The six armed men had seen Ning Tao and his raised Mauser pistol. In the blink of an eye, these six all felt a sense of enmity in encountering an old foe. But they felt a strange absurdity— was this guy trying to do them in using an antique pistol from World War II?

On one side were mercenary commandos armed with a.s.sault rifles and bulletproof vests. On the other was a young man wielding a fan and an antique Mauser pistol. Their unexpected encounter seemed exceedingly bizarre.

The white commanding officer suddenly bellowed, “Kill—”

Bang!

Before the white commanding officer could finish his last word, the Mauser pistol in Ning Tao's hand had fired. There was a cloud of gunfire. A plume of black and white spiritual energy enveloping the bullet was whistling towards his chest.

Boom!

A violent explosion. The body of the white commanding officer had exploded. The mercenary commandos beside him all toppled. Some had their legs blasted off, others their arms. A few had their chests blown apart, their entrails and organs slithering to the ground.

A mercenary commando whose leg had been blown off crawled to a rock. He was the only man to have survived.

Ning Tao walked over to him.

This hired commando whose leg had been blown away suddenly turned his body. He lifted his rifle and was about to fire.

Ning Tao pulled the trigger and a bullet flew out. The hired commando without a leg exploded into smithereens, together with the rock beside him.

Ning Tao had wanted to interrogate him and obtain some information about the Black Fire Company. But the man did not give him a chance. He was more willing to die than to be interrogated.

Ning Tao sprinted in the direction of Tang Zixian and Tu Wenjin.

In the darkness, Tang Zixian had carried Tu Wenjin and raced away beyond 100 meters. The meandering terrain was like level ground to her. Tu Wenjin seemed weightless in her arms. Even though she was lifting a man, she could leap and run all the way. Her swiftness resembled a bounding monkey in a forest.

The Tang Sect was renowned not only for their stealth weapons but also their lightness skill. Ordinary Tang Sect warriors would have outstanding lightness skill, let alone a pract.i.tioner like her.

The innate aura of Tang Zixian quickly weakened. It was because she was das.h.i.+ng away at breakneck speed.

Ning Tao was just at the elementary stage of Ladder under Feet. He could not even catch up with Tang Zixian carrying a man. He felt quite frustrated. He pulled the trigger at her rapidly weakening innate aura.

The distance of more than 100 meters was not even one-tenth of the Mauser pistol's range.

Boom!

There was the sound of a violent explosion. Sparks flew everywhere.

But he had not hit Tang Zixian. She threw Tu Wenjin to the ground and suddenly changed her direction, sprinting into the stone eggs formation. After getting rid of Tu Wenjin, her speed soared. She resembled a multicolored evening cloud in the darkness!

Only Ning Tao could see this moving light. The Mauser pistol in his hand s.h.i.+fted about horizontally, but he could not lock Tang Zixian down in his aim. The barrel of the pistol would be aiming at her back in one second, and in the next she would have moved elsewhere. She kept switching her positions, giving him no chance to fire at all!

Other than their stealth weapons, the Tang Sect was also renowned for their lightness skill.

Within a few blinks of the eye, Tang Zixian had already sprinted into the stone eggs formation.

Ning Tao put down his Mauser pistol. He did not dare shoot casually. His previous experience had been quite terrifying. The Mauser pistol had great power. If he fired at the formation, he would trigger off a rebound in the formation. He did not wish to suffer from another “tide of insects”.

“She must surely know the secret of the formation,” Ning Tao thought to himself. His legs had not been idling. He, too, had changed his direction and was heading into the formation.

In the stone eggs formation, Tang Zixian was bellowing angrily at Ning Tao. “You really fired at me!”

Ning Tao answered, “You had hit a palm down on my head. So only you're allowed to kill me, but I can't kill you? Are all the Tangs so unreasonable?”

“But you were pretending to be dead!”

Ning Tao gave her a t.i.t for a tat. “So I deserve death because I pretended to be dead?” “You were hiding a paper talisman in your crotch. Don't you deserve death as well?”

“You… b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” Tang Zixian was quite angry. She was not hiding a talisman but the Soul Talisman of Yin Valley had to be pasted there. By locking her spiritual energy, she could change her appearance using rune power. This talisman had never been taught to outsiders and only female descendants of the Tang Sect could learn it. They gave it an impressive-sounding name in the Tang Sect— the “Killing Talisman”. Yet such superior talisman was not effective against Ning Tao. And he was accusing her of hiding it in her crotch!

It had been openly pasted there, not hidden!

Ning Tao was bickering with Tang Zixian while he pursued her. Tang Zixian had the Tang Sect pract.i.tioner's lightness skill, while Ning Tao had mastered Ladder under Feet to the elementary stage. Although he did not look as graceful, his speed was not far behind. He would not be thrown far behind with only a glimpse of her distant figure.

Tang Zixian was treading in and out of the stone eggs formation. The multifunctional watch on her wrist started to glow with a bluish light.

Ning Tao had not noticed it at first. Only after pursuing her for some distance did he suddenly realize. She was not hiding from him, but taking photos of the runes on the stone eggs!

