It was like an absolute joke. Just like the Federation and the Empire loved to preach about freedom and democracy, the Wild Gathering on the Endless Sea had suddenly started talking about the law!
As if they had finally discovered that such a concept even existed in this world.
Of course, their public excuse couldn't simply be "we're just not paying." After all, the Wild Gathering still had a reputation to uphold. If you screwed someone over today, what was to stop you from screwing me over tomorrow?
It was merely that the Wild Gathering had massive assets and extensive operations. It was perfectly normal for such a colossal sum of capital to encounter temporary liquidity bottlenecks. Besides, wasn't there an ongoing dispute over territorial sovereignty?
Never mind where the dispute came from; just tell me if there was one or not!
You expect me to pay just because you ask for it?
What was more, nobody said they *weren't* going to pay. They were just delaying it, slowing it down, scheduling it out in phases...
In short: they weren't paying.
Either way, that was their barefaced attitude. If their shamelessness offended you, well, so terribly sorry.
That was simply how the Wild Gathering operated.
"It's hardly the first time the Wild Gathering has broken faith. No need to make a fuss—it's actually quite common."
On this matter, Chen Xingzhou, a Dragon Head of the Wild Gathering, was exceptionally seasoned. "Laws and due process are nothing more than excuses. The survival of the fittest is the true nature of the Wild Gathering.
"Even the Gathering's internal rules are held together only by the iron fists of the Chiefs. Otherwise, what would the Houses of An and Yuan be around for?"
Confronted with Ji Jue's inquiries, Chen Xingzhou spoke bluntly over the phone. "This matter isn't actually that complicated, but the trouble is that it'll be difficult to get the peaceful outcome you desire."
Unless Ji Jue made concessions, an amicable resolution was out of the question.
Who were they kidding? None of them were saints or charity workers. Who didn't like pocketing money that fell from the sky? Once it was already in their pockets, who would willingly take it back out?
You claim it's yours—does it have your name written on it?
Even if it does, tough luck!
"The simplest way is to ignore all the nonsense and just fight it out,"
Chen Xingzhou shared a bit of tradecraft for dealing with his peers. "It might sound crude, but a lot of these White Stags are fundamentally wretched. Reasoning with them is useless, but beat them half to death, and they suddenly become very reasonable."
Who cared about rules, conventions, and regulations? That was the Wild Gathering for you: whoever had the hardest fists spoke the truth.
If you couldn't beat them, you kneeled. If you couldn't kneel, you died. Stop whining!
Except, this approach had one minor flaw.
It could spin out of control.
Ji Jue could decide when to start fighting, but when to stop was another matter entirely.
At this critical juncture, if someone stirred the pot, the situation could very easily spiral completely out of hand and escalate into an all-out war.
Ji Jue shook his head. "The Seven Cities have only just stabilized. They aren't ready to fight on all fronts."
Who was he kidding? If an all-out war broke out, what would happen to his business?
Besides, even if they won, what would be left of the Seven Cities?
Yet doing nothing wasn't an option either.
Not fighting would be true suicide—a slow death. If he didn't show his teeth, the other side would push their luck bit by bit, boiling the frog in warm water. Through relentless encroaching, Ji Jue would eventually find himself surrounded and besieged on all sides.
So, fight he must. But it had to be kept strictly under control.
"Yeah, that's the trickiest part of the whole thing. There's no clean solution."
Chen Xingzhou was deeply sympathetic to Ji Jue's dilemma. "A discreet resolution would be best, but you'd need someone with enough prestige and clout across the Endless Sea to step up, broker the deal, and stand as guarantor for you."
So who could that person be?
Across the entire Western Endless Sea, who had the strength, status, and respect to make everyone else fall in line?
The answer was another of Ji Jue's old acquaintances: Ling Shuo's nominal adoptive father, the representative of Grey Harbor within the Wild Gathering, and the Dragon Head who had just secured his fourth consecutive term—Ling Liu!
As a legendary fixture who had been entrenched in Grey Harbor for fifty or sixty years, Ling Liu had weathered countless ups and downs throughout his life, yet had always emerged victorious and laughing to the end. He was a bona fide veteran of the Wild Gathering.
Only he commanded that kind of influence and power.
Yet this method was far from ideal, because Ling Liu would seize the chance to take a massive bite out of him!
He would bite as hard and as deep as he possibly could.
"That guy is the biggest headache of all," Chen Xingzhou said. "He's the quintessential Thousand Islands Wild Gathering type: he acknowledges only money, never people. He'll call anyone his mother so long as they feed him, and tell them to shove off if they don't. Once you get tangled up with him, you can never shake him off. If you owe him a favor, he'll likely gnaw on you for ages.
"I doubt you'd choose that."
Indeed.
Rather than turning to Ling Liu, he might as well just fight a war!
Hence the immense dilemma.
This wouldn't work, that wouldn't work; his options were simply too limited.
To achieve the 'win-win cooperation' the Wild Gathering sought, Ji Jue would inevitably have to surrender a portion of his own interests. Even if they offered greater returns, he still wouldn't see it as a worthwhile bargain.
Who were they kidding? You were living perfectly well, and then out of nowhere someone forced you to sell your own blood. No matter how much money they gave, it couldn't be that much, yet they expected him to trade his life for it.
Did he look like he was desperate for their petty scraps?
If he shut his eyes, joined the corruption, and reversed the progress of the Seven Cities, what right would Ji Jue have to claim he was accomplishing anything meaningful?
Even without a battlefield defeat, he would have already lost!
