On the Water Snake Gang’s black treasure ship, the river wind howled.

A patrolling gang member leaned against the ship’s rail, bored out of his mind, smacking his lips as he chewed on jerky. His gaze swept casually over the fog-shrouded surface of the water.

The next second, a phantom-like figure emerged without a sound from the shadows behind him.

"CRACK!"

With a deeply suppressed snap, the gang member didn’t even have time to let out a gurgle of warning before his neck was brutally twisted and broken by an irresistible force.

Su Yu, expressionless, caught the man’s limp, collapsing body and gently laid it flat on the deck. Then, with a shift of his feet, his figure once again melted into the night like a ghost.

In less than the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn, Su Yu had silently eliminated all five lookouts on deck, cutting them down like weeds.

A gust of river wind blew past. Su Yu stood in the shadow of the mast, his ears twitching slightly. The freakish hearing from his Five Senses Divine ability spread out like a vast net, instantly pinpointing the locations, breathing, and even heartbeats of the remaining enemies in the hold below.

With his current strength and skill with hidden weapons, killing these men would be almost too easy.

...

Another quarter of an hour passed.

Su Yu moved with fluid grace, making his way through the labyrinthine cabins and slaughtering more than half of the Water Snake Gang members left on board. It wasn’t until two bodies with pierced throats were discovered that the remaining men finally noticed the horrifying anomaly.

"Crap! We’re under attack—AH!"

A gang member had just started to roar a warning when his shrill scream was cut short.

"WHOOSH!"

From the darkness, an ordinary-looking Flying Locust Stone, wrapped in a spiraling force, shot through the air. Like a bolt from a heavy sniper crossbow, it instantly pierced his brow, splattering red and white matter everywhere.

By the dim firelight, the remaining men finally saw the slender figure blocking the end of the corridor like an asura. Sensing the murderous aura pouring off him, they were scared out of their wits. All courage to fight drained away, and they turned and fled madly toward the depths of the hold.

"Scattering Gold!"

"SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH..."

In the narrow corridor, there was no escape. The sharp sound of projectiles tearing through the air was as dense as rain on banana leaves, accompanied by a series of dull thuds as skulls burst.

In just three breaths, the entire cabin fell into a deathly silence.

’Alright, the Water Snake Gang has been thoroughly slaughtered this time. I guess this counts as collecting some interest!’

’Next up, time to loot the bodies!’

A moment later, he weighed a heavy bundle in his hand, quite satisfied. It contained a copied manual for the Water Snake Gang’s martial art, Black Python Fist, several hundred scattered silver taels, and over a dozen bottles of pills and herbs of varying quality.

Following the principle of "waste not, want not," Su Yu wrapped the spoils in a piece of waterproof oilcloth and tied the bundle securely to his back.

This trip had been quite fruitful. He now had over six thousand silver taels, a high-grade precious herb—the Red Lotus Root—and various other miscellaneous items.

’Not having a Storage Magical Artifact is certainly inconvenient, though. Once I get back to the city, I must find out if that ring and Jade Pendant are the dimensional treasures mentioned in the ancient texts!’

Carrying an oil lamp, Su Yu began to search the other areas of the treasure ship one by one.

Soon, in the main cabin, he made a new discovery.

Spread out on a desk was a top-secret sea chart drawn on some unknown animal hide.

’The locations marked on this are more than ten times more detailed than the chart I seized before! This is definitely one of the Water Snake Gang’s most vital secrets!’

’This whirlpool area seems to be just one small, red-circled spot. Could there be more places like it?’

Su Yu didn’t have time to ponder it further. He rolled up the chart and tucked it into his robes, his gaze then falling on an iron box in a hidden compartment of the desk.

He crushed the lock. Inside lay several secret letters that had yet to be destroyed.

Su Yu unfolded a letter and scanned it quickly. His pupils suddenly contracted, a flicker of shock flashing in his eyes.

’This is a secret correspondence between Hong Lei and bandits from places like the Black Water Stronghold. According to the letter, the Water Snake Gang has been following the orders of some powerful figure behind the scenes, supporting these bandits to create chaos, abduct large numbers of people, and even collect corpses in batches!’

