu Family.

Once the Xu Family's ancestor truly meets with misfortune, Li City will inevitably descend into a chaotic situation of numerous factions rising and fighting for dominance.

The Hidden Dragon Martial Arts School is also a force within Li City. Since Big Brother is a disciple of Liang Jingtang, he will definitely not be able to remain uninvolved if chaos erupts," Ji Wenyue said, a hint of worry in her beautiful eyes.

Xia Daoming listened, stunned, and couldn't recover for a long time.

He never dreamed that by casually killing two people, the outside world would actively find such a powerful scapegoat as the Xu Family for him.

Not only that, but his unintentional assassination seemed to have greatly stirred up Li City, which appeared calm on the surface but was actually turbulent beneath.

Perhaps a great storm would arrive early due to his unintentional actions.

"Therefore, Big Brother needs to improve his strength as quickly as possible, and also improve the strength of those around him as much as possible. Don't worry about wasting resources, and don't worry about my side either." Seeing Xia Daoming looking dazed, Ji Wenyue assumed he was shocked by her inside information and continued after a pause.

"Which faction does the Ji Family belong to?" Xia Daoming suddenly asked.

"The Ji Family deals in medicinal ingredients and maintains good relations with all factions in Li City. Every year, they proactively send large quantities of tribute gifts to the Four Great Factions. When the Four Great Factions need to refine medicine, they also require assistance from our Ji Family.

Therefore, the Ji Family navigates between various factions and is relatively independent, not belonging to any single faction's camp. However, if the Xu Family's ancestor were to meet with an accident, and the factions began to vie for power, with the Ji Family's current strength, they would likely be forced to choose a side!" Ji Wenyue said with a worried expression.

"And which faction does the Hidden Dragon Martial Arts School belong to?" Xia Daoming asked again.

Ji Wenyue looked at Xia Daoming with some surprise and replied, "The martial arts schools are a very special group of factions. Because they publicly accept disciples and teach martial arts, they generally don't scrutinize the background of those who pay the tuition.

These apprentices pay fees to the martial arts schools to learn martial arts. After achieving proficiency, they may establish their own schools, pledge allegiance to a faction, or return to serve their own families...

As a result, the martial arts schools have some connection, more or less, with various factions, forming a complex web of relationships.

The cohesion of martial arts schools is inherently loose compared to sects and established powers. Coupled with this intricate network of relationships, martial arts schools have become a relatively special and independent group, not needing to declare allegiance or dependence on any particular faction.

The Hidden Dragon Martial Arts School is no exception. However, I've heard that two collateral disciples from the Ding Family once cultivated to the Great Martial Master realm at the Hidden Dragon Martial Arts School and formally apprenticed under Master Liang, so the Hidden Dragon Martial Arts School is quite close to the Ding Family."

"The Ding Family?" Xia Daoming frowned slightly.

He had indeed heard Yuchi Xiao mention these two senior disciples from the Ding Family, but both had died young, and Yuchi Xiao hadn't elaborated on the specific reasons.

However, Xia Daoming's current concern wasn't about the two deceased senior disciples from the Ding Family, but rather that if the Hidden Dragon Martial Arts School was labeled as associated with the Ding Family, it wouldn't be a good thing for the school given the current situation.

"Three months ago, the Shi Family severely injured Senior Brother Gu. It's possible that it was instigated by the Xu Family, rather than being a trap set by the Shi Family," Xia Daoming's mind quickly drew some unwelcome connections.

"Regarding the relationship between the Hidden Dragon Martial Arts School and the Ding Family, I only found out because Brother Xia became Master Liang's disciple, and I specifically paid attention and inquired about it privately.

But now that you are Master Liang's personal disciple, you should be very clear about these matters!" Ji Wenyue said.

"I never paid attention to these things before; I was solely focused on practicing martial arts. Moreover, my master's close association with the Ding Family was only due to those two disciples from the Ding Family, and there's no subordinate relationship. I don't think he needed to specifically explain it to me," Xia Daoming replied.

"That's true," Ji Wenyue nodded, relieved.

"Oh, right, do you recognize this medicinal ingredient?" Xia Daoming handed a drawing to Ji Wenyue.

Today's updates are complete. Tomorrow is Monday, and we need to compete on the charts. The first update will be around midnight. Thank you to the following book friends for their rewards: Shensrmxc, 20220815145107688, RPG Defense, Light of Autumn God, Sword Immortal Red World, Dragon Roaring Battle for All, Dizzy Old Man is Used by Everyone, 160229153214031.