"Chief, Ling Tuisi has sent a letter." Just as Li Daoqiang was about to make a move, Wang Lin and Xu Zhi arrived with a letter to report. Li Daoqiang instinctively narrowed his eyes, pondering the intent behind it. What was that venomous wolf up to? As he thought, he spoke: "Xu Zhi, read it." Responding, Xu Zhi tore open the envelope and read: "To my esteemed brother Li, greetings. Brother, I am tied up with official duties and cannot come in person, I hope you will forgive me. To be honest, I have a favor to ask this time. The Wang family of Jingzhou has always acted ruthlessly and lawlessly. In three days, one of their convoys will pass through your territory, and I hope you can intervene. I thank you in advance. Respectfully yours." As the words faded, Wang Lin and Xu Zhi sank into thought, silently waiting. Li Daoqiang pondered for a few breaths, then reached out to draw the letter over, examining it through a layer of true qi, and said in a deep voice: "What's the background of this Wang family?" Hearing this, Wang Lin looked at Xu Zhi. He had only recently taken over intelligence work and was far behind Xu Zhi in understanding the major forces in Jingzhou. In the bandit trade, one must have sharp eyes. What can be targeted? What cannot? All of this must be known, or the cost of a mistake is death. Xu Zhi had essentially been Lin Sanlong's intelligence chief before. Naturally, he had some understanding of Jingzhou's major forces—not extremely detailed, but far better than the average person. Xu Zhi had already been recalling the situation of this so-called Wang family. Seeing Wang Lin's glance, he understood and spoke: "Reporting to the chief, there are three forces in Jingzhou City that can be called the Wang family. I'm not sure which one this refers to." "Then tell me about all of them." Li Daoqiang set the read letter aside and said flatly. "Yes." Xu Zhi replied respectfully: "From what I know, the three Wang families in Jingzhou City are roughly equal in strength. All have experts at the Eight Extraordinary Meridians level. One family has four such experts, while the other two each have three. As for those at the Twelve Regular Meridians level, each has at least several dozen." In this world, experts were abundant, but the majority were still at the Houtian realm. It was these countless Houtian practitioners that formed the basic structure of the current martial world. At minimum, three Eight Extraordinary Meridians experts and dozens of Twelve Regular Meridians experts—this level of strength was not weak in Jingzhou City, ranking at least in the middle tier, part of the oppressive class. "I'll write a letter shortly. Xu Zhi, deliver it to Ling Tuisi. Speed up the intelligence gathering on Jingzhou City's major forces." Li Daoqiang ordered. Though his voice was calm, Wang Lin and Xu Zhi felt a tightening in their hearts and immediately acknowledged together. Then, Li Daoqiang wrote a letter and handed it to Xu Zhi. Xu Zhi left, and Li Daoqiang turned to Wang Lin, speaking without room for argument: "You will immediately take people to re-explore the areas around Qingfeng Stronghold and Heshan Stronghold. Report to me tomorrow morning." "Yes." Wang Lin's heart trembled, and he replied heavily before hurrying away. Li Daoqiang looked outside, his expression cold and stern, a hint of chill rising. It was time to act. No matter what Ling Tuisi was planning, having greater strength was always the best response. He had originally planned to wait another two days, but now there was no need. Glancing at the 1556 bandit points in the Great Bandit System, he decided not to save them. With a thought, the 1556 bandit points vanished. The next moment, a familiar sensation came. The essence of the sixth level of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art surfaced, and both his true qi and blood energy rapidly strengthened. A brilliant golden light burst forth, and the surrounding heaven and earth qi surged wildly into Li Daoqiang's body. Unfortunately, the commotion soon stopped. Li Daoqiang opened his eyes, a hint of lingering dissatisfaction flashing through. He clenched his fist—his strength had increased somewhat. He had cultivated about one-tenth of the sixth level of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art. These thousand-plus bandit points came from the exchange of martial arts by the stronghold members over the past few days. He had originally planned to use them before acting in two days, but using them now wouldn't hurt. This aspect of the Great Bandit System was quite satisfying to Li Daoqiang—he could use as many bandit points as he had. For example, with the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art, if the bandit points weren't enough to complete the sixth level, he could still cultivate part of it and enhance part of his strength. It was very user-friendly and flexible. After all, that enhanced portion of strength could mean the difference between life and death. The only downside was that feeling of incompleteness—it was truly unpleasant. But for the sake of strength, Li Daoqiang didn't mind at all. A man had to endure.
Meanwhile, as Li Daoqiang busied himself preparing to act, in Jingzhou City, Ling Tuisi received Li Daoqiang's letter. Similarly, Ling Tuisi didn't hold it himself but had Xu Zhi read it aloud. "To my brother Ling, greetings. If my brother has a request, I should by all means accept. However, I don't know which Wang family you refer to. My family and I are weak and cannot afford to provoke the powerful. Moreover, my brothers have only recently settled down and are still unruly, each a bunch of scoundrels who won't act without profit. So I ask for my brother's understanding." Xu Zhi read nervously, involuntarily pondering the letter's implications. What was the chief planning? Ling Tuisi's expression remained unchanged, a smile on his face as he stroked his beard. After a pause of two breaths, he said amiably with a laugh: "This is my fault for not specifying which Wang family. Very well, I'll write another letter shortly. I'll trouble Brother Xu to deliver it to your chief." "You're too kind, sir. I don't deserve it." Xu Zhi lowered his head, somewhat fearful. Like when facing Li Daoqiang, he dared not accept the term "brother." Ling Tuisi smiled without saying more and began writing. Soon, Xu Zhi left with the letter. Ling Tuisi's warm smile vanished, as if it had never existed. "Sir, this Li Daoqiang remains cautious and hasn't been fooled." A man stepped out from behind a screen in the room, frowning. "Heh." Ling Tuisi laughed again, but it was devoid of warmth, cold and sinister. "Not only cautious, but also exceptionally greedy." The man thought for a moment and nodded: "You're right, sir. When he says his men won't act without profit, he's really talking about himself. Without knowing the target, he stays cautious, but still asks you for benefits, unsatisfied with just the convoy's spoils. This Li Daoqiang might be greedier than we imagined." Ling Tuisi narrowed his eyes like a venomous snake, still smiling: "I'm not afraid of his greed, only whether he has the ability. Greed without strength is just seeking death. I hope he has the ability—a good blade is hard to find." "You're wise, sir." The man immediately bowed in flattery. "Heh, no rush. Let's take it slow and see his worth. As long as he's valuable enough, I can tame him." Ling Tuisi's lips curled into another cold smile, as if stating an obvious fact. The man nodded solemnly, fully agreeing.
At Black Dragon Stronghold, Li Daoqiang, having issued various preparatory orders, saw Ling Tuisi's letter. Again, he had Xu Zhi read it. "To my brother Li, greetings. My failure to clarify which Wang family was my fault, I hope you'll forgive me. This Wang family is the one in the south of Jingzhou City, with the head named Wang Yanming. Though the Wang family is not weak, with your strength, brother, it should be easy to handle. Additionally, since I'm asking you to act, I naturally won't make things difficult for you. If you succeed this time, I'll give a thousand taels of silver for your brothers to drink." Li Daoqiang listened quietly, waited a moment to see if Xu Zhi had more, then used true qi to wrap the letter and read it himself. Caution was never excessive, especially when dealing with that venomous wolf. No amount of caution was too much. "Deliver another letter to Ling Tuisi later." After a few breaths, Li Daoqiang ordered. "Yes."