Jianghu II

Worry-Free Tower was not the largest tavern in Linked Mountains City, but it was certainly the most popular one among the wandering martial artists passing through.

Some said the wine here was the strongest, some said the meat was the most savory, and others said the proprietress of the place was the most flirtatious.

In truth, however, it was simply because Worry-Free Tower offered honest and affordable prices, making it best suited for these low-level Jianghu wanderers who lived day-to-day, impoverished yet still trying to put on an air of bravado.

At this moment, the first floor of Worry-Free Tower was already filled with clamor and smoke, the air thick with the pungent stench of strong alcohol and body odor.

Men roaming the Jianghu bared their chests, washing down peanuts with cheap liquor, and spitting saliva everywhere as they gossiped about Jianghu affairs within Linked Mountains City.

The primary topic among them was the struggle between the two major factions of Linked Mountains City, the Heavenly Wolf Gang and the Blackwater Gang.

Linked Mountains City was a small city in the Youzhou Northlands among the Nineteen Provinces of Great Xia, and the largest powers within the city were precisely these two gangs.

The two factions had been fighting endlessly for decades, maintaining a state of evenly matched equilibrium, but recently, the Blackwater Gang had gained the upper hand in their conflict.

At that moment, a bare-chested man with a face full of fleshy jowls abruptly slammed the wine bowl in his hand onto the table and said in a loud voice:

"If you ask me, this Heavenly Wolf Gang is going to be finished sooner or later!

Jiang Kaitai, the leader of the Heavenly Wolf Gang, was indeed a figure in his youth, and the Northern Wolf of the Northlands certainly wasn't an undeserved reputation.

But he's in his seventies now, so his vital energy and blood have probably long since begun to wither and his strength to decline, whereas Gang Leader Yuan of the Blackwater Gang, the Iron-Head Arhat, is in his prime.

Look at the next generation as well; the five major protectors of the Blackwater Gang are all figures who can hold their own on any front.

What on earth are those so-called Three Heavenly Wolf Elites of the Heavenly Wolf Gang? Which of them has a record to show off?

Over the past few months, the Heavenly Wolf Gang has suffered defeat after defeat; in my opinion, this Linked Mountains City will belong to the Blackwater Gang sooner or later."

Beside him, an older, weather-beaten Jianghu wanderer gently shook his head and advised:

"Hu Laosan, you can talk nonsense about food, but you can't talk nonsense about things like this.

I know you've been getting thick with Zhang Biao, a leader of the Blackwater Gang recently, but the struggle between those two gangs isn't something people like you and me can flap our jaws about.

Even if the Heavenly Wolf Gang really is failing, its remaining tooth could still easily crush you to death."

Hu Laosan stiffened his neck with a look of grievance: "What, has his Heavenly Wolf Gang become the emperor? You aren't even allowed to talk about it?

I'd dare curse the old emperor himself, so what the hell is his Heavenly Wolf Gang supposed to be?"

Just as Hu Laosan's voice faded, a flash of saber light bloomed without warning, and the vibrating, howling ring of a blade abruptly echoed through Worry-Free Tower.

The next moment, Hu Laosan's oversized head had already dropped into the wine bowl before the table, splashing up a spray of bloody water mixed with turbid wine.

Inside the bowl, the arrogant expression on Hu Laosan's face had yet to vanish as he stared blankly at his own headless torso, which was spurting gushes of fresh blood.

Behind Hu Laosan, a twenty-something young man dressed in a black brocade robe flicked the blood beads off the Wild Goose Feather Saber in his hand and sheathed the blade with a crisp, resonant chime.

"Is a piece of trash like you even qualified to judge my Heavenly Wolf Gang?

In this Linked Mountains City you can curse the emperor, but anyone who dares insult my foster father or my Heavenly Wolf Gang dies!"

The young man's complexion was slightly pale, his facial contours looked as though they had been chiseled by a knife, and his gaze was as cold and piercing as a blade.

As his gaze swept across the room at that moment, the entire Worry-Free Tower instantly fell as silent as death, not a single sound remaining.

An attendant walked over, picked up a black cloak embroidered with a silver wolf head, and draped it over the young man's shoulders.

The young man drew a silver ingot from his bosom and tossed it upward, and it landed before a woman in her early thirties with a voluptuous, alluring figure, fine and charming features, and a strapless low-cut dress.

This woman was none of other than the proprietress of Worry-Free Tower, Wen Rou.

"Boss Wen, apologies for soiling your Worry-Free Tower."

Wen Rou picked up the silver and weighed it in her hand; it was at least ten taels.

Her gaze toward the young man instantly grew so seductive it seemed capable of dripping water.

"You jest, Young Master Chen. This fellow had a foul mouth to begin with, and I'd long wanted to throw him out anyway—thank you for troubling yourself to help me clean up the trash, Young Master Chen."

The young man waved a hand and led his subordinate attendants out of Worry-Free Tower.

Once the young man's figure had completely vanished, someone tentatively asked: "Proprietress, which one of the Heavenly Wolf Gang was that?"

Wen Rou sneered: "You speak ill of people behind their backs without even knowing who they are?

