Chapter 119: Follow-up

Chapter 119 Aftermath

The Palace Master of Zhisha... Seeing this woman appear in the underground bar, Tian Lingling’s face drastically changed, and the glass in his hand shattered with a “crack.”

The Palace Master of Zhisha? When did she set her sights on me? I’ve had no dealings with the Zhisha Palace at all... Li Xianzong looked stunned, his mind automatically summoning the information about the Palace Master of Zhisha.

A musician by profession, suspected to be at the peak of the Saint realm, she had retreated calmly from the Siege of the Xia Hou family not long ago and is currently wanted.

“Uncle Tian, what happened with the massacre of the Chu family? She seems to have come specifically for you?” Li Xianzong quietly slipped his hand into his trouser pocket, gripping a piece of chalk.

“Li Xianzong, you’ve fucking ruined me!”

Tian Lingling’s face was ashen. At the words “massacre of the Chu family,” he knew this woman had come for him. Li Xianzong had somehow been noticed by her, and she had traced the clues here.

“Kid, I’ll hold her off for now. You find a way to escape first.” Though Tian Lingling wished he could smash Li Xianzong’s dog head to a pulp, he made a rational decision.

He was a level 5 Mist Lord. With the combat power of an evil profession, he could go toe-to-toe with a level 6 Order profession.

Though the Palace Master of Zhisha was at the peak of the Saint realm, he couldn’t defeat her, but he could stall her for a bit.

Besides, there were twenty or thirty evil professionals here, each twisted in nature but fierce in battle as practitioners.

At this moment, the thugs in the underground bar had not yet reacted.

Several men near the staircase whistled with ambiguous looks, teasing:

“Little miss, all dressed up to play out here? Tsk, that dress is nice, looks like a proper lady’s from ancient times.”

“Proper lady, lift up that dress and let us brothers have a look.”

Laughter erupted. They thought the girl in the ancient red dress was a kindred spirit here to enjoy the underground bar.

The Palace Master of Zhisha turned her head to look at the man who had spoken.

The next moment, a thread-thin red line shot out, whistling shrilly.

The man’s lewd smile froze on his face, and then his head slowly slid from his neck.

The red line wrapped around the head, rolled all the way to the staircase, leaving a trail of blood, and stopped at the hem of the Palace Master of Zhisha’s dress.

She lifted her fair, delicate foot, stepped on the head’s face, and giggled, “Is my skirt-bottom nice to look at, hmm?”

The underground bar instantly fell into dead silence.

Where did this madwoman come from?

This sickly laugh, this decisive ruthlessness—it was more bloodthirsty than a Corrupting Fiend, more twisted than an Illusionist.

Tian Lingling shouted,

“Everyone be careful, she’s the Palace Master of Zhisha, a peak Saint realm musician. Let’s work together and take her down.”

A rustling sound—everyone stood up, staring grimly at the red-dressed woman at the staircase.

Several men and women stopped their activities; the woman released her legs from around the man’s waist. They didn’t even bother putting on clothes before hastily assuming defensive stances.

So this crazy bitch was the Palace Master of Zhisha. That explained it...

As native practitioners of Songhai, they naturally knew her reputation. She was one of the top experts below the Elder level.

“Fuck you, Tian Lingling, I came here to spend money for fun, not to die.”

“What’s there to fear? Since this woman dares to come here, we’ll wear her down in a rotation. Below the Dominator level, no one leaves here alive.”

“Tian Lingling is a Saint too. With our support, are we afraid of a lunatic like her?”

The Palace Master of Zhisha bent over, gathered a handful of blood from the head, and gently smeared it on her silver mask, creating a tragically beautiful face.

The next second, countless fine red threads extended from behind her, like a blooming red flower or twisted, terrifying tentacles.

The bartender grabbed a hunting rifle from a drawer in the liquor cabinet and tossed it to Tian Lingling at the bar. The latter caught it, aimed it at the Palace Master of Zhisha, and pulled the trigger.

“Bang!”

The muzzle spat smoke, and a hail of gunfire covered the staircase.

The powerful buckshot was easily deflected by those hair-thin red threads.

This shot rang the bell for a melee. The evil practitioners by the booths drew guns, pulled out gadgets, and those without anything used skills or bare hands.

The Palace Master of Zhisha raised her snow-white, slender neck, and a beautiful, sonorous song burst from her throat.

As the song echoed, the thugs in the underground bar felt their minds go slightly hazy, their killing intent vanished, their fears soothed, and their hearts became utterly peaceful.

Musicians could convey emotions through songs, influencing listeners.

