Paying a Visit

Hu Mang rubbed his ears and said helplessly, "What rescue? I'm not dead, I'm just in seclusion."

"Brother, I called you brother, and you've been in seclusion and not answering the phone? Do you know how many times I've called you this past month! If Huang Liang hadn't said the Lust Abstinence Software was working properly, you probably wouldn't have gotten into trouble. I would have even had to ask the Underworld Bureau to summon your soul."

"That's not necessarily true," Hu Mang said, glancing at Chen Xiaosan had his ears perked up.

"The Underworld Bureau official is right next to me; I don't need you to summon his soul."

"I saw the news. Our project was a huge success, wasn't it? It's hailed as the second national app after the Divine Sense Chat app, nicknamed the 'Anti-Pornography Expert,' the 'Underage Mode' of the Cultivation World,' and the 'Exclusive App for Demonic Entry.' With so many praises, shouldn't you be happy?"

"I'm happy, but the problem is I need an update! You have no idea, my investors are calling me three times a day, constantly urging me for new content. I haven't even figured out the old version yet, how am I supposed to release the new one?!"

"Wait, your software has only been online for less than two months, why are you updating it so soon?" Hu Mang asked in confusion.

"Shouldn't you be focusing on stabilizing the user base right now, maybe releasing some minor patches or something?"

"Strike while the iron is hot, Master! I have a performance-based agreement with headquarters. Once we reach a certain number of users, this branch can become independent, expand its territory, and then launch another IPO! At that time, I'll be at the Nascent Soul stage, you'll Nascent Soul, and we'll all Nascent Soul —what a wonderful thing!"

Was your IPO pre-arranged? So that when I go public, you go public too?

Why is it that as soon as I came back, you all wanted to go public?

"Would the Mystic Shield Sect allow you to become independent?" Hu Mang asked doubtfully, "Especially since you have such a powerful asset in your hands."

"Those old fogies are short-sighted; I outsmarted them—"

The reason why the "Lust Abstinence Software" has been delayed in going public, besides technical issues, is that Sister Yu, the head of the branch, wanted to secretly go independent.

She was the kind of person who was "exiled to the frontier," and some people at headquarters had long disliked her. So she deliberately delayed the software's launch and spread various rumors that the project was going to fail. As a result, headquarters sent people to question her several times, and she would also go to headquarters to cause a scene for no reason. In the end, the two sides broke off relations, and headquarters gave her an exaggerated performance-based agreement: either she would achieve great success and create a national software, and then she would buy back the shares held by headquarters at a high price, or the entire branch would be sold off as a package.

Then, the Lust Abstinence Software became a huge success, and the Mystic Shield Sect headquarters regretted it immensely.

Just as Sister Yu was about to strike while the iron was hot and activate the reverse takeover clause through the content of the performance-based agreement, the key figure, Master Hu, went offline, which made her so anxious that blisters appeared on the corners of her mouth.

"I never expected you to have so much faith in me."

"Of course, we wouldn't have gone all in if we weren't confident."

Sister Yu remained unperturbed, completely ignoring the fact that her powerful backer at headquarters was retiring this year. Without that backer, the big boss meant that someone like her, a marginal high-level employee, would either have to resign gracefully or be ousted. That's why this shrewd businesswoman was going to fight to the death.

But that's not the point. The point is that the Lust Abstinence Software was a huge success.

"Okay, I'll look into it and get back to you in a couple of days."

"You need to hurry. I've arranged for Huang Liang to be with you 24/7. If you have any inspiration, you can contact him anytime and get him online to work."

"Huang Liang doesn't mind?"

"His thoughts are insignificant. He's just a dead male bastard; you could have him accompany you in dual cultivation without any problem."

After hanging up the phone, Hu Mang looked at Chen Xiaosan beside him and suddenly asked, "Have you ever heard of Lust Abstinence Software?"

Chen Xiaosan was taken aback, then shook his head.

I haven't been online much lately.

"Nonsense, Second Brother, that old woman treated me like a donkey. Besides, many places with Jiangtou Imp are deep in the forest; there's no internet there."

"Then you probably don't know about Virtual Grotto-Heaven and Virtual Dao Discussion Room either, right?"

Hu Mang gave the other party a brief introduction to both, especially the functions of the Virtual Dao Discussion Room ".

When Lao San learned that all games, even an old-fashioned one like "Heavenly Gate Journey to the West," had installed online PvP battle sections, his Old Third widened in astonishment.

"No, no, I'm done fishing, I'm going back to playing games. Third Brother, remember to upgrade the net at Zheng Family Garden later, so it doesn't affect my performance. Damn it, I refuse to believe I can't beat that Erlang Shen when I log in myself, especially that black dog that keeps giving me negative status effects, I'm going to neuter it myself!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Old Third transformed into a cloud of Yin Qi mist and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Hu Mang smiled, not paying any attention, and continued his fishing career. As more and more prey took the bait, the fishing rod in his hand began to get slightly warm.

Zheng Family Garden, the Martial Hall Master, rarely shows up, but he's been fishing for three days straight, which has made many interested people anxious.

In a well-known local Chinese restaurant in Port Surumai, a young couple is eating with chopsticks at a table by the window. The woman keeps looking out the window, seemingly distracted while eating.

The man was of medium to tall stature, with a relaxed yet not hunched posture and muscles that did not appear bulging. He possessed a soft, yielding strength cultivated through internal martial arts. His complexion was clear and radiant, and his eyes were calm. Seeing the woman opposite him occasionally lose her focus, he lightly tapped the table with the tip of his chopsticks. The chopsticks in her hand suddenly jerked, striking the woman's thumb and forefinger.

