Chapter 243.1: Into Kang City; Tang Manor Destroyed; the Slaughter Begins! (I)

"Master, Kang City is just ahead."

Tang Lu was travel-worn and dusty, but her expression was fired with excitement. At last, she had returned to Kang City.

Lu Changsheng stood in front of her, and he had not flown here. Few people in the Divine Region could fly, and those who could were generally the so-called faithful of a deity, granted some mysterious and formidable power that made it possible.

As for ordinary people, they were forbidden to cultivate at all and forbidden any extraordinary power, and anyone found with either was branded an Evil God or a follower of one.

It seemed that after the cultivators of the Martial Dao and the Immortal Dao had driven the deities into the Divine Region, the deities had taken the pain to heart and learned their lesson. They kept ordinary people penned like livestock, allowing them not the faintest scrap of extraordinary power that might one day threaten them.

In the Divine Region, a common person could practice only fighting arts, the knack of generating force, a few clever martial moves and nothing more. One was not to dream of body refinement or immortal cultivation.

Tang Lu was in fact highly skilled in those arts, having trained in combat since childhood, and one against several was nothing to her; with a weapon in hand she could kill grown men without trouble. Still, as a woman, her innate strength was inferior to a man's, and in a true fight to the death, a burly fellow with even a little training could certainly defeat her.

But now, Tang Lu was brimming with confidence, certain she could take her revenge herself, because after acknowledging this Evil God as her master, she had received his power.

At least, that was what she believed. In reality, Lu Changsheng had simply used a few pills to improve her physical constitution across the board, leaving no trace of cultivation on her, since that would have done her more harm than good. If a False God detected the Evil God's power on Tang Lu, she would be in serious trouble, whereas a simple physical boost would pose no problems at all.

Her physical constitution had risen nearly threefold. To Lu Changsheng, that was utterly insignificant, but in the Divine Region, that boost already put Tang Lu far beyond men born with prodigious strength, let alone ordinary people. Combined with her fighting skills, she could certainly handle herself in combat against several dozen men.

"Master, I await your orders."

Tang Lu's heart was pounding, and she wanted nothing more than to storm the Tang household that instant and cut down her fourth uncle and the rest of her enemies to avenge her parents and her kin. Still, she was perfectly aware that she could not do anything without the Evil God's permission.

"Let's go. Into the city," Lu Changsheng said mildly.

The two of them then entered Kang City, and the moment they did they were surrounded on all sides by people. All of them were ordinary, and yet Lu Changsheng quickly noticed what set this place apart.

It's not formation, but the whole city is saturated with a dense power similar to the momentum of the masses. It must be the power of faith.

The power of faith fills the whole of Kang City. Drawing on it, the Great Moon False God can probably watch every movement within these walls. If any martial artist or immortal cultivator were to call upon the power of the Martial Dao or the Immortal Dao, I'm afraid he would detect it at once and descend on the spot!

A chill ran through Lu Changsheng. A False God could descend anywhere through the power of faith, more conveniently than any long-distance teleportation formation, for that power served as their eyes and ears and reached into every last crack.

No wonder martial artists and immortal cultivators were branded Evil Gods the moment they set foot in the Divine Region. In a situation like this, no amount of explaining could clear them. If a False God accused them of being Evil Gods, then Evil Gods was all they could be.

Lu Changsheng concealed his aura completely. He would make sure not to use his divine abilities or Saint Body carelessly here in Kang City. He would not even draw on the power of the Martial Dao.

Even so, he had no fear of running into danger, because his physical strength alone was already enough to sweep aside every ordinary person in the Divine Region, and no number of them could stand against it.

"Tang Lu, you have a score to settle. Go straight to Tang Manor."

"Yes, Master."

Tang Lu's heart leapt with joy. At last she was returning to Tang Manor, where her parents and her kin had died wretched deaths and where she and her brother had been driven to the end of their rope and nearly killed. Now, at last, revenge was within reach.

Before long, the three of them arrived at Tang Manor, the place adorned with lanterns and streamers.

The fourth master of Tang Manor had taken three concubines in recent days and was riding high, for the Tang family were the foremost merchants of Kang City and their influence was considerable. What woman the fourth master of the Tang family fancied would dare refuse him? The fourth master now held every scrap of authority in the Tang family, so that whatever he said was law.

Several burly men stood watch at the main gate, a rather easy post with considerable benefits. Suddenly, two of them narrowed their eyes, hardly able to believe what they saw.

They had spotted two familiar figures approaching.

"That's Ms. Tang Lu, and the young master with her..."

"Weren't they hunted down by Steward Liu and his men? How are they at Tang Manor?"

"Could it be..."

The guards went pale as they realized something serious had to have happened.

"Quick, report to the fourth master at once..."

But before a guard could run into the manor, Tang Lu drove her foot hard against the ground.

Thud!

The earth itself seemed to shake as Tang Lu launched into the air, borrowing the force of that push to hurl herself straight at the gate. A flash of white glinted in her hand—a razor-sharp dagger.

Splurt!

Tang Lu flicked her dagger lightly, and the guards clapped their hands over their throats, eyes widening in disbelief. Blood spurted out between their fingers. They tried to say something, but only a sickening, garbled sound came out. Moments later, they crumpled to the ground, choking on their own blood until their eyes were hollow.

An eerie silence had settled upon the main gate. A metallic stench hung in the air.

Outside the manor, several guests had been about to go in, and none of them had expected to suddenly see Tang Lu killing a bunch of men by herself. Screams erupted at once and many people scrambled backward in a panic, though some of them recognized the two siblings.

"Th-That's Tang Lu! She's gone mad! She's out of her mind!"

"She's Master Tang's precious daughter, but didn't the fourth master order the killing of her and her brother to seize control of the family? How is she standing here now?"

"And not just her. The young master is also there with her. There's no mistake about it. Tang Lu has come back for revenge."

"But Tang Lu is only one frail girl. Sure, she can fight, but Tang Manor has dozens of skilled men and hundreds of servants. What is she expecting to accomplish?"

The talk ran back and forth through the crowd, for the Tang family's affairs were no great secret. Most people here knew the whole story.

Old Master Tang had enjoyed a decent reputation, and many of them had pitied the two siblings on his account. Still, pity ultimately changed nothing, and there was no question of anyone helping her. The fact that Tang Lu had now fought her way back to Tang Manor was astonishing indeed.

With her physical condition elevated by Lu Changsheng and her own fighting skills on top of that, Tang Lu had become a genuinely fearsome fighter. Now, every flick of her dagger dropped someone in a puddle of blood. In a matter of minutes, Tang Manor was riddled with corpses, and blood ran in rivers.

"Archers, drop her! Now!"

The fourth master of the Tang family had finally appeared, his face twisted with terror as he watched Tang Lu carve through his people like a god of slaughter. He was surrounded by a crowd of servants, and he had even brought a company of archers with him—and yet, he still feared for his life.

Whizz, whizz, whizz.

Arrow after arrow cut through the air toward Tang Lu.

She nimbly twisted and jumped, leaping through the hail of arrows, but there were simply too many of them. Even with a physique amplified threefold, she could not have dodged every single arrow.

Sure enough, an arrow grazed her arm, and a faint trail of blood spurted out. Even with the physical boost from Lu Changsheng, her body was still flesh and blood.

Unable to withstand the archer's assault, Tang Lu was forced to retreat several zhang.