Chapter 1: Exploitation (Part 1)

  At noon, a thrilling water chase took place on the Fen River.

  The two sides were vastly different in strength, one was a powerful and majestic warship with strong horsepower and fierce firepower, while the other was a small, rickety boat that swayed back and forth with the waves, unable to withstand even a single blow. It was like a tiger charging into a flock of sheep, with meat everywhere in sight.

  The houseboat rode the wind and waves, strongly surging forward for over ten feet before suddenly and inexplicably turning right, heading straight towards the riverbank. The next moment, within a few feet of the shore, the houseboat came to an abrupt stop, turned around and headed north, moving away from Xiao Si's cargo ship in the opposite direction, gradually getting farther and farther away.

  Mrs. Geng exclaimed in surprise: "How did Wang Renze leave?"

  Xiao Si smiled and explained, "Lao Yi has started working! In Wang Ren's eyes, his ship is heading straight for us, but in reality, it's getting farther and farther away."

  Wan'er lowered her head and looked out, discovering that a layer of dark red light had appeared on the surface of the river at some point, but under the sunlight, this faint glow was difficult to detect.

  Xiao Si exclaimed happily: "Let's anchor the boat and watch the monkey show from here."

  The cargo ship dropped anchor in the river, and from a distance saw Wang Ren's building boat turn its head south again, swaying and twisting like a drunkard who had drunk too much wine.

  Geng Shaohua's face was serious and solemn as he said, "Fourth Uncle, it's better to have one less thing than one more thing. Let's take this opportunity to leave."

  "What's the point of that?" Xiang Xiao Si said disapprovingly, "If we leave now, wouldn't it be said that we saw Wang Ren Ze and ran away with our tails between our legs? I won't do something so humiliating, and neither should you."

  Geng Shaohua shut up and looked at the distant building ships turning around in circles without stopping, shaking his head sympathetically.

  Finally, after going through twists and turns, Wang Ren realized that if he continued like this, he would spend his whole life drawing the same circle.

  He suddenly let out a long whistle, and several figures on the building boat rose with him, riding the wind and waves towards Xiao Si and others.

  "Boom!" The river surface suddenly surged up with waves over ten zhang high, layer upon layer, like small mountains, pressing down on Wang Ren and others, swallowing them in an instant.

  Xiao Si swiftly retrieved three talismans from the Bundle Dragon Waistband and slapped them onto Geng Shaohua, his wife, and Wan'er. "These three talismans will last for one incense stick's worth of time," he said. "They'll allow us to move freely in and out of the North Dipper Dragon Gate Formation without being affected by its changes. Let's charge into the formation now and bring Wang Renzhen over."

  He stood on the bow deck, stretching his arms and bending his waist, drawing out a short knife from Youquan, wearing Qingyun boots to ride the wind and gallop towards the turbulent waves.

  Wan Er refused to show weakness, and chased up to keep pace with Xiao Si. Geng Shao Hua and his wife exchanged a helpless glance, shook their heads, and followed hand in hand.

  "Whoa——" A massive wave crashed down, bringing with it a deafening roar and a blast of wind. The talisman on Wan'er's back glowed softly, and in an instant, the wave transformed into a calm, transparent sheet of water. She passed through it effortlessly, without even breaking a sweat.

  In the Beidou Dragon Formation, Wang Ren and the two green-robed elders beside him were all at the Knowing Fate Realm cultivation level. Adding to that the six Observing Microcosm experts, they formed a powerful force.

  It is said that "observing the subtle" is the Dao of Kan, and as long as one breaks through this boundary, they can forget their breath and cultivate their spirit to refine their true yuan. From then on, they will be among the top masters. As for those who have cultivated their yuan to transcend the realm of sitting in stillness, they are the best among the best. What they pursue is no longer just cultivation and power, but rather forgetting the self and cultivating emptiness to ascend to a higher realm. Such top-notch masters rarely get entangled in worldly struggles.

