“The adviser is here!”
A commotion broke out within the Cao Gang.
Soon, all the low-level ruffians lined up and stood at attention.
A bespectacled, middle-aged man arrived with several companions. He wore a traditional two-panel long robe and carried a folding fan.
This man was Gu Changqing, the Cao Gang's Adviser and one of the Seven Executive Elders on the Cao Gang Elders' Council.
He was the Cao Gang's second-in-command, outranked only by the Leader of the Caobang, Xu Shanyue.
He was an overlord among overlords!
No one expected him to come to Longjiang Wharf in person today!
“Adviser Gu!”
Li Lei, the patrol office squad leader, took the initiative to approach him and then cupped his fists.
The Shencheng Police Bureau was weaker than the Three Great Gangs. Even their Captain had to bow his head before the Cao Gang's second-in-command, let alone a squad leader like Li Lei.
Therefore, Li Lei kept his posture humble from the outset.
“Squad leader Li, have you discovered that exotic beast?”
Gu Changqing asked.
“That fellow is extremely cunning and refuses to surface. To kill it underwater, we would probably need a top expert at the Great Completion of Force.”
“There aren't many people like that in all of Shen City. Even if we found one, they might not be willing to take action.”
“How about having our police station bring in dozens of foreign guns? Once the exotic beast surfaces, we can simply shoot it to death with a barrage of gunfire.”
Li Lei's eyes shifted as an idea came to him, and he made the suggestion.
“That is not advisable!”
“That Exotic Beast may be inferior to a true Innate Martial Dao Grandmaster, but its sinews, bones, hide, and flesh are beyond the reach of ordinary weapons.”
“Dozens of your Foreign Guns could not even pierce an expert's body with Hidden Force, let alone injure this Exotic Beast.”
“If you fail to kill it, you will instead fully awaken its vicious nature. It may even remember the attacker's scent, come ashore, and kill people!”
“Therefore, without a foolproof plan, you absolutely must not act rashly!”
Gu Changqing rejected Li Lei's suggestion outright.
“Then, in Adviser Gu's opinion, what should we do? We can't possibly shut down Longjiang Wharf, can we?”
Li Lei asked again.
Longjiang Wharf was in his jurisdiction, and this incident had left him overwhelmed.
Yet a tangled web of forces stood behind Longjiang Wharf.
There was not a single one he could afford to offend. It gave him a headache.
“Longjiang Wharf is vital to Shen City's economic lifeline, and a shipment urgently needs to be transported. Neither you nor I—not even your Chief of the Police Bureau or our Gang Leader—can shut down Longjiang Wharf for several days.”
“All the various forces are searching for an expert. I believe there will be results soon.”
“In the meantime, use the ancient method of Sacrifice: throw live cattle, sheep, and pigs into Longjiang to feed that vile beast!”
Gu Changqing pondered for a moment before making the suggestion.
On this land, the mysterious had never truly departed. Countless terrifying Exotic Beasts had existed throughout history.
To keep these Exotic Beasts from eating people, the ancients regularly performed Sacrifices to feed them.
They waited for decades, or even centuries, until the Exotic Beasts died of old age.
Some Exotic Beasts possessed spiritual intelligence and accepted this long-term feeding arrangement, living alongside humanity without interfering with it.
Some even harbored benevolent thoughts and willingly served as humanity's guardian deities.
Humanity built temples for them, where incense burned without end.
Over time, they became local deities.
But there were also some exotic beasts that were vicious by nature.
They were not satisfied with livestock sacrifices.
As their viciousness grew and their strength increased,
they also required human sacrifice.
In Jinmen, there was a tradition of selecting a new bride for the River God every year.
In plain terms, it was a form of Human Sacrifice.
Humans are the foremost spirits among all living things, and eating them helps these Exotic Beasts increase their strength.
In the end, Human Sacrifice would drive the Exotic Beast berserk, leading it to hunt humans indiscriminately.
Whenever this happened, it would bring disaster to the region where the exotic beast lived!
“At this point, I suppose this is our only option.”
“I only hope those experts can come to Longjiang soon to subdue the demons and purge the evil.”
“Otherwise, the consequences will be unimaginable!”
Li Lei sighed and spoke in helpless resignation.
Gu Changqing's plan would only treat the symptoms, not the root cause.
Moreover, it could nourish the vile beast's strength.
If the vile beast completed its final transformation, its strength would rise another level,
the entire Longjiang Wharf might never know peace again.
But under the circumstances, this was the only way he could fight fire with firewood!
Jiang Wangzu listened to Gu Changqing and Li Lei's conversation with his ears pricked, shocked by what he heard.
His physique had grown stronger, and his hearing had improved as well.
The two men were speaking beside Longjiang after clearing everyone away from them.
Yet Jiang Wangzu heard every word clearly.
“The waters around Longjiang Wharf are deeper than I thought. This world really has things like Exotic Beasts?”
“Damn it!”
“I can't keep doing patrol duty at this wharf. I need to find an opportunity to see whether I can resign from Chen Tai.”
“But if I stop doing this, I'll probably be sent to fight those ruffians and scoundrels from the Blue Society on Hexinglong Street.”
“Although my strength is nothing like it was before, I cannot reveal my Black Tiger Fist carelessly.”
“Besides, visible attacks are easy to evade, but hidden arrows are hard to guard against. Those little bastards will use every dirty trick in a fight.”
“If I fall into their trap and someone blinds me or stabs me several times, I will suffer terribly!”
“Why is staying alive in this world so difficult?”
“Forget it. I'll get the black tiger powder secret medicine first!”
Jiang Wangzu thought to himself.
Gu Changqing and Li Lei soon left. The Police Station took the dead to The Cremation Craftsman's Place before their identities could be confirmed, then burned the bodies.
In these troubled times, human life was as cheap as grass!
In this era, cremation was not popular.
But strange incidents and unnatural deaths were common around Longjiang.
The corpses of those involved in such matters were prone to ominous occurrences.
Therefore, people had to take the corpses to The Cremation Craftsman's Place beside Longjiang and burn them thoroughly.
When Jiang Wangzu saw that Gu Changqing and Li Lei had both left,
he greeted the brothers patrolling with him and slipped away at once.
Jishi Hall.
One of the four venerable old medicine shops in Shen City.
It was more than a medicine shop; it also had Consulting Physicians. One was a breathtakingly beautiful young woman known as Little Medical Immortal.
She came from a family of Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners. Her grandfather had been an imperial physician of the Former Dynasty, and she had studied Medical Arts under him since childhood.
She later became one of the first students at Shen City's Traditional Chinese Medicine College.
She had even gone to western countries to study Western medicine.
Her credentials were impressive, and she was learned in both Chinese and Western medicine.
Jishi Hall was also her family's ancestral property.
Jishi Hall was also the only medicine shop in Shen City without Financial Conglomerate backing.
After careful consideration, Jiang Wangzu decided that Little Medical Immortal at Jishi Hall should be his point of entry.
There were three reasons.
Jishi Hall had no ties to Financial Conglomerates, Warlords, Gangs, or similar powers, which made it relatively clean.
Jishi Hall also had a good reputation among ordinary people, and its medicine prices were affordable.
Most importantly, Jiang Wangzu possessed the Succubus Talent. By using Little Medical Immortal as his point of entry, he might not win her over, but he could at least ensure that she would keep the secret.
As for whether Little Medical Immortal could compound the Strength Training Secret Medicine, well...
With credentials like hers, she should not be that incompetent... probably, right?