Chapter 1267: The Westwind Strikes Back

In fact, things went exactly as the public predicted. After the truth of Nightless Commandery was exposed, the Martial Garrison, Ling Xiao City, Lanke Temple and many famous clans or powerful sects of Wei struck the Westwind Inns and Westwind Restaurants in Wei in thunderous fashion. As a result, many Westwind elites were killed.

At the same time, the Martial Garrison, Ling Xiao City, Lanke Temple and more announced the Evil Rooting Order. The long story short was this: Westwind’s kidnapping of pregnant women and infants and training of suicide warriors are inhuman, evil, and intolerable in heaven or earth. Therefore, a comprehensive crackdown shall be launched against Westwind Inn for the sake of goodness and justice.

The

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responded to the Evil Rooting Order positively as a matter of course. Who doesn’t like to kick the dog when it’s down?

Even West Kunlun, Demonic Mountain and more Dark Ways sects did not try to defend Westwind. It was because Westwind’s actions had infringed upon their interests as well. Because of this, they would rather see Westwind annihilated than survive.

For a time, Westwind became the mice that everyone wanted to kill in Wei.

Unfortunately, this was where things became difficult. Killers and killer organizations in general were experts in subterfuge and hiding, and Westwind in particular was the master. Although Westwind suffered major losses due to the sudden and coordinated assaults of Martial Garrison, Ling Xiao City, Lanke Temple and more, they were nowhere close to being destroyed.

In fact, one might say that destroying Westwind was an impossible task. It was because the heart of Westwind was the Boss of Westwind Inn. So long as the Boss of Westwind Inn still lived, Westwind would never die.

Unfortunately, no one knew who the Boss of Westwind Inn was or where he was hiding except himself. Naturally, there was no way to kill the man or end Westwind once and for all.

Martial Garrison, Ling Xiao City, Lanke Temple, and the rest of the factions who had beef with Westwind clearly understood this. That was why they implemented many solutions to try and bait Westwind Inn’s Boss into showing himself.

Unfortunately, Westwind Inn’s Boss was like a tortoise. No matter how much they tried to tease and tempt him out of his tortoise shell, he refused to so much as poke his head out into the open.

Left with no choice, the factions could only vent their rage on Westwind’s Accountants, Cooks, and other low level killers.

Regardless, it took only several days for every Westwind Inn within Wei’s borders to be eradicated, and the Westwind Restaurants dismantled. Nine Shopkeepers, over forty Accountants, and hundreds of Cooks were killed in total. It was a huge loss to say the least.

Surprisingly, despite being hunted down like dogs, Westwind never gave up on their original plan. While hiding and avoiding the factions going after them, they somehow found the time and energy to continue publicizing Ye Qing’s information. Not only that, they were able to grasp his whereabouts perfectly and report it once every twenty-four hours.

So, the

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people who had been riled up because of the Evil Rooting Order began to look for Ye Qing instead. Why? Because they couldn’t find Westwind, duh. They had free time on their hands anyway, so why not?

Some famous veterans of the Dark Ways had also decided to exploit the current chaos and track down Ye Qing instead. They had no desire to wade through the mess in search for Westwind, not to mention that the current chaos served as the perfect cover for them.

In other words, Ye Qing’s plan to keep Westwind so busy that they couldn’t be bothered to mess with him had failed.

Not only that, just the second day after Westwind was attacked from all sides, it was rumored that Reverend Yi Pin of the Temple of Divination, a rundown temple located in Bei You of Chu; head of the Luo Shui Pacification Bureau, Fang Xiaoman; vice head of the same Pacification Bureau, Gu Suitang; Chu Nianjiu, Lin Yuhuai and more were attacked by assassins and killers. Although no one died, everyone except Yi Pin[1] had taken some injuries.

There was no doubt about it. This was a revenge attempt by Westwind. After all, all these people were old or close acquaintances of Ye Qing.

Westwind was telling everyone via their actions that even a dead camel was still bigger than a horse, and that revenge was a dish best served hot.

Of course, Ye Qing wasn’t going to take this lying down. As soon as he heard that Westwind had ambushed his friends and acquaintances, he immediately destroyed another one of Westwind’s hideouts. And right after Westwind announced his latest whereabouts, Ye Qing went straight to the origin of the intelligence and killed everyone who was involved in spreading the information.

No one knew how Ye Qing had managed to locate Westwind’s men. He just did it somehow.

Unfortunately, Ye Qing’s retaliation failed to intimidate Westwind into inaction. On the contrary, they became even more extreme. The Boss of Westwind personally set up a bounty for Ye Qing’s head and declared that anyone who killed the young man would receive a Blue Swim Token from him.

It was said that a Blue Swimmer was as boundless as the heavens and as infinite as the earth. Legend had it that it was the Dao Domain of an ancient Colossus called the Skyreaching Sage. The Dao Domain was called the Blue Swim Palace.

The Skyreaching Sage believed in education and convenience for all. He allowed anyone and everyone to study the Dao, forge the Dao, and become a supreme Colossus. In ancient times, gods and celestials often visited his Dao Domain to listen to his teachings. Therefore, the Blue Swim Palace was also known as the Dao Domain of Myriad Celestials.

After the gods and celestials fell aslumber, Blue Swim Palace disappeared as well. But before it left, Skyreaching Sage lamented that cultivation was a difficult task and left behind three thousand Blue Swim Tokens. Anyone who obtained one could use it to seek out the Blue Swim Palace, enter it, and learn the way to forge one’s Dao and become a Sage.

It wasn’t an exaggeration. It was said that the Boss of Westwind Inn had become a Sage exactly because he once entered the Blue Swim Palace. It was why the Blue Swim Token was rumored to be a way to attain Sagehood. A highway, even.

That was why the Boss’ declaration stunned everyone, and why Ye Qing and his Earthly Sovereign Bell became juicy targets in the eyes of the

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once more.

Since ancient times, opportunities and fortunes had tempted countless people into damnation, much less twice the opportunity and fortune.

So, the imperial temple went mad, the

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went mad, and even White Jade Capital was tethering on the brink of madness.

As the situation developed, more and more people began to ambush or challenge Ye Qing to a fight. Something new and interesting was happening, and a champion on the Earth Champions Ranking would die almost everyday. Naturally, the people responsible for managing the Earth Champions Ranking and the storytellers of Jade Capital Teahouse were busy as heck.

The common people were quite happy though. After all, who wouldn’t like to hear a fresh, new story everyday?

Because of this series of events, the Jade Capital Teahouse purposely created a Wind Cloud Notice and plastered it on the outside walls, available for anyone and everyone to read.

The imperial court had notices such as the Imperial Notice or the Gold Notice to inform people about important matters. In this case, the Wind Cloud Notice was made specifically to report incidents regarding Ye Qing. For example, it reported what Ye Qing did, who he killed, who challenged him, who ambushed him, and what was the outcome.

It was a brief, summarized version of Ye Qing’s deeds, but it was still enough to satisfy the curiosity of those civilians with spare money and little time.

One only needed to look to know that the Wind Cloud Notice was wildly successful. The sun hadn’t even risen yet, and the space in front of the Wind Cloud Notice was already full of people. They were all reading Ye Qing’s deeds or waiting for the Wind Cloud Notice to be updated.

Among the crowd, there was a seven or eight-year-old child supporting a blind old man and looking up at the notice. As the Wind Cloud Notice was over a head taller than your average adult height, it was not easy for the child to read it. Still, he whispered it all seemingly for himself, the blind old man, or both of them.

1. Truly, he is the master of running away and living to see another sun. ☜