"What if you stepped in?" Ji Jue asked.
"Impossible."
Chen Xingzhou sighed and flatly refused. "I wish I could help, but if I intervene at this moment, Ling Liu will see it as an overreach. When that happens, you won't just be dealing with those three families—Grey Harbor will take the lead against you.
"Regardless of the circumstances, I can't reach over there just yet. Unless..."
Over the line, his voice paused for a split second.
Then it stopped entirely.
He said nothing more.
Yet Ji Jue saw through it instantly and chuckled softly.
"I understand. Thanks for the tip."
"Don't mention it. It's merely using one problem to solve another. Whether it works or not depends entirely on you," Chen Xingzhou said. "I'll wait for your good news."
He paused for a moment before adding, "In the future—well, perhaps not too far from now—if you succeed, I might need a favor from you."
"I'll be there."
Ji Jue promised resolutely, "Rest assured."
The call ended.
Ji Jue sank back into thought.
From the perspective of business partners, Ji Jue and Chen Xingzhou had complete confidence in one another.
Granted, compared to true comrades-in-arms, Ji Jue didn't trust Chen Xingzhou entirely, just as Chen Xingzhou didn't place blind faith in Ji Jue. But between them stood Chen Yubo—that pink-clad, cat-loving powerhouse.
Even if Chen Yubo was useless at everything except raising cats, and his biggest daily worry after waking up in his eight-hundred-square-meter bedroom was that he had made too much money again, he remained a vital link.
He carried Chen Xingzhou's scarce remaining scrap of humanity and Ji Jue's distinctly limited reservoir of friendship.
With that bridge in place, combined with their shared overarching alignment in Haizhou, they were plenty dependable as allies.
Both sides exercised restraint, maintaining a polite, harmonious distance, within which they forged the strongest possible bond of trust.
When trouble arose, they naturally helped whenever they could.
Much like Chen Xingzhou's true hint just now: though left unspoken in the end, it pointed straight to the best possible solution.
Setting the phone down, Ji Jue picked it up again to summon Ling Shuo and Blondie to his office, laying out the current situation.
"What do you two think?" Ji Jue gave a soft sigh, posing the question solemnly.
"Let's fight those sons of bitches!" Blondie flared with rage, blurting out without a second thought. "Just say the word, Mr. Ji, and I'll take the boys to slit their throats right now! I'll fucking—"
Ling Shuo, by contrast, hesitated with words on the tip of his tongue.
After a long pause, waiting until Ji Jue looked his way, he swallowed hard and said in a low voice, "Please, stay calm, sir."
Ji Jue raised an eyebrow. "You think I can't handle this?"
Instantly, Ling Shuo shook his head vigorously, as if jolted by electricity.
Racking his brains for a long time, he stammered, "No, I just think... if, if... we find someone to talk to them first, maybe it would be... safer."
"Hey, what's got into you?" Blondie shot him a sideways glare. "You talk about loyalty and brotherhood every single day, and the moment something happens, you turn into this? Tell you what, if you're—"
Ji Jue waved a hand, cutting him off.
"Why must you always turn to someone else, Ling Shuo?"
Ji Jue sighed, then said abruptly, "In this life, when all is said and done, you have to rely on yourself, don't you?"
"Mr. Ji is right!" Blondie nodded decisively, leaving one to wonder whether he had even listened to what Ji Jue said.
Either way, whatever Mr. Ji said was bound to be right!
"Yes, yes..."
Ling Shuo instinctively nodded in agreement, raising a hand to wipe his sweat. Several times he opened his mouth to speak, but words caught in his throat, and he didn't dare utter a sound.
Until he raised his head once more and met the eyes looking down at him.
Those pitch-black irises, deep and tranquil, reflected his own silhouette.
It was as if... they were waiting for something.
For a single moment, as if struck by sudden enlightenment, Ling Shuo shuddered uncontrollably. His face twitched, and he nearly forgot to breathe!
"Yes, you..."
Ling Shuo lowered his head deeply, his voice trembling beyond restraint. "You're completely right!"
And so, the brief meeting quickly came to an end.
After all, it was merely touching base to let them prepare, since even if a fight truly broke out, no one knew how long it would take.
Using the late hour as an excuse to rest, Ji Jue told Blondie to head back and behave himself. He brushed the dust off his sleeves and went off to sleep soundly.
He slept all the way until nine the next morning, enjoying a rare lie-in.
Waking up lazily, brushing his teeth, rinsing his mouth, and grabbing a quick bite to eat, he yawned and pushed the door open.
At last, he saw the figure on the steps outside—kneeling there through the entire night.
The morning dew had already evaporated, and the sun was growing harsher by the minute. Beneath the blazing light, Ling Shuo knelt bolt upright, meticulous and motionless, waiting in silence.
Upon hearing the door open, he raised both hands and prostrated himself to the ground, head touching the stone.
A devout, reverent bow.
"When did you get here?" Ji Jue sat down on the step before him.
Ling Shuo kept his head bowed and answered, "Last night, at eleven o'clock."
Ji Jue nodded and sighed softly.
"You must be exhausted."
"Not at all," Ling Shuo kowtowed once more. "My only fear was annoying you, sir."
"Yeah, it really is a hassle, but it can't just be ignored." Ji Jue looked up into the distance, gazing down at Luo Island beneath the mountain, and asked abruptly, "Do you really want to be the Dragon Head that badly?"
"Yes!"
Ling Shuo trembled, screaming with every ounce of strength he had, unable to hold back:
"More than anything in the world!"
Chapter 845