Urban Martial Saint

Upon hearing these words, Li Lianshan and Zhao Chengshuang immediately widened their eyes and looked at Ye Qing together. Zhao Chengshuang asked anxiously, ”Ye Zi, you mean... your meaning is...”

Ye Qing glanced at them, stood up, and said in a deep voice, ”Old Li, send a message to all the scattered heads of the Tianqing Gang and Fu Bang. Just say I’m inviting them for a meal!”

Zhao Chengshuang and Li Lianshan looked at each other. They both knew that Ye Qing was originally reluctant to get involved in this matter. But now that he personally initiated the invitation, it signified that he was truly starting to intervene.

Zhao Chengshuang was naturally overjoyed, while Li Lianshan, even though he still had some objections, knew that Ye Qing’s decisions were unlikely to change under ordinary circumstances.

”Alright then!” Li Lianshan nodded and said, ”Do we need to arrange for more brothers? I’ll get the manpower ready in advance for whatever needs to be done at the time.”

Although he had some objections, he regarded Ye Qing as his own brother. Since Ye Qing had decided to do it, he would support him unconditionally no matter what.

”No need!” Ye Qing shook his head, turned to look at Zhao Chengshuang, and said, ”Cheng Shuang, I’m afraid I will need your help with this matter!”

”Me?” Zhao Chengshuang was startled and asked, ”What help do I need to provide?”

Ye Qing said, ”I’m the host, but they might not come. You need to find a way to get them all here!”

Zhao Chengshuang scratched his head, thought for a while, and said, ”Alright then, I’ll put a little pressure on them. Those who are willing to come, of course, there will be no problem. Those who are not, I’ll catch a few and make an example of them!”

Li Lianshan said, ”If you ask me, you might as well just catch all those heads and bring them back. That would save us the trouble.”

Zhao Chengshuang quickly waved his hand and said, ”That’s not the right way to say it. If a big head is taken down, a second head will take over. If the second head falls, a third head will rise to take their place. It’s never-ending. These small forces are not so easy to wipe out. We’d better directly get the big heads in line, so the rest will follow!”

”Damn!” Li Lianshan flipped him the bird, then, without wasting words, turned around and went out to help Ye Qing contact those people.

After sending the two off, Ye Qing immediately returned to his office, locked the door from the inside, and then sat cross-legged on the sofa, gradually regulating his Internal Breath. There in the hotel, he had already managed Internal Energy Release, and now he wanted to see if what happened then was an illusion.

Internal Energy Release is a state in which the Inner Strength within the body is emitted externally.

Typical Neijia Kung Fu involves Inner Strength originating from the Dantian, flowing through the Meridians to various parts of the body. In simpler terms, the Meridians are channels through which Internal Breath flows, and the Acupoints are intersections of these channels, like crossroads. If the Meridians are blocked, the Inner Strength can’t circulate properly inside the body, let alone be emitted externally.

However, the Breathing Method that Ye Qing cultivated seemed different from typical Neijia Kung Fu. His Inner Strength did not originate from the Dantian but existed throughout his entire body. The trouble was that the Meridians throughout his entire body were blocked, and the Acupoints were even less penetrable. Therefore, although the Inner Strength in his body could barely circulate, it could not be emitted externally, which is why he couldn’t achieve Internal Energy Release.

But now, Ye Qing clearly felt that the Inner Strength inside his body still could not circulate normally. However, the Inner Strength in his right arm flowed unimpeded and could be released externally at any time. That is to say, even if Ye Qing could achieve Internal Energy Release, it was only possible with his right arm, and could not be done with any other part of his body.

Of course, due to the blockage of the Meridians throughout his body, the Inner Strength from other parts could not quickly be transferred to his right arm. Meaning, although Ye Qing’s Inner Strength was substantial, he could only exert the Inner Strength in his right arm—not the strength from his entire body. Although he had barely attained Internal Energy Release, he had only taken one step into that realm and still had a significant gap compared to those true experts!

Even so, Ye Qing was overjoyed. According to what Tie Yongwen had said, his age was already past, and it was impossible for him to enter the realm of Internal Energy Release. Now, even if only his right arm could achieve it, it was a significant improvement. If his right arm could achieve Internal Energy Release, didn’t that mean there was hope for the rest of his body as well?

The most crucial point was that with Internal Energy Release possible in his right arm, Ye Qing’s strength had surged significantly. If he encountered experts like Xu Cunzhi in the future, he’d have the ability to defend himself rather than being completely on the run!

From start to finish, however, Ye Qing couldn’t understand how he had managed to achieve Internal Energy Release after simply passing out for a while. Could it be that he had serendipitously benefited from misfortune, after dislocating his arm and then getting it treated? Thinking it over, that didn’t seem very likely!

Slowly circulating his Internal Breath, Ye Qing’s internal injuries had recovered quite a bit, so he then left the office.

Lin Mengjie and Qin Jing happened to be by the door, and when they saw him come out, immediately greeted him.

Seeing Ye Qing, Lin Mengjie’s expression visibly settled down a lot. During the two days Ye Qing went missing, she spent everyday in worry.

