Chapter 18: Meeting familiar faces in another place
A man covered the phone on the other end of the call. His face was cold and remote, but the hand grasping the phone shook slightly.
It had been sixty years. He also knew that the original owner of the Ghost Lamp Temple had a domineering strength and wouldn’t die that easily. However, it’d been sixty years. He felt that perhaps the original owner of the Ghost Lamp Temple no longer cared about this area.
So, he began to make his preparations and surreptitiously tried to break through the seal on the sides of the Ghost Lamp Temple to obtain what was inside.
He hadn’t thought that someone would still come looking for it in the end.
“Damn it!” The man ground his teeth.
……
After they had walked out from the hotel, Shuhang and Soft Feather started aimlessly shopping around the Luo Xin Streets.
They didn’t run into any groups of chitchatting elders, but ran into something far more interesting — five drunk perverts.
He didn’t run into the circumstances of ‘femme fatale’ on the train, but he hadn’t thought that after arriving on the Luo Xin Streets, he’d bump into the plot line of a bunch of drunk perverts forming lascivious intentions after seeing a pretty girl.
It was a sparsely populated small alleyway where the five drunks swayed as they blocked Song Shuhang and Soft Feather’s way. Five pairs of eyes were bloodshot as they stared greedily at Soft Feather.
Alcohol could bolster a hero’s courage and does the same for petty characters. None of the acts that people could commit whilst under the influence were worth goggling about. They could do anything from kissing female pigs, biting dogs, and slugging it out with each other.
The five drunks had never seen such a beautiful lass in their lives. They couldn’t move their eyes away after seeing Soft Feather.
“Hot damn! This woman is as beautiful as a fairy. If I can have a round with her, I’m down even if I lose ten years of my life!” These were their thoughts and so they surrounded Soft Feather and Song Shuhang, using their inebriation as an excuse.
What were they afraid of? In the worst case, they would just spend a few years in jail.
This was the pathetic part of not understanding the law. They’d only vaguely heard people mention it in passing boasts that forcing themselves on girls would result in a few years in jail. Did they think that the times now were still those of a few years ago, or that this was India?
These days, forcing themselves on a girl meant a life sentence. If the situation was a bit worse off, it’d mean a bullet to the head.
Song Shuhang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when he saw this scene. He loosened up his joints and prepared to fight.
His fighting abilities weren’t bad… he could easily take three at a time usually, not to mention these five skinny drunkards in front of him. It was precisely because of this that the thugs around school didn’t bother him.
He could take on ten of these kinds of opponents!
Just as Song Shuhang was about to demonstrate his punches and kicks, a breeze whistled past his ears.
He then saw a pair of slender legs kick out repeatedly as fast as lightning. When those legs kicked in the air, it was as if butterflies were flitting through the shrubbery. It posed a wonderfully beautiful sight. Not only did it look pretty, its power was even more frightening. When the pair of legs moved through the air, even the snaps like a whip cracking through air were emitted.
The five drunkards released shrill yells and flew out backwards, spasming crazily on the ground and vomiting everywhere, falling unconscious after a short while.
Faceplanting onto the ground? How long did it take? A second? Or even shorter?!
Song Shuhang turned his head back and saw Soft Feather retract her long legs — that was damned awesome alright?!
Compared to Soft Feather, his punches and kicks were seriously child’s play.
Looking at the unconscious drunks, Shuhang suddenly recalled the youths who had collectively lost consciousness outside the school.
If, and he was only hypothesizing here, with the battle strength that Soft Feather had just demonstrated, it seemed that she could indeed have sent those seven, eight, or ten thugs kissing the ground in a short amount of time that day?
However, Soft Feather had been on the plane then.
Could the Su Clan’s Ah Shiliu in the chat group really have done it? Could it be that those within the chat group all had off the charts battle strength?
“Are they dead?” Song Shuhang was a bit worried.
“Don’t worry senior, I know the proper limits. They’ll be out for two days at most before waking up. This timing is perfect, as not eating or drinking for three days easily results in problems.” Soft Feather answered.
These answers gave Song Shuhang a feeling of sudden enlightenment — those thugs who still remained in their coma, was it because the deadline of ‘two days’ had yet to arrive?
“Let’s go, senior.” Soft Feather giggled.
Song Shuhang nodded his head stiffly due to his mind being a chaotic mess. He left the alleyway with Soft Feather…
……
After Shuhang and Soft Feather had been gone for quite a while, a man strode over with steady steps from a corner behind the alleyway, making his way to the five drunkards.
“Drunkards are indeed too weak. They couldn’t even make the two bring their true strength to bear.” The man sighed.
