Chapter 158
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"Good idea," Tang Qi Hong agreed with a nod of her head. She glared at the motionless Gray Shadow, and then reached into her pockets to pull her smartphone out. "I'll call Elder Zhao right away and let him know."
"Make sure he brings along a contingent of Blood Blades," I reminded her. It would be good if Tong Xue and Pang Feng showed up as well. They were about the few friends I could trust, or at least I believed I could trust them. To be honest, even if they didn't, I still trusted the other Blood Blades enough to not look over my shoulder when they were behind me.
Paranoia was not a healthy state of mind. Besides, with my Heaven and Earth senses, I didn't need to look over my shoulder to know a sneak attack was coming.
"Still…" with one hand on her smartphone, Tang Qi Hong looked disapprovingly at me and took out a pill from her spatial device. "Here's an all-purpose antidote. It should suppress the toxins in your body."
"I don't need it," I grumbled and held both my hands up. "Let's just say I cultivate a technique that renders me immune to poison."
There was also the Hellfire Badger thing, but obviously I couldn't mention that. That was pretty redundant, now that I had Heaven and Earth Formula, so I wondered why I even got it in the first place. Then again, if I didn't have the Hellfire badger's immunity to poison, I would have died with the Hydra's venomous fangs grazed me.
Sometimes Fate had a weird way of working out. Or maybe it was plot armor. Too bad the demon creature consumption thing was entirely based on luck, and most of the times I didn't get anything when I ate magical beasts or demonic creatures. I probably used up all my luck with the Hellfire Badger and maybe the Silverback Wolf. I didn't get anything from the Ghost Bear, Lunar Rabbit, Cobra and other demonic creatures that I ate. Like I said, it was pretty much a lottery, and far too unreliable if I wanted to go around collecting new abilities.
That was good too, it meant I wouldn't devolve into a godlike protagonist with millions of abilities to the extent that even the author lost track of what attributes I gained and most of them never being mentioned again outside pretty niche situations. Plus it would skew the power levels, and what was life if I could go around stomping my enemies as easily as a human on ants?
Tang Qi Hong frowned, but seeing that I wasn't kneeling over and dying from the venom even after so long, she took my word for it and kept the antidote. I watched her, feeling a little curious that she could so casually take an antidote out of her bag.
"Do you always carry an antidote around with you?"
"We are Nine-Tailed Fox Sect inner sect disicples. Of course we carry around lots of different medicines with us." Tang Qi Hong stared at me as if I had just asked a very obvious question. "Every Nine-Tailed Fox Sect inner sect disciple carries at least ten or more healing potions and medicines, for sealing wounds, mending internal injuries, neutralizing poisons, etc."
"…uh, okay." Why was this beginning to sound like a role-playing game? Or was I the one lacking common sense unique to this world?
"Why don't you have them?" Tang Qi Hong demanded. "You're from Blood Blades, aren't you? Other than various high-ranking Spirit Armaments, the sect should be supplying you with new Spirit Pills every month to help you cultivate faster as well as healing medicine for injuries sustained during battles. Where are yours?"
"Oh…uh, I didn't take the Spirit Pills for cultivation or antidotes, but now that you've mentioned it…"
I checked my spatial device and saw that I had a supply of healing medicine in them. I had returned the Spirit Pills for cultivation because I was firmly against doping and steroids. Come on, do you seriously believe that bullshit that you can become stronger just from eating specific pills? That sounded highly suspicious to me. I also returned the antidotes because I clearly didn't need them. The Blood Blades administrator accepted my reasons, but insisted that I take the healing medicine, which I did. But I rarely had a reason to use them.
The last time was after I got injured by that Tian Sha Sect bastard and his subordinates in the ancient tomb, right after I tricked them into the Nine Thousand Yin Ice Hell Formation, and I also took a few pills for frostbite after running out of the damned chamber. So to be fair, they were useful. I was just too lazy to go back and retcon those chapters.
As for Spirit Armanents…I relied on the cheap swords because I wanted to forge my own Spirit Weapon. So I naturally refused them, wanting to customize a Spirit Weapon that was mine and mine alone. That was why I hadn't gone and replaced those swords. Well, I ended up acquiring the Azure Lotus Sword a few months ago in the Nascent Soul Stage practitioner's tomb, which was another reason why I couldn't be bothered with requisitioning new Spirit Weapons from the sect. I enjoyed my independence and was pretty proud of it.
Tang Qi Hong seemed to be somewhat aware of that, or perhaps she read my expression, and she sighed in exasperation.
"Are you kidding me?! Don't you know that's the greatest advantage of our sect? Every sect disciple has a great advantage over heir enemies because of the high-quality Spirit Armaments, equipment and medicine that we possess!"
"I do have the healing medicine, though." I took the Spirit Healing Pills out to show her. Tang Qi Hong twitched, annoyed.
"So where's your Spirit Weapon?"
"Still in the midst of forging it…" there was no way I was going to take out my Azure Lotus Sword, and Tang Qi Hong would recognize that it wasn't a weapon from our sect. there was no deceiving a blacksmith with regard to weapons.
"You said that last month! And the month before then! And are you an idiot? Why can't you borrow a few Spirit Weapons for now, and then return them after you finish forging your current project anyway?"
Now that she said that, I guess it was pretty obvious. Pride had gotten in my way, but to be fair, I never really needed them. I never really believed in the whole "better quality" of Spirit Weapons in the first place. I subscribed to the school that a weapon was only as good as its wielder – probably a bit too far and too zealously – but I didn't want to inculcate the bad habbit of relying overly on the quality of my weapon. After all, if I could win a match with a lower quality Spirit Weapon, that spoke a lot more about my skills than me being spoiled by Pay To Win mechanics.
And being from a previous timeline, I had an adverse reaction to P2W mechanics. They had no place in gaming. Of course, this was reality and not a game, so I should probably wisen up and not stick dogmatically to that stupid principle, or it might cost me my life someday.
Admittedly, fights between martial artists was not as simple as who belonged to whatever stage or realms. There were many factors involved, such as one's physical constitution, training, and knowledge – if you knew what martial arts your opponent was using, you could probably counter them better than if you were fighting in the dark. Furthermore, the quality of one's Spirit Weapons mattered and could make a huge difference.
I personally experienced that when my sword broke during that last battle in the ancient tomb. If I didn't have my Azure Lotus Sword…
Let's be honest. It did make a difference. If two martial artists of similar strength fought each other, the one with more Spirit Artifacts, or the one whose Spirit Armaments were of a higher quality, would have an advantage. And sometimes, that advantage was more than enough to lead to a decisive difference between life and death, no matter how slight.
Right now, I was practically playing with fire because of my pride.
"I'll think about it," I muttered as I reflected on my actions. That said, I had acquired a high quality Azure Lotus Sword, so it wasn't as if I was completely helpless or didn't have any high quality Spirit Weapons at all. But I didn't want to say too much regarding that.
"I'm glad you understand." Tang Qi Hong nodded as she finished reprimanding me. As the premier inner sect disciple of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, she pretty much embraced that concept of possessing an overwhelming advantage over the opponent with higher quality Spirit Armaments. In fact, that was the reason why the Blood Blades were so fearsome – because they were equipped with such high quality Spirit Armaments surpassing anything their opponents owned. That proved decisive in most fights, and sometimes even allowed them to fight on par with stronger enemies. Naturally, their martial arts and combat capabilities were excellent as well – at least my belief in that was not mistaken. If you couldn't wield a weapon properly, then even if you were armed with the highest-quality Spirit Weapon, it would be nothing more than dead weight in your arm.
Blood Blades were powerful not merely because they were armed with the best Spirit Weapons, but also because they knew how to use their weapons to their maximum potential. Instead of focusing on one aspect, I should learn to embrace both advantages that the sect provided.
"Ugh!"
"Trying to escape?"
Hearing the grunt from Gray Shadow, who had finally recovered enough consciousness to get up and tried to flee, Tang Qi Hong immediately diverted her attention back to him. She threw her hand out, and obeying her will, a purple flaming ribbon lashed out and struck the desperately fleeing assassin, grazing his shadows and burning him.
"OOOOOOOW!"
Howling in pain as his body shuddered from the impact, Gray Shadow tried to dodge in midair, but the eerie white bone spear shrieked and struck him from behind. It knocked away the shattered remains of his broken Spirit Armor that still clung pathetically to him and bowled him over, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.
He spun away and knocked the Frost Bone Spear aside, but I had suddenly appeared in front of him using my footwork techniques. Executing Liu, I hooked my foot around his, disrupted his movements, and tripped him over, causing him to fall flat on his face.
"You little…!" he swore, but I stomped on his head, grinding his face against the ground and turning his words into little more than a muffled curse.
"Who are you?" Tang Qi Hong demanded, even though she wisely kept her distance. "Who ordered you to attack us?"
"We should restrain him," I suggested, looking around for some rope. Even though I was supposedly one of the Blood Blades, I lacked the armament that they possessed, and only had a bunch of healing medicine and the Azure Lotus Sword and my current project in my spatial device. Hell, my spatial device was my current project, so it didn't count.
"Good idea," Tang Qi Hong agreed and raised her hand. Her spatial ring lit up and a screen-like barrier that resembled a flowing cloud drifted out of the device and soared toward the sprawled Gray Shadow. Recognizing it as a cage that functioned to trap Gray Shadow inside, I quickly retreated. Like hell would I want to be imprisoned inside that thing with the bastard!
While I did so, I couldn't help but glance at Tang Qi Hong's spatial device. Just how many Spirit Artifacts did she have stored inside that little thing? Then again, I fitted an entire army of over six hundred battle-automata inside my spatial device, so I guess it wouldn't be surprising if Tang Qi Hong had an entire armory stored within it.
I bet she even had the Thallax-class battle puppets and Castellax-class battle-automata she bought from me stored inside her ring. I certainly had my Castellax-class battle-automata stored inside mine, but only two of them were battle-worthy at the moment, so I had no reason to take them out. Besides, Gray Shadow looked as if he was finished.
