Fierce Tide

The procession moved forward slowly, and before long, it was the turn of the thirty-some people from the Gu Family Chamber of Commerce.

"Stop! Get in line, you bastards, and put your hands over your heads!"

A collaborator wearing a crooked felt hat and a pockmarked face walked over, swinging a police baton with his nose held high in the air.

Seeing that this group of men all carried blades and staves, he felt no fear; relying on the backing of his Eastern Island masters, he arrogantly thrust his baton toward the chest of Zhao Si, who was leading the group, while cursing, "What are you looking at? I'm talking to you! Everyone gets searched. If anyone dares to hide contraband, you'll be shot on the spot!"

Zhao Si's eyes turned cold. Instead of retreating, he stepped forward, letting his chest take the full force of the baton.

His flesh, tempered through Lianli at the middle stage, was as tough as oxhide. The baton struck him with a dull thud, and the recoil left the collaborator's hand numb.

"Are you blind?"

Zhao Si grabbed the baton and stared coldly at the collaborator: "Look closely, we are from the Gu Family of the Tongjiang Chamber of Commerce! This is a manifest ship belonging to Old Master Gu, and we carry permits from the martial arts school. You want to search the Gu family? You'd better weigh your own worth first."

"The... the Gu family..."

The collaborator froze, his arrogance instantly deflating. In Ocean City, who didn't know the name of the Tongjiang Chamber of Commerce? It was a behemoth that monopolized half the waterways. He subconsciously let go and turned to look at the Eastern Island Captain standing at the gate.

The Eastern Island Captain's sinister gaze swept over Zhao Si like a viper, lingering for a moment on Lu Zhen and the other guards.

Suddenly, a warm smile forced its way onto his cold, stern face.

"Yosh."

The Eastern Island Captain pushed the collaborator aside, stepped forward, and said cheerfully in broken Chinese: "So, it is friends from the Gu family. Old Master Gu is a good friend of the Empire. A very good citizen! Since it is a merchant ship of the Gu family, there is naturally no need for inspection. Let them pass!"

With a wave of his hand, the Eastern Island soldiers immediately moved the barbed wire barricades.

"You're a sensible one." Zhao Si snorted coldly and waved his hand, "Brothers, let's go!"

Lu Zhen moved through the gate with the group. Catching a glimpse of the fake smile on the Eastern Island Captain's face, he frowned almost imperceptibly. There was a blade hidden in that smile.

Sure enough, the moment the backs of the Gu family group disappeared around the corner of the pier's trestle, the smile on the Eastern Island Captain's face vanished instantly, replaced by a chilling frost.

He tilted his head slightly and ordered his trusted subordinate in the Eastern Island language in a cold voice:

"Go, take a few men and keep a close watch on the Tongjiang Chamber of Commerce's berth. When they finish loading and set sail, carefully measure the draft of that ship. See if they are smuggling 'that cargo' we are looking for on their way to Jiang City!"

"Hai!" The subordinate bowed his head sharply and retreated silently into the morning mist.

Deep within the pier.

Lu Zhen followed the others to the berth and looked up, instantly sucking in a breath of the cold river air.

What lay before him was not the traditional wooden sailing ship with masts he had imagined, but a massive black steel beast!

It was a steam-powered iron ship over ten zhang long. The pitch-black steel-riveted hull exuded a cold, heavy metallic luster, and the towering smokestacks were spewing pungent black smoke.

"Brother Lu, never seen a big guy like this before, have you?"

Zhao Si patted Lu Zhen on the shoulder, pointed at the thick steel hull, and lowered his voice: "The world has changed. Ever since the foreigners' sturdy ships and fierce cannons blew up the Water God Temple on the river decades ago, the water veins of the Yangtze River have been in complete chaos."

A trace of wariness flashed in his eyes: "Nowadays, there are many man-eating 'water demons' hiding in the deep water areas of this river! Ordinary wooden boats might hold up against wind and waves, but if they encounter those mutated monsters from the riverbed, a single flick of their tails would shatter a large wooden ship on the spot!

Only steam-powered iron ships like this, wrapped in thick steel plates and possessing great horsepower, can carve out a path for survival on this waterway."

"Board the ship! Weigh anchor!"

Following a rough shout, the thick cables were coiled up by the winches.

"Woo--!"

A deafening steam whistle tore through the morning mist on the river. The steam engine ran at full speed, the massive propellers churned the murky river water, and the steel giant slowly pulled away from the pier, entering the vast, rushing Yangtze River.

As the ship reached the center of the river, the wind and waves began to rise.

On the deck, the guards patrolled in shifts. Chen Er and Hou San took a few skilled boatmen to a special winch at the stern, preparing to show Lu Zhen, the new Inner Sect expert, the Gu family's unique skills.

"Master Lu, watch closely. This is how our Gu family catches the Red Scale Fish."

