Chapter 274: Qian Renchuan—"You're Tang San? Then Who Am I? A Path to Death!!"
Boom!
Tang San's nose bridge broke instantly, and more than a dozen teeth flew from his mouth. He shot backward like a cannonball, trailing a clear line of blood in midair before slamming into the ten-plus meter high wall.
Bouncing off, he fell back down and landed on top of that dying female fallen one, crushing her directly. The countless fluids shot out by who knew how many men earlier—nauseating and vile—splattered all over Tang San.
Qian Renchuan's face twisted in disgust, forcing him to step back.
If Qian Renchuan had wanted to, he could have finished Tang San off with two punches: one to shatter the Clear Sky Hammer's Kill technique, and a second to kill him outright. But he chose not to deliver that second punch. Instead, he yanked away the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges (the storage device) from Tang San's waist.
"Aaaargh! Qian Renchuan!!"
Tang San kept bleeding from his mouth, while the stench of putrid fluids and something like an osmanthus-like odor filled his nostrils. Covered head to toe in filth, he roared in rage, scarlet eyes fixed on Qian Renchuan with boundless killing intent and hatred.
Never in his life had Tang San suffered such humiliation!
He was about to unleash all his Tang Sect hidden weapons in a final battle against Qian Renchuan, only to discover that the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges at his waist was gone—now in Qian Renchuan's hand, stowed into Qian Renchuan's own storage-type soul tool.
With a wave of spirit power, Qian Renchuan pulled Tang San's Zhuge Divine Crossbow from the ground along with sixteen bolts that had embedded themselves in the nearby wall. He reloaded the crossbow with the sixteen bolts, turned its sixteen dark barrels on Tang San, and took aim.
Qian Renchuan wanted nothing more to do with the filthy stench clinging to Tang San. Even if using his Angel Spirit to kill Tang San might yield more spirit power, he didn't want it anymore. Far easier just to use the Zhuge Divine Crossbow to end this disgusting being.
"Wait!"
Tang San's pupils contracted. The Zhuge Divine Crossbow had enough power in the outside world to kill a Spirit Ancestor-level master. After absorbing that thirty-thousand-year head spirit bone, Tang San's cultivation had only gone from rank 43 to rank 44, so three barrages from the Zhuge Divine Crossbow could easily kill him. And here in the Slaughter City, no one could use spirit skills anyway.
"We're both Tang Sect disciples—how about we make a bet?!"
With the crossbow's trigger half-pulled and facing certain death, Tang San's survival instinct dug up the memory of a once-invincible, crisis-defying move from his previous life: the "Tang Family Wager."
"What bet?"
Qian Renchuan had planned to shoot Tang San dead, no interest in gambling with this inherently evil Tang family scion fated to die. But the honor of the Tang Sect still ran deep in his veins, and he hesitated.
"It's simple. We're both Tang Sect disciples—Tang Sect is best known for hidden weapons. So we test our mastery of hidden weapons. If I win, you give me three minutes, let me go."
Tang San was nothing if not cunning. He'd trained Tang Sect hidden weapon techniques to the pinnacle in his previous life—even mastering the "Buddha Fury Tang Lotus." But since hidden weapon proficiency also ties to cultivation, and he was only at Spirit Ancestor rank (far below Qian Renchuan's), a direct comparison in usage would be self-destructive. In weapon crafting, however, thanks to his previous life's experience, he was certain he could match or surpass anyone.
"Fine." Qian Renchuan, too, had once made a Buddha Fury Tang Lotus. He believed he was second to none. "But first I want to ask: exactly who in the Tang Sect are you?"
Tang San's heart swelled with pride at that question—he'd assumed Qian Renchuan, like himself, was a disciple of Douluo Continent's Tang Sect from his previous life, reborn by coincidence.
"I am the founder of the Douluo Continent Tang Sect—Tang San, the ancestor of the Tang Sect! Qian Renchuan, you rebel! You've offended your patriarch time and again—now kneel at once and beg forgiveness!"
Tang San lifted his chin, speaking with ringing righteousness.
"Rubbish! The Bashu Tang Sect was founded by Ancestor Tang Lan! Who do you think you are, claiming to have founded the Tang Sect? Truly outrageous! You're courting death!"
Qian Renchuan's killing intent flared. He scrapped the bet. Flicking the trigger, he launched sixteen crossbow bolts at Tang San's chest.
Tang San jumped in fright and tried to dodge. Yet at such close range, he was struck by multiple bolts that pierced his shoulder, drawing a gush of blood.
Clutching his wounded shoulder, Tang San was incredulous. "So you too fell from the Bashu Tang Sect's cliff, reincarnated? Bashu Tang Sect indeed wasn't established by me. I wanted to recreate the Tang Sect here on the Douluo Continent."
He was grabbing at any straw to save his life.
"Then who are you?"
Qian Renchuan had always assumed this Tang San was simply some weird coincidence, an evildoer from the Tang family with the same name as his past self. He'd heard the name "Tang San" in Soto City—an inherently evil scion of the Clear Sky Clan—and even scoffed that the Clear Sky Clan were a bunch of brutes giving someone the same name as his previous life.
After a moment's silence, Tang San said slowly, "I was an outer disciple named Tang San, exiled for stealing the inner sect's secret arts. I leaped from the infamous Ghost Cliff to prove my resolve. But instead of dying, I ended up here. Who are you?"
Tang San lifted his eyes to Qian Renchuan—only to find Qian Renchuan's face brimming with murderous rage, his voice chillingly cold. Could this man be some reincarnated elder from the Tang Sect, come to kill him?
"You dare impersonate me?! You're 'Tang San'? Then who am I?! You're on the path of death!!"
Qian Renchuan roared, killing intent towering. He remembered how, in his prior life, he—Tang San—did indeed steal from the Tang Sect but had atoned before leaping off Ghost Cliff. He left behind three Buddha Fury Tang Lotuses, ensuring none of the stolen knowledge would spread. Perhaps the heavens showed him mercy, judging him not truly at fault, and gave him new life in the righteous Spirit Hall.
But this person had likewise jumped from Ghost Cliff, definitely for some unforgivable crime. The Tang Sect cast him away to rot in the eighteenth layer of hell, yet he reincarnated as an innately evil Tang family member. A double liar who first claimed to be the Tang Sect's founder, then impersonated Tang San himself. He was truly abominable, beyond redemption!
"Soft Bone Rabbit Soul Bone skill—Exploding Eight-Stage Throw!"
Powder-pink radiance flared around Qian Renchuan's left arm, releasing a phantom of a breathtakingly lovely pink figure from that spirit bone. In a flash, she lunged at Tang San, who was retreating.
"Xiao Wu!"
Tang San froze the instant he saw that pink, ephemeral beauty. Who else could it be but Xiao Wu, the woman he loved most across two lifetimes?
"Kill him."
Under Qian Renchuan's mental command, the spirit of Xiao Wu gazed at her beloved Third Brother, tears of agony streaming down her cheeks as she attacked. She whipped her long, dark scorpion-braid around Tang San's neck and launched the Exploding Eight-Stage Throw.
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