Everyone was quiet as a mouse, their jaw dropping to the ground in utter disbelief.
The pillar of the family, the god in the hearts of all the family members, had lost. Defeated so quick and so complete.
From far away, a man and a lady swiftly arrived. When they saw the scene, they were shocked beyond words. It was not only until a few moments later that they came out of their shock.
“Father!” Zhao Kuang’s expression changed as he ran over to hold up Zhao He. “What happened, Father?”
“Who did this atrocious thing, Father?” Zhao Qing was wearing a white gauze dress, almost transparent, her white skin underneath was semi-visible. Coupled with her long hair cascading down her shoulders, firm full bosom, and curvy figure, she was extremely alluring.
She was sixteen, possessing all the qualities of a mature woman. People could not take their eyes off her. But now, there was a hint of frostiness in her eyes.
“Look and you will know.” Zhao He coughed out some blood clots.
“A silverish Demon Toad? Was it?” Zhao Kuang was puzzled, and instantly associated it with Little Tian.
“Could it be the Demon Toad of Guyu? But it looks different.” Zhao Qing asked her brother.
“No one in the back courtyard except Guyu has a Demon Toad. I am dead sure. But why did it attack Father and destroy Zhao’s residence?” Zhao Kuang frowned slightly with anger on his face.
“We treat them like distinguished guests, yet they bite the hand that feeds them and destroys our house. How ungrateful! They really don’t show us respect,” said Zhao Qing coldly.
“Calm down. I think Guyu isn’t this kind of person. Let me find out from him.” Zhao Kuang’s brows were knitted together. “Take Father back in to take a rest, Qing.”
He spun around, faced the man and the lady, and cupped his hands. “You two will have to lie low for now lest people would recognize you and arouse suspicion.”
The two were none other than Huoshi and Liuyan.
“So coincidental?”
Huoshi looked at the Demon Toad on the tree in suspicion. His mission this time was one, luring the Yan disciples; and two, finding out Wutian’s whereabouts. The emblem was too important to fall into Wutian’s hand. So he had to get it, no matter what.
He would not be so naïve to think Wutian would forget things just like that. The destruction of his village, the death of his grandpa; he would surely want to wage a personal vendetta against him, and the Yan Clan was his only chance. So he had been looking for Wutian, trying to find out where he was.
Liuyan gave him a little push. “What’s wrong, Huoshi?”
“Nothing!” He shook his head. Probably it was only a coincidence. He cupped his hands at Zhao Kuang before he turned around and left.
Zhao Kuang took a long and hard look at the two, then shouted into the sky. “You little beast, why did you attack us the Zhao family?”
Little Tian did not give a hoot. It had its attention on Huoshi and Liuyan now. It would never forget the sorrow and helplessness Wutian had gone through—all because of these two people.
Death will come to you two very soon.
Little Tian was under Wutian’s control, and it could clearly sense his emotions. Back then, he could vividly feel the desperation and loneliness in him. But since he met Shishi, the hollow in his heart had been filled, and he started living again.
“Caw!” Little Tian was done with these people for now. It jumped away from the three. Without looking at Zhao Kuang, it swiftly headed back to the rear courtyard. But it again bumped into the yellow-dress girl and others on the way.
“What? It has ended already?” The young man in white was dumbfounded.
“Hey, Little Thing, you are pretty quick, eh! We haven’t managed to watch it. Go back there and continue.” The girl in yellow tried to instigate Little Tian. Her eyes glinted like a little witch. As if the world was not chaotic enough, she wished Little Tian could destroy the entire Zhao’s residence.
Little Tian waved its claw, meaning, “F*ck off. I have no time for this.” It then faded into a shadow and disappeared before their eyes.
“Hey, don’t go!” The girl in yellow gave chase, determined to make Little Tian go back there and do it once again.
“It has just been a short while and everything has ended. What a bummer!” People felt a little disappointed and left.
Zhao Kuang stood on the spot, motionless. His face could not look worse now. That little thing really had an attitude; it destroyed half of Zhao’s residence, yet it left without a single apology.
“Are you all right, my uncles?” Zhao Kuang looked at the middle-aged man in white with concern.
“Just some bruises and cuts.” One more senior man shook his head and forced a smile. “That Demon Toad is ferocious. Even Zhang He and the Ophislin Condor combined were no match for it.”
“We can’t just let this thing go unpunished. Guyu has to give us an explanation.”
The Zhaos were an influential family in Ironstone. Now a Demon Toad had destroyed their residence. If this news leaked out, how were they going to face the world? They had to get even.
“Ask our men to clean up this mess, Uncle. I will go find out what this is all about.” Zhao Kuang was stressed out. This time, the Zhao family had suffered heavy losses with half of the residence destroyed and almost a hundred men died and wounded. He would not give up unless he found out what it was about.
“Monster, monster!” Zhao Kuang mumbled to himself as he quickly headed to the rear courtyard.
Inside Ninth Heaven House.
“Didn’t I tell you to play it just right, Little Thing? Look what you have done—you have destroyed half of Zhao’s residence and hurt Zhao He. How are we going to fix this?” Han Tian was enraged.
Little Tian looked at him sideways, pointing at Shishi and cawing.
“Bad Guy, Little Thing says they have snatched Yi away and hurt me. They deserve it. It also says if they don’t return Yi to us, it will burn the entire Zhao’s residence to the ground.” Shishi interpreted for Little Tian and winked at it as a sign of support.
