Chu Liang looked at Lin Bei.

Lin Bei looked at Chu Liang.

After a while, the atmosphere became awkward. Lin Bei scratched his head and said, “Right, I mainly need to investigate the mysterious case.”

Okay.

Impressed that you still remember.

Chu Liang thought to himself.

Lin Bei continued, “There are indeed many rumors about the haunting of Nanshan Academy. It is said that a girl named Situ Yan committed suicide by drowning in the lake behind the school because she was bullied.”

“Situ Yan…” Chu Liang muttered her name.

“After seven days, the bodies of two more students were found in the lake, and their deaths were extremely gruesome.” Lin Bei said, “Now, it is said that the ghost of Situ Yan has become a vengeful spirit, seeking revenge on her former bullies.”

“If it is a vengeful spirit, then it is not difficult to handle.” Chu Liang nodded, “But why is Li Jue so afraid? Did he also bully Situ Yan before?”

He always felt that the behavior of Li Jue and his son was a bit abnormal.

“Can someone who looks so gloomy bully others?” Lin Bei sneered, “He was probably the one being bullied.”

As they were speaking, they saw Li Jue being cornered by Yan Xiaohu and his two attendants at a nearby wall.

The attendants, who were called bookboys, were actually two big men who were as tall as bears and had muscles bulging from their faces. They looked like hired thugs.

Li Jue did not say much and took out a silver ingot from his pocket, which looked quite heavy. Yan Xiaohu weighed it in his hand and then left with his attendants.

It seemed to confirm Lin Bei’s words.

“Do you want to go help?” Lin Bei wanted to stand up and intervene.

“No need.” Chu Liang shook his head and sat there eating his meal.

“Aren’t you going to do something about it?” Lin Bei said indignantly.

“Judging from how skillfully Li Jue took out the money, he has probably been bullied for more than one day.” Chu Liang said, “If we intervene now, we may expose our relationship with him. Besides…we don’t know much about Yan Xiaohu, so let’s not complicate things.”

“Okay.” Lin Bei turned his head and said, “Don’t mess with me…or else…”

Smack.

Before he could finish his sentence, someone slapped the back of his head, and then several figures surrounded them.

It was Yan Xiaohu and his two attendants.

“You’re new here.” The sturdy youth patted Chu Liang’s shoulder, “It’s your first day, so you don’t understand the rules of Nanshan Academy, right?”

“What rules?” Chu Liang asked.

“To be safe here, you need to pay a monthly fee of five taels of silver. My young master will be responsible for protecting you.” The other muscular man said.

“Five taels of silver?” Lin Bei raised his head, “You might as well just rob us!”

Although they didn’t use gold and silver much in their cultivation, they knew that five taels of silver was enough for an ordinary household to live on for several months, which was not a small amount of money.

Even though the students at Nanshan Academy were all from wealthy families, this was still a blatant extortion.

“Don’t agree?” The other muscular man slapped the back of Lin Bei’s head again.

“I’ll be damned…” Lin Bei was about to get angry.”Hey…” Chu Liang quickly reached out and steadied him, then smiled and took out a silver ingot of ten taels, handing it to Yan Xiaohu. “Since it’s the rule, it should be followed. I’ll pay for two months first, and I hope Brother Xiaohu will take care of me in the future.”

“Oh, you’re smart.” Yan Xiaohu grinned, taking the silver ingot and saying warmly, “Don’t worry, from now on, you’re my brother at the South Mountain Academy. Just mention my name, Yan Xiaohu, and you’ll be able to walk sideways.”

“You’re so domineering, Brother Xiaohu.” Chu Liang complimented him and asked, “I wonder if Brother Xiaohu can still protect me in Yanjiao City outside of the South Mountain Academy?”

“Don’t worry about that…” The burly man behind him continued, “My young master is the young master of the Black Tiger Gang. You can go and inquire, our Black Tiger Gang is a branch of the Whale Gang, you know? If you make friends with my young master, you can dominate the entire Yanjiao City.”

“So you’re the young master of the Black Tiger Gang. I’m sorry for my disrespect.” Chu Liang acted as if he had heard of him before.

With a few words, Chu Liang successfully sent Yan Xiaohu away in a happy mood.

After they left, Lin Bei touched the back of his head and said gloomily, “Although these people have martial arts skills, they are at most equivalent to the Body Tempering Realm. I could have easily taken care of them. Why didn’t you let me do it?”

“The situation is unclear, don’t provoke trouble. The Black Tiger Gang seems to be a local power, and if we really provoke the Whale Gang, the mission will be difficult to complete.” Chu Liang advised him, “Let’s find out the details first before taking action.”

“Okay, we haven’t received the reward for this mission yet, and we’ve lost ten taels of silver…” Lin Bei still felt a little regretful.

“Just report it to Lord Li when we get back.” Chu Liang chuckled.

The Whale Gang, also known as the Four Seas Whale Gang, was one of the Ten Realms, and was the only force among the Nine Heavens and Ten Realms that was a gang rather than a sect, but could be ranked alongside a group of immortal sects. Its strength was evident.

Its members were spread all over the world, numbering in the tens of thousands, and it dominated many businesses such as shipping and docks, and could be described as a behemoth.

If the Black Tiger Gang really had a relationship with the Whale Gang, it was no wonder that Yan Xiaohu was so arrogant.

However…

After returning to the classroom, Chu Liang still went over and asked Li Jue, “Are you okay? Do you need our help with Yan Xiaohu?”

“No, I’m used to it, and… he won’t live long anyway.” Li Jue shook his head lightly and whispered, “It’s nothing.”

Chu Liang was about to turn around when he suddenly heard him add a sentence, which made him feel a little suspicious. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing…” Li Jue quickly shook his head and fell silent.

But Chu Liang was even more puzzled.

The afternoon passed without incident.

When it was time to leave school, the two followed Li Jue from a distance, heading down the mountain towards Yanjiao City.

Lin Bei reported the information he had gathered to Chu Liang. “The Black Tiger Gang is said to be a branch of the Whale Gang, but it’s just a name. I think they’re just trying to get some connections, and I’ve never seen the Whale Gang involved in their affairs.”

“In Yanjiao City, they are indeed a big gang, with dozens of martial arts practitioners, but most of them are in the first realm. There are a few hall masters in the second realm, and only the gang leader is a third realm martial artist.”

Chu Liang nodded lightly.

In a place like Yanjiao City, such power was indeed enough to act recklessly.After all, the power of a faction and hired thugs were not the same. Lord Li could spend a lot of money to hire some cultivators in the Divine Intent Realm to sit in, but he couldn’t afford to keep them at home for a long time. Besides, the disciples of Shu Mountain were certainly righteous and usually only dealt with monsters and demons, so they couldn’t help him with anything else.

If a faction could keep dozens of martial cultivators who could be pointed and beaten, and had experts in the Third Realm sitting in for a long time, it was indeed not weak.

But that was all.

After realizing this, he looked around and quickly spotted Yan Xiaohu who had just left the academy.

“Brother Xiaohu.” Chu Liang greeted him with Lin Bei and a smile.

“What’s up, Little Chu?” Yan Xiaohu now thought that Chu Liang was a smart person and appreciated him as someone who could be taken as a little brother.

“You asked me to inquire about the Black Tiger Gang earlier, right? I went to inquire.” Chu Liang smiled.

“Hmm? So what are you going to do now?” Yan Xiaohu felt that he was smiling a little strangely.

Chu Liang said, “So now I’m going to get the money back.”