Mainstream musicians had three abilities: hypnosis, appeasement, and encouragement.

But experienced musicians could perform more delicate operations, like using a specific song to amplify the emotions in the tune and lyrics, creating corresponding feelings in the listener.

The more types of songs, the more means they had.

During the gap when everyone had lost their fighting spirit and was being soothed, the red threads behind the Palace Master of Zhisha shot out, splitting into two groups: one attacked the evil practitioners by the booths, the other attacked Tian Lingling and Li Xianzong at the bar.

Pfft pfft pfft...

Instantly, six or seven people were pierced through the head or chest by the red threads, dying without a sound.

Just before dying, an Illusionist let out a piercing shriek.

Her voice couldn’t compare to the song of the Palace Master of Zhisha, but it was like a small stone casting ripples. Tian Lingling, struggling against the song, jolted awake, using the Illusionist’s mental shock to break free from the music.

Li Xianzong woke with a start and, without thinking, summoned a filthy, foul-smelling overcoat and draped it over himself.

He closed his eyes and muttered, “Can’t hit me, can’t hit me...”

The shooting red threads pierced Li Xianzong’s abdomen, thighs, and arms, but the attacks aimed at his head, heart, and other vital points oddly veered off, some toward the ceiling, some hitting the ground.

He was using the third ability of this Saint-level item—Blessing!

Cursing and reducing luck would certainly not shake the Palace Master of Zhisha, so he simply made his own luck better.

“Sss~”

Li Xianzong’s face twitched in pain.

On the other side, Tian Lingling stood unmoving, his muscles bulging, tearing his clothes. With a “ripping” sound, two illusory, incorporeal arms extended from his shoulder blades, one wielding a long blade, the other a short dagger.

He swung the long and short blades, cutting the incoming red threads.

The red threads fell lightly, like red rain.

Tian Lingling was about to grip his twin blades and engage the Palace Master of Zhisha in close combat when he saw the red-dressed woman at the staircase raise her pale wrist and snap her fingers.

“Slap!”

The severed red threads came back to life, wrapping around Tian Lingling like tentacles, layer upon layer.

The threads contracted and tightened, slowly cutting into the skin of this level 5 Mist Lord. Blood flowed from the fine wounds.

“Dominator?”

Tian Lingling’s face finally changed.

A level 5 Mist Lord had a signature skill—Iron Head and Steel Arms.

This skill had established the Corrupting Fiend’s dominance in close combat. Tian Lingling was extremely confident in his defense, believing that even a peak Saint realm Order profession couldn’t easily break through it.

But at first contact, his proud steel body was breached by the Palace Master of Zhisha’s red threads.

When did she become a Sovereign? The slaughter instance clearly hasn't even begun...

A Sovereign? Li Xianzong’s heart shuddered. He rapidly pulled away from Tian Lingling, fleeing toward the corner of the underground bar while sliding his hand into his pants pocket to fish out his chalk.

Her true target is Tian Lingling, not me. As long as Tian Lingling can hold this crazy hag off, I can escape...

Upon Tian Lingling’s bald head, the twisted, crisscrossing tattoos flared with a sinister dark light, the glow churning into a vortex that warped the mind, giving rise to wild illusions in the eyes and auditory hallucinations in the ears.

The patterns upon Tian Lingling’s head were no mere tattoos, but rather the manifestation of his upgraded powers of bewitchment. A Demon of Bewitchment at the Extraordinary stage conceals their runes within their eyes; only upon reaching the Saint stage do the runes gradually spread across the entire body.

And once they reach the Sovereign stage, the bewitching runes cover them completely, such that a lower-level traveler need only steal a single glance to fall into madness, utterly ensnared by the glamour.

"Kill her, kill her at all costs," Tian Lingling commanded, his voice low, ethereal, and distant.

Instantly, the surviving members of the evil professions near the booths flushed crimson in the eyes, rushing recklessly toward the Palace Master of Lifekill.

The Palace Master of Lifekill raised her arm and swept it forward with force. A dense cluster of red threads erupted like a fountain, twisting and flaring as it swept across the entire room.

A chaotic din of crashing and shattering rang out; the backs of chairs were lopped off, the bar counter was carved with fine, tight fractures, and tables split in two with clean, even cuts. The bodies of those from the evil professions were torn asunder—heads flew, torsos were severed at the waist, and limbs parted from their trunks...

Relying on his Blessing, Li Xianzong managed to evade the majority of the attacks, but a sudden sharp pain struck his neck as a hair-thin red thread grazed him.

Clutching his throat, he stumbled backward, fresh blood spurting wildly through the gaps of his fingers.

