Hu Nanshan and the others returned. They chased all the way to the Zhanlong Sect’s outer boundary, but didn’t manage to kill Bi Helai.
The sect might not have a large population, but it has its unique traits, including a Mountain Protection Array.
These arrays are constructed by leveraging the natural landscape, and if the array is blasted, the entire sect’s mountains and rivers would be utterly destroyed as well.
The cities, on the other hand, suffer from not having such arrays. If they were to forcibly construct one, the cost of construction and maintenance alone would be beyond what a typical city could afford.
"Got your venting done?" Lu Xiaobu asked with a chuckle, looking at the four individuals in the Golden Core Late Stage.
"Uh-huh."
The four rely nodded without saying much.
Although they are bound to obey, it wasn’t sothing they did willingly. So expecting them to show a good attitude is unrealistic.
Lu Xiaobu didn’t mind—he wasn’t here to make friends anyway. As long as they wouldn’t back off in battles, that was good enough.
"Alright, co on in."
Lu Xiaobu took the lead to enter the city, followed by the four Golden Core Late Stage individuals.
The city’s residents gathered by the doors and peeped through the window cracks to get a view outside.
Just imagine, it’s such a rare sight. They usually wouldn’t see the City Lord, and here ca four individuals in the Golden Core Late Stage.
The most intriguing part is how these four were following obediently behind that infamous ’Slap Demon.’ How could they not take a good look?
They still rembered Lu Xiaobu’s famous slap exploits.
Of course, they wouldn’t dare to look openly—that would be asking for trouble—so they peeked subtly.
However, their supposedly sneaky peeking couldn’t possibly escape the notice of Hu Nanshan and his group.
The four of them felt thoroughly embarrassed.
In the end, it was Hu Nanshan’s wave that put all those gazes away.
How did he do it?
Simple—every resident felt as if their windows and doors were nailed shut, making them completely immovable.
Even the cracks were sealed, leaving nothing to see.
As they arrived at the City Lord Mansion, Lu Xiaobu brazenly took the seat of the City Lord.
The others didn’t mind much, except Hu Nanshan, whose face showed displeasure—this seat was originally his, after all.
He had foreseen this happening, but seeing it unfold so outrightly in front of him still made him uncomfortable.
"Got a map?" Lu Xiaobu asked, without any beating around the bush.
"Yes," Hu Nanshan replied gruffly. No one else spoke, as this was his domain and he knew it well.
Soon, a map was brought over.
"Pretty comprehensive," Lu Xiaobu comnted, raising an eyebrow at the map.
It was a map of the entire island.
Upon seeing it, Lu Xiaobu couldn’t help but grin.
The whole island looked like a crooked gourd.
And Funing City, Nanshan City, Quwu City, and Jiatong City were lined up from south to north along the gourd’s waist, effectively splitting the entire Gourd Island into two halves.
The previously ntioned Hengqin City lay to the west, a large city.
This explained why Funing, Nanshan, Quwu, and Jiatong’s City Lords had such good relations—Hu Nanshan’s call brought them all.
It wasn’t about personal friendships, but rather a relationship driven by interests.
These four cities ford a line here, blocking the east and west gourd-bellied powers from trading with each other.
Think about it—any traveler or rchant passing through would have to eat, drink, sleep, and perhaps visit the smoke and willow alleys when entering a city.
This was a major source of tax revenue.
So, the four cities had ford an attack-defense alliance long ago to guard this lucrative route.
So might wonder, with all these benefits, why they still couldn’t match Hengqin City.
Well, there’s always a trade-off. By charging tolls at the gourd’s waist, they had an easy ti, but also no significant industries.
Think again about the gourd’s waist—what’s a gourd’s waist?
It’s the thinnest part of the gourd.
With four cities stretching from south to north, how much territory does each have?
What industries could they develop?
The southernmost Funing City and the westernmost Jiatong City were slightly better, being by the sea, they could rely on the sea for a more comfortable life.
But centrally located Nanshan City and Quwu City weren’t as well off.
Especially Nanshan City, surrounded by towering mountains and plagued by bandits.
So suggested that Nanshan City should eradicate the bandits.
But how? Once they retreat to the mountains, they are hard to find.
Add the unreasonable Zhanlong Sect to the mix, and rchants would rather go to Quwu City than Nanshan City.
So, among the weaker cities, Nanshan City was the most vulnerable.
This was precisely why Hengqin City targeted Nanshan City.
It wanted to dismantle the alliance of four and control the trade route, naturally starting with the weakest link, Nanshan City.
Apart from these four important cities, scattered around were various sects and small cities.
For example, Zhanlong Sect was slightly east between Funing City and Nanshan City, and Linren City was directly east of Nanshan City.
Check out those positional relationships—who else would Zhanlong Sect harass if not Linren City?
Who told them they were the closest and weakest!
You could call it a city, but it’s just as valid to refer to it as a village. People settled there, their numbers grew, and eventually, soone stronger ca along, declared the place a city, and beca the City Lord.
And there you have it, a city was established.
Of course, so formalities needed to be done, otherwise, the city they built today could be blown up tomorrow.
In short, it was quite chaotic.
Now, with Lu Xiaobu in control of three cities, he only needed to incorporate Quwu City under his control to secure the trade route.
This thought made Lu Xiaobu quite happy, bringing him comfort.
It wasn’t like he was taking over run-down places like Linren City and needed to start over.
With this trade route as support, he could confidently roll out various policies without worry!
With a plan forming in his mind, Lu Xiaobu closed the map and set it aside, then looked at the four Golden Core Late Stage individuals seated there.
The four Golden Core Late Stage individuals sat in silence, holding their teacups. They glanced at each other, their expressions showing discontent.
Liu Funing and Qi Jiatong glared at Hu Nanshan and the old principal across from them—It was all their fault for calling us here and keeping us from leaving, resulting in us becoming slaves!
Hu Nanshan wasn’t one to back down, returning their glare—I wouldn’t be in this situation if you’d struck decisively from the start!
If it weren’t for Lu Xiaobu allowing them to vent a bit earlier, they would be fighting right now.
"As my subordinates, I can’t let you be completely disgraced. How about this—I’ll give each of you a Divine Body to play with." Lu Xiaobu said with a light smile.
However, as soon as he said this, everyone present, to a person, jumped up, staring at Lu Xiaobu!
They weren’t shocked but rather thinking—Damn! We just beca his slaves, has he gone mad?! What should we do?!
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