From now on, there could only be one gang in Yuan Guang County.
The benefits of unifying all the gangs were self-evident. He would be able to acquire more cultivation resources with relative ease, preparing him to ascend to the Gang Qi Realm as quickly as possible.
He had practiced too many Evil Skills. They were certainly powerful, but the cultivation resources they required had also grown to an absurd degree.
Take his recent advancement to the Seventh Grade, for example. If Bian Yixia hadn’t happened to capture a Demon Beast and been willing to share it with him, Zou Feng would never have succeeded so quickly.
Especially now. Aside from his Tribulation-Indestructible Body, which was just a little shy of the next level, all his other Cultivation Skills had surpassed the stage of Refined Skill...
The sheer amount of resources he would need to advance further was enough to give him a headache just thinking about it.
That evening, Zou Feng brought Luo Yong and his family back to the Dragon Gate Boat.
Wang Xingjian came along too, clamoring for them to go to the Furong Pavilion for a proper celebration.
Zou Feng genuinely had no interest in Liu Xian’Er, who only performed and did not sell her body, but he couldn’t refuse Wang Xingjian’s enthusiastic invitation. He figured he might as well go for some good wine.
But just as they were about to leave, a subordinate reported that someone from the Mountain and River Association had arrived.
At that moment, the new Gang Leader, Bian Yixia, was still focused on absorbing Deng Guangxin’s Inner Qi. He clearly couldn’t handle the matter himself.
Thus, the task of meeting and negotiating with the visitor from the Mountain and River Association fell to Zou Feng, the General Leader.
In truth, Zou Feng knew exactly why the Mountain and River Association was here.
All three Seventh Grade Martial Artists in the Mountain and River Association were dead, and they were already on bad terms with the Black Flood Dragon Gang. Unless the remaining members wanted to flee, they had almost no choice but to sue for peace with the Black Flood Dragon Gang.
During the time Deng Guangxin was back, the Mountain and River Association had made no moves. They were likely waiting for the situation to become clearer before making a decision.
In the now-clean Gathering Hall, Zou Feng received the representative from the Mountain and River Association.
A senior manager of the Mountain and River Association named Gao Jun.
Gao Jun was only a Ninth Grade Martial Artist. He certainly hadn’t become a manager based on his Martial Dao strength.
Upon entering the Gathering Hall, Gao Jun was slightly surprised. He had heard Zou Feng was young, but he hadn’t expected him to be *this* young...
"Greetings, General Zou!"
Gao Jun didn’t dare to be impolite, adopting the proper posture of someone suing for peace.
Since they were still technically enemies, Zou Feng had no intention of wasting words. He got straight to the point. "I don’t believe I’ve seen any ’sincerity’ from your Mountain and River Association yet."
Gao Jun gave a wry smile and began to list the terms of their ’sincere’ peace offering one by one.
However, Zou Feng frowned after hearing just a few sentences.
The remaining members of the Mountain and River Association had no intention of merging into the Black Flood Dragon Gang. Instead, they planned to pay a price—compensating them with money, ceding territory, and so on—to resolve the "grudge" between their two gangs.
Zou Feng immediately held up a hand to interrupt Gao Jun. "Hold on. It seems you haven’t grasped the situation!"
"Everything you’re promising us now... won’t it all be ours anyway once my Black Flood Dragon Gang annihilates you?"
Hearing this, Gao Jun managed an awkward but polite smile and said respectfully, "General Zou, you jest... Yuan Guang County has always had three major gangs coexisting, each with its own strengths, for mutual benefit. That’s why Magistrate Huang turns a blind eye to some of our more... out-of-line activities."
This was a nice way of putting it, but in reality, he was using the Government Office’s name to pressure Zou Feng.
He wanted Zou Feng to think that the Government Office needed the three gang factions in Yuan Guang County to keep each other in check, maintaining a balance of power.
"Besides... even if our Mountain and River Association wanted to merge with the Black Flood Dragon Gang, the Danxin Alliance wouldn’t allow it..."
At this point, Gao Jun put on a suitably sorrowful expression and sighed. "Now that my Mountain and River Association has lost its pillar of support, we can’t afford to offend anyone. General Zou, you must understand..."
Though it sounded like a complaint, it was clearly a threat aimed at Zou Feng.
’Don’t push us into a corner. If worst comes to worst and we have to fight to the death, we can still choose to join the Danxin Alliance and rely on them to continue fighting the Black Flood Dragon Gang.’
Hearing this, Zou Feng almost burst out laughing.
To put it bluntly, these guys still hadn’t figured out the situation and had no clear understanding of his true strength.