Of the Three Heavenly Wolf Elites, eldest Qin Yuancheng commands Blood Fang Hall, and second Chu Ziping commands Punishment Hall.

This one is the third among the Three Heavenly Wolf Elites, the final foster son taken in by Gang Leader Jiang, Chen Yuan.

Young Master Chen commands the Merit Transmission Hall and doesn't usually walk about outside, only responsible for instructing gang members in martial arts.

Yet rumor has it he is the one with the greatest natural talent among the Three Heavenly Wolf Elites; after studying martial arts for barely two years, his Heavenly Wolf Saber Art has already reached the pinnacle of perfection.

That Heavenly Wolf Swallowing the Moon strike just now looked to already possess seven parts of Gang Leader Jiang's former divine charm."

Outside Worry-Free Tower, Chen Yuan stepped onto the carriage waiting in advance and instructed his trusted attendant Zhang Xiaoyi: "Spread the word about what happened just inside Worry-Free Tower earlier. Remember to do it somewhat covertly, not too deliberately—mainly emphasize my anger toward someone slandering my foster father."

Zhang Xiaoyi nodded repeatedly and immediately turned away to spread the news.

Chen Yuan boarded the carriage and gently massaged the space between his brows.

After this little stunt today, his favorability rating with Jiang Kaitai should be able to rise by another notch or two, right?

Chen Yuan had transmigrated to this world ten days ago.

To be precise, he was not even sure whether this was a real world.

Because he was very familiar with the background of this world, which was identical to Jianghu II, an open-world holographic game he had relied on to make a living in his past life.

Jianghu II was the sequel to the holographic game The Great Jianghu, being even freer, more open, and more realistic than its predecessor.

In his past life, Chen Yuan had been a professional player of Jianghu II, though he belonged to no guild and always fought alone, earning the title of the strongest solo player.

He remembered that in his past life, Jianghu II had just released the teaser trailer for its final chapter, Martial Arts Alliance Leader.

That mysterious martial arts alliance leader was merely a black silhouette, and the entire trailer had been utterly vague, playing out like a game of riddles.

Chen Yuan had just wanted to log out and leave a routine angry rant directed at the production team, but the moment he took off his helmet, his vision went black and he passed out.

Upon waking up, he found himself still in the game world, yet without a status interface and with no way to log out.

Spending a full day, Chen Yuan finally confirmed that he had truly transmigrated into the world of Jianghu II and become an NPC.

There were no players in this world, only a genuine jianghu of flashing blades and drawn swords.

There was only a single life as well; once dead, there was no restarting.

The time Chen Yuan found himself in right now was the twenty-first year of Daxing in Great Xia, which in Jianghu II was the exact time the game had just launched, and Linked Mountains City was one of the many starter villages.

The background of Jianghu II was grand, featuring the Nineteen Provinces of Great Xia, alongside overseas regions, grasslands, Western Regions, and other maps.

The jianghu and the imperial court, sects and great clans, warred with one another without end.

At this time, Great Xia had been founded for five hundred years, already revealing signs of decline and decay. Of the nineteen provinces under heaven, the imperial court truly controlled only the nine central provinces.

The remaining ten provinces were only nominally under the administration of the court, being actually controlled by the various sects and clans of each region.

In order to maintain a basic facade of dignity, the court merely levied a basic tax on the various cities in those remaining ten provinces; as long as the taxes were handed over, everything else belonged to the various factions within the cities.

Take Linked Mountains City for instance: its true rulers were the Heavenly Wolf Gang and the Blackwater Gang.

The power of the imperial court here was virtually zero, consisting of only a single county magistrate and a dozen bailiffs.

They were mainly responsible for adjudicating trivial domestic disputes and escorting the taxes submitted by the Heavenly Wolf Gang and the Blackwater Gang all the way to the Capital City.

Chen Yuan looked through the carriage window at the street scenes of Linked Mountains City outside, gently rubbing his head as he sorted through the memories in his mind.

The starter village when he had first started playing Jianghu II was not Linked Mountains City, but as a professional player, he was intimately familiar with the opening of almost every starter village.

The starter village boss of Linked Mountains City was his adoptive father, the leader of the Heavenly Wolf Gang, Jiang Kaitai, nicknamed the Northern Wolf of the Northlands.

The reason Jiang Kaitai could become a starter village boss had to be traced back to a foundational setting of Jianghu II: Divine Weapons and Demonic Arms.

In the Primordial Era of this world, countless mighty beings of gods and demons fought fiercely, and after their falls, their divine weapons and demonic arms remained, refusing to decay with the passage of time.

These divine weapons and demonic arms possessed formidable power that martial artists found difficult to match, causing countless people of the jianghu to fight desperately for them and flock to them like ducks.

It could be said that almost all top factions in the jianghu today had divine weapons and demonic arms anchoring them.

Even if they lacked a complete divine weapon or demonic arm, they would still possess a portion of deployable Divine Weapons and Demonic Arms Fragments.

The reason the Great Xia Imperial Clan had been able to secure its realm for hundreds of years was precisely because it mastered two divine weapons: the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow and the Human Sovereign Sword.

