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The turbulent surface of the lake finally calmed down again.

A massive crocodile nearly sixty meters in length swam calmly in the water and got next to “Longwind,” swishing its tail in the water like a dog. It had lost all of its earlier berserk and tyrannical aura.

“Whew, we finally suceeded,” Zhou Juanjia said, wiping off the sweat from her forehead. “It’s still far too difficult for me to fully control a mid-tier Demonic Beast with my current strength; it took me three Spirit Sobering Medicines to conquer it.”

“It’s still a mid-tier Demonic Beast no matter how you look at it. How could it be easy to control? Now that you have control of this guy, however, you probably won’t need to switch it out for a long time. That’s quite a profit!” Jiang Hanfeng laughed as he congratulated her.

In terms of level, mid-tier Demonic Beasts were roughly equivalent to high-tier Yang Opening Realm cultivators.

But in terms of pure strength, the situation was not the same. Among Demonic Beasts, there were many differences in strength. Just like how humans in the same cultivation realm had very different strengths, the same was true of Demonic Beasts. A powerful mid-tier Demonic Beast could possess strength that far exceeded expectations.

The Lord-Class Bloodriver Demon had required the combined efforts of four Light Shaking Realm cultivators and the support of many lower-level Origin Qi Scholars. The battle lasted for three days, clearly demonstrating the power of Demonic Beasts.

This Devilish Crocodile was the same. Even though it was only a mid-tier Demonic Beast, it could display a shocking amount of power as long as it was in the water. Even seven or eight Yang Opening Realm cultivators encircling it might not be enough. Otherwise, how could even the Jade Mountain Army run and hide when they encountered it?

“Alright. With this Devilish Crocodile, we can begin to prepare to deal with the Jade Mountain Army and the Qingyuan Army,” Tang Ming said confidently.

“Don’t be in such a hurry,” Zhou Juanjia said. “Third Senior Brother said that we don’t need to be in a rush to deal with Jade Mountain Army and Qingyuan Army yet. Our primary goal is to establish a solid footing and foundation upon which we can expand.”

“That’s exactly the issue with how Su Chen does things. He’s too stable and lacks any drive,” Tang Ming said with some dissatisfaction.

Zhou Juanjia calmly replied, “This is what you need to learn from him. Su Chen’s considerations are actually very logical. After all, our cultivation bases are still low, while the ten Bloodline Nobility Clans run large businesses with many powerful underlings. They have a lot of problems they have to deal with and can’t focus all of their attention on dealing with us. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t do anything to us. The current advantage we have is that our opponents haven’t placed all of their focus on us. If we’re too excessive, we will definitely incur an all-out counter-attack. If we irritate a Light Shaking Realm existence and draw him out, we’ll be in big trouble.”

Why hadn’t Su Chen taken all of the forts in West River City for himself even though he could have thought of a way to do it?

That was because he knew if he did that, he would have completely cut off the ten Bloodline Nobility Clans’ resources. This would absolutely pull out the old freaks behind the Bloodline Nobility Clans.

By similar logic, if he wiped out Jade Mountain Army and Qingyuan Army, causing the Bloodline Nobility Clans in Clear River City to lose complete control over the waterways, it was likely that some of those old freaks would be drawn out.

This was all a matter of uprooting!

The ten Bloodline Nobility Clans were like ten old trees with deep roots reaching all the way to the sky. If you dealt with the trees starting from the roots, you would be looking to die unless you had strength that could suppress everything.

If you weren’t strong enough, the best way to deal with those trees would be to first cut off the branches and leaves to weaken the target before gradually digging it up.

Su Chen had taken Happiness Residing Fort in West River Forest and established the Third River Army in Lingyuan Marsh but had left behind a majority of opponents there for this exact reason.

He had broken the monopoly of the ten Bloodline Nobility Clans in these two areas, but he never threatened the foundation of the Bloodline Nobility Clans there. This left him a way out.

Perhaps he would push the Bloodline Nobility Clans into a corner sooner or later, but at the very least, Su Chen could control the timing. At that time, Su Chen would have enough strength to fight back.

