Background extra Yima Jin beamed, his smile blooming like a chrysanthemum: "Morning, Hawk Boss!"
—"Oh."
Gynecology ace Yima Xie grinned obsequiously, his smile radiant as a sunflower: "Hello, Hawk Boss!"
—"Mm."
Bit-part actor Yima Da gazed up in awe, his smile blooming like a plum blossom: "Hawk..."
—"Is this never-ending? Scram, scram, all of you! Go do something useful! If you don’t get the Beauty Rankings done in three days, I’ll break your legs!"
The extras scattered like startled birds, but two named characters, Stayfree (An'erle) and Barry Sherman (Hu Shubao), sidled up with awkward grins: "Hawk Boss..."
"You two trying this act too? Believe it or not, I’ll really start swinging! Watching a bunch of drooling grown men crowd around is nightmare fuel, and Jill Young wasn’t in the mood to be nice."
"No, uh, Hawk Boss, last night up on Mount Qingcheng, we... didn’t fight alongside you. We’re honestly ashamed!" The two clutched their chests and stomped their feet, looking full of regret.
But Jill Young wasn’t buying it: "Ashamed, my foot! Cut to the chase—what do you want?"
"Uh..." Busted! Stayfree and Barry Sherman exchanged a look, dropped the guilt act, and grinned sheepishly: "So, Hawk Boss, you burned down Serenity Abbey last night—so badass! But about that Triple Peak Harvest Technique, did you also... Well, I know it sounds shameless, but you said it yourself: united front, open hearts, share and grow together, right? So maybe you could..."
"Alright, alright, saw this coming a mile away." Jill Young whipped out a little booklet and waved it around: "This here is the Triple Peak Harvest Technique. Who wants it?"
"Me!" "Me, me!" In an instant, every rogue who’d been minding their own business materialized in front of Jill Young, eyes gleaming, mouths watering, panting like wolves.
Huh? They looked just like a pack of wild dogs fighting over scraps. So—
"Over here, over here." Jill Young waved the booklet to the left, and the rogues all shuffled left in perfect sync.
"Now look here." She waved it to the right, and the rogues all shuffled right just as neatly.
So obedient? Alright then—"Go fetch!" With a flick of her wrist, Jill Young sent the booklet spinning like a frisbee. Instantly, the rogues charged after it like a pack of dogs chasing a disc, howling and scrambling. The booklet hit the ground, and dozens of burly men dove for it, piling up like a football scrum, rolling and wrestling in a cloud of dust like something out of a comic book.
"Whew, finally some peace." Jill Young let out a sigh and rubbed her temples, clearly annoyed.
As much as she didn’t want to remember it, Jill Young had memorized every detail of the Triple Peak Harvest Technique. The booklet was legit—well, the censored, watered-down, family-friendly version. She chopped out ninety percent, leaving just the last harmless tenth, all for the sake of reputation. After Jade Hawk Johnson’s legendary torching of Serenity Abbey, Stayfree (An'erle) and Barry Sherman (Hu Shubao) weren’t expecting the full version—just getting the safe-for-work edition had them over the moon.
Speaking of reputation, burning down Serenity Abbey yesterday really put her on the map. Just goes to show—sometimes raising hell pays off. 'Murder and arson earn you a golden belt; even ghosts and gods fear the wicked.' A bad name can morph into a strange sort of respect. So when Jade Hawk Johnson showed up again, everyone called her 'Hawk Boss.'
“With someone as ruthless as Hawk Johnson leading the charge, our United Front is bound to flourish!” “Hawk Johnson is hands-down the inaugural ‘King of the Naughty Life’—if anyone disagrees, they can take it up with my axe!” “Hawk’s probably the Number One Rascal in the whole country by now.” Comments like these had become the mainstream ideology among the United Front. As for how this mindset fermented, and how Stayfree and Barry Sherman explained the whole saga to the rogues, Jill Young couldn’t care less and had zero interest in investigating.
Being crowned the uncrowned king of rogues was good enough for her—everything else was just background noise. As for the original instigator, Yan Jie Fu, he’d been thoroughly forgotten, swept away like yesterday’s meme. Like some internet influencer who’s better off washed up and moving on! [Translator’s Note: The phrase '某【哔】独秀' refers to a censored online celebrity; adapted here as a generic influencer for American readers.]
Last night’s operation? Total chaos—but it got the job done. Thanks to the raid, the worst offenders had already been ‘battle-damaged.’ When the rogues regrouped in Chengdu, they found the most obnoxious jerks had mysteriously vanished, instantly raising the team’s moral standards—if you could even say a gang of rogues has any standards!
So, the United Front was officially established. Its nature gave it a kind of unstoppable vitality: starting in Chengdu, with the most proactive ‘flower thieves’ as seeds, it would sweep the world at lightning speed, crossing national borders. This organization would have a wickedly efficient intelligence network and internal sharing system. Once they set up some house rules, it’d be running like a well-oiled machine in no time.
Soon enough, it’d become a major source of intel. Even sleazy information can be put to good use. For example, first gather all the dirt on every rogue, then send out the No One Under Heaven squad to precisely target and wipe out any scumbags that Jill Young found annoying—now that’s what I call top-tier double-crossing! Hahaha! [Translator’s Note: ‘吃里扒外’ means betraying your own group for personal gain, rendered here as ‘double-crossing.’]
None of this bothered Jill Young. What really annoyed her was that the old Daoist had disappeared without a trace—dead or alive, nobody knew. Some stealth expert had whisked him away, leaving not even a whiff behind.
When Jill asked around, she learned that Mount Qingcheng was packed with Daoist temples, all basically part of the southern Daoist branch. In this era—before the Qingcheng Sword Sect started snatching secret manuals and putting on Sichuan opera face-changing shows—these temples ruled the whole mountain. The public image of Qingxu Temple seemed pretty solid: detached from fame and fortune, masters above the mundane, not chasing after money. Locals and devotees held them in high regard.
Especially the abbot of Qingxu Temple, the old Daoist known as Master Hundredfold, was famous for his top-tier looks—earning him more honorary titles like ‘Living Immortal’ than most government officials get medals. So, after Jade Hawk Johnson torched the place, he became a legend in the Daoist circles. His reputation as a villain spread far and wide. If Hawk ever showed his face in public, you could bet some old Daoist would come looking for trouble.
“Damn it, didn’t expect someone would go corpse-snatching…” Jill Young rested her cheek on her palm, looking thoroughly annoyed. “By the way, where’d that Three Marvels guy run off to? If he’d shown up to finish the job—or at least help keep the scene under control—everything would’ve been sorted!”