Chapter 079: What a Juicy Piece of Gossip

The West District Branch Chief of the Martial Affairs Bureau, Sun Ye, stood at a street corner, keeping his distance from the Black Tiger Gang’s sub-branch where the incident had occurred. With a cold, severe expression, he shot a piercing look at Ouyang Qinhu and hissed, “Do you think you’re the head of the Li family? You think you can take anything home with you? Is this your first time in the game, Ouyang Qinhu? Don’t you know your capabilities, your limits? If you’re not up to the task, how dare you keep what isn’t yours? Do you have a death wish?”

“Hmph, don’t make yourself sound so noble. If you were in my shoes, you’d do the same,” Ouyang Qinhu retorted with a cold sneer.

“You—” Sun Ye’s eyes narrowed, his tone dropping low and dangerous. “I may not know exactly what you got your hands on, and if I hadn’t pressured and threatened you, I wouldn’t even know the reason behind all this. But don’t forget, the position you have now—who do you think you owe it to, Ouyang Qinhu!”

“It certainly isn’t you,” Ouyang Qinhu replied with a mocking laugh.

“Heh, you’re right, it’s not me. But I can influence the one who matters.” Sun Ye’s lips curled into a sinister grin. “I’m just reminding you: you’re not truly free yet. You might keep what you took, but if things go wrong, don’t expect us to clean up your mess!”

Ouyang Qinhu’s face darkened, his expression growing uglier by the second.

“What now? Realizing you should be afraid?” Sun Ye scoffed. “You think your little skills are enough to guard that thing? You survived three attacks before—did it make you think you’re invincible? That you can ignore everyone else? How does it feel now, tasting real fear?”

“Let me tell you, the ones who came tonight aren’t even the top tier. The real assassins haven’t made their move yet. If you think you can hold on, go ahead and try. When all your sub-branches are destroyed and you’re dead, I’ll be there to pick up the pieces for you.”

“Don’t worry, when that day—”

“That’s enough!” Ouyang Qinhu snarled, cutting off Sun Ye’s threat, gritting his teeth. “I’ll hand it over. But I need it in my hands for one more month!”

“No problem,” Sun Ye replied with a light chuckle. “I’m in no hurry. Keep it for a month, a year, if you can. As long as you’re able to hold on to it.”

“…Half a month,” Ouyang Qinhu managed, taking a deep breath.

“Ha, do you think you can bargain for everything?” Sun Ye mocked. “Sure, you can negotiate with me, but do you think the one above us will agree?”

“…Three days.” Ouyang Qinhu’s voice was weak, defeated. “Three days, no later. I’ll hand it over.”

“Excellent!” Sun Ye’s brows rose with satisfaction. “Three days, I think I can get you that much. In those three days, word will spread. Once the item is in my hands, you just focus on your other business.”

With that, Sun Ye ignored Ouyang Qinhu and turned to walk toward the end of the street.

Left alone in the shadows, Ouyang Qinhu’s face flickered with shifting emotions.

Meanwhile, over eighty meters away in the Black Tiger Gang’s sub-branch, Su Jingxing, lugging a corpse, wore an equally peculiar expression.

What a revelation!

The leader of the Black Tiger Gang, one of the two major underground factions in the West District, was actually in cahoots with the chief of the West District Branch of the Martial Affairs Bureau!

And both of them took orders from someone else.

It was that person who made Ouyang Qinhu the head of the Black Tiger Gang, who helped elevate the gang until it stood rival to the Flying Cloud Sect as the West District’s largest faction.

Su Jingxing could even imagine that the Flying Cloud Sect had its own backer as well.

Otherwise, the Black Tiger Gang wouldn’t just be one of the two largest gangs—it would be the sole power in the West District!

It was no surprise to Su Jingxing that these factions had powerful supporters behind the scenes. What did surprise him, though, was that even the branch chief of the Martial Affairs Bureau was under someone’s thumb.

Tonight’s events had been exceptionally revealing.

On further thought, though, it all made sense. Most of the Martial Affairs Bureau’s staff were locals. Only the city’s magistrate was dispatched from the capital, and a few of the district commanders came from the provincial seat. The rest—branch chiefs and field commanders—were all native sons.

As locals, they naturally became entangled with local powers. This wasn’t unique to Qinghe City; it was the same everywhere.

That’s why the Martial Affairs Bureau only cracked down on the surface, never truly rooting out the underworld. The enforcers themselves were too closely intertwined with the factions.

Once he understood this, Su Jingxing no longer cared much about Sun Ye’s double-dealing.

Compared to that, the treasure Ouyang Qinhu had acquired piqued his curiosity even more.

What kind of artifact could inspire such a struggle among so many factions?

Su Jingxing didn’t know who had infiltrated the other Black Tiger Gang sub-branches, but the black-clad assailants tonight were all skilled martial artists.

A large group of ninth-grade and eighth-grade fighters, led by a sixth-grade expert, had assaulted the sub-branch and wiped out all defenders.

Such manpower wasn’t something an ordinary force could muster.

From this, it was clear that the item in Ouyang Qinhu’s possession was exceedingly rare.

To be honest, Su Jingxing felt tempted. But he quickly suppressed the urge and regained his composure.

It wasn’t that he was afraid or lacked the courage to test his mettle against Ouyang Qinhu. The problem was, the commotion over this artifact had grown too loud.

Without a doubt, every major power in the West District was watching closely.

If Su Jingxing got involved, he risked exposing his true identity.

He still wanted to keep collecting cards at the crematorium; now was not the time for exposure.

With this in mind, he forcibly calmed his restlessness.

Of course, direct involvement was unwise, but keeping tabs from the shadows posed no risk.

Especially when it came to tracking Ouyang Qinhu!

Su Jingxing decided he would monitor Ouyang Qinhu’s movements as soon as he returned.

…

More than fifty corpses were transported back to the crematorium.

He logged their information and arranged the order for cremation.

It took until morning to finish everything.

Only then did Su Jingxing clock out, head back to his cottage at the foot of the mountain, swallow a Vitality Pill, and tally his gains.

Internal Energy Cards, Internal Energy Cards, Internal Energy Cards, Strength Cards, more Internal Energy Cards…

Fifty-one cards in total, all scanned and examined.

Most were Internal Energy Cards, with only a few Strength Cards.

There were also two Skill Cards—one for blade techniques, one for palm techniques.

After absorbing their contents, Su Jingxing found both inferior to the “Triple Origin Blade” and “Seven Step Fist” he already knew, so he left them sealed and stored them in his palm-space.

The one True Qi Card, however, was quite decent—it contained five years’ worth of cultivation.

He unlocked all the Internal Energy Cards, amassing a total of one hundred and three years’ worth of cultivation.

Without hesitation, Su Jingxing converted all of it into Heaven-Stepping True Qi.

It was as though he’d gained over six years of cultivation overnight.

Adding that to his previous three years, Su Jingxing’s current cultivation had reached nine years!

Such progress was unimaginable for ordinary martial artists.

Even the Shi clan, with their “Triple Yin Candle Blood” bloodline, couldn’t match this speed.

Elated, Su Jingxing powered on his computer, hacked into the traffic cameras, and began tracking Ouyang Qinhu’s movements from the sub-branch attacked that night.

To his surprise, it wasn’t long before he made an unexpected discovery!