Chapter 330: Infighting Already?
The bodies on the ground piled higher and higher. Tian Fu had gone berserk, killing any clansman he saw holding stolen goods. Due to the panic, a stampede broke out, causing many more injuries.
Master Tian and several elders looked as if they were trying to stop him, but in reality, they were only using half their strength.
"Tian Fu, stop this."
Meng Fanxuan reached out to him in a futile gesture, but just as she was about to intercept Tian Fu, she went limp and fainted.
Her handmaiden caught her, shouting in alarm, "Oh no, my lady was hit! She’s unconscious!"
Tian Fu’s rage intensified, and he even wounded one of the elders.
Ever since he had returned to the Tian Family, Master Tian and the elders had been outwardly respectful but were constantly undermining him in small ways. Whenever he tried to requisition men or materials, they would find a thousand and one ways to obstruct him.
Tian Fu was already full of pent-up frustration. Now that the only person in the Tian Family he cared for was injured, all the anger that had accumulated during this time erupted from within him.
Ao Wu watched them fight amongst themselves from the sky, quietly trying to make himself less conspicuous.
’Hey, not my fault,’ he thought. ’The Tian Family started fighting all on their own.’
Master Tian, after a "great struggle," finally subdued Tian Fu. He looked up at Ao Wu in the sky. "Lord Divine Dragon, Tian Fu has gone quite mad. I do not know if he is the one who captured your daughter, but perhaps I should hand him over to you..."
"Never mind." The call of a small bird echoed from nearby, and Ao Wu immediately changed his tune. "I don’t sense my daughter’s presence within the Tian Family. It must have been a misunderstanding."
With that said, he flew away without a backward glance.
Master Tian was somewhat disappointed. He had hoped to use Ao Wu to take care of Tian Fu for him.
They were powerless against Tian Fu, but Ao Wu was a different story. Tian Fu’s backer was the Heaven and Earth Stone, but perhaps a Divine Dragon like Ao Wu had a way to deal with him.
Tian Fu snapped back to his senses. Seeing the bodies littering the ground, he felt a pang of regret. ’No, not regret,’ he thought. ’Just... I don’t know why I was so impulsive.’
’Perhaps it was because my aunt was injured, and I lost control for a moment?’
’This mortal body is truly pathetic. It’s what caused me to act on pure impulse.’
With everyone watching, Tian Fu had no choice but to lower his head and admit his fault. "Family Head, I was too impulsive. I will accept whatever punishment you see fit."
Master Tian concealed his disappointment and ordered his men to take Tian Fu away and lock him up.
Before they took him away, he gave Tian Fu an apologetic look, as if he were being forced into it.
Tian Fu was perfectly aware that Master Tian wished for nothing more than to eliminate him, but outwardly, he had to pretend he didn’t know.
’Without the Tian Family, my grand ambitions wouldn’t be doomed, but they would become much more difficult to achieve.’
’Heh. Does Master Tian really think the family can complete this grand plan without me? He has no idea that the most crucial component of that plan... is me!’
Yu An and Ao Wu had arranged a signal: as soon as the bird call was heard, they were to leave the Tian Family estate.
They met up at one of the courtyard walls and climbed over it to get out.
"I’ve got everyone in my spatial storage. A Wu, let’s go find Yu Yao and update her on the situation."
Yu An’s goal was Fuzai, as was Yu Yao’s, but Yu Yao was also there for the missing children from Earth Geography City.
Yu Yao had her people break into smaller groups and enter Tianhuan City sequentially. Yu An happened to run into her on the street.
They found a tavern and spoke briefly in a private room before going their separate ways.
Yu Yao took her people to search for the missing children, while Yu An went to Tongtong’s home within Tianhuan City.
Tongtong had said that she and Fuzai had an agreement: after Fuzai rescued her grandfather and grandmother, she would go to Tianhuan City to meet up with her.
Then, Tongtong would ask her family to help find Yu An. That was why Yu An wanted to go to Tongtong’s house and try her luck.
