Chapter 78: 75 The Owl

75 Maotouying Zhi Jia (Bonus chapter for Alliance Leader Zhe Sha)

Tang Zhao was horrified and asked in shock, "Wangliang? Where is the Wangliang?"

He thought the Wangliang had tracked him down and immediately looked in all directions; the sky was clear for ten thousand miles, the earth was full of vitality, and there was no massive shadow in pursuit.

He turned his head in confusion, only to see the woman's expression soften slightly as she said, "You have Wangliang on you."

Tang Zhao was even more panicked; he searched himself up and down and asked, "Where? Where is it hiding?"

The woman said, "So you really have seen a Wangliang? Did you escape from Wangliang Mountain? Could it be that you are..." She looked at Tang Zhao's face and shook her head, saying, "No, looking at your face which has never suffered, you are definitely not a Sword Slave."

Tang Zhao said, "I have actually suffered... I was chased here by the Wangliang. It's not some Wangliang Mountain; it was just a few dozen miles away. We had a great battle with a clone of the Wangliang and ran off in different directions."

Actually, thinking about it, the great battle was true, but claiming to have had a great battle with the Wangliang was an exaggeration; he had been surrounded by it and then rescued by someone.

The woman frowned and said, "There is actually a Wangliang in the mortal world? What is Tongming Hall doing? Wait there, go stand under the sunlight."

Tang Zhao looked around, found an open space, and stood there. The sun shone straight down from above, leaving only a circle of shadow under his feet.

The woman entered the colorful little house and came out a moment later, carrying a lantern that looked like a golden egg.

There were two eyes on the golden egg, looking like the two large eyes of an owl.

Whoosh—another Art Tool!

She squatted down, placed the golden egg lantern at Tang Zhao's feet, and gave it a gentle twist. The large eyes on the lampshade opened, shooting out two beams of soft light. She moved the lantern a few steps; the lantern moved, but the light did not. Instead, it extended along the trajectory of the lantern like a brushstroke, and in a moment, it formed a ring of light under Tang Zhao's feet.

With soft light shining from all directions, the shadow under Tang Zhao's feet immediately faded, gradually dissipating until only a tiny bit of black remained.

"It's here!"

The last remaining bit of shadow was the size of a grain of rice. Looking closely, it resembled a big-headed fish, opening its mouth to reveal sharp, tooth-like fangs. As it opened and closed its mouth, it was indistinguishable when mixed in the shadow, but once left alone, it looked like a monster.

"Is this what fell off the Wangliang?"

"It should also be a clone of the Wangliang. There is only one Wangliang, and it is at Wangliang Mountain, but the fragments that fall off it can independently devour shadows and become new Wangliang. They are monsters at the level of toppling cities and destroying nations." The woman explained carefully while adjusting the light ring, shrinking it smaller and smaller until it was pressed against the top of Tang Zhao's feet.

The monster was clearly uneasy and dared not touch the light ring. It tried to climb upward, but it only made the motion and could not leave the ground. In essence, it was still a shadow and could not exist independently away from the ground.

Finally, the woman stopped to one side, placed the lantern on the ground, and opened a gap in the light ring. As if granted Amnesty, the monster slipped out from the gap and approached the lampshade. The lampshade suddenly opened its mouth and swallowed it right into the lantern. It then immediately closed its mouth, locking the Wangliang inside.

Tang Zhao let out a long sigh of relief and asked, "Is it destroyed?"

The woman shook her head and said, "Wangliang cannot be destroyed. They can only be locked up and then handed over to Tongming Hall to handle. That is why Wangliang are such a headache; they cannot be wiped out, and once one sticks to you, it will eat your shadow and drag you into its belly, from which you will never come out."

Tang Zhao said with some worry, "I was stuck to it for a long time just now. How much of my shadow was eaten?"

The woman put away the lantern, let Tang Zhao stand naturally in the sunlight, and observed his shadow, saying, "There are no gaps, though a few places are a bit faint; they will recover naturally in a few days. This Wangliang was too small; it only ate this much after half a day. However, if it grows to a certain extent, it will expand rapidly."

Tang Zhao breathed another sigh of relief and said, "I have a few companions. Could they have Wangliang on them?"