The woman opposite him immediately snapped out of her daze, "Senior brother."

"Have a meal."

"Good."

The two of them lowered their heads and ate, one meat dish and two vegetable dishes, and finally put down their chopsticks when only the skeleton of a fish was left.

"Senior brother, we clearly submitted our invitations, so why won't that Martial Hall Master see us? Does the name of our Nanyang Chinese Affairs General Company mean nothing now?" the woman said, somewhat unwillingly.

Xu Zhi'an held the teacup given to him by the shopkeeper. The tea was free, but it was cold. He gently tapped the rim of the teacup with the veins on his thumb, and soon the tea began to ripple, bubbling and bubbling. In no time, the originally cold tea warmed up, and wisps of steam rose from it.

Xu Zhi'an took a sip before saying, "Reputation is earned. If you can wipe out nearly ten Golden Core Wanshun Sea Hall in one fell swoop and make Zhao Longbo, Immortal Woman He, and the Buddha Woman nun mysteriously disappear, I can sit at your door and wait for you. But if you can't do that, then you'll just have to wait for someone else."

Hong Shuwei was still somewhat incredulous, saying, "Is that monster Zhao Longbo really dead? Back then, my brother broke through 108 of his major acupoints, almost severing all his Fortune channels, but that monster managed to reassemble himself piece by piece. After my brother died, my grandfather personally took action, using the 'Shattering the Void' technique to directly kill him, but it only killed him for three minutes."

"Three minutes later, the monster revived, and even its shattered Dantian recovered. If this monster's cultivation level hadn't been far inferior to my grandfather's, and if the fight had continued, my grandfather would have crippled its limbs and drowned it in the sea. I'm afraid we wouldn't have been able to force it to retreat."

"I heard that he has been training in the Endless Sea for years, and his martial arts realm has improved again. Now he is only one step away Higher Vehicle the superior martial realm, and his cultivation has reached the Golden Core Great Perfection. How could such a monster be killed by a young man from the Zheng Family Garden?!"

Xu Zhi'an was speechless.

Hong Shuwei brother was also his senior brother. His talent far surpassed his own, and he was comparable to some of the geniuses in Heavenly Gate. He entered the Dao through martial arts and not only reached the Golden Core Late Stage realm, but also refined a high-quality Golden Core. He had a three-tenths chance of forming a Nascent Soul and was hailed as the number one young person in the Nanyang Chinese Affairs at that time.

Yet this very genius fought Zhao Longbo, whose cultivation was only at the Mid Golden Core, at sea for three days and three nights, during which time...

He managed to inflict heavy damage on his opponent several times, but the opponent stubbornly withstood each blow. Finally, on the third day, the opponent seized an opening, broke all four of his limbs, and smashed his forehead. This caused Old Master Hong, who always valued rules above all else, to break his own rules and retaliate in a fit of rage, but the opponent still managed to escape.

Over the years, Wanshun Sea Hall and Nanyang Chinese Affairs General Company have accumulated so many grudges, but this one grudge is the biggest, the thickest, and the most unsolvable.

Zhao Longbo killed Director Hong's eldest grandson!

As enemies with an irreconcilable feud, upon hearing signs of internal strife at the Wanshun Sea Hall, they naturally wanted to join forces with the Heavenly Blood Python from Zheng Family Garden to beat a dog when it was down.

In their view, this was beneficial and harmless to the Heavenly Blood Python. Although the Heavenly Blood Python was powerful, the Zheng Family Garden, where he lived, was only so-so in the eyes of the overlord of Nanyang. It was said that there were only ten Golden Core level masters in charge.

Although Boss Zheng is a shrewd businessman, he hasn't shown his face for almost half a year. For a dock power, half a year is enough time for many people and things to change, so according to their thinking, it shouldn't be too difficult to meet this Martial Hall Master.

However, they had been in this Port Surumai for almost half a month and still hadn't seen this person. No wonder Hong Shuwei was getting restless.

But even if they can't stay, they have to. Someone who knows the true situation of the Wanshun Sea Hall is very important in the current situation.

Seeing that Hong Shuwei was somewhat unable to suppress her emotions, Xu Zhi'an suddenly laughed and said.

"Look, this is where things get interesting. We want to pay our respects to the Heavenly Blood Python but have no way in, while some people want to pay their respects to us, and have no way in either. You only see the posts we've sent to Zheng Family Garden these past few days, but you haven't noticed how many posts in the hotel we're staying in are from people wanting to pay their respects to us."

"What's so interesting about these dockworkers and local royals?" Hong Shuwei.

"Junior sister, you're right. But among these people are Zheng Qingbo's fourth son, the head of the Zhou family from the local chamber of commerce (who has a nephew who became a lane master in Zheng Family Garden), and Master Chao from the Tide Sea Righteous Hall. He's from a branch of our Hongmen and has even paid respects to your patriarch. Although he had some unpleasantness with that Boss Zheng during the last dock war, as an old friend, he won't be stopped from entering Zheng Family Garden."

"You see, as long as we want to get in, we can always find a way."

Hong Shu's eyes lit up, and he was about to say something when Xu Zhi'an stopped him.

"But the problem is, we're here to ask for their help. If we're greeted unwelcome guests, we'll be kicked out. So I've been waiting for an opportunity."

Xu Zhi'an's gaze fell on a lame man across the street.

"Now's your chance."