"Blood, I need blood..." Li Xianzong’s gaze swept frantically around until he caught sight of an evil traveler a few meters away whose upper and lower body had been severed; the man was struggling in agony, not yet dead.

He staggered toward his target.

Meanwhile, Tian Lingling seized the opportunity to slash through the red threads entangling him and fled toward the back door of the bar. Along the way, he yanked a battered black clay jar from his inventory and smashed it onto the ground.

In an instant, layers of distorted illusions flooded the space.

The Palace Master of Lifekill’s form suddenly collapsed, dissolving into a crimson tide that surged into the illusions, pursuing Tian Lingling.

Li Xianzong found his window. He immediately drew his butterfly knife and drove it straight into the evil traveler's heart.

The bloodthirsty passive of the Demon of Bewitchment triggered. A scarlet light flared in Li Xianzong's pupils as he relentlessly extracted the other man's essence blood, causing the wound on his own neck to slowly mend.

Then, ignoring the horrifying and twisted illusions around him, he quickly crouched down and drew a circle at his side.

A hazy yellow barrier of light descended, enveloping him before he vanished without a trace.

The back door of the bar.

The ground here was littered with arms, thighs, and torsos, with steaming viscera flowing out amidst pools of blood.

The Palace Master of Lifekill stepped barefoot through the bloodstains, holding Tian Lingling’s head in her hand as she pieced his torso back together, bit by bit.

Then, she draped a black cloak radiating a deathly yin energy over herself. In an instant, a thick, pitch-black energy surged within her pupils, establishing a connection with the spirit dwelling inside the mangled corpse.

"Tian Lingling, Di Lingling, tell me which Heavenly King led the team to massacre the Chu family twenty-one years ago, and where the Chu family's rule-based items are hidden..."

She muttered the incantation frantically several times before swallowing the spirit whole.

……

The Official Forum.

#Li Xianzong Attacks Pingtai Hospital, Target Is Yuanshi Tianzun#

At noon today, a post surged to the top of the official forum, highlighted in red and pinned.

["According to a reliable senior from the Taiyi Sect, today's attack at the Songhai Pingtai Hospital was a meticulously planned assassination targeted at Yuanshi Tianzun by Li Xianzong of the Soldier Covenant.

["Fortunately, although Yuanshi Tianzun was severely injured, he managed to survive. Through this event, we can analyze the gap in combat strength between the two sides. According to that senior from the Taiyi Sect, from the moment the thick fog enveloped the hospital interior to the time it receded, a mere two minutes had passed.

["Yet when colleagues from the Songhai branch located Yuanshi Tianzun, his life was already hanging by a thread. This goes to show that Li Xianzong possesses immense combat strength and must not be taken lightly."

["This attack marks the prelude to the trials for the evil professions. We urge colleagues across all branches to remain vigilant against potential ambushes in the near future.

["As for the aftermath involving Yuanshi Tianzun and Li Xianzong, this thread will be continuously updated. Please drop a follow, everyone."]

For some time now, official travelers across various regions had been standing by in full armor, though things had remained relatively peaceful until now. Just as the post suggested, the reign of terror brought by Li Xianzong served as the opening act for the trials of the evil faction.

Next, members of the evil professions everywhere would undoubtedly move upon hearing the wind, launching hunts against their pre-selected targets.

[The Future Is Long: Even Yuanshi Tianzun couldn't match Li Xianzong, but failing to last even two minutes was something I didn't expect.]

[The Past Is Bitter: Yuanshi Tianzun still lacks accumulation. Though he is strong at the Extraordinary stage, there is still a significant gap between him and the true cream of the crop. This clash at least allows us to see his general level clearly.]

[Please Call Me Queen: Why aren't the two above calling him "Tuanzun" anymore? Don't raise others' prestige while destroying our own morale. Yuanshi Tianzun has only been a Spirit Realm Traveler for a little over a month. Give him another half a year, and he won't necessarily lose to Li Xianzong.]

[Peppa Pig George: I foresaw long ago that he would be targeted by the evil organizations, I just didn't expect it to be Li Xianzong. I hope he can weather this storm.]

[Jiang Yang: To be safe, I think Yuanshi Tianzun should hide for a while to ride out the storm.]

[Passionate Jenny: Old Jiang's habit of slacking off is acting up again. Hide from what? Launch a city-wide manhunt for Li Xianzong, take him down, and claim the bounty.]

Within the forum, official travelers from various regions spoke up actively, participating in the discussion.

In the middle and at the end of every year, the forum was always at its liveliest, but also its most somber. A colleague who won merit today might very well perish in an attack by an evil profession tomorrow.

