“Hey! Fellow Cultivator Tang?” Shabby Taoist Master screamed urgently over the phone.
“What’s up?” Tang Hao was nervous when he heard the voice.
Listening to the tone of voice, he guessed that Shabby Taoist Master must be in trouble.
“Please come and save me!” Shabby Taoist Master roared with all his might. Then, sounds of screeching tires and cars bumping into each other were heard.
Tang Hao was shocked and confused.
From the noises, he guessed that Shabby Taoist Master was in a car chase. Someone was planning to take his life.
Shabby Taoist Master was a cultivator from Mao Mountain. Who would be brazen enough to take his life in public?
Given the circumstances, it was not convenient for him to ask the reason. “Where are you?” He asked.
“I’m on the north side of your district. City East Expressway… I think? I’m driving westward. Come here quickly!”
The phone call abruptly ended.
Tang Hao’s expression was grim as he held the phone in his hand.
He immediately stood up and dialed Commissioner Xia’s phone number.
Someone would have called the police if they saw a car chase on City East Expressway. The police would be helpless in a battle between cultivators. They would lose their lives in vain if they went.
He briefly explained the situation to Commissioner Xia, then reminded him that the police should not engage with the people involved in the car chase.
He went down the stairs as he spoke on the phone. He rode in his car, exited the basement parking lot, then sped toward the north side of Westridge District.
In less than six minutes, he arrived at City East Expressway.
Less than two minutes later, he saw two SUVs stopped on the road, and not too far away was a flipped black car.
Several people in black suits were slowly moving toward the flipped car with guns in their hands.
Tang Hao was surprised when he saw the scene.
He had only seen something like that in movies. He did not expect to see that in real life.
“These people are lawless!” Tang Hao muttered to himself.
A typical criminal would not be hunting down their targets with guns in broad daylight.
Tang Hao floored his accelerator and rammed toward the men in black suits.
The men turned around when they heard the car behind them. Then, they fired several shots at Tang Hao’s Audi.
Tang Hao did not flinch.
The bullets were deflected by a transparent shield when they were about a foot away from the car.
The car sent two men in black suits flying, then braked next to the flipped car.
Tang Hao opened the car door. “Get in!” He shouted at Shabby Taoist Master who was hiding behind the flipped car.
Shabby Taoist Master dashed inside and slammed the car door shut.
Bang! Bang!
Bullets were fired from behind but were deflected by the invisible shield.
Shabby Taoist Master was shocked when he saw that.
“What car is this, Fellow Cultivator?” He blurted rather incredulously.
Tang Hao grinned. He floored the accelerator and the car sped away. “An Audi, of course!”
“I’ve never seen an Audi like this before!” Shabby Taoist Master was amazed.
“I made a couple of minor tweaks!” Tang Hao said.
He wanted to ask Shabby Taoist Master about what happened when he saw the two SUVs chasing after him.
“Fasten your seatbelt and sit tight, Taoist Master!”
Tang Hao floored the accelerator. The car suddenly gained an incredible boost of speed and soon shook off the pursuers.
After confirming that the SUVs were nowhere to be seen, Tang Hao gradually slowed down and drove into a basement parking lot.
“Phew!”
After the car stopped, Shabby Taoist Master breathed a sigh of relief, happy that he had escaped death.
“Alright!” Tang Hao clapped his hands and looked at Shabby Taoist Master. “So, what happened? Who are those brazen criminals?”
Shabby Taoist Master turned around and looked worriedly at the entrance of the parking lot.
“Don’t worry, they won’t find us,” Tang Hao said.
“Are you sure? Those people are quite resourceful. They can hunt us down as long as they know our registration plate number.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ve cast an obscuring spell on the car plate. They won’t be able to see the number,” Tang Hao said.
“You’re very meticulous, Fellow Cultivator! This car is not bad! How did you modify it? Don’t tell me… You carved runes on the car?”
Shabby Taoist Master got out of the car and circled it a few times. He looked upon it with admiration.
“I can’t carve runes on the car! I used jade talismans,” Tang Hao said, “So can you finally tell me what happened?”
“Well… it’s a long story. These people should be from the Xu family… I mean, the Wang family,” Shabby Taoist Master said grimly.
“Xu family? Wang family?” Tang Hao furrowed his brows.[1]
“The Xu family is notorious among the cultivation world for meddling with heretical arts, and they use their powers for evil. Like the Nanyang shamans, they have a tattered reputation.
“I went to the Wang ancestral house earlier and found by coincidence that the Xu family is a descendant branch of the Wang family.”
Tang Hao was confused. “So who is the Wang family then?”
“Hah! The Wang family is another notorious name in the cultivation world, and the most notorious figure of all is Wang Changsheng! Remember that name?”
“Wang Changsheng?” Tang Hao thought for a while, then remembered that he saw the name in Corpse Cave.
Shabby Taoist Master explained to him that Wang Changsheng was from the Ming or Qing dynasty, but he was killed by the ancestors of Mao Mountain.
“So that’s him!” Tang Hao said.
“I was being pursued by the Wang family descendants because I’ve discovered that connection. They’ve vicious bastards and there are many of them. I couldn’t fight them all, and I had to call you for help.”
Shabby Taoist Master sighed and looked worried.
“What’s wrong?”
“This is a complicated situation! The Xu family would have been a lot easier to defeat if they weren’t the descendants of the Wang family. Mao Mountain and the Wang family are sworn enemies.” His expression became grim as he spoke.
“I’ve also found out something recently. Wang Changsheng was not completely dead but instead sealed somewhere. The descendants of the Wang family should be looking for a way to free him.”
Tang Hao’s expression changed when he heard that.
Wang Changsheng sounded like a formidable opponent. Perhaps only someone in the State of Foundation Building might be able to defeat him.
He became less worried after thinking carefully. There ought to be enough cultivation masters in Mao Mountain to fight against him.
“The silver lining to all of this is that the Wang family descendants don’t know Wang Changsheng’s location,” Shabby Taoist Master continued, “I’ll have to return now.”
“I’ll send you back!” Tang Hao drove out of the basement parking lot and delivered Shabby Taoist Master to the neighboring district.
Before they parted ways, Shabby Taoist Master bought several dozen jade talismans from Tang Hao.
Then, Tang Hao returned to Westridge District in his car.
[1] The Chinese character for ‘Xu’ here is different from that of Xu Jianghai a few chapters ago.
