"We just came to Macao and we"re unfamiliar with the situation here," the old man shook his head indifferently and said, "There have been a lot of terrifying figures appearing in Macao ever since this territory returned to China, so we must cut off all the risk factors and promptly move."
The pet.i.te woman thought about his words before she nodded and came to the master bedroom"s door and called out, "Young Master, we need to move now."
The silver-haired youth opened his eyes with an angry look as he immediately got out of the bed and dressed himself up. He didn"t even glance at the two beautiful blondes who slept like a log before he opened the door and then came out asking, "What happened? Why we must move late at night?"
"Some suspicious people are strolling around the hotel, though it"s not yet clear what their purpose is," said the pet.i.te woman. "But we should immediately move to a safer place so as to avoid any unforeseen events. I"ll contact our men in safehouse no. 2 as long as you agree with the move. They will immediately prepare to meet you."
A chilling light flashed in the youth"s eyes as he said coldly, "Do you suspect them to be Grand Fortune Jewelry"s men?"
"If we"re not their target, then they shouldn"t be from Grand Fortune Jewelry," said the pet.i.te woman. "But if they are indeed monitoring us, they are either the Grand Fortune Jewelry"s people or your big brother"s."
"It"s impossible for Grand Fortune Jewelry to have such a powerful intelligence network that can lock onto our position from just a few phone calls," said the white-haired youth with a snort. "It seems that good brother of mine is really ready to move! Alright, let"s move and leave this place."
A few minutes later, a group of seven people left the hotel but didn"t exit the normal way. Instead, they quietly headed to a secluded corner of the hotel and directly jumped down from the 24th floor before disappearing into the back garden. Just half a minute after they left, a ghostly figure silently appeared following the direction of the traces they left.
"Huh?" the man"s shadow abruptly stopped at the edge of the garden just half a minute later. To be precise, he was blocked by a black mist that was spreading toward the surrounding area.
"They are from the Dark Shaman clan?"
Dread filled Hu Zhiwu"s eyes as he stood atop the towering tree. He didn"t continue his pursuit because he was well aware of the function of this black mist. Even if he were to rush through the mist, he would probably lose his direction inside. However, he couldn"t give up on the mission a.s.signed by his Boss.
Hu Zhiwu took his mobile phone and activated his chatting app. He quickly issued an order, "A Jin, A Tong. They just left the hotel and are heading toward your position. Keep an eye on them and I"ll catch up with you right away. They are from the Dark Shaman clan, so keep in touch with me by reporting your position."
"Got it!" the reply was simple.
Hu Zhiwu hung up and dialed Tang Xiu"s cell number. His call was quickly picked up and he immediately spoke before Tang Xiu had spoken yet, "Boss, I"ve got a new situation to report."
"Tell me," Tang Xiu"s voice was heard from the cell phone.
"We"ve been monitoring Conrad Hotel as per your order and a group of seven just left a few minutes again," reported Hu Zhiwu. "I found their tracks and am kind of obstructed by a black mist. I suspect that they are from the Dark Shaman clan."
"What clan is this Dark Shaman clan, exactly?" asked Tang Xiu.
"We have information about the Dark Shaman clan in our Everlasting Feast Hall archives," said Hu Zhiwu. "They are from Thailand, but their influence has reached all the various other countries in Southeast Asia. This Dark Shaman clan is also known as having a witchcraft lineage, kind of similar to black magic in Europe but not quite the same. The Dark Shaman clan is also one of the top experts in Southeast Asia."
"Is this Dark Shaman clan very powerful?" asked Tang Xiu in a deep voice.
"This clan was very powerful some decades ago since they had many people who were proficient in witchcraft. At the peak of their time, however, they provoked powerful enemies, one of which was the world"s second largest organization—The League of Archcrusaders—leading to an earthshaking war between the two. The latter finally gained victory and nearly annihilated the Dark Shaman clan. This clan should have recovered some of its strength after a few decades, but they have long lost their past glory since."
"I see," said Tang Xiu lightly. "Keep tracking them. You must not lose them. I"ll catch up with you in Macao within two hours."
"Understood!" said Hu Zhiwu with a solemn and respectful tone.
Two hours later, Tang Xiu arrived in Macao along with Mo Awu and the rest. Just as he disembarked from the liner, two stalwart men strode to greet him.
"Boss!" saluted the two men respectfully.
"How"s the current situation; where are the Dark Shaman now?" asked Tang Xiu after nodding at them.
"They are in a farmhouse in the agritourism area of East Dragon Bank," answered one of them. "Captain Hu already has the place surrounded by our men and is now waiting for you to arrive, Boss."
"Let"s go there then!" said Tang Xiu.
