Although Gu Yan'er wanted to stay with Tang Xiu for a while, she was, after all, being plagued with her injury and she finally left despite her being reluctant to leave. Tang Xiu himself directly pa.s.sed the task of training Cheng Xuemei to Gu Xiaoxue and then stayed inside the Subaquatic Corvette to cultivate silently.

In the blink of an eye, Tang Xiu and Cheng Xuemei were on the island for the third day. Tang Xiu was unaware that hundreds of nautical miles from his location, two pa.s.senger s.h.i.+ps boarded by Tang Guosheng and the members of the 1st and 2nd Guardian squads of the Tang Family were sailing through the winds and waves towards the Strait of Malacca.

The sea was rough and full of turbulent waves, yet Tang Guosheng stood straight on the front deck of the liner. His eyes sparkled, yet they were cold and frosty. The bad news from Duanmu Lin was nearly impossible for him to accept. He was determined to find his grandson, Tang Xiu, even if he had to annihilate that underwater vestige. He must see his grandson if he lived, but even if his grandson was dead, he also must see his dead body.

"Report!" A loud voice came outside the door.

Tang Min, who was behind Tang Guosheng, opened the door and then saw the 1st Guardian squad captain, Tang Rong, there. She then asked with a deep voice, "Any issues?"

"We spotted a fleet through our telescope, to our front on the left. Two cruisers, a destroyer, and a medium-sized pa.s.senger s.h.i.+p. Judging from the sign on the s.h.i.+ps' hull, it should be the France fleet," reported Tang Rong.

Tang Guosheng turned around and looked at Tang Rong who was about to head out, and asked, "According to the information from Duanmu Lin, the France team that entered three-star vestige was completely annihilated inside, is that right?"

"Yes." Tang Rong nodded quietly.

"There's no need to contact them since the France team members all died," said Tang Guosheng coldly. "Do proceed with caution and stay alert, however. Those French failed to get anything good this time and are likely to be displeased right now. Be careful of any provocations they might send us."

"I understand." Tang Rong nodded discreetly. He then turned around and walked outside. Just as he had walked a few steps, a youth came running towards him and said in a heavy voice, "Captain, the liner s.h.i.+p from the France fleet separated from the rest of the fleet and is now racing towards our position."

"Notify everyone. Avoid that liner as much as possible and do not engage them. We'll change the plan if they keep chasing us," ordered Tang Rong in a deep voice.

More than 20 minutes later.

Although the two liners of the Tang Family had deviated from the planned route and were about to take a detour to avoid the other party, the latter still attempted to intercept the two pa.s.senger s.h.i.+ps. Therefore, Tang Guosheng personally came to the pilothouse. Although he didn't want to get into trouble, trouble had come knocking his door. His character was someone who never gave second chances as he ordered in a deep voice, "Open communication with them and ask them what they really want!"

After a while, Tang Rong reported with a grim face, "Patriarch, the other party asked us to stop sailing and demanded to inspect our s.h.i.+ps."

Killing intent burst out in Tang Guosheng's eyes as he growled, "This is international waters! What rights do those French liners have to inspect us? Tell them to leave at once; else we will take it as a provocation and attack!"

Tang Rong concurred and communicated with the other party. After it was finally determined that the other party had no goodwill toward them, Tang Guosheng fell silent for a few seconds and ordered the s.h.i.+p to stop. As the other party's liner approached, Tang Guosheng appeared on the deck with more than a dozen of people.

After he came there, he clearly saw more that more than a dozen people were similarly standing on the other pa.s.senger s.h.i.+p, led by a stocky man whose face was completely covered with a hood and who wore a sheathed saber on his waist. The rest of the more than a dozen people at his side were also armed with cold weapons, most of which were sabers and longswords

"Prepare for battle."

Tang Guosheng might be old, but he was still a decisive man. He immediately issued the command upon seeing the weapons carried by the other party.

Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+

Four figures streaked forward from the other liner with breakneck speed. They were just like launched arrows; they traversed over twenty meters without borrowing any power as they straightly arrived in front of Tang Guosheng. At the moment when the four of them made a defensive stance, the stocky leader soared mid-air to fly and then stood in front of the four men in just a breath.

"Hmph… Chinese, huh?" the strong man coldly snorted with more killing intent in his eyes.

Tang Guosheng looked at the stocky man as if he was facing a formidable enemy and said in a deep voice, "We're Chinese indeed. You French didn't get anything good from the three-star vestige and are now running amok and giving us trouble? You're really asking for death!"

The stocky man replied mockingly, "I never thought that you would know about the three-star vestige. Seems like you have quite the stature! Maybe those four Chinese who came out from the three-star vestige are hiding in your s.h.i.+p."

