If he couldn’t change those bad habits, just being able to maintain Lianhuan Fort’s family business without defeat was already his greatest accomplishment.
Originally, when he returned from Dongying, Yang Ge created a Wei version of a charity fund and handed it to Li Jincheng to manage, intending to provide him a way out.
After Li Changjiang’s death, Li Jincheng became an unleashed tiger. Right after the seventh day of mourning for Li Changjiang, he led his men down the Yangtze River, successively challenging Jinfanwu’s seven water forts. Afterwards, the battles became more intense, with grand openings and closures. His brilliant silver spear truly struck an undefeatable presence throughout Jiangzhe!
It was also at this time that many people seemed to suddenly realize, remembering that this fellow had also set foot in Dongying...
After Yang Ge warned Jinfanwu’s headquarters, they dared not ask for help from other places to strengthen their forces... Of course, people from other places didn’t dare to disrespect Yang Ge by fighting on behalf of Jinfanwu.
The hapless Zhuang Chu could only continuously persuade the seven great families to dispatch their guardians to help, while endlessly dispersing money to gather a large number of skilled fighters from Jiangzhe. His greeting, "What is your esteemed surname?", almost matched Shen Gongbao’s "Fellow Daoist, please halt" in flair!
The two clans fought back and forth along the canal from Jiangsu to Hangzhou.
Just as Yang Ge had previously assessed, Li Jincheng was not as intellectually sharp as Zhuang Chu.
Even though Li Jincheng had established an unbeatable presence, he still couldn’t break through Zhuang Chu’s steely, flexible maneuvers. Often, a fort taken from Jinfanwu the day before would have already been recaptured by Jinfanwu, making the situation seem as though he was a firefighter constantly putting out fires everywhere, despite becoming stronger with each fight.
Yang Ge, Yang Tiansheng, and Xiang Wudi among other spectators, remained silent as they watched Zhuang Chu masterfully manipulate Li Jincheng in applause. They all had realized that the intensity of the clashes did not diminish with each battle but rather intensified!
In Jinfanwu, Zhuang Chu, who was initially just a puppet displayed by the mighty families of Eastern Jiangdong, appeared prestigious but was controlled in every word and deed by the Eastern Jiangdong families. That day, in the water fort of the Lianhuan Fort headquarters, four genuine masters from the Eastern Jiangdong families had publicly rebuked Zhuang Chu, not caring for his face as Hall Master at all.
However, as Li Jincheng fiercely counterattacked, several genuine masters from the Eastern Jiangdong families fell to Li Jincheng’s spear. Zhuang Chu gradually took over the actual control of Jinfanwu by continuously spending money to persuade a large number of Jiangzhe experts to join Jinfanwu. He was no longer just positioned by the Eastern Jiangdong families but was absorbing their power to strengthen himself!
This is the disadvantage of being less educated. If the heads of the Eastern Jiangdong families were more literate, they would understand what it means when external capital dilutes original equity...
Things went even smoother for Lianhuan Fort. Previously, Lianhuan Fort was a sunset organization. The old leader, Li Changjiang, had gone astray in his training and was not long for this world. Li Jincheng, despite his good relations with Yang Ge and others, lacked the ability to manage major affairs, and it seemed difficult to maintain the current family business once the old leader passed away. In that situation, any spirited martial artist wouldn’t think of joining Lianhuan Fort.
Without new blood entering and Lianhuan Fort’s own regeneration mechanism unable to keep up the pace, of course it was waning day by day, supported only by the old followers who had conquered with Li Changjiang.
But now, Li Jincheng had made a name for himself in Jianghuai, had held his ground, and with Yang Ge publicly endorsing him and the southern martial arts world in chaos, many homeless southern martial artists naturally flocked to him. Moreover, Li Jincheng was not short of money, outspending Zhuang Chu by a wide margin!
Of course, this was also linked to Yang Ge’s increasingly high status in the martial arts world. Yang Ge’s position had become so loftily unattainable that common folk could not reach him—they could only flock to Li Jincheng, who was closely associated with Yang Ge.