East Dragon Bank, a farmhouse in the fis.h.i.+ng village.
Inside the dimly lit house, the white-haired youth"s face looked frosty and his eyes were full of fierceness. There was no one else behind him but the pet.i.te woman and the five black-robed old men who were now in silence.
"Creak…"
The door was pushed open and a skinny middle-aged man entered and quickly closed the door from the inside. Then he reported in a low voice, "Young Lord, we"ve investigated those people. There are a total six of them scattered around the farm cottage area. But..."
"I never liked anyone who withholds their speech with fear, you know that? Continue and finish your report!" said the youth coldly.
"Understood!" the skinny middle-aged man continued, "But I suspect their number is far more than six. Also, I can tell that they are experts given their actions and positions. They are at least on par with ordinary martial arts grandmasters."
The silver-haired youth"s pupils contracted and he interjected incredulously, "Six men who possibly on par with martial art grandmaster level experts? That"s just the number on the surface too?"
"Yes." The middle-aged-man nodded and said, "They are very fast and very vigilant. I intentionally sent our men to patrol outside, but they can easily avoid them. After the patrol squad I sent left their locations, they then appeared again silently without doing anything."
The white-haired youth clenched his fists and he replied in a heavy tone, "That good brother of mine truly sees highly of me, eh?! To think that he didn"t hesitate to pay so much to seek so many experts for the sake of my inheritance, the True Conception of Witchcraft. Hmph… it"s just that he never imagined that I"ve imparted you with the compendium eight years ago so that your strength has increased greatly. Let alone six experts at the martial art grandmaster level, even if there are sixty of them, you can exterminate all of them here."
"So what should we do next, Young Master?" asked the pet.i.te woman quickly. "Shall we go out and kill them now?"
The white-haired youth was silent for several seconds. The killing intent in his eyes slowly faded away as he shook his head and said, "It"s not yet time to tear all decency with him completely. I still need to finish the deal with Grand Fortune Jewelry"s people first. At the very least, not until I get a handful of money from them will I deal with these people. Let"s just go and leave this place to the third safe house."
"Young Lord, we still have men outside… what should we do with them?" asked the skinny middle-aged man quickly.
The youth narrowed his eyes to look at him and ask, "Do these people you"ve cultivated outside know your true ident.i.ty?"
"They don"t know about it." he shook his head.
"Then let them stay here to attract the attention of those people," said the youth coldly. "Do remember. I gave you your life, so you must be absolutely loyal to me. You know the consequences if you lied to me with this issue."
"I can fully guarantee the people I"ve trained outside are really unaware of my true ident.i.ty. They are just the tools I gathered and trained to make money here."
"Then lead the way!" the white-haired youth nodded.
"Please follow me, Young Lord," said the skinny middle-aged man hastily.
Quickly after, the group followed the skinny middle-aged man as they pa.s.sed through two hidden doors inside and entered a room where sundries and rubbish were placed. As a pair of scissors in the rubbish pile slowly rotated, a slit suddenly opened on the dirty wall, becoming wider with time to eventually form a gateway.
"Young Lord, we"ll go down the rope. Five meters below is an underground pa.s.sage. We can leave the house and come to the other bank of a hidden river nearby by following this underground pa.s.sage," whispered the thin middle-aged man.
"Go!"
The white-haired youth motioned to the pet.i.te woman. The latter grabbed the rope immediately and went down flying. After a while, the eight people all went down and the cracked wall slowly merged behind them. There were no clues nor traces that could be seen from the outside whatsoever.
Outside the farmhouse, Hu Zhizu never ever had a thought that there would be an underground pa.s.sage here. He and the dozens of Everlasting Feast Hall"s experts he brought here didn"t notice that some people had left.
Time fleeted by and four black off-road cars suddenly came from a distance like the wind. After they stopped at the gate of the agritourism area, dozens of stalwart men rushed out of the villa with machetes and sticks in their hands, each looking aggressive and threatening like a tiger. The leader of these elite strongmen looked very threatening as his eyes fixated on Tang Xiu and the rest who got out from the car.
"Boss!"
Hu Zhiwu then quickly appeared before Tang Xiu along with A Jin and greeted.
"Who are these people? Are people inside?" asked Tang Xiu.
"We"ve tracked them all the way here. That group of seven entered the row of houses in this farm cottage area. They haven"t left this place since we have the whole block surrounded," reported Hu Zhiwu.
Tang Xiu nodded at him in response and looked at the stalwart leader at the opposite side. Then he said in a deep voice, "Go tell the people inside to come out."
The stalwart man vigilantly stared at Tang Xiu and his men, and asked back in a heavy voice, "What do you mean "people"? I don"t know what you mean."