Chapter 76: Unlucky Tie Tang

"Are you sure about what you said?" Tie Tang narrowed his eyes as looked around the village he and his subordinates were in.

A young man in his twenties with a goatie nervously nodded, "Y-Yes, sir. I saw the girl just this morning in the inn I was working at. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and has an arrogant and aloof demeanor that only nobles have, she's one of the people that the sect is looking for, right?" he sent several glances at the man in front of him, anticipation and greed in his eyes.

Tie Tang snorted, noticing the young man's gaze. "As long as we see the girl, specifically the one we're looking for, you shall receive your reward and be admitted into the sect."

The young man's eyes lit up and he bowed gratefully. "Thank you, sir! I won't let you down!"

Tie Tang indifferently shrugged. "Yeah, yeah. Now, where's the girl?"

The young man froze, stuttering. "W-Well, she's currently not here right now."

"Huh?!" A few throbbing veins could be seen on Tie Tang's forehead as his patience waned, his subordinates slowly encircled the young man. "What do you mean she's not here? I thought you said you saw her this morning!"

The young man fidgeted nervously. "Yes, well... She left the inn a few hours ago after hearing about the haunted mansion," he stammered.

Tie Tang's expression darkened. "And you waited until now to tell me this?!"

"I-I'm sorry, sir! I didn't think it was important at the time," the young man whimpered, his eyes filled with fear. "Also, she booked a room at the inn for two days. So there's still a chance she might come back."

Tie Tang took a deep breath, trying to calm his anger. He couldn't afford to lose his temper now, not when their mission was at stake. "Fine," he growled. "Bring us to this inn and tell me everything you know. Did she have any companions? Where is this... haunted that she's heading to?"

'Fucking hell. I knew it wouldn't have been that easy.'

As the young man quickly told them everything that he knew, Tie Tang inwardly cursed. He looked around his surroundings, his eyes filled with caution and wariness, ready to face a possible ambush. His subordinates also shared the same sentiment as they looked around their surroundings, but with great in their eyes.

He didn't berate them for it, in fact, if he were a lesser man he would've done the same thing.

The reason for their fear and caution was obvious, the Akatsuki.

It had been more than a month since the mass raidings to their money making operations by the two-person group called, the Akatsuki. A new group formed by the former heiress of Tang Sect alongside an unknown man that they suspected to be a powerful Shrek Academy student, possibly one of the current Shrek Seven Monsters.

Ever since they started actively searching for them in retaliation, the Akatsuki expectedly went underground and they haven't found a single clue to their location.

Because they haven't heard any information about their whereabouts or their plans, the Ironblood Sect were understandably tensed. They all thought they were preparing for something big so they focused on fortifying their headquarters, increased the training of their members and asked for help from their allies and the empire.

But due to more than half of their operations destroyed, they had to do some of their former... jobs. And currently, finding this girl was their mission.

'Blonde hair, blue eyes and has the personality of a noble. Girls with such descriptions are usually heiresses of great soul master clans, I don't know if it's because of their hereditary martial souls or just their bloodline, but they always have that different hair and eyes colors than us normal people,' Tie Tang thought to himself as he listened to the young man's description. 'But what would a noble heiress be doing in a haunted mansion?'

The young man finished his explanation, his voice trembling. "That's all I know, sir. I swear."

Tie Tang nodded, his mind already working on a plan. "Alright. We'll head to the inn first and wait for her there. Going to some unknown location that had supposedly been an Evil Soul Master's lair is foolish. Just remember, our priority is capturing her alive. The sect wants to use her as leverage against whatever clan she belongs to. But if she doesn't show up tomorrow and the day after, we're heading back!"

"Yes, young lord!" His subordinates nodded in agreement.

The young man went pale white, he wanted to protest, but the intense gazes from Tie Tang and his subordinates silenced him. With a trembling voice, he meekly replied, "Yes, sir. I understand."

Tie Tang motioned for his subordinates to follow him as they set off towards the inn. As they walked, he couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. The haunted mansion mentioned by the young man piqued his curiosity. Why was the girl heading there in the first place? Was she a descendant of that Ancient Evil Soul Master?

"If so, that's going to be troublesome..." Tie Tang muttered, clicking his tongue. This wasn't what he wanted to do in order to prove himself to his father and the elders of the Ironblood Sect, but with zero intel on the Akatsuki, he has no choice but to do some grunt work.

