Seeing this, Tang San snorted coldly, a sneer creeping onto his lips.
"Hmph, how long do you think you can hide?"
"Void Technique, all-encompassing, echoing through the valley!"
The iron hammer swung rapidly, Tang San using a technique from the Nine Absolute Techniques of Haotian specifically designed to deal with aerial enemies. Countless hammer shadows instantly surged into the air.
Even though Ma Hongjun constantly changed his position, he couldn't dodge the dense, impenetrable hammer shadows like a spiderweb. He was quickly struck in the abdomen, his speed affected as he swayed. Soon, he was struck by the relentless hammer shadows, screaming in agony, and fell to the ground.
Dragging the Haotian Hammer across the ground, Tang San slowly approached Ma Hongjun, while the fat man, now powerless to resist, stared at him with resentment. He had finally managed to quell his evil fire, but before he could even enjoy a couple of days of peace, he would die today.
But Ma Hongjun's pessimism didn't last long. Just as Tang San arrived beside him, ready to deliver a fatal blow, countless arrows, accompanied by the whooshing sound of wind, hurtled towards Tang San's vitals.
Realizing this, Tang San had no choice but to forcibly retract his Clear Sky Hammer to block the incoming arrows.
"Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!"
The arrows quickly deflected upon contact with the Clear Sky Hammer, losing momentum and falling to the street.
Seeing that reinforcements had finally arrived, the fat man breathed a sigh of relief, struggling to his feet and slowly moving away from Tang San.
Our Tang God King, however, had no time to pay attention to Ma Hongjun's movements. His gloomy black eyes were fixed on the arrows on the ground, his expression one of intense anger.
"The Zhuge Repeating Crossbow?"
Indeed, as the progenitor of hidden weapons in Douluo Continent, how could he not recognize that those people had just attacked him were using the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow? This was utterly unacceptable to him. He knew that in the Tang Clan, only he and Tang Xian could manufacture repeating crossbows. And the arrows on the ground, compared to those he and Tang Xian had made, were definitely not from the Tang family, judging from the materials, workmanship, and color.
This meant that others had already mastered the manufacturing method of the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow, and this was only what he had seen; who knew how many other hidden weapon manufacturing methods had been secretly stolen?
Enraged, Tang San immediately glared at Ma Hongjun with murderous intent.
"You went back to Killing Town? And you stole the manufacturing method of hidden weapons and gave it to someone else? You're courting death!!!"
Tang San's question left Ma Hongjun completely bewildered. He had no idea when he had leaked the manufacturing method of hidden weapons; he was completely clueless about them! To put it bluntly, even if you put the real blueprints for hidden weapons in front of him, Ma Hongjun might not recognize them.
However, Ma Hongjun didn't argue. He was overjoyed as long as Tang San was unhappy.
"Yeah, it was you, Fatty, who did it. What can you do to me?"
With dozens of Extermination Sect disciples as his backing, Ma Hongjun's last bit of fear of Tang San vanished instantly, and he spoke without any politeness.
Enraged, Tang San had lost his mind. Now surrounded, saving his strength for escape was the right thing to do, but he only wanted to smash this troublesome fat man flat. He raised the Clear Sky Hammer high again and smashed it down on Ma Hongjun with all his might.
"You dare!"
"How dare you!"
Seeing the thug dare to commit violence in front of them, the arriving Extermination Sect disciples were instantly enraged and launched attacks on Tang San with their soul skills.
Among the arriving members of the Extinction Sect were several Soul Saints. Sensing the terrifying attack beside his ear, Tang San's rationality was somewhat restored. He realized that to kill the fat man and vent his anger, he had to deal with these eyesores first.
"Hmph, you'll never know the terror of the Tang Sect."
As Tang San sheathed his Clear Sky Hammer and flicked his hand across the soul tool at his waist, the fat man, who had been watching the spectacle intently, suddenly changed his expression again and hurriedly warned,
"Be careful, this guy has a lot of poisonous stuff in his hands."
The fat man's warning came too late. The Soul Saint at the forefront of the Extinction Sect abruptly stopped his charge, looking down in disbelief at his abdomen. A metal object shaped like an umbrella frame was silently piercing his abdomen, and black energy surged from the exposed skin, rapidly spreading throughout his body.
In less than three seconds, the Soul Saint collapsed to the ground, convulsing violently.
"Damn it, be careful, retreat quickly!"
Seeing their leader killed, the disciples of the Extinction Sect instantly became vigilant. Dozens of eyes were fixed on Tang San in the encirclement, as if they wanted to bore holes in him with their gazes, but they dared not make any further moves.
Seeing this, a look of disdain flashed in Tang San's eyes.
"A mere grain of rice dares to compete with the bright moon?"
The mocking words made the disciples of the Extinction Sect, including Ma Hongjun beside him, blush. They wanted to ask Tang San if he dared to confront them head-on without resorting to such underhanded methods.
Just as everyone was facing off against Tang San, unsure of how to respond, a mocking female voice came from above.
"Hmph, you didn't say that when you ran away before. A mere grain of rice? Then let me see what power your bright moon has to offer?"
The familiar voice made Tang San's body stiffen instantly. He mechanically looked up and saw the figure that had been chasing him for days on the rooftop not far away.
Seeing no one answer her, A'Zhu vanished from the rooftop in a flash, appearing the next moment in the center of the Demon Extermination Sect members' encirclement, facing Tang San directly.
The moment Tang San saw A'Zhu, he lost all desire to continue fighting; all he wanted now was to escape and return to Slaughter Town to make further plans.
A'Zhu saw right through him, shaking her head and mocking,
"What's wrong? Thinking about how to escape again?"
"Hmph."
Without further ado, Tang San immediately used his Ghost Shadow Steps to run eastward, the direction leading to Slaughter Town. A'Zhu, seeing this, didn't waste any more words and continued her work, putting pressure on Tang San.
The two left one after the other, much to the relief of the Demon Extermination Sect disciples and Ma Hongjun, who were left with the unfortunate Soul Saint lying on the ground, his fate unknown.
Having played this cat-and-mouse game with Tang San for so long, A'Zhu had gradually figured out the rules. As long as she didn't harbor murderous intent or launch a fatal attack, there would be no problem. So now, A'Zhu, with a mocking smile, clung tightly to Tang San's back, occasionally swinging her spider legs to strike him, cleverly avoiding any of his vital points.
Even though Tang San's agility was good, allowing him to dodge most of A'Zhu's attacks, prolonged defense inevitably led to numerous wounds. Fortunately, her martial soul didn't seem to carry poison, saving him a lot of trouble.
What Tang San didn't know was that A'Zhu could refrain from releasing her potent poison, not that she lacked the ability to use poison. Who knew if releasing poison would count as harboring murderous intent towards this kid?
(End of Chapter)