In fact, the gang members had strong objections to this gang name. Leaving aside whether it sounded good or not, picking up a name belonging to a gang that had met such a miserable end was quite something.
However, the newly established leader insisted on demonstrating his authority on this matter, making it difficult for everyone to show too much temper.
There was no other way. People grouping together needed a pillar, otherwise the house could not stand, and it would collapse with a single gust of wind.
With the intention of coming to Tianji Mountain to seek wealth, why be so particular? It was just a name. One by one, they could only hold their noses and accept it, pretending they could not smell the stench.
Thus, the matter of the gang name was settled. Consequently, there was no need to change the gang uniforms. They had to continue wearing their Scorpion Gang clothes, which instantly saved a lot of trouble. Everyone wondered if this counted as the leader being wise.
However, they all realised that they had gone in a circle and returned to the starting point. Previously, they had chattered endlessly about the name and the gang emblem, which was all nonsense, wasting their enthusiasm. What kind of situation was this?
Mu Aotie, who had searched the bodies, now had bulging clothes. He organised a bundle and slung it over his back.
He walked up to Yu Qing and asked, “What should we do with the pile of weapons?”
Throwing away one or two items was fine, but it would be a pity to discard dozens of weapons.
Fan Jiu suggested from the side, “We can take them to Kuilei City to dispose of them. The quality of Xuan grade cultivator weapons should not be too bad, and they should fetch some money. In this damn place, even a single piece of clothing costs over ten thousand taels.”
He did not understand the meaning behind Mu Aotie’s words, but Yu Qing understood immediately. It was inconvenient to carry dozens of weapons themselves, and asking others to help carry them would make it inappropriate not to share the money later. However, he had his own way of handling it and gave a reminder.
“Look around nearby later and see if any mountain porters are willing to buy them.”
Mu Aotie immediately understood he was referring to Nan Zhu and the others, and nodded at once. “Good.”
After the bodies were thoroughly searched, Yu Qing finally had the mind to lead a group of people into the temple to see what was going on.
Gong Ziting was also dragged in by the group.
Inside the temple, the light was dim. Beams of moonlight penetrated through the breaches, illuminating the mottled walls and making the dilapidated statues appear hazy. The fluorescent light they held in their hands was so tiny in this space. In the unseen realm, it seemed as if pairs of deep, giant pupils were staring at them from the darkness.
Despite having endured thousands of years, those entering for the first time were still awed by the remaining grandeur inside, feeling an inexplicable pressure.
The interior was much larger than the exposed section outside. What was visible was merely the tip of the iceberg.
“Scout around.”
After Yu Qing gave the order, the crowd holding illuminating objects scattered in different directions like points of light. For internal communication within Xiaoshuoxia only, strictly prohibited from external distribution.
After a good while, the regrouped crowd indicated that they had not found anything abnormal. Only then did they gather together again to examine the carved patterns on the walls, hoping to quickly find clues about the Qilin Ginseng.
The result was not as wonderful as they had imagined. There were no shortcuts to be found. Although most of the excavated carved patterns were related to the Qilin, they still could not make out any clear meaning. The work done by the Flying Eagle Gang was something they still had to continue.
Although there were fewer hands, the necessary arrangements were still made, and they continued to dig using the tools abandoned by the Flying Eagle Gang.
Taking this opportunity, Yu Qing used his authority as the leader to pull Mu Aotie out of the working group. The two of them huddled in a corner and began to organise the banknotes.
Mu Aotie was not clear on exactly how much money had been scavenged, as it had not been appropriate to count it in front of everyone earlier.
After sorting out the messy pile, the total amount was over ten million taels. The largest sum came from An Tianyin, the Right Protector of the Flying Eagle Gang. This was not all the wealth of the deceased, as they had not kept all their cash on their persons.
Judging from the bank deposit receipts found on the deceased, the money these people had in the bank was at least ten times the amount of cash.
However, they could not get their hands on that wealth. Whether they could withdraw it from the bank was another matter, but they did not dare to withdraw other people’s money from the bank.
It was unknown whether these deceased had families, or if they had left a method for their families to withdraw the money. If not, the bank would simply benefit from it.