"Old Black! Help me already!"
As if he realized that too, Gray Shadow suddenly yelled out in a rasping voice.
"What?!"
Tang Qi Hong's beautiful face scrunched up in surprise. I narrowed my eyes, but didn't panic, instead feeling the surroundings with my Heaven and Earth senses. If someone wanted to ambush us, I would be able to detect his killing intent. To be honest, I did suspect that there would be a second assassin somewhere, just in case the first failed.
That was how the Blood Blades usually worked – we had reserves or contingencies in place, a second squad to reinforce the first if they end up being overwhelmed.
"Wu, be careful!" Tang Qi Hong warned, glancing around nervously while staying close to her Cloud Shield. She scanned the people nearby, especially those closest to her, as if expecting them to attack her suddenly.
I understood her anxiety. The Cloud Shield, while formidable, could only protect Tang Qi Hong from one side at a time. If someone was to ambush her from behind or from the sides, the light shield would not be able to fully defend herself from the attack. She would need to react or respond to the ambush directly.
"Don't look at me. I'm not an assassin."
"This is Nine-Tailed Fox Sect's city. I'm not stupid enough to pick a fight with them here."
"Me neither."
The martial artists who caught her eye quickly backed off, raising their hands and showing that they meant no harm. They were just here to watch the show. The bastards couldn't even be bothered to lend a helping hand.
As much as I wanted to memorize their faces (which I could do by recording their faces with the camera function in my glasses), I honestly didn't have time to harbor a grudge and go hunt each of them down to "take revenge." I mean, seriously, what was I supposed to do? Beat them or kill them because they refused to help? I wasn't that entitled to think everyone was obligated to help save us, and I understood if they didn't want to get hurt. Besides, it was clear that Tang Qi Hong and I had the matter well in hand.
From the look on Tang Qi Hong's face, though, I could understand why they thought she would attack them. She was like a ticked-off bomb just about to go off, triggered by even the most trivial of matters. Not wanting her to mistake them for Gray Shadow's comrade, they retreated further, clearing the space around us.
Even though many of them were martial artists competent enough to take care of themselves, they kept a distance from Tang Qi Hong and me. Not because they were afraid of us – they were confident of their strengths and skills, especially if they dared to operate in a lawless area like Free Trade Street where fights broke out everyday – but because they were aware of our identities, and were fearful of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, which we were a part of. They didn't want to be relentlessly hunted down by the terrifying Blood Blades.
I paid no attention to them. Instead, my eyes were shut as I intently focused my senses on our surroundings, looking for any sort of anomaly.
That was when I sensed a strange presence coming from below. Worse, it was heading right for Tang Qi Hong!
Bastard!
Swearing inwardly, I used my footwork technique again to reach Tang Qi Hong's side. As soon as I reached her, I immediately stomped my foot on the ground and unleashed my Nine-Tailed Frost Fox Formula.
Crack!
The ground beneath me instantly froze, ice spreading rapidly over the concrete. The ice quickly spread all over the uneven road, encasing it in solid frost.
However, I could still sense the mass of qi drilling its way upward, smashing out of the rock-solid ground, erupting with the force of a volcano. Realizing just how powerful this new assailant was, I felt a chill run down my spine.
"Watch out! Under you!"
Bang!
The thick layer of ice that I froze over the road immediately shattered and the assassin emerged in a shower of hail. Shrouded by a dense aura of earth-element qi, his imposing figure barreled toward us like a massive boulder flung from a ballista.
I immediately stepped in front of Tang Qi Hong to shield her from the approaching assassin. My spatial device glowed brightly and transformed into a hi-tech shield…well, at least I hoped it looked hi-tech. resembling a gigantic snowflake with six petals, my half-completed Snow Aegis gleamed azure and erected a qi barrier in front of us.
Raising my right hand, I channeled my qi into my Snow Aegis to strengthen the qi barrier that it was emitting.
The black shadow didn't care. He continued charging forward, undaunted by the appearance of a huge shield. He raised his lance, which transformed into a spinning drill, and thrust it forward.
Bam!
"?!"
Despite the massive amount of earth qi crashing into my Snow Aegis with the force of a meteor, the black shadow found himself stopped dead in his tracks. He bellowed as he continued drilling through it as best as he could, but even though he shattered the first layer of qi barriers that formed in front of Snow Aegis with his metallic drill, he was unable to break the second layer of the remaining five.
"What is this?!" he snarled through gritted teeth.
Obviously I wasn't stupid enough to tell him. I just stood silently, firmly holding my ground against his powerful charge. As his tremendous amount of earth-element qi was expended, the black shadow retreated several steps away, glaring at me.
"That's…?"
Tang Qi Hong's eyes widened when she saw my Snow Aegis, recognizing it as the personal project I had been working on for so long. She then frowned.
"I thought you said you hadn't finished forging it."
"It's not completed," I told her. "There are some modifications I wish to carry out, but I haven't found a way to gel them together."
Tang Qi Hong rolled her eyes. "Just let me have a look at it later."
Seeing that this was no time for me to protest, I swallowed my pride and nodded while keeping my attention on Black Shadow. Tang Qi Hong was correct, in a way. If I allowed her to look at my Snow Aegis and helped me finish it earlier, I would be able to bring the full power of its offensive capabilities against our current enemies.
Right now, all Snow Aegis was capable of was defending. If I hadn't been so absorbed in my pride and had my head stuck so far up my ass and actually asked for help, I might have a chance of subduing the two assassins.
Black Shadow scowled and studied me, looking for a way past my Snow Aegis. He realized there was no point attacking from behind, because Tang Qi Hong had the Cloud Shadow protecting our backs. His paths of aggression were limited.
In the end, he decided to go for another frontal attack. Summoning a huge amount of qi, he infused it into his drill and thrust it at us again. By now I had recovered and restored the sixth layer of qi barrier, and withstood his attack without much difficulty.
Or so I say, but it was consuming quite a lot of my qi just to defend against this bastard's attack. If this turned into a battle of attrition…
"Just stay where you are, Wu!" Tang Qi Hong shouted behind me. I didn't need to turn around and look behind me to know what she intended.
Tang Qi Hong had sat down and closed her eyes, channeling her qi into the various Spirit Weapons that she already had out. The Nine Shuriken Stars, the Frost Bone Spear and Flame Silk shifted away from the downed Gray Shadow, speeding across the air like bullets and rushed forward to strike Black Shadow.
While they did so, Tang Qi Hong simultaneously directed her Nether Ghost Claw, which was still hovering high in the air, to descend and crush Black Shadow's head within its terrifying grasp. However, it was still slower than the other Spirit Weapons.
This was because the Nether Ghost Claw was forged from the claws of the Nether Field's Bloodthirsty Blade Ghost. Elder Hai Mo had even crafted it personally, to produce such an exquisite and formidable weapon, but it required Tang Qi Hong to gather and channel all of her spiritual qi in order to unleash its true power.
Earlier, when fighting against Gray Shadow, she only drew the Nether Ghost Claw as a deterrent, and not because she actually needed it. In other words, she drew it to show off. Ugh. In any event, she hadn't unleashed its true power yet.
And now I was about to witness what the Nether Ghost Claw was capable of.
Even so, Black Shadow had to be really powerful if he forced Tang Qi Hong to go all out.
An ominous fog of black qi gushed out as the Nether Ghost Claw was suddenly saturated with dense, dark energy. For a moment, I felt as if I had just been plunged into the desolate and terrifying Nether Fields. The skies even looked dark and shadowy for some reason, and the atmosphere was tinged with death.
Dark green will'o wisps hovered above the Nether Ghost Claw, resembling the fearsome fireballs that Tang Qi Hong's Nine-Tailed Fire Fox Formula produced. No, I was mistaken. Tang Qi Hong was using the Nether Ghost Claw in conjunction with her Nine-Tailed Fire Fox Formula, the Spirit Weapon merging and boosting her technique!
Then the blazing fireballs rained down upon the place like a meteor shower, burning everything with its acidic touch.
"OOOOOOOOOOOO!"
I didn't know if I was hallucinating under some nightmarish hallucination, but I could swear that I was hearing an eerie howl that could only belong to the Bloodthirsty Blade Ghost, the terrifying sound emitted from the claw. Moving my Snow Aegis closer, I managed to protect Tang Qi Hong and myself from the blazing rain, which splashed harmlessly across the faint, transparent azure-tinged barriers that my personally forged Spirit Armament produced.
"Nine-Tailed Fire Fox Formula: Nether Fox Hellfire!"
Tang Qi Hong decided to shout the name of her technique for some inexplicable reason. I gave up on providing a retort and instead focused on the blazing battlefield.
Many of the spectators had retreated, shock and fear flooding their expressions as they tried their best to dodge the destructive hellfire raining down on the street. One of them dove under a nearby stall, which was unfortunate to disintegrate completely when one of the cyan fiery projectiles slammed into it, erasing it from existence.
"What the hell?!"
"Oh my lord…!"
"Out of the way!"
"AAAAAH!"
Black Shadow's icy eyes remained as cold and emotionless as ever as he calmly dodged it, but several of the Nether Fox Hellfire still somehow struck him and burned off huge swathes of his clothing. His skin blistered and burned, despite his protective earth aura doing its best to nullify the corrosive, incendiary effects of the ghostly flames.
Even when taking such horrifying injuries, Black Shadow neither displayed any fear nor pain, merely continuing to move so as to avoid being incinerated completely by the relentless bombardment.
"Old Black! Let's retreat for now! Or you'll get burned by the Nether Ghostly Hellfire!"
Evidently Gray Shadow didn't know that this was a technique modified by Tang Qi Hong by melding it with her Nine-Tailed Fire Fox Formula, but his advice was still sound. Black Shadow nodded, imperturbed, and dove headfirst into the hole where he emerged from underground earlier. The metallic drill he wielded also turned into a golden bolt of light and followed him closely, probably disappearing into his spatial device.
Gray Shadow also seized the chance to escape, rolling to his feet and disappearing like a gray cloud. He ran for the nearest street on his two legs.
