Under One Person: The Sea Emperor Who Shattered Heaven and Earth

Bai Fu knocked on the door.

Jiang Zhen opened the door and saw Bai Fu standing there. The light from the corridor shone from the side, illuminating half of Bai Fu's face. His expression was strange; it wasn't the seriousness of someone who had done something wrong, but rather the seriousness of someone who didn't know what had happened.

He was holding a letter in his hand.

"Boss, your secret message."

Jiang Zhen took it and looked it over. The envelope was very ordinary, without any markings. The seal was simply pasted on, without any sealing wax or stamp.

Who sent it?

Bai Fu shook his head: "The person who delivered the letter was extremely skilled. He didn't go through the main gate; he left it directly at my door. None of the guards around me noticed anything."

"The cover only had four words written on it: 'To be opened by Jiang Zhen'."

Jiang Zhen tore open the seal, pulled out the letter, and unfolded it.

The paper first had an address written on it. The description was extremely detailed, even marking the landmarks along the way. Judging from the location, it was deep in the Qinling Mountains.

His gaze shifted to the very end of the letter.

The signature consisted of only one name, three characters, which was quite conspicuous.

Rootless.

Chapter 79 Who dares to step into the gates of the Canal Gang to demand people from him?

Bai Fu watched Jiang Zhen staring blankly at the note, his heart pounding with anxiety. He had never seen his gang leader show such an expression before; it was a mixture of absurdity and amusement.

"Boss, has something serious happened?" Bai Fu couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

Jiang Zhen snapped out of his daze, chuckled, and casually handed the letter to Bai Fu.

"See for yourself."

Bai Fu hurriedly took it with both hands and looked at it under the dim light of the desk lamp. When his gaze fell on the last three large characters "Wugensheng", his hand suddenly trembled.

"Wu...Wugensheng? That monstrous leader of the Quanxing Sect?"

Bai Fu's voice rose half a tone, his face darkening as he looked at Jiang Zhen, "Who does he think he is? How dare he? Does this Quanxing Sect Leader have a death wish?"

In Bai Fu's mind, Quanxing was just a bunch of lowlife lunatics, while his own gang leader was now the head of the Cao Gang, the head of the China Waterway, the officially appointed Pillar of the East China Sea, and a giant who controlled the world's lifeline of pharmaceuticals.

For a member of the Quanxing sect, a type of person universally reviled in the world of supernatural beings, to actually deliver a letter directly to Jiang Zhen at the door of the Cao Gang's chief steward, was, in Bai Fu's eyes, an utter disgrace.

"Boss, the address in this letter... Qinling? Is he trying to get you to ambush him?" Bai Fu analyzed anxiously. "Should I gather the brothers right away? He dares to play this trick on you. I think he's tired of living."

Jiang Zhen waved his hand, seeing Bai Fu's alarmed expression.

"That's ridiculous, just ignore it."

"This madman has probably been in the mountains for too long and lost his mind. What kind of relationship do I have with him? I didn't kill him before because of the Sanyi Sect. But he really thinks he's something special."

Having said that, he reached out and took the letter back from Bai Fu's hand, rubbing it lightly with his fingertips.

"hiss--"

A subtle vibration spread out instantly, the edges of the letter curled and turned black, and were quickly consumed by a small flame, turning into black ashes.

"Burn it clean, so it won't be an eyesore to look at it." Jiang Zhen clapped his hands.

Seeing this, Bai Fu breathed a sigh of relief.

He was genuinely worried that his gang leader might have some kind of secret dealings with the Quanxing gang.

Although Jiang Zhen always acted unconventionally, sometimes even to the point of being rebellious, the Quanxing sect was a "scandal" that anyone who got involved with would be tainted, and in the martial arts world, no amount of effort could clear their name. Now, seeing how decisively Jiang Zhen burned his hair, Bai Fu realized he had worried too much.

"I misunderstood, Chief is wise." Bai Fu smiled and bowed. "Then you should rest early. I'll go patrol again and see if there's anyone who's not paying attention and is still wandering around nearby."

"Go ahead," Jiang Zhen waved his hand.

After Bai Fu left, the study door was gently closed, and the footsteps faded into the distance, the smile on Jiang Zhen's face slowly disappeared.

“Wugensheng, Wugensheng.” He spoke in a low voice, his previous contempt gone, replaced by an extremely complex meaning. “You have more audacity than I imagined.”

As a time traveler, he knew all too well what this note meant.

Qinling Mountains, Twenty-Four Seasonal Valleys.

When these keywords are strung together, there is only one answer: the sworn brotherhood of the Thirty-Six Thieves.

This group of people were all high-ranking masters from various sects. They became sworn brothers in the Twenty-Four Valleys deep in the Qinling Mountains. Most of them were later hunted down and killed by their respective sects. Wugensheng was the core of all this.

