The elite were exactly who I was here to beat

Shrimp Head visibly froze for a moment.

But he quickly recovered and stared at Wei Sheng with a dark expression. "So you really are here to stir up trouble. Beat them!"

Several enforcers behind Shrimp Head brandished clubs, grinning viciously as they swung at Wei Sheng and the others.

Before they could get close, however, Ding Ying and his men sent them flying, smashing through several gambling tables in succession.

Wei Sheng immediately felt a pang. "Go easy. This place will be ours from now on."

"In your dreams!"

Shrimp Head flew into a rage and roared, about to attack.

Then Che Zhenzhong and Ding Ying rushed him together and gave him a savage beating.

Shrimp Head was no weakling, but facing two opponents on his own level, with others launching sneak attacks, he soon fell behind and scurried away like a rat, clutching his head.

Just as chaos engulfed the gambling house-

"Stop!"

A private room on the gambling house's second floor opened, and a burly bald man walked out.

"Brother Meng!"

Shrimp Head and the other gambling house enforcers were overjoyed to see him, as though their savior had arrived.

By contrast-

Ding Ying and the others stared at the burly bald man, hatred and a trace of fear showing in their eyes.

When the burly bald man first came to stake his claim on East Prosperity Street, Ding Ying had fought plenty of bloody clashes with him, but every time, he had been utterly thrashed.

After so many beatings, seeing him again inevitably cast something of a shadow over his mind.

Thud!

The burly bald man leaped down from the second floor and walked straight toward Wei Sheng. Ding Ying and the others instinctively backed away in fear; only Che Zhenzhong stood in front of Wei Sheng.

The burly bald man did not even look at him. He simply stared at Wei Sheng and said darkly:

"Boy, you've got some nerve. Do you know whose turf this is?"

"Whose turf?" Wei Sheng asked.

"Listen carefully! This is the turf of Lord Jiao, 'Chu Dongjiao,' deputy hall master of the Firewood-Fisher Gang's Azure Dragon Hall."

"Then I've come to the right place."

"??"

"Chu Dongjiao is exactly who I'm here to beat!"

"You insolent brat!"

The burly bald man erupted in fury. With a furious roar, he closed the distance in an instant, his palm as broad as a cattail fan chopping down at Wei Sheng's head amid howling wind.

Before it even landed, the fierce wind from his palm sent Che Zhenzhong and the nearby gang members flying.

"Jin Force? Bald Brother Meng is really angry now. That boy's finished!"

The gamblers watching secretly shook their heads.

But what happened next left everyone dumbstruck.

Bang!

The burly bald man shot backward even faster than he had charged in, smashing through several gambling tables before crashing into the back wall and slowly sliding down.

"??"

Shrimp Head's eyes widened.

Ding Ying's pupils sharply contracted.

Everyone else wore expressions of utter shock.

What the hell had happened?

Before they could even see clearly, Bald Brother Meng had gone flying backward on his own?!

No!

He had been slapped away!

Only then did everyone notice that Wei Sheng was still sitting in his chair, slowly withdrawing the palm he had struck with.

At the sight-

Shrimp Head and the rest of the gambling house's men felt a chill run down their spines.

Bald Brother Meng was their gambling house's sea-steadying pillar, an expert at the middle stage of fourth refinement, a powerhouse with four thousand jin of strength in one arm. Yet even attacking with all his might, he had not managed to drive that boy back.

Instead, his opponent had remained seated and struck him with a single palm, knocking out his teeth and making him cough blood, seriously injuring him on the spot?!

How much force had that taken?!

Could that boy be a fifth refinement expert?!

But how old was he?!

"This..."

Once their shock passed, Ding Ying and the others were overjoyed.

They had thought it would be good enough if Wei Sheng could keep Bald Brother Meng occupied.

Never in their wildest dreams had they expected this harmless-looking Boss Wei to seriously injure Brother Meng with one casual slap.

With strength like that, he was probably already no weaker than someone at the peak of fourth refinement.

And he had only just fucking reached fourth refinement?!

As expected of someone handpicked by Tiger Lord!

"Boss, what should we do with these men?" Ding Ying stepped forward and asked.

If calling him "boss" before had merely been a formality, then after witnessing Wei Sheng's strength, the title carried a few more measures of sincerity and respect.