Yu Qing had wanted to say that ventures without capital made money faster, but now he could only sigh. “Those few Supremes still make money the fastest.”
There was no other way. The banks that operated throughout the world were jointly controlled by a few of the strongest individuals.
Mu Aotie took down the bundle on his back, untied it, and showed it to him, revealing a pile of bottles and jars. These were various miraculous pills and medicines, all items the deceased had prepared for saving themselves while alive.
Yu Qing said, “Give them all to Old Seven and let him cash them in.”
Mu Aotie patted the stack of sorted banknotes nearby and asked, “Should we share this with Old Seven too?”
Yu Qing asked, “He did not risk his life. We split it half and half. Do you have an objection? Then you can give him a part of your half.”
“No.” Mu Aotie was crisp and decisive, directly counting out half and stuffing it into his bosom.
Yu Qing calmly put away the other half of the banknotes and instructed, “We cannot let Old Seven make the trip for nothing. These miraculous pills and medicines, along with those weapons, you can give to him later to handle. We will split the money earned equally among us.”
“Mm.” Mu Aotie nodded in agreement and packed the bundle up again.
Yu Qing reminded him, “Remember, do not let Old Seven know that I have become the leader.”
Mu Aotie was stunned, looked up and stared at him, then suddenly realised, nodding to show he understood.
After the two muttered a few words, they went together to bring Gong Ziting over for a body search. As a result, they found nothing. Gong Ziting said that the valuables on his person had long been searched and taken by Mo Li and Gao Changtai, and the two of them had divided it, amounting to several million taels.
The two of them felt a toothache hearing this. However, this was his income before the gang was established, so Yu Qing could not very well ask him to spit it out.
After all, they had swallowed much more. Arguing about it would not be worth the loss, so they could only bear the pain and let it go.
However, Gong Ziting informed them that he still had twenty million deposited in the bank and was willing to go to Kuilei City to withdraw it and offer it to them.
Yu Qing thanked him for his kind intentions, but they did not dare to take this money. For internal communication within Xiaoshuoxia only, strictly prohibited from external distribution.
Firstly, they did not dare to let Gong Ziting himself go to the bank to withdraw the money. Once he had the protection of the bank, Gong Ziting would be out of their control.
Still wanting the money? That was more like a dream.
Secondly, they did not dare to attempt a fraudulent withdrawal. Stealing other people’s money from the bank could get one killed. Once the account password was incorrect, they would immediately be detained by the bank. If they could not clearly explain the origin of the deposit receipt, they would not be able to escape. Could they explain this? Some things could be done but not spoken of. Who knew if Gong Ziting would give a fake password out of revenge?
The matter of withdrawing money was not mentioned again. Yu Qing chatted with Gong Ziting about the situation of the Flying Eagle Gang. He was quite interested in Duan Yunyou, who knew the secret of the Qilin Ginseng clues. After all, Mo Li was right. They were probably not going to give up the clues here.
They also talked about the situation of the original Scorpion Gang and inquired about the various details of Tianji Mountain, which was much more convenient than begging people for information in Kuilei City before.
Having received Yu Qing’s instructions, Mu Aotie packed up his things and went to find Nan Zhu and the others.
On the way, he discovered some more bodies of Scorpion Gang members. He went to search them again, only to find that they had already been thoroughly searched by someone else.
He guessed it was probably done by the perpetrators from the Flying Eagle Gang.
He had to give up and continued on his way to find people. Fortunately, they were not hard to find, and he met them on the way back along the original route.
Nan Zhu, who had been sitting restlessly outside the shop, saw him carrying a pile of things and immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He hurriedly asked, “Have you seen Baili Xin?”
Mu Aotie dropped the pile of things, looked inside the shop, and said in surprise, “Is she not with you?”
Nan Zhu said, “She ran off to watch you guys. By the way, what happened? Why was there the sound of fighting with people coming and going? I hope nothing happened to her.”
His tone revealed anxiety.
Fortunately, just as he finished speaking, Baili Xin’s figure flashed into view, appearing beside the two of them. She had only returned after noticing Mu Aotie heading this way.
Baili Xin also pressed, “What happened?”
