Seizing the Culprits

Unexpectedly, Hu Mang had assumed that the two women had been either stolen or bought.

In Nanyang, as long as you have the money, you can buy many things, even female cultivators at the Golden Core level.

However, these two women were different. These two women were raised by this Master Bao from childhood, and he even specially sent them to Heavenly Gate, spending a lot of money to customize two Golden Core for them.

Otherwise, given their aptitude, they would probably never be able to form their core in this lifetime.

This fatso actually likes playing raising/nurturing games.

This rules out the possibility that a trusted confidant stole the hair to Jiangtou on an outsider.

After all, even if these two women had formed their cores, they would only be at the lowest level of Golden Core. Without this Black God of Wealth, their lives would definitely not be much better.

Under the mental control of the Heavenly Devil Field, the possibility of being seduced by a pretty boy was also ruled out.

"What do we do now?" Naimi, a woman who had always lived a life of danger, was unusually flustered.

In this situation, whether to stay or leave is a problem.

If I leave, I might end up being labeled a murderer.

If they stay, they will most likely be imprisoned by the Wanshun Sea Hall, and their fate will be out of their own hands.

The problem is, they didn't do anything.

They were just picking up a person, and suddenly a black pot fell from the sky, leaving everyone dizzy and disoriented.

Hu Mang stared at the fat man's corpse; he knew the fat man had given him a difficult problem.

It would be better if both sides turned against each other and started a fight; whether they won or lost, they could always escape.

Now I'm in a dilemma—running away is one thing, staying away is another.

Suddenly, a brilliant idea flashed in Hu Mang's mind.

"By the way, I heard that this fatso, like Boss Zheng, doesn't practice cultivation. So what was his method for countering Jiangtou before?"

Everyone was stunned for a moment, then they all realized what was going on.

Yes, even if a powerful figure in Nanyang of this caliber has no cultivation, he would still have a whole host of ways to counter Jiangtou.

"Could this 'Master Bao' be a fake?" a lane owner muttered to himself.

"Impossible. I've dealt with him before. This fatso—no, this Master Bao— can't be a fake."

Feng Haixiao blurted out.

However, judging from his tone, he seemed somewhat unsure.

Hu Mang raised his head, a flash of burning Dragon Eye in his eyes, and then he laughed.

"Old Feng, whether this fatso is really dead or faked it, he's dead anyway. Now I'm giving you a choice: either you retreat first, and we'll cover you. With your local informants and us drawing the pursuers away, escaping shouldn't be too difficult for you."

"Either you come with us, but given the current situation, if you leave with us, you'll most likely be wanted by the Wanshun Sea Hall, and your smuggling business here will be impossible to continue."

Feng Haixiao's expression instantly shifted between light and dark.

To be honest, it's true that Feng Haixiao was two-faced, but to say that he betrayed Zheng Family Garden and sided with the Wanshun Sea Hall is nonsense.

But in this situation, if they really leave together, the fact that he is the murderer will most likely be confirmed, and he will have to completely give up his smuggling business here, especially his control of those two smuggling routes.

What's the use of having many ships if there are no smuggling routes?

However, after a moment of uncertain expression, Feng Haixiao finally sighed.

"I'll go with you."

In this situation, if he doesn't leave, he will most likely become a scapegoat.

Can a leader without a solid base of followers still be considered one of the top ten leaders?

Hu Mang smiled, unconcerned about the other party's answer, and turned to look at the two Golden Core female cultivators.

"Now tell me, all the anti- Jiangtou tricks this fat pig knows."

About three minutes later, more than twenty Golden Core core-level beams of light descended from the sky, and the cultivators of the Wanshun Sea Hall looked at Master Bao in disbelief.

Almost simultaneously, the shopkeeper from before rushed up with the doctor.

However, all they saw was Master Bao's cold corpse and two distraught female cultivators.

The doctor quickly examined the body, ensuring there were no external injuries or Divine Ability Law Technique.

"I sensed that Master Bao's life tablet had shattered, so I quickly brought people over," said the leader, a Golden Core Late Stage cultivator.

"What did the people from Zheng Family Garden say?" The shopkeeper frowned and looked at the two female cultivators at the Golden Core stage.

In terms of combat power alone, these two female cultivators were utterly pathetic, so once Master Bao was gone, even his trusted confidant's attitude turned sour.

One of the female cultivators, a Golden Core cultivator, stammered:

"They said they didn't want to take such a huge blame, and the body should remain where it was... They said they believed that with the Wanshun Sea Hall's methods... they would definitely be able to find out who the real murderer was."

The man, whose face was covered in scars and who Golden Core Late Stage, took a deep breath.

"Arrest them first. We'll deal with the others after we catch them. With Master Bao gone, we need to hold a general meeting of managers to decide who will take charge of the Wanshun Sea Hall next. Until then, we need to get the situation under control."

Soon, starting from Palembang, a series of distinctive sounds echoed throughout Sumatra. These sounds originated from a sea beast bone whistle, capable of traveling for hundreds of miles, and were a means of communication used by pirate ships in the past.