A figure clothed in black knelt on the ground behind the man, spoke in a low voice, “Altar Master, do you need us to send a few people to test them?”
“No need. These five drunkards were only ordinary people. This is why the pair had held back when they made their moves. If our people made an appearance… they may not act with mercy.” The Altar Master spoke quietly. Each of his underlings had been cultivated with care and effort. Even training an ordinary rookie would require more than one million yuan, they weren’t expendable goods that he would easily dispose without thought.
The girl had made a move to teach these five drunks a lesson just now. The level of her strength had been subtly discernible. The legs audibly whipping through air and easy control over her power, this wasn’t something that someone of the first rank mortal ascension level could do.
Their opponent was someone who had coalesced true qi!
This wasn’t a level of existence that his underlings could contend against.
Besides, there was another “senior” beside the girl with an unfathomable depth that even he couldn’t probe.
These opponents could easily use their variety of skills to destroy the elites that he’d spent a great deal of money to train. Even if he had a lot of underlings, it wouldn’t do to waste them like this.
To be honest, he had been a bit frightened.
“We can only bide our time and wait for the right moment.” The Altar Master murmured to himself.
He’d already lost most of his hope towards attaining the treasure within the Ghost Lamp Temple, he just wasn’t quite willing to call it quits yet.
Soft Feather and Song Shuhang ambled around Luo Xin Street for another half day, meeting up with an elder that was fifty some years old, but no one knew of the Ghost Lamp Temple.
Song Shuhang felt his head ache. He hadn’t thought that even looking for a temple would be this much of a hassle. “Soft Feather, are you sure that the Ghost Lamp Temple is within the Luo Xin Street of J City?”
“It is absolutely here and I haven’t remembered the name incorrectly either. Ghost as in ghosts and monsters, lamp as in what’s used to light the way!” Soft Feather spoke resolutely. “My mother brought me here when she was carrying me, but I could only use father’s arts to observe the outside world with my consciousness. All I remember is the Ghost Lamp Temple plaque made from wood.”
Song Shuhang could understand the first half of her words, but didn’t know where she’d traveled off to with the second part. His thoughts and hers were obviously in different dimensions.
“Then were there any places of interest nearby? The top of a mountain perhaps? Halfway up a mountain? Or a small creek maybe?” Shuhang asked.
“Not a mountain, it should’ve been flat ground. I don’t really remember anything else.” Soft Feather said with some embarrassment.
“Does Senior North River happen to have any news?”
Soft Feather fished out her cellphone to take a look and said with joy, “Senior North River is online.”
Within the Nine Provinces (1) Chat Group.
North River Loose Practitioner: “Soft Feather, have you already found the Ghost Lamp Temple?”
“Not yet, does senior have any news?” Soft Feather entered the message happily.
“Apologies, I asked some comrades around here, but all the people I know are on the eastern side of Huaxia. No one knows anything about the J City area.” North River Loose Practitioner sent a ruefully smiling emoticon: “And, a thorny fellow has just arrived and is still clinging onto me. I’m afraid I won’t be of much help from now on.”
“No worries, senior, please take care of your business.” Soft Feather smiled and responded.
When Shuhang saw these messages, he immediately felt that this North River Loose Practitioner… was a man who couldn’t be relied on. He was online every second of the day when he wasn’t needed, but something would draw his attention away as soon as he was needed!
“Senior Song, we’re on our own!” Soft Feather formed a fist and made a “fighting!” gesture.
So cute and girly! For reasons unknown to him, Song Shuhang somehow felt that this woman who looked older than him looked so cute and girly.
A blinding row of headlights lit up the street as they were talking. A row of brightly colored motorcycles revved their engines and charged towards Shuhang. It was apparent from the loud sound of their engines that these bikes had all been modified.
“Bikers? What age is this?” Song Shuhang murmured to himself and pulled Soft Feather towards the side of the street.
Soft Feather’s eyes lit up when she heard the words “bikers”, “Should we finish them off?”
“Eh?” Song Shuhang was perplexed.
“Shouldn’t bikers all be in jail? Knock them out and send them to jail!” Soft Feather rubbed her fists and wiped her palms, eager for action.
“…” Girl, you make a lot of sense. I actually have no words for you.
However, Soft Feather didn’t make a move in the end.
When the seven or eight bikes passed by Shuhang and Soft Feather, one of them braked suddenly and made a beautiful U-turn, coming to a stop next to Shuhang.
Opening the visor of the motorcycle’s helmet, a handsome face with dashing eyebrows and bright eyes was revealed. “Shuhang! What are you doing here, kid?”