  Strong then strong, however, it didn't take long for Wang Renze to suddenly discover that he was surrounded by a vast and turbulent array of waves, the six skilled observers behind him had vanished without a trace, fortunately there were still two old men in green robes accompanying him on either side.

  He darted to the left and flashed to the right, trying to find a way out, but felt that crises were lurking everywhere, and every place was a trap. He couldn't help but regret his rashness and carelessness, and shouldn't have easily left the safety of the sedan chair or boat. Now he didn't even know where the enemy was hiding.

  In a daze, a violent gust of wind suddenly appeared, swirling and churning like an angry dragon emerging from the depths. In the blink of an eye, it swept away the old man in green robes on the left side, leaving no trace.

  Wang Renze was so frightened that his soul flew away, and he cried out: "Xu Lao, think of a way quickly, otherwise we'll all end up buried in the Fen River! That surname Diao kid is too treacherous, actually setting up an ambush on the riverbank to secretly attack us!"

  The old man in blue clothes on the right side of the formation had a solemn expression and suddenly shouted "Hmph" as he opened up the "Lawless Sky Umbrella" in his hand.

  The umbrella surface was shining brightly, and wherever it went, the waves parted in layers, bursting open at a touch, and the two people's faces were suddenly clear.

  Wang Renze was overjoyed and exclaimed: "Hurry up!" He drew his sword and led the way, charging forward.

  But he felt himself blown away for more than a hundred feet, and all around him were still the endless, turbulent waves, with no sign of emerging from the array.

  Just as I was feeling anxious and uneasy, a huge wave surged up from the depths of the ocean, shooting out countless water arrows that poured down relentlessly on my umbrella.

  An old man in a green robe hastily used all his might to stabilize the magic umbrella, but just as he did, a sudden warning sign appeared on his spiritual platform. A demonic whip, taking advantage of the cover of the raging waves, silently attacked from behind him.

  He let out a strange cry and dodged to the side, while Wang Ren swung his sword and chopped down on the demonic whip with a "ding" sound.

  Before he could take advantage of the situation to kill Yi Bo, who had revealed his figure from behind the giant wave, a cold and gloomy short knife flashed in the air and fell, but it was Xiao Si who arrived on horseback.

  Wang Renze was shocked and angry, wielding his sword to parry the attack. The swords clashed with a loud, crisp sound, sending sparks flying in all directions. Xiao Si's body flipped backwards, and in an instant, he vanished into the murky waves.

  At this time, Yuanyu's immortal sword arrived in a flash, slanting upwards and striking Wang Ren's left ribs.

  Wang Renze's sword move was only able to dodge, but he suddenly felt a chill on his right side, like the cold air of a snowy night, and his palm struck down.

  He stumbled and staggered, hastily calling out: "Xu Lao, quickly save me!"

  That old man in green clothes was tightly entwined by Yi Bo and couldn't break free, so he shouted: "Young master, hold on!"

  Wang Renze was almost killed by the joint attack of Geng Shaohua and his wife, and Wan'er. He suddenly flung out a "Qingyun Talisman".

  "Whoosh——" A massive surge of cyan-colored cloud and mist burst forth, forcing Ge Shao Hua and the other two to retreat hastily while shielding themselves. Wang Ren took advantage of the opportunity to break out of the encirclement, tossing aside the old man in green robes as he charged outward with great force.

  Who would have thought that the road to revenge is narrow, and I ran into Xiaosan again, who was leisurely floating on the rolling waves, laughing and saying: "Little Wang, are you the eighth child in your family?"

  Wang Renze was taken aback and replied, "No!" He immediately came to his senses, drew his sword and pounced on Xiao Si, shouting angrily: "How dare you humiliate me!"

  Xiao Si calmly and slowly pulled out a golden cylinder from the dragon-shaped waistband, aimed at Wang Ren's chest, and gently pressed the trigger.

  "Hahaha——" The golden cylinder's pattern shone brightly, and forty-nine "Soul-Breaking Needles" shot out like a swarm of locusts, emitting a cold, eerie green light that enveloped Wang Renze.

  Wang Renze was shocked and didn't dare attack Xiao Si, desperately wielding his sword to defend himself.

