Talks Break Down
The family related to the Xue Household was a branch of the Shi Household. The person in charge was named Shi Xiao, one of Shi Li's two cousins who were at the Late Qi Refinement of Qi Refining. He was a burly man with a leopard-like head and piercing eyes, and a black beard.
Xue Hu took the lead and invited Kang Dabao and Shi Xiao to meet at the Xue Household on a pre-arranged date. They sat together in the main hall of the Xue Household Xue Hu.
"Kang Dabao, you're used to living in remote places, where did you get the nerve to sneak out of your dog bowl to steal food? It's only because our master is so magnanimous that you're still breathing with your head on. The day after you killed my nephew, your entire family should have turned into little devils."
Shi Xiao's eyes widened, and he spat every single drop of saliva onto Kang Dabao's face.
"You, surnamed Shi, had better speak politely to Daoist Master Shi. In any case, since you've come, it means you're willing to talk. Let me make it clear to you, Shi Li Master Shi Li may be someone you can't afford to offend, but keeping you Shi Xiao, in Cold Crow Mountain shouldn't be a problem."
Even Late Qi Refinement is just a Qi Refinement cultivator. Someone like you, countless people die in Cloud Horn Prefecture every year, and you don't even have the face to act important in front of me. In short, either we talk it out, or we fight immediately. The choice is yours."
Kang Dabao's face hardened. He knew all too well the ugly faces of these powerful clan leaders. If he were to be intimidated by a few words from them, he would truly be at their mercy.
"Heh." Shi Xiao laughed instead of getting angry. He reached for the black cloth bag at his waist, and two large, striped tigers immediately appeared in front of him, obediently lying down at Shi Xiao feet, as docile as two big cats.
However, judging from his spiritual cultivation level, he had actually reached the First-Tier Superior-Grade.
How could Shi Xiao actually control two spirit beasts of the same rank to this extent?
Kang Dabao frowned. When did the Shi Household acquire such a powerful beast-taming inheritance? Could it be that Shi Li brought it back from the Grass Witch Cult? No, even Chen Ye isn't skilled in this.
Furthermore, the Grass Witch Cult has never heard of such a lineage in all these years, and even if such a lineage existed, they might not be willing to pass it on to an outsider like Shi Xiao.
More importantly, is this something only Shi Xiao knows, or does the entire Shi Household know it?
"Clang!" At this moment, the somewhat shabby-looking Army-Breaking Hammer also came out of the Storage Bag and floated in front of Kang Dabao.
Who's afraid of who? Showing off your weapon to scare people, anyone can do that.
"Please calm down, gentlemen," Xue Hu said, standing between them with a bitter expression. He inwardly complained that Kang Dabao was so unreasonable, and that he had no right to speak tough.
"This Shi Xiao alone is almost equivalent to three Late Qi Refinement cultivators. It seems that the Shi Household is truly not someone I can afford to offend." Kang Dabao took the opportunity Xue Hu offered to back down and sat down, pondering to himself.
"Or, should we simply gather our forces and take this guy out first? That Shi Li is old, over a hundred years old, and his fighting skills might not be much stronger than this guy's, so he might not be afraid of them."
Kang Dabao was rubbing his chin when he suddenly saw Shi Xiao grinning maliciously as two large, striped tigers roared towards him, accompanied by a foul stench.
The four forefeet that were lunging at him were each half a foot thick. If this blow landed squarely, Sect Leader Kang Da would be in deep trouble on the spot!
Kang Dabao reacted quickly, rolling his burly body on the ground to narrowly avoid the attack.
Xue Hu was also startled and was about to step forward to mediate, but Shi Xiao pushed him aside.
The latter uttered another strange syllable, and the striped tigers roared in unison. Dozens of Chang Ghost, shifting between reality and illusion, floated in mid-air, all with expressions of sorrow.
This shameless Shi Xiao actually fed a tiger with a human!
Kang Dabao was only startled when he saw the Chang Ghost in the hall scatter, each wailing mournfully. In an instant, the entire Zither Leaf Forest was filled with endless lamentations.
Regardless of whether they were immortals or mortals, everyone present was overwhelmed by a sense of sorrow, and in an instant, cries of grief filled the entire Xue Household.
