Gou Zai Wu Dao Chao Shi Xing Nian Da Gong

"Damn it, we're really screwed this time!"

Despite the excruciating pain, Li Chong struggled to maintain his balance and float downstream, quickly moving away from the battlefield.

He already understood that this ambush was a trap set for him. Zuo Hu had deliberately come to set him up. And Tian Wenchang, who had agreed to join forces to kill the enemy's expert first, had disappeared after entering the cabin; he was clearly also setting him up.

"Black Snake Gang, once I'm healed, I'll make you pay."

Li Chong cursed angrily as he pondered his escape route.

He had already seen the arrival of the government troops while in the water and dared not return to Flying Dragon Village. Fortunately, as a river bandit, he was cunning and had three burrows. He had a secret base nearby, which was very well hidden and unknown to anyone in the village. It could serve as a temporary place to recuperate.

"Hiss~~"

He accidentally touched his wound and immediately gasped in pain. Lin Zhenyuan's kick was too vicious; no wonder he was known as the "Whirlwind Kick," all his skills were in his legs.

"Weiyuan Escort Agency, this isn't over yet. Once I'm better, I'll intercept your shipments. Let's see if you, Lin Zhenyuan, can follow me every single time. And the Wang family, I've crossed swords with you. From now on, the Wang family's cargo ships will never sail by water again..."

Li Chong kept cursing them one by one.

"Quack quack~~~"

Suddenly, several strange cries came from the fog ahead.

Li Chong's face immediately lit up with joy. He raised his hand and whistled, then steadied himself and waited.

huh~~

A strong gust of wind blew away the fog, and a figure more than two meters long flew down from the sky. It was a strange, large bird.

This strange bird was completely bald, without feathers. Its long neck was curved like a snake, its narrow beak was filled with sharp teeth, and its sharp claws were webbed, clearly indicating that it was adept at swimming. It flew using a pair of broad, fleshy wings, similar to those of a bat.

This is the Flying Dragon that Li Chong raises. It can both swim and fly, making it an excellent scout and tracker in Fishbone Bay. His Flying Dragon Stronghold is named after it.

wow~~

The strange bird circled once and landed right next to Li Chong, affectionately nuzzling his face.

Li Chong reached out and hugged the strange bird's back, saying, "Little darling, let's go, to our secret base."

The dragon seemed to understand his words, and immediately swam forward nimbly, swinging its legs.

...

Just then, an undercurrent suddenly surged through the water nearby.

"Quack quack~~"

The dragon slowed its pace and swiftly pecked at the water beside it with its long, pointed beak.

Li Chong assumed it was just a big fish swimming by and didn't pay any attention. He simply held onto Feilong's body tightly to avoid being thrown off.

Boom~~

Suddenly, the water surface exploded, splashing water everywhere and obscuring his vision. Then he heard Feilong's scream.

"not good!"

Li Chong thought to himself, loosened his grip, and prepared to let Feilong dive into the water.

Unexpectedly, he immediately felt a sudden chill in his chest and abdomen, followed by several more sharp, throbbing sensations. He had clearly been stabbed in the back.

"Your mom~~"

His face contorted in pain, and he opened his mouth to curse, but the river water poured into his mouth, and his life force vanished rapidly.

*Smack*

A large hand suddenly grabbed the corpse that was about to be swept away by the river.

Then a figure emerged from the water, his other hand tightly gripping Feilong's slender neck; it was Zhou Fugan.

Previously, after he disguised himself as Tian Wenchang and escaped, he was worried about Zhou Sheng and originally planned to sneak back to the ship. However, he happened to see Lin Zhenyuan appear and Li Chong being seriously injured and escaping. Knowing that the overall situation was settled, Zhou Sheng was not in any danger, and he had no chance to sneak back to the ship, he changed his plan and went straight after Li Chong.

Zhou Fugan reached out and rummaged through Li Chong's body, pulling out a flat, waterproof leather bundle wrapped tightly around his body. He stuffed it into his arms and then released Li Chong's body, letting it be swallowed by the river.

Then, he hugged Feilong and said in a sinister tone, "Little darling, hurry up, let's go to our secret base."

Feilong trembled, its small eyes filled with fear, and it swam swiftly into the depths of the thick fog.

...

Before long, Feilong led Zhou Fugan to a cliff edge and stopped. However, there was only a stone wall in front of them, and nothing unusual.

"Quack quack~~"

The dragon let out a strange cry and swung its long neck toward the water.

Zhou Fugan's heart stirred, and with a burst of strength, he plunged into the water with the flying dragon.

Feilong was momentarily flustered after being forcibly pushed into the water, but it quickly regained its energy, straightened its long neck, and paddled rapidly with its claws, carrying Zhou Fugan towards the depths of the water.

Zhou Fugan looked around warily, ready to snap the dragon's neck at the slightest sign of trouble.

Soon, a dark hole the size of a pot lid appeared on the cliff below. The flying dragon swam into the hole with practiced ease, and Zhou Fugan followed.

Before long, they surfaced, finding themselves in complete darkness with a gentle breeze blowing by.

Zhou Fugan took out a small cloth bag from his body, opened the damp cloth and found several layers of oiled paper inside, which contained a fire folding box.