"Did I say you can go?"
"?!"
Gray Shadow spun around and ssaw that I had somehow caught up with him. I smiled him, stuck my leg in front of him and tripped him, sending him sprawling onto the ground again. He uttered a curse and lashed out at me, but I effortlessly dodged it before stomping on his back.
Seismic Step.
That attack probably broke his spine. Gray Shadow was screaming in so much pain that I actually felt sorry for him.
"I know you're the one who told him to retreat, but is your comrade not coming back to save you?" I asked, trying not to make it sound like a taunt.
Gray Shadow's face was pale as he glared at me venomously. "You…you will never get away with this!" he spat.
I laughed. "How very original. I'll have to remember that. Seriously, though…" I smacked him across the head, burying his face in the devastated dirt. "You're the one who tried to assassinate Qi Hong. Why are you acting as if I'm the villain?"
"Be careful. His accomplice might return anytime."
Tang Qi Hong was gathering her Spirit Weapons back and keeping most of them in her spatial ring, but she couldn't help but keep some of them out and trained her eyes on the hole where Black Shadow disappeared into, as if expecting him to emerge again.
"How are you?"
"Are you asking me, or this guy?" I asked humorously. Tang Qi Hong made a face and snorted, annoyed.
"You, of course. Why should I care about him? He tried to kill me."
"Speaking of which…" I grabbed the guy's hair and yanked his head up by his hair. "Who are you? And why are you trying to kill Qi Hong?"
Gray Shadow sneered defiantly. "As if I'll tell you!"
"Elder Zhao will definitely find out," Tang Qi Hong informed him coldly. "We'll thoroughly investigate this once we get back and report to him. You won't be able to cover for your master forever."
"I do have an idea who it might be, though." Frowning, I turned to Gray Shadow. "Let me guess. You're a member of the Divine Shadow Sect, and was ordered by Liang Shao Yang to assassinate Tang Qi Hong in order to eliminate competition for the position of future sect leader."
"I told you, I won't tell you anything!" Gray Shadow snapped. I merely chuckled.
"Oh, but you already have. The fact that you didn't deny it or react in shock means that I've guessed correctly but you just refuse to confirm it."
Gray Shadow opened his mouth, his face pale – from the pain or from shock, I didn't know – and then closed it, realizing that anything else he said would be burying him deeper in the hole he had just dug for himself.
"I should have known." From Tang Qi Hong's expression, she had made the same guess as me. Clenching her fists angrily, she gritted her teeth and made a vow. "If I find any evidence that Liang Shao Yang is really the one behind all this, I won't forgive him!"
"Coming through, coming through! Please make way!"
The both of us rose and spotted a familiar figure pushing and shoving his way through the crowd of spectators. He approached me and Tang Qi Hong, and I recognized him as the plump owner of the Cloud Sky Mountain's shop. Stopping beside us, he smiled.
"The two of you should follow me to my shop and rest for a while. I'll restrain that guy as well."
While he conversed with us, the crowd he just passed through began to stir excitedly, and hushed whispers floated across the ruined grounds.
"Isn't that…Cloud Sky Mountain's Wu Tuo?"
"It's really Wu Tuo!"
"What is he doing here?!"
The spectators quickly retreated when they recognized who he was, looking a little afraid, especially when he glared in their direction. For my part, I had no freaking clue who Wu Tuo was, other than that he owned and ran the shop where we bought the Earth Magnets from earlier.
However, even though his physical appearance was still the same, his presence was different from before. He was emanating an intimidating aura. If the Black Shadow dude from earlier were to pop his head out now, he would be in a world of hurt.
"My apologies." Wu Tuo bowed apologetically. "My place was slightly far away, so by the time I heard about the fight and rushed here, it's already over. At least you seemed to have captured one of the two."
He nodded at Gray Shadow, who I was still restraining.
"Yeah, it seems like the other guy has escaped." I pondered for a moment. That must be why Black Shadow didn't show up to save his comrade. The moment he sensed this Wu Tuo coming over, he judged that he would be no match for him, and would be at an overwhelming disadvantage with both Tang Qi Hong and me still combat-capable. So he made the strategic decision to abandon his comrade and withdrew.
…for now, anyway.
"If I had arrived earlier, then both of you wouldn't be hurt."
Wu Tuo looked very apologetic, despite the confidence in his words. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes and glanced at Tang Qi Hong.
"Are you hurt, Qi Hong?"
"Hmm? No. Ah…that's right! Thanks for protecting me, Wu!"
Tang Qi Hong seemed to recall that I had thrown myself in front of her to shield her from Black Shadow's drill, and also deflected Gray Shadow's killing blow from her when he tried to stab her in the back.
"How about you? Are you sure you're fine? You got bitten by those Emerald Serpents…"
"What?!" Wu Tuo balked. "Are you sure? Then we need an antidote…"
"No, I'm fine. I'm not hurt at all." I quickly assured him. The chubby, middle-aged man turned to stare at me in amazement.
"Eh? Really?"
Fortunately, I was saved from explaining when another two people showed up.
"My lord!"
"Master!"
It was two of the shop clerks from before, part of the staff running the Cloud Sky Mountain shop branch. They were hurriying over before standing beside Wu Tuo. Again, their presences were completely different from before, when they were running the store
It seemed as if they were veterans of combat.
When they saw me restraining Gray Shadow, they came over immediately and helped me, producing chains to tie up the hapless assassin. Yanking him to his feet, they tried to move him, but because I basically broke his spine, he toppled over.
"Ouch!"
"Oh, my bad," I apologized. "I got too carried away and I think I might have snapped his spine. He might not be able to walk."
"That's fine," one of the shop clerks replied. He produced what looked like a gurney, and both he and his colleague began strapping the silent Gray Shadow into it. Evidently he realized the futility of resisting, and was resigned to his fate. The first shop clerk turned briefly to beam at me. "We got you covered."
"Thanks." I lowered my head. "That helps a lot."
Wu Tuo then nodded and bowed slightly. Facing Tang Qi Hong and me, he inquired.
"Will the two of you return with me to rest in my shop? Or would you be returning straight to Nine-Tailed Fox Sect instead? Don't worry, if this guy's comrade returns, with me around, he will not dare to attack you."
"Then we will rest for a while in your shop." Tang Qi Hong hesitated for a moment and checked her smartphone. "I've contacted Elder Zhao and he should be here with the Blood Blades shortly. For now, we'll have to depend on you."
"I understand. We'll protect you under Master Zhao Shi arrives." Wu Tuo beamed. Tang Qi Hong continued staring at him, the astonishment still not leaving her pretty face.
"Um, are you really Cloud Sky Mountain's Wu Tuo?"
"That's right." Wu Tuo responded with a gentle smile. "I've only just arrived in Tushan City recently. Please take care of me from now on."
Seeing his kind expression, Tang Qi Hong relaxed visibly and withdrew her Cloud Shield.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
"Good idea," Tang Qi Hong agreed with a nod of her head. She glared at the motionless Gray Shadow, and then reached into her pockets to pull her smartphone out. "I'll call Elder Zhao right away and let him know."
"Make sure he brings along a contingent of Blood Blades," I reminded her. It would be good if Tong Xue and Pang Feng showed up as well. They were about the few friends I could trust, or at least I believed I could trust them. To be honest, even if they didn't, I still trusted the other Blood Blades enough to not look over my shoulder when they were behind me.
Paranoia was not a healthy state of mind. Besides, with my Heaven and Earth senses, I didn't need to look over my shoulder to know a sneak attack was coming.
"Still…" with one hand on her smartphone, Tang Qi Hong looked disapprovingly at me and took out a pill from her spatial device. "Here's an all-purpose antidote. It should suppress the toxins in your body."
"I don't need it," I grumbled and held both my hands up. "Let's just say I cultivate a technique that renders me immune to poison."
There was also the Hellfire Badger thing, but obviously I couldn't mention that. That was pretty redundant, now that I had Heaven and Earth Formula, so I wondered why I even got it in the first place. Then again, if I didn't have the Hellfire badger's immunity to poison, I would have died with the Hydra's venomous fangs grazed me.
Sometimes Fate had a weird way of working out. Or maybe it was plot armor. Too bad the demon creature consumption thing was entirely based on luck, and most of the times I didn't get anything when I ate magical beasts or demonic creatures. I probably used up all my luck with the Hellfire Badger and maybe the Silverback Wolf. I didn't get anything from the Ghost Bear, Lunar Rabbit, Cobra and other demonic creatures that I ate. Like I said, it was pretty much a lottery, and far too unreliable if I wanted to go around collecting new abilities.
That was good too, it meant I wouldn't devolve into a godlike protagonist with millions of abilities to the extent that even the author lost track of what attributes I gained and most of them never being mentioned again outside pretty niche situations. Plus it would skew the power levels, and what was life if I could go around stomping my enemies as easily as a human on ants?
Tang Qi Hong frowned, but seeing that I wasn't kneeling over and dying from the venom even after so long, she took my word for it and kept the antidote. I watched her, feeling a little curious that she could so casually take an antidote out of her bag.
"Do you always carry an antidote around with you?"
"We are Nine-Tailed Fox Sect inner sect disicples. Of course we carry around lots of different medicines with us." Tang Qi Hong stared at me as if I had just asked a very obvious question. "Every Nine-Tailed Fox Sect inner sect disciple carries at least ten or more healing potions and medicines, for sealing wounds, mending internal injuries, neutralizing poisons, etc."
"…uh, okay." Why was this beginning to sound like a role-playing game? Or was I the one lacking common sense unique to this world?
"Why don't you have them?" Tang Qi Hong demanded. "You're from Blood Blades, aren't you? Other than various high-ranking Spirit Armaments, the sect should be supplying you with new Spirit Pills every month to help you cultivate faster as well as healing medicine for injuries sustained during battles. Where are yours?"