"Hiding?" Tang Guosheng sneered, "Why should our Chinese experts need to hide?"

"Since you don't need to hide anything, then why do you look like you're hiding something?" retorted the stocky man scornfully. "Take them out and hand over the things they obtained from the three-star vestige and I'll keep your bodies intact. Else, don't blame me for being ruthless when I completely annihilate all the people on your two s.h.i.+ps."

"Depending on you?" Tang Rong paced a few steps forward and heavily punched the stocky man.

He was an elite expert trained by the Tang Family since childhood and had broken through to the level of martial arts grandmaster at the age of 35, and then he retired from the army. After over a year of cultivation, he reached the peak of a martial arts grandmaster six months ago, and was sent to the Everlasting Feast Hall where he finally broke through to a higher level after some inhumane training. At present, he was comparable to a middle-stage Qi Refining expert.

Faint surprise could be seen flas.h.i.+ng in the stocky man's eyes. A burst of flames suddenly formed as he raised his hands and threw the flames forward to clash with Tang Rong's heavy punch.

BOOM…

Tang Rong's complexion greatly changed. The blazing heat caused his fist to turn red the moment his punch clashed with the flame. The two fire dragons broke free from the flame and moved along his arm to blast his chest.

One strike and Tang Rong who was at the middle-stage Qi Refining expert was heavily blown and severely injured by his opponent.

The stocky man didn't continue attacking after winning the bout but arrogantly mocked, "You still want to strike me with just that trivial strength of yours? You've bitten off more than you can chew. I already warned you before. Hand over the things you got from the three-star vestige, else I'll butcher every one of you!"

Tang Guosheng's expression drastically changed. Never did he expect that this stocky man turned out to be an Elementalist, even a horrifyingly powerful one. All the experts he brought today were the strongest armed forces of the Tang Family. Among them, Tang Rong was ranked among the best.

Yet, Tang Rong was so easily defeated and was heavily injured by them?

At this time, Tang Guosheng felt somewhat bitter inside. What was his stature? Apart from the Amur Tiger before, when and where had he been forced to eat such bitter abuse?

"FATHER!"

Tang Min led two men and two women as they appeared next to Tang Guosheng with a bit of worry on her face. She propped up Tang Rong first and then looked at Tang Guosheng.

Tang Guosheng inhaled deeply but didn't pay attention to Tang Min. Instead, he stared at the stocky man and said, "You're indeed very powerful, but what about the rest of your people? Are they as powerful as you? I have a similar number of experts on my two s.h.i.+ps, no less than you. You want to eradicate us, but are you sure your men can last to the end?"

"You? Causing heavy losses for us? Just depending on you? Hahaha…" the stocky man mocked, "When did you Chinese learn s.h.i.+t to scare people with, huh?"

"Do I need to say anything just to scare you people?" spat back Tang Guosheng coldly. "If you really think so, bring it on! It's the high seas here; it will be easy to destroy the corpses and leave no trace. I really want to see who will be utterly annihilated—me, or your men!"

The stocky man looked hesitant. Although he was very confident about his men, the enemy he just fought was by no means weak. At least, there were only three people among his men who were stronger than that man. If these Chinese had many people stronger than the man he just fought, easily killing them was out of the question.

"I want to get the things you Chinese obtained from the three-star vestige, not to kill you. Hand them over, and we'll leave immediately."

"I don't need to say that you've found the wrong people. Even if we do have those things, I would never hand them over to you," replied Tang Guosheng in a deep voice.

The stocky man was silent for a moment and then said slowly, "If so, then I'll take a step back. Divide the things you've obtained equally with us. We can share it if its technological products. Old man, this is the most I can offer you; don't even try to challenge it."

"Are you sure we have some items from three-star vestige?" asked Tang Guosheng.

"I am sure." answered the stocky man bluntly.

Tang Guosheng took a deep breath, then stepped back a few steps and roared, "Everyone, listen to me! If these people dare to attack us, strike back at once! We already planned to go out without hoping to come back. If we must die today, we shall die! But we must drag them to the h.e.l.l with us!"

"YES!"

Tens of members of the 1st and 2nd Guardian squads of the Tang Family appeared from the cabin one after another for a total of 62 people, but 61 that could enter the fight. Tang Guosheng was also aware of the two men and two women brought by Tang Min. He knew that these people were very powerful as they were experts Tang Xiu sent to protect the Tang Family.

"You f.u.c.king old s.h.i.+t!"

The stocky man cursed furiously and raised his hand. Two fire dragons instantly formed in his hands as he paced forward and waved his arms, sending the aggressive fire dragons to flush forward towards Tang Guosheng.