She could draw paper talismans so obviously she could read runes as well. She was taking photos of these runes to unlock the formation.

Ning Tao had done that too, but he had only 42 photos. They were far from enough. So he also took out his cell phone, taking photos of the runes while pursuing her.

One was in front, the other behind. One was running away, the other pursuing. They ran from the outer ring of the formation to its center, from the east to the west, from the south to the north.

At the gate to the Feminine-moon City, a dozen of badly injured Shennongjia primitives were standing in a row, watching the two streaking figures in the formation. They were spectators, injured and yet did not know the truth.

There were 333 stone eggs in the formation, all arranged in a whirlpool pattern. At the center of the formation was a spherical stone, as fair as jade. There were three spirals painted on it using black pigments. When a person fixed his eyes on them, he will find the spherical stone to be whirling.

But it was absolutely an illusion, as the stone was stationary.

In Ning Tao's mind surfaced involuntarily those gruesome insects resembling spiders with dragonfly wings. He tried not to think about them. Did these insects emerge from here?

The last time, these insects swarmed like a tide from the eye of the formation, looming in overwhelming numbers. He was so frightened that he had to open the convenient door and escape. But right now, there was no insect in sight. Had they all flown away, or were they back to where they were from?

“Stop!” Tang Zixian suddenly growled.

Ning Tao halted his steps. He had taken all the photos he needed, or he would not have known there were 333 stone eggs in this formation.

Tang Zixian stood on the top of a stone egg, her elongated body enhancing the shortness of her trouser legs. At two-thirds her height, one could say without exaggeration that her legs were long. Her b.u.t.t also seemed fleshy and firm thanks to the fabric “shrinkage”. It resembled a ripe peach wrapped in a thin skin— all succulent flesh inside. After taking off the Soul Talisman of Yin Valley, if she had worn only short skirts and stockings, her b.u.t.t and legs would have bewitched countless men.

But Ning Tao had already mastered the art of rejecting beauty and temptation from Qing Zhui. Even though Tang Zixian resembled a beautiful fairy, his heart remained unruffled.

Tang Zixian was standing on the uppermost vantage point, her eyes cold. “I did not believe that my ancestor had died in your hands. But now I do.”

Ning Tao launched himself on his tiptoes and leaped up a stone egg. He did not like another person looking down on him. He said loudly, “That ancestor you mentioned was a villain. He killed countless people and did all sorts of heinous crimes. I am acting on behalf of Heaven. Since I had killed him, I am bold enough to admit it. If the Tang Sect wishes to avenge him, come straight after me. But before that happens, I have something to say.”

“What?”

“I heard that someone by the name of Tang Tianfeng was evicted from the Tang Sect 100 years ago. He is Tang Tianren's brother. I believe you must be this Tang Tianfeng's descendant.” He paused and then continued, “What I want to say is this: Once the battle starts, we will be enemies. We won't know whether it will be you people killing me to avenge Tang Tianren, or me slaying you.”

“Humph! For centuries, no one had dared to underestimate the Tang Sect!” Tang Zixian said coldly. “After killing our ancestor, you dared to threaten me. Who do you think you are? You think that after killing a member of our sect, you will live to a ripe old age?”

Ning Tao shrugged his shoulders. “I am right in front of you. Why say so much nonsense? Just come and kill me.”

“Kill you? Do I need to do that myself?” The moment her voice faded, Tang Zixian suddenly leaped up. Her figure s.h.i.+fted and in an instant, she had kicked heavily on the eye of the formation.

Thump!

Powerful ripples of spiritual power spread out in all directions.

Thud! The spiral patterns on the eye of the formation started to whorl. The black spirals started to expand. A cavity as black as ink had been unlocked with a loud click. In that very instant, Tang Zixian's body soared backwards.

Those gruesome and terrifying insects started to swarm out from the cavity. It seemed like the gate of h.e.l.l had been opened. Tens of thousands of wicked phantoms once trapped in h.e.l.l seemed to be emerging madly, like a river breaking down a levee!

Killing him with borrowed hands!

The knife she had borrowed were these insects which resembled spiders with dragonfly wings.

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

Their humming overwhelmed the heavens and the earth. The tide of insects surged forward with earth-shaking tremors!

Ning Tao waved and fired a shot in the direction where Tang Zixian had run. But the refined Mauser pistol bullet could not penetrate that dense swarm of insects. It exploded in their midst. Although the explosion had killed some insects, it was like a stone thrown into a bog. It merely caused a tiny splash, before being consumed in the mire.

Ning Tao did not dare to stay even a second. His feet stepped on the stone egg and he launched his body like a bolting arrow in the direction of the Feminine-moon City.

Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+

A wave of rocks was hurled over by the Shennongjia primitives.

They really knew how to attack a man when he was down!

But Ning Tao had come prepared. An ordinary prescription with the picture of a blood lock, long ready before he came, appeared in his hand. In the next second, a key from Sky Clinic soared out.

At that very instant when the convenient door was being opened, Ning Tao hurled himself into it. Almost instantaneously, dozens of these insects resembling spiders with dragonfly wings flew after him into the convenient door.