"Break one leg on every one of them..." Wei Sheng said impassively.

"No, spare us..." Shrimp Head's face turned white, and he hurriedly begged for mercy.

"Only now do you think to beg? Too late! This is the price for daring to run wild on my turf!"

As his words fell-

One piercing scream after another rang out, echoing inside and outside the gambling house.

Shrimp Head and the others, including the seriously injured Bald Brother Meng, each had a leg broken under Ding Ying's foot.

"If you dare run wild on my turf again, I'll cripple your other leg!"

Wei Sheng rose and stared coldly at Bald Brother Meng.

"Go back and tell Chu Dongjiao that all your people have three days to clear out of East Prosperity Street. Otherwise, I'll tear down every Azure Dragon Hall shop I see!"

Gatehouse Street.

Spring Cherishing Courtyard.

"Snake Eye" was holding a fair-skinned, alluring woman full of charm as they studied geography. Just as their studies grew heated, an anxious shout suddenly came from outside:

"Brother Snake Eye, something terrible has happened!"

Only after a long while did Snake Eye's exasperated voice come from inside:

"Fuck, something terrible has happened to your whole fucking family! Don't you know I'm taking care of serious business? You bastards have completely ruined a perfectly good mood."

As his voice fell-

An alluring woman with disheveled hair, barefoot and draped in sheer gauze, opened the door from inside. Then she returned to the bed with a soft laugh and nestled into the bare-chested Snake Eye's arms.

After entering, the gang member kept his head lowered, not daring to look around.

Who in Azure Dragon Hall did not know that Snake Eye had a huge temper and a petty heart? Anyone who offended him would certainly taste bitter fruit.

"If you've got a fart, let it out!"

"Ding Ying led men to smash up the Zhenglong Gambling House!"

"Ding Ying? He's only at second refinement. He doesn't have that kind of strength. Who helped him?"

"I heard his name is Wei Sheng. He's one of the newly appointed Five Tiger Generals under Black Tiger, and he's now taken over East Prosperity Street from Changyou."

"Wei Sheng? I think I heard Lord Jiao mention him once. Something about extraordinary talent. But however strong he is, he's still only at third refinement...

"Black Tiger really has no one left under him, sending small fry like that to watch his turf... Right, where's Meng?"

"Brother Meng... Brother Meng was seriously injured by a single palm strike from that Wei Sheng..."

"What?!"

"That Wei Sheng defeated Brother Meng, then broke one leg on each of them and threatened them to get out of East Prosperity Street in three days, or he'd sweep through all our establishments there...

"Not only that, when Wei Sheng left, he also took three hundred taels of silver from the gambling house."

"What?!"

Snake Eye, who had been relatively calm, flew into a rage upon hearing that so much silver had been lost:

"Fuck! That's my money! My money!"

"Brother Snake Eye, calm down..."

The fair-skinned, tenderly alluring woman had meant to come forward and comfort him, but those few words only enraged Snake Eye further.

With a smack, Snake Eye slapped the alluring woman straight off the bed onto the floor. Her fair cheek instantly swelled, blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, and several teeth fell out.

The slap left her completely dazed. She even forgot to cry out in pain and simply froze where she was.

"Calm your fucking mother down! Do you know how many whores like you three hundred taels could buy... Get out!"

The last word struck like thunder, jolting the alluring woman back to her senses. Pale-faced, she staggered to her feet, clutched her gauze, and rushed out of the room as though fleeing.

"Bring me my weapon!" Snake Eye was still seething.

"Brother Snake Eye, please be patient. I don't think this is the time to act yet."

"What do you mean? Someone's already come knocking on my door, and you're telling me to swallow it? You want everyone laughing at me?"

"Brother Snake Eye, that's not what I mean. It's just that this brat knew you were the one staking a claim on East Prosperity Street, yet he still dared teach Brother Meng such a lesson and came on so aggressively. There must be a scheme behind it. If we charge in without sorting right from wrong, I'm afraid we'll step straight into a trap..."

Hearing this-

Snake Eye knitted his brows tightly, only relaxing them after a long while:

"That makes sense! But are we just going to do nothing?"

"Didn't he give us three days? We can set a trap inside the gambling house. When he comes back three days from now, we'll catch the turtle in the jar."