The next day, the great hall of the Bai Mansion felt too quiet.
Alex lounged in the high-backed chair at the head of the room, one leg crossed over the other, fingers drummingzily on the carved armrest. Sunlight poured through the open doors and painted long golden stripes across the polished floor.
He had ordered the servants to leave the heavy wooden gates wide open. Let theme. He wanted to watch every greedy face twist when they handed back twice the gold they had stolen yesterday. A simple lesson: you don''t con the City Lord and walk away smiling.
Zhuge Liang stood at his right shoulder.
Hours crawled by. No line of merchants appeared. No clink of returning coins.
Instead, a low rumble rolled up the street-hundreds of boots, mixed with the sharper ring of steel. Then the shouting started.
"Lord Bai must answer for his tyranny!"
"Open the gates! The people demand justice!"
Alex''s eyebrow lifted. He rose slowly and stepped onto the wide balcony overlooking the courtyard. Below, the gates had been thrown open by nervous guards. A massive crowd poured in every merchant from yesterday, still dressed in their finest silks, but now nked by a different kind of muscle.
At their head strode a tall man in midnight-ck robes embroidered with silver serpents that seemed to writhe under the sunlight. A long scar twisted down the left side of his face like a lightning bolt frozen in flesh. Two curved daggers hung at his hips, and the air around him shimmered with raw power.
"Lord Bai," Zhuge Liang added, "He is Oh Han. The Dark Serpent. Disciple Leader of the Yin Yang Sect."
Alex could see, that man bring about forty of his disciples with the greedy merchants.
"What is Ying Yang Sect?" Alex asked. Which Zhuge liang exined.
Ying yang sect was the unorthodox sect had grown fat and bold over thest three hundred years while Wudang withered. Once the orthodox guardians of the Jianghu, Wudang had faded into quiet mountain temples and dusty legends.
Now sects like Yin Yang handled all kind of work-assassinations for jealous rivals, protection rackets for rich merchants, quiet eliminations for anyone who could pay. They answered to coin, not honor.
"So the sect is the Merchant Bulldogs?" Alex nodded.
Oh Han stopped in the center of the courtyard, nted his feet, and looked straight up at Alex with a mocking grin that showed too many teeth.
"City Lord Bai Xaichun!" His voice boomed like thunder rolling across the yard, loud enough to rattle the windows. "Word travels fast in Qingshui. You slice a man in half for refusing your little toys. You p impossible taxes on honest working women. You lock doors and steal honest merchants'' gold the very next day. Tell me, Lord Bai —” He spread his arms wide, voice dripping with fake sorrow. “—is this how a true ruler listens to his people? Or is this the birth of a tyrant?”
The merchants behind him nodded furiously, emboldened by the tall figure in ck. A few even dared to shout agreement.
Oh Han''s grin widened. Then he released his inner force.
The air thickened instantly, heavy as wet iron. An invisible pressure mmed down on the entire courtyard like an avnche of stone. Servants dropped to their knees, gasping.
Guards clutched their spears, faces turning purple. Even the birds in the eaves fell silent. The weight pressed against Alex''s chest, trying to force him back a step, trying to make the City Lord bow.
Zhuge Liang''s robes fluttered once, but he did not move.
Alex simply tilted his head, eyes narrowing. The pressure slid off him like rain on oiled leather.
He turned slightly to Zhuge Liang without taking his eyes off the intruder. "This kind of thing happen often?"
Zhuge Liang hastily answered. “In the past, my lord, the city soldiers would have handled it. But these days most of them are ordinary men-no cultivation worth mentioning. When Jianghu problems arise, the orthodox sects used to step in. Wudang took care of such matters for centuries. Now..."
He gave the smallest shrug. "Wudang has grown weak. Their name is fading. Unorthodox groups like the Yin Yang Sect have moved in to fill the void. They protect the merchants, handle the dirty work, and answer only to whoever pays the highest price."
Oh Hanughed, a harsh bark that echoed off the mansion walls. "You see, Lord Bai? Even your own advisor admits the truth. The old rules are dead. The people have spoken. Withdraw your ridiculous demands, open every shop you closed, and perhaps perhaps the Yin Yang Sect will allow you to keep your pretty title."
He flexed his aura again, doubling the crushing weight, eyes gleaming with the promise of violence.
