Chapter 40: The Shanli Island Incident

November 10th. The weather had turned significantly cooler.

The temperature on Mount Jin钩 (Jingou) had dropped to three degrees Celsius.

However, Zhang Ji did not feel cold at all.

As a martial artist possessing grandmaster-level mastery in hard qigong, he circulated his breathing technique slightly, and the area around his body felt like a blazing furnace.

Ever since acquiring the Moonlight Cup, combined with the resources gained from the previous martial arts tournament, his progress had been extremely rapid. Zhang Ji had already mastered four essences of the *Snake-Form Fist*, and it was estimated that he would achieve full mastery of this boxing style between the twenty-second and twenty-third of this month.

This sensation of steady, continuous growth fascinated and intoxicated him so deeply that even when Shen Han invited him down the mountain to have fun, he declined.

In the afternoon, the sky, which had been overcast for days, cleared up to reveal the sun. Zhang Ji was practicing martial arts in the courtyard when his phone suddenly rang.

He answered the call, and Li Long's voice came from the other end.

"Mhm, okay, I'll be right there."

After acknowledging the call with a couple of words, Zhang Ji quickly packed his things and headed toward the medical building within the Five-Forms Sect.

As the Five-Forms Sect was a martial arts sect, injuries were inevitable here. Therefore, Mount Jingou housed a dedicated medical building capable of performing most surgeries; even heart transplants were not an issue here.

Arriving at the medical building and taking the elevator to the third floor, Zhang Ji went straight to the room Li Long had specified.

Upon arrival, he discovered that not only Li Long, but also Yan Ruifeng, Wang Quan, and two individuals wearing elder robes were present.

These two elders, a man and a woman, both appeared to be at least fifty years old.

Judging by their attire, Zhang Ji deduced their identities.

The male was Zheng Chengze, elder of the Tiger Hall, and the female was Chen Anhe, elder of the Snake Hall.

Both were grandmaster-level figures, but they usually managed the Five-Forms Sect's affairs externally and presided over distant territories, which was why Zhang Ji had never seen them before.

This could be considered their first meeting.

Upon arrival, Zhang Ji first paid his respects to everyone with a formal bow before striking up a conversation with Li Long.

"How is he?" Zhang Ji asked.

"He has several gunshot wounds on his body and a slight infection, but it's nothing major. He just fainted from malnutrition. He managed to contact Elder Zheng first and said he was looking for you, so Elder Zheng had him sent to Mount Jingou. However, he lost consciousness along the way, so he was brought directly here," Li Long said, glancing at Wu Chen, who was lying on the hospital bed receiving an intravenous drip.

Zhang Ji glanced at the unconscious Wu Chen, then turned to Zheng Chengze and asked, "Elder Zheng, what is the exact situation?"

"I don't know much either. He kept his guard up against me. For now, I only know that something happened over at Shanli Island. Shanli Island is still under lockdown, disconnected from the internet, and transportation is cut off, so we can't get any news from there," Zheng Chengze said. "For the specifics, we'll have to wait until he wakes up."

"Should we give him a couple of needles?" Zhang Ji asked, looking at Wang Quan.

"You don't need to tell me; we were just waiting for you to get here," Wang Quan said.

With that, he signaled a medical staff member to come over.

The person approached Wu Chen's hospital bed, pulled out a needle pouch containing silver needles from a wooden box, unfolded it, drew a silver needle from within, and thrust it directly into one of Wu Chen's acupoints.

With a single needle inserted, the practitioner twisted it slightly and channeled primordial qi into it. Wu Chen's body shuddered, and his eyes snapped open.

The medical staff member stood up and left on his own accord, leaving the space to the group.

After waking with a start, Wu Chen first scanned his surroundings before spotting Zhang Ji.

"Zhang Ji!!" Wu Chen blurted out.

His voice was somewhat hoarse and filled with emotion.

"It's me. What happened? Tell me slowly," Zhang Ji said.

"Official personnel came to Shanli Island, imposed a lockdown on all urban districts, and killed many people. Master Kui united everyone to resist, but they were suppressed. We couldn't fight them off, and Master Kui even had his arm broken. This is different from what was agreed upon in the beginning! The authorities clearly promised us temporary autonomy and that they wouldn't meddle extra-judicially! Why? Why would they do this?!"

The more Wu Chen spoke, the more agitated he became, his face a mask of confusion and incomprehension. Yet, Zhang Ji could see that what predominated was a sense of utter helplessness—powerlessness in the face of a ruthless, grinding destiny.

On Shanli Island, Wu Chen was merely a man with a gun and a few subordinates who followed his orders. He wasn't even a professional martial artist. Facing this series of events, he appeared terribly weak, just like any ordinary person.

"Take your time, be detailed, don't rush," Zhang Ji placated.

Pulled back to his senses by Zhang Ji's words, Wu Chen regained his composure. Organizing his thoughts, he began: "It's like this. Some people approached Master Kui previously..."

Very quickly, Wu Chen explained the course of events from his own perspective.

After Zhang Ji and the others left Shanli Island, Councilman Liu Hetong's camp adopted a soft-line governance strategy for the island, intending to spend five years gradually reforming it. To minimize resistance, they opted mostly for self-governance, issuing only guiding frameworks for the people of Shanli Island to implement.

And the person tasked with enforcement was Master Kui.

As long as Master Kui successfully accomplished this task, he would subsequently become the mayor of Shanli Island... well, Shanli City.

This was an excellent stepping stone to advance his career.

Master Kui was more than happy to accept the olive branch thrown his way.

However, Shanli Island was ultimately not a clean place; other councilmen had previously left behind many unsavory traces there.

