Illusions, Lies, Truth

Volume 2, 5: Contract Between Human and Doll… Part 2—For Your Sake

Volume 2, Chapter 5: Contract Between Human and Doll… Part 2—For Your Sake

Translator: lucathia (proofread by Trespasserby & EvlNabiki)

Jiang Ziya froze. He was about to tell Lu Yang not to be reckless when Xiao Xue gave a tug in his arms.

“G?ge, no. When you look for the barrier dimension’s weak point, you’ll need someone to hold that thing back. If you want to help Lu Yang-g?, you should hurry and find that weak point instead!”

That was true, but seeing Lu Yang face off against such a huge creature, a dark beast practically twice Lu Yang’s height even when it was grounded, how could Jiang Ziya calmly search for the weak point?

Lu Yang stood in front of the black beast. He looked like a boat in the ocean, about to be overturned by the waves at any moment. However, there was no trace of fear on his face. He was already prepared for battle, filled with fighting spirit.

Slay pierced about around him, flying with great force and speed, even emitting the “vrmm vrmm” cries of a sword, appearing plentifully imposing. Even though the slim sword didn’t seem as powerful as the black beast opposing it, the sword definitely couldn’t be overlooked!

Zhang Dongqi had originally looked down on these youngsters. The one whom he truly minded was the God of the Eastern Sky, Taiyi, who stood afar in the distance.

But now that he had seen that sword of his opponent’s, he stopped looking down on him. He cried out in alarm, “You possess an innate familiar spirit?”

No wonder people caution not to wreak havoc in Zhongxiang City!

That bastard Zhang Dongping should have just died, instead of provoking an opponent with such strong people backing him up while he was at it! That strange woman, the God of the Eastern Sky, Taiyi, and even this youngster who possessed an innate familiar spirit…

Zhang Dongqi began to question just who the hell he had kidnapped. How could a single person have so many people backing him up? And these people weren’t even from the same crowd!

The woman had an unknown special ability; the God of the Eastern Sky, Taiyi, was the head of Jiu Ge; that youngster gave the impression of the way of the Tao. As for Taoism in Zhongxiang City… Don’t tell me he’s from Master Ah Lu’s Qing Wei Gong?

If Zhang Dongping had left behind even a single piece of his corpse, Zhang Dongqi would definitely dig it out and whip his corpse. Too bad that bastard hadn’t even left behind dust.

“I’ll say, let’s not make the situation as serious as one involving the Zhang family and Jiu Ge.” The God of the Eastern Sky, Taiyi said exuberantly, “Why not have a fight with him? If he wins, you will treat it as if nothing at all happened today. You will return and tell the Zhang family that you have already killed the foe. You won’t ever return for vengeance.”

“What if I win?”

Hearing such a condition, Zhang Dongqi felt that it would be fine even if he lost. After all, the God of the Eastern Sky, Taiyi was famous to the point of being scary. With this Taoist brat in the mix as well, he really wasn’t confident that he could escape. He might even lose his life here. But if he agreed to this condition, even if he lost, he could leave with his life intact. This way, he could guarantee his survival.

Fu Taiyi said indifferently, “If you win, I will accept all the conditions you asked of Jiang Ziya earlier.”

Zhang Dongqi’s eyes shone. The two demons to be given in the terms were no longer important. What excited him more was that the God of the Eastern Sky, Taiyi would promise him three things. Nothing could compare to such an amazing deal!

“No problem! But I won’t take down the barrier dimension.”

Fu Taiyi was generous and straightforwardly said, “That’s fine! But I also have a condition. We have the right to look for the weak point of the barrier dimension, and we are allowed to destroy it.”

Zhang Dongqi frowned and said, “If you take part, won’t this barrier dimension get destroyed right away?”

“Then, I won’t interfere.” Fu Taiyi lazily said, “I’ll let those two brats play with you. How’s that? Are you going to agree to my invitation?”

Zhang Dongqi’s heart leaped in excitement. He immediately agreed. Even though his opponent was a Taoist who had an innate familiar spirit, he was too young. Zhang Dongqi didn’t at all believe that his opponent would be able to defeat him. Besides, they were in his barrier dimension. His advantage wasn’t slight.

As for whether or not his barrier dimension would get destroyed, Zhang Dongqi wasn’t confident about that. But he believed that the barrier dimension would at least hold for ten minutes to half an hour with no problems. That amount of time would be enough for him to knock all the teeth out of this pretentious Taoist brat!

“Hah!”

The moment he heard Zhang Dongqi agree to the invitation, Lu Yang had Slay commence the attack. He had battled with demons for many years, and his mind was not the least bit pedantic. If there was a way to sneak an attack, then he would definitely not use brute force. If he could take the first strike, then he would strike first. Exterminating demons was a job that required him to put his life on the line. If he were overly concerned with miniscule details, then he’d be a goner!

