Savages

Before he fled, Hu Mang was also a lane leader, but he was only an honorary lane leader. He was the kind of person who would go back to doing manual labor after killing someone and wouldn't even attend these lane leader meetings.

So he recognized both the old alleyway owners from back then and the current ones. As for the remaining unfamiliar faces, they were all reformed cultivators, and Hu Mang understood them at a glance.

They were Zheng Qingbo's private soldiers.

The subordinates of these alley lords were all modified cultivators, and in terms of combat power alone, they were probably stronger than all the familiar alley lords combined.

However, these alleyway leaders, personally selected by Zheng Qingbo, showed utmost respect, standing up one by one to introduce themselves. This was a far better response than their previous arrogant attitude towards their colleagues.

"Hong Xiao Hu, so you were training at Hong Tiebiao's martial arts school until you completed the transformation of the Demonic Machine Hall, and that's why you were promoted to alley master, right?"

Hu Mang chatted with one of the reformed monks with great interest.

The man was in his early thirties, with a burly build, a square face, thick eyebrows, and large eyes; he did appear to have a somewhat upright demeanor.

His arms and legs had been transformed into Law Artifact. His arms were covered with a layer of dark blue metallic scales, and the joints revealed intricate gear structures. His legs were made of some kind of black alloy material, and three slender spiritual energy conduits were embedded on the outside of each calf, gleaming with a faint blue light under the light. His aura was calm and restrained, making him one of the few Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator among this group of transformed cultivators.

"Yes, I am Master Hong's disciple."

What do you teach at your martial arts school?

He hadn't heard the term "martial arts school" in Heavenly Gate for several years; nowadays, Heavenly Gate generally call it a gym or a kendo training hall.

As for Hong Tiebiao, he is currently guarding the backyard of Zheng Family Garden. He is a Golden Core cultivator with a powerful physique and a fierce aura.

According to Hong Xiao Hu, this martial arts school not only teaches hand-to-hand combat and Law Artifact combat, but also includes battle formation drills, the use of some military Law Artifact, and even the control and coordination skills of some small groups of cultivators.

For martial arts school graduates like him, there are two paths after graduation: either come to Zheng Family Garden to work, and if he Foundation Establishment Late Stage, he is guaranteed to become a lane lord, or join the Luzon rebel army and become a mid-level leader.

Hu Mang understood the meaning immediately.

Is this a plan to continuously infiltrate that rebel army until the warlord's power is completely under their control?

Then Hu Mang inquired about the use of the Law Artifact arms and legs. According to him, there was a completely different story between not having prosthetic Law Artifact and having Law Artifact installed. After the modification, he was able to fully activate the "limbs Law Artifact" and even fight his master, the new head of the martial arts school, Hong Tiebiao.

In other words, the combat power of Golden Core is equivalent to the time it takes to brew a cup of tea.

This is the other party's arrogant statement.

However, as Hu Mang agreed to the other party's request for a duel with a half-smile, and dismantled the other party's limb prosthetics in less than three breaths, Hong Xiao Hu immediately became obedient, and even looked at Hu Mang with a hint of horror. The other modified cultivators were the same.

"Hey, I've never seen anyone so eager to die as to fight the Heavenly Blood Python."

Fatty Liu had been looking down at his teacup, spoke particularly loudly.

Although he was an old man, and a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage with extensive combat experience, he was no match for these modified newcomers.

He wasn't the only one facing this awkward situation; other elderly people were also in the same predicament.

Fortunately, Hu Mang stood up for them. Next, the other alley owners who had been renovated all fought against Hu Mang. No matter whether they used Law Artifact or Secret Method, they couldn't withstand more than three moves. Then, the implanted Law Artifact immediately shut down.

This was only because Hu Mang held back. If he hadn't, a single mask would have caused all the implanted magical Law Artifact on these people to explode, just like those modified cultivators from the Demonic Machine Hall.

Seeing this, Fatty Liu couldn't help himself. How could these modified cultivators be so easily corrupted? Perhaps his previous defeat was just a coincidence. So he challenged a modified alley master of equal cultivation level, and almost got beaten to death.

After the opponent activated the Law Artifact, their Law Power surged, and their cultivation level jumped directly from the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

For ordinary cultivators, let alone challenging those of higher levels, even challenging those of the same level is like heaven and earth depending on the cultivation level.

However, after this ordeal, no one dared to challenge Hu Mang's new leadership; both familiar and new faces accepted him.

Then, these armed representatives of Zheng Family Garden began to engage in formal "gang operations," including handling dock disputes, turf wars, and maintaining order at various key entertainment venues and gambling establishments...

Hu Mang wasn't particularly interested in these matters, but as long as he kept a low profile, the old hands wouldn't dare to use underhanded tactics to bully the newcomers, and the newcomers wouldn't try to eliminate the old faces to rise to power. And as long as that was done, that would be enough. After all, these local gangs couldn't possibly be all lovey-dovey.

This is the real reason why he didn't take over Liang Household Garden.

Deep down, he looked down on these dock powers, even those in Zheng Family Garden.

