Chapter 1 Lan Yue City

Lan Yue City, inside a residence by Phoenix Lake.

The Feng Lake Hall Leader held a book, flipping through it. A pot of tea was warming beside him, and a maid stood by to serve him.

He seemed to be reading, but in reality, the Feng Lake Hall Leader was waiting for news, estimating that the attack was probably over by now.

"Hall Leader, Hall Leader." Several men arrived with two injured men. The two injured men looked quite disheveled, and they knelt down immediately after seeing him. "Hall Leader, Fifth Brother is gone."

Seeing the sorry state of his subordinates, the Feng Lake Hall Leader had already guessed something. Hearing their words, his expression changed slightly. "What happened? You three hundred men couldn't deal with a mere bastard son of the Chang family? Even Fifth Brother was lost?"

"Reporting to the Hall Leader," one of the injured men said immediately, "That Chang Yi is very timid and hired many experts… His guards are quite formidable. Fifteen guards blocked the siege of over a hundred of our gang members. Most importantly, there are three second-rate experts!"

"Three second-rate experts?"

The Feng Lake Hall Leader was incredulous, frowning. "When did second-rate experts become so common? And how did a bastard son of the Chang family get to know such experts?"

Second-rate experts were still quite rare. Each of them had reached an extremely high level of weapon mastery, and the saying ‘able to fight a hundred men’ was an understatement of their power.

"We were also puzzled. It's rare enough for one second-rate expert to appear, but how did three appear?" the injured man said anxiously. "But those three are indeed very powerful. One is a woman who is skilled in dual blades and hidden weapons like flying needles! She killed the most gang members. There's also a man who uses five round wheels, and he's extremely murderous. And there's a man who uses a spear… He's the most troublesome! He broke through our formation, causing us to collapse, and he killed Fifth Brother with a single spear strike."

"A single spear strike?" The Feng Lake Hall Leader's expression became more serious.

Even he himself would need several moves to kill Qin Wu.

"What are the losses?" the Feng Lake Hall Leader asked.

"Not completely confirmed yet, but it's estimated that nearly ninety brothers died," the injured man said. "There are also thirty to fifty injured, and Fifth Brother was the only third-rate expert lost."

The Feng Lake Hall Leader nodded slightly. "You two go back and rest first."

"Yes."

Only then did the two men retreat.

The Feng Lake Hall Leader sat there, deep in thought.

"Hall Leader, are we going to continue the attack?" a young man in white asked.

Another burly man immediately said, "Losing a hundred men or so is something our hall can withstand. But that bastard son of the Chang family has embarrassed us. If we don't retaliate, outsiders will think our Hua Yue Gang is easy to bully. The other halls in the gang will laugh at us. We definitely have to take action!"

"Third Brother is right." The Feng Lake Hall Leader also nodded. "We have to take action, but we have to plan carefully. I admit I underestimated this Chang heir. Now that three second-rate experts have emerged, he might have other tricks up his sleeve, like a fourth or fifth second-rate expert."

The surrounding people nodded, all in agreement.

"The reputation of our Feng Lake Hall cannot be lost, but we must win this battle beautifully," the Feng Lake Hall Leader said. "Ninth Brother, arrange for someone to investigate the origins of those three second-rate experts and see if there's a way to break them from the inside."

"Yes," the young man in white said respectfully.

"Sometimes killing doesn't necessarily have to involve fighting," the Feng Lake Hall Leader said calmly. "Use poison, use hidden weapons, use the methods our gang is best at."

The Hua Yue Gang had tens of thousands of members, and their infiltration and control of the territory were far stronger than the government's. With such terrifying infiltration and control, employing some insidious methods would be difficult to defend against.

"But I'm afraid that Chang heir will quickly sell off his family property and flee Lan Yue City," a subordinate said.

"Pay attention to the government, because to sell, he'll definitely have to go to the government to transfer the property and sign the documents," the Feng Lake Hall Leader said, looking down at his book. "And today's fight will make it much harder for him to sell the Chang family's property."

Seeing the Hall Leader looking down at his book, the subordinates quickly took their leave.

…

Lan Yue City, the Blood Rain Guard garrison.

The Blood Rain Guard was the strongest official violent organization in the city. Any major event in the city would be reported to the Blood Rain Guard first. And Commander Wu was the leader of the Lan Yue City Blood Rain Guard, and he was clearly one of the most powerful people in the city.

