Chapter 27 - 27: Twenty-Three: Ferocious Flames Engulf the Sky
Qiu Jinglong and Huai Chenghua fell unconscious from the strike of the Suanni beast, not knowing whether they were dead or alive. The only one wide awake, Ding Gaolang, knelt on the ground, even afraid to lift his head. The threat of the Lunjiang Martial Arts Arena had been reduced to zero.
Two black-armored warriors jumped off the war chariot, hoisted Bo Shan and Pang Yan onto the vehicle, and then the spirit beasts turned around huffing and puffing. The wheels of the war chariot made a grating noise as they scraped the ground. The chariot quickly disappeared into the distance, leaving behind only the wreckage of the hall and three wounded martial artists from the Mortal Realm.
They came in like thunder, and left like wind.
Ding Gaolang spat out another mouthful of blood, and only then did his heart return to its place after hearing the fading sound of the chariot. He had, after all, survived.
The Gilded War Chariot rushed towards the Martial Hall, but Bo Shan’s heart, who was onboard the chariot, darkened with every passing moment.
Being rescued by the Sect Head from the Martial Arts Hall, Bo truly didn’t know if it was a blessing or a curse.
As for Pang Yan, he had committed a serious mistake as a student of the Martial Hall. And he, as the instructor of Cultivation Ground N0.7, had not only failed to report to the Martial Hall, but had also tried to protect him secretly.
As a person who deeply understood the rules of the Martial Hall, Bo knew that when they returned to the Martial Hall, they would not be treated as members of the clan but as criminals.
And what’s worse, they were going to face the First Head of the Martial Hall directly. Even a martial artist like Bo Shan felt deep fear.
But what could he do about it now?
“Come in.”
A deep voice came from inside the chariot chamber, startling the two of them. They glanced at each other because this voice, seemed somewhat familiar, didn’t it?
A black-armored warrior opened the compartment door, gesturing for them to enter.
As they reached the doorway, they saw Tang Luo sitting in the middle of the tea table with a teapot in front of him that was slowly steaming.
The compartment was extravagant, eliciting a surreal feeling just by stepping on the soft fur carpet underneath. The golden inner walls and the fine wood grain of the tea table also looked extraordinarily luxurious.
The two men, dressed in tattered attire, felt extremely nervous when they compared their appearance to the luxurious cabin.
The compartment door was closed again with a “slam”.
“Sit down, don’t keep standing,” Tang Luo said, pointing to the cushions in front of them.
Bloodied and muddied, Pang Yan had no idea what punishment he would face once they returned to the Martial Hall. He had already accepted his doom and therefore, simply plopped down onto a seat.
Bo Shan tried to adjust his mentality, but couldn’t calm down. Before today, he thought Tang Luo was just a Martial Technique Instructor or the son of the Sect Head.
But after witnessing his audacious charge into the Lunjiang Martial Arts Hall with his war chariot, who would dare to communicate with him as an equal?
He felt constrained, not knowing how to get along with Tang Luo and fell silent.
Alright then, I’ve just rescued them and already they’ve fallen silent?
Looking at the two of them—one wallowing in self-pity, the other extremely restrained—Tang Luo pinch his temples and said, “The reason for Pang Yan’s presence in the martial arts competition was my instruction. Do you understand?”
Pang Yan, with his head down, abruptly lifted it on hearing these words, unable to believe his own ears. He couldn’t make out what Instructor Tang meant, his heart tied up in knots and tears welling up in his eyes again.
“Instructor Tang, this…” Unlike the naive Pang Yan, Bo Shan was well aware that these words might mean Tang Luo was going to take responsibility for the offense. He was aware of how stern the clan was towards the descendants of the Tang family.
Tang Luo waved his hand dismissively and poured himself a cup of tea.
“A Martial Technique Instructor has the right to assign tasks; I assigned Pang Yan to participate in the martial arts competition,” Tang Luo took a sip of tea and said calmly.
