Immediately afterward, Shi Feiyang instructed Shan Zhi to accompany Bai Zhi to select a site in Ryukyu to establish a secret branch of the Heroic Sakura Association, recruiting impoverished youths in Ryukyu as disciples of the association, and setting up escort agencies, inns, shops, merchant ships, martial arts schools, and more.
Soon after, Shi Xiong was sent in disguise on a ship back to Jiangnan to inform Liao Pei and Lie Quan, the elders of the Heroic Sakura Association, and to connect with the Sea Sand Gang. Utilizing the merchant ships of the Sea Sand Gang, they would bring various products from Jiangnan to Ryukyu for sale, thus compensating for the losses the Sea Sand Gang had suffered during the Heroic Sakura Association's time of crisis.
