Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“What exactly is going on?” Fire Eye bellowed at the communicator on his wrist in fury.

Hasty gunshots and chaotic screams came over from the other end of the communicator before somebody shouted, “Boss, somebody outside said that Fei Zhong returned half-dead with blood all over his body, claiming that the Black Water Gang betrayed us and have already been bought out by the leader of Liberty City. They do not want to join the Fist King’s army with us at all!

“Those who were sent to the Village of Peace, including Ma Ku and Fei Zhong, have been completely annihilated under the unexpected assault of the Black Water Gang. Fei Zhong said that he saw ‘Ghost Axe’ Zhou Da, a tough general under the leader of Liberty City’s command, on the Black Water Gang’s side. Right now, while all the bosses are having a meeting, they attacked the Red Fire Gang’s base!”

“*sshole!” Fire Eye roared. “Where is Fei Zhong? Ask him to come here immediately!”

“I don’t know!” the man on the other side of the communication channel shouted. “The situation is a mess now. Explosions and fights are everywhere. I don’t know where Fei Zhong is at all!”

There was nothing but dead silence in the meeting room. The only thing that could be heard was Fire Eye’s rapid panting like an infuriated animal.

Wu Du’s face was even paler than that of a dead person. He pulled the triggers slightly harder and said in the most earnest way, “Fire Eye, listen to my explanation. This is a scheme!”

Hardly had he concluded his sentence when another world-shaking explosion took place outside. From the city of black smoke, a second enormous fireball rose slowly. Judging from the coordinates, it was the headquarters of the Red Fire Gang!

Nothing needed to be said anymore.

Fire Eye and Wu Du looked each other in the eyes and read the information in them clearly.

It was not important anymore whether or not there was any scheme or plot.

Whether or not the Black Water Gang had taken the leader of Liberty City’s side was irrelevant.

What mattered most was that the Red Fire Gang, the Black Water Gang, and the many other gangs in Double Dragons City had been on par with each other and in a subtle balance, and it was due to such a balance that they could seek cooperation prudently.

Now, the headquarters and the warehouses of the Red Fire Gang, the most important facilities, had been destroyed. The balance had been broken. How could they seek cooperation?

For Fire Eye, even if it was not Wu Du who did it, the Red Fire Gang had still suffered tremendous losses. How could they participate in the Fist King’s war and compete with the Black Water Gang?

For Wu Du, it was impossible to explain himself even if he had a body of tongues. Whatever he was going to do, Fire Eye would bear the grudge in mind and stab him at the first opportunity. Therefore, he might as well…

Moreover, because of the series of explosions, the situation was unclear under the hazy smoke. There was no telling who opened fire first, but the Red Fire Gang, the Black Water Gang, and the other gangs behind them were already engaged in a fierce, chaotic fight!

Fire Eye and Wu Du took action at almost the same time.

Fire Eye’s chainsword unleashed unstoppable auras, which slashed the long desk in half at Wu Du as quickly as lightning.

Wu Du’s storm bolters shot out more than ten explosive mystic rays instantly, blowing up a series of light balls on the spot where Fire Eye had previously stood.

The small meeting room immediately turned into a jungle of bullets and blades. To show their sincerity, neither party had entered the meeting room with a crystal suit, which added to the bloodiness and cruelty of the melee combat where fists punched flesh.

Since the big shots of almost ten gangs were gathered inside the meeting room, the outside had already been crammed by their bodyguards. Their nose tips were almost kissing each other.

Hearing that the big shots inside the room were already fighting, some were in a hurry to open the door to reinforce their boss, but more people simply drew their daggers and pistols and attacked those who were next to them!

The whole of Double Dragons City immediately turned into an atrocious hell under the black smoke.

Explosions and engagements echoed in every street and alley, but what spread even faster than the explosions and the gunfire was a rumor, which stated that the Black Water Gang had joined the leader of Liberty City’s side and was attacking the headquarters of the Red Fire Gang with the elites from Liberty City. They would kill everybody in the Red Fire Gang to establish their authority and warn all the other gangs against joining the Fist King.

If the gangsters could calm down and think carefully, it should be easy for them to notice that such a rumor was full of loopholes.

However, in the middle of the black fog, the explosions, and the desperate screams of their companions, how many of the tough bandits could calm down and think?

‘Attack before you are attacked’—that was the eternal truth in the Land of Sins.

In the black market in the east district of Double Dragons City, the bandits of the Red Fire Gang and those of the Black Water Gang were engaged in fire first and gradually drew in the other gangs who supported them. The many gangs already had the deepest grudge against each other due to the conflicts of interests, and small-scale gang fights happened all the time. Today, they had let out all their feelings under the boost of fear and fury. It was impossible for them to calm down until they had killed all the enemies.

In the north district of Double Dragons City, the Black Water Gang’s warehouse of crystals and ammunition was heavily guarded and prepared for attacks.

