“Sister, I know that Lin Sheng is very powerful, but he is only in the Forging Tendons Realm. His Bloodline potential is limited, and his future achievements will probably only stop at Blood Transportation.”
Regarding his sister's words, Cao Luan clearly had a different opinion. He frowned and couldn't help but retort.
He had witnessed Lin Sheng make a move with his own eyes. At that time, he was indeed extremely shocked. The opponent's moves were ruthless, and his strength was formidable, far from what other Forging Tendons Martial Artists could compare with, and even some Blood Transportation Martial Artists could not contend against him.
However, in his opinion, although the opponent's combat strength was extremely strong, his potential was not outstanding, and his future achievements were limited. Even if he joined the Seven Forms Sect and became a direct Disciple, it was completely not worth their investment to this extent, giving most of the profits to the other party.
One must know that for shops with no strong background to grow, they basically seek sect Disciples with good backgrounds as enshrined experts. The price they offered was enough to recruit Disciples from major sects who had already entered the Late Stage of the Blood Transportation Realm to serve as enshrined experts.
Before the incident, their Cao Family's business was considered mid-level in Wanhua City. At that time, they had two or three enshrined experts in the Late Stage of the Blood Transportation Realm under them, and the price was not this expensive.
“So, in my opinion, giving Lin Sheng a thousand taels of silver each month is already generous enough. If Sister is still not at ease with the remaining money, we can just hire two good hands in the Early Stage of the Blood Transportation Realm.”
Hearing Cao Luan's words, Cao Ying frowned slightly, and the clicking sound of the abacus stopped.
“Xiao Luan, just do as I say for this matter. What you need to do is focus on your cultivation.”
Seeing a hint of displeasure in Cao Ying's tone, Cao Luan opened his mouth, still somewhat unconvinced and wanting to say something more, but meeting Cao Ying's eyes, he closed his mouth.
However, he still muttered softly to himself.
“Sister, you didn't fall for Lin Sheng, did you?”
“You!? How dare you talk nonsense…”
Hearing this, Cao Ying finally couldn't sit still and immediately grabbed Cao Luan's ear.
A series of pleas for mercy soon came from the room.
Meanwhile, in a bustling restaurant one street away from Listening to the Moon Pavilion, on the 3rd floor private room.
A fierce-looking bald, muscular man was holding a beast leg as thick as an adult's thigh, chewing large mouthfuls. If one looked closely, they could see that his wide-open mouth actually had double rows of teeth.
Even the tough bones of the beast leg seemed to be nothing in his mouth, being directly crunched into powder and swallowed with a cracking sound.
On the large square table in front of him, there was a huge bone frame.
After a while, the muscular man swallowed the last bite of the beast leg, finally showing a look of satisfaction on his face. He picked up the half-human-tall dark wine jar next to him, tilted his head back, and gulped down a lot before heavily slamming the wine jar onto the table.
“Satisfying!”
He grinned, a smile appearing on his face, which was unspeakably ferocious and evil.
“Those bastards from the Crimson Whale Hall, they got the advantage and still dare to act smug. They are not satisfied with Baiyun Peak and still want to make small moves behind our backs. They truly don't know death. When the Gang Leader makes a move, they will definitely not have a good outcome.”
The muscular man spat fiercely. His name is Fei Long, one of the thirty-two Hall Masters of the White Dragon Gang. Although he is not considered a high-level member of the gang, he can be considered a mid-level small leader. His strength has reached the Peak of the Blood Transportation Realm, and he is just waiting to cross that threshold to advance further in status.
As if he thought of something, Fei Long's gaze fell on another short man in the room.
“A Gou, have you cleaned up the batch of goods we robbed some time ago? How is the Crimson Whale Hall's reaction?”
The thin and short man, A Gou, quickly spoke.
“Hall Master, don't worry. That batch of goods has been cleaned up. Before, it would have been a bit troublesome to deal with it, but now with the chaotic situation in Wanhua City, it's no problem.”
“In addition, I have also been sending people to keep an eye on the Crimson Whale Hall. After they discovered that the transported goods were robbed, I heard that Zhang Hao was furious and killed several of his subordinates, and personally led people to investigate. However, we deliberately left clues pointing to the Seven Forms Sect, so Zhang Hao will only investigate the Seven Forms Sect.”
“Good, that's how it should be. Do the Crimson Whale Hall and the Seven Forms Sect think they can rest easy by gaining the upper hand? They want to sit back and watch the tigers fight, watching our White Dragon Gang and the Fang Family fight to the death, so they can reap the benefits. How can it be that easy?”
