Translator: Myuu Editor: Myuu

By the time they left Meteor Tower, the sky had grown completely dark. The meal had lasted for more than two hours before everyone left.

It was snowing heavily outside. Everywhere in Dihui Valley marketplace had lanterns hung up. In the darkness, the lanterns gave a slight mysterious warmth to the night.

Huo Bin’s exhilarated face was glowing red as he felt extremely proud. Hu Tiande and Li Kaihe politely bid farewell to Yan Liqiang and dropped their ostentatious act as Senior Martial Brothers. After only a meal, the relationship between Yan Liqiang and the few of them was as though they had sworn brotherhood with each other, causing Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng to raise their eyebrows.

Even Ma Liang who had been so drunk that he was hardly conscious slapped his own chest towards Yan Liqiang before he left, and with a mouth reeking of the smell of alcohol, he said “Se-… Senior Martial Brother Yan, from now on, your concerns are I, Ma Liang’s, concerns too. As long as it’s a word from Senior Martial Brother, I, Ma Liang will not frown at even the sight of a mountain of daggers or a sea of raging flames…”

“Haha, go back and have a good rest…” Yan Liqiang chuckled.

“I-I’m fine… Don’t worry, Senior Martial Brother Yan…”

Huo Bin then signaled to the restaurant servants at the side with his eyes. The servants immediately came up to support Ma Liang, who could barely stand, and helped him onto the horse carriage which then left.

Although there was no transportation service provided at Meteor Tower, as long as one had the money, the servants in the restaurant could similarly look for a carriage to send the drunk guests back to their residence.

“Junior Martial Brother Yan, about the earth vinegar…” Huo Bin looked at Yan Liqiang with a burning gaze as he couldn’t help but rub his hands together.

“Rest assured, Senior Martial Brother Huo. As long as you can prepare the ingredients and place, I will come and make it together with you. This thing is only good for money over a short term hence, time is of the essence. We need to produce them and snatch the first sales before others figure it out. Once the heat is gone, we won’t be earning as much later…”

“No problem at all. I will send people to inform Junior Martial Brother Yan when the preparations are done. I just need two days at most…”

“Alright. Well then, Senior Martial Brother Huo, Senior Martial Brother Hu and Senior Martial Brother Li, I shall take my leave now…”

“Take care, Junior Martial Brother Yan, Junior Martial Brother Gu and Junior Martial Brother Zhao. We shall meet again next time…”

Yan Liqiang slowly led Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng away in the direction of Tianqiao Peak, with Huo Bin and the others seeing them off.

Huo Bin waited until the silhouettes of Yan Liqiang and the other two vanished in the fluttering snowflakes from the other end of the marketplace. Only then did he turn to look at Hu Tiande and Li Kaihe. Both of them could understand the meaning behind the look in his eyes even without an explanation.

Li Kaihe’s eyes were squinted until the silhouettes of Yan Liqiang and the others had completely disappeared, he never once averted his gaze from Yan Liqiang. He only turned his head towards Huo Bin when he felt his gaze. “Junior Martial Brother Yan is indeed terrifyingly shrewd and unscrupulous. We should avoid offending a person like him and be an ally to him if possible instead of an enemy. That Ma Liang is really blind to think that he can step on anyone. Some people are like mud; nothing will happen if you step on them. Some are like a rock; sending a jolt when stepped on. But this kind of person is like a caltrop buried in the soil; impaling your foot if you step on it. Today’s outcome was the best for him…”

“Yes, my thoughts exactly. It’s really hard to figure out Junior Brother Yan!” Huo Bin let out a faint sigh and shook his head. “We were supposed to apologize to him today, but I didn’t expect to be pulled in by him to do earth vinegar business in the end. After hearing his analysis in the room just now, even I have a hunch that it’s impossible for it to not make any money. Ma Liang, that bastard almost dragged me down with him. I never expected an ordinary external disciple who cleaned toilets can actually make his mark…”

“That’s how impressive Junior Martial Brother Yan is! The future prospects of Junior Martial Brother Yan will not stop at just this. We must preserve our connection with him at all cost…”

“Yes!”

