At Chuanyun Stronghold, in a meeting room, an elegant and scholarly looking middle-aged man with a vicious gaze sat on the seat reserved for the leader.
Qin Shujian sat on one side with a calm expression on his face.
Niu Feng sat next to him, where a subordinate should.
Other than these men, there were two more men in the room, and they were Chuanyun Stronghold's leaders.
Xu Yuanming sat in his chair and looked grimly at Qin Shujian before finally looking at Niu Feng, "Mr. Niu, you're the head of Mount Mingai, but you've come all the way to Chuanyun Stronghold today. Is anything the matter?"
After he said that, he locked his gaze on Niu Feng.
Chuanyun Stronghold and Mount Mingai weren't on the friendliest terms in the first place.
But now Niu Feng had come by himself with this other man to Chuanyun Stronghold, which made Xu Yuanming feel that something was amiss.
After all, if Xu Yuanming were in his position, he wouldn't purposely walk into the lion's den.
If he were not careful, he would be trapped by the other party, then he would lose everything.
On top of that, Xu Yuanming stole an unnoticeable glance at Qin Shujian.
He didn't know who this man was.
But he could come along with Niu Feng, and Niu Feng was so polite to him. So their relationship wasn't that simple.
Before fully grasping their purpose and direction in coming here, Xu Yuanming felt that he shouldn't be rash.
Niu Feng smiled faintly and clasped his hands politely as he said, "I can't call myself the head anymore. Mount Mingai is now part of Liangshan Stronghold, and so I am only a sub-leader at best."
"Mr. Niu, I'm talking to you seriously!" Xu Yuanming's heart trembled violently, and there was a slight look of shock on his calm face.
His first reaction was that Niu Feng was pulling his leg.
But when he saw how serious Niu Feng looked, Xu Yuanming wasn't so sure anymore.
All of a sudden, "Liangshan Stronghold!"
Xu Yuanming's heart suddenly leapt violently.
When Niu Feng mentioned Liangshan Stronghold earlier, he felt that it sounded rather familiar.
Now that he thought about it, he immediately connected it to the letter he had received the day before.
The letter had been signed off as Liangshan Stronghold.
Xu Yuanming felt his heart tremble a little for some strange reason as he glanced unnoticeably at Qin Shujian.
"This gentleman here is the Chieftain of Liangshan Stronghold, Chieftain Qin Shujian!" Niu Feng introduced Qin Shujian at this time.
Upon hearing this, Xu Yuanming said to himself, "I knew it."
When he thought about the contents of the letter, his heart sank.
He didn't care about this Liangshan Stronghold at all, but now that Mount Mingai had surrendered to this man, it created tremendous invisible pressure on Xu Yuanming.
"I have heard about Chieftain Qin's name for a long time, and you are indeed as impressive as I thought you were!"
"Mr. Xu, you're too kind," replied Qin Shujian in a very neutral tone of voice.
When he heard this reply, Xu Yuanming was even more unsure than before.
As the saying goes, the one who barges in is unfriendly because a friendly one wouldn't barge in.
The fact that Mount Mingai had surrendered themselves to Liangshan Stronghold already put him at a loss. Now, there was suddenly the appearance of this Liangshan Stronghold Chieftain instantly made him feel like he was under a lot of pressure.
"Chieftain Qin…"
"I believe Mr. Xu knows exactly why I'm here today."
Qin Shujian cut Xu Yuanming's words off just as he started to speak.
Xu Yuanming had a nasty expression on his face, but Qin Shujian just went straight to the point. "Yesterday, Mount Mingai received a letter, and Chuanyun Stronghold received the same letter. Now, Mount Mingai has chosen to surrender. So I'm not sure what choice Mr. Xu would make?"
These words were so direct that there was nothing left for Xu Yuanming to say.
The air in the meeting room immediately became very still.
The other two Leaders of Chuanyun Stronghold seemed to be invisible and didn't say a single word throughout the meeting.