Hearing the short man's words, Fei Long's smile became even wider, clearly very satisfied with this result.
During this period, the major forces in Wanhua City have been constantly clashing, especially the friction between their Fei Long Gang and the Fang Family, which is even more intense. Every day, there are subordinates fighting and competing. Although they are still Disciples with low strength, if this situation develops, high-level members will enter the arena sooner or later, and a considerable conflict will undoubtedly break out then.
However, this situation may not be entirely unintentional on the part of their White Dragon Gang and the Fang Family.
While constantly clashing with each other, they are also deliberately creating conflicts with other parties, with the goal of drawing everyone into the fray. No one should expect to gain any advantage.
Therefore, he received orders from above to create friction between the Seven Forms Sect and the Crimson Whale Hall.
For example, this time robbing the goods transported by the Crimson Whale Hall was with the tacit approval of the higher-ups.
Although the goods were not many, they were all rare items, and could still be sold for ten thousand taels of silver.
Moreover, he doesn't have to worry about retaliation from the other party. He rarely encountered such good opportunities before. Now, taking advantage of this opportunity, he naturally has to make a good profit.
Even if he is exposed, it doesn't matter, as there are experts from the gang to cover him.
The more he thought about it, the better his mood became, and he couldn't help but sigh.
“Let it be chaotic, the more chaotic the better.”
“Send people to keep a close eye on the other routes of the Crimson Whale Hall, and don't let the Seven Forms Sect side go either. Grab whatever benefits you can.”
“Don't worry, we have already communicated with our insider in the Crimson Whale Hall. Any news will be prioritized to us then.”
A Gou also replied with a smile on his face.
Clearly, this time they would all get a lot of silver, which was much more generous than their usual salary.
“As for the Seven Forms Sect, I have also sent people to keep an eye on them, but the Seven Forms Sect is much more low-key than the Crimson Whale Hall, and their external trade routes are not as numerous as the Crimson Whale Hall's, so the opportunity is not easy to grasp.”
When mentioning the Seven Forms Sect, A Gou frowned.
Just as he was about to say something more, there was a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
Fei Long's ears twitched, as if confirming something. After confirming it was one of his own, he spoke indifferently.
Soon, with a creak, the door opened, and a burly man with a full beard wearing a dark grey long robe with a white dragon pattern embroidered on the back walked in. Just from his clothing and decoration, one could tell that this person was from the White Dragon Gang.
As soon as the man entered, he immediately bowed to the three people in the room.
“Greetings, Hall Master, Deputy Hall Master.”
“Didn't I tell you to keep an eye on the market? Why did you come here?”
The moment he saw the man, A Gou immediately frowned and spoke.
“There's news, Deputy Hall Master. My subordinate found something in the market, so I immediately came to report.”
The bearded man quickly said.
“Found something? What could you have found?”
Hearing this, A Gou raised his eyebrows and asked.
“Reporting to Deputy Hall Master, I have been wandering around the market during this time. Some time ago, a new shop opened, which was the Listening to the Moon Pavilion of the original Cao Family in the city. Because of the Cao Family's reputation before, I paid a little more attention.”
“Unexpectedly, this Cao Family, which had already gone bankrupt before, actually shipped goods several times in a month. According to my estimation, the profit from each shipment is not less than a thousand taels. In this month alone, that's a profit of several thousand taels.”
“Listening to the Moon Pavilion? Cao Family?”
Hearing the man's words, Fei Long showed a confused expression. He seemed to have heard the name, but had no impression.
However, A Gou stroked his chin, a look of realization appearing on his face.
“Cao Family? Are you talking about the Cao Family that used to do cosmetic business?”
“Yes, Deputy Hall Master, it's that Cao Family. They opened several shops and their business was quite popular, but they suffered a great disaster half a year ago, owed a lot of foreign debt, and after selling off their shops to pay off the debt, there was no news.”
Seeing that the Deputy Hall Master had an impression, the man immediately explained in detail.
“Of course, although the Cao Family's business was good, they were always quite low-key and not very famous in this city. However, they once launched a cosmetic product called 'Daiyu Powder' that was popular all over the streets.”
“Daiyu Powder? So it was this Cao Family.”
Hearing this name, Fei Long showed a look of realization, clearly remembering something.
Several of the mistresses he kept before were quite enthusiastic about this so-called Daiyu Powder and spent a lot of money on it.
Immediately, his gaze fell on A Gou beside him.
“What's the background of this Cao Family?”
“Well, many people have investigated this Cao Family before. It is said that their background has some connection with the Fu City side.”