He tried his best to find that bitch, Tang Ya, and her boyfriend or whatever as much as he could but all the trails they left behind were dead ends. Most likely created on purpose to throw them off.

Tie Tang let out a sigh. Welp, there was no use worrying about finding them for now. Moreover, he wasn't confident he could take them on with just several of his subordinates, with the strongest of them being rank 37 Soul Elder. According to reports, Tang Ya only had three soul rings with her Blue Silver Grass capable of draining her opponents' blood, and with just a cultivation rank of 30+ soul power, she somehow manages to destroy and stole all the goods in their facilities that had at least one Soul Ancestor! And those Soul Ancestors she defeated were around the same level as him and even above!

Just her alone she is dangerous enough, but that unknown guy with her is even more dangerous. With reports saying that they couldn't remember his and Tang Ya's facial features, the color of Tang Ya's soul rings, and the techniques they used to destroy the facilities.

The most likely and terrifying conclusion to the man's abilities, is that he had perception control related skills or he was a rare spiritual-type soul master.

To any God out there, Tie Tang prayed that it wasn't the latter. He heard the terrifying stories of soul masters who uses spiritual power, an energy that messes with a person's mind. To most of the ordinary people, including Tie Tang himself, they could do nothing against such weird power.

"Aaaaaah!"

Suddenly, as they walked passed a building that reeked of alcohol, the window shattered open and a drunken man was tossed out, shouting incoherently. Tie Tang and his subordinates quickly moved to the side, avoiding the flailing man.

"What in the world?" Tie Tang muttered, his eyebrows furrowing in annoyance.

They weren't new to such a scene, heck, they sometimes even did this to themselves during celebrations. However, they were in a mission so they couldn't afford to get sidetracked by a drunken brawl. They needed to stay focused on finding the girl–

Death

"Aah..." Tie Tang, his subordinates, everyone around him started feeling like they were suffocated, making them all fall to their knees. A great chilling pressure descended upon them all, as if a great winter cold had buried them.

It was chilling... heavy...

This was the first time Tie Tang had felt such a terrifying presence in his entire life. His instincts screamed at him to run, to flee from whatever force was causing this suffocating pressure.

But he couldn't. He was too afraid, afraid that if he to move wrongly, he woud die.

"Hey,"

The malevolent pressure seemed to double down on them all, causing most of them to faint with foams around their lips, as a handsome boy with a strange chubby rabbit flopped on his left shoulder walked out of the building.

His cold, piercing blue eyes seemed to cut through Tie Tang, freezing him in place. But he only glanced at him before turning his glare towards the drunk man on the ground, incoherent mumbling coming out of his mouth as he stared at the cold boy.

"What the fuck did you say about my mother, you fucker?" The boy said, with a calm but dangerous tone. A shiver ran down Tie Tang's spine as he witnessed the boy's murderous intent, feeling the weight of the imminent danger.

His fear multiplied as he saw picture of hell momentarily appearing behind the boy's back.

A mountain of corpses, of numerous bones stacked and an ocean of blood.

The drunk man on the ground seemed to sober up from the intensity of the boy's gaze. He scrambled to his feet, panic and fear etched on his face. "I-I didn't mean anything by it, kid! I was just drunk and talking nonsense!"

The boy's mouth twitched into a smile, but it was a smile devoid of warmth or kindness. "Drunk or not, you should know better than to insult someone's mother. Especially when that someone is standing right in front of you."

Tie Tang watched as the boy lifted his hand, a faint glint of light appeared. Before anyone could react, it shot forward, hitting the drunk man square in the forehead. The man didn't even manage to let out a final cry before he died.

Fearing to earn the boy's ire, Tie Tang turned his gaze away, and everyone followed his example.

'I just have to stay still and silent. I'm a rock, silent and still. I'm a rock, I'm a rock...' Tie Tang tried everything that he could to not get noticed, unfortunately however, that wouldn't happen with his sect's emblem clearly embroidered onto his sleeves.

The boy turned his attention towards Tie Tang, appearing before him a flash, his cold gaze piercing through him once more.

'F-Fast!'

Tie Tang could barely find his voice as he stuttered out, "W-Who are you? What do you want?"

The boy's smile widened, but there was still no warmth or kindness in his expression.

"*Hiccup* W-Well, aren't I lucky?"

The next thing Tie Tang knew, he went unconscious.

.....

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