Outside Nine-Wan Island, eighteen treasure ships approached in formation across the boundless sea. Leading them were two Sturgeon Class warships over a thousand feet long. One belonged to the Blood Shark Bandits' Second Chieftain; the other was part of the inheritance left behind by the Third Chieftain.
The Second Chieftain, the Jade-Eyed Demon King, stood beneath his Dark Water-Cloud Banner with his arms folded, his burly frame towering like an iron pagoda.
"Nine-Wan Island..."
He murmured the name, then suddenly remembered something.
"Li Ling here had something to do with that incident. To think he's already advanced!"
Beside the Jade-Eyed Demon King, a human cultivator who appeared to be in the Qi Refining Realm said, "Second Chieftain, even if that man has reached Core Formation, he's only just advanced. With you personally taking action, capturing him will be as easy as reaching out your hand."
The Jade-Eyed Demon King snorted. He knew his own limits well enough. "How could it be that easy?"
His judgment, however, came not from knowing Li Ling's strength, but from his understanding of the North Sea's cultivation world.
"Human cultivators in the North Sea cherish their lives and treasure their wealth. Knowing he's only just advanced, he certainly won't leave his array to fight me so easily. If we want to catch him, we'll have to breach Nine-Wan Island.
"These powerful factions' strongholds are all as hard as tortoise shells. Without bribing a traitor inside to help us, cracking them open is no easy task. Besides, the people inside might find a chance to escape."
"That's true," the human cultivator said. "But I've heard the Incense Accumulation Sect is wealthy. All these years, we've feared the forces backing them and never truly raided them. Who would have thought that the moment the Third Chieftain came,