Chapter 157 — Section 159: The Plan [Second Update]

Yan Xia glanced over the intelligence and said coolly, "It seems the girl is smarter than we imagined."

The report passed swiftly from hand to hand, and every face in the room darkened.

Suo Guang muttered, "Old Man Yu must be tired of living, daring to stir up trouble on his own initiative! What does he think he's doing?"

"He can't bear to be forgotten, that's all." A cold smile flickered at the corner of Gong Yixiu's mouth. "Old Man Yu may not be the strongest, but he's old, he's senior, and he carries weight. These local powers on Feilin Star have always been hostile to the Steward Corps. If he can rope in a few families this time and give us a bloody nose, then his title as Feilin Star's number one big shot will be set in stone. The girl, Li Tang—she picked exactly the right man for the job."

"So what do we do now?" Wu Nan knitted his brows and asked in a low voice. "If this really blows up, even the lord himself might not come out of it well."

His words were blunt, yet no one present objected.

The local powers of Feilin Star were formidable; they simply understood that they lived under the rule of the Black Soul, and so for years everyone had kept the peace. But what Yan Xia and his crew were doing this time was nothing they could afford to have seen, and it handed the other side a pretext. Yet if they were made to give up the South Cross Legion mechanism bell, none of them could bear it.

The three men's eyes turned as one to Yan Xia; he was the leader of this little band. They all regretted sending word to the Gu family earlier—they had assumed that with the Steward Corps' name behind them, the Gu family would never dare resist. A single mechanism bell, rare though it was, was not worth courting the Steward Corps' enmity over; the vast majority of people would never do anything so foolish.

It had never occurred to any of them that Gu Xue would react so fiercely.

A flash of ruthless cunning passed through Yan Xia's eyes. "We speed up and get our hands on it before Old Man Yu. Once it's in our grasp, the initiative is ours. Does anyone know a shortcut?"

Suo Guang said, "I know one. It's not the easiest going, but it'll save us half a day."

"Go! Abandon the carriage!" Yan Xia made the decision without hesitation and turned to give his orders. "Slow the carriage down!"

The four leaped from the carriage and dropped into the dense forest below.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

In response to Yan Dui's sudden doubling of intuition, Bing drew up a new training plan. The new plan was simple: he raised the difficulty of the Eighteen Bronze Man Chamber.

The difficulty of the Eighteen Bronze Man Chamber could actually be adjusted...

Dumbstruck, Tang Tang was kicked by Bing straight into the high-difficulty Eighteen Bronze Man Chamber, and thus began a training life grim and sunless as hell itself.

Tang Tang even suspected the eighteen worthless brutes of taking their revenge while they had the chance—their blows were savage and black-hearted—and even with Tang Duo's intuition multiplied eighteenfold, he was still tormented until he was half dead and half in ecstasy.

But he had to admit that Bing's method was effective. The eighteen worthless brutes knew Tang Duo's attacking habits inside out, and with their own strength doubled, they completely suppressed Tang Tang.

Hellish training though it was, it took only a rather short time for Tang Xuan to wring every last drop of room for growth out of his intuition.

When Tang Tang finally struggled free of hell and saw the light of day again, he nearly wept for joy as he bathed once more in the sunlight. Plainly only a short time had passed, yet Tang Tang felt as though he had been struggling for ages.

Sunlight was still what made a man comfortable.

To celebrate his brief escape from the sea of suffering, Tang Tang decided to take an hour off today to relax. He wandered aimlessly about the courtyard; Ling Yan, that family mechanism, was bitterly drilling his spear technique. After watching a while, Tang Xuan found that Ling Yan's spear work had improved astonishingly.

He suddenly thought of the Stone Man's Five Forms. What had improved in him was intuition—then what was it that had improved in Ling Yan?

If it came down to the Solemn Form, then it should be will. But how was will supposed to improve? And besides, judging by what happened that day, the Solemn Form had clearly struck some kind of resonance with Ling Yan.

In Tang Duo's memory, Ling Yan was absolutely the most hot-tempered family mechanism he had ever met—one spark and he went up in flames. Though the mechanism mouthed off endlessly about justice and the like, Tang Cheng felt this family mechanism was actually better suited to banditry, to murder and arson.

And a family mechanism like that had actually triggered a resonance with the Solemn Form—how strange.

Could this family mechanism's will really be that formidable?

Tang Tang considered his own will by no means weak, yet even so, his resonance with the Solemn Form was far inferior to Ling Yan's.

How strange...

Tang Tang watched a while, then decided to toss the question to the back of his mind. He had finally gotten an hour of free time; wasting it on Ling Yan—not one bit of Tang Yi was willing.

What a bastard! Ten minutes of his life, wasted!

Tang Tang cursed furiously in his heart and turned to leave without a second thought.

He had just left Ling Yan's courtyard when he suddenly heard Gu Xue and Mu Lei conferring in low voices. Whether or not it was because of his improved intuition, Tang Duo's hearing was now far keener than before.

"How far is the Steward Corps from here?" Gu Xue asked Mu Lei.

"They're coming from Mingwang City—about a day and a half out still. They're traveling by carriage." A thread of tension ran through Mu Lei's tone. "Old Yu and his people won't arrive for three days or so."

Gu Xue gritted her teeth. "We have to find a way to hold them up! Only Old Yu can deal with them."

"Right, we need to think of something!" Mu Lei was equally at a loss.

Neither Gu Xue nor Mu Lei had imagined that their discussion would be overheard by Tang Tang. After listening a while, Tang Tang roughly understood: the help Gu Xue had summoned needed three days to arrive, while that so-called Steward Corps would be here in a day and a half, and Gu Xue was trying to stall until her help arrived.

Slipping quietly away, Tang Tang immediately hit upon a brilliant idea.

"Hey, Bing, if we launch a surprise attack, do you think we could hold off the Steward Corps?" Tang Tang told Bing his idea.

Bing understood Tang Duo's intent and began to think it through from a professional angle. "If it's only about delaying them, and we're well prepared, then it's still possible."

As the chief instructor of a legion, drawing up a small-scale battle plan was the easiest thing in the world.

"You, me, Ling Yan, and Ghost Claw—the four of us. We'll need a map, and we'll ambush them at a point they have to pass. We'll need disguises, and we'll prepare our escape route and hiding spots in advance. Ghost Claw will hold the rear; the cost if he's taken out is that you won't be able to summon him with the soul core for ten days."

Bing's reasoning was clear and methodical, and Tang Duo's confidence surged at once. Truly worthy of a professional!

"No problem, Ling Yan will definitely be on board! If he refuses, he's violating his master's dying wish!" Tang Tang wagged his head and mimicked Ling Yan's tone. "For justice!"

"I know where to find a map." Tang Tang chuckled. "It's in the gifts A-Xue prepared for us for the Star Gate trial."

Sure enough, Tang Xuan soon found the map. And the conspiracy gained another member—Ling Yan. Tang Tang had indeed been right: the moment he trotted out that righteous phrase "for justice," Ling Yan agreed.

It was plain to see that Ling Yan, his strength now greatly increased, was itching for a fight.