A Gou recalled something and replied.
“Fu City?”
Hearing this, that the Cao Family had a connection with Fu City, Fei Long frowned slightly.
Although their White Dragon Gang is considered a first-class force in Wanhua City, there are top forces like the Yuanyang Beast Sect and the Tianxiang Sword Sect in Fu City, which they cannot afford to provoke.
Immediately, he narrowed his eyes and looked at the bearded man who had just entered.
Feeling the pressure in his gaze, the man immediately broke out in a cold sweat. He knew very well the brutal methods of his Hall Master, and immediately said without delay.
“Yes, this Cao Family does have some connection with the Fu City side. My subordinate has already investigated that they previously had some connection with a young lady from the Situ Family in Fu City, but that connection was only that the Cao Family provided her with the finest cosmetics. After the death of the former head of the Cao Family, this connection has long since been broken.”
As if still not at ease, he quickly added.
“Moreover, that young lady from the Situ Family was already married to Tiannan Prefecture several months ago, so even if they had any connection, it has long since been broken.”
“Is that so? No wonder there was no movement from the Fu City side when the Cao Family suffered a great disaster, and the Cao Family didn't ask for help from there.”
A Gou stroked his chin, confirming the subordinate's information.
“Even if there's no connection, what can they do? It's only a thousand taels of silver, not worth my time to make a trip. It's not too late to act when the Cao Family's scale is larger.”
Fei Long shook his head and said indifferently.
He didn't want to waste his time on this. The profits from the Crimson Whale Hall were much more generous than a thousand taels of silver.
“Hall Master, this Cao Family is worth us targeting, not for the thousand taels of silver, but for their secret formula.”
A Gou seemed to have thought of something, a smile appearing on his face as he spoke.
“Secret formula?”
Fei Long narrowed his eyes, also realizing something.
“Are you referring to the secret formula for that 'Daiyu Powder'?”
“Yes, Hall Master. There shouldn't be many people left in the Cao Family now, but a newly opened shop can have such high profits in a month, which shows the value of their secret formula. If we can get our hands on the secret formula for that Daiyu Powder, then won't all the future profits belong to us?”
A Gou's smile deepened as he slowly said.
At this moment, the man beside him quickly spoke again.
“My subordinate has investigated very clearly. The Cao Family now only has a brother and sister left, and that sister is quite beautiful and lovely, definitely a rare beauty…”
He knew that his Hall Master was a person who valued women as much as his life. By bringing this up, he would undoubtedly be able to impress the other party more.
“Good, looking at it this way, this Cao Family does have something.”
Fei Long showed a look of interest on his face, clearly having made a decision in his heart.
As the two said, this Cao Family is indeed quite valuable. After getting the secret formula, whether he handles it himself or hands it over to the higher-ups, he can gain great benefits.
However, although he was born crude and ugly, his mind was quite cautious and careful. He picked up the wine jar on the table and drank a few more mouthfuls before slowly saying.
“This Cao Family only has a brother and sister left, and they still dare to open this shop. Is there someone backing them?”
He didn't believe that just a brother and sister could support this business. If there was no one behind them, he absolutely wouldn't believe it.
And the man seemed to have known this question would come, a smile appearing on his face as he whispered.
“After half a month of investigation by my subordinate, it has been confirmed that these Cao Family siblings are using the name of the Seven Forms Sect. They paid a high price to hire a direct Disciple of the Seven Forms Sect as an enshrined expert, and only then did they rise again by using this tiger skin.”
“You said Seven Forms Sect? Hehe…”
Hearing this name, Fei Long and A Gou were startled at first, and then they both laughed together.
The man who entered saw the smiles on their faces, feeling somewhat confused and a chill in his heart, thinking he had caused some trouble. He quickly explained.
“Although that enshrined expert is a direct Disciple of the Seven Forms Sect, my subordinate has already found out that the so-called direct Disciple is just a newcomer who just joined the Qingniao Yard of the Seven Forms Sect less than two months ago, and his Realm is only Forging Tendons Completion… With the strength of the Hall Master and Deputy Hall Master, even if that direct Disciple makes a move, he won't be able to stir up any waves.”
“Qingniao Yard? Just joined? Forging Tendons Completion?”
Fei Long and A Gou exchanged glances, and the next moment they burst into laughter.
These three terms, none of them were taken seriously when taken individually, let alone all three together.
“What is the name of that direct Disciple?”
“Reporting to the Hall Master, that direct Disciple is named Lin Sheng.”
“Lin Sheng? Very good…”