If you really want to get promoted, make money, and seize power, the Underworld Bureau is a bigger stage, has deeper connections, and a higher ceiling.

His main purpose in coming here was to deal with some things that were inconvenient to handle within the Heavenly Gate, and to research some things that were inconvenient for the Heavenly Gate to study, especially the various strange and powerful methods he brought from the Azure Mysterious Realm.

Therefore, it is not worthwhile to get caught up in the vortex of gang forces under these circumstances. Taking down Liang Household Garden will increase his power, but it also means that things will change. If something unexpected happens along the way, such as some gang forces not wanting Zheng Family Garden to be the only dominant force, how can he concentrate on forming his core or exploring the Azure Mysterious Realm?

Putting everything else aside, if he were to bring over all the "junk" that the big shots in Demon-Subduing City didn't want, he could buy ten Zheng Family Garden.

We can't lose sight of the big picture for the sake of small gains.

Even though Hu Mang has already acted "harmless," there are still two things he needs to take care of before he can focus on forming his core.

One of these two issues is the Mandala Tribe, which is the Blood Jiangtou Technique of those barbarians, and the other is the trouble caused by the Demonic Machine Hall.

Xue Hu, the modified cultivator who had just given Fatty Liu a good beating, hesitated for a moment before revealing something he knew.

"Brother Mang, when I went to the Demonic Machine Hall to upgrade my Law Artifact, I heard some bad news. Apparently, they not only don't plan to supply us anymore, but they also intend to seek compensation."

"That makes sense."

Hu Mang wasn't surprised. After all, it was a small-scale war that started strong but ended weakly, with three Golden Core killed on the other side. Even the closest allies would turn against each other in such a situation, let alone when the other side was a demonic sect.

"I will report this to Boss Zheng. We also plan to visit the Demonic Machine Hall soon."

Hu Mang mainly wanted to see if he could bring Old Man Min back; he wasn't interested in the demonic cult leader's consciousness that the other party mentioned.

But he was quite interested in the several Sea Dragon Vein the other party mentioned.

So, after a routine meeting of alley leaders, Hu Mang pondered for a moment and then approached the other two leaders who had not yet left Zheng Family Garden: Su Wanqiao, who was in charge of the Black Wave Charitable Inns, and Su Tiya, the female leader.

He needed to relay some of Boss Zheng's orders.

The natives of Mandala Islet learned of their Grand Elder's murder much earlier than outsiders.

This indigenous tribe still retains a technique called "human oil lamp," where the lamp goes out when the person dies.

These wild tribes, which still retain the custom of cannibalism, are clearly not receptive to human speech. Almost as soon as they learned of the fall of their Great Elder, they gathered nearly 80% of the tribe's blood sacrifice shamans and a bunch of spellcasting materials, boarded a ship for revenge, and prepared to storm into Port Surumai to avenge their Great Elder.

This is why the uncivilized tribes are so difficult to deal with; once a conflict breaks out, these cannibalistic shamans have no art of compromise or negotiation, only a fight to the death.

However, based on the female curator Su Tiya's understanding of the witchcraft profession, it is highly likely that the other party's revenge is a pretense, and that their real purpose is to use the guise of revenge to carry out a large-scale blood sacrifice in the living area.

According to the rules of the Autonomous Association, they would not prohibit gang leaders from contacting these Nanyang natives, because they couldn't, since everyone coveted the unpredictable and mysterious abilities of Nanyang Jiangtou. However, there was a generally accepted rule.

Whoever caused the problem should take responsibility!

Boss Zheng got into trouble because he coveted the power of the barbarians, so naturally, it's up to Boss Zheng to handle it himself.

Today, the Port Surumai is unusually deserted. Whether they are cultivators or mortals, all the locals know what a blood sacrifice is: a large-scale massacre that uses witchcraft to kill people of all classes.

Ten neighborhood leaders from Zheng Family Garden were dispatched, each leading over a hundred henchmen, to set up a loose cordon around the port.

The henchmen wore matching black short jackets, with various weapons at their waists. Some were traditional Nanyang scimitars, some were modified firearms, and some even displayed their Law Artifact transformed arms or prosthetics, which gleamed with a cold metallic luster in the sunlight.

They gathered in twos and threes at intersections and alleyways, their eyes scanning the empty streets warily. They occasionally exchanged a few words in hushed tones, as if afraid of disturbing something they shouldn't.

Behind the blonde, golden-eyed Su Tiya stood more than twenty wizards. Some of these wizards wore traditional sarongs with headscarves; others wore black robes with white totem patterns painted on their faces; some held bone staffs, some had gourds hanging from their waists, and some wore necklaces made of animal teeth and withered fingers around their necks.

Their auras varied; some were cold, some were hot, some carried a strong herbal scent, while others emitted a faint stench of decay.

But the expressions on the faces of these wizards were all tense and uneasy.

The one with the strongest aura of witchcraft among them was none other than the newly appointed Grand Elder, the son of the late Elder Moheda, a powerful sorcerer.