It could be said that there were only two kinds of factions in the jianghu today: one was the top-tier factions possessing divine weapons and demonic arms, and the other was everyone else.

Although the Heavenly Wolf Gang controlled half of Linked Mountains City, it could only be considered at the very bottom among the other factions.

Every year, after deducting the taxes handed over to the imperial court from the revenue of the Heavenly Wolf Gang, eighty percent of what remained had to be handed over to the Murong Clan of Dragon City in Youzhou, who mastered the divine weapon Starshift.

Chen Yuan's adoptive father, Jiang Kaitai, had accidentally discovered a Seven-Kill Stele Fragment, and so he secretly blood-sacrificed the divine weapon in Linked Mountains City, wanting to master the Seven-Kill Stele Fragment.

Because the blood sacrifice was too extensive and drew the attention of those above, the Murong Clan of Dragon City and the One Qi Piercing Sun Alliance behind the Blackwater Gang both sent people to investigate.

Jiang Kaitai grew mad and deranged, wanting to blood-sacrifice the entire Linked Mountains City to fuse with the Seven-Kill Stele Fragment, only to be heavily injured in the end by the Murong Clan joining forces with the One Qi Piercing Sun Alliance, and finally finished off by the players to complete the kill.

After the incident, the Seven-Kill Stele Fragment fled and went missing due to the out-of-control blood sacrifice, failing to be seized by the Murong Clan or the One Qi Piercing Sun Alliance.

As for the Heavenly Wolf Gang, its fate was naturally to be completely annihilated.

The Murong Clan was furious that Jiang Kaitai had actually dared to covet a divine weapon and caused it to fly away on their own territory, so in their anger they wiped out the entire Heavenly Wolf Gang to vent their wrath, leaving not a single chicken or dog alive.

Chen Yuan's identity at this moment in the original plot was merely a background board, only slightly stronger than other nameless, faceless grunts, and his fate was bound to be exterminated by the Murong Clan as well.

Upon confirming his identity, Chen Yuan's very first reaction was to flee.

To flee far away, far away from Linked Mountains City, this powder keg.

Yet this thought only appeared for a single instant before Chen Yuan snuffed it out.

Linked Mountains City was indeed a powder keg right now, but it also held unimaginable opportunities.

The divine weapon Seven-Kill Stele was the supreme divine weapon in the version one storyline of Jianghu II, incarnated from the Source of Killing Intent, and even a mere fragment possessed incomparably formidable might.

Its appearance in a starter village was merely meant to introduce the concept of divine weapons and demonic arms, making it fundamentally impossible for players to acquire in the original version of the plot.

Yet now there were no players, and having arrived in this world with a thorough knowledge of the plot, might he himself be able to seize the Seven-Kill Stele Fragment?

Chen Yuan was not the sort of timid character who would only know how to cower.

Otherwise, in the game he would never have stood shoulder to shoulder with professional players from major guilds while acting as a solo player.

Besides, even if Chen Yuan fled, he would still be hunted down by the Murong Clan all the same in the future.

The Murong Clan of Dragon City was notorious in Youzhou for having a narrow mind and repaying every grievance with rancor.

In the original plot, not a single member of the Heavenly Wolf Gang within Linked Mountains City was spared.

Even former members who had once joined the Heavenly Wolf Gang, but had long since retired from the martial world and gone to make a living in other cities, were hunted down and killed by the Murong Clan to vent their anger.

As the adopted son of Jiang Kaitai, even if he fled now, he would undoubtedly end up on the Murong Clan's wanted list in the future.

Rather than hiding in fear down the road, it was better to make a desperate gamble right now.

Therefore, over the past ten days, Chen Yuan had constantly sorted through the plot while repeatedly farming Jiang Kaitai's favorability, all in preparation to seize the Seven-Kill Stele Fragment.

"Stop."

Chen Yuan, who had been staring out the window the entire time, suddenly called out.

The driver immediately halted the carriage and pulled open the door.

Chen Yuan stepped down from the carriage and approached a beggar at the street corner.

The beggar's hair was unkempt and matted, obscuring his face.

While other beggars would raise their bowls and beg for charity upon seeing someone approach, this beggar merely glanced at Chen Yuan without even moving his body.

Chen Yuan looked at the beggar, took out a piece of broken silver, placed it in the beggar's bowl, and turned to leave.

Yet the beggar still slumped there, not even uttering a single word of thanks.

Stepping back into the carriage, Chen Yuan returned directly to the Heavenly Wolf Gang's branch hall.

As one of the two major factions ruling Linked Mountains City, the Heavenly Wolf Gang monopolized an entire street, with two giant wolf sculptures, over a zhang in height and howling at the sky, erected at the entrance.

Two rows of Heavenly Wolf Gang members dressed in wolf-patterned black garments stood guard on both sides of the main gate, holding weapons and looking quite imposing.

"Where is Adoptive Father?"

Chen Yuan asked the guards at the door.

"Reporting to the Third Young Master, the Gang Leader is in the inner hall."

Chen Yuan nodded, walked up to the inner hall, rubbed his face, and put on a proper smile before stepping inside.

"Your son Chen Yuan pays respects to Adoptive Father!"