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Having his first transaction with criminals, Ning Ji felt slightly nervous, having planned numerous contingency plans in his mind.

But the actual transaction process was not complex. After summing it up, he came to an immature conclusion – he was a genius.

The time was Wei Shi on June 23rd, shortly after the arena opened in the afternoon. A brawny man named Huang Shan appeared at the edge of the field, sneakily making "shoo-shoo-shoo" sounds to attract attention. Ning Ji, as usual, stood up expressionlessly, went to the small lounge, took out the package, slung it over his shoulder, and walked towards the outside.

The two met in the alley on the side of the martial arts arena – although it was a side street, it wasn't actually hidden. Huang Shan hesitated as he approached, “Brother Long, why not find a more…”

"What's wrong?" Ning Ji frowned, displeased.

"This kind of thing, shouldn't we find a secluded place…"

Ning Ji looked at him: "This is my own place, what's there to be afraid of? Did you bring the money?"

His gaze was cold, his expression detached. Although his most practiced skills over the past decade were as a military doctor and in small-team skirmishes on the battlefield, he had also come into contact with a wide variety of people since childhood. For things like negotiation, bargaining, and setting traps, although he did it less, his theoretical knowledge was rich.

His father had once said when teaching his elder brother that the most important thing in negotiating with people was to lead others by your own pace, and the most important thing in acting was to remain calm under any circumstances. The best character to play was a lunatic or a megalomaniac, who only heard his own words and didn't care about others' opinions, throwing others off balance, after which you could do anything right.

His elder brother's achievements in this area were not high, as he played the role of a modest gentleman for many years without breaking through. He himself was different, calm, and not afraid at all… He comforted himself in his heart, though in reality, he wasn't that scared. The main reason was that the brawny man opposite him wasn't skilled in martial arts, and he could kill him with no more than three cuts.

He considered this his first time combining theory with practice. However, seeing his nonchalant demeanor, the brawny man actually believed him, patting his body.

"The money… of course, I brought it…"

"Take it out, what are you waiting for? The army has patrols, the more nervous you are, the more they'll stare at you. If you dawdle any longer, I'm leaving."

"Here, for you…"

The brawny man took out a silver ingot from his chest, making up the remaining six strings of coins for Ning Ji. He wanted to say something, but Ning Ji took it smoothly. He had already made up his mind and suppressed a smile. He swung the package in his hand and smashed it on the other party. Then he weighed the silver in his hand and wiped it with his sleeve.

"Is it worth six strings?"

"It's more, I weighed it when I came, it's…"

"Alright, I'll count it as six strings for you. The way you're acting like a gossiping old woman, a martial arts expert like you would be beaten to death in the army! What's there to be afraid of? I'm not the only one in the Hua Xia Army doing this kind of business…"

"Ah? There are others…"

The young man had previously described the violation of discipline as extremely dangerous, continuously adding money, but now he came out with such a sentence, giving the man named Huang Shan a feeling of being tricked. But then he saw the boy named Long Aotian glare at him.

"Is that strange? What? Do you think I'll tell you where to find them?" He wiped the silver on his chest again and stuffed it into his pocket for safekeeping. "Alright, since you bought something from Long Aotian, you're a friend now. If you run into trouble in the future, you can come find me. My family is a military doctor, I know a lot of people. But I warn you, don't make a fuss, the higher-ups are strict. Some things can only be done in private."

He finished speaking in a rogueish and arrogant manner, returned to his initial small poker face, and turned to walk back. Huang Shan followed two steps, looking incredulous: "In the Hua Xia Army… is it like this too?"

Ning Ji stopped, blinked his eyes, and tilted his head to look at him: "You guys don't have this?"

"That's not it… but I feel…"

"Idiot! Get lost. Don't follow me."

He put his hands in his pockets and calmly returned to the arena. Only when he turned to the side of the toilet did he burst out laughing.

He was really too awesome, leading that dumbass around in circles the whole time. Uncle Zheng Qi Ming dared to say he wasn't a genius! He calmed down in the toilet for a while, returned to his poker face, and returned to the arena to sit down.

He pondered the next steps in his mind: as long as the wound medicine was with them, he could find them at any time like a dog. Or should he eavesdrop on their plans tonight? No, Lao Xiao Jian Gou (Old Little Cheap Dog) also had to take action, he couldn't focus on one and lose sight of the other… Assassination plots and even actions were happening in Chengdu every day now, and the army was prepared, so nothing should happen. Moreover, Jian Gou had no martial arts, so it would be easier to eavesdrop. The bad guys… it was hard to say if there were any experts, there was no need for him to take the risk alone…

After thinking about it for a while, the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of a figure coming from the side, constantly smiling and saying "one of us," "one of us." Ning Ji's face wrinkled into a bun. When the person sat down next to him with a smile, he gritted his teeth and whispered, "You just bought something from me, are you afraid people don't know?"

