Chapter 281

A day later, Xie Wendong led his group and set off southward. They first arrived in City T, a place he had visited countless times before, so he was well-acquainted with the area. As soon as they got off the plane, he hailed several taxis and headed to the headquarters of the Northern Hongmen. Jin Peng’s injuries had fully healed, though his health was weaker than before due to the serious illness, and the wrinkles on his face had deepened. It had been a long time since Xie Wendong had seen Jin Peng, and he missed him greatly. This trip to deliver Jin Rong provided an opportunity for him to spend some time with the old man.

Upon arriving at the headquarters, the people of the Northern Hongmen were surprised by the sudden return of their current leader and gave him a warm welcome. Xie Wendong didn’t see Jin Peng inside, and after asking around, he learned that the old man had gone to the suburbs for recuperation. Not wanting to waste time on formalities, he delegated everything to Ren Changfeng and then went to the suburbs with Jin Rong and Sanyan.

Jin Peng was someone who knew how to enjoy life, and his residence was carefully chosen. In the southern suburbs, there was a lake that was partly natural and partly man-made, called Youlong Lake. It wasn’t large, but its water was exceptionally clear. Not far from the lake stood a two-story building, which was Jin Peng’s residence. Seeing it reminded Xie Wendong of the poem “a small bridge, flowing water, and homes.” Although peaceful, the numerous hidden men there couldn’t escape his notice. Without a doubt, they were elite members of the Northern Hongmen sent to protect the old man secretly.

Walking up to the building, he knocked gently on the wooden door with a smile. After a moment, the door opened, and a young man in his twenties stepped out. Though not quite a teenager, he had a shy demeanor, fair and smooth skin, and a tall, slender build. He was dressed in an old-style Zhongshan suit, giving off an air of freshness. Few people wore Zhongshan suits these days, so Xie Wendong couldn’t help but take a closer look. Soon, he noticed something unusual about the young man’s eyes. They seemed plain at first glance, but when they moved, they would emit a sharp glint, like meteors or lightning, startlingly bright. The young man was also observing Xie Wendong. Seeing that Xie Wendong was staring at him intently, his pale face turned red as he asked, “Who are you looking for?”

Xie Wendong realized his mistake, smiled slightly, and said softly, “I’m looking for the old master.” “The old master?” The young man’s face showed confusion as he instinctively shook his head. Seeing his reaction, Xie Wendong was also puzzled and asked, “Is the old master not here?” The young man shook his head again before suddenly realizing, “Are you looking for Uncle Jin?” Xie Wendong breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. “That’s right.” The young man glanced at the group behind him and asked, “Then who are you?” That’s exactly what I wanted to ask you! Xie Wendong thought to himself. This young man calls him Uncle Old Master, so they must be quite close, but he had never heard the old master mention such a person before. It’s confusing; better not think about it and just ask the old master directly later. He smiled and said, “My name is Xie Wendong.” “Oh?” The young man’s eyes lit up as he blurted out, “So you’re Xie Wendong?”
Behind them, Jin Rong grew impatient. She poked her head forward, pushing aside Li Shuang and the others to get ahead, crossed her arms, and demanded loudly, “Who are you? Stop talking nonsense here and move aside quickly.” The young man glanced at the arrogant Jin Rong without getting upset. He stepped aside and said with a smile, “Please come in! Uncle Jin is on the second floor.”
Xie Wendong nodded in thanks, took the still-rebellious Jin Rong with him, and went inside. Halfway up, they heard Jin Peng’s loud laughter from upstairs. Hearing her grandfather’s voice, Jin Rong perked up, shook off Xie Wendong, and rushed upstairs quickly. There were two elders in the room on the second floor. One was, of course, Jin Peng, while the other was unfamiliar to Xie Wendong. The man was in his seventies, with snow-white hair, but his face was smooth and rosy, with very few wrinkles, which was unusual for his age. He was tall and robust, at least 1.9 meters tall, yet he didn’t seem heavy at all; instead, he exuded an air of elegance and grace. It seemed he had been expecting them, as Jin Peng showed no surprise. He gently stroked the hair of little Jin Rong, who had rushed into his arms. The old man’s joy was evident as his eyes narrowed, as if even his eyelashes were smiling. He said cheerfully, “Little Rongrong has grown so much!” Then he turned to Xie Wendong standing outside the door and said, “Wendong, come in and sit down!” “This is…” The tall old man asked Jin Peng while looking at Xie Wendong.
“He’s my successor. What do you think, Brother Qu?” Looking at Jin Rong and then at Xie Wendong, Jin Peng’s face showed great satisfaction.