"Oh…uh, I didn't take the Spirit Pills for cultivation or antidotes, but now that you've mentioned it…"
I checked my spatial device and saw that I had a supply of healing medicine in them. I had returned the Spirit Pills for cultivation because I was firmly against doping and steroids. Come on, do you seriously believe that bullshit that you can become stronger just from eating specific pills? That sounded highly suspicious to me. I also returned the antidotes because I clearly didn't need them. The Blood Blades administrator accepted my reasons, but insisted that I take the healing medicine, which I did. But I rarely had a reason to use them.
The last time was after I got injured by that Tian Sha Sect bastard and his subordinates in the ancient tomb, right after I tricked them into the Nine Thousand Yin Ice Hell Formation, and I also took a few pills for frostbite after running out of the damned chamber. So to be fair, they were useful. I was just too lazy to go back and retcon those chapters.
As for Spirit Armanents…I relied on the cheap swords because I wanted to forge my own Spirit Weapon. So I naturally refused them, wanting to customize a Spirit Weapon that was mine and mine alone. That was why I hadn't gone and replaced those swords. Well, I ended up acquiring the Azure Lotus Sword a few months ago in the Nascent Soul Stage practitioner's tomb, which was another reason why I couldn't be bothered with requisitioning new Spirit Weapons from the sect. I enjoyed my independence and was pretty proud of it.
Tang Qi Hong seemed to be somewhat aware of that, or perhaps she read my expression, and she sighed in exasperation.
"Are you kidding me?! Don't you know that's the greatest advantage of our sect? Every sect disciple has a great advantage over heir enemies because of the high-quality Spirit Armaments, equipment and medicine that we possess!"
"I do have the healing medicine, though." I took the Spirit Healing Pills out to show her. Tang Qi Hong twitched, annoyed.
"So where's your Spirit Weapon?"
"Still in the midst of forging it…" there was no way I was going to take out my Azure Lotus Sword, and Tang Qi Hong would recognize that it wasn't a weapon from our sect. there was no deceiving a blacksmith with regard to weapons.
"You said that last month! And the month before then! And are you an idiot? Why can't you borrow a few Spirit Weapons for now, and then return them after you finish forging your current project anyway?"
Now that she said that, I guess it was pretty obvious. Pride had gotten in my way, but to be fair, I never really needed them. I never really believed in the whole "better quality" of Spirit Weapons in the first place. I subscribed to the school that a weapon was only as good as its wielder – probably a bit too far and too zealously – but I didn't want to inculcate the bad habbit of relying overly on the quality of my weapon. After all, if I could win a match with a lower quality Spirit Weapon, that spoke a lot more about my skills than me being spoiled by Pay To Win mechanics.
And being from a previous timeline, I had an adverse reaction to P2W mechanics. They had no place in gaming. Of course, this was reality and not a game, so I should probably wisen up and not stick dogmatically to that stupid principle, or it might cost me my life someday.
Admittedly, fights between martial artists was not as simple as who belonged to whatever stage or realms. There were many factors involved, such as one's physical constitution, training, and knowledge – if you knew what martial arts your opponent was using, you could probably counter them better than if you were fighting in the dark. Furthermore, the quality of one's Spirit Weapons mattered and could make a huge difference.
I personally experienced that when my sword broke during that last battle in the ancient tomb. If I didn't have my Azure Lotus Sword…
Let's be honest. It did make a difference. If two martial artists of similar strength fought each other, the one with more Spirit Artifacts, or the one whose Spirit Armaments were of a higher quality, would have an advantage. And sometimes, that advantage was more than enough to lead to a decisive difference between life and death, no matter how slight.
Right now, I was practically playing with fire because of my pride.
"I'll think about it," I muttered as I reflected on my actions. That said, I had acquired a high quality Azure Lotus Sword, so it wasn't as if I was completely helpless or didn't have any high quality Spirit Weapons at all. But I didn't want to say too much regarding that.
"I'm glad you understand." Tang Qi Hong nodded as she finished reprimanding me. As the premier inner sect disciple of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, she pretty much embraced that concept of possessing an overwhelming advantage over the opponent with higher quality Spirit Armaments. In fact, that was the reason why the Blood Blades were so fearsome – because they were equipped with such high quality Spirit Armaments surpassing anything their opponents owned. That proved decisive in most fights, and sometimes even allowed them to fight on par with stronger enemies. Naturally, their martial arts and combat capabilities were excellent as well – at least my belief in that was not mistaken. If you couldn't wield a weapon properly, then even if you were armed with the highest-quality Spirit Weapon, it would be nothing more than dead weight in your arm.
Blood Blades were powerful not merely because they were armed with the best Spirit Weapons, but also because they knew how to use their weapons to their maximum potential. Instead of focusing on one aspect, I should learn to embrace both advantages that the sect provided.
"Ugh!"
"Trying to escape?"
Hearing the grunt from Gray Shadow, who had finally recovered enough consciousness to get up and tried to flee, Tang Qi Hong immediately diverted her attention back to him. She threw her hand out, and obeying her will, a purple flaming ribbon lashed out and struck the desperately fleeing assassin, grazing his shadows and burning him.
"OOOOOOOW!"
Howling in pain as his body shuddered from the impact, Gray Shadow tried to dodge in midair, but the eerie white bone spear shrieked and struck him from behind. It knocked away the shattered remains of his broken Spirit Armor that still clung pathetically to him and bowled him over, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.
He spun away and knocked the Frost Bone Spear aside, but I had suddenly appeared in front of him using my footwork techniques. Executing Liu, I hooked my foot around his, disrupted his movements, and tripped him over, causing him to fall flat on his face.
"You little…!" he swore, but I stomped on his head, grinding his face against the ground and turning his words into little more than a muffled curse.
"Who are you?" Tang Qi Hong demanded, even though she wisely kept her distance. "Who ordered you to attack us?"
"We should restrain him," I suggested, looking around for some rope. Even though I was supposedly one of the Blood Blades, I lacked the armament that they possessed, and only had a bunch of healing medicine and the Azure Lotus Sword and my current project in my spatial device. Hell, my spatial device was my current project, so it didn't count.
"Good idea," Tang Qi Hong agreed and raised her hand. Her spatial ring lit up and a screen-like barrier that resembled a flowing cloud drifted out of the device and soared toward the sprawled Gray Shadow. Recognizing it as a cage that functioned to trap Gray Shadow inside, I quickly retreated. Like hell would I want to be imprisoned inside that thing with the bastard!
While I did so, I couldn't help but glance at Tang Qi Hong's spatial device. Just how many Spirit Artifacts did she have stored inside that little thing? Then again, I fitted an entire army of over six hundred battle-automata inside my spatial device, so I guess it wouldn't be surprising if Tang Qi Hong had an entire armory stored within it.
I bet she even had the Thallax-class battle puppets and Castellax-class battle-automata she bought from me stored inside her ring. I certainly had my Castellax-class battle-automata stored inside mine, but only two of them were battle-worthy at the moment, so I had no reason to take them out. Besides, Gray Shadow looked as if he was finished.
"Old Black! Help me already!"
As if he realized that too, Gray Shadow suddenly yelled out in a rasping voice.
"What?!"
Tang Qi Hong's beautiful face scrunched up in surprise. I narrowed my eyes, but didn't panic, instead feeling the surroundings with my Heaven and Earth senses. If someone wanted to ambush us, I would be able to detect his killing intent. To be honest, I did suspect that there would be a second assassin somewhere, just in case the first failed.
That was how the Blood Blades usually worked – we had reserves or contingencies in place, a second squad to reinforce the first if they end up being overwhelmed.
"Wu, be careful!" Tang Qi Hong warned, glancing around nervously while staying close to her Cloud Shield. She scanned the people nearby, especially those closest to her, as if expecting them to attack her suddenly.
I understood her anxiety. The Cloud Shield, while formidable, could only protect Tang Qi Hong from one side at a time. If someone was to ambush her from behind or from the sides, the light shield would not be able to fully defend herself from the attack. She would need to react or respond to the ambush directly.
"Don't look at me. I'm not an assassin."
"This is Nine-Tailed Fox Sect's city. I'm not stupid enough to pick a fight with them here."
"Me neither."
The martial artists who caught her eye quickly backed off, raising their hands and showing that they meant no harm. They were just here to watch the show. The bastards couldn't even be bothered to lend a helping hand.
As much as I wanted to memorize their faces (which I could do by recording their faces with the camera function in my glasses), I honestly didn't have time to harbor a grudge and go hunt each of them down to "take revenge." I mean, seriously, what was I supposed to do? Beat them or kill them because they refused to help? I wasn't that entitled to think everyone was obligated to help save us, and I understood if they didn't want to get hurt. Besides, it was clear that Tang Qi Hong and I had the matter well in hand.
From the look on Tang Qi Hong's face, though, I could understand why they thought she would attack them. She was like a ticked-off bomb just about to go off, triggered by even the most trivial of matters. Not wanting her to mistake them for Gray Shadow's comrade, they retreated further, clearing the space around us.
Even though many of them were martial artists competent enough to take care of themselves, they kept a distance from Tang Qi Hong and me. Not because they were afraid of us – they were confident of their strengths and skills, especially if they dared to operate in a lawless area like Free Trade Street where fights broke out everyday – but because they were aware of our identities, and were fearful of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, which we were a part of. They didn't want to be relentlessly hunted down by the terrifying Blood Blades.
I paid no attention to them. Instead, my eyes were shut as I intently focused my senses on our surroundings, looking for any sort of anomaly.
That was when I sensed a strange presence coming from below. Worse, it was heading right for Tang Qi Hong!
Bastard!
Swearing inwardly, I used my footwork technique again to reach Tang Qi Hong's side. As soon as I reached her, I immediately stomped my foot on the ground and unleashed my Nine-Tailed Frost Fox Formula.
Crack!
The ground beneath me instantly froze, ice spreading rapidly over the concrete. The ice quickly spread all over the uneven road, encasing it in solid frost.
However, I could still sense the mass of qi drilling its way upward, smashing out of the rock-solid ground, erupting with the force of a volcano. Realizing just how powerful this new assailant was, I felt a chill run down my spine.
