Chapter 309: Breakthrough
Rich?
The thing Tang Xiu most lacked right now was exactly money. Rebuilding Nine Dragon Island itself required a terrifying sum. Yet, the amount he had in hands was not sufficient. Hence, his mind was filled with ideas where he could obtain more when he called Long Zhengyu.
However, rebuilding Nine Dragon Island was not a project that could be completed within a short time. Given some time, his Magnificent Tang Corp might possibly start making a profit. With a steady flow of financial support, maybe he wouldn’t need to worry about money later.
“So, what do you need me for?” said Tang Xiu to change the topic.
“If It’s not for a meal, then what?” said Yi Lianyan with a smile. “I was trying to find you to eat breakfast, but I couldn’t find you anywhere. It’s noon, so I tried my luck coming here. Never thought you’d really be here, though.”
“Let’s go back and have breakfast then,” said Tang Xiu with a nod.
At this time, all the dead bodies in the castle had been gathered and burnt. Those who were captured by the pirates had been sent back while the dead were taken away. As for how those who left would resettle and what they wanted to do, it was up to them.
As Wolf Head and the rest had been cleaning up the castle the entire morning as well as dealing with the broken things, it now looked a lot neater and orderly.
After lunch, while watching Yi Lianyan who was quickly cleaning up the tableware, Tang Xiu gave Wolf Head a hand signal as the duo then headed toward the castle’s gate.
“What’s your order, Boss?”
“I’m about to leave Nine Dragons Island to go back to Saipan and handle some stuff there. So this place will be yours to manage,” said Tang Xiu.
“Don’t worry, Boss!” said Wolf Head.
“If that girl—Yi Lianyan wants to stay here, let her be and take care of her. She will also do the laundry and cooking. Also, you are to investigate the entire island while I’m away. If there are other people here, immediately apprehend them and wait for me to come back to handle it. If not, then you are to stay on guard. I believe that it will take a while before the construction project team arrives here,” said Tang Xiu.
“Alright. We’ll be stationed here, but it will be quite difficult to guard the entire island since we have too few personnel,” said Wolf Head.
“I know, I have too few people under me,” said Tang Xiu with a sigh.
Wolf Head’s face flickered as he quickly said, “Boss, aren’t you going back to the mainland to pick a bunch of people? If so, I know some powerful ones from the special forces who just retired in the last one or two years. Their strength can continue to improve if they are properly trained.”
Tang Xiu’s expression moved, “How are they compared to you?”
“A few of them are not weaker than me! And the rest are on par with those of my team,” said Wolf Head.
“Good. Then, you’ll take care of this issue and assign the defense task to the others. I don’t mind if the people you bring here are slightly weaker, but I need them to have good characters. Also, I request absolute loyalty from my subordinates.”
“I can assure you about this point. But, about the pay…”
For a moment, Tang Xiu looked distracted as he sized up Wolf Head with a strange expression. He then let out a wry smile and said, “The first time we met, I recall that we did talk about this issue? It seems like I haven’t offered you a penny, right? So be it then! I’ll pay the twelve of you 500 thousand each annually! As for those you will bring, each of them will be paid 300 thousand per year. If their first year’s performance are good, then tell them they will have the same treatment as yours from the second year on.”
“Roger that,” Wolf Head chuckled.
“I’ll withdraw 20 million when I’m to Saipan for you to manage. You can call me when the money runs out. And if there is equipment you need to purchase, you can also freely tell me and I’ll spare no effort so long as it is necessary,” said Tang Xiu.
The smile on Wolf Head’s face turned thicker. He suddenly found that following Tang Xiu was a wise choice. The days after following him had been very splendid and exciting. Be it being able to kill criminals, slaughtering pirates, and living under guns and raining bullets, it let him resurrect the warm-blooded life he once had yesteryear. More so with sufficient funds available to them now.
“Don’t worry, Boss. I will help you train a group of elite warriors.”
Tang Xiu waved his hand, “I don’t have a problem regarding the discipline according to military custom, but leave out the training of martial arts. For that, you’ll be under Mo Awen’s management. He’s strong and smart enough, so I will assign him to manage this place.”
“Understood!”
Regarding Tang Xiu’s arrangement, Wolf Head himself had no objection. He had seen Mo Awen’s strength and knew how fearsome he was. Hence, he was wholeheartedly convinced.
“By the way, I trekked around the island this morning but I couldn’t see any pirate ships. Where are the ships left by those pirates?” asked Tang Xiu.
Wolf Head laughed, “They didn’t anchor their ships in the harbor, but in a certain spot of the deep water bay. When those pirates came here, they didn’t dare land here blatantly, for fear that there would be dangers on the island. We have checked it, though. There are a total of three ships, one of which is an outdated warship that we don’t know where they obtained. Each ship is equipped with weapons.”
