As the saying went: the first step was always the hardest.
Take the Giant Whale Gang, for instance. It had barely been founded before those hardships finished it off.
Even the headquarters Dong Ping had so painstakingly decorated ended up as a branch of Chain Wharf.
Li Jincheng fully embraced his role as host, briskly directing the people of Chain Wharf to wash the ground clean and lay out the banquet again.
And the men and women of the Martial World who had come to watch the spectacle showed not the slightest aversion, calling their friends back to their seats and cheerfully resuming the feast.
"May your grand ambitions unfold!" from one side.
"May you soar ten thousand miles!" from another.
Even their auspicious wishes were so alike it almost seemed a coincidence...
Inside the Giant Whale Gang's main hall, the freshly bandaged Yang Ge braced himself against a chair, then slowly settled into the seat of honor on the right with one hand behind his back.
Now that he had his hands free, Yang Tiansheng snatched up the Cold Moon Saber beside Yang Ge without so much as a greeting, drew it, and gently stroked its gleaming silver blade with a lovestruck fool's expression...
Yang Ge glanced sidelong at him and teased, "Give up the sword and practice the saber, and I'll give it to you!"
Yang Tiansheng instantly sheathed it and said indignantly, "The Cold Moon Saber ending up in your hands is a pearl cast into darkness. This is a divine weapon! A divine weapon, understand?"
Yang Ge smiled. "Only when you stop treating it as a divine weapon can it truly be one. Treat it as a divine weapon, and it becomes a hindrance."
Yang Tiansheng slapped the wound on his left shoulder. "Spare me your