The excuse sounded good, but it was fraught with many hidden dangers.
“But won’t the Lunjiang Martial Arts Hall pursue this?” Bo Shan was quite worried. He had always assumed that the Sect Head had personally come and he was prepared to lose his position.
Pang Yan’s heart went through extreme ups and downs throughout this conversation.
“Of course, they will pursue it.” Tang Luo poured himself another cup of tea, paused, and said, “But they have no evidence.”
“What does it matter if a runaway war chariot demolishes a martial arts hall? It can be compensated with a few gold coins.”
“You will pay for it!” Tang Luo lifted his cup, glanced at Pang Yan, and drained the tea in one gulp.
I don’t need to die! I am not going to die! Pang Yan suddenly found a new lease of life and responded with a vigorous nod.
Lunjiang Martial Arts Hall
“Who the hell can tell me what’s going on!” When Mi Hou arrived with his men, he saw the earth dug up from south to north and the buildings threaded through with holes.
The main hall of the Martial arts hall lay in ruins. His guardsman Ding Gaolang was seriously injured, his apprentices unconscious. Was this a damn robbery?
Wasn’t it reported that a martial artist from the Tang Clan was captured for cheating at a gamble! How did it turn into this? Could it be that what they caught was a martial artist from the Fierce Realm of the Tang family instead? The devastation didn’t seem like the work of a mere martial arts student.
“What happened?” Mi Hou sat on the chair with a dark expression, his eyes full of angrily demanded answers.
“Young master!” Ding Gaolang hurriedly bandaged himself and bowed in front of Mi Hou.
“It was a Gilded War Chariot that broke into the hall and took the people away,” Ding Gaolang said with a resentful tone.
“What did you say?” Mi Hou’s eyebrows furrowed, obviously surprised. “Are you sure you weren’t mistaken?”
Ding Gaolang couldn’t understand why his master would show such an expression, but he reaffirmed, “I definitely would not be mistaken. It was a Gilded War Chariot.”
Why would this be? Mi Hou’s mind was filled with confusion.
“Describe him clearly, what is the guy’s name you nabbed and what does he look like?” Mi Hou’s expression shifted unpredictably; he felt he might have made a foolish mistake.
Deploying a war chariot to catch a martial hall student? Could it be that they actually caught a member of the Tang Clan? That would be the only explanation for the war chariot’s deployment.
If his martial arts training center dared to detain and beat up a young master from the main family lineage of the Tang Clan, that would indeed be inviting major trouble.
Ding Gaolang didn’t understand why Mi Hou was asking this, but he still answered in detail, “We caught a student called Pang Yan, around sixteen or seventeen years old, a Mortal Realm peak master, his height is ”
The more Mi Hou listened, the more frightened he got. As the biggest competitor to Xiling, the Mi Family knew the Tang Family’s inside-out like the back of their hand.
He might not remember how many cousins he had in total, but he was well-informed when it came to the young masters and young misses of the Tang Clan’s main lineage.
Two young masters within the Tang Family were of ages sixteen or seventeen and were at the peak of the Mortal Realm-one was the clan chief’s son, Tang Hong, and the other was the son of Tang Family’s second master, Tang Xin.
If the captive was one of these two, it would indeed justify the deployment of the gilded war chariot.
“Describe the boy’s appearance to me in detail.” Mi Hou silently prayed, hoping that he wouldn’t be so out of luck, considering this detainee might be a young master of the main lineage, and they had beaten him up.
Mi Hou glanced at Ding Gaolang, if their luck were truly so bad, he might not be able to save his own guardsman.
Ding Gaolang couldn’t figure out the look in Mi Hou’s eyes, but he started meticulously describing Pang Yan’s appearance.
Listening to his detailed description, Mi Hou’s panic gradually abated, first turning into doubt, then confusion, and finally into all-consuming rage!
“The Tang Family has gone too far!” Mi Hou’s eyes were almost shooting fire, he was now certain that the one called Pang Yan was just an ordinary student.