“We were set up.” Mu Aotie roughly explained the experience of being deceived by the Scorpion Gang. However, regarding the person who led everyone to turn defeat into victory, he only used the three words “new leader” and did not say it was Yu Qing.
After hearing this, Nan Zhu sighed and shook his head. “It seems Tianji Mountain is indeed a dangerous place. Fortunately, that new leader has considerable strength.”
“By the way, what is the story with this pile of things?” His gaze fixed on the pile of items on the ground.
Mu Aotie said, “We turned defeat into victory, and everyone shared the benefits from the deceased. We did not take the money, but instead took some of the deceased’s weapons and the bottles and jars on them.”
Nan Zhu widened his eyes. “You did not want the money, why want these things?”
Mu Aotie replied, “We would not get much money from the split. As long as you are not afraid of hard work, these burdens are actually worth much more. Is your shop not lacking money to restock? Old Fifteen considered this, so he did not take the money, only the items. After the items are sold for money, we will split it equally.”
“Is that so?” Nan Zhu stroked his chin, a cunning look flashing in his eyes, and nodded while muttering, “That will work.”
Mu Aotie instructed, “Old Fifteen said that even biological brothers must keep clear accounts. He wants you to keep the accounts clear to avoid disputes when splitting the money.”
Nan Zhu squatted down to count the items. “Do not worry, the accounts will definitely be clear and explicit. It is just that there are too few items. Remember to get more items in the future when there is a chance. You can think of more ways as insiders in the Scorpion Gang.”
“Let them bring whatever they have to me. Anyway, a group of newcomers does not really understand the market here for the time being.”
Seeing that he believed it, Mu Aotie breathed a slight sigh of relief. The reason for not letting Old Seven know that Old Fifteen was the new leader of the Scorpion Gang was because once it was made clear, Old Seven would definitely not believe that they only took items and no money.
In any case, after a round of instructions and reminders, Mu Aotie went back.
Nan Zhu picked up a sword and plucked it, making a ‘dang dang’ sound. He said to Baili Xin beside him with a chuckle, “This thing is not cheap in Kuilei City. Although we cannot sell it at the price of new goods in Kuilei City, selling it as second hand goods for twenty thousand taels each is still no problem.”
“This is all money.”
He sheathed the sword and organised the pile of things inside the shop, arranging them neatly. When he came out again, he finally hung a sale sign outside the shop, advertising the sale of various weapons and various miraculous pills and medicines.
Regardless of whether they had a complete stock, he wrote everything on the sign first.
Regardless of whether he had the money or not, the sign for purchasing various items was still there, and the sign with a clear price of one million taels for purchasing a Three Legged Crow was also still there.
Returning to the temple, Mu Aotie bumped into Fan Jiu, who was carrying things out. The latter asked in surprise, “What about your things?”
“I happened to meet a mountain porter on the way and sold them off cheaply.”
Mu Aotie had no intention of saying more. He threw out a casual remark and left, finding Yu Qing to report back.
Thus, Yu Qing turned around and pulled Fan Jiu aside. “Zhang Sui just said that he found a mountain porter purchasing ‘Three Legged Crows’ at a high price. Pass this on to the gang. If anyone finds a ‘Three Legged Crow’, they must report it in time so we can figure out a way to capture it.”
Fan Jiu did not suspect anything and nodded. “I will let everyone know right away.”
However, Yu Qing raised his hand to signal him not to rush off. “There is one more thing to pass on as well. Internally, I am the leader.”
“Externally, you, Fan Jiu, are the nominal leader. Tell everyone that no matter who asks from the outside, they must say that you, Fan Jiu, are the leader.”
Fan Jiu let out an ‘ah’. “Leader, is this appropriate?”
“It is appropriate. There is nothing inappropriate about it. It is very appropriate.” “Leader, why is this?”
Yu Qing could not tell him it was to prevent Nan Zhu from discovering that they had secretly divided the money behind his back. Instead, he said earnestly, “For the convenience of future actions, we must keep an extra backup plan. Rest assured, when it is time to charge at the front, I will definitely be at the front.”
“But…” “Do not give me all this hesitation. Enough, it is settled.”