Once the words were spoken, the long-absent greeting echoed through the memorial hall alongside the rumble of thunder.
The fragrance of fresh flowers lingered and candlelight danced. Everything remained as solemn as before—even Lei Wuye lying in the coffin looked utterly peaceful.
Yet in an instant, the atmosphere turned bristling with hostility.
At such a critical juncture, uninvited guests had arrived one after another out of nowhere, building up immense pressure and tension in the dead silence.
And when Chen Xingzhou, who should have been lying in a hospital bed, brazenly appeared at the front of the memorial hall, it was like a spark—the flames and blast rippling through the powder keg could no longer be contained.
The harsh screech of scraping chairs rang out continuously.
No one knew how many in the hall rose to their feet, glaring coldly at Chen Xingzhou with daggers drawn, yet just as many stood up and turned their eyes toward Lei Yaoxing.
Amid the sudden shift, all the outsiders remained firmly seated in their places, not uttering a single word.
In the frozen air, Lei Yaoxing silently stared at the opponent right before him, studying his visage—no longer disguised, no longer concealed.
Even though the disparity between them was so vast.
To Lei Yaoxing, an ordinary person like Chen Xingzhou, who had repeatedly refused the White Stag's blessing and the ritual of Superior Legacy, could be decapitated with a mere flick of his finger, splattering blood across the funeral hall.
No, he wouldn't even need to lift a finger.
He could sense that describing Chen Xingzhou's current condition as barely clinging to life would practically be flattery; he was truly a candle flickering in the wind.
Even if he vomited blood and dropped dead in the very next second, it would surprise no one.
Yet it was precisely this man, deteriorated to the absolute brink, who had become his most formidable opponent—one he could not ignore. Relying solely on stoking the flames from the shadows, he had driven Lei Yaoxing to the point of exhaustion over the past few days, leaving the throne of the boss dangling tantalizingly within arm's reach, yet agonizingly out of grasp.
Now, when this opponent finally appeared before him in this state, Lei Yaoxing—despite holding the decisive upper hand—actually began to feel...
As if facing a mortal threat?!
Even without claws to prey on foes or fangs to tear flesh, something far more chilling coursed through the presence of the man before him.
Clearly seated in a wheelchair, breathing by a thread.
Yet right now, that gaze looked down from a sky higher than any falcon's roost.
It was as if... from start to finish, he had never even regarded Lei Yaoxing as worth noticing...
"So that's how it is?"
Amid intolerable killing intent and rage, Lei Yaoxing showed no expression, murmuring almost like a sigh, "I truly... underestimated you..."
From a money-laundering glove once treated like a chamber pot, he had somehow climbed step by step to where he stood today.
In this war of the underworld, with nothing more than a few trivial pebbles, he had stirred up monstrous waves across the stagnant waters of Yacheng.
"When did it start?" he suddenly asked.
"Hmm?"
Chen Xingzhou smiled faintly, appearing puzzled. "What specifically are you referring to? The plan? Or the ambition? If it's the latter, that goes quite a ways back..."
"Seven years ago, Old Master Lei took a liking to me and wanted to take me in as a godson. Pity that I'm a troublesome person who doesn't know what's good for him. Wealth and status begged for on bended knee—I never wanted that."
He sighed softly, stroking the armrest of his wheelchair. "Over twenty years ago, I held a battered folding knife and went to the vegetable market to collect protection money. People saw right through my bluff and cowardice, surrounded me, and beat me half to death. In the end, I knelt on the ground, crying and kowtowing for mercy... No, maybe even earlier."
Chen Xingzhou said, "Earlier than that..."
The moment that spark of ambition and greed first flared, scorching his soul and sending up wisps of smoke...
Was the first time he ever felt true despair.
"Don't cry, Yubo. From now on, there's only the two of us."
Underneath a bridge, the homeless boy embraced his weeping younger brother, gazing coldly toward the distant, frigid neon lights. "Lift your head up. Wipe away your tears. We're not bastards.
