The Almighty Dominance novel Chapter 642

One month had passed since the first waves of bandits poured into Qingshui like flies to rotting meat, and the city had changed into something no one in the Jianghu could have imagined.

Every street gleamed like an open vault. Tables sagged under bolts of finest silk, chests of gold coins left carelessly unlocked, jade carvings tossed out like yesterday’s trash.

Housewives polished their best silver until it blinded the sun and set it out on the main avenue as if it were nothing.

Merchants paraded their rarest treasures and simply walked away whistling, leaving their stalls unguarded. Even the old widow, once known only for her pickled vegetables, now laid out delicate heirloom teapots and glittering family jewelry beside her jars. She sat on a low stool with a serene, grandmotherly smile.

No one bothered hiding their wealth anymore. They flaunted it openly, each trying to outdo the other with the most irresistible bait. Every so often, a passerby would casually drop a heavy pouch of gold onto the street, practically daring someone to snatch it.

Yet Qingshui City was already crawling with hunters and riddled with traps. No one took the bait anymore—everyone had wised up. Best of all, the flood of bandits had dwindled into a nervous trickle.

The smarter chieftains no longer charged straight in. They watched from the wooded ridges outside the gates, eyes narrowed, hands tight on their reins. They had heard the stories. Whole gangs vanishing without a scream. Cities that should have bled dry now shining brighter every dawn.

One crisp morning a band of twenty hard-eyed riders—young, reckless, hungry—spurred their horses through the western gate. They laughed loud enough for the hills to hear, snatching up a roasted pig from a roadside spit and a handful of gold without breaking stride. The citizens smiled and waved them on like old friends. No one raised a hand. No alarms sounded.

From the ridge above, their leader was watching everything.

The twenty riders disappeared into the twisting streets. Hours crawled by. Night fell. Dawn came again.

The roasted pig was still there, cold but untouched. The gold coins glittered exactly where they had been dropped. The tables groaned under fresh bait, reset and gleaming.

The bandit leaders could sense it: the entire city was one massive, deadly trap.

“Boys,” he growled softly, voice like grinding gravel, “something is very wrong with this place.”

His second-in-command swallowed hard. “They took everything they wanted. Why didn’t they ride out?”

“Because they never left,” The Leader answered. He wheeled his horse. “We’re done here. Spread the word. Qingshui is cursed. Anyone who rides in stays in.”

They galloped away without looking back, dust kicking high behind them. Within days the warning raced along every bandit trail in three provinces. The flow of raiders dried up almost overnight.

The same shadow fell over the sects.

Every few days another group of righteous cultivators rode up the mountain road to Wudang’s broken gates, chests puffed with confidence. Rumors had spread for weeks: Wudang was finished. The old Sect Master had been crippled by the Yin Yang Sect. The young leader Jun Jiu was nothing but a paper tiger. One good push and the mountain would fall.

They came expecting slaughter. They found Lu Piao waiting on the cracked steps with a polite smile and the same offer Alex had given Qingcheng.

One-on-one duels. Same realm. Loser obeys.

Match after match ended in silence and surrender.

Larger sects began to notice. Envoys vanished. Patrols sent to investigate never returned. Whispers turned to uneasy silence. The righteous path, once so eager to swallow a dying Wudang, now hesitated at the mountain’s shadow.

Deep within the City Lord’s office in the heart of Qingshui, Alex sat in heavy silence.

He could feel the shift. The flood of fresh bodies he needed to fuel Wudang’s rise had slowed to almost nothing. These past few days, the traps lay untouched. No one dared commit even the smallest crime.

Unable to wait any longer, Alex stood and strode out into the city to hunt for solutions himself. Zhuge Liang appeared at his side without a word, his presence steady and watchful. Golden afternoon light poured over Qingshui, revealing a thriving city far removed from the anxious border town Alex had first taken.

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