404: Chapter 0404 Hugging a Thigh

However, since they had delivered themselves to his doorstep, Lin Xiao was happy to go with the flow.

"Elder Qin, as an elder of Qin He, I am very gratified that you have this level of awareness," Lin Xiao said.

Lin Xiao pretended to ponder for a moment before saying, "How about this? Considering your sincere repentance, I will give you a chance to 'make amends for your crimes'."

Qin Hengjiang was overjoyed; he had clearly made the right move. After all, thanks to his connection with Qin He, the Prince of Zhenbei would not wipe out the entire Qin family in one fell swoop.

"Your Highness, please give your orders! This old man will go through fire and water without hesitation!"

"It's not that dramatic. You just need to bring the clansmen of the Chu family and the Hua family to me," Lin Xiao said indifferently.

Qin Hengjiang was stunned for a moment, but he dared not ask further. "Very well! This old man will go capture them personally!"

The crowd whispered among themselves. The Prince of Zhenbei was so certain of this; what on earth had the Chu and Hua families done?

The members of the Chu and Hua families present dared not make a sound.

Hua Zhengyang and Chu Xianfeng had indeed often conspired about something over the years, though they themselves did not know exactly what it was about.

At sunset that day.

Qin Hengjiang and Qin Xiaoyan acted separately, taking the men from the Abstinence Blade Hall to bring everyone from the Hua and Chu families up to Blade Mountain Peak.

Lin Xiao only kept Wen Kexing and a few other relatively upright high-level members of Blade Mountain.

After some precise interrogation, three more members of the Moon Worship Cult were ferreted out from among the two families.

They were the nephews and trusted aides of Hua Zhengyang and Chu Xianfeng, responsible for long-term transmission of some of Blade Mountain's resources and intelligence to the Moon Worship Cult.

Now that their two backers were dead, they naturally spilled everything, handing over the ledgers of the tributes paid to the Moon Worship Cult over the years.

Wen Kexing, Qin Hengjiang, and the others finally realized that the Moon Worship Cult had actually reached into the upper echelons of Blade Mountain!?

"No wonder the escort agency has often lost goods over the years, and bandits have always been able to ambush us a step ahead; it turns out it was an inside job?!"

"We thought business was hard because the world was chaotic, but it was actually the difficulty of guarding against thieves within one's own family!"

"Outrageous! Their ancestors have received the grace of Blade Mountain for generations, yet they dare to be ungrateful?!"

Wen Kexing was furious. "Thanks to the Prince of Zhenbei coming here, otherwise we would still be kept in the dark!"

"I don't know what kind of sorcery the Leader of the Moon Worship Cult used. Hua Zhengyang and Chu Xianfeng clearly lacked nothing, so how could they be so foolish?"

Qin Xiaoyan and the others could not understand it. Logically speaking, as big shots of Blade Mountain, they had no need to wade into the murky waters of the Moon Worship Cult.

Lin Xiao was actually a bit puzzled himself. Those two were one thing, but why would the Blade Emperor join the Moon Worship Cult? And only as a protector at that!

Did this Moon Worship Cult really have such a grand reputation?

Regardless, the truth had come to light, and Wen Kexing was now completely convinced by Lin Xiao.

Thinking that such internal traitors had appeared in the upper echelons of Blade Mountain and he, as the sect leader, had been unaware, he felt even more ashamed.

With the support of Wen Kexing and the Qin family, the plan for Xie Juner and Su Wansha to take over the industries of Blade Mountain proceeded smoothly.

In fact, although some of the big families in the upper echelons were very dissatisfied with the intervention of the Northern Trade Alliance, most of the disciples of Blade Mountain were secretly overjoyed.

Because the vast majority of people in Blade Mountain had originally only been allocated a small amount of resources.

In the Northern Trade Alliance's distribution plan, more profits would be tilted toward these middle and lower-level Blade Mountain disciples.

Although these established families still took the lion's share, it was still much better than before.