With sufficient fresh blood, Li Jincheng fought even more fiercely. He gained the nickname ’Sea Jiao,’ and without Xiang Wudi’s involvement for a long time, people in the southern martial arts circles began comparing Li Jincheng with Xiang Wudi, claiming that he had the strength of the top three in the Fish and Dragon List.
The more illustrious his reputation became, the more southern martial arts experts came to join him, forming a virtuous cycle.
In a situation where the entire southern martial arts scene was in turmoil, with all families struggling to hold on to their foundations, these two clans could still fight against the odds and grow stronger, becoming a stream of clarity.
As for Yang Tiansheng...
Yang Ge didn’t know what was wrong with that guy. He had just gotten married and should have been at home with his wife, but instead, he ran off to Jiangxi to fight the Five Poisons Cult to the death.
The messages Yang Ge received often included reports of that guy clashing with some hall master or protector of the Five Poisons Cult, and occasionally, there were thrilling reports of him being pursued for miles by a supreme master of the Poison Cult. If not for the concern of tarnishing that guy’s face, Yang Ge had nearly headed south several times to thrash the Poison Cult!
However, it seems a bit tough to say... Yang Tiansheng apparently also grew stronger with each fight.
At first, he was evenly matched against Lei Hong.
After several bouts with various hall masters of the Five Poisons Cult, he was able to withstand fifty moves from a supreme master.
Although the supreme master of the Poison Cult is famously inferior, the fact that that guy could withstand fifty moves against a supreme master still surpassed Yang Ge’s expectations.
Given this momentum, Yang Tiansheng could possibly compete with Li Qing in a year and a half if he remained stable.
The current Li Qing.
...
Time leisurely moved forward, and before we knew it, summer had arrived.
During the first half of the year, Yang Ge had only left Lu Ting twice; once to mourn Li Changjiang at Lianhuan Fort, and once to attend Yang Tiansheng’s wedding banquet in Fengyang.
Other than that, he spent his time either loafing around in an inn or tinkering in his small courtyard at home.
At the beginning of June, Shen Fa returned from his travels to Liaodong.
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When he found Yang Ge, Yang was in his backyard tending to the chili peppers.
"If you really enjoy this, brother, I could ask His Majesty for a farmstead for you, with a few hundred tenant families to manage, how about that?"
A sunburnt Shen Fa, sitting on the edge of the well in the backyard center and showing a face full of tiredness, pleaded, "You should focus on more serious things!"
Anyone who had traveled through rain and wind for half a year and came home to find someone else enjoying a farmer’s spring in the field, living leisurely as a wild crane, would have their defenses shattered.
Yang Ge squatted in the field, meticulously weeding the chili plants with a small hoe, without even glancing at him: "Are you sick again? Should I take care of it?"
Shen Fa’s eyes twitched, and he said indignantly, "Can’t we speak reasonably?"
Yang Ge turned to look at him: "So you really want me to do serious business?"
Shen Fa instinctively wanted to nod, but before he could literally do so, he choked up and struggled for a moment before saying helplessly, "Forget it, just keep rotting away!"
Yang Ge’s fist clenched at once.
Seeing his reaction, Shen Fa quickly shifted the topic to a serious matter, "Speaking of which, the situation in the north isn’t great...
His topic was forceful, but Yang Ge’s attention was grabbed: "What do you mean?"
Shen Fa looked up at the deep blue sky, murmuring: "I don’t know where a Gold family heir has sprung from, but he is connecting with the various tribes of the steppes, settling disputes… The steppes might be unified again!"
"Gold family?"
Yang Ge finally put down his hoe: "The Great Mongol Empire has been extinct for so many years, and you think a Gold family can unify the steppes?"
Shen Fa sighed: "Actually, the bloodline of the Gold family has always persisted, but you know, who would welcome an ancestor suddenly appearing above their rule? Thus, the banner of the Gold family has always been synonymous with defeat on the steppes, but this time someone has managed to raise the banner and gained recognition from many tribes… That’s very abnormal!"
Yang Ge realized: "Someone is stirring trouble behind the scenes?"
Shen Fa, annoyed, rolled his eyes: "Are you even listening to what you’re saying?"
Yang Ge, patting the dust off his body, stood up: "It’s you who didn’t understand. What I mean is... find this guy, and I’ll chop him down!"
Shen Fa was left speechless.