However, the other party’s killing intent didn’t erupt. After he agreed to owe the spirit stones, it quickly dissipated.
Xu Qing was finally relieved. He turned his head and looked in the direction of Panquan Road in the distance. A cold glint flashed in his eyes.
He quickly retracted his gaze and stepped into the Homicide Department. He then handed Sun Dewang over to the collection office of the department and took the bounty.
Before he left, he gave some spirit coins to the fellow sect member in charge of collecting the wanted criminals and politely asked him about Zhao Zhongheng.
The disciple in charge of the collection kept the spirit coins with a fake smile and told Xu Qing about what he knew.
His words were roughly the same as the captain’s, but it wasn’t as detailed. Xu Qing left after thanking him.
On the way to his berth, Xu Qing’s eyes revealed contemplation as he recalled the events of the night.
“The captain is very strong and also evil. He seems to treat me a little differently. What’s his motive?”
After pondering for a while, Xu Qing returned to his berth. A sense of vigilance rose in his heart as he took out a bamboo slip from his pocket. This item was very old and seemed to have been used for a very long time.
On it was a densely-packed row of names that had been crossed out. There was one that hadn’t been crossed out, and that was the Diamond Sect’s ancestor.
Xu Qing picked up the iron stick and began to carve the words ‘Panquan Road’s Old Man’.
After that, he wrote the word ‘captain’. He thought about it and added a question mark after the word ‘captain’.
He had carved the name because of the captain’s previous killing intent. The question mark was because the killing intent had been neutralized by a hundred spirit stones.
Xu Qing threw this matter to the back of his mind. He didn’t want to probe into the captain’s secrets, so he took out Sun Dewang’s leather pouch and opened it.
Looking at the content, he sank into silence.
He thought of what the other party had said when he walked out of the gambling den.
As expected, there was nothing valuable left in the leather pouch. Xu Qing frowned and tossed the leather pouch to the side. He then sat cross-legged and began to cultivate.
Time passed by just like this, and Xu Qing, who had obtained 20 spirit stones, didn’t head to Panquan Road again. That old man from the inn was suspected of trying to get rid of him through someone else, and Xu Qing had already started planning how he could quietly get rid of him.
However, this matter was a little difficult, so Xu Qing didn’t plan to act rashly and alert the enemy.
During this period of time, other than cultivating, he used spirit stones to buy expensive materials to improve his magic boat.
This allowed his level two magic boat to increase by two levels, reaching level four sturdiness.
The appearance of the magic boat had changed drastically. Not only did its length and width increase by a lot, but the most important thing was that its body was covered not only with the scale totem from before but also with real scales.
With such a dense amount of scales, the entire magic boat looked no different from a real crocodile on the surface of the sea. The feeling of cruelness it gave off was even more intense. This was especially so for the crocodile head, which seemed to have gained sentience. Its carved eyes revealed a hint of life.
That was because Xu Qing had bought two pieces of spiral rock that enhanced sturdiness and replaced its eyes, allowing the defense of this boat to be more comprehensive.
The original black canopy also became a hut. With the boat and the hut, Xu Qing felt even more sense of security.
Not everyone in the harbor had such a level-four boat. Although the materials Xu Qing chose were all low-grade, they still attracted some attention in Port 79.
There was nothing he could do about this. Even though he requested the shopkeeper to conceal the matter of refining, the effect wasn’t great. Hence, Xu Qing could only be more cautious and vigilant.
Fortunately, after so many years, being cautious and vigilant was already a part of his life.
The rapid improvement of the magic boat sped up his plan to go out to sea.
All of these made Xu Qing have more expectations for the magic boat. Although the expenditure was a lot, he felt that it was worth it.
As for Zhao Zhongheng, he did not come to trouble him. He seemed to have been intimidated by the captain.
At the same time, the Homicide Department no longer searched for Night Dove on the surface. However, the atmosphere inside had clearly become tense. This made Xu Qing feel that the time to reel in the net spread around Night Dove was almost here.
Two days later, Xu Qing, who was already off duty, received a notice before he could leave the Homicide Department. No one was allowed to leave the Homicide Department today. They were to stay in their respective teams and wait for orders.
Their voice transmission jade slips were also restricted.
Xu Qing understood that they were going to draw the net tonight.
This was indeed the case. Two hours later, just as dusk fell, Xu Qing, who was waiting with the team, saw the captain’s figure.
“The department has decided that today, all the seven regions will draw the net on Night Dove. From the confirmed news, there are a total of 17 Night Dove’s hiding spots in the port area. All teams from the Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow Divisions will be dispatched together.”
“Xu Qing, the location you handed over is correct. This time, our team is moving together with Team Three of the Earth Division. Our target is this location.” The captain smiled at Xu Qing. After that, his expression turned solemn as he swept his gaze across all the team members.
“In this stronghold, there are two people at the perfected Qi Condensation Realm, four people at the ninth level of Qi Condensation, seven people at the eighth level, and 25 others!”
“The department attaches great importance to this matter. Every team member of the team who kills the enemy leader at any stronghold will be rewarded with ten spirit stones. The person who kills the enemy leader will be rewarded with another eighty spirit stones!”
“Other than that, every head of Night Dove’s members is worth ten spirit stones. Brothers, it’s time to earn some extra money!”
When Xu Qing heard this, his eyes suddenly narrowed. If he wanted to upgrade his level-four magic boat to level six, he only needed a dozen spirit stones if he chose low quality materials. However, if he wanted to choose the mid quality ones, he would need around eighty spirit stones. As for the high quality ones, Xu Qing didn’t consider them. They were ridiculously expensive.
During these few days, he was still worrying about how to obtain spirit stones. Now, when he heard his captain’s words, Xu Qing’s eyes gleamed.