In the martial world, time is extremely important for any faction. Only through the passage of time will everyone tacitly acknowledge your existence. If a force suddenly rises and rapidly expands its territory in a short period, it becomes conspicuously eye-catching. Such factions usually don’t end well. Moreover, Black Dragon Village is ultimately a bandit stronghold, not of the righteous path. Aggressively expanding territory is the easiest way to provoke the wariness of the righteous. Simply subduing individual evil or demonic experts isn’t a big deal. In essence, territory is a faction’s foundation. The righteous path will not allow evil or demonic forces to occupy too much land. Even major demonic powers like the Six Paths of the Demon Sect don’t openly hold fixed territories; they can only lurk in the shadows. Of course, precisely because they are powerful, they cannot openly possess fixed territories.
These days, as Black Dragon Village grew stronger and encountered more things, Ding Dian learned more and more. He had grown accustomed to the current life and didn’t want any upheaval in Black Dragon Village.
Li Daoqiang fell silent for a moment, then said seriously, “I understand what you mean. Let’s wait and see. I’m not in a hurry to expand territory; we’ll take it slow.” Ding Dian breathed a sigh of relief, nodded, and didn’t say more. Li Daoqiang’s attitude was already good enough. Saying more would only invite annoyance.
“How has Di Yun been lately?” Li Daoqiang suddenly seemed to remember and asked with a renewed smile. “He’s very diligent and well-suited to the Divine Illumination Sutra. His cultivation is progressing quickly; it won’t be long before he breaks through to the Innate realm,” Ding Dian said with some relief and a smile. “Mm, that kid has a tenacity. I have high hopes for him,” Li Daoqiang praised.
Ding Dian felt a bit odd inside. He had never heard of anyone treating their love rival like this. Of course, he admired Li Daoqiang’s broad-mindedness and love for talent. After all, Li Daoqiang was definitely not a good person. So it wasn’t out of guilt, nor because of Di Yun’s relationship with Qi Fang. That left only one possibility. He genuinely saw potential in Di Yun, thought he was good material, and treated him well for that reason. As a subordinate, no one would dislike a leader with such a character. Ding Dian personally believed Li Daoqiang hadn’t misjudged him. Di Yun was indeed impressive; even Ding Dian hadn’t expected that the seemingly foolish kid would cultivate so quickly.
After chatting about a few other things, Ding Dian left. Alone in the assembly hall, Li Daoqiang’s expression calmed. He didn’t take Ding Dian’s words to heart. Because he had never intended to expand territory aggressively. Expanding territory would undoubtedly strengthen Black Dragon Village and increase its income. But for him, it wasn’t the most suitable move.
Ding Dian was right—expanding a bit was fine, and his strength could handle it. Large-scale expansion, with his current power, he could also suppress it. But in reality, it would be more trouble than it was worth. Expanding territory is the most attention-grabbing thing for a faction, inviting the greatest wariness. For him, the best scenario was for the world to know his preferences and come to hire him or trade with him. To exist somewhat like a mercenary. That way, first, he could amass bandit points in large quantities. Second, it wouldn’t provoke too much wariness. The larger the territory, the more it would draw the attention and wariness of the righteous path, the imperial court, and everyone else. That wouldn’t suit Li Daoqiang’s goal of gathering bandit points.
In essence, even if his territory expanded several times, how many bandit points could he gain? He couldn’t annex all forces within his territory—that would be carving out a domain, cutting off all options, forcing every faction to unite against him. Even with his current strength to suppress them, further expansion would become impossible. Trade would also be heavily affected. For instance, a warlord would fear his ambition, worry he might swallow them up, and dare not trade with him. If he had no large territory and only loved wealth and beauty, that warlord wouldn’t be too wary and would come to trade.
That was why he had been building this persona for the entire world. He only loved wealth and beauty. This truly made many people less cautious and willing to trade with him. The recent transaction with Shaolin Temple likely benefited from this as well. So he had little interest in expanding territory. Personally stirring up trouble was far less safe and carefree than watching others cause chaos and profiting from it. Take the Huang Xuemei incident, for example. The recent extortion of Shaolin Temple had already made him reflect deeply. Personally causing trouble was too dangerous; he absolutely shouldn’t do it lightly. Being a troublemaker was safer, and the gains wouldn’t be small.
This time, he had brought it up openly for only one reason. With his greatly increased strength and confidence, he wanted to stir things up. But for a moment, he hadn’t figured out where to start. So he casually proposed the most direct method—expanding territory— to let his subordinates think it over. If there really was a suitable way or place, expanding territory a bit to earn some bandit points wasn’t out of the question. As long as he kept it under control and didn’t expand too much, the impact would be minimal. Every little bit earned counted.
To put it more simply and clearly, he was casting a brick to attract jade, hoping the discussions would reveal a direction for him to stir things up. Unfortunately, they didn’t.
