Tang Tianhao descended from the air, his face flushed crimson, the redness extending down to his neck. How could he not understand that he had been poisoned? In fact, during the pursuit, he had already sensed something was wrong, but he couldn't bear to watch Lady Tang being kidnapped.
Immediately, Tang Tianhao attempted to circulate his energy to expel the poison. However, as soon as he began, his blood and energy instantly reversed flow, beyond his control, and he spat out a mouthful of black blood.
Flying Dragon smiled and said, "Master Tang, you mustn't circulate your energy. What you've been poisoned with is Energy Dissolution Powder. The more you circulate your energy, the faster the poison activates!"
At that moment,
Xia Ci, Xia Xiayin, and Tang Buyi also arrived in pursuit. Tang Buyi rushed to the front, sword in hand. Seeing his mother unconscious on the ground, his eyes bulged with rage as he shouted, "You dogs! Release my mother immediately, or I'll cut you into ten thousand pieces!"
"Go!"
Tang Tianhao, holding his sword, blocked Tang Buyi's path and said, "Go quickly!"
"Father, you're injured?" Only then did Tang Buyi notice the blood at the corner of Tang Tianhao's mouth.
Before Tang Tianhao could speak, Flying Dragon laughed from across the way, "Young Master Tang, truly as unskilled as rumors say. The poison hasn't even triggered in you yet, proving your martial prowess is pitifully low. What right do you have to cut me into pieces?"
"Poison?"
Tang Buyi's heart instantly filled with panic.
"It's Energy Dissolution Powder. The greater one's martial power, the deeper the poisoning. The more you circulate energy, the faster the poison spreads. They deliberately lured me here to force me to use my energy. The poison has already spread throughout my body. I'll use all my remaining strength to hold them off—you must flee quickly and find Master Shen!"
Hearing Tang Tianhao's words, Xia Xiayin, standing behind them, turned pale with shock, especially upon hearing that deeper martial power meant deeper poisoning. She immediately looked anxiously toward Xia Ci.
"Brother!"
Xia Ci's expression remained unchanged as he slightly shook his head.
"Hey, blind man!"
Flying Dragon looked toward Xia Ci and Xia Xiayin, saying, "I hear you've been looking for me, planning to claim my head for the bounty?"
Xia Ci nodded slightly and said, "Indeed. Hmm, are those two behind you also wanted criminals? If so, I might as well take them too!"
"Hahaha..."
Hearing Xia Ci's words, the man and woman behind Flying Dragon burst into laughter. The man was ugly, with a large red birthmark on his face that looked like a swollen burn from boiling water. The woman was seductively alluring, wearing thick makeup. After laughing, she said, "Blind boy, you're quite handsome. Sister will give you a quick end later. Oh yes, Sister is also a wanted criminal. My name is Wu Huan. I'm not very famous, and the government bounty on me isn't high—just a mere hundred taels. This ugly fellow beside me is much more renowned, nicknamed Red-Faced Beast, named Yang Tang, with a bounty of two hundred taels!"
As soon as the alluring woman called Wu Huan introduced herself,
A system notification immediately sounded in Xia Ci's mind:
[New target detected]
[Wanted target—Wu Huan]
[Mission level—2★ ]
[Mission reward—SSS-level Mastered Cloud Stepping Skill]
...
[New target detected]
[Wanted target—Red-Faced Beast Yang Tang]
[Mission level—2★ ]
[Mission reward—SSS-level Mastered Divine Finger Flick Technique]
...
"How kind!"
Xia Ci discovered the conditions for the system to issue missions: first, commission-type missions with a direct purpose; second, the host knowing that someone is a wanted criminal could trigger a mission. Otherwise, even face-to-face, if one didn't know the other was a wanted criminal, no mission would trigger.
This Wu Huan was quite a formidable master.
The system rating had two aspects: first, the criminal's influence; second, the criminal's strength.
Wu Huan wasn't very famous—at least compared to Red-Faced Beast Yang Tang and the previously killed Iron Arhat and Abbess Kuye—yet her system rating was two stars, even higher than Abbess Kuye, indicating her martial arts were extremely powerful.
Xia Ci thought Wu Huan was quite agreeable.
He was currently lacking a lightness skill, and Wu Huan had just delivered her head to him.
...
"Enough spring fever," Red-Faced Beast Yang Tang, unable to stand Wu Huan's behavior, snapped at her, saying, "This youngster shows no signs of poisoning yet, so his martial power can't be that deep. Yet he managed to kill that monk and nun pair—that's truly strange. I'll go kill him now!"
"Wait,"
Just as Yang Tang was about to attack, Flying Dragon stopped him, saying, "I want to play with this boy. Damn it, a blind kid who hasn't even grown a beard dares to come kill me? Even chasing me all the way here, searching everywhere for me. I'll toy with him until he's dead!"
"How about giving him to me?" Wu Huan said. "I find this blind little brother quite interesting. He's handsome too. I especially like how he remains calm and composed. I want to skin him and keep it as a treasured collection!"
"..."
Listening to them discussing who would kill him as if he weren't present, Xia Ci found the situation somewhat surreal. Meanwhile, Tang Buyi and Xia Xiayin standing beside him had begun showing symptoms of poisoning, and Xia Ci's face also started turning red.
"Attack!"
At the same moment,
Flying Dragon and his companions suddenly made their move.
These people, though appearing to be wasting time with idle chatter, were actually seasoned fighters with strong vigilance. They had been stalling, waiting for Tang Buyi and the others to succumb to the poison's effects before attacking.
Although they didn't consider these youngsters worthy opponents,
Years of wandering the martial world had made them extremely cautious, understanding that even a lion uses all its strength to catch a rabbit.
"Go quickly!"
Tang Tianhao suddenly spat blood, forcibly circulating his energy as he wielded his sword and charged toward Flying Dragon's trio.
"Brother Xia, go!"
Tang Buyi knew his father was sacrificing himself to buy them time to escape. Though he wanted to stay and fight alongside his father, he knew that at this moment, their presence would only burden his father and leave them with no chance of survival. If even one of them could escape and bring reinforcements, there would be hope for survival.
So, immediately,
Tang Buyi displayed a rare moment of tacit understanding with his father, Tang Tianhao. He suddenly took out a hidden weapon from his bosom, shot it toward Flying Dragon's trio, then grabbed Xia Ci and Xia Xiayin and ran toward the exit.
Xia Ci: "??"
"You won't escape!"
Flying Dragon descended from the sky, landing directly behind them. Holding a steel saber, he attacked like a blue dragon emerging from the sea. The saber wind howled with unstoppable sharpness. The air seemed to be sliced by the blade wherever it passed, emitting a "sss" sound as he chopped down toward Tang Buyi at the front.
However, just as the steel saber was about to strike Tang Buyi's back, a Tang saber appeared, blocking Flying Dragon's weapon.
"Clang!" Sparks flew.
Flying Dragon was forced back several steps, staring at Xia Ci in shock, his face full of astonishment: "You... you weren't poisoned..."
Before Flying Dragon could finish speaking,
Xia Ci charged forward with his saber.