No secret stayed hidden forever.
The meeting of several Faxiang masters at the Flowing Goblet Pavilion in Shaoxing had long since ceased to be a secret. Besides, they had made no particular effort to conceal their movements when setting out for the Heavenly Maiden Dragon Pool...
In the open and in the shadows, no shortage of people took an interest in them.
These included Jiangnan's entrenched local gangs, such as the Beggar Gang, the God of Wealth Gang, the Sea Whale Gang, and the Twelve Linked Stockades, as well as roaming Wokou and the Kashima Shinto-ryu of Eastern Japan.
The Faxiang masters had descended into the Dragon Pool and failed to emerge for a long time.
This all but confirmed that a Secret Realm lay hidden beneath the pool, and a Secret Realm meant treasures.
Naturally, the various factions dared not compete with Faxiang masters, but neither did they want to abandon their chance at heavenly materials and earthly treasures.
They planned to wait until the masters emerged with the lion's share, then go in for the scraps.
Yet they had never imagined that things would turn out so differently.
Late at night, on the twenty-sixth day of the seventh month.
During the third watch.
After lying quiet for half the night, the Dragon Pool finally erupted in spray again as someone burst out.
The watchers hidden nearby immediately perked up.
"Hey, hey, wake up! Someone's coming out!"
A pavilion stood halfway up Gaofeng Boyunjian, a third of a mile southwest of the Dragon Pool.
Dong Fuliang, a deputy hall master of the God of Wealth Gang's Fifth Hall, slapped awake Zhao Cheng, another deputy hall master lying beside him.
The God of Wealth Gang had five major halls: Money House, Land Property, Restaurant, Gambling House, and Pawnshop.
These two