Chapter 517: A Gift From Brother Dog

"Which of the three major factions does the Yamai Gang belong to?" Li Xiaofei asked.

Hashimoto Mako respectfully replied, "The Yamai Gang operates in Sakura District, under the jurisdiction of the Flying Blade Stream. It is subordinate to the Flying Blade Stream along with five other organizations."

Li Xiaofei nodded.

The leader of the Flying Blade Stream had been the Martial Saint Tsukiha Tensō, who Li Xiaofei had slain. According to Hashimoto Mako, the Flying Blade Stream was directly connected to the Tsukiha family and was originally the strongest among the three major factions. However, with the fall of Tsukiha Tensō, the group had suffered significant losses. The Flying Blade Stream had been struggling lately. Urawa Base City was divided into four districts: Sakura District, Green District, Red District, and South District.

The Dragon Bloom Factory was located in the Sakura District, where the Yamai Gang was also based.

Li Xiaofei asked again, "What are the other five factions in Sakura District?"

Hashimoto Mako replied, "Besides the Yamai Gang, there are the Hashi Town Dojo, the Screw Association, the Wind Chime Tavern, the Flying Dragon Group, and the White Suits. Their strength is roughly on par with ours."

Li Xiaofei said, "Are they all primarily collecting protection fees as well?"

Hashimoto Mako quickly explained, "Collecting protection fees is just one of the revenue sources for these factions. It’s not even the primary channel. The significant income sources are commercial trade, running clubs, organizing martial arts tournaments, and sharing tax revenues, among other ventures."

She explained in great detail. It was only then that Li Xiaofei understood that officially registered factions in the Jiepeng Empire functioned similarly to police departments. Even the local ruling families relied on these factions to collect taxes.

The factions also had powers such as adjudication, investigation, and judgment within their respective territories. In short, it was extremely chaotic. This was no longer a well-structured and functioning nation. It had completely devolved into the private playground of major corporations and powerful factions.

"Deliver a message to the leaders of those five factions for me," Li Xiaofei said, stroking his chin. "Submit to me. From today on, they will pay me protection fees and follow my orders. That’s their only path to survival. Otherwise, I will personally wipe them out of Sakura District."

Hashimoto Mako’s face betrayed her extreme shock. Although she had long guessed that Shinzu Genshi had grand ambitions to insert himself into the power struggles of the factions, hearing this domineering declaration in person still caused an uncontrollable upheaval in her heart.

The Flying Blade Stream’s status in Urawa Base City had been plummeting after the death of their leader, the Martial Saint Tsukiha Tensō. The faction had faced severe provocations and threats from the other two top-tier factions, the Asura Dragon Gang and Urawa Dojo.

Rumors suggested that these two factions had already secured funding from powerful forces outside the city. They were aiming to take advantage of the situation and completely crush the Flying Blade Stream. To deal with this crisis, the Flying Blade Stream had been spending money like water to hire powerful mercenaries and purchase modern equipment and weapons. Their cash flow had already become severely strained.

As a result, they had pressured their subordinate factions in the Sakura District, such as the Yamai Gang, to aggressively extort protection fees from local merchants and freemen in order to amass wealth at a frenzied pace. The gang world of Urawa Base City was already on the brink of turmoil. Now, someone as ruthless as Shinzu Genshi had stepped into the arena, ready to stir up even more chaos.

Chaos. Urawa Base City was truly about to descend into chaos. If Hashimoto Mako hadn’t witnessed Tsukiha Yaiba’s tolerance for Li Xiaofei, she wouldn’t have dared to accept his task.

But now, this blood-stained flower of the gang world keenly sensed that a massive opportunity might be right before her eyes. If she seized this chance, there was a possibility that she could rise to prominence amidst the upcoming turmoil and become one of the dominant forces of the next era of balance.

"Yes, my lord." She humbly knelt. "I will deliver your will to them without fail."

Li Xiaofei waved his hand and said, "Go."

Hashimoto Mako quickly retreated with her people.

Not long after, a team of professional construction and renovation companies arrived to restore the storefront of the Dragon Bloom Factory. They also delivered 4,000,000 Star God Coins as compensation.

It was an astronomical sum. When Tanaka Kenichi and Yokan Kasumi saw the sudden appearance of so much money in their corporate account, they were stunned for a long time. They repeatedly counted the zeros after the number 4, terrified of making a mistake.

Happiness had come too suddenly. With this massive windfall, the Dragon Bloom Factory could not only repay all its loans and material costs but also afford to purchase some modern equipment and upgrade its industrial light core.

Soon, the workers whom Tanaka Kenichi had previously sent home for safety were recalled. He paid no attention to their cheers of joy.

Li Xiaofei returned to his room and resumed his cultivation. He carefully studied the Innate Art manual over and over again. According to Li Mu's annotations, this technique was a combination of an internal breath circulation method and martial techniques that were designed to achieve both internal and external strengthening. It refined the body and also cultivated qi.

Based on Li Mu’s notes, to truly reach Five Spirits Realm and achieve the state of "Five Qi Converging to the Origin," one must attain a harmonious unity of internal sanctity and external mastery. Many cultivation techniques designed for the Five Spirits Realm emphasized only internal sanctity, which focused on nourishing the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys but neglected the strengthening of bones and muscles. This approach was incomplete. Li Mu’s Innate Art addressed this shortcoming.

Moments later, the cooldown for the Secret Time Pavilion was complete. Originally, he had intended to continue cultivating the Innate Art and use the time wisely to refine the potential of the severed tail he possessed, formally stepping into the first stage of the Five Spirits Realm. But as soon as he entered, Brother Dog appeared.

“Woof, your gift has arrived!” Brother Dog looked at Li Xiaofei with its wise, mismatched eyes and said, “Ta-da... look! This is the treasure I carefully selected just for you, little brother.”

Li Xiaofei followed the direction of Brother Dog’s paw and found... a chubby... fluffy... little black dog?!

Is this supposed to be a treasure?

Li Xiaofei squinted and stared closely. He confirmed that this little black dog looked exactly like an ordinary mutt. A pure-blooded Great Xia rural dog, through and through. After carefully examining it, he realized it wasn’t some Divine Dragon or an exotic beast in disguise. This was genuinely just an ordinary mutt.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

“Are you messing with me?” Li Xiaofei said, “What’s the story with this thing?”

Little Nine said proudly, “Don’t judge it by its plain, coal-black appearance. This little one has an impressive lineage. It’s the descendant of Black Whirlwind, the number one mount under Sun Fei. It inherited its father’s bloodline; it looks ordinary on the surface but holds endless potential. I nearly got shot to death by Elena to steal it out of Chambord City... Little brother, I paid a huge price for you.”

Li Xiaofei vaguely understood. He knew of Sun Fei, one of the Five Supreme Heroes. He was a peerless figure on par with Lin Beichen, Li Mu, and Ye Qingyu. Naturally, a mount belonging to someone of such supreme existence couldn’t be ordinary. But where exactly was Chambord City? And who was Elena?

“Woof woof!”

The little black dog stumbled and rolled its way to Li Xiaofei’s feet, its chubby little tail wagging like a fan. Then, it peed all over Li Xiaofei’s shoe.