Making a Blunder in a Fit of Rage

Gao Yaozu was surrounded by bad friends who loved to carry tales, and it did not take long for him to learn that Zhou Lingri had acquired a "boyfriend," a Gu master from the Second Bureau named Sima. Hearing this news left Gao Yaozu with a deeply unpleasant feeling in his chest. He had always suspected that the talk of the "Flawless Gu" was merely a pretext, and that the Second Bureau had despicably employed a "honeytrap," utilizing him yet unwilling to honor their promises, merely brushing him off with a casual excuse. He longed to overturn the table and teach them a lesson, but the Second Bureau had already firmly established its footing in Beizhi City. Considering the bigger picture and pressured by various forces, his father chose to remain inactive, forcing Gao Yaozu to "swallow his broken teeth mixed with blood" and endure the situation for the time being. Events proved that some people took him for a "pushover" and were pushing their luck step by step, even finding Zhou Lingri a boyfriend to test his reaction. If he continued to swallow his pride, there was no telling how much worse it would get—he might even find a green hat planted firmly on his head.

Gao Yaozu indeed held a "special obsession" with Zhou Lingri; she was his "forbidden captive." Once the new generation of "Gu masters" cultivated by the official authorities completely replaced the original personnel of the Second Bureau, and old-timers like Yang Zongrong, "White Dove," "Shao Jianbo," and "Bandit Mountain Hawk" quietly stepped down from the stage, he would grandly and gloriously welcome Zhou Lingri into his household. That day was no longer far off. Yet, the Second Bureau clearly had no intention of granting him this opportunity. Struggling in their final death throes, they pushed Sima forward to compete with him, aiming to provoke him into making a blunder in a fit of rage.

This was an open move that struck precisely at his "fatal weakness." Gao Yaozu knew his father would never support him. Because of Xue Dong and the "pain-relief Gu," numerous factions were still openly or covertly backing the Second Bureau; the timing was not yet ripe, and his father refused to run the risk of intensifying conflicts by striking prematurely. Within his father's grand chessboard, Zhou Lingri was fundamentally a "useless piece," not worth any special attention.

However, Gao Yaozu could not simply turn a blind eye.

His reach could not extend into the Second Bureau, meaning he could not obtain Sima's personnel file, but the freshman registration forms of Beizhi Foreign Studies University were soon delivered to his hands. Name, gender, date of birth, ethnicity, native place, political affiliation, educational background, marital status, family address, resume, disciplinary records, and family members were all laid out clearly at a glance. Sima had been hauled into the Second Bureau by Yang Zongrong; his background was spotless, his political vetting was clean, and no flaws could be picked out. Nevertheless, there were countless ways to strike a man down, and the most direct method was also the most effective—even a "Gu master" could not withstand a sudden blow to the back of the head.

The person feeding information to Gao Yaozu was his childhood friend Xie Miao. The Xie family's primary ventures were in the commercial sector, and his uncle served as the executive vice president of Four Seas Group, maintaining a fine relationship with Gao Shumu, making the two families barely pass as "family friends." In private, Gao Yaozu instructed Xie Miao to find some people to teach Sima a lesson and give him a hard time, leaving him with half his breath intact, though he also reminded Xie Miao that Sima was no ordinary person—he was an officially commissioned Gu master of the Second Bureau and should not be underestimated.

Xie Miao was more than willing to run private errands for Gao Yaozu. Unvalued within the Xie family, he had to tightly cling to Gao Yaozu's coattails to secure a promising future. Yet running a private errand did not equate to committing dirty work. Striking against a Gu master from the Second Bureau could easily drag him down into the mire if things went awry. Hesitant, he did not immediately give a crisp consent.

Believing that Xie Miao was merely worried about the difficulty of dealing with a Gu master, Gao Yaozu explained that Sima was merely a civilian administrative staff member in the Second Bureau's general office with limited capabilities. According to information from the Gu Insect Research Institute, Sima had practiced boxing for a period, but his combat rating was a mere 15, failing to break through the limits of human physique. Furthermore, Gao Yaozu promised to assign a "Gu master" to support Xie Miao, telling him to put his mind at ease. With a Gu master to deal with another Gu master, Xie Miao regained his confidence and agreed to orchestrate this "special operation," giving Sima a lifelong unforgettable lesson.

