Chapter 0180

Chapter 180: Tang Qi: Sect Master, please betroth my master to me!

Wu Zhan walked down from above, looked over the disciple with a dangerous air, and asked: “You are Tang Qi?”

Tang Qi cupped his hands in salute but did not kneel as he said: “I have seen the Sect Master!”

Several Elders frowned as one elder snapped: “Bold! You meet the Sect Master and don’t bow. Do you even know proper manners?”

Wu Zhan waved it off and said: “No need. I have always been lenient with outstanding disciples.”

Tang Qi answered with a slight smile: “Many thanks, Sect Master.”

He glanced around, his expression shifting as he asked: “Has the Jade Purity Sect just suffered a calamity?”

Faces turned awkward. Being slapped in the face one after another by a youth was hard to admit. In the end, Mo Liu Su and the others learned the whole story.

Mo Liu Su’s look turned complicated as she murmured: “Zhou Tong… I never thought his desire to retaliate would be so strong.” Since being forced by the Heavenly Dao to confess her sins, she could no longer keep a lofty attitude toward Zhou Tong. The five punishments she suffered every day kept reminding her that she owed Zhou Tong too much and should feel guilty toward him. Yet people are hard to change; the hardest thing to change is one’s nature. She felt that if Zhou Tong had not left her, she would not have suffered today’s disaster. On top of that, Zhou Tong made a huge scene at the Jade Purity Sect and drew public condemnation, which also stirred up her resentment.

Right then Tang Qi spoke, his voice firm as he said: “Sect Master, Zhou Tong is reckless and already walks the road to death. I, your unworthy disciple, am willing to take his head and hang it over our sect gate to raise our prestige!”

Many eyes fell on him as Wu Zhan asked: “Can you do it?”

Tang Qi lifted his chin and replied: “For me, it is easy.”

He had swelled with pride. After recognizing a demon as his adoptive father and mastering the complete Heavenly Devil Swallowing Art, he could devour another’s cultivation and even strip parts of their body to graft onto himself. Now he had restored himself as a whole man, and a man among men.

An elder warned with a snort: “Brat, too much arrogance is no good. How will you prove you are stronger than him?”

Wu Zhan questioned him aloud, yet his eyes shone with expectation; he wanted nothing more than for Tang Qi to crush Zhou Tong and bring stronger luck to the sect.

Tang Qi’s gaze flashed as he said: “Sect Master, you have a calamity on you, don’t you?”

Wu Zhan stiffened and asked: “How do you know?”

Tang Qi smiled faintly and said: “That is my secret. I not only know it, I can help you resolve it.”

Doubt filled the hall as an elder objected: “Impossible. The calamity at the gate of sainthood is no small matter. You are only in the Life-and-Death Realm. How could you resist it?”

Tang Qi curled his lip and said: “Whether it’s true or not, try and you will know.”

He showed a crooked smile. [Of course it’s true. As long as I use the Heavenly Devil Swallowing Art to swallow his origin, the problem will solve itself.] For calamity kills origin. If the origin is gone, the calamity naturally disappears. Yet if this “treatment” were made public, most people would never accept it. After all, if a person dies, the sickness is gone, but who is willing to die?

An elder still cautioned: “Sect Master, be careful. There may be a trick.”

Wu Zhan lifted his chin and said: “What trick could there be? I stand at peak half-saint, one step from sainthood. What is there to fear? Brat, come ahead!”

Tang Qi’s smile deepened as he said: “Rest easy, Sect Master. With me, you will be safe.”

Under everyone’s gaze, Tang Qi and Wu Zhan sat down on the floor. Tang Qi placed both palms on Wu Zhan’s back and whispered: “Heavenly Devil Swallowing Art.”

In the next instant, a voice rose in his mind as the Devil King said: “Good, good… a peak half-saint prey this time. Exquisite flavor. Allow this king to lend you a hand.”

At that, the demonic art roared to life. With brute force, it tugged origin power out of Wu Zhan’s body. Not only that, the Devil King’s soul released a strange hypnosis that numbed Wu Zhan, keeping him from noticing that his body was being hollowed out.

Tang Qi’s eyes lit up as he thought: [This is great. I feel I’m about to break through!] He stared at the sect’s Elders like a tiger sizing up sheep; drool nearly slipped from the corner of his mouth. They were all prey to him now. From this moment, he had decided to refine the Jade Purity Sect.

The Devil King’s voice purred again as he said: “Brat, this is not even the best. Your master is the real delicacy.”

Tang Qi jolted and asked softly: “Adoptive father, what do you mean?”

The Devil King chuckled as he said: “Can’t you see it? That woman has a natural divine body and deep fortune. If she didn’t mess it up, she could one day touch the emperor’s path. If you absorb her origin, change her into a demonic puppet, and then dual-cultivate with the Heavenly Devil Swallowing Art, you will fully trigger her potential and climb in a single step.”

Tang Qi’s eyes went red as he stared greedily at the drained-looking Mo Liu Su below. This woman was so beautiful that she always stirred a cruel urge in him; he wanted to make her a slave and grind her underfoot.

He grinned, feral and eager, and in a short while had already absorbed nearly half of Wu Zhan’s origin. Wu Zhan wore a look of deep comfort as he exclaimed: “Excellent. I can clearly feel the calamity fading. Brat, you have rendered a great service!”

Tang Qi drew back and spoke with polite modesty: “You flatter me, Sect Master.” Then he added unhurriedly: “After three more sessions, your calamity will be gone entirely.”

Wu Zhan laughed aloud and said: “Hahaha! The gloom is swept away. At last my turn has come! Such a heaven’s chosen, stronger by far than Zhou Tong. What breaks makes way for what stands. This foretells our sect’s great rise!” He fixed Tang Qi with a pleased look and added: “You have earned such merit that the sect must reward you. Speak, what do you want?”

Joy flashed across Tang Qi’s face as his eyes slid to Mo Liu Su. At this moment her face was white as paper. She trembled all over as if enduring torture.

Xia Hong Xiu cried out, though the corners of her mouth were hard to press down as she said: “Not good, Master’s calamity is flaring again!” She could finally see the end of Mo Liu Su; soon she would be able to siphon that luck.

Before everyone’s eyes, Mo Liu Su fell to the ground. She hugged her head as her body curled up in spasms. Cold sweat soaked her at once, leaving her graceful figure faintly outlined.

Tang Qi lunged forward and said: “Let me!” He copied the earlier method and began to absorb Mo Liu Su’s origin, holding her pain at bay.

Mo Liu Su panted and said in a weakened voice: “Little Qi, thank you. You are my true good disciple.”

Tang Qi’s tone turned warm as he said: “Liu Su, this is what I should do.”

Her whole body trembled as she asked in disbelief: “What did you call me?”

Tang Qi did not answer her. He turned to Wu Zhan and said: “Reporting to the Sect Master, your disciple dares to ask: please betroth my master to me.”