Chapter 566: The Frog at the Bottom of the Well
Inside the dark haunted house, Tang Xiu still maintained his posture with one of his legs tilted, and the cigarette clamped between his fingers sent a circles of smoke curling upward. Meanwhile, Light, who was dressed in a white attire, was playing with his crescent moon blade and didn’t even spare Dongbei Hu a glance.
In the darkest corner, Dark was as though she had thoroughly merged with the darkness. Her presence so restrained that even Dongbei Hu, who had a very high-level cultivation, was unaware of her presence. Of course, this was also thanks to the obstruction of the black cloth in front of her as well.
“Are you Tang Xiu?” Dongbei Hu was quite alarmed inside after seeing the more than twenty corpses inside; two of them were even headless. He had a lofty and extraordinary status and was thus unwilling to amass more killings before. It could be said that he had never personally killed anyone for more than ten years.
Hush…
Tang Xiu raised his index finger to his mouth and produced a shushing sound. His eyes then shifted from Dongbei Hu to Yao Chengqing who came behind him along with dozens of Yao Family experts.
Dongbei Hu creased his brows. But, after living for more than a century, he had grown great wisdom and patience. Hence, he kept silence and stood still with a calm expression, anticipating what kind of trick Tang Xiu would play.
After Yao Chengqing entered the haunted house, he smelled a thick smell of blood. His complexion changed and he quickly sprinted to the front of Dongbei Hu. His eyes swept over the dead bodies around before finally landing on Yao Xinhua, who was like soft and limp mud slushed on the floor; there was no telling whether he was still alive or dead.
“SON!”
Yao Chengqing roared and dashed toward Yao Xinhua. He squatted down and carefully helped him to sit on the floor and lean on his chest.
At this time, Yao Xinhua’s breath was weak and his face was pale like paper. His handsome face was wet with sweat and also stained with nearly dried up bloodstains. His gaze was blurred. After clearing seeing that the one hugging him was his father, Yao Xinhua squeezed out a bitter smile and hoarsely said, “Dad, I’m sorry. Please do one thing for me. I beg you.”
Tears gushed out from Yao Chengqing’s eyes as he repeatedly nodded and said, “Tell me your wish, son. Dad promises you to do it no matter what.”
With words struggling out of his throat, Yao Xinhua begged, “Please kill me, Dad. Dying by your hands will be much better than dying by his hands. I’m afraid… I-I’m afraid I’m gonna die with everlasting regret.”
Yao Chengqing shuddered deep inside, and the pain struck him like a tidal wave. Yao Xinhua’s hands tightened on his son and he shook his head again and again, saying, “You won’t die, Son. Don’t worry, no one can kill you as long as I’m here.”
After saying that, he prepared to get up and walk toward Tang Xiu.
However, strength suddenly burst out from Yao Xinhua. It was all the strength he could muster after having rested for a while. He grabbed Yao Chengqing’s foot and hurriedly called out, “Dad, just leave quickly! You… you can never be his match!”
Looking at the scene before him, Tang Xiu clapped his hands and laughed, “What a touching scene of deep affection between father and son! Anyhow, don’t rush to go back now since you are already here. Of course, you won’t be able to go back at all. It just so happens that I’d like to do some good deeds, so I can send off the two of you—father and son—on a journey to the netherworld. Isn’t being able to take care of each other on the journey there great?”
Yao Chengqing squatted back to hug Yao Xinhua and angrily glared at Tang Xiu and sternly shouted, “I heard there was an outstanding freak among the soft Tangs, but I didn’t expect you to be even more terrifying than I imagined… But, even if you’re so powerful, then what? You can kill all these ordinary people, but are you also able to defeat Master Tiger? What an idiot brat, today is exactly the right time for you to die!”
“Seeing that confident look on your face suddenly reminded of some words: extreme prosperity forebodes the beginning of decline.” Tang Xiu grinned as he flicked the cigarette ash and smilingly said, “The Yao Family has been powerful for decades, and as a result infected the juniors of your family with arrogant and bullying dispositions. Unfortunately, you have too narrow a vision and outlook as one of the top big families in China. Since you’re also a respected figure among the Yaos, then today I’ll use your blood as a sacrifice to hold a memorial ceremony for all the passing people of my Tang Family.”
The crescent moon blade in Light’s hand instantly flew at Yao Chengqing in an extremely twisted trajectory. At this moment, Dongbei Hu hummed coldly and flicked his finger. A flame came off his fingertips and clashed with the crescent moon blade.
Bang…
Light’s body shook and a thick killing intent appeared on his face, whereas Dongbei Hu’s expression greatly changed. He was forced to retreat for half a step and exert his strength to the tip of his toes to stabilize his stance. Despite doing so, however, he felt that his wrist was slightly numbed and pained.
“Hold on!” Tang Xiu raised his hand to prevent Light from continue attacking. He let out a faint smile and looked at Dongbei Hu, saying, “I presume you’re Dongbei Hu—the legendary Amur Tiger from Northeast region, yes? You’re so old yet you actually keep playing outside rather than nicely enjoying your later years in your hometown in the Northeast! To think that you want to court disaster. Even if you don’t care about yourself, don’t you at least care about your own descendants?”
