Urgent and Unhurried

As it turned out, the window-opening theory held universally true across all four seas. If you declared you were going to smash all the Wild Gathering's businesses to pieces, the Chiefs would certainly fly into a rage and teach you a harsh lesson. But if you said they had misunderstood—that you were only after the few bastards who had provoked you first—the Chiefs would think, *What's the big deal? They had it coming.* Likewise, if you asked the Association to help you wipe out the Wild Gathering, they would hem and haw, hold days of committee meetings, slack off, and ultimately let the matter fizzle into nothing. But if you said you weren't targeting the Wild Gathering, only dealing personally with a few petty gnats who had gotten in your face... the Association would roll up their sleeves without a second thought and turn up the heat for you! To the Association, as long as you didn't stir up trouble on their turf, everything was negotiable. To the Wild Gathering, however... Stir up whatever trouble you liked; the bigger the mess you made, the more impressive you were! Ji Jue had pulled strings from afar to push Ling Shuo into paying homage to the Wild Gathering precisely for this status as a Dragon Head within their ranks, hadn't he? Now that the Wild Gathering had declared "the Chiefs have taken note," the rest came down to his own finesse! "This kid..." Inside the Wild Gathering headquarters, Chen looked down at the new announcement on his desk. After a long silence, he gave a soft chuckle. "I can't say how profound his alchemy is, but his political acumen is extraordinary. "No wonder Haizhou holds him in such high regard. It's not just young Chen Xingzhou; even an old fox like Shaban sings his praises... *Inserting that which has no thickness into the crevices where there is space, there is plenty of room for the blade to play.* Handling affairs like a master butcher wielding his cleaver—it borders on preternatural." "Prattling on and on, looking ahead and behind before taking a step. Just another insufferable pain in the ass." Wei rolled his eyes, utterly disdainful of such sluggish, convoluted tactics. If someone rubbed you the wrong way, why not just go cut them down? We're all in the Wild Gathering—what could they do to you? Yet even so, he had to admit one thing: "At least he knows when to stop, and he knows the rules." "Doesn't that make it even more brilliant?" Hai looked up. "Chen's flattery might not mean much—he's always praising everyone to the skies—but someone that even Wei can't find fault with? Now, that's a rare sight." Wei flipped him the bird, but didn't deny it. Just as Chen admired, Wei scoffed, and Hai pointed out, having such a tangled identity within the Wild Gathering was nothing new. Yet most who walked the tightrope between both sides lived in constant dread, treading on thin ice. At best, they played petty games, skimming a little off both ends to make a quiet fortune while terrified of drawing attention. Who among them had ever moved like Ji Jue—as natural as a fish in water, thoroughly enjoying himself? From beginning to end, he had remained behind the scenes, casually orchestrating a cascade of shifts between the Wild Gathering and the Association, landing each blow precisely in this narrow rift. Through an effortless display of maneuvering and pulling cards out of thin air, he had played three veteran Wild Gathering branches—Shiye, Fog Veil, and Iron Hook District—like fiddles, running them ragged like dogs. It was a real eye-opener for everyone. What was mere hacking and slashing worth? Desperate life-and-death brawls were a dime a dozen. Even if you slaughtered three whole branches, it would just be another headline. What was so extraordinary about that? How could that compare to this? With an idle flick of his wrist, he had choked off every single avenue of survival, leaving them with only one way out. By this point, no matter how unyielding, proud, or lawless someone might be, they had to understand what bowing their head meant. There was only one path to stay alive. Don't refuse the face being given to you. Ji Jue had already cast his fishing line. Even if there was no hook, feeling the water temperature slowly rise should be enough to tell them what choice to make. A long time later, a knock sounded at the door. Holding two folders in hand, Yuan Xing reported, "The reports and requests for aid from the three branches have arrived again." "Toss them over there." Hai casually pointed toward the scrap paper pile in the corner, continuing their conversation without even looking up. Leave them