’Perhaps the bandit Martial Artist I killed back in Qingxi Village was also acting under the Water Snake Gang’s orders.’

Su Yu recalled the other secret letter he had obtained. He never expected that after all this, he would actually find the mastermind behind it all.

"HUUFF!"

Su Yu sucked in a sharp, cold breath. Countless scattered clues in his mind were suddenly connected by an invisible thread.

’The earlier strangeness, the bandits, the chaos that followed... who knows how many people died... Could it all have been deliberately orchestrated?’

Su Yu quickly put away the secret letters, wondering how to best make use of them.

He was now a Captain of the Public Security Bureau. To deal with the Water Snake Gang, he didn’t necessarily have to act personally, which would minimize the danger to himself.

Reining in his thoughts, Su Yu carried the oil lamp and continued his search toward the lowest level of the ship’s hold.

Even before he approached the heavy, pig-iron door to the lowest hold, an extremely pungent, nauseating stench of rot and death assaulted his senses.

Su Yu’s brow furrowed. Holding his breath, he kicked the iron door open.

The moment the firelight illuminated the hold, even someone as composed as Su Yu felt his eye twitch violently. A monstrous rage instantly erupted from within his chest!

What greeted his eyes was a horrifying slaughterhouse, a true hell on earth.

In the dim hold, hundreds of bodies were densely piled up! They were crammed together like slabs of rotting meat, most dressed in rags, clearly the poor or displaced from the Outer City. What was exceptionally bizarre was that many of the corpses seemed to have been completely drained of blood by some evil Skill, leaving them shriveled into nothing but bluish-gray husks of skin.

In the very center of this mountain of corpses, more than a dozen bodies with Qi and Blood far exceeding that of ordinary people were intentionally set apart. Judging by their residual Qi and Blood, they must have been at least Acupoint Martial Artists in life!

Su Yu took a deep breath of the nauseating air, and his stomach churned violently.

He recalled the spirit-grade precious medicine Luo Yuan had mentioned before dying and the sight of Qian Qinghong dumping rotten animal flesh before the death vortex. An extremely cold and insane truth began to surface.

The treasures emerging from that death vortex were not naturally occurring. They were the result of a sacrifice!

The Water Snake Gang was using these corpses as sacrificial offerings!

Compared to mere animal flesh, humans were clearly more suitable—cheaper, and with far more vigorous Qi and Blood!

’The Water Snake Gang must be annihilated!’

Su Yu’s expression turned cold. In that instant, his understanding of this chaotic world was brutally redefined.

"In a chaotic world, human life is as worthless as straw!"

This was no longer just a cold phrase from a history book, but a shocking, blood-red hell crashing down upon his heart right now!

In this twisted, chaotic world, the weak were not even worthy of leaving a complete corpse behind!

A moment later, Su Yu was standing on the empty deck again.

He gazed into the distance, at the death vortex deep within the fog that seemed to want to devour everything, and a strong sense of alarm rose in his heart. His intuition told him that the bottom of that vortex hid a great terror, something far beyond what he could imagine at his current realm.

As long as enough flesh and blood were sacrificed to it, it would spit out precious fish, precious herbs, and even all sorts of other treasures!

’I’ll do what I can.’

Snapping out of his thoughts, Su Yu hauled several large barrels of lamp oil up from the hold and doused the deck and sails. He took out his flint, struck a spark with a "SCRAPE," lit a torch, and hurled it aboard.

"BOOM!"

Flames instantly shot to the sky, and in a moment, the treasure ship became a massive, blazing torch on the river’s surface.

A sea of fire reflected in Su Yu’s eyes. He flipped over the side and leaped, slipping silently into the cold river water like a fish.

...

「Half an hour later.」

Two figures with extremely potent Qi and Blood came skimming across the river’s surface like a hurricane.

One of them was dragging a mangled, bloody corpse as if it were a dead dog. Upon closer inspection, it was the Qian Family Tributor, Pan Guanyue! The man holding him was none other than the Water Snake Gang’s Hall Master, Qin Qianhong, an expert at the Late-stage of the Flesh Refining Realm.