"Watch out! Under you!"
Bang!
The thick layer of ice that I froze over the road immediately shattered and the assassin emerged in a shower of hail. Shrouded by a dense aura of earth-element qi, his imposing figure barreled toward us like a massive boulder flung from a ballista.
I immediately stepped in front of Tang Qi Hong to shield her from the approaching assassin. My spatial device glowed brightly and transformed into a hi-tech shield…well, at least I hoped it looked hi-tech. resembling a gigantic snowflake with six petals, my half-completed Snow Aegis gleamed azure and erected a qi barrier in front of us.
Raising my right hand, I channeled my qi into my Snow Aegis to strengthen the qi barrier that it was emitting.
The black shadow didn't care. He continued charging forward, undaunted by the appearance of a huge shield. He raised his lance, which transformed into a spinning drill, and thrust it forward.
Bam!
"?!"
Despite the massive amount of earth qi crashing into my Snow Aegis with the force of a meteor, the black shadow found himself stopped dead in his tracks. He bellowed as he continued drilling through it as best as he could, but even though he shattered the first layer of qi barriers that formed in front of Snow Aegis with his metallic drill, he was unable to break the second layer of the remaining five.
"What is this?!" he snarled through gritted teeth.
Obviously I wasn't stupid enough to tell him. I just stood silently, firmly holding my ground against his powerful charge. As his tremendous amount of earth-element qi was expended, the black shadow retreated several steps away, glaring at me.
"That's…?"
Tang Qi Hong's eyes widened when she saw my Snow Aegis, recognizing it as the personal project I had been working on for so long. She then frowned.
"I thought you said you hadn't finished forging it."
"It's not completed," I told her. "There are some modifications I wish to carry out, but I haven't found a way to gel them together."
Tang Qi Hong rolled her eyes. "Just let me have a look at it later."
Seeing that this was no time for me to protest, I swallowed my pride and nodded while keeping my attention on Black Shadow. Tang Qi Hong was correct, in a way. If I allowed her to look at my Snow Aegis and helped me finish it earlier, I would be able to bring the full power of its offensive capabilities against our current enemies.
Right now, all Snow Aegis was capable of was defending. If I hadn't been so absorbed in my pride and had my head stuck so far up my ass and actually asked for help, I might have a chance of subduing the two assassins.
Black Shadow scowled and studied me, looking for a way past my Snow Aegis. He realized there was no point attacking from behind, because Tang Qi Hong had the Cloud Shadow protecting our backs. His paths of aggression were limited.
In the end, he decided to go for another frontal attack. Summoning a huge amount of qi, he infused it into his drill and thrust it at us again. By now I had recovered and restored the sixth layer of qi barrier, and withstood his attack without much difficulty.
Or so I say, but it was consuming quite a lot of my qi just to defend against this bastard's attack. If this turned into a battle of attrition…
"Just stay where you are, Wu!" Tang Qi Hong shouted behind me. I didn't need to turn around and look behind me to know what she intended.
Tang Qi Hong had sat down and closed her eyes, channeling her qi into the various Spirit Weapons that she already had out. The Nine Shuriken Stars, the Frost Bone Spear and Flame Silk shifted away from the downed Gray Shadow, speeding across the air like bullets and rushed forward to strike Black Shadow.
While they did so, Tang Qi Hong simultaneously directed her Nether Ghost Claw, which was still hovering high in the air, to descend and crush Black Shadow's head within its terrifying grasp. However, it was still slower than the other Spirit Weapons.
This was because the Nether Ghost Claw was forged from the claws of the Nether Field's Bloodthirsty Blade Ghost. Elder Hai Mo had even crafted it personally, to produce such an exquisite and formidable weapon, but it required Tang Qi Hong to gather and channel all of her spiritual qi in order to unleash its true power.
Earlier, when fighting against Gray Shadow, she only drew the Nether Ghost Claw as a deterrent, and not because she actually needed it. In other words, she drew it to show off. Ugh. In any event, she hadn't unleashed its true power yet.
And now I was about to witness what the Nether Ghost Claw was capable of.
Even so, Black Shadow had to be really powerful if he forced Tang Qi Hong to go all out.
An ominous fog of black qi gushed out as the Nether Ghost Claw was suddenly saturated with dense, dark energy. For a moment, I felt as if I had just been plunged into the desolate and terrifying Nether Fields. The skies even looked dark and shadowy for some reason, and the atmosphere was tinged with death.
Dark green will'o wisps hovered above the Nether Ghost Claw, resembling the fearsome fireballs that Tang Qi Hong's Nine-Tailed Fire Fox Formula produced. No, I was mistaken. Tang Qi Hong was using the Nether Ghost Claw in conjunction with her Nine-Tailed Fire Fox Formula, the Spirit Weapon merging and boosting her technique!
Then the blazing fireballs rained down upon the place like a meteor shower, burning everything with its acidic touch.
"OOOOOOOOOOOO!"
I didn't know if I was hallucinating under some nightmarish hallucination, but I could swear that I was hearing an eerie howl that could only belong to the Bloodthirsty Blade Ghost, the terrifying sound emitted from the claw. Moving my Snow Aegis closer, I managed to protect Tang Qi Hong and myself from the blazing rain, which splashed harmlessly across the faint, transparent azure-tinged barriers that my personally forged Spirit Armament produced.
"Nine-Tailed Fire Fox Formula: Nether Fox Hellfire!"
Tang Qi Hong decided to shout the name of her technique for some inexplicable reason. I gave up on providing a retort and instead focused on the blazing battlefield.
Many of the spectators had retreated, shock and fear flooding their expressions as they tried their best to dodge the destructive hellfire raining down on the street. One of them dove under a nearby stall, which was unfortunate to disintegrate completely when one of the cyan fiery projectiles slammed into it, erasing it from existence.
"What the hell?!"
"Oh my lord…!"
"Out of the way!"
"AAAAAH!"
Black Shadow's icy eyes remained as cold and emotionless as ever as he calmly dodged it, but several of the Nether Fox Hellfire still somehow struck him and burned off huge swathes of his clothing. His skin blistered and burned, despite his protective earth aura doing its best to nullify the corrosive, incendiary effects of the ghostly flames.
Even when taking such horrifying injuries, Black Shadow neither displayed any fear nor pain, merely continuing to move so as to avoid being incinerated completely by the relentless bombardment.
"Old Black! Let's retreat for now! Or you'll get burned by the Nether Ghostly Hellfire!"
Evidently Gray Shadow didn't know that this was a technique modified by Tang Qi Hong by melding it with her Nine-Tailed Fire Fox Formula, but his advice was still sound. Black Shadow nodded, imperturbed, and dove headfirst into the hole where he emerged from underground earlier. The metallic drill he wielded also turned into a golden bolt of light and followed him closely, probably disappearing into his spatial device.
Gray Shadow also seized the chance to escape, rolling to his feet and disappearing like a gray cloud. He ran for the nearest street on his two legs.
"Did I say you can go?"
"?!"
Gray Shadow spun around and ssaw that I had somehow caught up with him. I smiled him, stuck my leg in front of him and tripped him, sending him sprawling onto the ground again. He uttered a curse and lashed out at me, but I effortlessly dodged it before stomping on his back.
Seismic Step.
That attack probably broke his spine. Gray Shadow was screaming in so much pain that I actually felt sorry for him.
"I know you're the one who told him to retreat, but is your comrade not coming back to save you?" I asked, trying not to make it sound like a taunt.
Gray Shadow's face was pale as he glared at me venomously. "You…you will never get away with this!" he spat.
I laughed. "How very original. I'll have to remember that. Seriously, though…" I smacked him across the head, burying his face in the devastated dirt. "You're the one who tried to assassinate Qi Hong. Why are you acting as if I'm the villain?"
"Be careful. His accomplice might return anytime."
Tang Qi Hong was gathering her Spirit Weapons back and keeping most of them in her spatial ring, but she couldn't help but keep some of them out and trained her eyes on the hole where Black Shadow disappeared into, as if expecting him to emerge again.
"How are you?"
"Are you asking me, or this guy?" I asked humorously. Tang Qi Hong made a face and snorted, annoyed.
"You, of course. Why should I care about him? He tried to kill me."
"Speaking of which…" I grabbed the guy's hair and yanked his head up by his hair. "Who are you? And why are you trying to kill Qi Hong?"
Gray Shadow sneered defiantly. "As if I'll tell you!"
"Elder Zhao will definitely find out," Tang Qi Hong informed him coldly. "We'll thoroughly investigate this once we get back and report to him. You won't be able to cover for your master forever."
"I do have an idea who it might be, though." Frowning, I turned to Gray Shadow. "Let me guess. You're a member of the Divine Shadow Sect, and was ordered by Liang Shao Yang to assassinate Tang Qi Hong in order to eliminate competition for the position of future sect leader."
"I told you, I won't tell you anything!" Gray Shadow snapped. I merely chuckled.
"Oh, but you already have. The fact that you didn't deny it or react in shock means that I've guessed correctly but you just refuse to confirm it."
Gray Shadow opened his mouth, his face pale – from the pain or from shock, I didn't know – and then closed it, realizing that anything else he said would be burying him deeper in the hole he had just dug for himself.
"I should have known." From Tang Qi Hong's expression, she had made the same guess as me. Clenching her fists angrily, she gritted her teeth and made a vow. "If I find any evidence that Liang Shao Yang is really the one behind all this, I won't forgive him!"
"Coming through, coming through! Please make way!"
The both of us rose and spotted a familiar figure pushing and shoving his way through the crowd of spectators. He approached me and Tang Qi Hong, and I recognized him as the plump owner of the Cloud Sky Mountain's shop. Stopping beside us, he smiled.
"The two of you should follow me to my shop and rest for a while. I'll restrain that guy as well."
While he conversed with us, the crowd he just passed through began to stir excitedly, and hushed whispers floated across the ruined grounds.
"Isn't that…Cloud Sky Mountain's Wu Tuo?"