Hou San pointed to a special fishing net on the ground, woven from refined steel wire as thick as a little finger. Tied in the center of the net was a piece of strange flesh that emitted a pungent, fishy stench and a strong medicinal odor; this was the special bait.

"These Mutated Treasure Fish are extremely fierce. Ordinary fishing nets are bitten through in an instant; only this steel net can trap them."

Several boatmen worked together, using the power of the steam winch to cast the heavy steel net deep into the river.

About two incense sticks of time passed.

"Twang--!"

The refined steel chain connected to the fishing net suddenly pulled taut, emitting a metallic screech that set one's teeth on edge.

"We've got a catch! Winch, pull!"

The steam engine roared, the massive gears clattered, and they dragged the fishing net out of the turbulent river water.

"Splash!"

Water sprayed everywhere. Inside the steel net, a strange fish the length of a forearm was thrashing and struggling violently. The fish was covered in blood-red scales that looked like burning charcoal in the sunlight. Its large mouth was filled with saw-like sharp teeth, and it was biting the steel wire so hard that sparks were flying.

"This is the Red Scale Treasure Fish!" Zhao Si walked over, grabbed the fish by its vital point, and tossed it into a special water tank. As soon as this fierce monster left the river water, its ferocity rapidly faded, and it looked as if it were about to turn belly-up.

Lu Zhen was secretly amazed; the blood and energy contained within such a mutated beast were truly violent and astonishing.

"BOOM—!!!"

Just as the group had finished capturing the treasure fish, the entire steam-powered iron ship suddenly shuddered violently without warning!

This impact felt as if an underwater mountain had slammed hard into the ship's steel keel. Several deckhands with unstable footing were flipped onto the deck, and even an expert like Lu Zhen, who possessed Copper Skin Iron Bone, felt his blood and qi surging from the shock.

"Enemy attack! A water demon is ramming the ship!"

The sailor in the lookout tower let out a shrill, desperate roar.

The river surface instantly began to boil.

The murky river water churned wildly as if it had been brought to a boil. Following that, a massive black shadow slowly surfaced barely thirty meters from the ship's hull.

It was a Mutated Black Catfish at least seven or eight meters long!

Its head was larger than a carriage, and its entire body was covered in a thick, foul-smelling layer of black, slimy armor. Two fleshy whiskers, as thick as a child's arm, lashed out like pitch-black steel whips, each strike whipping up a white explosion of water on the river surface.

Its flat, gaping maw opened wide, revealing a dense forest of inward-curving barbs, and a nauseating, fishy stench washed over the deck, so pungent it was nearly impossible to keep one's eyes open.

"Damn it! It's a Mutated Black Catfish Demon!"

Zhao Si's face turned deathly pale. He drew his Ghost Head Broadsword from his back, cold sweat instantly soaking his shirt:

"This beast usually lurks in the Deepwater Dragon King Trench; how could it have come to such a shallow shipping lane?!"

He grabbed Lu Zhen, who was preparing to step forward, his voice trembling:

"Brother Lu, fall back! Do not try to fight it head-on! A mutated water demon of this size has skin and flesh as tough as steel plating!

Even for martial artists like us at the middle stage of Lianli, hitting it with all our might would be no different than scratching an itch, but if you take just one hit from its tail, you'll be turned into a puddle of meat on the spot!"

Before his words could fade, the Mutated Black Catfish Demon let out a dull, bovine-like roar. Its massive tail fin slammed against the river, kicking up a monstrous wave, and it charged toward the steam-powered iron ship like a small black mountain!

"BOOM—!!"

Another brutal collision occurred, and the steam-powered iron ship's refined steel keel emitted a teeth-grinding sound of twisting metal as river water crashed onto the deck like a torrential downpour.

"Steady your footing! Grab your gear, and stand together!"

Zhao Si's eyes were bloodshot as he roared at the top of his lungs.

The guards on the deck were seasoned veterans who lived life on the edge, and after a brief moment of panic, they immediately formed a formation. A dozen men hoisted *Ironwood Javelin*s as thick as their arms and, using the rocking of the ship for momentum, hurled them fiercely at the massive black shadow in the river.

"Clang! Clang!"

The javelins struck the Mutated Black Catfish Demon's black, slimy armor, sparking a series of flashes, but they failed to even break the skin before bouncing off and falling into the river.

"ROAR—!"

The Mutated Black Catfish Demon was driven into a frenzy by the pain. One of its whiskers, thick as a child's arm, swept across the ship's railing with a piercing whistle, like a pitch-black steel whip.

"CRACK!"

The solid wood railing shattered instantly. Three guards who couldn't dodge in time didn't even have a chance to scream before they were struck by the whisker. With a dull sound of shattering bones, the three men spat out mouthfuls of blood, their chests caved in, and they were sent flying like broken sacks, slamming heavily onto the deck, their lives hanging in the balance.