Although Tang Xiu's cultivation level was not weak, he still seemed weak to snatch human lives from the hands of the King of Hell. After casting a secret method and activating the Four Spirit Beasts Array, he slowly began to communicate with the Netherworld while shielding himself from the detection of the Heavenly Dao Laws.
"Bastard! Who is so audacious, daring to usurp the Book of Life and Death!?"
From the dark underworld, a loud roar passed into Tang Xiu's heart. Then, an invisible force madly smashed the space barrier and bombarded the Four Spirit Beasts Array.
Tang Xiu's heart wildly pounded hard and incredulity filled his eyes. He instantly severed the opponent's mental attack and spurted out a mouthful of blood. Then, he forced out a drop of blood essence and fused it into the Four Spirit Beast Array."
"Delineating souls, snatching lives, erase life and death!"
Tang Xiu bit his finger and quickly wrote a string of characters in mid-air when the blood was flowing out. Immediately after, the characters turned into a golden light and quickly merged into the Four Spirit Beasts Array.
At this time, whether it was Hu Shaokun sitting cross-legged on the floor, the lying Li Cai on the bed, or the leaning Aunt Zhuang on the sofa, their bodies trembled and they quickly opened their eyes.
"Disperse!"
Tang Xiu spat out a mouthful of blood yet again and powerfully punched towards the terrifying force outside the array. In the next moment, the clash between the two forces didn't create an explosion but instead melted like ice and gradually dissipated between heaven and earth. Right as the Four Spirit Beasts Array was broken, Tang Xiu took out 4 Invisibility Charms from the interspatial ring and quickly threw them at the three people and himself.
Crack!
As the four Invisibility Charms disintegrated, peace and tranquility returned to the surroundings. Tang Xiu's eyes focused on the ground with lingering fear and twitching lips.
He never expected that the King of Hell who controlled the Six Paths of Samsara on Earth would have such a terrible and fearsome power. It must be noted that Earth was just an ordinary world that was usually classified as a mortal world. It was reasonable to say that the King of Hell who governed such a plane would only have average power.
However, the power of the King of Hell Tang Xiu just faced was absolutely stronger than ordinary immortals, which should have been impossible according to his knowledge.
Fortunately, the strike of this super-powerful expert was blocked by various space barriers, or he would have been wiped out by that terrible power just now.
"That was too f*cking dangerous. I must never do something unprofitable and this dangerous again." Tang Xiu wiped off the bloodstain at the end of his lips. As he noticed the three pairs of eyes staring at him, he angrily shouted, "What the hell are you stupidly gawking for? Hurry up and help me stand! Did you see that I just went against Heaven's will and paid a great price to change your life so that you won't die?!"
Li Cai bounced up from the bed and felt that the weakening feeling she had in the past few days was all gone now. She rushed towards Tang Xiu with a worried face and said, "Are you all right, Divine Doctor Tang? Did you just save me?"
"Who else, huh? Do you think God saved you out of his mercy or something?" Tang Xiu grunted snappily. "Cut the nonsense and just help me take out my cell phone! I need to make a call."
"O… Okay!"
Afterward, Li Cai carefully propped Tang Xiu up and then asked in a low voice, "Who do you want to call, Divine Doctor Tang?"
"Find Gu Xiaoxue's name on the phonebook and dial the number. I just exhausted everything I have and I don't even have the strength to raise my arm."
Such an overwhelming weak sensation was something Tang Xiu had never experienced after he returned to Earth. Not even when he hadn't yet started cultivating. All the strength in his body was nearly emptied in a flash, and even the planets in his Dantian dimmed and looked like some dead stars now. Furthermore, he felt like his head was cracking apart. He would have passed out had it not been for his formidable mental strength.
"Hello, Grand Master." Gu Xiaoxue's voice came from the mobile phone.
"Xiaoxue, quickly tell Ji Chimei to rush to Shanghai immediately." Tang Xiu ordered, "Something happened to me and I need her to hold the fort in Shanghai. Remember! I forbid you to tell your Master about this. I don't want her to be worried."
"This… understood!" The phone call directly ended.
After four-plus minutes passed, a figure appeared out of nowhere in the room. Incredulity immediately covered Ji Chimei's face the moment she sensed the power fluctuation in the surrounding air. She hurriedly asked, "Holy… Lord… did you… did you just fight… with the King of Hell of this plane?"
"It was just a minor matter, but I never thought I would alarm the King of Hell of this plane." Tang Xiu forced a bitter smile. "Besides, I never thought his power would be so great. It's just unbelievable. Even if he's not at the Golden Immortal Stage, he is absolutely not much weaker."
"Everything in this world is quite unusual from other worlds indeed," commented Ji Chimei. "You were careless this time, my Lord."
Tang Xiu nodded in response and sighed. "I know. Well, it already happened and my purpose is already achieved, so it's still a victory albeit the danger. Also, you're to stay in Shanghai next week. The auction is going to be held soon and I'm worried that some cultivators from other forces will come to make trouble."