’But on second thought,’ he mused, ’it’s normal for both the Mountain and River Association and the Danxin Alliance to still be holding on to a sliver of hope.’
After all, they hadn’t witnessed that battle.
In fact, even the members of the Black Flood Dragon Gang who were present at the time only came in to see the aftermath.
They didn’t know that Zou Feng had single-handedly fought and defeated Xiang Kang, Luo Fei, and Deng Guangxin in succession.
Therefore, everyone subconsciously assumed that this impressive battle record was the result of Zou Feng and Bian Yixia fighting together.
And Zou Feng couldn’t exactly jump up and announce that Bian Yixia’s contribution during the entire fight was practically zero. His effect was basically equivalent to a cheerleader who couldn’t even shout "Go, team, go!" properly...
"Very good. So, the Danxin Alliance is still backing you..." Zou Feng said with a smirk that wasn’t quite a smile.
Seeing Zou Feng’s expression, Gao Jun instinctively felt that something was wrong. ’But I’m just an envoy here to negotiate peace,’ he thought. ’The guy can’t be so arrogant as to kill me first, right?’
"General Zou, every word I’ve said is true! In fact... Alliance Leader Shi of the Danxin Alliance has already sent word. I really am..."
Zou Feng waved his hand impatiently. "Enough. Stop with this nonsense. Someone, bring tea!"
A Maid, carrying a tea tray, walked gracefully over to Gao Jun.
Seeing this, Gao Jun’s face paled in terror, and his legs began to tremble.
"General... General Zou, I... I’m just a messenger... You can’t be so unreasonable..."
"I’m telling you to drink the tea. It’s not poisoned!"
"Ah..."
Only then did Gao Jun realize he had overreacted.
After all, if Zou Feng really wanted to kill him, a single palm strike would suffice. There was no need for something as troublesome as poisoned tea.
"Thank you, General Zou!"
Gao Jun took the teacup and took a small sip, his expression still tense.
The Maid then placed the remaining small pot of tea on the table beside Gao Jun.
"You drink up. I’m going to take care of something!"
With that, Zou Feng stood up to leave.
Hearing this, Gao Jun became even more confused about Zou Feng’s intentions. He quickly said, "Since General Zou is busy, I’ll just come back another time..."
He really didn’t dare to stay any longer. He felt that this Zou Feng was completely unpredictable, so his top priority was to get away quickly.
"No need for another time. It’s best we settle this now!"
"Didn’t you say the Danxin Alliance is meddling? Fine, I’ll go ’invite’ Alliance Leader Shi right now, and we can all continue this discussion together!"
With that said, Zou Feng flickered and vanished from the Gathering Hall.
Gao Jun stood stunned for a moment before he processed what Zou Feng had just said.
But he suspected he must have misheard.
’Invite Alliance Leader Shi Yangming of the Danxin Alliance here!?’
’What kind of nonsense is that? How could Shi Yangming possibly be invited over to the Dragon Gate Boat for a discussion right now just like that?’
In all of Yuan Guang County, not even Magistrate Huang could summon Shi Yangming on a whim!
Gao Jun couldn’t fathom what kind of scene Zou Feng was trying to create. But he couldn’t leave even if he wanted to, so he could only continue to wait uncomfortably...
Meanwhile, Zou Feng had already left the Dragon Gate Boat and was speeding through the night.
He hadn’t been speaking casually just now. If he said he was going to "invite" Shi Yangming over, then he would "invite" him over immediately.
Shi Yangming disagrees?
No problem. He’d just beat him until he agreed.
Zou Feng had wanted to quickly merge the gangs all along, gather their resources, and focus on his cultivation.
So there was really no need to wait any longer. Settling it tonight was the simplest solution.
After advancing to the Seventh Grade and possessing a Cultivation Skill at the Peak Realm, he no longer had to worry about much, at least for now. He could act without constantly looking over his shoulder.
The reason was simple: at this stage, among the Seventh Grade masters in Yuan Guang County, he was invincible!
As for the Gang Qi Realm...
The only known one, Fang Jingchuan, had murderous intent towards him but was clearly still recovering from his injuries. And after becoming his top financial backer, that injury probably wasn’t going to heal...
Even if that guy went crazy and insisted on coming after him while still injured, Zou Feng wasn’t afraid.
After integrating the Ghostly Shadow Mysterious Step, and with the Black Tortoise Sea-Suppressing Force providing massive reserves of Inner Qi, he could simply flee if he still couldn’t win.
Not to mention, he could release poison while running. He could wear down the injured Fang Jingchuan until he wouldn’t dare to pursue for long.
The night wind blew against him, and Zou Feng felt fantastic. Being invincible wasn’t lonely at all—it was an incredible high!