Urban Martial Saint

Li Wenyuan cursed for a good while before some of his rage subsided, and he glared as he said, ”Get the fuck out of here, all of you, don’t make my heart even more irritated by staying here!”

The crowd hurriedly ran out, not daring to linger in the room for a moment longer.

Li Wenyuan sat by the table, grinding his teeth in anger, feeling his mood sink to rock bottom. He had sent Yue Gaoyang over just to see what Ye Qing was truly up to. He hadn’t expected Yue Gaoyang to lose his life there. If he had known, he wouldn’t have sent anyone at all.

”Ye Qing, Ye Qing, you dare to trap me!” Li Wenyuan gnashed his teeth, his eyes flickering with cold light. But in the end, he suppressed his anger, picked up the phone on the desk, and dialed Shangguan Tian’s number.

Half an hour later, Shangguan Tian arrived at Li Wenyuan’s place. Shangguan Tian looked as bad as Li Wenyuan felt, because he had already heard about the people from the Fierce Tiger Gang defecting to Ye Qing. In other words, Ye Qing’s power had greatly increased, and it wasn’t going to be as easy to deal with him as it had been before.

Shangguan Tian and Li Wenyuan sat down opposite each other. Li Wenyuan cut to the chase and asked in a deep voice, ”Gang Leader Shangguan, I’m sure you’re aware of what happened at Tian Sheng. What do you think of this matter?”

Shangguan Tian slowly nodded and said, ”We’ve all been played by Ye Qing. This whole truce meeting was nothing but a ploy for him to build his reputation. I just received news that a good third of the Fierce Tiger Gang has defected to Ye Qing. Now, Ye Qing’s and Li Lianshan’s powers have more than doubled.”

”So what if his power has doubled? There are only so many people in Shenchuan City. Even if he devours the Fierce Tiger Gang, at most, his power would be comparable to ours,” Li Wenyuan frowned and said solemnly, ”What concerns me most right now is Ye Qing’s ambition. He dares to kill the deputy chief of our Fu Bang today. What is there he wouldn’t dare do? Today he kills Yue Gaoyang, tomorrow he might come for me, and the day after, he might be at your doorstep, Gang Leader Shangguan!”

Shangguan Tian also furrowed his brows; this was exactly what he was worried about as well.

”Gang Leader Li, I understand what you mean. We should take him out now, while he’s not yet fully fledged—it would be the best way to nip the problem in the bud,” Shangguan Tian paused, then continued gravely, ”But how shall we deal with him now? Let’s not even talk about the teahouse with its unclear stance; Tie Yongwen will definitely protect him. The same goes for East State Poisonous Mantis and Xikou Fire Butterfly—their positions are also vague. If we were to kill Ye Qing, who knows if these two would seek revenge? Moreover, there’s the Xihang Shen Family. I’ve heard that during the last event at the Xingyi Martial Arts School, Shen Qianyue threatened that if anyone from Western Province dared to move against Ye Qing, the Shen Family would never let them get away with it. Now that even the Shen Family is backing Ye Qing, do you think these people would let us off the hook if we killed him?”

What Shangguan Tian worried about was also what worried Li Wenyuan. He had been absolutely unwilling to confront Ye Qing head-on before, and his takeover of the Fierce Tiger Gang’s territories was meant to limit Ye Qing’s growth. But now, Ye Qing had killed his deputy chief, pushing him into the spotlight. If he didn’t avenge Yue Gaoyang, then his face as the gang leader would be completely ruined, and he would lose all authority over his followers. But if he really sought revenge, setting aside the question of whether he could take down Ye Qing, even if he succeeded, they still had to deal with the people supporting Ye Qing from behind!

”So what, are we supposed to just sit and wait for death?” Li Wenyuan asked with a frown, his voice deep, ”Ye Qing has great ambition, and it’s clear that he wants to completely swallow up the Fierce Tiger Gang. Pi Junchao is useless; he’s no match for Ye Qing at all. I reckon it won’t be long before the Fierce Tiger Gang is entirely digested by Ye Qing. By then, if we want to deal with Ye Qing, it will be far more difficult. Gang Leader Shangguan, even if we can stomach this for now, once Ye Qing has fully spread his wings, he will definitely not spare us!”

Shangguan Tian fell into silence, the dilemma of the situation weighing on him. Should they strike now while Ye Qing had not yet fully grown his wings, or should they bide their time, waiting for Ye Qing to become stronger and then deal with them?

Li Wenyuan’s mood was the same as Shangguan Tian’s. After the battle at the Southern Suburbs Dogfight Arena, Ye Qing’s capabilities were almost fully exposed, and they had come to truly understand what Ye Qing was capable of. If it had been before the dogfight arena’s opening, they might have dared to fight Ye Qing to the death. But now, they didn’t have the guts!

Just as the two sat in their silent contemplation, Li Chengxing walked in from the doorstep and said quietly, ”Uncle, there’s someone outside who wants to see you!”

”Can’t you see I’m in the middle of a serious discussion with Gang Leader Shangguan!” Li Wenyuan glared and snapped, ”Who is it?”

”I don’t know him...” Li Chengxing said, ”But he claims he’s here specifically to see you and Gang Leader Shangguan. Moreover, he says he has a way to help you solve your current problems!”

Li Wenyuan and Shangguan Tian exchanged glances and after a moment of silence, Shangguan Tian nodded to Li Wenyuan.

”Let him in!” Li Wenyuan said.