Ji Chimei took a Holy Healing pill from her interspatial ring, stuffed it into Tang Xiu's mouth and said, "This subordinate will carry out your wish, my Lord."
"Don't just give me the Holy Healing pill. I'm so spent I can't even lift a finger now. Give me some Essence Amassing Pills and stand guard to protect me," said Tang Xiu.
"Understood!"
Ji Chimei took out some Essence Amassing Pills and stuffed them into Tang Xiu's mouth. She straightly ignored the three people in the room and sat cross-legged in front of Tang Xiu and silently protected him.
Two full days passed. Tang Xiu took 36 Essence Amassing Pills and was only barely able to recover half of his strength. However, it was difficult for him to fully recover the loss of his blood essence. He would at least need over a month for it.
Li Cai, her mother, and Hu Shaokun had already left the room 2 days ago, but Hu Shaokun still remembered Tang Xiu's instructions before, so the three of them stayed in the next room all the time and had their meals delivered to the room. Li Cai and her mother also learned about what Tang Xiu said from Hu Shaokun. All of them were restless and in a tense mood, and only felt slightly relieved since their lives were saved.
Knock, knock…
Tang Xiu and Ji Chimei went to the next room and knocked on the door before entering. He then saw the sleepy Hu Shaokun, Aunt Zhuang and Li Cai, who was sitting cross-legged in cultivation on the floor.
"Are you okay, Divine Doctor Tang?" Aunt Zhuang's spirit jolted as she got up and approached.
"I haven't fully recovered yet, but it won't hinder my activities." Tang Xiu said, "By the way, I know your surname is Zhuang. May I know your name?"
"My name is Zhuang Xinjie," answered Aunt Zhuang.
"I don't know what Hu Shaokun has told you, Zhuang Xinjie. But I need to tell you that you now have 2 options ahead of you." Tang Xiu nodded and said, "The first one is to follow me and join my sect, and you must reduce any contact with others as much as possible in the next few decades. You must also cultivate with all your strength and then wait for me to set off for another world. Your second option is to ignore my warning, but if you're too involved with the outside world, you can cause too many karmic disruptions. Should you do so, the chance is high that you'll be discovered by the Heavenly Dao laws of this world and become the target to be obliterated. Once it happens, your soul will completely scatter and you'll never be able to reincarnate ever again."
"Divine Doctor Tang, my daughter and I have discussed this after hearing Shaokun's explanation. We've made up our minds to follow you and become cultivators." Zhuang Xinjie hastily replied, "You're the one who saved us, mother and daughter, so we'll follow your orders in the future."
"I have made up my mind just like Aunt Zhuang and Li Cai. I'll follow your order too," said Hu Shaokun.
"Then I'll send you all to Nine Dragons Island since all of you have made a decision," said Tang Xiu. "That place is the home of the Tang Sect. Wait until you get there and some people will arrange the place for you to settle and some others will teach you cultivation techniques. You're going to stay there in the future!"
"But you haven't helped me with the ostensible reason yet, Divine Doctor Tang!" Hu Shaokun interjected quickly.
"How do you want me to help you?" asked Tang Xiu.
"I want to make it seem like I'm dead to withdraw from my life and nobody except my father can tell," said Hu Shaokun. "Only in this way can I fully sever my relationship with my previous life."
"There's no need to worry about it if your request is this simple. Alright, you go with Li Cai and her mother to Nine Dragons Island directly! I'll make the members of Hu Family believe that you've died."
Hu Shaokun hesitated but finally nodded. "Alright. Then I'll call my father and we'll wait for your people's arrival."
"Alright. You'll need to call me Sect Master from now on. Also, you're disciples of the Tang Sect from now on," said Tang Xiu. "You must never tell anyone anything about the Tang Sect without my permission."
"Understood!"
"En!"
The three of them nodded.
Li Cai suddenly said, "Divine Doctor Tang, ah no… Sect Master, I told you before that I'd like to present you with a token of my gratitude if you can save my mother. Please accept this. I hope you don't refuse and like it."
Tang Xiu looked at the gift box Li Cai gave him. He didn't turn her down and directly stuffed it into his interspatial ring after receiving it. Then, he said, "I accept your intention and gratitude no matter what the gift is."
"Umm… won't you open it?" asked Li Cai hesitantly.
Tang Xiu zoned out for a second and immediately smiled. "Well, since you want me to open it now, I'll take a look then."
He took back the gift box from the interspatial ring and slowly opened it. But his expression turned dull the moment he saw the lifelike crystalline jade pig inside it. With his current power, he could easily sense the energy fluctuations in the jade pig.
This one is the jade pig of the 12 Zodiac Jade Carvings?
Tang Xiu was excited inwardly. He turned to Li Cai and said, "Li Cai, I really like your present and this is also something I need. Thank you."
Li Cai immediately looked happy after hearing this and said, "Doctor Tang… Sect Master, I'm really glad you like it."
"Alright, then. I'm going back first since your issues have been resolved." Tang Xiu smiled and said, "Also, you just need to stay put. Someone will come and take you away later."