"It's really Wu Tuo!"
"What is he doing here?!"
The spectators quickly retreated when they recognized who he was, looking a little afraid, especially when he glared in their direction. For my part, I had no freaking clue who Wu Tuo was, other than that he owned and ran the shop where we bought the Earth Magnets from earlier.
However, even though his physical appearance was still the same, his presence was different from before. He was emanating an intimidating aura. If the Black Shadow dude from earlier were to pop his head out now, he would be in a world of hurt.
"My apologies." Wu Tuo bowed apologetically. "My place was slightly far away, so by the time I heard about the fight and rushed here, it's already over. At least you seemed to have captured one of the two."
He nodded at Gray Shadow, who I was still restraining.
"Yeah, it seems like the other guy has escaped." I pondered for a moment. That must be why Black Shadow didn't show up to save his comrade. The moment he sensed this Wu Tuo coming over, he judged that he would be no match for him, and would be at an overwhelming disadvantage with both Tang Qi Hong and me still combat-capable. So he made the strategic decision to abandon his comrade and withdrew.
…for now, anyway.
"If I had arrived earlier, then both of you wouldn't be hurt."
Wu Tuo looked very apologetic, despite the confidence in his words. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes and glanced at Tang Qi Hong.
"Are you hurt, Qi Hong?"
"Hmm? No. Ah…that's right! Thanks for protecting me, Wu!"
Tang Qi Hong seemed to recall that I had thrown myself in front of her to shield her from Black Shadow's drill, and also deflected Gray Shadow's killing blow from her when he tried to stab her in the back.
"How about you? Are you sure you're fine? You got bitten by those Emerald Serpents…"
"What?!" Wu Tuo balked. "Are you sure? Then we need an antidote…"
"No, I'm fine. I'm not hurt at all." I quickly assured him. The chubby, middle-aged man turned to stare at me in amazement.
"Eh? Really?"
Fortunately, I was saved from explaining when another two people showed up.
"My lord!"
"Master!"
It was two of the shop clerks from before, part of the staff running the Cloud Sky Mountain shop branch. They were hurriying over before standing beside Wu Tuo. Again, their presences were completely different from before, when they were running the store
It seemed as if they were veterans of combat.
When they saw me restraining Gray Shadow, they came over immediately and helped me, producing chains to tie up the hapless assassin. Yanking him to his feet, they tried to move him, but because I basically broke his spine, he toppled over.
"Ouch!"
"Oh, my bad," I apologized. "I got too carried away and I think I might have snapped his spine. He might not be able to walk."
"That's fine," one of the shop clerks replied. He produced what looked like a gurney, and both he and his colleague began strapping the silent Gray Shadow into it. Evidently he realized the futility of resisting, and was resigned to his fate. The first shop clerk turned briefly to beam at me. "We got you covered."
"Thanks." I lowered my head. "That helps a lot."
Wu Tuo then nodded and bowed slightly. Facing Tang Qi Hong and me, he inquired.
"Will the two of you return with me to rest in my shop? Or would you be returning straight to Nine-Tailed Fox Sect instead? Don't worry, if this guy's comrade returns, with me around, he will not dare to attack you."
"Then we will rest for a while in your shop." Tang Qi Hong hesitated for a moment and checked her smartphone. "I've contacted Elder Zhao and he should be here with the Blood Blades shortly. For now, we'll have to depend on you."
"I understand. We'll protect you under Master Zhao Shi arrives." Wu Tuo beamed. Tang Qi Hong continued staring at him, the astonishment still not leaving her pretty face.
"Um, are you really Cloud Sky Mountain's Wu Tuo?"
"That's right." Wu Tuo responded with a gentle smile. "I've only just arrived in Tushan City recently. Please take care of me from now on."
Seeing his kind expression, Tang Qi Hong relaxed visibly and withdrew her Cloud Shield.
"Good idea," Tang Qi Hong agreed with a nod of her head. She glared at the motionless Gray Shadow, and then reached into her pockets to pull her smartphone out. "I'll call Elder Zhao right away and let him know.""Make sure he brings along a contingent of Blood Blades," I reminded her. It would be good if Tong Xue and Pang Feng showed up as well. They were about the few friends I could trust, or at least I believed I could trust them. To be honest, even if they didn't, I still trusted the other Blood Blades enough to not look over my shoulder when they were behind me.Paranoia was not a healthy state of mind. Besides, with my Heaven and Earth senses, I didn't need to look over my shoulder to know a sneak attack was coming."Still" with one hand on her smartphone, Tang Qi Hong looked disapprovingly at me and took out a pill from her spatial device. "Here's an all-purpose antidote. It should suppress the toxins in your body.""I don't need it," I grumbled and held both my hands up. "Let's just say I cultivate a technique that renders me immune to poison."There was also the Hellfire Badger thing, but obviously I couldn't mention that. That was pretty redundant, now that I had Heaven and Earth Formula, so I wondered why I even got it in the first place. Then again, if I didn't have the Hellfire badger's immunity to poison, I would have died with the Hydra's venomous fangs grazed me.Sometimes Fate had a weird way of working out. Or maybe it was plot armor. Too bad the demon creature consumption thing was entirely based on luck, and most of the times I didn't get anything when I ate magical beasts or demonic creatures. I probably used up all my luck with the Hellfire Badger and maybe the Silverback Wolf. I didn't get anything from the Ghost Bear, Lunar Rabbit, Cobra and other demonic creatures that I ate. Like I said, it was pretty much a lottery, and far too unreliable if I wanted to go around collecting new abilities.That was good too, it meant I wouldn't devolve into a godlike protagonist with millions of abilities to the extent that even the author lost track of what attributes I gained and most of them never being mentioned again outside pretty niche situations. Plus it would skew the power levels, and what was life if I could go around stomping my enemies as easily as a human on ants?Tang Qi Hong frowned, but seeing that I wasn't kneeling over and dying from the venom even after so long, she took my word for it and kept the antidote. I watched her, feeling a little curious that she could so casually take an antidote out of her bag."Do you always carry an antidote around with you?""We are Nine-Tailed Fox Sect inner sect disicples. Of course we carry around lots of different medicines with us." Tang Qi Hong stared at me as if I had just asked a very obvious question. "Every Nine-Tailed Fox Sect inner sect disciple carries at least ten or more healing potions and medicines, for sealing wounds, mending internal injuries, neutralizing poisons, etc.""uh, okay." Why was this beginning to sound like a role-playing game? Or was I the one lacking common sense unique to this world?"Why don't you have them?" Tang Qi Hong demanded. "You're from Blood Blades, aren't you? Other than various high-ranking Spirit Armaments, the sect should be supplying you with new Spirit Pills every month to help you cultivate faster as well as healing medicine for injuries sustained during battles. Where are yours?""Ohuh, I didn't take the Spirit Pills for cultivation or antidotes, but now that you've mentioned it"I checked my spatial device and saw that I had a supply of healing medicine in them. I had returned the Spirit Pills for cultivation because I was firmly against doping and steroids. Come on, do you seriously believe that bullshit that you can become stronger just from eating specific pills? That sounded highly suspicious to me. I also returned the antidotes because I clearly didn't need them. The Blood Blades administrator accepted my reasons, but insisted that I take the healing medicine, which I did. But I rarely had a reason to use them.The last time was after I got injured by that Tian Sha Sect bastard and his subordinates in the ancient tomb, right after I tricked them into the Nine Thousand Yin Ice Hell Formation, and I also took a few pills for frostbite after running out of the damned chamber. So to be fair, they were useful. I was just too lazy to go back and retcon those chapters.As for Spirit ArmanentsI relied on the cheap swords because I wanted to forge my own Spirit Weapon. So I naturally refused them, wanting to customize a Spirit Weapon that was mine and mine alone. That was why I hadn't gone and replaced those swords. Well, I ended up acquiring the Azure Lotus Sword a few months ago in the Nascent Soul Stage practitioner's tomb, which was another reason why I couldn't be bothered with requisitioning new Spirit Weapons from the sect. I enjoyed my independence and was pretty proud of it.Tang Qi Hong seemed to be somewhat aware of that, or perhaps she read my expression, and she sighed in exasperation."Are you kidding me?! Don't you know that's the greatest advantage of our sect? Every sect disciple has a great advantage over heir enemies because of the high-quality Spirit Armaments, equipment and medicine that we possess!""I do have the healing medicine, though." I took the Spirit Healing Pills out to show her. Tang Qi Hong twitched, annoyed."So where's your Spirit Weapon?""Still in the midst of forging it" there was no way I was going to take out my Azure Lotus Sword, and Tang Qi Hong would recognize that it wasn't a weapon from our sect. there was no deceiving a blacksmith with regard to weapons."You said that last month! And the month before then! And are you an idiot? Why can't you borrow a few Spirit Weapons for now, and then return them after you finish forging your current project anyway?"Now that she said that, I guess it was pretty obvious. Pride had gotten in my way, but to be fair, I never really needed them. I never really believed in the whole "better quality" of Spirit Weapons in the first place. I subscribed to the school that a weapon was only as good as its wielder probably a bit too far and too zealously but I didn't want to inculcate the bad habbit of relying overly on the quality of my weapon. After all, if I could win a match with a lower quality Spirit Weapon, that spoke a lot more about my skills than me being spoiled by Pay To Win mechanics.And being from a previous timeline, I had an adverse reaction to P2W mechanics. They had no place in gaming. Of course, this was reality and not a game, so I should probably wisen up and not stick dogmatically to that stupid principle, or it might cost me my life someday.Admittedly, fights between martial artists was not as simple as who belonged to whatever stage or realms. There were many factors involved, such as one's physical constitution, training, and knowledge if you knew what martial arts your opponent was using, you could probably counter them better than if you were fighting in the dark. Furthermore, the quality of one's Spirit Weapons mattered and could make a huge difference.I personally experienced that when my sword broke during that last battle in the ancient tomb. If I didn't have my Azure Lotus SwordLet's be honest. It did make a difference. If two martial artists of similar strength fought each other, the one with more Spirit