Han Tian pinched his forehead, got to his feet, and left. Without Wutian restraining them, these two monsters would not listen to him. He just hoped that they could be gentler next time and prayed for the Zhaos.
Not long after, Zhao Kuang came. He saw that Wutian was asleep and would not wake up, he could only ask Little Tian. Fortunately, Shishi was acting as their interpreter and explaining what happened to him.
Zhao Kuang would not believe that his family would do such a thing. But Little Tian and Shishi categorically asserted that it was true. Not knowing what to do, he could only leave it for now while he would investigate more.
He got up and said his goodbye, then hurriedly headed to the assembly hall and told those present what had actually happened.
Hearing that, Zhao He and his brothers were outraged. How could Guyu and the thing tore down half of Zhao’s residence and hurt close to a hundred men because of such baseless allegations? As powerful and wealthy as the Zhao family was, such a heavy loss was not something they could afford to bear. After much deliberation, they unanimously agreed that Guyu and the Demon Toad had to be held responsible.
Just then, Zhao Qing stepped out and took out a bottle of blood. When Zhao Kuang opened the jade bottle, powerful vital energy rushed out and shrouded the entire hall. Within the vital energy was a strong concentration of Light element. This vital energy quickly Zhao He and others.
“It is the blood essence of the flying fox!”
Now they finally understood. The Demon Toad did not just come looking for trouble; the allegations were true.
But the question now was how they were going to solve this problem. The temptation of the flying fox was just too great that no one would want to say no to having one. Having a flying fox was akin to having an endless supply of divine medicine. The benefits were unimaginably many.
But Zhao Kuang was looking at the big picture and insisting on returning the flying fox. Their plan was about to start and they could not afford to have any more accidents. If things got exposed, they would be dead. So what was the point of keeping this flying fox? But he received vehement opposition from the elders.
“I, too, agree to keep it,” said Zhao He after much thought. He looked at Zhao Qing. “I’ll be the flying fox and head to your grandpa’s place quietly. Guyu won’t be able to do anything even if he finds it.”
Zhao Kuang rose to his feet and stopped him. “You can’t do that, Father!”
“I have decided. It is final.” Zhao He held up a hand. He looked at the five middle-aged men in white. “My dear elder brother, second younger brother, third younger brother, fifth younger brother, sixth younger brother, I think the Fire Cloud Clan would not let us off this time. So you all must bring part of the family men and all the belongings and leave with Qing. This will leave our family some reserved strength.”
“Fourth Younger Brother, I can’t do that. If we leave, there will be only you and Kuang here. If the Fire Cloud Clan fails to keep their promise, you all will die,” said the eldest of the six brothers.
Zhao He shook his head. “My dear brother, if the Fire Cloud Clan really turned against us, what use it would be for you all to stay? It will only add to more deaths. When Father passed the family to me, I had to plan and leave an escape route. Don’t worry, leave it to me and Kuang.”
“We the Zhaos have been working for the Fire Cloud Clan for many years. As such, we are being labeled as traitors. If they really go back on their word, I am prepared to perish together with them.” The one speaking was a slender man.
“Sixth Uncle, I hate to say this, but you are too naïve. We the Zhaos are no doubt powerful in Ironstone, but we are just a small fish in a big pond. I am afraid that before we could even do anything, small fish like us would be swallowed up.”
No one got angry because what Zhao Kuang said was the truth. The Zhao family was not powerful enough to go against forces like the sects. Staying behind would not help anything but only add to the death figure.
“All right, I will do it. But you have got to remember: stay alive, no matter what. The Zhao family needs you two.” The leading man finally nodded his agreement. But he could not have been sadder. The Zhaos appeared to live in fame and riches in the eyes of the outsiders, but who could have known they were only a lamb to the slaughter.
After discussing for a while, a few of them and Zhao Qing left the hall in tandem to make preparations. They had to be very careful in evacuating so many people to prevent the news of them leaving from leaking out.
“My son, will you blame me for asking you to stay?” Zhao He looked avuncular. This son of his had been very smart since he was small. He had been helping manage the family business, and his son’s contribution to the family was not any lesser than himself.
Zhao Kuang let out a faint smile. “Don’t say that, Father. Even if you don’t ask, I couldn’t leave either. I have been the person who deals with the Fire Cloud Clan all these years. If I disappear, it will surely arouse their suspicion.”
Zhao He nodded. “Let Guyu’s pet do whatever it wants. After all, this place will soon be gone.”
After saying that, he waved his hand, signaling his son to leave him. After Zhao Kuang left, he looked up at the ceiling. As if he had suddenly grown a few decades older, his face was filled with unspeakable sadness and vicissitudes.
Little Tian had lived up to Zhao He’s expectation. It went to the front courtyard and wreaked havoc every day. There was no resistance as if this place was its kingdom and no one dared to resist it.
Except for cultivation, the most anticipated thing of the genius teenagers at the rear courtyard was the appearance of Little Tian. As soon as Little Tian left the house, everyone would rush up to it as if it was a celebrity. They would follow Little Tian and watch the havoc it wreaked in excitement.
With each chaos Little Tian caused, people started to question if it was just a Demon Toad.
At one time, Little Tian stormed into the main residence building. Zhao He was forced to act but was blown away with just a punch. He had only fully recovered after recuperating for over ten days. When the news leaked, everyone was shocked.
This was too crazy, too badass! Was it really a Demon Toad? Only a primordial little vicious beast could do this. So as time went by, other than The Prodigal, Little Tian got another nickname: The Primordial Little Vicious Beast.