Chapter 2378: Sea Fortress

Cong Shuai successfully slipped into the Demon Abyss base, and this was discovered by Ying Chou, who was secretly watching and then reported it to Tang Ming.

After Tang Ming found out, he went straight to see Lu Gou and his disciple living in West Continent City, as well as the Prophet and Guo Cunhou.

The Prophet was still being held in someone’s arms, but he could already speak; because of his relationship with Guo Cunhou, it was Guo Cunhou who was carrying him.

Seeing Mountain Ghost Granny standing at Wang Chuan’s side, Guo Cunhou smiled at Wang Chuan, then clasped his hands to Lu Gou beside him: “Senior Lu Gou, it’s been a long time.”

“This old man has lived far overseas and rarely comes over. I originally wanted to pay a special visit to Grand Steward Guo, but you’re always busy. Without City Lord Tang Ming’s permission, I wouldn’t dare disturb you.”

Lu Gou bared his teeth in a grin and teased Guo Cunhou.

Wang Chuan sent the attendants away; with Zhou Mo handling matters outside, no one was allowed to come in. Then he coughed lightly: “Senior Mountain Ghost has brought news—Cong Shuai succeeded over there. But the specific intelligence is still unclear.”

“Cong Shuai’s success was inevitable. Otherwise, the Prophet and I wouldn’t have trained him for nothing. It’s just, those fellows who went with him—will they slip up and show their true colors?”

Lu Gou nodded with a bit of pride, then his gaze fell on Guo Cunhou and the old Prophet.

Back then, they were all demonized by the old West Desolation demon. At that time, they were enemies of Tang Ming.

Tang Ming gave a light cough: “I actually trust them quite a lot. In truth, they were bewitched back then. Cunhou has talked this over with me.”

Hearing Tang Ming’s words, Guo Cunhou stood up.

“Everyone knows I once served as strategist in West Desolation City. I understand the soldiers of West Desolation City better than anyone. Those demonized soldiers were ultimately under my management. Through psychological counseling, training, observation, and covert analysis, I selected them. The ones Cong Shuai took are all absolutely loyal to the Taoyuan World. Many of them are even descendants of those who once fought demons in the West Desolation. They will not betray West Continent City.”

Guo Cunhou slapped his chest in guarantee.

The Prophet in his arms also spoke: “Lu Gou’s concerns aren’t wrong. But with the arrow already nocked and loosed, we can only choose to trust them.”

“Mm. I think that, since the people of the Blood Ancestor Divine Sect can help us pin down those Abyss Demons, the defensive works of West Continent City must be established as well.”

Tang Ming took a deep breath and then spoke.

“Yes, the demons from the Abyss and the people of the Blood Ancestor Divine Sect are both far too formidable. The Underground Maze will become their battlefield, but we can’t rule out the possibility that they’ll strike at West Continent City. We should increase manpower over at Demon Origin Mountain; we can’t let Senior Mountain Ghost take people to risk it alone over there.”

Guo Cunhou nodded and looked toward Mountain Ghost Granny.

Mountain Ghost Granny, however, shook her head and said, “Demon Origin Mountain is extremely complex. If no one passes through for a long time, those cliffs will naturally repair themselves. I suspect that the Demon Salamander hasn’t completely died—it’s only suffered heavy wounds and fallen into slumber.”

“Oh? There’s such a possibility?” The Prophet’s pupils contracted, and he fell silent.

“In any case, those are not matters we should be worrying about right now. I need to build a fortress out on the sea surface by the Spirit Trees.”

Tang Ming took out a map and marked a spot along the coast of the Spirit Tree Plain, then said.

“The shipyard and the sea fortress both indeed need to be constructed.”

Guo Cunhou nodded. Although he had already made the most conservative estimate, preserving the Taoyuan World had to be the priority.

“Then let’s leave it at that for now. Immediately convene a tier-three meeting for West Continent City, and summon everyone eligible to attend.”

Tang Ming nodded and then stood up.

Guo Cunhou left first with the Prophet in his arms, while Mountain Ghost Granny and Lu Gou stayed behind.

With Zhou Mo going to notify everyone, there was still some time before they gathered in the conference room, so the few of them could rest briefly.

Ever since Tang Ming recently returned to West Continent City, he’d been extremely busy. He went through all the documents that had piled up these past days and handled them one by one.

With his clone helping, he could focus on two things at once and do many tasks simultaneously, which made Tang Ming’s handling of affairs much faster.

“City Lord, the sea fortress will probably require a massive amount of resources. I think you should consider building the shipyard first. The people of the Blood Ancestor Divine Sect hold great power on the Demon Abyss Sea. If you establish the shipyard, resources can be seized entirely through them.”

Lu Gou grinned; he was never any sort of kind soul. In truth, all the resources on the island where Lu Gou lived were personally robbed by him and his disciple.

“That’s right. There are many demons on the Demon Abyss Sea as well. Most of them are descendants of the demons from the last Demon Abyss invasion of the Taoyuan World. They each have their own forces, and once they’ve gained power, these bastards don’t seem to want to return to the Demon Abyss at all.”

Mountain Ghost Granny nodded too. Over the years, she hadn’t slacked off in flattening various strongholds.

“Mm, let’s save this matter for discussion at the meeting.”

Tang Ming also had the urge to go out to sea and take a look. After all, the Demon Abyss Sea occupied nearly two-thirds of the Taoyuan World’s territory; none of the five regions of the Taoyuan World were as rich in resources as the Demon Abyss Sea.

But the Demon Abyss Sea was too perilous; the Demon Beasts in the water had formed their own factions and were simply not something he could govern.

This time, building a shipyard and forging immortal warships would count as a trial for West Continent City.

With a great enemy looming, Tang Ming believed the Demon Beasts in the water surely hated the demons of the Demon Abyss and the people of the Blood Ancestor Divine Sect even more than they did.

The meeting began quickly. The construction of the shipyard and the launching of the sea fortress project were both settled. However, problems soon surfaced.

Ore and resources were absolutely the biggest issue. Even if they conducted large-scale mining in Source Stone City and the West Desolation, they still might not be able to produce enough ore resources to build the sea fortress.

Many people dispersed, but Barton Nake and Hu Jiusheng stayed behind.

Hu Jiusheng was in charge of daily construction. Ever since Tang Ming proposed building multi-story dwellings, the population density of West Continent City had increased substantially.

At first, he thought the sea fortress Tang Ming wanted to build was just like the ones constructed by the aquatic branch of the Twin Clan.

But when he heard Tang Ming say that this sea fortress also had to possess combat capacity, Hu Jiusheng was the first to feel it would consume huge manpower and resources.

Yet on second thought, building a sea fortress seemed just as challenging as building West Continent City back then.

At that time, when Tang Mosheng came to him to build West Continent City, hadn’t he also thought it was impossible?

“I think old demon Lu Gou is quite right. We should construct the shipyard first, then head out and seize some resources. West Continent City was prepared for war, yet battles have been few and far between. These people can’t just be kept idle—we need to feed war with war.”