“Hehe!” The tall old man chuckled twice and said, “Not bad.” At that moment, Xie Wendong slowly walked into the room. First, he bowed deeply to Jin Peng, then asked, “Has the old master been in good health lately?” “Not as well as before!” Jin Peng replied with a smile. Then he introduced everyone, pointing at the tall old man and saying, “This gentleman… has a deep connection with our Hongmen. In terms of seniority, he’s even above me! Wendong, Rongrong, from now on, you can call him Elder Qu.” The tall old man shook his head and laughed, saying, “Brother Jin, don’t be polite. There’s no need to worry about seniority anymore. Just now you said you envied my carefree life. To be honest, I envy you instead—having such a beautiful granddaughter and such a capable son-in-law, haha…” Hearing this, Jin Rong’s cheeks turned rosy, and she buried her head back in Jin Peng’s arms, overjoyed inside.

Xie Wendong showed no expression after hearing this. He was thick-skinned and didn’t care what others thought. With Jin Peng around, he couldn’t easily refute either. He simply said indifferently, “Elder Qu, you’re too kind.” Jin Peng’s eyes twinkled as he said, “Brother Qu, as an elder, when meeting a younger person, you should at least give something as a gift, right?” “Haha!” The tall old man patted Jin Peng and laughed loudly, “You always manage to get me at a loss every time we meet.”

Xie Wendong grew even more curious about the tall old man’s identity. It seemed his relationship with the old master was extraordinary, and they had known each other for a long time. Who could he be? Asking directly would be rude, so he thought of a way to ask indirectly. “It’s already my fault for not bringing a gift for Elder Qu. How dare I accept another gift? I just wonder where Elder Qu lives. I’ll visit you in person later.” He was clever, trying to figure out the old man’s identity through his address. But this couldn’t hide from the eyes of two “old foxes.” Both of them smiled. The tall old man said to Jin Peng, “Just as you said, this kid is truly extremely smart. The young are truly formidable!” Then, turning to Xie Wendong, he replied with a smile, “Wangyue Pavilion.” If Ren Changfeng hadn’t mentioned Wangyue Pavilion before him, it might not have mattered, but now, upon hearing it, his mind buzzed, and he was so surprised he could hardly speak. It took him a while to recover. He carefully examined the tall old man from head to toe, realizing he really couldn’t tell that this old man was someone from the legendary Wangyue Pavilion.

Xie Wendong stayed in City T for five full days, during which he was never idle. The tall old man didn’t bring any gifts; the gift he offered as a welcome present was probably more useful and precious to Xie Wendong than anything else. The tall old man’s name was Qu Qingting, one of the elders in the Wangyue Pavilion of the Hongmen Elders’ Association. He appeared to be in his seventies, but in reality he was well over ninety. Thanks to his exceptional skills in both internal and external cultivation, he looked much younger than his actual age. The young man who first opened the door for Xie Wendong and the others was his disciple, Yuan Tianzhong, who possessed remarkable martial skills and had learned deeply from Qu Qingting. Jin Peng originally wanted Qu Qingting to teach Xie Wendong a set of martial arts, but the latter refused. He believed Xie Wendong wasn’t suited for martial arts training. Although Xie Wendong had a good physique, he lacked a foundation in internal energy, making it useless for him to learn such skills. More importantly, he was too intelligent; once he started learning, he would likely try to find shortcuts using his wits. The outcome would be either becoming a top expert or going astray and becoming useless. Qu Qingting didn’t want to take that risk, nor was it necessary for Xie Wendong to learn martial arts. In the end, he simply taught Xie Wendong a simple and practical set of agile movement techniques. His intention was for Xie Wendong to use them as exercise while practicing, as they wouldn’t be very useful in actual combat. It wasn’t that the techniques were poor, but it would take two to three years to master them thoroughly. Xie Wendong only studied them briefly for five days, probably not even scratching the surface. Yet, this might have been because he underestimated Xie Wendong too much.