Commander Wu was a middle-aged man with a pale face and a pair of eagle eyes that vaguely shimmered with a purple light. In the afternoon, he was sitting in a pavilion, listening to a geisha sing a little tune, with a light rain falling outside the pavilion.

"Commander," a personal guard came over and respectfully handed a letter to Commander Wu.

A maid took the letter and placed it on the table.

Commander Wu waited until the song was finished before he lifted his eyelids, picked up the letter, glanced at it, and chuckled softly. "Three hundred members of the Hua Yue Gang's Feng Lake Hall ambushed Chang Yi of the Chang family's carriage on Xing Yang Street. And nearly a hundred of them were killed by Chang Yi's guards?"

"Chang Yi is my son. The Hua Yue Gang is really bold!" Commander Wu looked at the personal guard and ordered, "Centurion Teng, personally take some men to Feng Lake Hall and demand an explanation from them!"

"Yes," Centurion Teng, who was on duty in the distance, responded immediately.

"Remember, Chang Yi is my adopted son," Commander Wu said. "So they at least have to pay... one thousand taels! Not a penny less!"

"Rest assured, Commander, I know what to do," Centurion Teng grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, and then turned to leave.

Commander Wu looked around, waved his hand, and the geisha, maids, and others quickly retreated, leaving only his personal guard by his side.

"I heard that several Blood Rain Guard experts came from out of town a few days ago and stayed at the Fei family. Have you found out what's going on?" Commander Wu asked.

"We've been investigating," the personal guard said. "It's not very clear, but we only know that... the Fei family has been recruiting experts recently."

"Recruiting experts?"

Commander Wu was puzzled. "That Lord Fei is the overall commander of the entire Eastern Region! And now there are Blood Rain Guard experts staying at the Fei family, so why is the Fei family still recruiting people?"

"That's not very clear," the personal guard said.

"Hmm."

Commander Wu pondered. "Investigate carefully! Lord Fei sent people from thousands of miles away, so there must be something important. If there's anything we can help with, we subordinates must do our best."

"Understood, we will investigate with all our strength," the personal guard replied.

The personal guard was also troubled. There was only one master and one young miss in the Fei family! He couldn't directly ask Lord Fei and the young miss, and it was difficult to find out the 'Lord Fei's' true purpose by other means.

…

The Fei family.

"Father," the young woman looked at her father.

Lord Fei looked at his daughter.

Their family was originally just an ordinary merchant family in Lan Yue City, but who would have thought that their son, who was adventuring abroad, would soar to the sky and now holds a high position in the entire vast empire. The Fei family's status naturally rose, and whether it was the Blood Rain Guard commander or the heads of the three major gangs, they all tried to please them.

After all, the Fei family's eldest son was now the highest leader of the Blood Rain Guard in the entire Eastern Region of the empire.

"Xin Lan," Lord Fei looked at his daughter, "I heard you're planning to recruit a spear expert."

"Father, your news is so well-informed," Fei Xin Lan said with delight.

"This time, our Fei family will be traveling together, so the recruitment of guards must be cautious," Lord Fei said. "I've investigated, but I only found out that the spear expert is called Mister Jing! As for his origins, what his full name is, I don't know anything. He probably came to Lan Yue City some time ago, and few people in the entire Lan Yue City know him. This kind of person is not suitable for recruitment."

Fei Xin Lan smiled, "Precisely because he's from out of town, he has no ill intentions towards our Fei family."

"This time, the main force will be the people sent by your elder brother, and then you can recruit some ordinary experts to command," Lord Fei said. "The most important thing when we recruit experts is that their origins must be clear and trustworthy."

Fei Xin Lan laughed: "I'm just recruiting a guard, and are the people you recruit trustworthy? It's easy to know a person's face but not their heart. I think that Mister Jing is pretty good." Fei Xin Lan said, then turned to leave.

"Xin Lan, Xin Lan."

Lord Fei called out a few times, but his daughter ignored him.

"Alas." Lord Fei was so angry that he couldn't say anything. "Her wings have hardened, and she doesn't listen to her father anymore."

"Master," the butler said in a low voice, "In my opinion, Miss thought that the spear expert looked good."

Lord Fei's eyes widened: "That's even more unacceptable!"

"Miss's temper..." the butler said helplessly.

"I spoiled her too much," Lord Fei said with a worried face.