With a gentle breath, a flame ignited, and Zhou Fugan could see his surroundings clearly. He was in a spacious cave, with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. The waterway behind him was the entrance, and the darkness ahead led nowhere.

Quack quack~~

The dragon let out a strange cry.

Zhou Fugan thought for a moment and then released Feilong. Inside the cave, Feilong had nowhere to escape.

The dragon landed, flapped its wings merrily, and began to walk forward, its swaggering posture resembling that of a duck.

Zhou Fugan followed Feilong all the way and soon arrived at the depths of the cave, where there was a stone chamber.

Inside the stone chamber were a bed, bedding, pots and pans, and a pile of dark, shiny things. He looked at them and realized they were coal blocks commonly used in blacksmithing. This stuff was extremely brittle, so it seemed Li Chong had prepared everything very well.

In addition, on a shelf in the corner was a large urn, covered with a lid and the gaps sealed with wax.

Quack quack~~

Feilong let out a strange cry, lying in the corner of the stone chamber, looking somewhat restless. His body twitched slightly, and liquid was flowing from his eyes and mouth. It was unclear what was wrong with him.

"Is it crying for its old master? It's quite intelligent."

Zhou Fugan ignored it and opened the large urn. Inside, it was half-full of grain, enough to last ten days to half a month. On top were several small bottles containing some pills. He recognized one of them – it was Xuanjia Peitu Pill.

Zhou Fugan was overjoyed; these small bottles likely contained tonics. He quickly pocketed all of them.

He then lit a pile of coal, illuminating the entire stone chamber.

He took out Li Chong's personal belongings and examined them. Inside was a stack of silver notes and a thin booklet.

Zhou Fugan's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly opened the booklet to look through it, but was soon disappointed.

This thin book wasn't a martial arts manual at all; it was actually a diary. Inside were notes that Li Chong jotted down casually.

He patiently looked at it and found that they were all trivial matters, such as which bandit was secretly killed for not bowing to him.

It wasn't until I flipped to the very end that I found some useful information: a method for making pills, described in great detail from the recipe to the process. Most people could learn it after reading it, but the ingredients were all quite precious; the main ingredient even required the aquatic treasure, the water shrike.

"Could this be some kind of tonic?"

Zhou Fugan thought to himself, "The formula for the tonic is far more precious than the tonic itself."

He remembered that there was a similar pill in the small bottle he had previously taken out, so he carefully compared it with the description inside. Sure enough, the pill was exactly the same as the one described inside.

"Try it!"

He randomly poured out a pill and popped it into his mouth. He wasn't afraid of poison anyway.

Soon, a prompt appeared on the virtual interface.

"The host has taken the Flying Poppy Animal Feeding Pill. Its effects include accelerating the growth and development of animals, with significant effects on aquatic animals."

"The cost: It exerts an extremely strong attraction on animals, causing them to become highly dependent on it, and depleting their lifespan!"

"An exemption can be activated without incurring a cost, while retaining its effectiveness."

"..."

Zhou Fugan was speechless. So this wasn't something a human could eat. However, he also felt the medicinal effects taking hold in his body; its efficacy was no less than that of the Fiery Pill.

Quack quack~~

The dragon that had been lying quietly beside him suddenly stretched its neck and looked excitedly at the small bottle in his hand.

Zhou Fugan immediately understood that Li Chong was using this thing to control the flying dragon.

So he casually took out a pill and tossed it to the flying dragon.

Feilong opened its mouth and swallowed it, then lay down with a satisfied look on its face. Its body stopped twitching, and no more liquid came out of its eyes or mouth.

"Damn it..."

Zhou Fugan felt a pang of guilt.

He tried all the medicines in the small bottles in one go. Fortunately, the rest were all tonics. However, only two kinds were suitable for martial artists who had mastered the tendons and bones: Xuanjia Peitu Pill and Qiangcang Pill. There were more than twenty pills in total, enough for him to take for a while.

......

Wang's cargo ship.

Two figures stood in a dilapidated cabin, looking at the bloodstains on the floor with solemn expressions.

Inside the room, the signs of a fierce battle were very obvious. The two who fought were experts at the Tendon and Bone stage. One of them was Tian Wenchang, but the identity of the other was unknown.

"Young Master Wang, it seems Tian Wenchang has encountered a formidable enemy here?"

"The room next door is occupied by a disciple of the Hammer Cloud Martial Arts School who is affiliated with our escort agency. He's been fighting outside all the time, and he only has the Skin Membrane Pass, so he can be ruled out. His grandfather was just an ordinary old tailor who drowned," Lin Zhenyuan said, his eyes darting around.

"The chief镖头 is right. This room is occupied by a servant of our Wang family. He has no cultivation and can be ruled out as a suspect," Wang Jin said.

"It seems someone else made the move, but I don't know who they are," Lin Zhenyuan said calmly.

"It's definitely related to the Crocodile Gang. What do you think, Chief Escort?" Wang Jin said with a slight smile.

"The Crocodile Gang and the Black Snake Gang are mortal enemies, it seems that's indeed the case." Lin Zhenyuan nodded in agreement, "And many people saw that Tian Wenchang ran away carrying a large box, and that person was probably killed by him as well."

"That's right, let's report it like that. We'll put up a wanted notice later." Wang Jin nodded in agreement.

"It's settled then."