Chapter 81: Tang San (1)

Chapter 81: Tang San (1)

Word count = 1504 on 9/14/2023

Xue Tie clenches his fist a few times as his mind goes through all the possibilities that his new ability can give him. He even laughs a bit to himself as Tang Chen finally rouses himself from his sleep with a groan.

The sound knocks Xue Tie out of his thoughts as he looks over at Tang Chen with a placid expression. He approaches and stands over Tang Chen.

"Your words. Were they true? Is that bastard Qian Daoliu attacking my Clear Sky Clan?"

"Not Qian Daoliu, his son Qian Xunji is. Somehow news spread of Tang Hao, the newest generation of your clan having eloped with a 100 thousand year old spirit beast woman. As such, the past few days, your clan has been attacked many times. They are still holding on but plenty of elders and young folk were killed during the battle."

"BASTAR…." Tang Chen responds as he stumbles to get up. Xue Tie plugs his mouth with a blood potion that Tang Chen nearly spits out in confusion and shock.

"Why the…" he pauses as he feels the physical effects of the bond with the bat king being recovered.

"Rest. the conclusion to the event is coming up. The spirit beast that Tang hao fell for is pregnant with his child. Which is why they ran away from the clan to both draw Spirit Hall's attention away while also safeguarding the child. I'm sure the birth is any day now….Would you like to see your great grandson?"

"Hah. hah" Tang Chen breathes hard as he struggles to control his rage but he calms down at the prospect of the next generation of his clan being born. He grits his teeth in embarrassment and says, "Yes Please".

Xue Tie slings Tang Chen's arm over his shoulder with a bit of a smile on his face at the interactions he is having with such integral parts of the story. His own fanboying rearing it's head. Properly this time as Ning Fengzhi crumbled his passions early on. As such, seeing the real, tough looking Tang Chen who has such a strong history as well as being a limit douluo, excites Xue Tie.

Xue Tie leads Tang Chen back to the throne room and after letting his rest for a moment in confusion. Xue Tie finds a sigil that is embedded upon the throne itself. He cuts himself and smears his blood on the sigil while channeling his energy. The sigil lights up and Xue Tie claims control over Slaughter City. He doesnt plan to do anything yet but if he wants to leave quickly then this was a necessary step. A similar sigil is placed upon his right hand, this is the control marker as the city had actually been in a comatose state this whole time.

The castle shakes for a few minutes but he pays it no mind as he returns to Tang Chen. Bringing him up again. Xue Tie spreads his wings and through his new marker, he opens a bit of the blood clouds above the city sky. These are what prevent all people from entering through unorthodox methods of attacking the city. It is both a defensive measure in terms of keeping people out but also an offensive defense artifact that acts as a strong poison gas based on the bleed proc but fails which is why it's a poison and not bleed. At least right now it is.

For you see, it requires a Xue to place their trident martial spirit in a designated spot to channel the bleed proc effect of their bloodline into the mist to produce the true effect. For now though, Xue Tie uses the sigil to open up a free spot in the clouds so that he may fly out before closing it behind him. He drags away Tang Chen with him and they begin flying off.

It takes them an hour to reach the periphery of the Clear Sky Clan due to his new speed after absorbing his 9th ring.

"Hmm. this would be good for smores" He mockingly comments on the state of the clan region as the very mountain has patches of fire everywhere. If he didn't know any better, this would have looked like a battlefield that he was a part of but he knows that he didn't. Likely all the fires were started due to the friction of the collisions.

There is also the small river of blood that flows down the mountain. The sight and Xue Tie's comment makes Tang Chen clench his arm around his neck.

"Mind your words boy. Or ill pop your neck off" Tang Chen says

"Ill drop you old man. In your current state can you even walk? Besides, you sure you want me to leave you here. I can sense intense energy signatures quite some distance away. I'm sure that is where Tang hao is."

Tang Chen glares at Xue Tie who is calmly smiling at the possibility of teasing this old generational hero who he had only seen before through a glass wall (phone/computer).

Tang Chen snorts and says "Give chase"

"HAI SIR" He mimics a certain blue cat but without the salute. They go tunneling down across the sky further. As they moved away from the Clear Sky Clan. Tang Chen is nearly brought to tears at the current appearance of the clan. Granted Xue Tie doesnt notice this as otherwise his mental image of Tang Chen would have collapsed just like Ning Fengzhi.

Afterall, these are real people and not some characters behind a screen or written down on paper. They live a real life here and are subject to more emotions than just those related to current events of the story.

After flying for another half an hour, they arrive at a canyon area where a spry black haired young man in his late 20s is pulling along a beautiful long blue haired woman. The man shares a striking resemblance to Tang Chen that makes it obvious this is Tang Hao and the woman being pulled is Ah Yin. The 100k year old Blue Silver empress who is still pregnant.

They are being chased by 6 elders which include Qian Xunji who now sports a solid metal half mask over the part of his branded face. The sight brings a smile to Xue Tie's face as he has now caused 2 spirit hall titled douluos to be branded by him. The first being ghost douluo and now Qian Xunji himself. Ironically enough, Qian Xunji much more closely resembles the angel statue he had made during his youth for the Junior Spirit Master Competition.

Speaking of. Qian Xunji releases a spirit skill that sends beams of light spread out and coming after the escaping duo. Tang Hao uses the canyon-like environment to escape the attack but for the last one. He is forced to summon his Clear Sky Hammer to strike it. The resounding explosion knocks up dust and shatters the various walls around them. This causes it to collapse and provide a smoke screen for them to escape further.

Xue Tie lands with Tang Chen and asks. "What do you think? Quite capable, no?"

"Indeed. Very young for a peak Spirit Douluo who just needs his ninth ring. But you appear to be much younger than him." Tang Chen responds which makes Xue Tie genuinely smile.

"If someone like you says so then I have a reason to be proud. Afterall, tooting my own horn has no value and only makes me look like a braggart. But what will we do now? Just follow them along like shadow guardians?" He states with a hint of anticipation at being able to participate.

"Why are you so invested in this? You are clearly not of my clan"

"Oh sir, can't I live in the moment and enjoy it. I love seeing Qian Xunji squirm in rage while trying to protect his own dignity. I'm a simple man. I see my enemy struggle. I hit like". His strange words relax Tang Chen.

"I'm going to tail them. If anything drastic happens I'll step in. If this can be resolved otherwise then that's good. I'll be sure to reward you for your help in my rescue and the situation here" He states and begins to move towards the nearby trees and get into cover

"Aw shucks. You sure know how to give a girl a good time"

**************

I live. And as promised have given the story.

After an intense session of slothfulness and self loathing. I ate a salad and got to work as every day this week I spent lazy, I hated. Granted they were also work days which makes today my current only free day.

Like I'm reaching a point where I have to be somehow busy to be happy. Even though I know I'm lazy. Maybe this writing gig is somehow helping me.