Dongbei Hu’s eyes were full of vigilance, and stormy waves suddenly surged inside his heart. From the clash just now, he could sense something that sent a chill to his heart. The young man in white attire in front of him looked like he was still in his late 20s, yet his cultivation was so strong that even he felt a faint pressure.
However, for such a formidable youth to stand respectfully beside Tang Xiu increased his vigilance toward Tang Xiu greatly. He could sense a very sinister aura coming from Tang Xiu; like a crouching python that seemed to be ready to strike and tear him at any time. He wanted to see through Tang Xiu’s strength, yet when he tried to probe Tang Xiu, it was as though he was looking at the blossoming moon on the water surface like a blurred image.
“You seem very confident of yourself, young man!”
Nevertheless, the Amur Tiger had his own dignity and he was slightly angered upon seeing Tang Xiu looking down on him.
“Don’t be afraid. I may hate my enemies and will dispose of them with all the means I have. But I will never touch your offspring on a whim.” Tang Xiu smilingly said, “Of course, the premise is that they don’t come to provoke me, or else I don’t mind uprooting the source of the trouble as well. As a matter of fact, I just wanted to figure something out.”
“What exactly do you want to know?” Asked Dongbei Hu, raising his brows.
“It’s the reason why you came to Beijing.” Tang Xiu smiled. “Dealing with my Tang Family shouldn’t be only because of that life-saving favor, should it?”
Dongbei Hu was taken aback and he immediately sized up Tang Xiu. In actuality, the purpose of his visit to Beijing was not purely because he wanted to return a favor just like Tang Xiu said. He also wanted to get a lot of cultivation resources through the Yao Family. As a cultivator, the higher his cultivation, the bigger the cultivation resources he needed to consume.
It’s just that he hadn’t mentioned his purpose to the Head of the Yao Family yet, and still kept this idea in mind. He couldn’t figure out as how Tang Xiu could correctly guess it.
“You’re right. I do need something, and the Yao Family should help me.”
“Sure enough, killing two birds with one stone is indeed a good idea.” Tang Xiu nodded. “A pity that you will lift a stone only to have it smash your own feet. Not only will you not get any benefits, you will eventually lose the bait along with the fish and lose everything. Alright, I’ll give you a chance; an opportunity for you to live.”
Dongbei Hu couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Although Tang Xiu and Light did bring him some pressure, he was unconvinced that these two youngsters before him would be able to match him and he wouldn’t be able to stand up to fight them and flee. Even though he spent his time in obscurity and barely dealt with others in the recent years, he used to be an old man who had gone through bloody rains and foul winds and was not afraid to face a fight.
“That’s very interesting. Then, tell me, what chance are you going to give me?”
“I give you 24 hours to kill all the direct line members of the Yao Family. The number of corpses I want to see cannot be less than 100,” answered Tang Xiu.
The smile on Dongbei Hu’s face gradually faded away, as a sneer appeared to replace it. He then mocked, “Young man, do you really think you can kill me by relying on that trivial skills of yours?”
“It seems to me that you don’t want me to give you a chance, is that so?” Asked Tang Xiu.
“There’s no need for that,” sneered Dongbei Hu.
“Ah, it’s kind of a pity. Your vision is so limited. You’re like a frog at the bottom of the well, arrogant and conceited.” Tang Xiu shook his head and sighed. “No matter whether you’ve been living in China for almost two centuries, it’s time for you to undergo a tribulation, it seems. Light, I need the Golden Core inside his body to refine a medicine.”
“Understood!”
Light respectfully replied and his figure instantly appeared in front of Dongbei Hu. As the crescent moon blade danced in the air, it instantly created overlapping images of blades that shrouded Dongbei Hu. At the same time, a group of flames appeared out of thin air, and a bolt of lightning suddenly flashed. A lightning flame array formed almost in no time and pressed toward Dongbei Hu to suppress him.
“What?”
Dongbei Hu had never seen such a method, creating fright and horror inside his heart. He realized that he may have encountered an unprecedented crisis today. Tang Xiu just said that he needed his Golden Core, thus making him realize that Tang Xiu could see through his cultivation. What shocked him the most was that Tang Xiu even said that he would use his Golden Core to refine a medicine.
“BREAK…”
Dongbei Hu sent his steel fists out. Appearing along with the barrage of flashing images of his punches was a huge eruption of True Essence that heavily barraged the crescent moon blade. At the same time, a small sword made of peach wood emerged from his hand out of thin air and forced a drop of his blood out as it quickly fused into it. The blazing flame of the sword light was as though being able to tear up the space barrier and hit the top of the lightning flame array’s core.
Tang Xiu frowned and indifferently said, “I don’t want this haunted house to be destroyed.”
Whoosh…
The black-clothed Dark flashed and instantly appeared, surrounding Dongbei Hu. The black clothes she wore made her seamlessly fuse in the dark, and the flying sword in her hand was like an intelligent roaming spirit fish as it gracefully swept over to slice Dongbei Hu’s neck. Despite an extremely fast attempt from Dongbei Hu to avoid it, still, a bloody wound was left on his right neck.
How could there be someone else here?
A huge shock struck Dongbei Hu’s very soul. His earthshaking strike was unable to destroy the lightning flame array, whereas that legendary flying sword even nearly decapitated his head.