Xie Miao had long since passed the age of hot-headed impulses. Before the Gu master arrived, he refrained from alerting the enemy, instead gathering information on Sima from the periphery. Through various detours, he traced his way to Pingxi Boxing Gym, learned about Xiaoshao, and sought him out in private for a brief chat. Xiaoshao had already been "expelled from the sect" and thrown out with his belongings by Jiliang; harboring a bone-deep hatred for Sima, he spilled everything the moment Xie Miao offered a little provocation. Upon returning, Xie Miao investigated the background of "Jiang the Fierce" and only then realized that dealing with Sima was not so simple. In the underground black-market boxing circles, "Jiang the Fierce" was an elite fighter who held the record of seventeen consecutive knockout victories. He raised a "Mountain-Rifting Gu" within his body, which provided an exceptionally noticeable boost to his combat prowess. His punches were both swift and ferocious enough to smash through heavy sandbags, yet unexpectedly, he had stumbled and fallen directly into Sima's hands.

Xie Miao pulled strings to acquire the necessary materials, including a practicing lawyer's certificate, a law firm's attestation, and an official legal aid letter, before heading to Beizhi City Yongxing Prison to visit "Jiang the Fierce." Once a sturdy and robust underground fighter, his Gu insect had been forcibly excavated from his body. Now, he was skin and bones, his head drooping as he yawned continuously, speaking in a feeble voice that made him look at first glance like an "opium ghost." Xie Miao questioned him in detail about the process of his clash with Sima, and in return, promised to pull strings and improve his prison conditions.

According to regulations, prison guards were not permitted to monitor conversations between lawyers and inmates, but the guard reported the matter to the deputy warden, who in turn routed the intelligence through covert channels directly onto Yang Zongrong's desk. Surveillance footage revealed that the lawyer visiting "Jiang the Fierce" was a fake; his true identity was Gao Yaozu's childhood friend Xie Miao. Yang Zongrong and "White Dove" personally traveled to Beizhi City Yongxing Prison to interrogate the imprisoned "Jiang the Fierce," forcing Jiang Lei to repeat word for word what he had previously told Xie Miao. Yang Zongrong was quite satisfied with his attitude, summoning the deputy warden to give instructions to properly look after "Jiang the Fierce" and arrange for "medical parole" after some time. "Jiang the Fierce" expressed endless gratitude, weeping tears of emotion.

Everything was going according to expectation. Unable to swallow this insult, Gao Yaozu had sent Xie Miao to probe "Jiang the Fierce" precisely to plot against Sima. "White Dove" was well aware of Sima's combat capabilities; ordinary men could never even get close to him, and sending eight or ten of them would be entirely futile. The real issue was that Gao Yaozu would likely employ a "Gu master." Currently, official "Gu masters" came from two sources: wild "Gu masters" recruited by Yang Zongrong, and "volunteers" from the Gu Insect Research Institute. Beyond these, there were only the "grass-ghost people" of the dark underworld. "White Dove" surmised that Gao Yaozu would not deploy official personnel, most likely hiring "grass-ghost people" with clean criminal records, and keeping the objective focused on teaching Sima a lesson rather than taking his life.

Having received the warning, Sima felt somewhat resigned. What was bound to happen would eventually arrive, and Beizhi truly lived up to its reputation as the premier metropolis—even fighting over romantic jealousy differed from anywhere else! True to his habit of "estimating the enemy's strength with generous margins" and never shrinking from suspecting opponents with the utmost malice, he made thorough preparations in advance. Anti-slip half-finger gloves, knuckle dusters, a bulletproof vest, steel-toed safety boots, a mouthguard, and large honey pills—every single detail was covered as he waited for the prey to deliver itself to his doorstep. "White Dove's" only instruction to him was that as long as ordinary mortals were not killed, he should let loose and fight freely; if the opponent happened to be a "grass-ghost person," beating them to death carried no consequences, as the Second Bureau would cover his back, and he might even earn a few performance merit points in the process.