In just two days, more than ten thousand martial artists had descended upon Sunrise Peak, turning the entire mountain into utter chaos.
Some of them even used Sunrise Peak as a battlefield to settle old grudges. After two days, over a hundred buildings had been wrecked, and more than two hundred underlings had been injured by stray attacks.
"Chief, we can't keep letting this go on. If we do, Sunrise Peak will be flipped upside down by these damned lunatics."
Old Stick sought out Shawn Steele, his face drawn with worry. As the stronghold’s treasurer, he was responsible for the finances: repairing smashed houses and treating wounded men both cost money—just those two things had already burned through several hundred taels of silver in the past two days.
On top of that, these martial artists had no sense of decency—they relieved themselves wherever they pleased, leaving the entire Sunrise Peak reeking to high heaven.
Hearing Old Stick’s complaints, Shawn thought for a moment and said, "Send someone to tell those bastards—my words exactly: If you’ve come to attend my wedding banquet, you must bring a gift worth at least one hundred taels of silver. Anyone who doesn’t, has one hour to get off Sunrise Peak, or they’ll be killed without mercy.
Second, no private fighting is allowed on Sunrise Peak. If you really can’t hold back and want to brawl, each person must first pay a thousand taels as a 'damage deposit.' Anyone who fights without paying will also be killed without mercy.
Third, send people to dig dozens of public latrines. Everyone must use the latrines for their business—anyone caught relieving themselves elsewhere will be fined a hundred taels the first time, and killed the second. Oh, and the latrines will charge a fee: one tael per use.
Also, spread my orders to all the underlings: stop training and start patrolling. Anyone who catches a violator should report immediately to the Enforcement Team, which will be led by Eve Autumn."
Old Stick was efficient as ever. He quickly spread Shawn’s exact words to the martial artists, set up hundreds of gift collection points, and organized patrols to catch anyone relieving themselves in random places.
Even though Shawn’s reputation as the Number One Bandit Under Heaven was now thunderous, these three regulations still caused an uproar among the ten thousand martial artists—complaints erupted everywhere:
Martial Artist A: "Damn, forcing everyone to give gifts is shameless, and it has to be at least a hundred taels? Has the Number One Bandit totally lost his mind over money?"
Martial Artist B: "Seriously, even going to the bathroom costs a tael—are those toilets made of gold or something?"
Martial Artist C: "Screw it, I’m not giving a gift and I’m not using the public latrine. I don’t believe he’d really dare to kill anyone!"
Martial Artist D: "Don’t pay him any mind. There’s ten thousand of us—no matter how crazy the Number One Bandit is, he wouldn’t dare go after all of us, right?"
Complaints filled the air, but the stronghold side watched coldly. Eve Autumn, now Enforcement Team Captain, brought out her newly formed squad—not many, just nine members, but every one of them was Innate-level.
The nine included Lone-Blade Gideon, Valerie Loneblade, Gavin Loneblade, and the six former chiefs of Blue Dragon Stronghold.
All nine of them had just recently broken through to the Innate realm.
Time passed, but not a single martial artist came forward with gifts. Instead, the complaints only grew louder, with some even shouting for Shawn to come out and explain himself.
At first, only a few dozen people were yelling for an explanation, but soon the number grew to hundreds, then thousands.
Of course, there were also clever people who chose to stand aside and watch coldly.
The crowd’s mood grew more and more agitated, and it looked like these martial artists were about to storm the stronghold.
Suddenly, a martial artist dressed as a beggar stepped out, dropped his pants in front of the crowd, and whipped out his ugly little thing, letting out a thin stream of urine. He even shouted brazenly: “Old Jiao Hua is peeing right here in public! What can the Number One Bandit Under Heaven do to me?”
“Heh heh, I’ll take a leak too!”
A burly man walked out and also started peeing right in front of everyone.
Right now, the reputation of the Number One Bandit Under Heaven was just too dazzling. If you could provoke him and survive, your name would instantly skyrocket in the jianghu.
Afterwards, you’d have bragging rights for life.
With someone taking the lead, more and more martial artists began stepping forward to pee.
Three, four, ten, twenty...
In the end, a total of one hundred and twenty-three people peed in public right at the stronghold’s main gate.
“Anyone else?”
Eve Autumn stepped forward, her eyes cold as she looked at this shameless crowd of martial artists. Now that she was captain of the Enforcement Team, she remembered Shawn Steele’s command: anyone looking for death could be killed without hesitation—even if it meant tearing open the sky, he’d have her back.
Suddenly, the hundred and twenty-three offenders started feeling uneasy.
Originally, the martial artists who wanted to step forward and provoke the Number One Bandit Under Heaven had all puffed up with bravado, but now, they decided to wait and see how the stronghold would respond.
In the next moment, Eve Autumn’s eyes flashed with disgust as she swept her gaze over the hundred and twenty-three offenders: “The Big Chief has given orders—anyone who urinates wherever they please will be fined one hundred taels. But since you all knowingly broke the rules, your punishment is heavier: each of you must pay a fine of five hundred taels of silver. If you don’t pay within half an incense stick’s time, you’ll be killed without mercy!”
Five hundred taels of silver was no small sum, and the hundred and twenty-three martial artists were instantly dumbfounded.
The first offender, Old Jiao Hua, stared provocatively at Eve Autumn: “The Number One Bandit Under Heaven is crazy for money! I don’t have any silver, but I do have a rotten life. If you’ve got the guts, come and take it!”
“Are you sure you won’t pay?” Eve Autumn’s gaze grew even colder.
Old Jiao Hua arrogantly lifted his chin and said, “I said I won’t pay, so I won’t!”
“Since that’s the case, go die!”