be! *** "Don't panic! This is all Wild Gathering business; the Chiefs will never abandon us!" Satria's face was grim as iron. He spouted words he didn't believe himself just to keep morale from crumbling, then glanced at the mirror beside him. The two faces reflected there were equally ghastly. Caruso had stopped swirling his damned red wine. He turned his lighter over and over in his hand, his expression flickering in the gloom. "Can't we think of another way? Our three branches have operated in the Endless Sea for so many years. So what if that bastard Ji picked a fight with us? Are we supposed to just lie down and let him slaughter us?" If the butcher Ji closed his shop, did that mean they had to eat meat with the fur still on? What a joke. Just take the business somewhere else! "It's useless." William yawned, rubbing the stubble on his chin, and spoke slowly. "My men just went to the Phantasm Realm Workshop in Grey Harbor to sound out Master Pétion. "For appraisals, small batches might be fine—one or two pieces, no problem. But any more than that... out of the question." In truth, what they had actually been told was far nastier. His men simply hadn't dared repeat it word for word, but William wasn't an idiot; a glance at his subordinate's face had told him everything. In fact, even small batches were off the table. The moment the artisan from Phantasm Realm heard the goods came from the Seven Cities, his face changed completely, and he showed them the door. It was as if he had seen a ghost, terrified that if he kicked them out a second too late, these fools would drop dead on his doorstep. *Keep the mess you stirred up away from me; I don't want your blood splashing everywhere!* *You offended Master Ji and you still want out? What kind of pipe dream are you having?!* It wasn't just Phantasm Realm. The other two workshops they had approached seemed to share the exact same script, spouting endless lines of "well, although..." and "perhaps, maybe..." without ever giving a straight answer, claiming they had to report back and discuss it before playing dead. Unlike the ragtag mess of the Wild Gathering, where everyone fought tooth and nail over scraps from the same trough, artisans might scheme against each other in private, but under the Association's strict discipline, they presented a united front to outsiders. The Association's announcement had made everything crystal clear. If you failed to read the room and acted out of turn, don't blame the Association for teaching you a lesson... Besides, when it came to this new appraisal work, every artisan on the list was firmly united! Never mind whether a master personally conducted the appraisal or shut the door and had apprentices and drudges do the grunt work. The crucial part was that every expedited appraisal certificate stamped with a master's seal carried an extra fee of two percent of the item's total value! What was that? That was free money delivered right to their doorstep! And who had put that food on their table? Master Ji! This was a perk Master Ji had fought to secure for all his colleagues in the Association, alright? If you didn't say "Thank you, Mr. Ji," did you seriously expect to smash his rice bowl? *Bah!* Let's see if a blast of Dissociation Art didn't blow you straight into dust! If you died, everyone would say good riddance, and passersby would stomp on your ashes just to vent their spite. Anyone who dared defy the entire industry to take on their work right now would need to seriously assess whether they had the stomach to embrace the Profound. Furthermore, as word got around, even other Wild Gathering branches refused to touch their goods. Selling at fire-sale prices didn't help either! Who didn't know that Master Ji was notoriously petty? Now that the man had made such a huge fuss and heated the oil to a rolling boil just to cook your goose, taking your goods would just be begging for trouble! For a time, the three of them looked at each other in silence. Then William, wearing a face full of sorrow, let out a booming sigh. "I'm the junior here, so I'll say the ugly truth first. All Wild Gathering under heaven are one family, after all. Look at what a mess this has become..." He rubbed his chin, staring intently at a slip of paper outside the mirror's view as he stumbled through his lines. "When you get right down to it, better to dissolve an enmity than... build one up? ...What kind of garbage phrase is that? Cough, cough... Anyhow, dragging out the final payment this long really is unacceptable. "I've already settled things with Little Ling, so I'll be signing off now! You're all brothers in my heart. We'll drink together next time—if anything comes up, be sure to let me know!" Before the words finished echoing, the bronze mirror went dark, and his reflection vanished. He had bolted. Satria and Caruso were left behind, their eyes nearly splitting with fury. *William, you son of a bitch!