Three days passed in relative calm. Miao Mei had confirmed Meng Zhang was fine. The two of them came up with a plan together to take over one of the small gangs controlling a neighborhood with 'protection' fees. Success would give her shop additional help and income, which would in turn provide the sect with more information and influence over the city.

  This plan still needed time to bring to fruition. She had then visited Li Fanghua afterwards, whose parents had encountered trouble with debt collectors. Li Fanghua, having reached the Bone Tempering stage, managed to calm tensions down slightly, but still had to pay up.

  Lu Qingshan would rather have her family safe than not, especially with what happened to Liu Yingting's family. He decided to bring the two of them into the sect. Both matters required his personal attention, which was why he'd focused on the Silent Step Technique the past few days.

  Silent Step Technique (Limit)

  Lu Qingshan's steps were now as silent as a whisper, even though his speed hadn't changed. Now he could dash through the entire storehouse in an instant without alerting the sleeping twins.

  Employing both the Seven Steps Technique and the Silent Step still drained a lot of his energy though. There was also Deer Traverses the Forest which he hadn't yet practiced. It was a good time for him to exit seclusion.

  The five watchers had returned to a normal cycle of spying on the Little Treasure Store. Four of them took turns trading places on the streets, alleys, and roofs, while the other store keeper would only begin overt surveillance at night. Eventually, Lu Qingshan figured out the holes in their monitoring, as they were all amateurs. Perhaps their masters hadn't expected much from such a small shop. As long as they saw Miao Mei at the usual times, they became lazy.

  Lu Qingshan figured out the right time to evade their detection with Liu Yingting. There was no need to employ his flies. Soon, he reached a crowded marketplace, where hawkers yelled to sell their wares, such as fruits, vegetables, and the like. This was not the place for martial artists, but commoners.

  They weaved through the crowd and entered another series of alleyways on the quickest path towards Li Fanghua. Here was a more dangerous part of the city, run by a local gang. But the people here only had weapons and not any actual martial arts skills, so they were in reality paper tigers. They were smart, though. The inhabitants inside scattered as soon as they saw the two of them.

  Li Fanghua's parents lived in a seedy neighborhood. Having loan sharks to answer to actually made it slightly safer for them, and her joining of the Seven Mysteries Gate only made others more wary of provoking them. Still, the times had changed. Everyone had heard of the sect's downfall, and without her support along with increased taxes, her parents no longer had the power to pay off the loan consistently.

  Lu Qingshan quickly spotted the house they lived in, and he sent his flies to scout the entire area. The gang in control of the neighborhood wore the symbol of a black bull on their clothes. They called themselves the Barbarian Bull Gang, and they were genuine martial artists. Only with this could they maintain control over other martial artist's parents along with a huge chunk of influence.

  In the city, it was not always might makes right. Some gangs who appeared weak were always able to live on and thrive later once their enemies had fallen. This particular gang didn't appear to have as much influence as the others at first, but after many years had passed, their competitors had all disappeared. So they had risen up and became Lu Qingshan's primary target in his plans to control the city.

  After securing control over their closest swathes of territory, the Barbarian Bull Gang had additional enemies to contend with. These were on Meng Zhang's list as well, though he hadn't had the time to investigate in detail.

  They were the Furious Whale Gang, who controlled the rivers, the Southern Rat Gang, who managed brothels, gambling spots, and black markets, and the Broken Ring Society, who were said to have connections in the city's upper echelons.

  Out of the four largest gangs, the Barbarian Bull Gang had the least stable foundation. There were small ones as well, but too small and they served no purpose for Lu Qingshan to spend time on them. He could deal with them later.

  Eight families. Four gangs. Five sects. They were the ones who ruled the city along with the city lord’s faction, until the royal guards came and imposed their own rules. With the kingdom’s armies wandering around the city, the situation had become a lot more precarious, and the previous balance was beginning to shift.

  Lu Qingshan would seize the opportunity in front of them. Having control over a large city was necessary - the Ninth Storm Dark Capital Technique demanded it. There might also be other Qi Refinement techniques that needed a city as well. This move would greatly supplement their foundation.

  Barbarian Bull Gang members were approaching her house again. With Qin Ye up on the rafters, ambushing them would be easy. Escaping would be more difficult, but he was confident in success. Lu Qingshan marked down the locations of every gang martial artist in the area.

  Each major faction had peak Viscera Tempering experts. With Lu Qingshan’s strength, wiping the entire gang out was easy. This was not what he wanted though. He wanted control.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Assassinating their leaders would help, but their loyalty wasn’t guaranteed. The Seven Mysteries Gate needed lots of things and loyalty was close to the top. His level of power needed to be carefully managed to make everything seem natural, or various forces would rise up to defend their interests and complicate matters.

  So, Lu Qingshan waited. The debt her parents had accrued could be solved in moments. On Li Fanghua’s person she carried some of the treasures and gems taken from the bandit camp. If the Barbarian Bull Gang was willing to be cordial.…

  Unfortunately for them, they were not. As soon as the leading martial artist entered her house, they made loud, rude demands, including a ten-year contract of service. It was clear they were taking advantage of the recent chaos. Recruiting Li Fanghua wouldn’t normally make much of a difference, but an expert was an expert.

