Chapter 1: Jianghu II

Wangyou Tower wasn’t the largest restaurant in Lianshan City, but it was the most popular among the traveling Jianghu People.

Some said the wine here was the strongest, some said the meat was the most fragrant, and others said the proprietress was the most flirtatious.

But in reality, it was because Wangyou Tower’s prices were fair and affordable, making it most suitable for those bottom-tier Jianghu People who lived day-to-day, were poor yet still wanted to act grand.

At this moment, the first floor of Wangyou Tower was filled with clamor and smoke, the air thick with the smell of strong wine and sweat.

Men of the Jianghu sat with their chests bared, talking animatedly about the Jianghu gossip within Lianshan City over cheap wine and peanuts.

The main topic among them was the struggle between the two major Gangs of Lianshan City, the Heaven Wolf Gang and the Blackwater Gang.

Lianshan City was a small city in the Northern Lands of Youzhou within the Nineteen Provinces of Great Xia, and these two Gangs were the most powerful forces in the city.

The two Gangs had been fighting for decades, always in a state of equal strength, but recently, the Blackwater Gang had gained a slight upper hand in their struggles.

At this point, a man with a bare torso and a face full of scars slammed the wine bowl in his hand onto the table and shouted:

“If you ask me, this Heaven Wolf Gang is finished sooner or later!”

“The Heaven Wolf Gang leader, Jiang Kaitai, was indeed someone in his youth; the ‘Heavenly Wolf of the Northern Lands’ wasn’t just an empty title.”

“But he’s over seventy now, and I’m afraid his blood and Qi have long since begun to wither and his strength has declined, while Gang Leader Yuan, the ‘Iron-Headed Arhat’ of the Blackwater Gang, is in his prime.”

“Look at the next generation; the five major Protectors of the Blackwater Gang are all figures who can hold their own.”

“What about those so-called Three Heroes of Heaven Wolf? Which one has any decent battle record?”

“In recent months, the Heaven Wolf Gang has been losing battle after battle. I see that Lianshan City will belong to the Blackwater Gang sooner or later.”

An older, weathered Jianghu People beside him shook his head slightly and advised:

“Hu Lao San, you can eat whatever you want, but you can’t say whatever you want.”

“I know you’ve been getting close to Zhang Biao, a leader of the Blackwater Gang lately, but the struggle between those two Gangs isn’t something people like us should talk about.”

“Even if the Heaven Wolf Gang is really failing, they have enough teeth left to easily bite you to death.”

Hu Lao San stiffened his neck, looking indignant: “What, is the Heaven Wolf Gang the Emperor now? People aren’t allowed to talk?”

“I’d even dare to curse the Emperor himself; what kind of thing is the Heaven Wolf Gang?”

Just as Hu Lao San’s words fell, a flash of blade light lit up without warning, and the vibrating whistle of a blade suddenly echoed through Wangyou Tower.

The next moment, Hu Lao San’s massive head fell into the wine bowl in front of the table, splashing a mixture of cloudy wine and blood.

In the wine bowl, the arrogant expression on Hu Lao San’s face hadn’t even disappeared as he stared blankly at his headless body, which was gushing a large amount of fresh blood.

Behind Hu Lao San, a young man in his early twenties wearing a black brocade robe flicked the blood droplets off his yanling blade and sheathed it with a clear, metallic ring.

“Is my Heaven Wolf Gang something a piece of trash like you is qualified to comment on?”

“In this Lianshan City, you can curse the Emperor, but anyone who dares to insult my foster father or my Heaven Wolf Gang shall die!”

The young man’s face was slightly pale, his features sharp as if carved by a knife, and his gaze was as cold as a blade.

As his gaze swept across, the entire Wangyou Tower immediately became as silent as a cicada in winter, not a sound to be heard.

A follower walked over and picked up a black cloak embroidered with a silver wolf head to drape over the young man’s shoulders.

The young man took out a silver ingot from his robe and tossed it upward, where it landed in front of a woman in her early thirties with a curvaceous and plump figure, a beautiful and charming face, wearing a tube-top dress.

This woman was the proprietress of Wangyou Tower, Wenrou.

“Boss Wen, I apologize for dirtying your Wangyou Tower.”

Wenrou picked up the silver and weighed it; it was at least ten taels.

Her gaze toward the young man immediately became so seductive it seemed like it could drip water.

“Young Master Chen must be joking. This guy had a foul mouth; I’ve wanted to throw him out for a long time. I have to trouble you, Young Master Chen, for helping to clean up the trash.”

The young man waved his hand and led his followers out of Wangyou Tower.

Only after the young man’s figure had completely disappeared did someone ask in a low voice: “Proprietress, which one of the Heaven Wolf Gang was that?”

Wenrou sneered: “You talk about people behind their backs but don’t even know who they are?”

