Qiu Jingwu’s expression immediately darkened.

’To think they’d be this prepared,’ he thought, ’even having this kind of fallback planned!’

"You’ve got guts!" Qiu Jingwu sneered. "Do you really think a threat like that will work on us? If this County Town is gone, there are others. We’ll just find a new one."

Li Lu scoffed. "Other County Towns are already occupied by other families. Where will you go? A village? A town? We’re all practical men here; don’t think we don’t know the Royal Family’s rules. Cut the bullshit. Leave this place, and we’ll stay out of each other’s way! Otherwise, not only will you lose the County Town, but we’ll take a dozen or so of you down with us."

As he spoke, the men behind Li Lu gripped their sabers, their eyes filled with fury!

At that, a young man from the Xu Family came up behind Qiu Jingwu and said in a low voice:

"Captain Qiu, let’s just get into the city first and talk later. If there are any losses, we can’t afford to bear the responsibility."

The thirty of them came from six different families, their purpose to first scout out the situation.

If they were the reason the County Town went up in flames, they would be finished, too.

Therefore, in a situation like this, even if Captain Qiu wanted to make a move, the members of the other families would never agree.

Who would risk their own family’s interests to start a war? As if the six families were truly united.

Qiu Jingwu stared at Li Lu, the killing intent in his eyes receding. His face remained grim as he said, "Courting death!"

With that, he turned and mounted his horse. But as he glanced at the vast stretches of farmland, he let out a derisive snort and led his team away at a swift pace.

On the road, he said to his men, "Iron Bull, go back and report. Tell the people from the various families to clean them up on their way through. We will take over the County Town. We’ll deal with any suspicious areas quickly."

"Yes, Captain!"

One of the team members acknowledged the order and immediately departed. As long as a direct confrontation didn’t lead to the destruction of the County Town, everything else was manageable.

Besides, the families of the Lower Three Grades like theirs could not possibly ignore the profits brought by at least five hundred mu of farmland!

Li Lu watched the departing group with a grim expression.

He knew full well that his threat was mostly useless. Once they entered the County Town, his so-called leverage would lose most of its power.

"Gang Leader, what do we do now?" Li Xian asked, his face etched with worry.

They had anticipated conflict when the Foreign Race arrived, but they never imagined the killing intent would be this intense from the very first meeting!

This meant there was no possibility of de-escalation!

According to Cheng Zongyang, the 900 mu of Wilderness Rice farmland, cultivated with humus and plant ash soil, would yield about 1,500 jin per mu once harvested.

That was roughly 1.35 million jin of grain, plus the profits from 100 mu of medicinal fields. The benefits were immense!

This meant they were about to face annihilation at their opponents’ hands!

In contrast, their group consisted of Ninth Grade Martial Artists who had only recently reached Entry Grade. They had raw Power but lacked any real Martial Arts techniques. If a fight broke out, those thirty men alone would be enough to wipe them all out!

To say nothing of facing the forces of six families!

Only now did Li Lu realize he had overestimated his so-called gang!

"Even Lord Cheng probably can’t solve a crisis like this, can he?" Zhao the Seventh muttered, feeling uneasy.

Just then, Li Lu suddenly said, "Brother Cheng promised to give half of the harvest from this farmland to the common people. Send someone into the town to spread the word that outside forces want to seize the farmland and cut off everyone’s livelihood. Let’s see how the common folk react!"

Hearing this, Chen Eryun immediately asked, "Will the common people really act? It’s true they get half, but once it’s divided among every household, each family will probably only get fifty or sixty jin. Will they really stick their necks out for a few dozen jin of grain?"

"Gang Leader!"

Just then, a man came running from the woods to the south, shouting breathlessly. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

When he got closer, he caught his breath and quickly reported:

"Of the group that came, one of them turned back. The rest are heading for the County Town."