Don't be afraid. One day, no one will dare look down on us."
The rain fell silently as a cold wind blew in from afar,
like the sneering mockery of spirits buried in the darkness.
Yet when he looked back and tried to recall it all, it had all grown so blurry, no longer distinct.
Some memories were simply too distant.
So distant that he could barely even recall them in nightmares...
"So many years have passed in the blink of an eye."
Chen Xingzhou gave a self-deprecating laugh and looked toward Lei Wuye's coffin, shaking his head slightly. "Looking back now, I suppose I was never someone who repaid kindness from the very start."
"Indeed. When Godfather was alive, he probably never imagined that a dog eating table scraps like you would dare act so arrogant before his memorial."
A glint of crimson surfaced in Lei Yaoxing's eyes as he glared down, demanding one last question: "Going so far as to turn traitor and invite so many outsiders to meddle in the internal affairs of the Wild Gathering? Chen Xingzhou, have you considered the consequences?"
Chen Xingzhou shook his head indifferently.
"Rest assured, I only invited them to be witnesses. It has nothing to do with what happens next, and even less to do with the business between you and me.
They had to come today..."
Chen Xingzhou paused for a beat, calmly fixing his gaze upon Lei Yaoxing. "After all, for all the chaos the Wild Gathering has caused over these past days, an accounting must be given."
"An accounting?"
Lei Yaoxing was nearly moved to laughter. "Who gives it? You? What kind of piece of shit do you think you are?!"
Chen Xingzhou shrugged. "I only want to talk with you."
"You? Talk with me?"
Lei Yaoxing could no longer hold back and laughed aloud, demanding in pure fury, "Are you even worthy, Chen Xingzhou?! What the fuck do you have to negotiate with me?!"
At that instant, the screech of scraping tables and chairs rang out once more.
In the back row, the one-eyed woman smoking a cigarette was the first to rise. She tossed away the butt and walked toward the memorial hall. Meeting Lei Yaoxing's murderous glare, she took her place behind Chen Xingzhou. She was none other than the eleventh foster daughter under Lei Wuye during his lifetime.
Next came a second person, rising with an air of complete helplessness as if coerced, and walked behind Chen Xingzhou.
A third, a fourth, a fifth...
Out of the dead silence, the defeated remnants Lei Yaoxing had never taken seriously—the trash who, just days ago, were wagging their tails and bowing their heads to pledge allegiance, begging him for mercy—rose one after another... Even several of Lei Wuye's key right-hand men in life, and several top lieutenants and red poles from other syndicates, stood up without hesitation at this moment, shaking off the hands trying to hold them back, and walked over to stand opposite Lei Yaoxing.
In the once-packed memorial hall, fully half or six-tenths of the chairs were now empty!
Of those still sitting in their original places, apart from Lei Yaoxing's direct syndicate and a few inseparable allies, barely anyone remained!
At this moment, the territory and coalition Lei Yaoxing had spent days painstakingly piecing together crumbled in the blink of an eye.
*Crack.*
Ji Jue heard a crisp sound.
Beside Tong Shan, Tong Ting had already fished melon seeds out of his pocket, happily spitting out the shells. The sight made Ji Jue's eyes hurt.
Does everyone on the Path of Aether never forget to stuff two handfuls of nuts and melon seeds into their pockets wherever they go, even when their lives are on the line?
They truly wouldn't miss a chance to chew seeds and watch the drama unfold.
Tong Hua could only ponder crimes of passion at murder scenes and greet Ji Jue with a daily "Good afternoon, Brother Ji Jue," but her elder was sitting right under the White Stag's nose, watching the grand drama of the Wild Gathering tearing itself apart live... Wasn't the gap in their tiers a bit too vast?
Noticing his gaze, Tong Ting turned his head, seemed momentarily taken aback, then offered a helpless smile. Then... he pulled out another handful of melon seeds from his pocket and offered them over.