Tang Xiu nodded, “As a pirate, more so for being one for many years, such a capital isn’t bad. I’m afraid that it wouldn’t be easy to kill them if we run into them at sea. Perhaps we’d even be wrecked and sunk by them.”
“Yeah. For pirates, being able to cross unhindered into the sea showed that they do have the capital. Anyways, Boss, the cruise liner you used to sail to Nine Dragons Island is now being used to transport the residents of Southern Bird Island. So it might not be easy for you to go to Saipan since the pirate ship’s log is way too obvious. If you do take it, I’m afraid you won’t be able to reach Saipan due to being attacked and sunk by the patrol warships.”
Tang Xiu slightly frowned. After hesitating for a moment, he then slowly said, “Can you temporarily modify those ships?”
Wolf Head shook his head, “It won’t be easy. They are equipped with a lot of weapons. It will take a few days to remove them.”
Forcing out a wry smile, Tang Xiu said, “Then forget it. I’ll wait for two more days for the cruise liner to come back before going Saipan.”
At night.
Atop the castle, Tang Xiu sat cross-legged and quietly cultivated. The star force accumulated in his body was getting stronger and he could make a breakthrough to the Flesh Strengthening stage at any time. However, no matter how hard he tried, he always failed at the last hurdle.
He was there until 4AM and then left the top of the castle to the end-point of the road leading to the harbor. There, he sat cross-legged right at the Spirit Spring position.
Yesterday he found the existence of the Supreme Emperor Purple Qi here. Hence, he wanted to try and see if it would also appear today for him to absorb it.
Time passed by. When the glowing red sunrise came and the first ray of sunshine fell into the sea, a stream of Supreme Emperor Purple Qi descended from eastern horizon and instantly fused into Tang Xiu’s forehead.
“Boom…”
Sitting cross-legged and cultivating, Tang Xiu’s body jolted. His sea of consciousness seemed to have been split by an invisible force. Shortly after, the Supreme Emperor Purple Qi channeled itself into his sea of consciousness and flowed downwards. Within a short dozen breaths, it had circulated within Tang Xiu’s meridians for a few times.
‘Give in to me!’
Tang Xiu’s consciousness could hardly contain this Supreme Emperor Purple Qi within. Relying on sheer tearing effort, only then was it drawn into his dantian, the star force inside his dantian steadily approached this Supreme Emperor Purple Qi, attempting to wrap and refine it.
However, the Supreme Emperor Purple Qi gave off a very strong repulsion force as it struggled and resisted time and time again, almost breaking the enveloping star force several times. Gradually, as though adapting to the star force’s presence, the struggling Supreme Emperor Purple Qi became milder. Along with the encroaching star force, the stream of Supreme Emperor Purple Qi shrunk into a thumb-sized ball.
‘Fuse!’
Clenching his teeth, Tang Xiu controlled his star force and went all out to squeeze this mass of Supreme Emperor Purple Qi. After spending more than ten minutes, the star force and the Supreme Emperor Purple Qi came into contact thoroughly as its repelling force eventually dissipated and fused into his star force.
“Buzz…”
Tang Xiu felt as though his body was ignited. All the blood inside his body—from head to foot—was boiling hot while an invisible energy washed and quenched his internal organs. The energy in his skin layer turned more compact and its toughness became stronger despite becoming thinner.
With his spiritual sense, Tang Xiu then examined his body’s internal state.
Much to his ecstasy, his body was in the middle of an insane transformation due to the Supreme Emperor Purple Qi. His internal organs were constantly being quenched and rejuvenated, becoming more powerful. His tendons and bones became more tenacious and solid while all his body muscles began to fission unceasingly.
Each cell split into two and then split into four. The weak cells were ruthlessly expelled from his body while the strong ones remained. Even the number of cells in the muscles layer began its increasing cell division.
Each cell became stronger and each of its layers turned thicker than before; the number of cell layers had doubled in just half an hour.
Though Tang Xiu’s body didn’t seem to have changed looking from his outward appearance, the intensity and strength of his body had violently increased for several times. Were someone to shoot him, perhaps it wouldn’t be able to pierce his skin and could only leave mark on it at the most.
“Hahaha…”
A carefree laugh came out of Tang Xiu’s mouth the moment he opened his eyes. As his body jumped, he was already stepping on the sea surface in an instant.
Churning, tapping and spraying the ocean!
Tang Xiu indulged himself for a few minutes in the joyous feeling of a breakthrough as he then returned, wet and damped, to the Spirit Spring. He found that, while cultivating, the spiritual force within the Spirit Spring would be drawn into his body continuously. Furthermore, due to the extraction of spiritual force, his absorption speed of star force was faster than before.