Chapter 0: 3. The Slap Mark
Having received Qin Yuan’s confirmation, Liang Tiantian took a deep breath, quickly calmed the panic in his heart, and said with feigned composure, “I am Liang Tiantian, and I am not listed on any of the major kill lists. Fellow Daoist Mad Rabbit must not be here for me!”
“Fellow Daoist Liang, there’s no need to panic.” The voice Qin Yuan was using now was entirely different from her usual tone. She said calmly, “My true target is indeed not you. I merely heard that Fellow Daoist Liang is a prominent figure in this Fengnan City, so I wished to see you and, by the way, inquire about some useful information.”
Liang Tiantian’s expression eased slightly, but he did not completely let down his guard. His tone was cautious, “May I ask what kind of information Fellow Daoist Mad Rabbit needs?”
The reason he wasn’t afraid of Mu Tangchun was that Mu Tangchun had many ties, and while the monk could run, his temple could not. He could use his own influence to intimidate her, making her extremely wary.
However, the Twelve Branches of the Buried Soul Tomb he was facing now were utter desperados. They didn’t even have a fixed sect or mountain gate. Each of them was incredibly bold, unscrupulous, and many possessed multiple identities.
The woman in front of him, with her specially made rabbit ears on her head and her absurdly comical dressing and appearance, was even more unpredictable.
One must know that those who could be listed on the ‘Heavenly Devil Ranking’ were basically titans of their regions, Dharma Aspect True Persons. Only a very few rare oddities like the Demon Race Grand Princess and the Perfume Stealing Demoness were exceptions. This Mad Rabbit had ascended to the ninth position on the Heavenly Devil Ranking by single-handedly killing a senior mighty figure who had been on the list for many years.
Many people speculated that she must have used some special moves at the time, such as luring the opponent into some unknown dangerous place and winning unfairly. However, the Heavenly Devil Ranking only looked at the outcome.
“Fellow Daoist Liang, have you seen this person?” Qin Yuan waved her hand, using spiritual power to draw the likeness of the leader of the three people who had ambushed them earlier.
Seeing this, Liang Tiantian’s expression changed.
Qin Yuan pressed on coldly, “Fellow Daoist Liang, have you seen this person?”
Liang Tiantian hesitated before replying, “Cao Hui… This person is from my Lang Chen Escort Agency, but he is not one of my confidants. Could he be Fellow Daoist Mad Rabbit’s target this time? What exactly did he do to offend you, Fellow Daoist?”
“Someone just wants his life, and I happen to be near Fengnan City, so I took on this business casually.” Qin Yuan nodded slightly, “Fellow Daoist Liang says this person is not your confidant? Then whose subordinate is he?”
“He often works for Manager Xi.”
“Manager Xi? Is he also from the Lang Chen Escort Agency? Is this true?”
“Absolutely. Why would I lie to Fellow Daoist Mad Rabbit for such a minor character?” Liang Tiantian nodded vigorously.
“Thank you, Fellow Daoist Liang.”
As she spoke, a faint blue radiance suddenly rippled in Qin Yuan’s eyes. She planned to subdue Liang Tiantian directly and then search him to see if she could find any other more reliable and useful information.
“You!”
Liang Tiantian cried out in alarm, his senses particularly acute, and he forcefully clutched the life talisman in his hand, but it was too late.
At this critical moment, a powerful roar exploded beside Qin Yuan’s ears.
“You scoundrel, how dare you harm my son? You have immense gall!”
A domineering aura swept over, undoubtedly belonging to a Dharma Aspect True Person.
Qin Yuan did not hesitate for a single moment. Her slender jade fingers conjured a hand seal like a phantom, and her entire person transformed into a ball of swirling spiritual mist, scattering with the wind.
In fact, she could even fight with ordinary Dharma Aspect True Persons for a few rounds in her current state and would not need to flee so hastily. However, if she were to unleash her full power, she would inevitably reveal some of her signature innate spirit arts, and Mu Tangchun would end up taking a lot of the blame.
“A ‘Domain Escape Talisman’? That’s quite a handout.” The middle-aged scholar wearing a veiled hat spoke with a hint of surprise.
“Father? Why are you here?” Liang Tiantian looked at the other’s retreating back, his voice filled with pleasant surprise.
This person was the Langchen General Escort Chief, Liang Zhuxiao.
“Your father was just heading to Chu Zhou and happened to pass by, so I came to see you. I didn’t expect such an audacious beast to show his ferocity here.” Liang Zhuxiao, with his back to Liang Tiantian, used his spiritual power to carefully sense and try to locate the direction Qin Yuan had fled. “As expected of a ‘Domain Escape Talisman,’ even I am helpless against it. This person must have a noble background.”
“Father, she is one of the twelve executives of the Buried Soul Tomb’s Killing Hall, Mad Rabbit!” Liang Tiantian said immediately.
“What?!”
Liang Zhuxiao spun around abruptly, an expression of disbelief on his face. “How did you provoke this group of mad demons? You, Tiantian, what happened to your face?”
He hadn’t looked closely before, but now he was shocked to discover that his eldest son, who was naturally assertive and arrogant, had two scarlet, five-fingered handprints on his face, one on the left and one on the right.
“This slap mark has even been specially enhanced with some kind of spirit art, making it impossible to recover quickly. Who exactly is so presumptuous?”
“Son swears to heaven that he absolutely did not provoke the Twelve Branches of the Divine Punishment deliberately. As for this face…” Liang Tiantian’s expression was as dark as a deep river. “It was done by a spawn who knows no fear. However, by tomorrow at the latest, your son will personally see his corpse.”
Hearing this, Liang Zhuxiao gently patted Liang Tiantian’s shoulder. The two of them stepped into the air together, his tone grave, “Let’s return to the Fengnan branch first, and then you can tell me more carefully about this ‘Mad Rabbit’.”
“Yes.” After Liang Tiantian nodded slightly, a hint of suspicion flashed in his eyes as he asked, confused, “Father, why have you been wearing a veil to cover your face all day?”
Upon hearing this, Liang Zhuxiao’s breathing hitched. He let out a series of bitter laughs and sighed helplessly, “You still don’t know, some accidents have occurred at the main headquarters, and even your grandfather was implicated!”
With that, Liang Zhuxiao removed his veil, revealing his true face. On both sides of his face, two glaring slap marks were clearly imprinted. Father and son were exactly alike, except that the slap marks on Liang Zhuxiao’s face were noticeably a bit more slender than Liang Tiantian’s.
“Father, Father, what happened to your face? This slap mark, just like Tiantian’s, has been specially enhanced with some kind of spirit art, making it impossible to recover quickly. Who exactly is so bold!” Liang Tiantian exclaimed, dumbfounded and utterly horrified.
Liang Zhuxiao gritted his teeth, hatred surging in his eyes. “Who? Just a damn stinking woman.”
Liang Tiantian’s expression suddenly faltered, and he asked in a strange tone, “Stinking woman? Your mother or my mother?”
“Bastard!”
Liang Zhuxiao’s eyes immediately went ablaze, and anger flared. “Rascal, what nonsense are you spouting?”
Liang Tiantian felt very ashamed and let out a dry laugh. “But, besides those two, son truly cannot think of any other woman who would have the audacity to be so disrespectful to Father!”
“To be precise, it’s a fake woman, the most ferocious and terrifying fake woman in the current Cultivation World…”
A deep look of lingering fear flashed in Liang Zhuxiao’s eyes as he said with residual dread.
“Zhao Xinting.”