But Jiang Zhen never expected that Wugensheng would actually dare to hand the letter to him.

This truly made him feel absurd.

What is his current status?

In worldly terms, he was the leader of the Grand Canal Gang, controlling the entire waterway and ocean trade of China, as well as the world's only penicillin production line. The money in his accounts could make any head of state take notice; the armed forces under his command could launch a war at any time.

In the martial arts world, he is recognized as the top expert without exception.

Should we send him to become sworn brothers with Wugensheng?

This is no longer about lowering oneself; it's purely a matter of stance.

But just as Jiang Zhen was about to put the matter out of his mind, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

"Wait... Oh no!"

Jiang Zhen's eyelids twitched, and his heart clenched sharply. "My humerus!"

Jiang Zhen's figure flashed, and he seemed to disappear into thin air. The next second, he had silently appeared on a rooftop at the highest point of the Cao Gang headquarters.

The view here is excellent, offering a panoramic view of the entire city of Shanghai.

really.

At the side gate in the southeast corner of the backyard, a slender figure nimbly vaulted over the wall, the movement clean and swift, landing silently, clearly not the first time she had done this.

Jiang Zhen sat on the roof, watching Duanmu Ying's nimble leap over the wall, and sighed inwardly.

"I've never seen her practice kung fu so diligently, but she's quite skilled at scaling walls."

Then, less than ten minutes later...

There was also some noise coming from the back door of the workshop on the west side of the backyard.

Jiang Zhen turned his head and saw a person carefully pushing the door open and coming out.

Ma Ben is here.

The two walked in completely different directions, but their destination was clearly the same.

He looked in the direction where the two had disappeared, took a step, and then stopped.

"never mind."

Jiang Zhen slowly sat down, one leg dangling over the eaves.

He wasn't young before; back in his junior and senior high school days, when he got carried away and did stupid things, he wouldn't listen to any advice.

Moreover, this was indeed their opportunity.

As for the consequences?

Who is Jiang Zhen?

He refused to believe that even if they became the so-called "Thirty-Six Thieves," even if all the famous sects in the world wanted to hunt them down, who would dare to step into the gates of the Canal Gang to demand their release?

Thinking about this, a very interesting idea popped into Jiang Zhen's mind.

Ma Benzai and Duanmu Ying were clearly going their separate ways and unaware of each other's identities.

When the two hurriedly arrived at the Qinling Mountains and met in that nameless valley, they discovered that the other was also there...

Tut tut

Jiang Zhen could almost picture that scene.

Nothing happened today, time to sleep.

The sun rose as usual the next morning.

The streets of Shanghai have returned to their bustling state, the staff at the headquarters of the Canal Gang have begun busily moving supplies, and the foreign experts have started arguing loudly in the laboratory.

Bai Fu was busy at the gate, checking a new batch of overseas remittances.

"Hey, by the way," Bai Fu suddenly looked up and called out to a passing shop assistant, "Where's Dr. Duanmu? Wasn't he supposed to be delivering a new batch of petri dishes to the lab today? I haven't seen him at all."

The waiter said, "We didn't see her, but Dr. Lin Zhu said that when she went to see Dr. Duanmu today, she found a letter she left in her room saying that she was going back to Jishetang."

Bai Fu then went to the workshop.

"Where's Master Ma? Didn't you say there was a new machine you needed to test?"

The apprentices in the workshop looked at each other, and one of them scratched his head and said, "Master said last night that he was going back to Tangtian Craft Hall."

Bai Fu had a feeling that something was wrong. It would be one thing if one of them was not there, but for two of them to disappear at the same time, especially late at night, without even saying goodbye, was something else entirely.

Just then, Jiang Zhen strolled down from upstairs.

"Master," Bai Fu quickly stepped forward, "Do you know Doctor Duanmu and Master Ma...?"

Bai Fu was interrupted by Jiang Zhen before he could finish speaking.

"Don't bother looking anymore, they've gone on a business trip, it'll probably be a month or so."

Chapter 80 The Oath of Brotherhood of the Thirty-Six Thieves

Leaving Shanghai, passing through Henan and Shaanxi, the deeper you go into the Qinling Mountains, the sparser the population becomes.

Ma Ben traveled with great anxiety, changing buses three times before finally hiring an old donkey. He wasn't afraid of bandits, but rather of seeing acquaintances.

They were especially afraid of seeing members of the Grand Canal gang.

After all, he came out this time to see Wugensheng, the leader of the Quanxing Demon Clan.

"Don't let Brother Jiang find out." Ma Ben sat on the donkey's back, chewing on a dry, hard flatbread while cautiously observing his surroundings.

As he passed a mountain ridge path, he caught a glimpse of a dark blue shadow flashing through the woods ahead. The movement, the gait, sent a chill down Ma Ben's spine.

"Oh no, is that Sister Yingzi?"