Xu Yuanming quietly clenched his fists and tried his best to suppress his anger as he said, "Chuanyun Stronghold has never offended you, and we have no dealings with Liangshan Stronghold at all."
"But now, you have come up the mountains to force all of us to become one of yours. Don't you think this is an unreasonable way of doing things?"
"Right now, the outlanders have appeared from nowhere, and there's a huge crisis in front of you. But Messy Stone Forest has a few branches of power, and there's no way you can stop the outlanders from attacking."
"In no time, when the outlanders become more powerful, both Chuanyun Stronghold and Messy Gold Mountain will eventually end up getting stepped all over."
"If you want to change this possibility, then we have to merge all the power we have together."
"There should only be one voice in Messy Stone Forest," Qin Shujian declared these words very firmly.
Nobody understood the threat of players better than Qin Shujian.
They refused to die or perish permanently, and they leveled up quickly.
As long as the players were given a little time, then never mind one Chuanyun Stronghold – even his own Liangshan Stronghold might not be able to hold up against them.
If they wanted to go against the players, there was only one way.
And that was to advance faster than the players. They had to always be in front of the players and always be more powerful than the players.
Qin Shujian's words made Xu Yuanming silent for a while.
He had also seen the threat of the outlanders.
If not for that, he wouldn't have implicitly joined hands with Mount Mingai and Messy Gold Mountain either.
But, even though he didn't deny that the outlanders were a threat, he didn't think it was as serious as the way Qin Shujian put it.
"I still need some time to consider Chieftain Qin's words. Could you give me a few days?"
Before being clear on who this Qin Shujian was, Xu Yuanming wouldn't refuse him outright.
However, even though Xu Yuanming wanted to stall for time, Qin Shujian didn't intend to let him do so.
So the moment Xu Yuanming finished saying his piece, Qin Shujian immediately refused.
"I will give Chuanyun Stronghold 15 minutes. Mr. Xu, if you're not willing to surrender after these 15 minutes are up, then don't blame me for being vicious."
"You…" Xu Yuanming was so angry that his face turned red.
But when he saw how cold and distant Qin Shujian looked, as well as Niu Feng's watchful gaze, he forced himself to hold his fury in.
He wasn't afraid of one Niu Feng.
It didn't matter if there was any difference between himself and Niu Feng.
This was Chuanyun Stronghold, so that Niu Feng couldn't create that much trouble for him.
The one who made Xu Yuanming wary was this Liangshan Stronghold Chieftain because he wasn't sure how powerful he was.
Since he could make someone like Niu Feng surrender to him, it meant that this man here was probably at a fairly high level. It was likely that he was a Martial Entry-Level Six fighter, or perhaps he was at an even higher level.
Niu Feng just remained silent.
But there was a strange glint in his eyes.
He didn't try to warn or advise Xu Yuanming, and he didn't even add to Qin Shujian's words.
If it was possible, Niu Feng actually wished that Xu Yuanming would turn Qin Shujian down.
If that happened, Qin Shujian would definitely destroy Chuanyun Stronghold.
That way, he would have one less opponent in the future.
But, that was just what he thought.
This was still a matter of Xu Yuanming's choice and Qin Shujian's decision.
After about seven minutes passed, Xu Yuanming's expression continued to change along the way, but he finally forced himself to remain calm. He looked towards Qin Shujian and said, "I would like to know why Chieftain Qin thinks you can consolidate all of Messy Stone Forest."
"As far as I know, there could be a Martial Entry-Level Six in Messy Gold Mountain, and the people there are not weak in the first place."
"I don't doubt that you are a powerful man, but you must know that Messy Gold Mountain is no pushover either."
"It looks like…Mr. Xu doesn't seem to have enough confidence in me." Qin Shujian shook his head and sighed as if he couldn't do anything about this.
"Since you're not confident enough, then I will let you see where Liangshan Stronghold's confidence comes from."
The minute he finished saying that.
BOOM!
An incredible and powerful aura suddenly blasted out from Qin Shujian, and it sounded like the roar of a tiger was echoing throughout the mountain forests.