Both of them were practitioners. They knew that with their lives on the line for this job, they had to be despicable. Therefore, Zhang Dongqi didn’t unreasonably scold Lu Yang about sneak attacks being despicable. They just began fighting right away.

That black beast was humongous in size, yet its actions were very nimble. Lu Yang wasn’t able to dodge it more than once. If not for Slay returning to defend him in time, Lu Yang would have been sent flying several times already.

To the side, Jiang Ziya was very distracted. He really couldn’t calmly search for the weak point while his good friend was battling a beast. On top of that, he was a bit angry that Fu Taiyi wasn’t lending a hand. But then he immediately recalled the conditions Fu Taiyi had mentioned. They were obviously for the sake of protecting him.

There was no way he could stay on guard forever. If he were to catch the Zhang family’s attention, Jiang Ziya would definitely not be able to live peacefully any longer. It could even be said that he would be killed sooner rather than later. Only Fu Taiyi’s proposed conditions could help free him.

But seeing how cautious Zhang Dongqi was toward Fu Taiyi, if Fu Taiyi were to lend a hand, then Zhang Dongqi would definitely refuse the battle invitation. Therefore, they could only have Lu Yang fight instead.

Jiang Ziya bit his tongue, using the pain to force himself to calm down so he could scrutinize his surroundings for the weak point. Still, he could not help occasionally glancing at Lu Yang, and then his face would pale from how frightening the battle appeared.

“Little Lu Yang, you really are strong!” Fu Taiyi praised nonchalantly to the side, “To be able to survive for so long in the opponent’s barrier dimension… That’s no small feat… Oh no, I’ve only just praised you, and you’ve been clawed. Pay more attention! You’ve already been a practitioner for so long, with such abundant battle experience, and you let yourself get bullied by an animal. How embarrassing.”

…Can a human win against a beast in battle?

Hearing Fu Taiyi speak, Lu Yang’s teeth were nearly about to crack from how tightly he had them clenched. Even the tiger Wu Song fought against wasn’t this gigantic!

Not only was the beast fast, its furry skin was incomparably tough. Even when Slay found an opening to strike, Slay would get stopped by the layers of needle-like fur, causing very little damage to the foe.

Lu Yang could only do his utmost to dodge using his exceptional physical abilities. However, mistakes were unavoidable. Injuries littered his body more and more, causing Jiang Ziya to feel distraught as he watched from the side, unable to do anything about it.

“Where in the world is the weak point?” He was so frantic that he was about to pull his hair out.

Xiao Xue also spoke anxiously, “G?ge, try looking more closely at other places!”

But I’ve looked everywhere already! He had looked several times at every corner and hadn’t discovered anything. Just where is the weak point of this barrier dimension—

Jiang Ziya suddenly realized where he hadn’t looked.

Behind me!

Behind him, there were only a few people who had been kidnapped just like him, so he hadn’t turned to look in that direction this entire time. However, that was also the only place he hadn’t looked.

Jiang Ziya immediately turned and scrutinized those people, even Xie Peilun. It was only until he looked at that woman that he abruptly discovered that there seemed to be a layer of mist over her face.

He slightly tilted his head to the right and used his left eye to observe the woman. Then, he immediately shouted as he pointed at her, “It’s you! You’re the one maintaining this barrier dimension!”

The woman frantically said, “No! No, it’s not me! I was captured and confined here together with you. Have you forgotten?”

Of course he remembered, but his left eye could discern that this woman’s appearance wasn’t the same as before. They must have swapped her out when they sealed everyone’s mouths back up with tape.

“So you’ve finally found her?” Fu Taiyi lazily said, “Humans and their blind spots. All you have to do is turn around and you would discover a new world, yet you just won’t look behind you… Oh no, Lu Yang got kicked again. If you don’t hurry and dismantle the barrier dimension, I bet that even if the barrier dimension is gone later, little Lu Yang will already have kicked the bucket.”

Jiang Ziya clenched his teeth and rushed toward that woman… who was Zhang Nanzhu, but he couldn’t bring himself to punch a girl just like that. At first, he thought to grab her hand, but he hadn’t thought that Zhang Nanzhu would be more vicious than he was, turning and giving him a spin kick right in the stomach, almost making him throw up his dinner from the previous night.

Seeing that, Fu Taiyi finally dropped his lazy expression. He had forgotten that Jiang Ziya was just a normal person who had no fighting ability whatsoever, but a practitioner, even a woman who didn’t specialize in fighting, would at least know a few tricks.

Even though he had discovered the weak point of the barrier dimension, Jiang Ziya might not be able to do anything about it. Meanwhile, Lu Yang was losing bit by bit and had no way he could divert his attention to deal with the woman.

Zhang Nanzhu also realized that this brat had no fighting ability at all. She immediately rushed forward and wildly kicked at his stomach and trampled on him.

“Don’t you dare hit G?ge!” Xiao Xue abruptly pounced on her, transforming her teeth into fangs, biting Zhang Nanzhu in the neck.