Li Chengxing walked out, and Li Wenyuan, looking at Shangguan Tian, said solemnly, ”To solve the current problems, what exactly does this person mean?”

”Who cares what he means? We’ll find out when we meet him,” Shangguan Tian replied.

It wasn’t long before Li Chengxing walked in with a man of medium stature. If Shen Qianyue were here, she would have recognized this man—he was the very one who had pressured Lin Yaqing, orchestrating the deception against Shen Baichuan.

As the man entered the room, he smiled faintly and bowed slightly to Shangguan Tian and Li Wenyuan, saying, ”Gang Leader Li, Gang Leader Shangguan, it’s good to see you both!”

”Hm!” Li Wenyuan grunted softly and said, ”This friend looks unfamiliar. You know us?”

The man smiled lightly and said, ”Gang Leader Li and Gang Leader Shangguan’s reputations are so prominent in Shenchuan City, how could there be many who don’t know you?”

The man’s flattery did not earn Li Wenyuan and Shangguan Tian’s favor. They exchanged a glance, and Li Wenyuan said, ”Enough with the nonsense. Who exactly are you? What brings you here, just tell us straight!”

”My name is Xu Dingjiang, and you both must surely have not heard of me. However, you must have heard of my boss...” The man smiled faintly and said, ”My boss’s name is Yang Shitao!”

”Yang Shitao!?” Li Wenyuan and Shangguan Tian exclaimed in unison, clearly recognizing the name.

In truth, within the entire Shenchuan City, the one person who was irrevocably opposed to Ye Qing was Yang Shitao. First, Ye Qing had killed his son, then he had been driven out of Shenchuan City, ousted from his own self-built commercial empire, and now he wandered the earth, still wanted by the police to this day. Yang Shitao was also the person who hated Ye Qing the most, once declaring that he’d spare no expense, even if it meant bankrupting himself, to kill Ye Qing.

To their surprise, this Xu Dingjiang turned out to be Yang Shitao’s man. At this moment, Li Wenyuan and Shangguan Tian finally understood the man’s purpose for coming here!

”Boss Yang seems to be living quite comfortably!” Li Wenyuan said with a cold smile, ”I heard that Boss Yang has even fled Eastern Province and still remotely commands the affairs of Shenchuan City. It’s true what they say about wealth being powerful!”

”Thank you for your concern, Gang Leader Li. How my boss lives his life isn’t important. What’s important is when he can avenge his son!” Xu Dingjiang looked at Li Wenyuan and Shangguan Tian, saying, ”Gang Leader Li, Gang Leader Shangguan, on this matter, both of you surely stand on the same side as my boss, don’t you?”

Li Wenyuan and Shangguan Tian did not deny it—they indeed shared the same goal as Yang Shitao when it came to dealing with Ye Qing.

”You just said you could help us solve our current problem?” Shangguan Tian looked at Xu Dingjiang, asking, ”How will you solve it?”

”If I’m not mistaken, what worries you most about dealing with Ye Qing must be those several powers. The Xihang Shen Family, the tea house, Tie Yongwen, as well as the East State Poisonous Mantis and Xikou Fire Butterfly.” Xu Dingjiang said, hands behind his back, ”But, I can tell you, in fact, the only one who truly warrants worry is Tie Yongwen. There’s no need to bother about the other four forces at all!”

Li Wenyuan and Shangguan Tian’s expressions changed slightly as they said in a deep voice, ”How can you be so sure?”

”Both of you have been in the underworld for quite some time, so you must have heard about past events,” Xu Dingjiang said. ”You surely don’t need me to elaborate on the relationship between the East State Poisonous Mantis and the Xihang Shen Family. The Poisonous Mantis’s attendance at the opening ceremony of the dogfighting arena seemed like a show of support for Ye Qing, but in reality, she came specifically for the people of the Xihang Shen Family. Moreover, according to reliable information, on that night, the Poisonous Mantis had a confrontation with the people of the Xihang Shen Family. So, we can be certain her goal is not Ye Qing but to deal with the Xihang Shen Family. Thus, Ye Qing’s life or death doesn’t matter to her!”

Li Wenyuan and Shangguan Tian exchanged a glance, and Li Wenyuan said in a heavy tone, ”Go on.”

Xu Dingjiang continued, ”The same goes for the Xikou Fire Butterfly; her target is the people from those five gangs in the Western Province. The last time she came here, she personally took down key figures of those five gangs, not even considering how this might create enemies for Ye Qing. So, we can believe that the Fire Butterfly doesn’t care about Ye Qing’s fate; she only cares about her own affairs!”

”The situation with the tea house is somewhat special. The tea house is an assassin organization; theoretically, they work for money. However, the Ghost-faced Judge’s support for Ye Qing is indeed strange. But we can be certain that as of the event at the Southern Suburbs Dogfight Arena, the Xihang Shen Family and the tea house have become enemies. I estimate that it won’t be long before the Xihang Shen Family takes action against the tea house. Hence, the tea house is already struggling to protect itself and does not warrant further consideration!”

”As for the Xihang Shen Family, the significant events that took place at the Southern Suburbs Dogfight Arena were mostly targeting the Xihang Shen Family. Even though Ye Qing saved Miss Shen, this doesn’t mean he owes the Xihang Shen Family any favors. On the contrary, because of certain things he did to Shen Qingyi, he has already attracted the dissatisfaction of the people of the Shen Family. Like last time at the Southern Suburbs Dogfight Arena, he was beaten up by Shen Baichuan, an incident you both are likely aware of!”