’That little Zaizai, Little Six... she wouldn’t have changed her mind, would she?’
Fortunately, Fuzai hadn’t changed her mind. She had already told Shen Zi and Mo Feng that she was going to Tianhuan City to find her friend, and then they would all search for Yu An together.
But...
They had run into a bit of trouble on the road.
"It’s these ghastly things again! So disgusting!"
Mo Feng was fleeing for his life, with Fuzai tucked under one arm and cradling Shen Zi, who had reverted to her beast form.
On their way to Tianhuan City, they had run into human face flowers. The creatures attacked them relentlessly, and Shen Zi had been injured.
Worried, Mo Feng didn’t waste time fighting them. He seized the first opportunity to flee.
The human face flowers gave chase relentlessly, creating a scene of utter chaos. Fortunately, they were in the middle of a desolate wilderness. Anyone who saw it would have thought they were still dreaming.
’The world’s gone mad! Even plants have grown legs and are chasing people!’
Mo Feng and Shen Zi had been in the Upper Realm for a while, but they weren’t familiar with the terrain. Mo Feng could only run wherever he saw a path.
The human face flowers were hot on their heels, and in his desperation, he started running blindly.
He kept running until a blast of cold wind made him realize he had somehow ended up on a mountain.
Ahead of them was a cliff, and behind them, the pursuing human face flowers. Mo Feng gritted his teeth and set Fuzai and Shen Zi down.
"A zhi, I’ll hold them off. You and Zaizai find a chance to run..."
"No," Shen Zi refused outright. "We leave together or not at all."
Together, she and Mo Feng could barely fend off the human face flowers’ attacks. If she were to leave with Fuzai, Mo Feng would be facing certain death!
Mo Feng’s voice was grave. "A zhi, listen to me!"
"If anyone’s leaving, it’s you with Zaizai," Shen Zi said, shoving Fuzai into his arms. "I’m injured. I can’t run far while carrying her."
Fuzai rubbed her cheeks. Grandpa Mo had been running so fast that whenever she tried to speak, her mouth just filled with cold wind, and she couldn’t get a single word out.
Now that she finally had a chance, she piped up, "Grandma, Grandpa, stop arguing! I can fly."
"I can’t fly very high or very far while carrying people, but I can definitely fly us behind those monster flowers."
It wasn’t that Mo Feng was out of energy; he was just out of road. Otherwise, with his stamina, he could have led the human face flowers on a chase for three days and three nights.
His and Shen Zi’s attempts to persuade each other came to an abrupt halt. They exchanged a look, then glanced at the cliff edge. Shen Zi leaned in and whispered a few words in Fuzai’s ear.
Fuzai nodded. "I guarantee I’ll complete the mission!"
The human face flowers were not intelligent. Seeing that the three of them had stopped moving, they began to slowly close in.
When they had no more room to retreat, Fuzai suddenly reverted to her beast form. A small dragon, about the height of a man, took flight with Shen Zi and Mo Feng, flew over the human face flowers, and set them down on the other side.
As they landed, they both transformed into their beast forms—an imposing gray wolf and a massive Ink Serpent. They struck the ground in unison, and a fissure split the earth.
The human face flowers couldn’t react in time and tumbled off the cliff along with the section of ground they were on.
Two of them reacted quickly enough to scramble to safety, but Shen Zi and Mo Feng knocked them off the edge as well.
"Let’s go." The two of them changed back to their human forms. "Zaizai, let’s get moving!"
Fuzai cheered, "Alright!"
She happened to glance down and pointed below the cliff. "Grandma, what is this place? It looks so strange."
From the cliff’s edge, the terrain below formed a bizarre shape. Staring at it for too long made one dizzy.
Shen Zi and Mo Feng had never seen such a strange geographical formation either, so they had no answer for her.
However, they then saw the human face flowers using their extensive root systems to climb back up the cliff face. With no time for a closer look, they quickly led Fuzai down the mountain.
’Once those human face flowers get back up, the chase will start all over again!’