  "Ding ding ding ding——" He indeed lived up to his reputation as a top disciple of Qingcheng Sect, with one sword move, the "Soul Severing Needle" was sent flying, and then he charged towards Xiao Si with renewed energy.

  Unexpectedly, a blue glow flashed before his eyes, and three chasing moon halberds burst out from the scattered "Soul-Breaking Heavenly Needle" and shot out suddenly.

  Wang Ren was caught off guard and swung his sword in a desperate bid to strike down one of the arrows, but his leg and shoulder went numb as he had already been hit by Chui Yue's crossbow bolt.

  He loudly roared and swung his sword at Xiao Si. Xiao Si sneered, "Little Wang, watch closely, I'll stand right here and wait for you to chop!"

  Wang Renze suddenly let out a loud cry, dropped his sword and his body contorted in agony, curled up and shouted: "What kind of sinister hidden weapon did you use?!"

  Xiao Si raised his hand and slapped Wang Ren's acupoints, then grabbed his collar and chuckled: "Don't be in a hurry, I'll settle accounts with you one by one."

  He dragged Wang Renzhen onto his cargo ship like a dead dog, and saw that the deck was littered with the guards from the Wang Manor, all of whom had their meridians sealed and were unable to move.

  After a while, Yi Bo and Geng Shaohua also returned to the boat, bringing with them two old men in green robes.

  Wang Renze's face was ashen, and he trembled with fear, saying: "You... Chief Escort, you can't kill me! If you kill me, you won't be able to escape! Besides, it won't do you any good!"

  Xiao Si smiled and said: "Of course, I just want to talk business with you. One, two, three, four..."

  He pointed to Wang Ren's group of subordinates and said, "Well, there are nine people in total. Calculated per head, it would be a total of 90,000 taels of silver. We'll exchange the money for the goods at the same time, what do you think?"

  "You want to hijack?"

  "Xiao Wang, you can eat recklessly, but you can't speak recklessly. I'm the deputy chief of the Tong Bureau, and I've always been loyal to justice and righteousness. Just now, I saw that you accidentally fell into the river, so I risked my life to jump in and rescue you. How could you turn things upside down and say that we're kidnappers? Isn't this biting the hand that feeds you?"

  "I didn't accidentally fall into the river..."

  "Is that what you intended to do, drown yourself? I'm telling you, young Wang, you're still young and promising, with a father to rely on, a mother to depend on, and a little girl to dote on. Why would you want to end your life over some trivial matter? As the saying goes, saving one person is better than building a seven-story pagoda. That seven-story pagoda must have cost a fortune, at least several tens of thousands of taels of silver. I saved nine of your subordinates, and I'm not asking for much, just 10,000 taels each, consider it a small favor."

  "Nonsense! Why did we have to jump into the river? It's all because of you..."

  "Old Xu is right, you're all living well, why do you want to jump into the river? Hmm, it must be that you saw Little Wang commit suicide and you and others are determined to follow him in death, truly a laudable display of loyalty and righteousness that will go down in history!"

  "Fourth Master, don't waste your breath on them. If they don't pay up, we'll toss these bastards back into the river to feed the turtles!"

  Wang Renze knew that his meridians were sealed and he couldn't move, if he fell into the river, he would definitely die, and he couldn't help but shout: "Don't! This young master is willing to give you money!"

  "Xiao Wang is indeed a clever person, twenty thousand taels in total."

  "Isn't it one person with 10,000 taels, so a total of ten people is just 100,000 taels?"

  "Xiao Wang, can those people be mentioned in the same breath as you? I heard that Zheng Guo Gong is your uncle and you come from the Qing Cheng Sect, a rich and noble family with a good reputation. No matter what, you should be able to take on ten of them by yourself!"

  "You, you little brat, are blackmailing me?"

  "Blackmail?"

  Xiao Si suddenly changed his face and said viciously: "I've been explaining to you in a good way for half a day, but you still say I'm bullying you. Not convinced? Lao Yi, get ready to lose face!"

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