These bone whistles have different levels of crisis, and the current frequency is the highest level at the Wanshun Sea Hall.

"It seems we're wanted."

In the darkness, a group of people were heading towards the heart of Sumatra from the port.

They did not go to the Palembang and board a ship to leave, nor did they intend to fly away directly.

From the moment the bone whistle sounded, the road from here to the Palembang became a path of death.

Before arriving, Hu Mang had already investigated the organizational structure of the Wanshun Sea Hall. As a multinational power in Nanyang, its organizational structure was surprisingly simple.

Lower-level henchmen, shopkeepers, and head shopkeepers.

There was only one head manager, and that was the fat guy who had just died.

As for the managers, they are divided into sea managers and land managers, and each manager controls a portion of the Wanshun Sea Hall's business.

However, decades ago, there was only the term "sea keeper," and at that time, the sea keeper was not called "keeper" but had a simpler and easier-to-understand name.

Pirate ship captain.

Every captain at sea is a pirate ship captain at the Golden Core level.

Today, Wanshun Sea Hall has publicly disclosed more than one hundred managers.

This is indeed a behemoth.

Moreover, compared to their Golden Core level combat power, Wanshun Sea Hall is more famous for their research on ships.

Unlike other local powers in Nanyang, they did not recruit Jiangtou as retainers or directly support an entire indigenous tribe to obtain Jiangtou rituals from them.

They adopted a different approach, which was to worship gods. Each ship of the Wanshun Sea Hall had a Ship God.

This strange "Spirit Invocation" method was initially unknown, but with their repeated victories in naval battles, and even with their pirate fleets capable of destroying entire nations, sweeping away the ports of some small countries, this Divine Ship Method became truly famous in Nanyang.

These decades of battles have long since taught the people of Nanyang not to go to war with the Wanshun Sea Hall at sea.

"We've already notified Liu Shifa, and he's made contact with Su Wanqiao's men. They have information channels and supply points with the Black Wave Charitable Inns. The old man has most likely already retreated to a hidden and safe seafront."

"But the question is, how do we evacuate?"

Feng Haixiao's tone was filled with dissatisfaction and questioning. His idea was to take advantage of the fact that the people from the Wanshun Sea Hall hadn't reacted yet, to combine his smuggling fleet with the people brought by Hu Mang, fight a small-scale naval battle, and then take the opportunity to break out of the encirclement.

But Hu Mang rejected the suggestion and instead told Liu Shifa lead his men to retreat first.

"Anyway, the business in Haishi is no longer ours. We might as well cause a ruckus, then go back to Zheng Family Garden. No matter how powerful Wanshun Sea Hall is, can they really lead all the managers to Java?"

Although Wanshun Sea Hall has many Golden Wanshun Sea Hall Golden Core, its territory is also vast. At worst, after causing a ruckus, they can simply return to Zheng Family Garden and settle down to their small plot of land.

The martial arts culture in Nanyang is fierce. There is no attitude of "I will back down if you are powerful". Basically, apart from Hu Mang and Chen Xiaosan, most people tend to fight and then run away.

The people present were all seething with anger.

"Who told you we're leaving now?" Hu Mang retorted.

In the darkness, the Martial Hall Master grinned, his eyes gleaming.

"Whether this fatso is really dead or faked it, he tricked us. It's not my style to run away after killing a few Golden Core cultivators without figuring this out."

The remaining people looked at each other.

Just a few Golden Core cultivators killed?

You're really making a big deal out of it.

The opposing team now has double-digit numbers of Golden Core cultivators, and countless experts who have retired from the pirate ship.

With just the few of us—three Golden Core and three Foundation Establishment —were we all out to get this?

However, seeing Hu Mang's confident words, Feng Haixiao hesitated for a moment before honestly replying.

"What ideas does the Martial Hall Master have?"

"Let's go first and wait for my reinforcements. In the meantime, I need to figure out how that fatso suddenly died."

Reinforcements?

Didn't you just drive away our reinforcements?

Three days later

Sumatra, Barisan Mountains

The rainforest is covered with dense trees, some of which are so tall and straight that it takes several people to encircle them.

The layers of tree canopies loomed overhead, completely blocking out the sun. The forest was shrouded in gloom most of the time, with only sparse glimmers of light filtering through the leaves.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of rotten leaves, making it soft, slippery, and muddy. All sorts of strange insects, pythons, and even some mythical beasts scurried in and out of this place.

When the fog in the forest gathers to a certain extent, it will start to drizzle. This rainwater is blue and green, and is extremely toxic.

Even cultivators find it difficult to adapt to the environment of the tropical rainforest.

Therefore, the major cities in the area are generally located along the coast, while those living inside the rainforest are usually local natives, or even uncivilized people.

Four streaks of light flashed and disappeared, hovering in mid-air, revealing three men and one woman.

"I never expected that after guarding the Palembang for three days without seeing a single person, this group of people from Zheng Family Garden would actually come inside."

"One of the leading monks said angrily."