“The Three Heroes of Heaven Wolf: the eldest, Qin Yuancheng, leads the Blood Fang Hall; the second, Chu Ziping, leads the Punishment Hall.”

“This is the third of the Three Heroes of Heaven Wolf, the last foster son taken in by Gang Leader Jiang, Chen Yuan.”

“Young Master Chen leads the Skill Transmission Hall. He usually doesn’t walk outside and is only responsible for teaching the Gang members martial arts.”

“However, it’s said he is the most talented among the Three Heroes of Heaven Wolf. After only two years of learning martial arts, his Heavenly Wolf Swordplay has already reached the Transcendent level.”

“That ‘Heavenly Wolf Swallows the Moon’ strike just now seemed to have seventy percent of Gang Leader Jiang’s former charm.”

…Outside Wangyou Tower, Chen Yuan stepped into the carriage waiting for him and instructed his trusted follower, Zhang Xiaoyi: “Spread word of what just happened in Wangyou Tower. Remember to be discreet, don’t make it too obvious; mainly highlight my anger toward someone slandering my foster father.”

Zhang Xiaoyi nodded repeatedly and immediately turned to spread the news.

Chen Yuan sat in the carriage and gently rubbed his temples.

After today’s performance, his favorability with Jiang Kaitai should rise by another notch, right?

Chen Yuan had been in this world for ten days.

To be more precise, he wasn’t sure if this was a world.

Because the background of this world was very familiar to him, exactly the same as the open-world holographic game Jianghu II he had relied on for his livelihood in his previous life.

Jianghu II was the sequel to the holographic game Great Jianghu, more free, open, and realistic than its predecessor.

Chen Yuan was a professional player of Jianghu II in his previous life, but he didn’t have a guild and had always fought alone, known as the strongest solo player.

He remembered that in his previous life, Jianghu II had just released the teaser for the final chapter, Martial Forest Alliance Leader.

That mysterious Martial Forest Alliance Leader was just a black silhouette, and the entire trailer was muddled, playing the riddle-man trope.

Chen Yuan was about to exit and give the production team his daily verbal lashing, but as soon as he took off his helmet, his vision went dark and he fainted.

When he woke up, he found himself actually in the game world, but without an attribute interface and no way to log out.

It took Chen Yuan a day to finally confirm that he had truly transmigrated into the world of Jianghu II and become an NPC.

This world had no players, only a real Jianghu of blades and swords.

He only had one life; if he died, he couldn’t restart.

Currently, the time Chen Yuan was in was the 21st year of Wuxing in Great Xia, which was exactly when the game had just launched in Jianghu II, and Lianshan City was one of the many starter villages.

The background of Jianghu II was grand, with the Nineteen Provinces of Great Xia, as well as maps for overseas, the grasslands, the Western Regions, and so on.

Jianghu and the imperial court, Sects and noble clans, fought incessantly.

At this time, Great Xia had been established for five hundred years and was already showing signs of decline and corruption. Of the Nineteen Provinces in the world, the court only truly controlled the Central Nine Prefectures.

The remaining ten prefectures were only nominally under the court’s rule; in reality, they were controlled by local Sects and noble clans.

To maintain a basic level of dignity, the court only collected a basic tax from the various cities in the remaining ten prefectures. As long as the tax was paid, the rest belonged to the various forces within the city.

For example, in Lianshan City, the true Dominators were the two Gangs: the Heaven Wolf Gang and the Blackwater Gang.

The court’s power here was almost zero, with only one magistrate and a dozen or so constables.

They were mainly responsible for judging some domestic cases and escorting the taxes handed over by the Heaven Wolf Gang and the Blackwater Gang to the capital.

Chen Yuan looked at the street scenes of Lianshan City outside through the carriage window, gently rubbing his head as he sorted through the memories in his mind.

The starter village when he started playing Jianghu II wasn’t Lianshan City, but as a professional player, he knew the opening of almost every starter village like the back of his hand.

The starter village boss of Lianshan City was his foster father, the leader of the Heaven Wolf Gang, Jiang Kaitai, nicknamed the Heavenly Wolf of the Northern Lands.

The reason Jiang Kaitai could become a starter village boss went back to a basic setting of Jianghu II: Divine Artifacts and Demonic Weapons.

In the ancient times of this world, countless god and demon powerhouses fought fiercely. After their fall, their Divine Artifacts and Demonic Weapons remained, not decaying with time.

These Divine Artifacts and Demonic Weapons possessed powerful forces that Martial Artists could hardly reach, making countless Jianghu People fight desperately for them.

It could be said that almost all the top forces in the Jianghu today are presided over by Divine Artifacts or Demonic Weapons.

Even if they don’t have a complete Divine Artifact or Demonic Weapon, they will possess a part of a fragment that can be used.

The reason the Great Xia royal family has been able to maintain its empire for hundreds of years is that it possesses two divine weapons: the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow and the Human Emperor Sword.