"No, no, Brother Long, aren't we all one of us? Look, that's my boss, my boss, remember?"

Ning Ji turned his head to look at the stage, where one of the two fighters was tall and balding, exactly the baldy he had seen from afar on the first day they met. At that time, he could only determine that this person had practiced internal martial arts by observing his movements and breathing. Now, he could confirm that his legwork was fierce and powerful, having practiced several schools' techniques. The hand techniques he was using were "Chang's Mountain-Breaking Hand." This was a branch of the Mountain-Breaking Hand, with several moves in common with the "Stele-Shattering Hand," which Ning Ji was very familiar with. The most conspicuous move was called "Fantian Yin" (Heaven-Turning Seal).

"This is my boss, named Huang Jianfei, known in Jianghu as 'Mountain-Breaking Ape.' Look at his Kung Fu, Brother Long, what do you think?"

This baldy with a face full of horizontal flesh actually had a handsome name… Ning Ji held his face. This guy cultivated internal martial arts, so his resilience was great and his power output lasted long. His external practice was all fierce moves, which looked good, but because he couldn't combine softness with hardness, and his internal martial arts excessively exploited and overdrawn his energy, he had gone bald. His father practiced Breaking the Six Paths (Po Liu Dao), if not for Aunt Hong Ti…呸呸呸 –

He spat on the ground, interrupting his thoughts. How could such a baldy be compared to his father? It made him uncomfortable to even think about it. Huang Shan on the side was a little puzzled: "Wh-what's wrong? My brother's martial arts…"

“…No matter how high his martial arts are, if he gets injured in the future, he'll still have to lie on the ground and look at me."

"But my brother's martial arts are very strong. Brother Long, you're in the Hua Xia Army all year round, you've seen countless experts, I don't know how many are better than my brother…"

"Do I look like I know martial arts? Your brother, a baldy, is he amazing? I know how to use a musket, I know how to use thunderclaps. In the future, I'll take a musket, bang! I'll shoot your brother to death. Then I'll take a thunderclap, swoosh! Bang! I'll blow you to death, do you believe it?"

"Uh…" Huang Shan was dumbfounded.

Ning Ji looked around: "You were wishy-washy when we were doing the transaction, delaying time. You just did the transaction and came to bother me, can you take responsibility if something goes wrong? I say, are you actually from the military law team? Aren't you afraid of death? Where's the medicine, where is it? I'm not selling it to you anymore…"

"Brother Long, Brother Long, I was careless…" Huang Shan finally understood, waved his hand, "I'm wrong, I'm wrong, I'm leaving first, don't be angry, I'll leave now…" Saying this repeatedly, he turned and walked away, but he also felt relieved. Looking at the child's attitude, it was definitely not a trap set by the Hua Xia Army. Otherwise, they would have desperately tried to get information from him when they had such an opportunity…

Although he seemed honest and simple, he naturally had basic vigilance in a foreign land. After interacting with him one more time, he felt that the other party was not suspicious at all, and then he felt relieved. He left the arena and met with a skinny companion who was waiting there, detailing the entire process. Before long, Huang Jianfei, the "Mountain-Breaking Ape" who won today's martial arts competition, discussed with the two for a while before embarking on the road back.

The Huang family lived in a courtyard on the east side of the city, chosen because it was close to the city wall, so they could escape quickly if something happened. They were family generals from a large family near Baokang, Hubei – saying they were family generals was actually no different from family slaves. This county was located in a mountainous area between Shennongjia and Wudang Mountain, all mountains. The big landlord controlling this place was named Huang Nanzhong, who claimed to be from a scholarly family but actually had many connections with the Green Forest.

Similar to Ba Dao, who was also a Miao chieftain, it was difficult to gain a foothold in the mountains bordering Shennongjia and Wudang Mountain without relatively strong private armed forces. The Huang family had multiplied here for several generations, and would usually train the farmers into a militia with some armed capabilities. The guards in the family were also passed down from generation to generation, and their loyalty was not a major problem. When the Jurchens killed Xiangfan, they didn't have much energy to harass the surrounding mountainous areas, which allowed the Huang family's strength to be preserved.