Just because they’ve detained one Mortal Realm warrior, they dared to raid my martial hall and injure my guards. Does the Tang Family think they can walk all over the Mi Family?
“Someone, send a messenger to Tang family! I want a proper explanation from them. This is far from over!” Mi Hou kicked over the chair beside him and left in a fit of anger.
Tang Martial Arts Hall, Battle Hall Training Room
Tang Sen, clad in black Xuanwu heavy armor, sat meditating on the central cushion.
As the Sect Head of the martial hall, Tang Sen was not actually good at managing the affairs of the martial hall, so he delegated many responsibilities to the stewards and clansfolk.action
His main attention was devoted to overseeing the warriors in the Battle Hall and his self-cultivation.
Because his wife disliked him cultivating before sleep, he shifted his practice time to every afternoon.
After completing thirty-six cycles of practice, Tang Sen arose and walked toward the exit.
His heavily armored figure weighed more than a thousand pounds. Each step he took sounded like a hammer hitting the ground, but judging from his relaxed demeanor, it seemed that the heavy armor had no impact on him at all.
As the stone door of the training room lifted, Chang Fu appeared at the entrance.
“Hmm?” Tang Sen inquired, because Chang Fu generally wouldn’t come to the Battle Hall to find him; managing food and lodging was already keeping him busy.
In nearly twenty years of interaction, Chang Fu had come to understand Tang Sen’s taciturn nature. He straightforwardly relayed his message, “The young lord used the war chariot and damaged a fighting ring of the Mi Family. Their emissaries have come to the martial hall demanding an explanation. They are currently outside the martial hall.”
“Oh.” Tang Sen responded and continued walking towards the operations room.
“Sir, do you not wish to meet them?” Chang Fu seeing that Tang Sen had no intention of walking out, asked.
“No need.” Tang Sen didn’t look back, his figure disappearing around the corner.
Mi Residence
“The Tang Family is overbearing! Father, do you see? Tang Sen doesn’t put our Mi family in his eyes at all; he leaves our emissary waiting for a day.”
Mi Hu glanced at his fuming son, then said calmly, “Your emissary, not the emissary of the Mi Family.”
“Isn’t it the same thing! In any case, the Tang Family is belittling the Mi Family.” Mi Hou was taken aback, but insisted.
Ah, such a foolish son. If he had half the intelligence his older brother, I wouldn’t need to exhaust myself so much.
Mi Hu cast a glance at Mi Hou. The rattling of the gilded chariot’s wheels was such a loud gesture, and the Mi family’s intelligence agents were far from blind; how could they not see that?
But because the war chariot directly burst into the martial arts arena, without killing anyone, the Tang Clan could merely claim that the chariot was out of control, so the matter wouldn’t be clear cut. Despite this, his foolish son seemed unwilling to let the matter rest. Mi Hu wondered if he had some unique plan and asked, “So what do you suggest?”
Upon hearing that his father seemed to support him, Mi Hou exclaimed joyfully, “First, let the Tang Family compensate us with a new training ground, then apologize to me, and hand over that student. I’m going to mince him into pieces!”
What a genius.
Seeing his exhilaration carrying on as he seemed to be fantasizing about humiliating the Tang Clan, it seemed this kid genuinely did not understand what he was saying.
“Do you want the Mi Clan to go to war with the Tang Clan?” The moment Mi Hu spoke, Mi Hou, who was in full flow, instantly fell silent.
Is it that serious?
“Father… are you kidding me? It’s just a commoner; the Tang Clan wouldn’t dare go to war with the Mi clan over him, have they lost their minds?” Mi Hou felt Mi Hu was scaring him and refuted.
“They might not have before, but now that the Sect Head of the Tang Clan Martial Hall is that lunatic, it’s quite likely.” Mi Hu shook his head, recalling Tang Sen’s fearsome visage during battles, and shook his head again.
That’s a lunatic who never leaves his armor upon entering the Battle Hall, thinking about fighting from morning to night!