Should he join the Azure Dragon Society? This thought crossed Li Daoqiang’s mind. The Azure Dragon Society had a bunch of warlords. These warlords were masters at causing trouble, and his gains would surely be substantial. After a moment’s thought, he decided not to rush. Chasing after something wasn’t a good deal; he’d feel too shortchanged if he didn’t extort a big sum before joining. He believed that once he revealed his peak expert strength, the Azure Dragon Society would inevitably come knocking again, willingly letting him extort them.
No, wait. Suddenly, Li Daoqiang realized something. Barring any surprises, soon the entire Central Plains Buddhist community would know he had peak expert-level strength. Given the Azure Dragon Society’s capabilities, they would certainly find out too. They might even come knocking again soon. Immediately, Li Daoqiang felt pleased. The impatient urge to stir things up eased considerably. The vague idea of going to Swallow’s Nest was also suppressed. He’d wait and see first.
Having made his decision, Li Daoqiang focused mainly on practicing the Wandering Light Step. He quickly discovered that his progress was faster, thanks to his peak expert-level realm. In his spare time, he also looked over the three Shaolin martial arts he’d obtained: Great Strength Vajra Finger, Invisible Leg, and Demon-Subduing Fist. They were decent techniques; from what he knew, these three were among those Shaolin had widely disseminated. No wonder they’d given them directly. To reach initial mastery, each required 20,000 bandit points. He estimated they were master-level techniques of the first tier. He didn’t use bandit points but practiced them himself. With his current aptitude, realm, and the Heavenly God and War God talents, initial mastery was simple. All three together took only a day, not worth spending tens of thousands of bandit points. Minor mastery was harder, but he wasn’t in a rush. At his level, minor mastery of these three techniques wouldn’t boost his strength much. Even major mastery might not make a difference. After all, his strength was already formidable.
Beyond that, he kept an eye on the situation in Jingzhou. His orders had set the entire Jingzhou abuzz. Forces without second- or third-rate status—meaning no Innate experts—were fine; paying tribute to anyone was the same. Paying to Black Dragon Village was even better, since it meant aligning with a behemoth. But those second- and third-rate forces were in a bind. Many secretly cursed Li Daoqiang for burning bridges and reneging on promises. Yet no matter the private complaints, no one dared oppose him openly. Even the Four Masters of Falling Flowers and Flowing Water remained silent. Li Daoqiang heard that the Four Masters had recently discovered their disciples’ and relatives’ past dealings with Black Dragon Village and were furious. He couldn’t guess what they’d do next. Four Innates—he no longer cared. If they didn’t pay, they could leave Jingzhou.
A few days later, Bai Xiaosheng arrived. Li Daoqiang smiled; his guess had been right.
“Greetings, Chief!” Bai Xiaosheng said with a hint of respect, bowing slightly. “Brother Bai, you’re too polite. Please, sit,” Li Daoqiang said warmly with a smile.
Bai Xiaosheng sat down and got straight to the point: “Chief, I’ve come today to invite you to join the Azure Dragon Society once more.” “Oh,” Li Daoqiang responded calmly, then said seriously, “Have you agreed to the conditions I proposed last time?” “Thirty million taels of silver is too much. If you demonstrate peak expert-level strength, we’re willing to offer ten million taels. Additionally, we can provide three master-level martial arts,” Bai Xiaosheng said solemnly. “Heh, three master-level martial arts—that’s a broad category. The difference between strong and weak is like heaven and earth,” Li Daoqiang said with a faint, casual smile.
Bai Xiaosheng caught the real meaning behind his words, his eyes brightening slightly as he smiled. “Do you have any specific martial arts in mind, Chief? Feel free to name them.” “The Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms or the Buddha’s Palm would do,” Li Daoqiang said without hesitation.
Bai Xiaosheng frowned slightly. This guy really didn’t hold back. Shaking his head, Bai Xiaosheng said helplessly, “Chief, we only have the Fifteen Dragon-Subduing Palms. As for the Buddha’s Palm, we don’t have it.” Li Daoqiang was a bit disappointed but said calmly, “If there’s a sufficiently powerful master-level palm technique, that would work too.”
Bai Xiaosheng frowned in thought. After a few seconds, he said seriously, “Chief, if you want the complete Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms or the Buddha’s Palm, we can help you obtain them.” “How would you help me obtain them?” Li Daoqiang grew interested. “Everyone has weaknesses. Whether it’s the few who possess the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms or the Fire Cloud Evil God who has the Buddha’s Palm, they all have vulnerabilities. Our Azure Dragon Society can use our powerful intelligence network to assist you in acquiring them. Of course, you’ll need to personally capture them,” Bai Xiaosheng said earnestly.
(Chapter 3, thanks for the support.) ······