Chapter 79: Jia Tianlong

Golden Wolf Jia Tianlong was brimming with confidence at this moment. A faint blush appeared on his normally pale and sallow face, a result of his intense excitement.

It was no wonder he looked this way. After all, the Seven Mysteries Sect, the Wild Wolf Gang's lifelong archenemy, was about to fall directly before him, brought down by his meticulous planning. How could he, as the leader of the Wild Wolf Gang, not feel proud?

He now stood halfway up Sunset Peak, at what was once a Seven Mysteries Sect outpost. He was surrounded by many red-clad Iron Guards of the Wild Wolf Gang. These fifty or sixty Iron Guards were personal troops he had meticulously trained with immense effort. Not only were they all highly skilled in martial arts, but they were also fiercely loyal, with no trace of disloyalty towards him.

He had always regarded these men as his most precious treasures, normally reluctant to use them in everyday skirmishes. But now he had brought them all with him, his purpose being to completely deter any restless ambitions among the smaller and medium-sized gangs. Otherwise, how could the leaders of gangs like the Iron Spear Society and Water Break Gate have so obediently submitted?

After all, these gangs definitely did not want the Wild Wolf Gang to become the sole dominant power. Instead, they hoped the two major powers would always be locked in struggle or maintain a balance, allowing them to survive by finding a niche.

If not for Jia Tianlong's lightning-fast action in suddenly taking control of all these leaders' family members and children, and promising them significant benefits, these smaller and medium-sized gangs would likely have turned against him long ago.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but glance back at the dozen or so leaders of the smaller and medium-sized gangs standing not far behind him.

Every one of these individuals looked crestfallen. The moment they saw Jia Tianlong look their way, they either glared back defiantly or nervously avoided his gaze.

Seeing this situation, Jia Tianlong gave a cold smile internally. After turning his head back, he couldn't help but begin to consider viable plans for how to absorb these smaller and medium-sized gangs after taking down the Seven Mysteries Sect.

In front of Jia Tianlong, nearly a thousand people, dressed in various colored clothes and wielding diverse weapons, were swarming to fiercely attack a Seven Mysteries Sect outpost. Their formations were chaotic, and they showed no coordination, resulting in significant casualties.

But Jia Tianlong didn't care in the least, because those currently attacking were not members of his Wild Wolf Gang, but rather members of gangs like the Iron Spear Society and Water Break Stream. He had never expected these people to capture Sunset Peak's last, and most perilous, pass. He merely wanted these gang members to deplete the energy of the defenders before sending in his own gang's elites to take it with a volley from repeating crossbows.

At the thought of those military-grade repeating crossbows, a hint of joy appeared on Jia Tianlong's refined face.

It could be said that the Wild Wolf Gang's ability to gain such an easy upper hand this time was absolutely due to these lethal military weapons.

Otherwise, not only would it have been impossible to annihilate the opposing negotiation team, but even taking the dozen or so outposts already secured in front of Sunset Peak would have significantly depleted the Wild Wolf Gang's vital strength, severely hindering his future plans to absorb the smaller and medium-sized gangs.

These military crossbows hadn't cost Jia Tianlong an ounce of effort; they had simply "fallen from the sky" while he was at home.

Whenever Jia Tianlong thought of this matter, he felt a surge of immense satisfaction.

This had happened three months ago. At the time, he was at his headquarters planning the current operation, when suddenly a military officer claiming to be his relative requested an audience. Surprised, he met the man, and it turned out to indeed be one of his paternal cousins. It turned out that over a decade ago, when the Wild Wolf Gang's predecessor was still a band of horse bandits, a group of them had been recruited by the government. His cousin was among them. And after all these years, his cousin had risen to the high military rank of deputy general. Now, this cousin, in his capacity as deputy general, was coincidentally escorting a batch of supplies to a frontier outpost in Jingzhou, and happened to be passing through the area. Hearing that Jia Tianlong, a close relative, was the leader of the Wild Wolf Gang, he naturally came to visit his cousin.

Upon meeting, the two exchanged heartfelt greetings and then reminisced about their experiences over the years. When Jia Tianlong mentioned the recent clashes and battles with the Seven Mysteries Sect, the cousin scoffed disdainfully, saying, "What's that? Just give me over a hundred repeating crossbows, and I can wipe out everyone in the Seven Mysteries Sect."

The speaker had no intention, but the listener paid close attention. Jia Tianlong's heart stirred, so he cautiously asked his cousin if he could procure some repeating crossbows for him. The cousin listened and smiled faintly, then frankly told Jia Tianlong that many repeating crossbows were among the supplies he was transporting. It wasn't that he couldn't give them away, but it would require some silver to silence the receiving officials, and he couldn't give too many.

Jia Tianlong was overjoyed to hear this. He immediately spent over twenty thousand taels of silver, acquiring more than three hundred repeating crossbows from his cousin. He entrusted them to his trusted subordinates for careful use, and this was what led to the string of victories in the past few days.

"It's breached!"

"They've broken through!"

A tremendous clamor startled the great gang leader Jia out of his contemplation.

He was somewhat surprised and quickly raised his head to look up at the peak. He saw that the outpost where the Seven Mysteries Sect flag had originally flown was now swarming with people from the smaller and medium-sized gangs; it had indeed been breached.

Jia Tianlong frowned. He found it somewhat strange. Judging by the defensive strength of the previous passes, this last one should logically have been even harder to attack. How could it have been taken so quickly by these ragtag forces? Could there be some conspiracy at play?

His expression darkened. Anyone familiar with the great gang leader Jia knew this was a sign of his displeasure. If someone were to provoke him at this moment, that offender would likely find death a difficult escape.

"Hey, since it's breached, why aren't you moving?" A voice like a cracked gong rang out, with not a trace of respect for the great gang leader Jia in its tone.

Logically, Jia Tianlong should have been furious, but at this moment, the gang leader Jia turned sideways and replied very respectfully:

"Master Zhang," he said, "I feel that this breach of the pass is too strange. I fear there might be a trap set within. It would be best to proceed cautiously!"

"What is there to fear? With me by your side, do you think mere mortals can harm you? Hurry, let's go! I've been enduring this for almost an entire night and I'm practically dying of sleep. Let's quickly deal with these Seven Mysteries Sect fellows so this old man can get some rest." The voice was not aged, yet it adopted an antiquated, haughty tone that was extremely grating to the ear.