Five days later, Xie Wendong bid farewell to Jin Peng and Qu Qingting and set off for Shanghai. Seeing Xie Wendong about to leave, Jin Rong immediately felt reluctant to part with him and insisted on going to Shanghai with him. Jin Peng and Xie Wendong naturally objected, and under their persuasion, Jin Rong eventually gave in.

After a flight of over an hour, they arrived in Nanjing for a short stop before continuing by train straight to Shanghai. Shanghai, one of China’s most economically developed and dynamic cities, is as beautiful as a pearl. Some say Shanghai is the Hong Kong of the inland areas, and those who have been to both places agree. How could the crowded, small-sized Hong Kong compare to Shanghai? Locally, although Hong Kong is prosperous, its area is limited. jokingly, even if you wanted to jump, you couldn’t jump too hard, or you might end up landing on the other building. Shanghai has the advantages of Hong Kong and also compensates for its shortcomings.

Beneath the surface of prosperity, how many can see the hidden currents at work? Dongxinlei’s progress in Shanghai has not been smooth—indeed, it’s been extremely difficult. Unlike other cities, no one dares to resort to violence in Shanghai easily; a single mistake could not only fail to harm the opponent but also push oneself into an irreparable situation. Meanwhile, the Nanhongmen has long dominated Shanghai, with a vast and deeply entrenched influence—known to everyone from high government officials to low-level thugs. Dongxinlei, having just arrived in Shanghai with nowhere to settle, finds it extremely hard to compete with Xiang Wentian. The two sides have never clashed directly, yet more than a dozen of Dongxinlei’s men have been arrested by the police for various reasons, with fabricated charges added to make them look guilty. It’s clear the police are acting under Nanhongmen’s covert orders. Eventually, Dongxinlei dared not enter the city and had to rent a temporarily abandoned factory in a relatively remote area on the outskirts. The space was large enough, and although it was open on all sides, Shanghai’s unusually warm winters made it tolerable. At last, they found a place to settle down.

Soon after, the Wuxing Brothers arrived from Yunnan. Nanhongmen’s influence there was under heavy pressure from the Golden Triangle. The generals there were outraged by Nanhongmen’s practices of robbery and murder. They simply told Lao Gui, “I don’t want to see such things happen again. As for what you plan to do, just go ahead and do it.” Lao Gui naturally understood what they meant. His level of vengeance was likely even beyond Xie Wendong’s own. When he went berserk, he truly resembled a fierce ghost in the eyes of others.

With the generals’ support, Lao Gui grew even more confident. He declared that he would eliminate Nanhongmen’s forces in Yunnan—any who resisted would be killed without mercy, and any who defied him would be executed on the spot. He unleashed a terrifying wave of violence across Yunnan, putting local criminal gangs on high alert and driving Nanhongmen’s forces to despair. The Golden Triangle was far more ruthless and unscrupulous than Nanhongmen, killing people without hesitation. At first, the Wuxing Brothers supported Lao Gui in attacking Nanhongmen, but later they grew dissatisfied with his merciless tactics. Since the outcome was already decided, staying behind wouldn’t change anything. After discussing it, they decided to go to Shanghai, where they could help Dongxinlei’s gang and wait for Brother Dong. After a brief farewell with Lao Gui, the five of them headed to Shanghai. Dongxinlei was overjoyed to see the Wuxing Brothers. He was in desperate need of help—to be honest, he had few people he could trust. With these five to assist him, it was like gaining an extra set of arms.

The Five Elements Five Men had just arrived in Shanghai, carrying an imposing aura, and quickly planned an assassination with Dong Xinlei. By killing Xiang Wentian, the Nan Hongmen would lose its main pillar and no longer have anything to fear. Dong Xinlei had been in Shanghai for some time and had been suppressed everywhere, holding resentment in his heart. After hearing the five men’s proposal, though he thought it was rash, it was still a convenient way to end the war. Killing Xiang Wentian was indeed an easy way, but it was much harder in practice than it sounded. The plan was well-thought out, but no plan is foolproof. Xiang Wentian, who had spies everywhere in Shanghai, soon learned of it. He simply smiled and said to the local branch manager under a cadre, “If it’s going to rain, there’s nothing I can do. If someone wants to kill me, let them come. China upholds the rule of law, especially in an international city like Shanghai, where the law should be even stricter.”