The merchants behind him swelled with triumph. Their champion had arrived. The City Lord, they believed, was already finished.
Alex nodded slowly, as if the crushing aura pressing down on the entire courtyard was nothing more than a light breeze. "Do you happen to know the Pure Snow Sword Maiden? Li Qingxue from the Wudang Sect?"
Oh Han threw his head back and roared withughter, the sound ugly and wet. He looked Alex up and down like a man who had already won.
"Li Qingxue? That Wudang cold-faced bitch? Of course I know her. I''ve fought her ten times, City Lord. Ten times she ended up on her knees between my legs, begging for her life. Wudang''s precious sword maiden reduced to a whimpering little toy. That''s why the protection of Qingshui City belongs to the Yin Yang Sect now. Not your weak mountain Taoist."
The merchants behind him erupted in crude cheers, elbowing each other, their fear
from yesterdaypletely forgotten.
Alex''s expression never changed. He
simply smiled, thin and sharp. "Then
here''s a simple wager. If you can beat Pure Snow Sword Maiden L Qingxue in front of everyone here-if you win-she and Wudang step aside forever. I''ll erase every tax, every fine, every closed shop. I''ll even give you double the gold I handed out yesterday But if you lose..." His voice stayed calm, almost friendly. "You get down on all fours, bark like a dog ten times, and the entire Yin Yang Sect belongs to Wudang. Deal?"
Oh Han''s grin split wider, eyes glittering with pure greed and lust. "Deal. I''ll enjoy breaking her again—right here in your pretty courtyard. Then I''ll take your gold and your city."
Alex tapped the Gaia band-aid behind his own neck once, sending the silentmand. "She''ll be here in twenty minutes."
The courtyard was filled with happiness as everyone congratted Oh Han. After all, he had always won his fights against Li Qinxue. Now the whole courtyard was overjoyed, already counting their chickens before they hatched. Oh Han was being treated like a king.
Exactly neen minutester, the air above the mansion rippled. A streak of white light shot down like a falling star andnded lightly on the stones. Pure Snow Sword Maiden Li Qingxue stood there in snow-white robes that fluttered though there was no wind.
Her long ck hair was tied back with a simple jade pin, and a slender sword hung at her hip. She looked calm, almost bored.
"Young Sect leader," she said, bowing slightly. "I was in Wudang''s special realm when Gaia message reached me. I rushed straight here." Her cold gaze slid to Oh
Han.
Alex exined everything to her.
"So all I have to do is cut him, right?"
Oh Han licked his lips, eyes raking over her body without shame. "Well, well. The little sword maiden herself. Ready to kneel again? If you lose this time, you won''t just beg—you''ll dual-cultivate with me right here. Yin and Yang, body and soul. I''ll make sure the whole city watches you scream my name."
Li Qingxue''s face stayed ice-cold. She didn''t even blush. “Let''s begin." The moment the words left her lips, Oh Han exploded forward. His daggers shed
out, inner force roaring like a ck storm. He moved faster than the eye could track, serpent energy coiling around him, ready to crush her in a single brutal rush.
Li Qingxue drew her sword.
One move.
A single, clean arc of silver light—no flourish, no shout, no wasted breath. The de sang once, soft as a whisper.
Oh Han''s head left his shoulders before his foot even touched the ground again.
It tumbled through the air, eyes still wide with arrogant shock, mouth frozen mid- taunt. The body took two more stumbling steps, blood fountaining from the neck like a broken fountain, then copsed in a twitching heap right at the feet of the screaming merchants.
The Pure Snow Sword Maiden flicked a single drop of blood from her de,
sheathed it, and turned to Alex with perfect calm.
"Can I return now?"
"Wait a bit,” Alex said, rising to his feet. "Maybe there''s someone else you need to
cut. You''ll have to deal with the whole Yin Yang Sect right now."
The courtyard fell deathly silent. The only sound was the steady patter of blood still pumping from Oh Han''s severed neck onto the stones. The merchants w had stormed in demanding justice, now stood frozen, faces as pale as old paper, staring at the decapitated leader of the region''s most feared unorthodox sect.
One of them fainted on the spot.
Alex approached them, that same slow, sharp smile curving his lips.
"Now... who else wants to negotiate the payment?"
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