Artifacts, or the one whose Spirit Armaments were of a higher quality, would have an advantage. And sometimes, that advantage was more than enough to lead to a decisive difference between life and death, no matter how slight.Right now, I was practically playing with fire because of my pride."I'll think about it," I muttered as I reflected on my actions. That said, I had acquired a high quality Azure Lotus Sword, so it wasn't as if I was completely helpless or didn't have any high quality Spirit Weapons at all. But I didn't want to say too much regarding that."I'm glad you understand." Tang Qi Hong nodded as she finished reprimanding me. As the premier inner sect disciple of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, she pretty much embraced that concept of possessing an overwhelming advantage over the opponent with higher quality Spirit Armaments. In fact, that was the reason why the Blood Blades were so fearsome because they were equipped with such high quality Spirit Armaments surpassing anything their opponents owned. That proved decisive in most fights, and sometimes even allowed them to fight on par with stronger enemies. Naturally, their martial arts and combat capabilities were excellent as well at least my belief in that was not mistaken. If you couldn't wield a weapon properly, then even if you were armed with the highest-quality Spirit Weapon, it would be nothing more than dead weight in your arm.Blood Blades were powerful not merely because they were armed with the best Spirit Weapons, but also because they knew how to use their weapons to their maximum potential. Instead of focusing on one aspect, I should learn to embrace both advantages that the sect provided."Ugh!""Trying to escape?"Hearing the grunt from Gray Shadow, who had finally recovered enough consciousness to get up and tried to flee, Tang Qi Hong immediately diverted her attention back to him. She threw her hand out, and obeying her will, a purple flaming ribbon lashed out and struck the desperately fleeing assassin, grazing his shadows and burning him."OOOOOOOW!"Howling in pain as his body shuddered from the impact, Gray Shadow tried to dodge in midair, but the eerie white bone spear shrieked and struck him from behind. It knocked away the shattered remains of his broken Spirit Armor that still clung pathetically to him and bowled him over, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.He spun away and knocked the Frost Bone Spear aside, but I had suddenly appeared in front of him using my footwork techniques. Executing Liu, I hooked my foot around his, disrupted his movements, and tripped him over, causing him to fall flat on his face."You little!" he swore, but I stomped on his head, grinding his face against the ground and turning his words into little more than a muffled curse."Who are you?" Tang Qi Hong demanded, even though she wisely kept her distance. "Who ordered you to attack us?""We should restrain him," I suggested, looking around for some rope. Even though I was supposedly one of the Blood Blades, I lacked the armament that they possessed, and only had a bunch of healing medicine and the Azure Lotus Sword and my current project in my spatial device. Hell, my spatial device was my current project, so it didn't count."Good idea," Tang Qi Hong agreed and raised her hand. Her spatial ring lit up and a screen-like barrier that resembled a flowing cloud drifted out of the device and soared toward the sprawled Gray Shadow. Recognizing it as a cage that functioned to trap Gray Shadow inside, I quickly retreated. Like hell would I want to be imprisoned inside that thing with the bastard!While I did so, I couldn't help but glance at Tang Qi Hong's spatial device. Just how many Spirit Artifacts did she have stored inside that little thing? Then again, I fitted an entire army of over six hundred battle-automata inside my spatial device, so I guess it wouldn't be surprising if Tang Qi Hong had an entire armory stored within it.I bet she even had the Thallax-class battle puppets and Castellax-class battle-automata she bought from me stored inside her ring. I certainly had my Castellax-class battle-automata stored inside mine, but only two of them were battle-worthy at the moment, so I had no reason to take them out. Besides, Gray Shadow looked as if he was finished."Old Black! Help me already!"As if he realized that too, Gray Shadow suddenly yelled out in a rasping voice."What?!"Tang Qi Hong's beautiful face scrunched up in surprise. I narrowed my eyes, but didn't panic, instead feeling the surroundings with my Heaven and Earth senses. If someone wanted to ambush us, I would be able to detect his killing intent. To be honest, I did suspect that there would be a second assassin somewhere, just in case the first failed.That was how the Blood Blades usually worked we had reserves or contingencies in place, a second squad to reinforce the first if they end up being overwhelmed."Wu, be careful!" Tang Qi Hong warned, glancing around nervously while staying close to her Cloud Shield. She scanned the people nearby, especially those closest to her, as if expecting them to attack her suddenly.I understood her anxiety. The Cloud Shield, while formidable, could only protect Tang Qi Hong from one side at a time. If someone was to ambush her from behind or from the sides, the light shield would not be able to fully defend herself from the attack. She would need to react or respond to the ambush directly."Don't look at me. I'm not an assassin.""This is Nine-Tailed Fox Sect's city. I'm not stupid enough to pick a fight with them here.""Me neither."The martial artists who caught her eye quickly backed off, raising their hands and showing that they meant no harm. They were just here to watch the show. The bastards couldn't even be bothered to lend a helping hand.As much as I wanted to memorize their faces which I could do by recording their faces with the camera function in my glasses, I honestly didn't have time to harbor a grudge and go hunt each of them down to "take revenge." I mean, seriously, what was I supposed to do? Beat them or kill them because they refused to help? I wasn't that entitled to think everyone was obligated to help save us, and I understood if they didn't want to get hurt. Besides, it was clear that Tang Qi Hong and I had the matter well in hand.From the look on Tang Qi Hong's face, though, I could understand why they thought she would attack them. She was like a ticked-off bomb just about to go off, triggered by even the most trivial of matters. Not wanting her to mistake them for Gray Shadow's comrade, they retreated further, clearing the space around us.Even though many of them were martial artists competent enough to take care of themselves, they kept a distance from Tang Qi Hong and me. Not because they were afraid of us they were confident of their strengths and skills, especially if they dared to operate in a lawless area like Free Trade Street where fights broke out everyday but because they were aware of our identities, and were fearful of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, which we were a part of. They didn't want to be relentlessly hunted down by the terrifying Blood Blades.I paid no attention to them. Instead, my eyes were shut as I intently focused my senses on our surroundings, looking for any sort of anomaly.That was when I sensed a strange presence coming from below. Worse, it was heading right for Tang Qi Hong!Bastard!Swearing inwardly, I used my footwork technique again to reach Tang Qi Hong's side. As soon as I reached her, I immediately stomped my foot on the ground and unleashed my Nine-Tailed Frost Fox Formula.Crack!The ground beneath me instantly froze, ice spreading rapidly over the concrete. The ice quickly spread all over the uneven road, encasing it in solid frost.However, I could still sense the mass of qi drilling its way upward, smashing out of the rock-solid ground, erupting with the force of a volcano. Realizing just how powerful this new assailant was, I felt a chill run down my spine."Watch out! Under you!"Bang!The thick layer of ice that I froze over the road immediately shattered and the assassin emerged in a shower of hail. Shrouded by a dense aura of earth-element qi, his imposing figure barreled toward us like a massive boulder flung from a ballista.I immediately stepped in front of Tang Qi Hong to shield her from the approaching assassin. My spatial device glowed brightly and transformed into a hi-tech shieldwell, at least I hoped it looked hi-tech. resembling a gigantic snowflake with six petals, my half-completed Snow Aegis gleamed azure and erected a qi barrier in front of us.Raising my right hand, I channeled my qi into my Snow Aegis to strengthen the qi barrier that it was emitting.The black shadow didn't care. He continued charging forward, undaunted by the appearance of a huge shield. He raised his lance, which transformed into a spinning drill, and thrust it forward.Bam!"?!"Despite the massive amount of earth qi crashing into my Snow Aegis with the force of a meteor, the black shadow found himself stopped dead in his tracks. He bellowed as he continued drilling through it as best as he could, but even though he shattered the first layer of qi barriers that formed in front of Snow Aegis with his metallic drill, he was unable to break the second layer of the remaining five."What is this?!" he snarled through gritted teeth.Obviously I wasn't stupid enough to tell him. I just stood silently, firmly holding my ground against his powerful charge. As his tremendous amount of earth-element qi was expended, the black shadow retreated several steps away, glaring at me."That's?"Tang Qi Hong's eyes widened when she saw my Snow Aegis, recognizing it as the personal project I had been working on for so long. She then frowned."I thought you said you hadn't finished forging it.""It's not completed," I told her. "There are some modifications I wish to carry out, but I haven't found a way to gel them together."Tang Qi Hong rolled her eyes. "Just let me have a look at it later."Seeing that this was no time for me to protest, I swallowed my pride and nodded while keeping my attention on Black Shadow. Tang Qi Hong was correct, in a way. If I allowed her to look at my Snow Aegis and helped me finish it earlier, I would be able to bring the full power of its offensive capabilities against our current enemies.Right now, all Snow Aegis was capable of was defending. If I hadn't been so absorbed in my pride and had my head stuck so far up my ass and actually asked for help, I might have a chance of subduing the two assassins.Black Shadow scowled and studied me, looking for a way past my Snow Aegis. He realized there was no point attacking from behind, because Tang Qi Hong had the Cloud Shadow protecting our backs. His paths of aggression were limited.In the end, he decided to go for another frontal attack. Summoning a huge amount of qi, he infused it into his drill and thrust it at us again. By now I had recovered and restored the sixth layer of qi barrier, and withstood his attack without much difficulty.Or so I say, but it was consuming quite a lot of my qi just to defend against this bastard's attack. If this turned into a battle of attrition"Just stay where you are, Wu!" Tang Qi Hong shouted behind me. I didn't need to turn around and look behind me to know what she intended.Tang Qi Hong had sat down and closed her eyes, channeling her qi into the various Spirit Weapons that she already had out. The Nine Shuriken Stars, the Frost Bone