Qin Jing, on the other hand, didn’t have so many intricate thoughts, and upon seeing Ye Qing come out, immediately reported the recent financial situation with excitement.

The evening was the busiest time for Tian Sheng, but thankfully, with Lin Mengjie managing the business, there were no problems at all. Moreover, the venues given to Ye Qing by Li Lianshan had been tidied up by Lin Mengjie during the two days Ye Qing had been unconscious, and now the income from these venues under Ye Qing’s control was no less than one hundred and fifty yuan per day.

One hundred and fifty yuan might sound like a lot, but it was still not enough for Ye Qing. The orphanage was under construction, and without tens of millions pumped into it, the funding would definitely be insufficient. Although the Lin family and Li Lianshan had both contributed a fair amount of money, at least half of the cost needed to be dealt with by Ye Qing himself. Thus, from the daily income, Ye Qing always set aside one million yuan for the construction of the orphanage.

Out of the remaining fifty thousand yuan, the daily expenses for the staff and children at the orphanage would take about fifty thousand yuan. After all, with seven or eight hundred children, even by spending just twenty yuan on food per child per day, that would cost almost twenty thousand yuan. And that was just for meals; clothing, housing, transportation – everything cost money. Plus, there were the salaries of the staff and teachers, expenses for books and supporting facilities – fifty thousand yuan probably wasn’t enough.

On the other hand, Ye Qing himself also had to inject one hundred thousand yuan daily into his own underlings. There was no choice; these guys were all ruffians, and only with money would they stay out of trouble. If he gave them too little money, Ye Qing was actually afraid they would start causing problems for him.

Furthermore, the remaining three hundred and fifty thousand yuan was needed to pay for the rent of various venues, depreciation costs, and employee expenses, which was basically sufficient. After calculating it all, Ye Qing was actually living rather tight.

After listening to Qin Jing’s report on the financial situation, Ye Qing was somewhat worried. But fortunately, the Southern Suburbs Dogfight Arena could still bring in over ten million yuan every month, which allowed Ye Qing to have some financial flexibility; otherwise, he would have been crying from poverty already.

After taking a few rounds in the venue, Ye Qing decided to go home and rest first. Black Bear was still out looking for the teahouse crowd, but it was estimated to be very difficult to find them. What frustrated Ye Qing the most was that Old Wang Ba, that old fellow, had also disappeared. He wouldn’t answer phone calls or reply to text messages; he started to play the disappearing act too, what was this supposed to mean? Ye Qing felt very strange about it. In theory, Old Wang Ba helped him as a way of repaying Third Master Li, and he certainly wouldn’t trick him. But what exactly was Old Wang Ba up to?

As darkness fell in a villa area in the Xishan Suburbs, a red sports car zoomed in, stopping right in front of one of the villas. A woman with long hair cascading over her shoulders stepped out of the car, about 1.7 meters tall, dressed in eye-catching racing girl attire, coupled with a beautiful face and a graceful figure, she appeared quite eye-catching.

The driver was a man in his forties or fifties with a potbelly. His neck and wrists were covered with gold jewelry, clearly the kind that became wealthy overnight. He stood next to the woman, not even as tall as she was, and yet the woman leaned on him in a way that looked like a modern version of Beauty and the Beast.

The two of them laughed and talked as they walked into the villa. Not long after their entrance, a few people emerged from among the flower beds. Leading them was the Ghost-faced Judge Cui Yu!

He frowned slightly, looking at the lit villa, and spoke in a deep voice, ”Is this the woman that the Netherworld Scholar has been scoping out?”

”No doubt about it!” Demon Queen He Qinghua said with a cold laugh, ”The Netherworld Scholar likes this type, long hair, tall figure, huh, it’s just like a dog can’t change the habit of eating feces for a lifetime!”

Ghost King Li Ruoyuan too was full of impulsiveness and excitement, ”Then why haven’t we seen him appear yet? Should I go in and try first?”

”Don’t spook the prey!” Cui Yu stopped him, his eyes coldly fixed on the villa, and he said solemnly, ”According to the information we received, the Netherworld Scholar has been scoping this place out these past few days, so it won’t be long before he makes a move. Let’s wait patiently for a little while; with his personality, he definitely won’t wait past tonight!”

”Damn!” Ghost King Li Ruoyuan muttered under his breath, discontentedly saying, ”All the good stuff goes to that jerk. Anyway, the lady isn’t a friend of yours or anything, what’s wrong if I have a little fun first?”

Suddenly, Cui Yulong, who had been standing quietly behind, slowly uttered four words: ”Prioritize the bigger picture!”

Ghost King Li Ruoyuan glanced at Cui Yulong, remembering the last time he nearly had his arm chopped off by his Ink Pattern Black Gold Blade, and shut his mouth. Honestly, even though he was known as the Ghost King, he was still quite afraid of Cui Yulong, the man holding the Ink Pattern Black Gold Blade!

The four of them then retreated back into the dark, patiently waiting for the appearance of the Netherworld Scholar. Meanwhile, the room remained brightly lit, and it was unknown what was happening inside. Only Ghost King Li Ruoyuan stood to the side, itching with impatience, wishing he could go in and have his way with the woman straight away.