A warm invitation.
"..." Ji Jue's face twitched. He instinctively wanted to wave his hands in refusal, but his outstretched hand opened up as if possessed, and he unceremoniously grabbed a huge handful.
*Crack!*
Crisp snaps rang out irregularly from the very back row.
Ji Jue's eyes lit up. These melon seeds from Aether... were genuinely delicious.
Give me more!
Sitting among so many big shots was like sitting inside an invisible fortress; an ant that would otherwise be crushed under a giant's foot at the slightest stir now felt completely safe.
So safe, in fact, that he couldn't feel the tangible, suffocating pressure that had already solidified inside the memorial hall.
Killing intent, abhorrence, rage, hatred, and ravenous hunger...
The beasts of the wilderness bared claws and fangs at one another. Frigid auras crisscrossed the air, until even the raindrops falling from the eaves seemed frozen midair, suspended in time.
In the atmosphere, specks of swirling dust trembled in terror, not daring to settle.
In this silence—fleeting enough to be imperceptible yet agonizingly long enough to torment the soul—a single shout, a single glance, or even a single gesture would suffice to ignite the final fuse, sparking an unprecedented civil war within the Wild Gathering.
But before that could happen, Chen Xingzhou in his wheelchair gave a soft sigh and began coughing raspy, hollow coughs.
Awkwardly, he raised a hand to wipe the blood seeping from the corners of his mouth and nose.
Beneath his freshly changed formal suit, a shocking patch of dark red spread outward—his wounds had torn open. Yet he paid it no heed, speaking with deliberate calm:
"Before that, there is one thing I must tell you."
He paused for a moment before speaking slowly: "A few days ago, I made a trip to Mount Yingtai. I had the honor of being granted an audience with the Chief."
Yingtai. The Chief.
When those two words, carrying the weight of tens of thousands of jin, were uttered inside the memorial hall, even the heavy breathing and swallowing of saliva vanished into the dead silence.
It was as though the very souls and ferocity of wild beasts had been cowed into submission.
Upon Mount Yingtai, drifting across the vast sea, there was only one Chief whom all followers of the White Stag revered and feared... the former overlord of the entire Federation's underworld, the White Stag Celestial-Human who had single-handedly quashed the cataclysmic schism of the Wild Gathering a century ago, ascending to the throne of Chief over the corpses of his predecessors!
Since losing interest in power and relinquishing control, no news had emerged for over a decade regarding this Chief known as the Hermit. Naturally, the once-unified underworld of the Federation had fractured once again into endless conflict.
And now, the moment the Chief's will manifested once more, everyone instinctively held their breath.
"I told him that Old Master Lei was aging and growing senile, straying further and further from the Path of the White Stag. Once he passed away, his subordinates would spin out of control immediately.
The longer the Wild Gathering lacked leadership and the conflict spiraled, the sooner it would become a target for everyone, and the achievements built by generations of bosses over centuries would be ruined overnight.
Just like... right now..."
Between bouts of coughing and gasping for breath, Chen Xingzhou spoke slowly: "The Chief asked me what I wanted to do. I answered: gather the hearts of the people, eradicate the scourge, and restore order to the wilderness.
If by some fluke I succeeded, I would serve as a figurehead of clay and wood—perhaps wild growth is in itself a law of the wilderness... He agreed, and told me to give it a try.
And so, we made a bet."
"—I wagered that I would survive, and that after my 'death,' everything in Yacheng would remain within my expectations and control."
Chen Xingzhou smiled and spread his hands.
He revealed the crimson bleeding from the bullet wound across his chest.
That was an order handed down by the Chief.
Even now, that pitch-black wound had not healed. Even with the aid of the panacea, it left behind an agony that could never be erased for the rest of his life.
Yet at the same time, this very agony was a badge of honor for the victor who had grappled with death and won!
Thus, he looked down arrogantly upon the opponent before him and told him:
"I won this bet."
Chapter 140