"There's plenty out there you haven't seen yet."
"The outside world is a total mess. Once rebel armies rise, chaos takes over, and before long, even the inner city might not remain peaceful," Xie Jiang said, curling his lip.
Manager Wu thought for a moment and said, "I've heard the elders say that whenever troubled times arrive, evil anomalies and monsters appear. If the world keeps spiraling into chaos like this, demons, ghosts, and monsters will all come crawling out."
"My grandmother used to say the same thing. When I was a kid, she was always scaring me with stories of demons and monsters," Xie Jiang chuckled.
The group continued their idle, rambling chatter.
Just then, a man jogged in from outside, scanned the room, and rushed straight toward Lin Zheyu and the others.
"Brother Yong, Brother Jiang, Brother Yu, bad news!" the man wheezed, gasping desperately for breath.
"What happened?"
Lin Zheyu handed him a cup of tea, letting him catch his breath.
"The people from the Wuding Gang are making trouble again, and Xing Jinglong is the one leading them this time," the man said.
"That bastard Xing Jinglong has run over to our Feihong Gang's turf to stir up trouble again!"
Jia Yanyong slammed his hand on the table and shot to his feet, a flare of anger crossing his face.
"Lead the way."
Lin Zheyu stood up and handed his draft to Manager Wu. "Manager Wu, find someone to fill in for my storytelling today. Here's the script."
"All right, be careful out there."
Manager Wu took the manuscript. This was something he and Lin Zheyu had already agreed upon; to prepare for emergencies that might pull Lin Zheyu away during storytelling hours, they had settled on a contingency plan in advance.
"How strong is this Xing Jinglong?" Lin Zheyu asked curiously on the way.
He had never taken part in a gang brawl before, so he found the experience quite novel.
"A bit stronger than me. The last time I fought him one-on-one, I lost by a single move," Xie Jiang said with a grave expression.
Jia Yanyong curled his lip. "Stop flattering yourself. You lost by a lot more than just one move."
Following the messenger, the group made their way to the far end of Baiwei Street.
"Right inside," the man said, pointing toward a restaurant ahead.
The outside of the restaurant was packed with curious onlookers.
"Make way, make way."
They pushed through the crowd and stepped inside.
"Young Master Xing, quite the grand show you're putting on! Acting like a tyrant right on our Feihong Gang's turf?" Jia Yanyong's voice rang out before he even stepped fully through the door.
Hearing the shout, Xing Jinglong glanced over at Lin Zheyu and the others, a sneer curling his lips.
...
"What, people aren't even allowed to eat here now?"
"If the food this restaurant serves tastes like garbage, people aren't allowed to say so?" Xing Jinglong asked with a cold chuckle.
He was an imposing figure over a hundred and ninety centimeters tall, easily weighing more than three hundred jin. Just standing there, he exuded immense pressure.
Dressed in fine brocade robes, Xing Jinglong looked even younger than Lin Zheyu, seemingly a young master from some prominent lineage.
"Even if the food isn't good, is there any need to trash the place?"
"Besides, every time you come, you complain that it's awful, yet you keep coming back. Where's the sense in that?" Jia Yanyong's expression turned grim as he led several brothers to encircle him.
"Thinking you can bully me with numbers?"
"I just wanted to see if their cooking had improved today. Who knew it would be as wretched as ever?"
"Food this foul isn't even fit for dogs, and they dare keep a restaurant open?"
"A dump like this is better off smashed to pieces." Xing Jinglong seized a serving plate, dashed it onto the floor, and looked indifferently across Lin Zheyu and his companions.
...
"Could this guy be from one of the prominent clans?" Lin Zheyu whispered.
"Yeah, a young master from a collateral branch of the Xing family. Nothing to worry about," Xie Jiang said.
They had dealt with Xing Jinglong several times before. Whenever this fellow took offense or grew frustrated elsewhere, he would find a place to blow off steam.
"My guess is he took some grief from one of the young masters in the Xu, Chen, or Ren families, so he came to pick a fight on Feihong Gang turf and vent his anger on us," Xie Jiang murmured.
The Xu, Chen, and Ren families were the three prominent clans backing the Feihong Gang.
Messy squabbles constantly broke out among the young masters of the various clans, and every once in a while, people would come looking for trouble over those grudges.
If the instigator was someone of great importance—a direct-line young master from one of those families—they couldn't afford to provoke him and would have had no choice but to report up the ladder.
However, a collateral son like Xing Jinglong wasn't particularly important. They could handle him directly.
"No need to tell Lord Qiu?" Lin Zheyu asked.
Lord Qiu, named Qiu Gaoxuan, was their direct superior, whose martial strength had reached the peak of the Viscera Tempering Realm.
"No need. A brawl will let him vent his anger, and that'll be that."
"These young masters care immensely about face. If they come looking for a fight and lose, clinging to the matter afterward will only make them a laughingstock."
"We've crossed hands with this Fat Xing several times in the past, though we've lost more often than we've won."
"You don't need to step in later. Just let Jia Yanyong handle it. That fellow has thick skin and solid meat—he's exceptionally tough to beat down."
"We just need to keep the others from ambushing him," Xie Jiang said, gesturing for Lin Zheyu to keep an eye on the men Xing Jinglong had brought along.
"Understood." Lin Zheyu nodded. If he didn't have to fight, he preferred not to.
Before long, Xing Jinglong and Jia Yanyong clashed.
Though Xing Jinglong looked young, his strength was formidable, having reached the Bone Tempering Realm.
He seized a wooden bench and hurled it straight toward Jia Yanyong's head.
Jia Yanyong didn't flinch. A reckless brute by nature, he ignored the incoming bench entirely and charged forward like a ferocious bandit, savage and unyielding.
Swinging his right fist, he unleashed the Black Fiend Fist, meeting the bench head-on and shattering it to splinters with a single strike.
*This guy really fights like a madman,* Lin Zheyu thought, watching Jia Yanyong's fearless, overwhelmingly ferocious assault in speechless amusement.
...
Chapter 35