  Lu Qingshan sighed. His flies descended on the fifteen Barbarian Bull Gang members in the vicinity, devouring their flesh and drawing screams. Nobody came to check up on them. After all, this was known to be their territory.

  The plan had changed into an overt war. Slaughtering the lowly gang members served one direct purpose: enabling Meng Zhang to fill in the power void with his own forces. Lu Qingshan withdrew from the area once the deed was done.

  He met up with Meng Zhang coming down from the upper part of the city. With him were three people, the Wang brothers, who he’d recruited using past connections. They'd lost their parents to disease and had turned to crime to survive. One of the brothers carried a sharp axe.

  “It’s time,” Lu Qingshan said.

  Meng Zhang looked up at the alley walls. “My men are here. Ten from the Azure Wind Gang are willing to join us as well.”

  “I’ve already killed most of the stronger gang members in the area. The ones remaining should be easy pickings for them to prove their worth," Lu Qingshan said, eyeing the three brothers. "Don't play much of a role in this battle, Meng Zhang. We'll keep you hidden for now.”

  Gangs taking over other gangs’ territory was common. The protection fees maintained by the Barbarian Bull Gang would transfer over as long as the Azure Wind Gang showed sufficient power. Making an example out of the old gang was often a good idea to consolidate support.

  The three brothers quickly stormed the area. As Flesh Tempering martial artists well-versed in working together, they suppressed the Barbarian Bull Gang remnants, who had been left with only a few scattered gang members in isolated locations far from one another. They didn't even know where their fellow martial artists had gone, and the Wang brothers ripped them apart.

  In another part of the neighborhood, ten people clad in blue robes in the style of a sect, carrying short bows and clubs, entered as well. They slowly pushed into Barbarian Bull Gang territory, drawing heavy attention. Meng Zhang signaled at the brothers to hurry up.

  The Azure Wind Gang was able to hold their own for a while, allowing the three brothers to ambush the Barbarian Bull Gang encampment from behind. The battle then ended without much fanfare. Two of the brothers sustained injuries which they patched up with their own medicine. All of the Azure Wind Gang suffered heavier wounds, but worked surprisingly well with one another to keep each other alive.

  “Good work,” Meng Zhang said, giving them the sect’s share of medicinal herbs. Some martial artists in the Barbarian Bull Gang had escaped, but that was fine. There was no way to seal the news.

  Lu Qingshan met up with Qin Ye and Li Fanghua. He didn’t tell them much, just that they were at war with the Barbarian Bull Gang as well. Her parents needed to come with them to Miao Mei’s store.

  The two of them didn’t need to be told twice. It didn’t take long for them all to retreat back into the alleys. They arrived back at the alleyway leading to Miao Mei’s shop to await the Barbarian Bull Gang’s response.

  “Wait,” Lu Qingshan said. “Be careful here. There are five people watching the shop, and we don’t know who they’re working for.”

  He had an idea. The five spies in the area had a core weakness - another group coming in to take territory. Having the Azure Wind Gang was not enough, as ten people couldn’t carve their way to this area without help. But what if he introduced another small gang?

  The three brothers, as long as they went around recruiting people with ambition, could be considered the start of a new gang. They would need help, though. Miao Mei’s supplies could be considered as the carrot to the stick, with the stick being the Wang brothers’ violence.

  Waiting until night was necessary before they could make their move. In the meantime, Lu Qingshan sent the sect to wander through the city, observing what they could. Having human eyes and minds was a lot better than relying on his fly swarms. Meng Zhang would return with the three brothers later.

  This did mean the three of them would start to learn more about their secrets compared to the Azure Wind Gang, but Lu Qingshan believed it a worthy trade-off. Having so many spies around made it too restrictive. With them gone, there was much to be done.

  He snuck back into the store once the watchers revealed a blind spot. Lu Qingshan spent the hours cultivating the Blood Seas Inner Force in his body. He could feel it growing ever so slightly, pulse by pulse, wave by wave. Soon the next level of power would open itself up for him.

  Night fell, and Lu Qingshan had to pull himself away from his practice. A set of sorted secret medicines sat on the table. Miao Mei and her assistants had already gone to bed for the night.

  He picked them up. The three brothers practiced their own style of martial arts, but these tonics were universal, without giving away Wu Ruoling’s methods. Since Miao Mei had rarely sold such goods, they would serve as a sufficient disguise if someone happened to reveal the information.

  Just as Lu Qingshan was about to leave, he stopped. Within his flies’ vision he saw the suspicious shopkeeper two stores over sneak out from his store instead of simply staring at the Little Treasure Store.

  He was coming towards them. But there was already a man trying to listen with his ears pressed against the roof. If he kept going, he was about to cross into their line of sight.

  As he did, the two of them met each other’s eyes. Instead of a calm nod of acknowledgement, the middle-aged shopkeeper almost looked horrified. He turned to run - and the eavesdropper on the roof shot into motion.