164: Patrol Guards

He set two initial goals for Xia Zhijie. The first was to build a completely clean teahouse, free of any prying eyes, within half a month.

Jiang Hanwen provided the initial capital for this.

The location was right across the street.

Xia Zhijie only needed to manage the relationships of every subordinate, and with his talent for seeing through people's hearts, it would be very easy.

The second goal would be more difficult. Within one month, he wanted Xia Zhijie to be able to provide a timely summary of the prices of common daily necessities for the common people every night.

For example, how much silver a unit of rice cost today, how many raw soybeans one copper coin could buy yesterday, how much a foot of gray cloth cost the day before yesterday, and so on.

This second step involved the initial stage of intelligence—collection.

Only by first collecting could there be subsequent verification, value assessment, storage, and sale, etc.

Jiang Hanwen drank his tea, watching clearly.

A quarter of an hour later, Xia Zhijie returned, but he did not enter the shop; instead, he continued to wait nearby.

The young man followed four groups of customers—three familiar, one new—spending over an hour understanding, then whispered a few words to a middle-aged man before finally walking into the shop.

Less than a hundred breaths passed.

"Bang!"

A huge explosion sounded, wood splinters flew, and Dong Kui stood on the ground, gun in hand, roaring loudly:

"You little punk, you think you can rob my pharmacy? You've got some nerve, eaten a bear's heart and leopard's guts. Is there no law anymore!"

Xia Zhijie also walked out of the house, gun in hand, breathing heavily.

"No need for more words, let our weapons do the talking!"

"Alright, I'm afraid of you!"

Clang, clang, clang!

The two fought in the street, sparks flying from their friction, causing the surrounding crowd to cheer. In less than ten breaths, a large circle of onlookers had gathered.

"This kid's spear technique isn't good. If it weren't for his strength, he'd have been down already."

"What do you know? Fists fear the young, staffs fear the old. This kid won't last long."

...

Jiang Hanwen ordered a plate of peanuts and watched the two fighting downstairs with great interest.

Everything is difficult at the beginning. Without his intervention, he wanted to see if Xia Zhijie could take back the pharmacy.

He hoped this whetstone would be useful.

After twenty moves, Xia Zhijie was sent flying by Dong Kui's gun, rolling along the paving stones to the feet of the onlookers.

"Ooh!"

The crowd jeered, retreating frantically.

Dong Kui plunged his gun into the ground, hands on his hips, grinning smugly:

"Kid, I advise you to go back where you came from, get lost!"

"This is my boss's pharmacy, you're the one who should get lost!" Xia Zhijie picked up his gun and charged again.

On the tenth move, Xia Zhijie was too slow to defend, and Dong Kui executed a 'return horse spear' move.

The silvery spear tip narrowly grazed past Xia Zhijie's neck, a hair's breadth from danger.

Jiang Hanwen narrowed his eyes, twirling a palm-sized solid snowball on his fingertip. This Dong Kui had just made a killing move; he truly wanted to kill Xia Zhijie and usurp his position!

"Again!" Dong Kui shouted, gripping his silver spear tightly with both hands.

The two fought again. This time, Xia Zhijie faced several close calls, the spear tip tearing through the armpit of his clothes, revealing his fair skin.

As he watched, a vicious 'return horse spear' move pierced the air, aiming for Xia Zhijie's chest.

No sooner said than done.

Xia Zhijie advanced instead of retreating, taking advantage of the gap as the long spear thrust forward, rushing towards death.

His spear shaft, his waist, and Dong Kui's spear formed a triangle, perfectly locking together.

Using his ribs as a pivot, Xia Zhijie violently swung his spear shaft, forcefully snatching Dong Kui's spear, and his body spun half a circle like a top.

"Cha!"

He returned a beautiful 'return horse spear' to Dong Kui, but Dong Kui was not as lucky as Xia Zhijie.

The spear tip accurately pierced Dong Kui's throat, coming out from his back.

"Murder!"

Someone shouted, and the onlookers on the street quickly retreated, fearing that Xia Zhijie would target them.

Xia Zhijie panted heavily, wiped his brow, and retracted his spear with a 'cha' sound, then turned and went back into the shop to tidy up.

As for the corpse on the ground, he showed no intention of dealing with it.

Approximately two hundred breaths later.

"Da da da ~"

Intense hoofbeats sounded, and five Xunwu Guard, clad in black robes and scale armor, with hundred-refined blades at their waists, arrived at the corpse.

"What's going on!" the leader shouted loudly, looking at the messy pharmacy.

"Sir, the person inside killed someone!"

"That's right, so many of us saw it."

The five dismounted from their scaled horses and walked together to the pharmacy entrance.

"Don't you know that private armed combat is forbidden in City Name City?

Will you come out yourself or shall we help you!"

"Sir, I'm here."

Xia Zhijie unhurriedly put the Spiritual Plants from inside the house into his storage ring, then slowly walked out of the shop.

The five exchanged glances. Killing someone and taking the stolen goods right in front of them—how little regard did he have for them?

"Let's go, you'll be obedient once you're at the City Lord's Mansion." With that, the leader's large hand reached out to grab Xia Zhijie, while the other four gripped their sword hilts, ready to act at any moment.

Xia Zhijie allowed the leader to grab his shoulder, saying with a surprised expression:

"Sir, you've got the wrong person. You should be arresting him!"

The crowd followed the direction of Xia Zhijie's finger, which clearly pointed to the "corpse" on the ground.

"What, you kill someone and expect us to deal with the corpse for you? Who do you think you are!"