They wanted to sweep these traces clean to avoid future troubles.

Thus, they sought out Master Kui.

However, their methods for cleaning up the evidence were somewhat too crude and violent, and Master Kui refused to agree.

Of course, Master Kui might have had other considerations in mind as well.

None of that mattered anymore.

What mattered was that shortly after the refusal, the people behind the scenes began implementing a different set of tactics.

They directly dispatched an armed military force to the island, took control of Master Kui and his men, and began a violent purge of the evidence.

Almost everyone involved in the related industries was directly executed, and some urban districts were even bombed into ruins.

Master Kui and his men organized a resistance, but against soldiers equipped with high-tech weaponry, they were no match whatsoever—they couldn't even withstand a single blow.

However, Master Kui and the others weren't actually trying to fight a decisive battle; they were well aware of the disparity in power. Instead, they seized the opportunity to capture an escape boat and sent a few people out to deliver the message.

Wu Chen was among those people.

After coming ashore, Wu Chen and the others fled in different directions. Wu Chen didn't even take any transportation into the city; he survived in the wilderness like a savage, which allowed him to escape with his life and finally make contact with the Five-Forms Sect.

This was also the reason for his malnutrition.

Having received the news, Li Long exchanged a glance with Zhang Ji, then walked out of the hospital room with the others. Zhang Ji consoled Wu Chen, saying, "Get some good rest. The matter should be properly handled."

Though he said that, Zhang Ji had no confidence himself.

This matter clearly involved huge stakes, and the specific situation remained unknown.

Zhang Ji caught up with Li Long and asked, "What does the Five-Forms Sect plan to do?"

"We will notify Councilman Liu Hetong. Shanli Island is the political achievement he needs. Now that something has gone wrong, it depends on how he wants to handle it. Besides, the specific situation over there is still unknown. So much time has passed; maybe they've already left by now," Li Long replied.

"What is the worst-case scenario?" Zhang Ji asked.

"Liu Hetong knew all along, but acts as if nothing happened, colluding with them. Shanli Island is scoured clean by the forces dispatched by those councilmen, running with blood, and yet the bigwigs remain immaculate, without a single stain of filth upon them," Li Long replied.

Zhang Ji nodded, unsurprised by the answer.

In fact, even if this matter were exposed, it probably wouldn't stir up much of a storm.

It would merely cause them a bit of minor trouble.

However, the bigwigs didn't even wish to be tainted by the slightest bit of trouble, as that would be far too humiliating for them.

Without waiting too long—roughly half an hour later—the Five-Forms Sect received Liu Hetong's reply.

First, he expressed gratitude for the delivery of the message. Then, he requested to borrow personnel from the Five-Forms Sect to handle the situation, expel the intruders on the island, and preferably gather relevant evidence.

Unlike councilmen hailing from prominent aristocratic families, Liu Hetong had a thin foundation and very few forces he could mobilize to do things, which was why the Five-Forms Sect had the opportunity to connect with him.

Otherwise, even with the Five-Forms Sect's substantial size, an ordinary councilman's status wouldn't have necessitated such a deep level of cooperation between the two sides.

In the council hall, Li Long, Yan Ruifeng, several elders, and Zhang Ji—attending as an inner disciple—were all present.

"He wants to send us out to do the dirty work while his own people keep their hands clean? If anything goes wrong, he'll just cast us aside and wash his hands completely clean. He certainly thinks quite prettily," sneered Liu Shan, the elder of the Crane Hall.

"The resources in Chuanxi Province are abundant. If we are permitted to enter the field, it won't be a loss," Yan Ruifeng said.

"But the premise is that we can actually solve the problem. The opposition has deployed a professional armed force, whereas our security personnel only possess civilian-grade exoskeletons and are not permitted to equip weapons above the medium class," Zheng Chengze said solemnly.

"Strictly speaking, only five of them are active-duty models, and the rest are similar to ours. Those mercenaries are even inferior; they clearly have no intention of making a huge public spectacle," Wang Quan said.

"Are five not enough?" Liu Shan retorted. "Once you wear that armor, even a grandmaster might not be able to break through it."

"Ah-Long, what do you think?" Yan Ruifeng asked, looking at Li Long.

"Fight for it!" Li Long spat out a single word.

His temperament had always been aggressive. Even though he had restrained himself much more since the Shanli Island affair, his core nature remained unchanged.

When the risks and rewards were equivalent, he would definitely fight for a possible outcome.

"How about letting Ah-Long lead a team over to take a look? He's familiar with the place anyway!" Yan Ruifeng suggested.

"I agree," Wang Quan said immediately.

He was an absolute loyalist to Li Long; he would unconditionally support any decision Li Long made.

"I agree as well," Chen Anhe nodded.

"Then I suppose I agree too," Zheng Chengze said.

"I abstain," Liu Shan said with a displeased huff.

"Then let's settle on that. Ah-Long will lead the team, and Elder Zheng and Elder Liu will assist from the sidelines to execute this mission," Yan Ruifeng said to the two elders. "I'll have to trouble the two of you."

"It's all for the sect; it's our duty," Wang Quan said.

"I'll go mobilize the men right now," Zheng Chengze stated.

Immediately afterward, he stood up and began contacting people.

Zhang Ji saw it clearly: Yan Ruifeng was laying the foundation for Li Long.

As long as this mission was successfully completed, Li Long would secure a massive achievement under his belt, making his subsequent takeover of the Five-Forms Sect's affairs effortless.

Furthermore, this mission allowed him to make advance contact with the sect's armed forces.

In any faction, being able to wield armed force meant truly grasping the core of power.