A glimpse of opportunity: Start by marrying a mermaid bride.

Zheng Xuan assigned Chunping the task of inciting the people to go to the foreign church to cause trouble, disrupt things, and distract the foreigners. Otherwise, the foreign army would arrive as soon as they started to act at the foreign church, and they would be put on the defensive.

Chunping looked at Zheng Xuan and asked, "What reason are you making a fuss about?"

Zheng Xuan thought for a moment and asked, "Are there any major events in Tianjin recently that the people are concerned about?"

Chunping thought for a moment and said, "Does losing a child count?"

"A lost child?"

Chunping said, "Yes, recently children have been going missing in Tianjin, and the parents are very worried. They have gone to the government office to file complaints, but the government office is short-staffed and has not provided any solutions."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xuan said, "Well, use the story of the missing child. Tell the outside world that there was a child named Erdan in Xiahe Village, Tanghe Town. He wasn't taken away by the water monkeys, but by foreigners for experiments. His body is currently in the foreigners' church. And it's not just children, but also many adults who were taken away by the foreigners."

"Make this a big deal out of it, but be careful about your personal safety and try not to let anyone know who you are."

Upon hearing this, Chunping looked at Zheng Xuan and asked, "Do you have any evidence for this?"

Zheng Xuan said, "Don't worry, I saw it with my own eyes."

Upon hearing this, Chunping said, "Alright, as long as you saw it with your own eyes, I agree to it."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xuan clasped his hands in a fist salute, and Chunping returned the salute. Song Jin'ao said, "There's no time to lose, let's set off now!"

Zheng Xuan nodded. Seeing that Chunping and Chen Shouyi had already completed their tasks, the last remaining young disciple said, "Master, I'll go with you."

Upon hearing this, Song Jin'ao said, "Ziping, you stay here. Although you have good talent, you have not been practicing martial arts for long. The most important thing for you now is to accumulate blood energy and prepare to break through to the next level and enter the next stage."

Upon hearing this, Li Ziping said, "But Master..."

"No buts. These mere foreigners can't do anything to your master. You need to improve your martial arts skills, and in the martial arts examination a year from now, you need to be in the top four and pass the exam to become a martial arts scholar. That would be enough to honor your master."

Before Li Ziping could react, Song Jin'ao turned to Zheng Xuan and said, "Let's go."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xuan immediately followed Song Jin'ao away. After leaving the mansion, the two arrived at the city gate. At this moment, Song Jin'ao took out a grappling hook from his pocket. The hook had an iron claw at the front and a rope at the back.

It is an essential item for those in the martial arts world who rise to power or fall from grace.

"I'll fly up to the city wall first, and you hold onto the rope while I pull you up."

Song Jin'ao said to Zheng Xuan, and Zheng Xuan looked at Song Jin'ao and said, "Uncle Song, there's no need for that. Let's just go through the main gate."

"The main gate?"

Song Jin'ao frowned. The guards at the main gate were from the patrol battalion, which belonged to the county magistrate's faction and did not have a good relationship with their Baoguo Society. How could they possibly open the gate for him?

But Zheng Xuan said, "I know someone at the main gate. I came through the main gate, and he left the door open for us."

Upon hearing this, Song Jin'ao looked at Zheng Xuan with suspicion. Zheng Xuan went directly to the city gate, where Cao San and the others were sharing braised meat. When they saw Zheng Xuan, they saw him.

Cao San said, "Brother, you want to leave the city? Quickly open the city gate a crack."

As he spoke and gave his instructions, Cao San tore off a chicken leg from the roast chicken and said, "This is a roast chicken I just bought. Brother, have a taste."

"Thank you, Brother Cao."

Zheng Xuan took the chicken leg; he was indeed quite hungry and began to eat it heartily. Cao San laughed and said, "We're brothers, let's get out of the city quickly."

Zheng Xuan glanced at Song Jin'ao, who then put away the grappling hook in his hand and followed Zheng Xuan out of the city gate.

Even now, Song Jin'ao still feels very strange. He has spent half his life scaling walls and rooftops, but this is the first time he has ever entered through the main gate during curfew.

Zheng Xuan and Song Jin'ao left the city. Song Jin'ao said, "Shall we go straight to the foreign church?"

Zheng Xuan shook his head and said, "I've seen that foreign church before. It's very close to the French consulate. There are soldiers inside the consulate. If we go straight through, they'll surely riddle us with bullets."

Song Jin'ao neither agreed nor disagreed.

Zheng Xuan said, "Let's go back to the village first. I'm afraid these foreigners will arrest Brother Zhou. Let's let Brother Zhou and the others hide in advance. Then we'll go to the foreigners' church from the river and enter through the underwater passage of the foreigners' church."

"A Western-style church has an underwater tunnel?"

Song Jin'ao looked puzzled.

Zheng Xuan said, "Yes, my master mentioned it briefly when he was explaining the underground currents of the Haihe River to me."

Song Jin'ao nodded, and then followed Zheng Xuan to the village. On the way, Song Jin'ao found that Zheng Xuan was very proper in his work, very thoughtful in his considerations, and also very good in his dealings with people. Especially at the city gate, when did he become brothers with the patrol battalion captain?

This kid really surprises people all the time.

It's a pity that, judging from his physical attributes, he is not a martial arts genius. If he wants to achieve something, he needs top-notch techniques, supplements, and hard work.

Zheng Xuan had no idea what Song Jin'ao was thinking. What worried him more now was that the foreigners would raid his hideout and kidnap the fisherwoman. If they then discovered the fisherwoman's mermaid identity, Zheng Xuan couldn't even imagine what would happen given the foreigners' character.

Thinking this, Zheng Xuan quickened his pace.

The two quickly ran into the village. Zheng Xuan rushed into his house immediately. It was obvious that someone had been there, but the fisherwoman was nowhere to be seen!

Damn it!

Zheng Xuan was truly enraged. At that moment, he punched the wall, his eyes blazing with fury. "Damn foreign devils, I'll fight you to the death!"

Just then, Zhou Xun and Song Jin'ao walked into the courtyard. Although Zhou Xun reeked of alcohol, he had already sobered up. Upon seeing Zheng Xuan, he said, "Xuan, you're finally back! I... I failed to protect my sister-in-law!"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xuan said to Zhou Xun, "It's not your fault, Senior Brother. Did you tell me that the fisherwoman was captured by foreigners?"

Zhou Xun paused for a moment upon hearing this, then replied, "Yes and no."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xuan immediately said, "Senior brother, let's not beat around the bush now. What do you mean by 'yes or no'?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xun said, "Initially, my sister-in-law was indeed captured by the foreigners. When I arrived, I watched as they took her onto the ship. However, after the ship entered the water, some kind of monster appeared and capsized seven or eight ships in an instant. All the foreigners fell into the water and were bitten to death by the monster."

"And my younger siblings were also kidnapped by the monster."

monster?

Zheng Xuan was taken aback, then quickly said, "Does that monster have a tiger's head and a fish's tail?"

Zhou Xun frowned slightly: "It seems so. It was too dark to see clearly, but I knew it was huge. The small boat was capsized in an instant!"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xuan frowned. This news was neither good nor bad, but it certainly wasn't bad news. The fact that the fisherwoman had been taken away by the monster meant that she was not in immediate danger. If she were in danger, the monster would have eaten her in the water; why would it have taken her away?

As long as there's no immediate danger, I'm confident I can save her!