From the black smoke, however, dozens of burning shuttles rushed out and crashed into their defense lines at the same time. The blasts raised by the series of explosions were truly like a surging tsunami, blowing almost a hundred bandits of the Black Water Gang into the sky.

It was not until then that the bandits of the Red Fire Gang in heavy armor crawled out of the flames, roaring and lunging at their nemeses.

In the west district of Double Dragons City, a factory of exhilarants that belonged to the Black Water Gang was burning fiercely, too. All the members of the Black Water Gang were tied up and kneeling on the ground before they were shot in the back of the head one by one by the tough bandits of the Red Fire Gang. Their blood and their brains splashed onto the lips of the bandits of the Red Fire Gang, making their smiles even creepier under the illumination of the furious flames.

But their smiles did not last long when stormy gunshots echoed in the sky. Several heavy armed shuttles with the marks of the Black Water Gang bombarded all the members of the Red Fire Gang with the firepower of more than thirty cannons!

In the chaotic battle, not everybody had gone frantic.

Some of the captains in the gangs, hoping to preserve their own strength, tried to keep their subordinates outside of the battle and commanded them to escape to the places of fewer gunshots.

But they did not know that a dim but dangerous red light was patrolling in the black smoke, releasing powerful telepathic thoughts that were not hindered by the black smoke at all as the subtle changes on the battlefield were perceived.

Whenever it noticed that someone was about to escape the chaos, the red light would fly dozens of times faster and dart through the forehead of the captains!

After their captains were shot by the uncanny ‘bullets’, the remaining tough bandits would only run about like headless flies, only to be caught in the fire net again.

The red light was like the most brilliant director, controlling the seemingly chaotic battlefield accurately.

Wherever the conflicts were about to die down, it would dash over and pour more fuel on the fire. When the capability contrast in one place was too imbalanced, it would kill a few experts on the winning side stealthily, making sure that both parties would shed their last drop of blood in ignorance.

…

An hour passed.

Inside the luxury, pyramid-shaped hotel, bodies that were riddled with holes littered the ground. Almost everybody was wearing an expression of bewilderment. The stench of blood was so intense that it seemed to be raining blood.

Fire Eye and Wu Du, the bosses of the Red Fire Gang and the Black Water Gang, were both heavily wounded. They had almost run out of all their blood, and they were simply leaning against the wall under the support of their vigorous vitality.

The communication between them and the captains of their gangs had been seriously jammed. Nothing but the sound of battle could be heard in the communicators. They were completely blocked in the enormous grave.

Right then, mechanical sounds and the sounds of tracks rolling over dead bodies echoed from outside.

In the middle of the black fog and smoke, a tall, cold spiritual puppet showed up before them.

Fire Eye and Wu Du looked at the smiling star on the shell of the puppet, unable to figure out which force it belonged to at all.

However, from the cold killing intent of the newcomer, they somehow sensed that the unattractive spiritual puppet was perhaps the source of all chaos.

The two of them found it absurd. Was it possible for a spiritual puppet to direct a chaotic battle that involved the whole of Double Dragons City?

Wu Du covered his abdomen, which had been left with an enormous hole, and tried to ask, “Who are you—”

After he spoke only three words, the guns on the chest of the spiritual puppet had already begun to glitter. The burning bullets stuffed all his questions back to his throat and the back of his head.

Before that, Fire Eye’s furious eyes had frozen. From his forehead to the tip of his nose and to his jaw, a long, narrow red line gradually appeared.

…

The carnage in Double Dragons City lasted from dusk to dawn the next day.

After a night, almost all the gangs were uprooted and annihilated.

The bandits who luckily survived became shocked birds. Looking at the city that was rife with bodies and fire, they were too frightened to do anything.

Before they calmed down to clean up the mess, a fully-armed, overwhelming army showed up in Double Dragons Valley outside of the city. They were the villagers from the Village of Peace!

The previous day, Li Yao had asked Han Te and Liu Li to forward the entire plan to Gu Zhengyang, but Gu Zhengyang would certainly not believe it so easily.

However, the Village of Peace had already been pushed to desperation. Even Ma Ku and Fei Zhong, two notorious bandits, had been killed by him, and the advanced waterborne facilities from the Black Water Gang had also been destroyed. It was obvious that the tough bandits from Double Dragons City would not let go of them just like that. However humbly they presented themselves, they would not be able to avoid their fate as cannon fodder.

Therefore, they might as well fight to the end!

At midnight, Gu Zhengyang led an elite squad of scouts and climbed to the Green Dragon Mountain to observe the situation in Double Dragons City.

When he saw that Double Dragons City was indeed mired in smoke and explosions, and gunshots were echoing nonstop, he was both surprised and suspicious, but he felt a slim chance of hope.

When dawn came, the fog and smoke in Double Dragons City gradually dispersed, revealing the gory ending of the city. Gu Zhengyang immediately reached the conclusion that Double Dragons City had entirely lost all order.