Spear and Flame Silk shifted away from the downed Gray Shadow, speeding across the air like bullets and rushed forward to strike Black Shadow.While they did so, Tang Qi Hong simultaneously directed her Nether Ghost Claw, which was still hovering high in the air, to descend and crush Black Shadow's head within its terrifying grasp. However, it was still slower than the other Spirit Weapons.This was because the Nether Ghost Claw was forged from the claws of the Nether Field's Bloodthirsty Blade Ghost. Elder Hai Mo had even crafted it personally, to produce such an exquisite and formidable weapon, but it required Tang Qi Hong to gather and channel all of her spiritual qi in order to unleash its true power.Earlier, when fighting against Gray Shadow, she only drew the Nether Ghost Claw as a deterrent, and not because she actually needed it. In other words, she drew it to show off. Ugh. In any event, she hadn't unleashed its true power yet.And now I was about to witness what the Nether Ghost Claw was capable of.Even so, Black Shadow had to be really powerful if he forced Tang Qi Hong to go all out.An ominous fog of black qi gushed out as the Nether Ghost Claw was suddenly saturated with dense, dark energy. For a moment, I felt as if I had just been plunged into the desolate and terrifying Nether Fields. The skies even looked dark and shadowy for some reason, and the atmosphere was tinged with death.Dark green will'o wisps hovered above the Nether Ghost Claw, resembling the fearsome fireballs that Tang Qi Hong's Nine-Tailed Fire Fox Formula produced. No, I was mistaken. Tang Qi Hong was using the Nether Ghost Claw in conjunction with her Nine-Tailed Fire Fox Formula, the Spirit Weapon merging and boosting her technique!Then the blazing fireballs rained down upon the place like a meteor shower, burning everything with its acidic touch."OOOOOOOOOOOO!"I didn't know if I was hallucinating under some nightmarish hallucination, but I could swear that I was hearing an eerie howl that could only belong to the Bloodthirsty Blade Ghost, the terrifying sound emitted from the claw. Moving my Snow Aegis closer, I managed to protect Tang Qi Hong and myself from the blazing rain, which splashed harmlessly across the faint, transparent azure-tinged barriers that my personally forged Spirit Armament produced."Nine-Tailed Fire Fox Formula: Nether Fox Hellfire!"Tang Qi Hong decided to shout the name of her technique for some inexplicable reason. I gave up on providing a retort and instead focused on the blazing battlefield.Many of the spectators had retreated, shock and fear flooding their expressions as they tried their best to dodge the destructive hellfire raining down on the street. One of them dove under a nearby stall, which was unfortunate to disintegrate completely when one of the cyan fiery projectiles slammed into it, erasing it from existence."What the hell?!""Oh my lord!""Out of the way!""AAAAAH!"Black Shadow's icy eyes remained as cold and emotionless as ever as he calmly dodged it, but several of the Nether Fox Hellfire still somehow struck him and burned off huge swathes of his clothing. His skin blistered and burned, despite his protective earth aura doing its best to nullify the corrosive, incendiary effects of the ghostly flames.Even when taking such horrifying injuries, Black Shadow neither displayed any fear nor pain, merely continuing to move so as to avoid being incinerated completely by the relentless bombardment."Old Black! Let's retreat for now! Or you'll get burned by the Nether Ghostly Hellfire!"Evidently Gray Shadow didn't know that this was a technique modified by Tang Qi Hong by melding it with her Nine-Tailed Fire Fox Formula, but his advice was still sound. Black Shadow nodded, imperturbed, and dove headfirst into the hole where he emerged from underground earlier. The metallic drill he wielded also turned into a golden bolt of light and followed him closely, probably disappearing into his spatial device.Gray Shadow also seized the chance to escape, rolling to his feet and disappearing like a gray cloud. He ran for the nearest street on his two legs."Did I say you can go?""?!"Gray Shadow spun around and ssaw that I had somehow caught up with him. I smiled him, stuck my leg in front of him and tripped him, sending him sprawling onto the ground again. He uttered a curse and lashed out at me, but I effortlessly dodged it before stomping on his back.Seismic Step.That attack probably broke his spine. Gray Shadow was screaming in so much pain that I actually felt sorry for him."I know you're the one who told him to retreat, but is your comrade not coming back to save you?" I asked, trying not to make it sound like a taunt.Gray Shadow's face was pale as he glared at me venomously. "Youyou will never get away with this!" he spat.I laughed. "How very original. I'll have to remember that. Seriously, though" I smacked him across the head, burying his face in the devastated dirt. "You're the one who tried to assassinate Qi Hong. Why are you acting as if I'm the villain?""Be careful. His accomplice might return anytime."Tang Qi Hong was gathering her Spirit Weapons back and keeping most of them in her spatial ring, but she couldn't help but keep some of them out and trained her eyes on the hole where Black Shadow disappeared into, as if expecting him to emerge again."How are you?""Are you asking me, or this guy?" I asked humorously. Tang Qi Hong made a face and snorted, annoyed."You, of course. Why should I care about him? He tried to kill me.""Speaking of which" I grabbed the guy's hair and yanked his head up by his hair. "Who are you? And why are you trying to kill Qi Hong?"Gray Shadow sneered defiantly. "As if I'll tell you!""Elder Zhao will definitely find out," Tang Qi Hong informed him coldly. "We'll thoroughly investigate this once we get back and report to him. You won't be able to cover for your master forever.""I do have an idea who it might be, though." Frowning, I turned to Gray Shadow. "Let me guess. You're a member of the Divine Shadow Sect, and was ordered by Liang Shao Yang to assassinate Tang Qi Hong in order to eliminate competition for the position of future sect leader.""I told you, I won't tell you anything!" Gray Shadow snapped. I merely chuckled."Oh, but you already have. The fact that you didn't deny it or react in shock means that I've guessed correctly but you just refuse to confirm it."Gray Shadow opened his mouth, his face pale from the pain or from shock, I didn't know and then closed it, realizing that anything else he said would be burying him deeper in the hole he had just dug for himself."I should have known." From Tang Qi Hong's expression, she had made the same guess as me. Clenching her fists angrily, she gritted her teeth and made a vow. "If I find any evidence that Liang Shao Yang is really the one behind all this, I won't forgive him!""Coming through, coming through! Please make way!"The both of us rose and spotted a familiar figure pushing and shoving his way through the crowd of spectators. He approached me and Tang Qi Hong, and I recognized him as the plump owner of the Cloud Sky Mountain's shop. Stopping beside us, he smiled."The two of you should follow me to my shop and rest for a while. I'll restrain that guy as well."While he conversed with us, the crowd he just passed through began to stir excitedly, and hushed whispers floated across the ruined grounds."Isn't thatCloud Sky Mountain's Wu Tuo?""It's really Wu Tuo!""What is he doing here?!"The spectators quickly retreated when they recognized who he was, looking a little afraid, especially when he glared in their direction. For my part, I had no freaking clue who Wu Tuo was, other than that he owned and ran the shop where we bought the Earth Magnets from earlier.However, even though his physical appearance was still the same, his presence was different from before. He was emanating an intimidating aura. If the Black Shadow dude from earlier were to pop his head out now, he would be in a world of hurt."My apologies." Wu Tuo bowed apologetically. "My place was slightly far away, so by the time I heard about the fight and rushed here, it's already over. At least you seemed to have captured one of the two."He nodded at Gray Shadow, who I was still restraining."Yeah, it seems like the other guy has escaped." I pondered for a moment. That must be why Black Shadow didn't show up to save his comrade. The moment he sensed this Wu Tuo coming over, he judged that he would be no match for him, and would be at an overwhelming disadvantage with both Tang Qi Hong and me still combat-capable. So he made the strategic decision to abandon his comrade and withdrew.for now, anyway."If I had arrived earlier, then both of you wouldn't be hurt."Wu Tuo looked very apologetic, despite the confidence in his words. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes and glanced at Tang Qi Hong."Are you hurt, Qi Hong?""Hmm? No. Ahthat's right! Thanks for protecting me, Wu!"Tang Qi Hong seemed to recall that I had thrown myself in front of her to shield her from Black Shadow's drill, and also deflected Gray Shadow's killing blow from her when he tried to stab her in the back."How about you? Are you sure you're fine? You got bitten by those Emerald Serpents""What?!" Wu Tuo balked. "Are you sure? Then we need an antidote""No, I'm fine. I'm not hurt at all." I quickly assured him. The chubby, middle-aged man turned to stare at me in amazement."Eh? Really?"Fortunately, I was saved from explaining when another two people showed up."My lord!""Master!"It was two of the shop clerks from before, part of the staff running the Cloud Sky Mountain shop branch. They were hurriying over before standing beside Wu Tuo. Again, their presences were completely different from before, when they were running the storeIt seemed as if they were veterans of combat.When they saw me restraining Gray Shadow, they came over immediately and helped me, producing chains to tie up the hapless assassin. Yanking him to his feet, they tried to move him, but because I basically broke his spine, he toppled over."Ouch!""Oh, my bad," I apologized. "I got too carried away and I think I might have snapped his spine. He might not be able to walk.""That's fine," one of the shop clerks replied. He produced what looked like a gurney, and both he and his colleague began strapping the silent Gray Shadow into it. Evidently he realized the futility of resisting, and was resigned to his fate. The first shop clerk turned briefly to beam at me. "We got you covered.""Thanks." I lowered my head. "That helps a lot."Wu Tuo then nodded and bowed slightly. Facing Tang Qi Hong and me, he inquired."Will the two of you return with me to rest in my shop? Or would you be returning straight to Nine-Tailed Fox Sect instead? Don't worry, if this guy's comrade returns, with me around, he will not dare to attack you.""Then we will rest for a while in your shop." Tang Qi Hong hesitated for a moment and checked her smartphone. "I've contacted Elder Zhao and he should be here with the Blood Blades shortly. For now, we'll have to depend on you.""I understand. We'll protect you under Master Zhao Shi arrives." Wu Tuo beamed. Tang Qi Hong continued staring at him, the astonishment still not leaving her pretty face."Um, are you really Cloud Sky Mountain's Wu Tuo?""That's right." Wu Tuo responded with a gentle smile. "I've only just arrived in Tushan City recently. Please take care of me from now on."Seeing his kind expression, Tang Qi Hong relaxed visibly and withdrew her Cloud Shield.