All that could be heard was Zhang Nanzhu’s wailing shriek. A huge chunk of flesh between her neck and shoulder went missing. Scarlet blood dripped ceaselessly. Instantly, the barrier dimension collapsed. She was finally unable to maintain it any longer.

At this moment, Lu Yang just happened to be sent flying by the black beast with a kick. His entire body slammed against a cargo container before he collapsed on the ground. There was no part of him that didn’t hurt. Even Slay, which had been flying around him, fell to the ground. Although it wanted to fly back up, it couldn’t stop falling back onto the ground.

Zhang Dongqi walked over to Lu Yang and sneered, “To think you guys were able to break the barrier dimension, but can you even stand up anymore?”

Lu Yang had his head lowered. He saw that there was a black hound, one that appeared incomparably vicious, not far from him. A single glance, and any normal person would be so scared that they would give it a wide berth.

But compared to the black beast just now, this hound was practically a Chihuahua.

Even though they were one and the same, barrier dimension or no barrier dimension, and even a gigantic black beast could shrink into a black dog.

Lu Yang, with his head bowed, smirked. He got up suddenly and rushed toward Zhang Dongqi. Even the fallen Slay “vrmm’d” and pierced toward that hound, its speed even faster than before. And this time, the hound didn’t have needle-like fur to hinder Slay. After several exchanges, Slay pierced through the hound’s waist, putting an end to it all.

On the other end, Lu Yang couldn’t defeat Zhang Dongqi as quickly. They exchanged strikes back and forth, every punch landing on flesh. Even the people to the side winced, feeling like their skin was smarting.

Originally, Zhang Dongqi had thought that he could defeat this Taoist brat using his own martial arts abilities, but unfortunately for him, Lu Yang had always been proud of his physical abilities. He had put in great effort training until now. Even though he had just received a harsh beating, he had actually used most of his strength to protect himself so he wouldn’t suffer heavy injuries, waiting for the moment Jiang Ziya destroyed the barrier dimension.

“I’ll be damned, your martial arts skills are top notch!” Zhang Dongqi swung his fists and shouted excitedly, “Let’s have a good fight!”

Unfortunately for him, Slay had already returned to its master’s side and was currently humming, waiting to be commanded!

Lu Yang gazed at Zhang Dongqi serenely. As mentioned earlier, he was never ever pedantic.

Zhang Dongqi’s face twitched. He hadn’t thought that this brat really wouldn’t have the least bit of a youngster’s brashness. He had originally wanted to force Lu Yang to fight him with his fists. Perhaps, he could defeat the brat using his own fists, considering that the brat had already suffered injuries that weren’t light. Unfortunately, the brat didn’t have the least intention to fight him with his fists!

Even though he was young, his personality and way of handling things was exactly like a seasoned practitioner.

Could it be… that this brat is that rumored grandson of Master Ah Lu’s, a boy who started capturing demons ever since he was ten years old?

Don’t tell me that all of the famous people of Zhongxiang City have shown up to fight me? Zhang Dongqi was so furious that he laughed. He could only say that his defeat wasn’t unwarranted, but his defeat was infuriating!

“Cough, cough…” Jiang Ziya was hugging his stomach as he walked to Lu Yang’s side. He couldn’t help reminding Zhang Dongqi, “If you don’t hurry and take that woman to the hospital, she’s going to die.”

Zhang Dongqi looked at Jiang Ziya with confliction. Just who is this guy? He was able to make so many people show up to protect him?

As for what had happened today, truthfully speaking, if these people had taken the initiative to approach the Zhang family to negotiate, the matter of Zhang Dongping might have been resolved just like that. Zhang Dongqi wouldn’t have had to been overwhelmed by so many people, and he had even lost a demon beast who was already a lie!

The God of the Eastern Sky, Taiyi, hadn’t even interfered!

“I will abide by my promise. Can I leave now?” Zhang Dongqi mostly said this to the God of the Eastern Sky, Taiyi.

“In a moment. Let me say something first.”

Even though the God of the Eastern Sky, Taiyi, spoke with a smile, Zhang Dongqi felt his heart shake.

He slowly said, “I do not know when Zhongxiang City turned into the Zhang family’s territory. First, it was your cousin. Then, it was you. Each and every time, you came to disturb someone under my protection.”

Hearing “someone under my protection,” Jiang Ziya’s heart skipped a beat, filled with pain. Ever since he was young and his mother died while his father left the house for years on end, there were few who protected him and his sister.

“It’s true that Qing Wei Gong’s Master Ah Lu doesn’t look after his grandson much, but if the Zhang family wishes to use their ‘family’ to threaten his grandson, then I believe that Qing Wei Gong won’t let their only successor clash against your entire family all by himself.”

…I guessed right. The corner of Zhang Dongqi’s mouth gave a spasm. He hated that his cousin hadn’t left behind even a single piece of his corpse.

“Try it again,” the God of the Eastern Sky, Taiyi, smiled as he said, “and I will seek all of you out the next time.”