To put it bluntly, the concept of "fairness" was mentioned for the first time.

Three nights later.

Lin Xiao and his women were in a courtyard on Wanren Mountain, chatting while eating.

Xie Juner and Su Wansha had been busy taking over the business of Blade Mountain for the past two days and hadn't returned to eat together for two days.

Talking about the events of the past two days, Xie Juner was beaming with excitement.

"Husband is indeed as wise as a god. These people under Blade Mountain have long had enough of the oppression from those big families up above."

"As soon as Sister Su and I went to take over, they were all very active, even finding ways to complain to us, wishing that a few more high-level members would die."

Su Wansha also couldn't help but chuckle. "I really didn't expect that we, two outsiders, would come to take over the management rights of Blade Mountain and they would be so welcoming. They are more willing to trust us than those old people within Blade Mountain."

"It should be said that it is because Husband has a great reputation and sufficient prestige that they quickly believed in the Northern Trade Alliance," Xiao Qingxuan pointed out.

Su Wansha hurriedly corrected herself. "Right, the key is Husband's support, which allowed us to gain trust so easily."

"We are all family, no need to draw such clear lines."

Lin Xiao smiled and served the two women food. "Su Wansha, Xie Juner, you have worked hard these past two days for the Northern Trade Alliance and the Zhenbei Army. Eat more."

Just looking at those mountains of ledgers made his head ache.

Even if the two women could mobilize manpower from the trade alliance, he didn't know how many brain cells they would lose to take everything over.

As for the takeover of the industries going smoothly, he had long anticipated it.

After all, the big families took more than ninety percent of the profits; the people below were definitely unhappy.

They did the hard and tiring work, and got less than ten percent when it came to splitting the profits? Who would be willing to do that?

Previously, the big shots led by the Blade Emperor were suppressing them. Now that they had finally caught an opportunity, they were naturally racking their brains to cling to the Northern Trade Alliance.

"Husband, why are you being so polite with us? This is what we sisters should do," Su Wansha said calmly.

"That's right, I'm looking forward to finishing the reorganization soon so we can start Husband's 'Blade Mountain Theme Park' business. It will definitely be very interesting," Xie Juner laughed.

Lin Xiao nodded. "This really needs to be well planned. If it can be successfully launched, it can be promoted further in the future."

In Lin Xiao's view, as long as productivity increased, these martial arts sects would sooner or later slowly decline.

Especially after seeing that crude explosive "Poison Fire," Lin Xiao felt that the appearance of black powder would not be far off.

It would be one thing if it were at the Great Grandmaster level, but ordinary martial artists simply could not withstand thermal weapons.

If the martial arts world remained so barbaric, always resorting to fighting at the drop of a hat, wouldn't it be a river of blood?

The martial arts world uses martial arts to violate prohibitions; one must restrict martial artists, but also give the sects a way to survive.

The development of various entertainment industries with martial arts themes must be put on the agenda.

Upon hearing Lin Xiao's intention to expand and strengthen, the two women immediately became even more enthusiastic.

To be honest, the Northern Trade Alliance's scale was already ridiculously large. Although the Zhenbei Army had over two hundred thousand troops to support, it was still overflowing with wealth.

They had been worried that Lin Xiao would not continue to delve deeper into business, as being a merchant didn't sound very prestigious.

But it seemed that their Prince had no signs of diminishing his desire for money.

For the two women who were good at business, this was naturally a big plus, as it meant they would always have weight.

Just at this moment, Lin Xiao suddenly sensed something, his expression changing slightly.

"Yaner?"

He walked quickly to the courtyard gate and opened it to see the pale-faced Leng Bingyan, wearing a hint of a sorrowful smile.

"Husband, I'm back..."

Just as Lin Xiao was about to say something, Leng Bingyan's body went limp, and she fainted into his arms!

Lin Xiao held the woman and looked closely, only to discover that Leng Bingyan's waist and abdomen were soaked; she was actually injured!?