Deserted Alleys

The White Horse Gang’s headquarters was at White Horse Lake in Yicheng. White Horse Lake spanned dozens of li in every direction and was one of the more famous lakes in Jiangning Prefecture. There was even a small island in its center.

The White Horse Gang had established its headquarters on that island. Situated in the middle of the lake, it was naturally easy to defend and difficult to attack. The island was ideal, but supplies were inconvenient to transport, so the White Horse Gang had also built its main hall beside White Horse Lake. Beyond the main hall was White Horse Training Grounds, where the gang gathered for its annual assembly.

Under the blazing sun, an old man in white robes with silver hair sat atop the towering platform at White Horse Training Grounds. Below him, Hong Zhenjie, Liu San, and the other White Horse Gang higher-ups stood on either side, all gazing toward the grounds’ entrance.

"Are they here yet~"

"Have they arrived?"

"I see them!"

"Oh! The city governor is seeing them off!"

Tens of thousands of people had gathered around White Horse Lake long ago. The Nine Provinces had a flourishing martial culture and never lacked people eager to watch the excitement. The changes in Yicheng during this period had already attracted countless gazes.

Although news of Gu Sheng’s plans to visit the White Horse Gang had spread less than a day ago, the martial artists around Yicheng had arrived early.

"I never expected to run into something like this on my way back to Jiangning Prefecture! When will I, Yan Dan, get to be this impressive for once?"

Amid the crowd, a young man with a sword in his arms seemed out of place. Standing atop a large rock near the training grounds, he watched Fourth Master Hong in the distance, burning battle intent blazing in his eyes.

"All kinds of weirdos are showing up!"

The young man with the sword shifted his gaze and seemingly glanced casually over several figures in the crowd. Without exception, they were just as out of place as he was.

"I have no idea what the Lord God is thinking. In a world of such a high level, it sent people like us, who have only just begun learning martial arts. What kind of impact can we possibly make?"

The young man with the sword was practically a chatterbox. He muttered to himself, "Even an Innate expert couldn’t make a splash in the Nine Provinces. A group of Reincarnators who aren’t even Fourth Star Level Innate experts are dreaming of distorting ten percent of Causality. That isn’t even a dream—it’s sheer fantasy.

"But speaking of which, did someone get incredibly lucky this time? The degree of Causality distortion actually exceeded ten percent. Incredible."

The young man with the sword kept muttering, his eyes darting constantly. Suddenly, his gaze froze. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief. "Damn, didn’t that girl hide until the end of the last world? How did she find the nerve to come out this time? And the one beside her… Oh no~"

The young man abruptly turned his head and closed his eyes, but his eyes still stung, and tears involuntarily flowed down his cheeks.

"Damn, damn, damn!"

After rubbing his eyes, the young man quickly slipped into the crowd, cursing furiously inwardly. "This batch of newcomers is actually so fierce. One glance was enough to make my sword heart tremble. No wonder the degree of distortion is so high with a monster like that around."

"Hmm~"

On the carriage, Gu Sheng withdrew his sweeping gaze and peered again toward the spot where he had just sensed someone watching him. There was no one there anymore.

"Xin’er, how many of those people are from the first batch, like you?"

Gu Sheng leaned toward Chu Xin and quietly pointed out several people in the crowd who seemed out of place. With the Lord God’s protection, Reincarnators were basically impossible to identify. However, as a mission neared its end, that protection weakened, making it easy for Reincarnators to sense one another’s identities.

This batch of Reincarnators, including Chu Xin, all possessed special talents and were Chosen Ones. All one hundred of them had been thrown into the Underworld world. They had met and exchanged information at the end, so they could recognize one another.

"The bald one is Zha Hai, number… The one holding the saber is Le Lin… The one with the sword is Yan Dan…"

Chu Xin pointed out four people among the more than twenty, including Yan Dan, who had just spied on Gu Sheng.

Gu Sheng looked over them one by one and committed them to memory. He had a feeling that these Chosen Ones were important. The carriage continued forward and, under the gaze of the assembled masses, arrived outside White Horse Training Grounds.

The carriage stopped. Gu Sheng alone walked to its front and swept his gaze over the seemingly endless mass of White Horse Gang members before him. When a crowd passed a hundred, it could overturn a carriage; when it passed a thousand, it could blot out the sky; when it passed ten thousand, it stretched without end.

The White Horse Gang publicly claimed to have eight thousand core disciples and five hundred elite White Horse Battalion soldiers. Yet at this moment, more than ten thousand core disciples stood here with sabers and swords raised, while eight hundred White Horse Battalion cavalrymen stood behind them. It seemed that Fourth Master Hong had brought out everything he had and was prepared to fight to the end.

"Fourth Master Hong!"

Standing tall before the carriage, Gu Sheng looked across a hundred zhang directly at Fourth Master Hong, who sat atop the platform. "Your White Horse Gang has committed countless crimes over the years. For the sake of the greater good, I had no wish to pursue them.

"Now I’ll give you one more chance. As long as you agree to purge the White Horse Gang of its wicked members, cooperate in suppressing the bandits around Yicheng, and properly restrain your subordinates so they no longer commit crimes, I can write off everything you did before on behalf of the villages and towns throughout Yicheng."

"Heh heh! Brat, when I, Fourth Master Hong, was carving out my territory, you hadn’t even been born!"

Naturally, Fourth Master Hong was displeased at being lectured by Gu Sheng. He sneered back, "Brothers, this brat wants me to hand over the wicked ones and restrain everyone from enjoying themselves too much. Tell me, is that acceptable?"

"No!"

The White Horse Gang members shouted in unison, their voices shaking the sky.

"Heh heh! If I don’t kill someone for a day, I feel miserable!"

"Those village women should consider it an honor that we visit them!"

"If we don’t collect the annual fees, are we supposed to drink the northwest wind?"

The White Horse Gang members shouted loudly, their mouths spewing nothing but filthy words.

Fourth Master Hong called out loudly, "Teng Qinghu, you’ve seen it yourself. My brothers aren’t agreeing to this!"

"You don’t get to decide that anymore! Men!"

At Gu Sheng’s command, figures appeared along the shores of White Horse Lake. People from Teng Family Village, Da Li Village, Blackwood Village… figures with bows drawn and arrows nocked emerged one after another. Even more people stood behind them. The city guards had even been mobilized.

Several times as many troops as the White Horse Gang surrounded White Horse Lake, sealing it off completely.

Every village around Mount Dayan, along with most of the villages in Yicheng, had sent people. The White Horse Gang had acted tyrannically for years, but no village had dared resist because there had been no leader. Now that the city governor’s office had taken the lead and provided its backing, the allied army had far greater momentum than the White Horse Gang.

"You have some skill!"

Fourth Master Hong could not help changing color at the sight of this, but he did not back down. Instead, he stood and shouted, "But you think that these bumpkins, these lowly peasants with mud on their legs, along with that handful of city guards, can force my White Horse Gang to bow its head? You’re being far too naive!

"Boy from the Teng family, let me tell you this: in Yicheng, my White Horse Gang is the sky. If I, Fourth Master Hong, want someone dead, no one can save him. If you want to establish a militia, you must first obtain the White Horse Gang’s approval!"