Nearby, the Water Snake Gang’s other Hall Master, Xue Qian, was also returning, and he too carried a corpse: the Qian Family ship captain, Qian Xin.

The two were returning, laden with spoils and in high spirits. These were two extremely fresh Flesh Refining Realm bodies! If thrown into the vortex as a sacrifice, they were certain to lure out some fantastic treasures. The two might even be able to increase their own strength once more.

However, when they looked up and saw the wreckage of the treasure ship ahead—burned down to a blackened skeleton and slowly sinking into the water—the smiles on their faces instantly froze solid.

"Damn it! Who did this!"

Qin Qianhong was so furious his eyes looked fit to burst, and his entire body trembled with rage.

Xue Qian let out a furious roar and slammed a fist into the water’s surface, sending up a massive spray.

It was over! All of it!

All those bodies on the ship—they had spent weeks collecting them, planning to perform the sacrifice today as scheduled. Who would have thought it would all go up in flames?

"The Gang Leader... If the Gang Leader returns to see this..." The two exchanged a look, each seeing the same uncontrollable terror reflected in the other’s eyes.

...

As for Su Yu, he had planned to head straight back to Black Stone City. His current speed in the water was much faster than the treasure ship; as long as he was familiar with the route, half a day would be enough time to return.

However, he hadn’t been swimming toward Black Stone City for long when his Sea-Exploring Swallow sent him new information.

’A dangerous aura... from that big ship earlier?’

A thought struck Su Yu, and he immediately guessed it was the Water Snake Gang’s leader, Hong Lei!

’Wasn’t he chasing Qian Qinghong? Don’t tell me he chased her all the way here?’

Su Yu hesitated for a moment but decided to swim over quietly and take a look. With his Five Senses Divine, he could observe from a great distance. As long as he was careful, it would be difficult for even an expert at the Perfection of the Muscle Forging Realm to discover him.

A moment later, Su Yu was several feet below the surface, drifting with the current like a piece of driftwood. His powerful hearing crossed hundreds of yards of water, precisely capturing the sounds from afar.

"Qian Qinghong, this old man knows you’re hiding nearby! Come out and hand over the treasure! I, Hong Lei, am a man of my word. I will spare your life!"

Hong Lei’s voice boomed across the river’s surface like rolling thunder, making the water churn violently.

Meanwhile, deep underwater.

Buried in a thick patch of mud and sand on the riverbed, Qian Qinghong held her breath for dear life, not daring to move an inch, like a fish hiding from a predator.

In the dim underwater light, her black aquatic gear was visibly torn to shreds. Her abdomen, chest, and even her fair back were covered in lacerations so deep that bone was visible. Crimson blood seeped out uncontrollably, faintly staining the surrounding current.

Fortunately, the undercurrent here was swift, and the Black Water River was astonishingly deep. The traces of blood were quickly washed away, which was why Hong Lei, on the surface, had not yet discovered her.

But Qian Qinghong’s gaze was already starting to lose focus.

If this dragged on, she would either be forced to the surface for air when her internal breath ran out, or she would die from blood loss and drown in the icy depths.

Either option was a hopeless situation with no chance of survival.

On the surface, a vicious glint flashed in Hong Lei’s eyes. He had chased her all this way only to lose the trail, but he was certain the heavily injured woman couldn’t have gone far.

"If you won’t do this the easy way, you’ll do it the hard way!" Hong Lei took a deep breath and with a "SPLASH," dove back into the water, beginning to search every underwater reef, inch by inch.

From a distant undercurrent, Su Yu used the vibrations in the water to perceive everything with perfect clarity.

He quietly raised his head just above the surface, took a deep breath of the cold, misty air, a sharp glint flickering in the depths of his eyes.

’Hong Lei has been chasing Qian Qinghong for so long without managing to kill her. It seems he isn’t skilled at underwater combat. But he’s managed to trap her here, and she’s clearly in a desperate situation.’

’With my current level in the Bibo Fish Dragon Skill, and if I activate the White Ape Transformation, escaping shouldn’t be a problem.’

’In that case... I’ll save her!’