Seeing Ge Long dead and the handpicked hidden-weapon corps annihilated, Tai Tan's eyes went bloodshot. He glared at Zhu Zhuqing. "Wretch—what happened over there was your doing too, wasn't it?"
Zhu Zhuqing's exquisite face curved in a proud smile of success. "So what if it was? In the Emperor Team, aside from Xiao Tian, only Oslo could insta-kill Ge Long, so I placed him there. Seems it worked. Also, Senior Tai Tan—compared to your Tang Sect's hidden-weapon legacy, how do you rate the Shu Mountain talisman legacy Tianlin obtained?"
Tai Tan's face darkened. He had placed great faith in the hidden-weapon corps. Forty thousand hidden-weapon troops could match forty thousand rank-40 soul masters. It was his trump card against the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Who could have thought one of Jun Tianlin's talismans would shatter it so cleanly?
"Damn it—those were only our ordinary hidden weapons. We still have our highest-level devices. I'll take your head now." Tai Tan pulled a cylinder from his robe: the Torrential Pear Blossom Needle, second among Tang Sect mechanism weapons, with the strongest single-target lethality—enough to kill a Title Douluo.
Originally meant for Tianlin, Tai Tan no longer cared—he was going to deal with Zhu Zhuqing first.
He now hated Zhu Zhuqing to the bone. Without her, the city wouldn't have fallen so easily, and the hidden-weapon corps wouldn't have died so miserably.
"The Torrential Pear Blossom Needle." Zhu Zhuqing grew slightly wary—she already knew its power from Tianlin. But she wasn't afraid; to counter it, Tianlin had passed her an extraordinarily potent technique.
It was special, though—its full might required money power.
Zhu Zhuqing drew out a pouch of gold soul coins from her soul tool. "Senior, Tianlin also knows some hidden-weapon skills. He taught me and Rongrong, and told me that on this trip I should ask your guidance—see how our hidden-weapon style compares to Tang Sect's. Please receive my move—Heaven-and-Earth Toss!"
She referred to the classic immortal skill from the Legend of Sword and Fairy series—Heaven-and-Earth Toss—originally Lin Yue'ru's signature, later passed to Xiaoman, and the most suitable for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
It resembles a hidden-weapon technique on the surface, but more precisely it is an immortal art—very special, rule-like. If you throw stones, steel, or even top-tier hidden weapons, it won't show its power. You must throw money for the technique to rival the Five-Spirit Immortal Arts.
As the Torrential Pear Blossom Needles shot out, Zhu Zhuqing hurled all the gold soul coins with the Heaven-and-Earth Toss method. Needles and coins collided midair; in an instant, all twenty-seven needles were knocked down.
"Impossible!" Tai Tan couldn't believe it. The Pearflower needles were forged from Deep-Sea Sink-Silver, a precious ore scarce even across the Heaven Dou Empire, and the polishing required the ninety-seventh-rank Tang Xiao's Clear Sky Hammer.
Yet this exquisitely crafted device was knocked out of the air by Zhu Zhuqing with a handful of gold coins. What, then, was the point of all those years refining the Torrential Pear Blossom Needle?
Not only did Heaven-and-Earth Toss break the needles, the force drove several coins into Tai Tan's body. Pierced through the chest by multiple coins, Tai Tan immediately lost the ability to contend with Zhu Zhuqing.
"Why… I'm not willing… I haven't avenged my master and young master… Haven't expanded the Tang Sect as the young master wished… I'm not willing!" Tai Tan spat blood, forcing himself to stand.
Zhu Zhuqing stepped in. "Sorry, Senior Tai Tan. Tianlin said you're the Tang clan's loyal hound and the least likely to surrender to our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. In that case, there's no need for mercy on the battlefield. Die—Nether Slash!" She showed no hesitation, piercing Tai Tan's heart.
Tai Tan fell suffused with bitter unwillingness, eyes turning to the battle below the walls. His son Tai Nuo and grandson Tai Long were aiding the heavy cavalry against the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's soul master corps. He hoped they would carry on his will and avenge their master.
"Father!" Seeing Tai Tan dying atop the wall, Tai Nuo lost all reason in rage.
"Damn Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect—I don't care about anything anymore! I'll perish with you—Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus!"
He unleashed Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus into the crowd, heedless that not only the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's soul masters but also Heaven Dou's heavy cavalry would be killed.
He had completely lost his reason for the sake of vengeance.
"Soul master corps, change formation! Everyone else, fall back! Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda soul masters, forward!" Before the lotus detonated, Zhu Zhuqing issued a strange order—battle soul masters were to hide behind the support-type soul masters.
The corps obeyed without hesitation. Dozens of Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda users sprinted to the front with Drunken Immortal Moonstep.
"Good. Raise the Smoke-Moon Divine Mirrors!" Zhu Zhuqing commanded.
The Smoke-Moon Divine Mirror is a weapon that, channeling the soul power on its surface, can reflect the enemy's attack back.
It's a relatively basic piece in Shu Mountain's forging arts, a cheap tool that cost only two hundred coins in the Sword and Fairy world, yet one that could even make the Demon Lord Chonglou stumble. In recent years, Lou Gao had forged few divine weapons, but he made plenty of these.
No helping it—powerful effect, simple craft, cheap materials. Faced with something so practical, Lou Gao simply couldn't resist.
Even if his versions weren't as exquisite as Shu Mountain's, they were more than enough to counter a Tang Sect hidden weapon.
Dozens of mirrors were raised, not only fully blocking Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus, but reflecting it all back.
Heaven Dou's heavy cavalry soon sacrificed under the lotus, suffering disastrous losses.
"What?" Tai Long and Tai Nuo were aghast. Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus had nearly wiped out their own side, while the enemy stood untouched.
Lounging against the battlements, Zhu Zhuqing whistled down, catching the father and son's attention.
They looked up involuntarily. Zhu Zhuqing propped her chin, smiling with a pretty, impish face. "Hey—nice work, you two. Thanks! Your Strength Clan really does have some uses!"
This side of Zhu Zhuqing made the Emperor Team's members shiver. Since resolving her knots with the Star Luo Empire and gaining true freedom, she'd grown more lively and open—good in itself. But perhaps a bit too open. Just what had she been learning from Tianlin all these years? She'd even picked up his scheming.
She was going to enrage this father and son to death—Zhu Zhuqing intended to wipe out all three generations of the Tai family in one go.
Everyone had the same thought: never provoke this woman again, or she'll play you to death.