With Jiang Chen's reassurance, Qiao Baishi felt much more confident. His master had essentially given him the green light to go wild, promising to be a solid backing behind him.
In Qiao Baishi's eyes, Jiang Chen was nothing short of a god.
After the banquet broke up, Jiang Chen had Qiao Baishi send a batch of pills to Tang Long as a return gift.
Tang Long didn't even remember how he'd walked out the door. Tonight's drink had pulled him and Jiang Chen's circle a lot closer.
Still, he couldn't help blushing a little.
The gift he'd brought wasn't worth much, yet what he'd received in return was first-class pills — the Divine Show Creation Pill for healing injuries, and the Blue Sea Pill for restoring true qi.
These were things Tang Long could never afford on his own.
A Dragon Tooth Guard who frequently went out on missions naturally got into fights and scraps all the time. Injuries and bloodshed were an everyday occurrence, so these pills were nothing short of a godsend.
"Old Tang, come around whenever you've got free time. But don't bring any more gifts next time — otherwise my Young Master might not let you through the door."
Xue Tong saw Tang Long out, walking him a full two streets before turning back.
Before he'd even reached the alley leading home, Xue Tong suddenly felt his ear twitch. He barked: "Who's there? Show yourself!"
At the same time, his body moved like a fish through water, darting to land beside a rooftop corner. The Blood Curse Bow was already in his hands, his eyes scanning the surroundings like a hawk's.
"You're called Xue Tong?"
Without the slightest warning, a sinister voice materialized from somewhere behind him.
Xue Tong was startled. He cultivated the Wind-listening Ear, and his ability to pick up the faintest sounds was several times sharper than the average person's.
Yet the voice had appeared behind him without him detecting a thing!
He twisted his body sideways, sweeping the Blood Curse Bow backward.
Smack!
His arm went numb with a jolt. The Blood Curse Bow had been caught directly by a withered hand.
No matter how hard Xue Tong pulled, driving his true qi to its absolute limit, it was like a stone sinking into the sea — he couldn't budge the other person one bit.
"Don't waste your energy." The sinister voice spoke with faint indifference. "Pointless struggling."
The hand applied a touch of force, and the Blood Curse Bow suddenly blazed hot as though thrust into a fire. It seared Xue Tong's palm so badly that his skin sizzled like meat on a grill.
His grip loosened. His left hand swung a fist at the opponent — by this point it was practically bare-handed combat.
Smack!
From the darkness, something resembling a thin branch materialized out of nowhere and struck Xue Tong's hand dead-on.
Crack.
In the next instant, his entire arm went rigid, as though struck by lightning, then dangled limp and useless at his side.
"Down." The voice was flat and emotionless. It flicked the captured Blood Curse Bow lightly against Xue Tong's body, dropping him to the ground.
"Take him!"
Several equally sinister figures emerged from the darkness of the night. They stuffed Xue Tong into a large burlap sack, slung it over a shoulder, and in a few bounding leaps vanished into the night.
The entire sequence — from ambush to capture — had unfolded in one smooth chain, completed in the span of a few breaths. Utterly silent. Completely undetectable.
Jiang Chen had already retreated into his private chamber. Cultivating the Seven Apertures Spiritual Resonance, he suddenly felt a surge of unease.
"Hmm? Could something have gone wrong?"
He shot to his feet and burst outside, streaking toward the alley entrance.
"No — it's Xue Tong!"
Jiang Chen's spiritual sense was razor-sharp. In an instant he had latched onto the lingering trace of Xue Tong's aura — the exact spot where it simply ceased, as if the man had been plucked from existence.
His sudden appearance alarmed the other guards, who came rushing out as well.
"Young Master, what happened?"
"Hmm? There are signs of a struggle here!"
Jiang Chen's expression was grim, his gaze cold and piercing as he stared into the vast, ink-black night. His voice came out like ice: "Xue Tong has been taken!"
"What!? Who would dare!?"
"Snatching someone right outside the Jiang family estate? How brazen can they get!"
"Young Master, who's behind this?"
Jiang Chen shook his head. "Unknown for now. But whoever it is, they're extremely cunning and masters of concealing their aura. The fight clearly happened just moments ago, yet by the time I arrived, there wasn't a trace of them left."
"That strong?"
Jiang Chen nodded. The enemy was indeed formidable. He cultivated the Seven Apertures Spiritual Resonance — his seven senses were astonishingly acute. For someone to vanish so completely within such a narrow window of time that even his heightened perception couldn't track their direction — that was far beyond what an ordinary martial artist could achieve.