It could be said that in the current Jianghu, there are only two types of forces: top forces that possess Divine Artifacts or Demonic Weapons, and others.

Although the Heaven Wolf Gang controls half of Lianshan City, it can only be considered at the bottom tier of the other forces.

Every year, after deducting the taxes paid to the court, eighty percent of the Heaven Wolf Gang’s earnings are handed over to a great clan of Youzhou, the Murong Clan of Dragon City, which controls the Divine Artifact Shifting Stars.

Chen Yuan’s foster father, Jiang Kaitai, accidentally discovered a fragment of the Divine Artifact seven killing stele, so he secretly conducted a Blood Sacrifice to the artifact in Lianshan City, wanting to control the fragment.

Because too many Blood Sacrifices attracted attention from above, the Murong Clan of Dragon City and the Yiqi Guanhri Alliance behind the Blackwater Gang both sent people to investigate.

Jiang Kaitai was insane and wanted to Blood Sacrifice the entire Lianshan City to achieve Fusion with the seven killing stele fragment. In the end, he was heavily injured by the Murong Clan in alliance with the Yiqi Guanhri Alliance, and finally, the players completed the kill.

Afterward, the seven killing stele fragment escaped and disappeared because the Blood Sacrifice went out of control, and it wasn’t obtained by the Murong Clan or the Yiqi Guanhri Alliance.

As for the Heaven Wolf Gang, its fate was naturally to be completely destroyed.

The Murong Clan was furious that Jiang Kaitai actually dared to scheme for a Divine Artifact, causing it to fly away from their own territory, so in a fit of rage, they wiped out the entire Heaven Wolf Gang to vent their anger, leaving not even a dog or chicken alive.

Chen Yuan’s identity at this time in the original plot was just a background character, only slightly stronger than other nameless lackeys. His end would certainly be destruction by the Murong Clan.

After confirming his identity, Chen Yuan’s first reaction was to flee.

To flee far away, far from the powder keg that was Lianshan City.

But this thought only appeared for a moment before being extinguished by Chen Yuan.

Lianshan City was indeed a powder keg now, but it also held unimaginable opportunities.

The Divine Artifact seven killing stele was the strongest Divine Artifact in the first version of the Jianghu II plot, formed from the killing intent origin; even a fragment’s power was incredibly formidable.

It appeared in the starter village only to introduce the setting of Divine Artifacts and Demonic Weapons, so in the original plot, it was impossible for players to obtain it.

But now there were no players, and he, who knew the plot well, had come to this world. Was it possible for him to seize the seven killing stele fragment?

Chen Yuan was not the type of person who was timid and only knew how to hide.

Otherwise, in the game, he wouldn’t have been able to stand alongside professional players from major guilds as a solo player.

Moreover, even if Chen Yuan fled, he would still be hunted by the Murong Clan in the future.

The Murong Clan of Dragon City was notoriously narrow-minded in Youzhou, and they were vindictive in everything they did.

In the original plot, everyone belonging to the Heaven Wolf Gang in Lianshan City met with misfortune.

Even old members of the Heaven Wolf Gang who had once joined but had already retired from the Jianghu and gone to other cities to make a living were found and killed by the Murong Clan to vent their anger.

As Jiang Kaitai’s foster son, even if he fled now, he would definitely be on the Murong Clan’s wanted list in the future.

Instead of hiding in the future, it was better to take a gamble now.

So for these ten days, Chen Yuan had been sorting out the plot while also trying to increase Jiang Kaitai’s favorability, preparing to seize the seven killing stele fragment.

“Stop the carriage.”

Chen Yuan, who had been looking out the window, suddenly shouted.

The driver immediately stopped the carriage and opened the door.

Chen Yuan stepped out and walked up to a beggar at the street corner.

The beggar was disheveled, his face obscured by filth.

Other beggars would hold up their bowls and ask for charity when they saw someone coming, but this beggar only glanced at Chen Yuan and didn’t even move.

Chen Yuan looked at the beggar, took out a piece of broken silver, placed it in the beggar’s bowl, and turned to leave.

The beggar still lay there, not even saying a word of thanks.

Getting back into the carriage, Chen Yuan went straight back to the Heaven Wolf Gang headquarters.

As one of the two major Gangs dominating Lianshan City, the Heaven Wolf Gang occupied an entire street, with two giant wolf sculptures about ten feet high howling at the sky standing at the entrance.

Two rows of Heaven Wolf Gang members wearing wolf-patterned black clothes stood on either side of the gate holding weapons, looking very imposing.

“Where is my foster father?”

Chen Yuan asked the guard at the gate.

“To the Third Young Master, the Gang Leader is in the inner hall.”

Chen Yuan nodded, walked to the inner hall, rubbed his face to show a proper smile, and then stepped inside.

“Your son, Chen Yuan, pays respects to foster father!”