The mournful cries had barely begun when some of the less resolute mortals burst into tears. In an attempt to quell their grief, several people disemboweled themselves and died.
Kang Dabao was also feeling unwell; in an instant, it seemed as if countless complicated thoughts flooded his mind.
To avoid the tiger's might, he dodged several times, and was further disturbed by this mournful song. For a time, he even made several wrong hand seals. The more anxious he became, the more mistakes he made, and his mood grew increasingly angry.
Besides singing mournful songs, those Chang Ghost were also busy with their hands.
They found the corpses of the Lineage, lifted them up, and then skillfully worked in pairs to cut the corpses into several pieces, feeding them systematically into the mouths of the two tigers.
These two beasts leisurely munched on their snacks, yet they still nearly killed Sect Leader Kang Da several times.
"Hit!" Xue Hu's White Bone Sarira flew out of his hand and struck the left forepaw of one of the tigers, smashing two of its toes into pieces. The tiger let out a miserable howl in pain, and its ferocity subsided.
"You pig-dog-like creature, how dare you harm my spirit beast!" Shi Xiao cursed, summoning a black snake staff, intending to behead Xue Hu.
"My Xue Household your Shi Household as relatives, yet you treat my clansmen like pigs and dogs. Then let's have a fight first." Xue Hu used an earth-colored square shield to block the attack, retreating several steps, clearly no match for him, but still with a fierce look on his face.
Shi Xiao repelled the enemy and sneered, "Bah, who's related to you, you pig and dog!" He then raised his black snake staff to strike again.
"Ha." Kang Dabao's Army-Breaking Hammer stepped forward and blocked Shi Xiao's snake staff.
This time, the spiritual incantation in his hand finally stopped going erratically. The two Golden Light shooting out from his small eyes startled Shi Xiao slightly. He suppressed his anger and changed the spiritual incantation in his hand.
Dozens of Chang Ghost let out a miserable howl in unison, and in a moment they wrapped themselves up in a tight ball, forming a giant black silk cocoon that protected Shi Xiao behind him.
"Bang!" The thick black silk cocoon was blasted in half by two Golden Light, and the ghostly wailing sound became even louder, soaring into the sky. Shi Xiao, who was protecting it behind him, was surprised but unharmed.
Kang Dabao was struck by the even more mournful lament and was momentarily stunned.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the two tigers seized the remaining Chang Ghost, and the two giant beasts, clad in black armor, were about to pounce on Kang Dabao and break his body in two.
Shi Xiao's snake staff also attacked, Xue Hu finally hardened his heart and no longer held back. The black Buddhist light of the White Bone Sarira enveloped Shi Xiao's snake staff.
The other two members of the Xue family who were at the Middle Qi Refinement Xue Household also understood the situation and each Law Artifact to deal with the situation.
"You beast!" Seeing that Shi Xiao was being entangled by Xue Hu and the other two, Kang Dabao felt a little relieved and cursed under his breath.
Golden Armor Round Shield shot out to block it, but the two tigers pounced twice, easily overturning the shield.
Its body continued to move, its head, the size of a bucket, with a mouthful of sharp teeth, getting closer and closer to Kang Dabao.
The latter looked anxious and simply abandoned his Golden Armor Round Shield, retreating several steps.
In between, he scattered a large number of talismans and then made a hand seal behind his back.
Just as he was about to activate his attack, the mournful song sung by the ghosts attached to the tiger's body suddenly rose in pitch, causing his movements to slow for a moment, and the golden light that had just appeared in his eyes went out again.
Kang Dabao cursed under his breath, wildly swinging his Army-Breaking Hammer, and struck a tiger's tooth.
In excruciating pain, the latter roared and sprayed Kang Dabao's face with bits of bone and flesh. The spray, accompanied by a gust of wind, cut four or five deep gashes into Kang Dabao's face.
"Thump!" Kang Dabao had just managed to recall his Golden Armor Round Shield when the giant tiger smashed it into several pieces with a powerful blow.
Before Kang Dabao could even feel sorry for him, another cultivator from the Shi Household rode in on a spirit eagle, looking anxious. He called out, "Fourth Uncle!"
"Damn it! "Kang Dabao cursed inwardly. "Could it be that the master can't escape now?"
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