* *You were the one fighting to the death back then, and now you're the first to drop to your knees and slide into surrender against the wind? Are you even human?!* Three days ago on Luo Island, Aogao's actions had, in the end, forged a vital link between the two parties. Only because of that did William now have the chance to cross that narrow bridge. Fog Veil and Iron Hook, however, had burned their bridges beyond repair because of Grey Harbor. Now that Ji Jue had lent Grey Harbor a helping hand, leaving Ling Liu untouched—partly because his reach fell short, and partly, no doubt, to isolate the troublesome Ling Liu and box him out—it was all the easier to corner the rest of them. And now, under the tacit direction of the Chiefs, the three-party alliance that had been honing its blades to challenge the Seven Cities had collapsed without a fight. Before a single blade was drawn or a single shot fired, their vitals had been seized in a vice grip, aching to the bone! Ji Jue wasn't in a rush. From start to finish, he had never hurried, executing each step of his plan with methodical calm. Now, it was their turn to panic! *You want appraisals?* *And you want them expedited?* *Sure, no problem! Send them all over to Luo Island right away so I can have a nice, close look... Don't worry, I promise to deliver a completely fair and impartial assessment!* *Ji, you absolute bastard!!!* *If you have the guts, fight us with real blades and guns!* Yet at this crucial juncture, as long as Ji Jue held this knot in his hands, no one else had any hope of untying it! No matter their immense strength or countless tricks, they were utterly powerless to use them. It felt as though invisible hands were clamped around their throats, manipulating them at will, dragging them deeper and deeper into the mire to be kneaded like dough... After devoting themselves to the White Stag, roaming the open seas, and running wild with reckless abandon for so many years, suddenly plunging into this swamp brought a suffocating dread they had never experienced before. *Creak, creak, creak...* After the meeting ended, Satria sat in stony silence, his face dark as iron. Beneath him, the iron chair groaned and deformed under the brutal grip of his hands. In the dead quiet, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and squeezed the words through his clenched teeth. "Go negotiate." Himawan froze, hesitating in place, unable to believe his ears, yet not daring to ask what Satria meant... Until those crimson eyes lifted and bored straight into him. "Go negotiate. Did I stutter?" Satria roared, "Whatever he wants, give it to him! Just get that fucking appraisal sorted out, understand?!" Himawan nodded dumbly, daring not linger for another second, and turned to leave. *** That evening, Ji Jue received a phone call from Ling Shuo. His tone was deferential and exceedingly cautious. "Mr. Ji, the other two branches have sent people over as well... How would you like us to receive them? Please advise." "Receive them? Why receive them?" The voice on the other end of the line asked casually, "Do you have that much free time?" "Understood." Ling Shuo nodded in comprehension. He waited until the dial tone sounded from the other end before ending the call and setting down his phone. When he turned around, the smile on his face had completely vanished. "Make them wait outside. I don't have time for this shit." He told his subordinate, "Keep a close eye on them. If anyone makes a fuss, break their legs. And once their legs are broken, make them stay on their knees and keep waiting!" The subordinate understood and turned to leave. Back at the banquet table, the lively atmosphere continued unabated. "Come on, brother William, let's keep drinking." Ling Shuo raised his glass once more, smiling broadly. "I've heard of your reputation for so long, but I never imagined you and I would hit it off so well on our very first meeting! Come, this toast is to you." "Hahaha, don't mention it, don't mention it! We're all fucking brot—" William laughed heartily, pounding his chest as he prepared to speak, only to feel a sharp pain on the bridge of his foot. Before he could recover, Aogao beside him had already raised a wine glass toward the highest point of Luo Island. "To the Seven Cities," he said, "and to Mr. Ji!"