“Do you all think Junior Martial Brother has really only passed the Horse Stance stage?” Hu Tiande, who had been silent, suddenly asked this question, causing Huo Bin and Li Kaihe to be slightly taken aback…

…

“Senior Martial Brother Yan… why do we need to make the earth vinegar along with Huo Bin?” When they exited Dihui Valley’s marketplace, Gu Zexuan who had restrained himself for half a day, finally couldn’t hold back any longer and asked.

Although Gu Zexuan had some experience, compared to Yan Liqiang in terms of his business mind and skill, he was only at the kindergarten level. The challenges that Yan Liqiang had been through in his career from his previous life and the knowledge and insights he had gained was way beyond Gu Zexuan’s imagination.

“Regardless of the business nature, one can’t monopolize a business if they wish to expand and must learn to share and cooperate with others. Even if that earth vinegar is something that’s only in our hands, we can’t hold it for long and won’t earn too much from it before it loses its value. If we cooperate with Huo Bin’s group and utilize their resources and connections, we will be able to maximize the value of this earth vinegar. It’s just like making steamed buns. If the three of us can only make one steamed bun at most after trying desperately, even if the steamed bun belongs to only us, we don’t have much to share with each other and it won’t be enough to fill us. But if we cooperate with Huo Bin’s group, we might be able to make a basket of steamed buns. Even if we only get half a basket of the steamed buns, it is still a lot more than our own single steamed bun. That’s a win-win situation for them and for us. We will even able to resolve any conflicts between us through this collaboration…”

“I’m just a little not used to it all of a sudden…”

Yan Liqiang laughed. He could totally understand why Gu Zexuan couldn’t ‘get used to it’. For Gu Zexuan the resentment and grudge he held for Huo Bin had taken over too much of his emotions. Huo Bin was pretty much his only ‘sworn enemy’ in the Divine Sword Sect. Yet, this amount of resentment and grudge, which could barely even fill a cup, was hardly significant in Yan Liqiang’s eyes. It was nothing compared to the hatred he harbored towards his father’s killer and the obliteration of his clan.

One of the effective methods the Great Ancestor 1 used in his quest to dominate the world was the ‘united front’. Although Yan Liqiang had no ambitions in any sort of world domination and becoming a king or overlord, he still knew the idea and essence of a united front. If he wished for revenge, he would need to unite any forces he could find around him. Otherwise, he’d have nothing to fight against a Prefectural Governor.

“Hahaha, you’ll get used to it soon. If you wish to live comfortably in the Divine Sword Sect, sometimes you have no choice but to fight with others. But that doesn’t mean you can only fight all the time. You will also need to learn how to unite. We must know how to fight and also how to unite. Fighting is a strategy to unite, and uniting is the objective behind the fighting. Unity is achieved through struggle and destroyed by concessions…”

Yan Liqiang walked while he casually explained. After walking over a distance, he realized the other two beside him had stopped following him. He turned around and realized that Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng had already stopped walking and were staring at him with dumbfounded expressions. Only then did Yan Liqiang realize all of a sudden that his casual words were simply too advanced and shocking to both of them— that was the most classic and wise saying of the Great Ancestor, summing up the experience of internal and external struggles of China over 5,000 years through dialectic.

“Leader, Huipeng and I shall be your loyal followers from now on…!”

…

Yan Liqiang bid his farewell to both of them before they reached the mountain basin at the foot of Tianqiao Peak and returned to the small house where he stayed.

After washing up, he took off his shoes and climbed onto his bed. However, Yan Liqiang didn’t lie down to rest. He instead sat in the lotus position on his bed and settled himself. He shut his eyes and focused on the sea of consciousness within his mind.

In just the blink of an eye, the huge ever-changing mysterious rock emerged in Yan Liqiang’s consciousness.

Yan Liqiang did nothing aside from focusing his gaze on that huge rock, just like how he did on the small hill at Temple of Purity.

An hour passed… Two hours passed… Three hours passed…

All of a sudden… Yan Liqiang heard an explosion in his mind. The mysterious huge rock suddenly produced a powerful attractive force akin to that of a black hole. In just a flash, Yan Liqiang’s entire consciousness was sucked into the mysterious stone…