Long Chen gave a soft grunt of acknowledgement. His heart surged with delight at the progress thus far.
"However, we have encountered a problem." Hun Yan's face suddenly dulled down and turned heavy, "The size of our gang had been rapidly increasing in the past, and although we have cut down on our expansion, this has still drew attention from a few of the stronger gangs around our region."
"Please punish this subordinate for my incompetence, and let me personally destroy their entire gangs!" Hun Yan abruptly kneeled down on the ground and requested in a loud spirited voice.
"It is true that this is due to your negligence." Long Chen creased his eyebrows, then continued, "But it is partly my fault too. And there is no need for you to completely destroy their gangs. Didn't I already say that we have to stay as hidden as possible? Other than our movements outside to assimilate the weaker gangs, I do not want any other huge movements that could be linked to our gang to occur."
He halted for a while, and tapped his fingers onto the table.
"Tell me the names of the gang which are bothering us." His nonchalant voice rang about the room.
"Young Master, the Verin Son Gang and the Tung Yun Gang, which are ranked around 24th and 26th respectively, have repeatedly sent people into our gang building to stir up trouble. If not for your instructions, I would have killed of their people the moment they stepped foot into the building." Hun Yan rose up from his kneeling position, and deeply bowed while responding.
Long Chen glanced at Hun Yan, "Does anyone else know of this?"
"No, Young Master. No other gangs are notified."
"Tell me the locations of the gang, and I will settle the problem for you." His finger that was tapping on the table stopped moving.
"Young Master, the Verin Son Gang is located 3 kilometers to the North…"
10 minutes later, Long Chen walked out of the Fierce Tiger Gang building, and underneath his bamboo hat, you could see a slight insidious smile starting to rise.
The fact that these two gangs sent their people to create trouble, meant that they did not harbor any good intent towards them.
Since they decided to go for a different route and establish themselves as enemies, rather than neutral parties, then he shall go and collect some debt from them.
It was a good chance for him to test out how strong his combat power was, after breaking through to the Sky Realm.
Within the Verin Son headquarters.
A group of burly men with scars running across their bodies were engaged in a meeting.
"The Fierce Tiger Gang is acting weirdly these past few weeks, and I suspect that there is something wrong. In the past, their strength was much weaker than ours, and now they are swiftly catching up to us in terms of power." A bald man opened his dry lips and started to speak in a hoarse voice.
"I have dispatched a few of our lackeys there to scout out the place, and they have informed me on the rough estimates of their power."
He then proceeded to talk about their power distribution, which made the surrounding people tighten their faces in worry.
"If we do not get rid of this tumor, we may well get destroyed by them in the future! We are located in close proximity to each other, and I am sure that they will place their sights on us when they grow strong enough."
"So rather than waiting for them to rise up, we should take the initiative and destroy them first!" The bald man raised his voice up in gusto as he spoke, and the surrounding men all gave a few loud grunts in acknowledgement.
"I agree! We should gather our forces and attack them as soon as possible. I'm sure that for them to rise up so quickly, they must possess a few treasures. When we decimate their gang, we can swallow their entire treasury by ourselves!"
"I second that!"
They gave out cries in agreement that slowly began to rise up in volume.
"Silence!" A man who sat right in the middle of both sides of the table gave out an authoritative roar, and swept an imposing gaze around.
After making sure that everyone kept their mouths shut, he turned towards the bald man and threw him a sharp glare, "Did you find out if the Fierce Tiger Gang had the support of any hidden power? Because if they do, no matter how weak they are, we cannot afford to provoke an enemy that we have no knowledge of."
"Answering the leader's question, our scouts have told me that they have not seen any interaction between the higher rungs of the Fierce Tiger Gang with anyone else other than the members of the gang." The bald man responded in a confident and assured tone.
The leader sitting right in front slightly tensed his eyebrows, and was about to speak, when the door abruptly got kicked open, and a man came rushing in.
"Leader, there is an unknown person killing into our headquarters right now! So far, no one has been able to handle a single strike of his!" The man had on a panicked face, his hands trembling in fear as the scene of the one-sided slaughter flashed in his mind.
"What did you say? Repeat that again!" The leader of the Verin Son gang instantly rose up from his seat and charged towards the man and questioned in a thundering voice.
"Leader…someone is killing his way in!" The man stutteringly answered.
The leader broke off his eyes from the man in front of him, and casted his eyes upon the people within the room.
"Who dares to cause trouble in my Verin Son gang? All of you, follow me to kill of this intruder!" The leader commanded.
He was about to turn his body around and leave the meeting room, when he felt that the gazes which the rest of the members were aiming towards him was rather strange.
His face stiffened for a moment, and he hastily looked behind his shoulder. To his utter astonishment, a black robed man wearing a bamboo hat unknowingly appeared right behind him.
This was…impossible! He was already in the 5th Elementary Realm, and it was not possible for anyone in the Elementary Realm, even if they were higher than him, to so silently arrive beside him without even notifying his senses!
A thought came to his mind, and looking down towards the man's feet, his eyes involuntarily narrowed into slits as a feeling of unease slowly crept up his spine.
"Senior, may I ask, why did you come to this little one's humble gang for?" The leader lowered his posture and very carefully inquired.
Under the bamboo hat, Long Chen gave a light but deep chuckle that reverberated throughout the silent room.
"I have come...to send you all away." His cold voice landed on everyone's hearts, akin to a huge boulder weighing onto them.
Before their hands could react, Long Chen struck out first.
With a swing, his sword flashed out 5 blue rays that swiftly appeared in front of the eyes of 5 men, and without even waiting for them to dodge, they silently cut through their necks, sending their heads rolling down on the ground.
Not even bothering to pay attention to the 5 people he had just killed, he unleashed his sword yet again.
Every move he made was with the intention to claim his enemies' life, and like a sharp and deadly sword, the lives of those within the room were swiftly extinguished.
His movements were efficient, and quick beyond words. Everywhere he moved, a gust of wind would accompany him, as if informing him of how fast he was going.
Within less than a minute, only one person other than him was left standing in the entire room.
And that one person had his pants soaked in piss, his face whiter than a ghost, and his entire body uncontrollably trembling in utter terror and dread.
As Long Chen turned his head to look at that last man, that person instantly felt his legs go soft, and tumbled onto the ground.
Silently, he waved his sword in an aesthetically pleasing movement, and this time, there was no blood.
Only a soft thump could be heard, as the man's head finally fell onto the ground.
Long Chen looked upon the now tranquil room, where a dense blood scent was permeating the environments.
His heart was pounding, and it was not pounding in horror at what he had just did, but rather with a feeling that he felt was far too horrifying.