This time, the Huang family formed a caravan of more than fifty people to the Southwest, led by Huang Nanzhong himself, selecting the most trusted family members and saying countless inspiring words before coming here, aiming to create a sensational achievement. His fifty-odd people would be nothing but dregs against the Jurchen troops, but coming to the Southwest, he had a much greater advantage than others: the purity of the team.

At this moment, all the gatherings that had come to the Southwest may have been mixed with sand, but Huang Nanzhong's team would not – he was also one of the few large foreign families with relatively strong armed forces. In the past, because he stayed in the mountains, his reputation was not well known, but today in the Southwest, once the news spread, countless people would try to win him over.

He also had two ideas when coming here.

If the Hua Xia Army was really so powerful that he couldn't find any flaws, he would consider himself to have come here to see the world. And now that heroes were rising up all over the world, he could return home and imitate this form to truly expand his own power. Of course, in order to witness these things, he had his best men participate in the World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament. In any case, it would be good to win a place.

But these were only the most passive thoughts. He was also a Confucian scholar, and also understood righteousness. If the Hua Xia Army really revealed an opportunity, the Huang family's fifty-odd people would not spare their lives and launch a shocking blow against it, engraving the Huang family's name of courage and righteousness forever in future history, allowing tens of millions of people to remember this glory.

Huang Nanzhong and others had been here for several days, and did not interact much with others privately, only cautiously choosing several great Confucian scholars with whom he had interacted in the past and whose character he could trust for exchanges. The link in the middle was actually related to Dai Mengwei's faction. Huang Nanzhong was not yet sure when he might take action. When Huang Jianfei, Huang Shan, and others returned this day, they told him that they had bought the wound medicine.

They originally carried some of this stuff with them, but in order to avoid suspicion, they didn't bring much. Preparing in advance now could also avoid attention. However, Huang Shan and others then told him about the process of buying the medicine, which piqued his interest. Huang Shan sighed, "I didn't expect that there would be these secrets in the Hua Xia Army…" It was unclear whether he was sighing or pleased.

The head of the family, Huang Nanzhong, sitting on the grand master's chair in the hall, calmly blew on the tea and said, "As long as there are people, things are similar, nowhere is a monolith. The problem is how to find these secrets... Huang Ye, did you follow this kid called Long Aotian? He has a ridiculously arrogant name..."

The skinny man named Huang Ye was the stalker who followed Ning Ji home a few days ago. At this time, he smiled and nodded: "That's right, I followed him home the other day and even entered his house. This person has no martial arts, lives alone, the broken courtyard is quite big, the place is in... Listening to Brother Shan's words today, there shouldn't be anything suspicious, but this temper is bad enough..."

Huang Nanzhong said: "It's common for someone to lack upbringing when they lose their parents at a young age. I'm not afraid of his bad temper, I'm afraid he's impenetrable. Now that this business has had its first time, there can be a second time, and then he won't be able to refuse... Of course, don't startle him for now, and remember the place he lives. It will be very useful at a critical time. Seeing that this young man has a high opinion of himself, this unintentional act of buying medicine has really extended the relationship to the inside of the Hua Xia Army. This is today's biggest gain, and Huang Shan and Yezi deserve credit."

The two family generals bowed to thank him. Huang Nanzhong then asked Huang Jianfei about his feelings about the martial arts competition, chatting more about it. When it was dark that day, he left the courtyard and quietly visited Lang Guoxing, a great Confucian scholar who was currently living in the city. This great Confucian scholar's reputation in the city was among the best. After Huang Nanzhong came over, he introduced him to another famous old man, Yang Tiehuai – this old man was respectfully called "Duke Huai." A few days ago, he was hit in the head with a stone thrown by ignorant people in the street while debating with ignorant men and women in Chengdu, and now he had a great reputation in Chengdu.

Lang Guoxing was a staunch ally of Dai Mengwei and knew Huang Nanzhong's background, but to keep it a secret, he only introduced him to Yang Tiehuai without revealing the details. The three then sat down and discussed the Tao, speculating in detail about Ning Motou's thoughts. Huang Nanzhong mentioned that he had already opened up a line in the Hua Xia Army, hiding the specific name and revealing that he had paid money to get things done. The other two were naturally clear about the corruption in the Wu Dynasty, and understood it with a little hint.

"As long as there are people, it is absolutely impossible to be a monolith, as I said before, there must be loopholes to exploit."

"…Not surprising at all, not surprising at all."

The two great Confucian scholars commented calmly.

************

No mistake, I'm obviously a genius!

– In the same night, Ning Ji was swimming in the water with a whoosh, excitedly thinking back and forth.

Otherwise, I'll become a spy in the Wu Dynasty, it would be interesting too, hehehe, he…

(End of this chapter)

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