Regarding Li Xianzong's high-profile assault, the official travelers across different regions felt helpless despite their fury.

After all, it was not within their jurisdiction.

At most, they could offer suggestions, advising Yuanshi Tianzun to lie low for a while, for a gentleman's revenge is never too late even after ten years. Enduring for a moment brings calm seas; perhaps without him even needing to make a move, Li Xianzong would die in a coordinated suppression within a few days.

Meanwhile, official travelers from other districts in the Songhai branch vowed solemnly to hunt down Li Xianzong and the like.

Their words subtly complained about the incompetence of the Kangyang District official travelers.

……

The Underground Black Market.

The Boxing King led several team members on a patrol of his territory, maintaining order.

The Spirit Realm Travelers of Songhai had not become overly paranoid due to the confrontation between the factions. On the contrary, they frequented the black market with even greater regularity.

On one hand, during such a critical period, intelligence and information became particularly vital; on the other hand, whenever this time arrived, the underground black market would welcome a surge of gambling fervor.

Gambling was a fundamental flaw of human nature.

A team member beside the Boxing King kept darting his eyes toward the gambling tables, murmuring in a low voice:

"Boss, the odds between Yuanshi Tianzun and Li Xianzong have already reached 1:20. You just came back from the meeting today, so you must know some inside info, right? What do you think if I bet on him to win?"

The Boxing King glanced at him. "You can bet on a 'draw,' but do not bet on Yuanshi Tianzun to win."

The lackeys behind him instantly understood that the posts on the forum were telling the truth.

……

The night was deep at the Huayu Hotel.

In the presidential suite, Xie Lingxi sat by the balcony, her brow furrowed as she refreshed the official forum of the Five Elements Alliance over and over again.

Her female assistant stood to one side, reporting:

"We've already inquired with Team Two of the Kangyang District. Yuanshi Tianzun is resting at home and is out of serious danger. However, I heard that when the official personnel found him back then, his life was already hanging by a thread.

"Eldest Miss, if you care so much about Yuanshi Tianzun, why don't you just call and ask him yourself?"

Xie Lingxi replied testily:

"You've never been in love, I can't be bothered to explain it to you."

As if you have either... Suddenly mocked, the female assistant felt quite indignant in her heart.

Xie Lingxi frowned slightly. "If the post didn't exaggerate, then the gap between Brother Yuanshi and Li Xianzong is indeed huge. Alas, he's in danger this time; it's best to lay low."

The female assistant said, "After all, he's a talent trained by the Soldier Master, a standout in the Transcendent stage."

Xie Lingxi closed the laptop, looked at the female assistant, and said:

"My dad told me earlier to observe Brother Yuanshi more. Now this happens, but he hasn't contacted me. Hmph, he did reach out to you privately today, didn't he? What did he say?"

The female assistant hesitated, then told the truth: "He didn't say much. The family head told me to stay on the sidelines, keep a close eye on you for now, and not interact with Yuanshi Tianzun. Probably wants to see if he can survive."

"I know, investment needs to be cautious. He's always been like that." Xie Lingxi pursed her lips.

But I have my own style.

She grabbed her phone and sent a coquettish voice message: "Brother Yuanshi, can you come to the hotel tomorrow? I want to treat you to a meal."

……

In the bedroom, Zhang Yuanqing lay on the bed, eyes closed in feigned sleep, his mental energy settled within, mobilizing the power of Taiyin to slowly nurture Little Dobi.

His complexion was somewhat wan, like recovering from a serious illness.

Even though the Night Wanderer had strong vitality, it would take two days to fully recover.

He tended to Little Dobi while replaying the day's battle in his mind.

Over and over again.

"No matter how I respond, I have no chance of winning. Red Dancing Shoes isn't with me, and there's a level gap. Using the Red Veil to scare him off was the lowest-risk option."

"But I only have one use of the Red Veil left, and Li Xianzong has a 'teleport' item, unlike the 'Rampage' back then. If he attacks once or twice more, I'm dead."

"I must level up to 3 as soon as possible..."

It was impossible not to feel discouraged after such a crushing defeat at the hands of Li Xianzong. Although the opponent was higher level, in terms of age, they were not far apart, considered peers, and both were in the Transcendent stage.

Comforting himself with the excuse that he had only become a Spirit Realm Walker for a short time seemed like self-deception.

Today, not only was he severely injured, but Little Dobi had nearly been obliterated.

He had to avenge this, but thinking of the gap in combat power, Zhang Yuanqing felt disheartened and powerless again.

At that moment, light footsteps came from outside the door.

From the sound alone, he knew it was his aunt.

……