Tang Ming’s way of doing things might result in a temporary moment of bliss, but afterward, they would all be massacred.

“Alright, that makes some sense. Let’s do it that way,” Tang Ming said helplessly.

If anyone else were reasoning with him, he definitely wouldn’t listen. Zhou Juanjia, however, was his girlfriend, and he couldn’t be stubborn with her.

While Tang Ming controlled the Third River Army in name, the person who actually made the decisions was Zhou Juanjia.

Anyone who went to the Goldwater Ruins all had one’s own talents. Tang Ming relied on his Demonic Emperor Bloodline and powerful combat ability, while the young lady relied not on controlling Demonic Beasts but on her clear, bright mind. While Su Chen was present, her radiance was suppressed by Su Chen, but now that Su Chen wasn’t here, the talents that had been suppressed could finally begin to shine.

“So what should we do next?” Jiang Hanfeng asked.

“Jade Mountain Army and Qingyuan Army can’t be wiped out, but that doesn’t mean we can’t weaken them. The Bloodline Nobility Clans are still transporting cargo. We cannot completely cut off all of their trade routes, but we still need to fight the battles we need to fight. After all, there are a lot of people we need to take care of. We just spent so much energy to control the Devilish Crocodile, so we’ll need to use it at some point. We won’t be fighting a full-scale battle, but we’ll be engaging in many skirmishes, which will help us wear down our opponents and weaken them. During this next period of time, we should focus on keeping their strength in check and limiting their influence on the waterways while simultaneously increasing our own strength. Su Chen also needs experimental subjects while we need more talented sailors. We can determine the best and worst sailors in battle and send them over to Su Chen. The talented ones will be rewarded with Hemolytic Totems, while the worst ones will become Su Chen’s research subjects,” Zhou Juanjia said calmly.

The wind blew through the maiden’s long hair. She spoke very calmly, but her words would affect the development of the situation in Lingyuan Marsh......

From this day onwards, the Third River Army would begin to attack all parties from all directions, setting up ambushes everywhere and plundering the waterways.

From the outside, it seemed like they attacked everyone, but in reality, their main targets were the boats belonging to the Bloodline Nobility Clans or pirates who were tied to them.

They didn’t try and touch the Jade Mountain and Qingyuan Armies, but the smaller bandit groups that relied on them for protection were subjected to misfortune.

The Third River Army began to swallow up small forces one after another mercilessly and with extreme cunning. They were giving everyone a headache.

Even though there were pirates who opposed them doing things this way, there was nothing they could do. The Third River Army always pushed things to the bottom line, allowing them to gain the most benefits while meeting their own needs. Most importantly, the profits of the Bloodline Nobility Clans weren’t the profits of all the pirates. The Third River Army actually had the support of some of the pirates because of their battles with the Clear River City Bloodline Nobility Clans.

For instance, the Black River Army had never gotten along with the Bloodline Nobility Clans.

They tossed an olive branch at the Third River Army.

In the third month of Zhou Juanjia’s control over the Third River Army, the Third River Army launched a large-scale attack against the Lingyuan Army, one of the two pirate groups representing the Bloodline Nobility Clans’ profits. The Jade Mountain Army was unable to participate because they were tied up by the Black River Army.

The result was totally unexpected.

The Lingyuan Army, who was much stronger on paper, suffered a huge defeat. Even the commander of the Lingyuan Army, an expert at the peak of the Yang Opening Realm, was swallowed in one bite by the Devilish Crocodile.

The pirates, who had the overpowered ability to swim freely in the water, aided by an armored warship equipped with a powerful Origin Formation, a Demonic Emperor Bloodline, and that frighteningly fierce Devilish Crocodile, became legends in stories that would commonly be told over cups of tea.

A new star was beginning to rise in the pirate world; the Third River Army was becoming one of the most powerful pirate groups in Lingyuan Marsh.

The Qingyuan Army still existed, but their influence and strength had fallen significantly.

Fall came. The branches and leaves on these Bloodline Nobility Clans were slowly beginning to decay.