The woman shook her head and said, "I don't know. Are they also people from the Land Inspection Division?"

Tang Zhao let out an "Ah," finding it a bit hard to answer.

The woman smiled nonchalantly, "I know the Land Inspection Division is working nearby; their people are everywhere. Since you are so young and can wield a Dharma Artifact, you are most likely from the Land Inspection Division too."

Oh, right, the Land Inspection Division's operations in this area were known to everyone from the government officials down to the underworld, from noble clans to gangs; it was almost like a parade.

However, although he could barely count as a person from the Land Inspection Division, that Dharma Artifact was not issued by the Land Inspection Division.

Tang Zhao's heart stirred, wondering if this woman, having just come from the bottom of the trench, was investigating signs of the Yin Calamity?

Another participant of unknown origin?

Which faction had also intervened?

But she had just helped him, and it seemed that even if they weren't friends, she at least had no hostility. He hoped she was an ally of the Land Inspection Division; after all, the Land Inspection Division had far too many enemies.

The woman said, "If they are people from the Land Inspection Division, don't worry; they are better at dealing with this monster than I am."

Tang Zhao said, "They aren't all from the Land Inspection Division; there are children of local noble clans. And..."

And who else was there? Tang Zhao tapped his head, always feeling like he was missing a screw.

The woman said, "Since a Wangliang has appeared, the Land Inspection Division will certainly notify Tongming Hall. When the time comes, they will search the mountains and seas to check for Wangliang, sweeping through everything, even scanning the cracks in the ground; they will surely be able to sweep out all the fragments. Tongming Hall receives high salaries and holds high positions, surely they wouldn't be negligent in such a small duty?"

Tang Zhao heard her tone, which was subtly like Yuan Qing complaining about the Land Inspection Division, as if she had some grudge against Tongming Hall, and asked, "Is this Wangliang a Heavenly Demon that descended?"

The woman said, "Not at all. It is something that came from our own land. It has been causing more and more trouble over the years, and they keep it covered up so people won't talk about it. Alright, come in and eat. Go back after you finish; I don't want to see people from the Land Inspection Division come to my house to take you away."

The two entered the courtyard again. This time, the bells rang out loudly, seven or eight bells chiming in turn. The woman checked once: "There's nothing strange anymore," and pulled a rope to stop the ringing.

Tang Zhao guessed that these bells were all for detection, each one detecting something different. Perhaps some would ring for strangers, some would ring for those with Inspiration, some would ring when detecting Dharma Artifacts—all in all, they could test for several items. There were still dozens that didn't ring, which would likely ring if they encountered other dangers.

Are there really so many terrible things in the world that need to be guarded against?

And every single one is an Art Tool. Hanging dozens of Art Tools under one corridor, is this sister too rich?

Was that wooden Sword Art tool really worth ten thousand taels? If it is, there are several courtyards' worth of wealth hanging under these eaves!

Entering the room, he saw that it was spacious and exquisite, with a warm color scheme. The floor was covered with fluffy carpets, and there were soft cushions and soft chairs placed about. The walls were hung with all sorts of beautiful decorations whose uses were unclear. There were two large cabinets, one filled with books and the other piled with various dolls and small ornaments.

Whether it was the dolls or the decorations, there were many owl elements, but these owls were strange in color and drawn very cutely. Tang Zhao did not believe there were pink and green owls.

She pointed to the soft chair on the floor and said, "Sit. I'm going to freshen up, wash my hands, and eat."

Tang Zhao sat down on the soft chair and immediately sank into it. The armrests on both sides seemed to fluff up like owl wings, soft and puffy. He felt his body being enveloped and was so comfortable he almost fell asleep, thinking: Truly amazing. Ping Xiansheng has been managing his own house for hundreds of years, and it doesn't seem as comfortable as this place.

Ping Xiansheng... was he rescued?

"Meow?"

Tang Zhao turned his head and realized there was a cat in her room, golden and chubby, lying on its back on a soft cushion. Its pancake face contrasted with the large owl head pattern on the cushion, and its two white paws were stretched upward, as if it were stretching.

This cat... looks so familiar?

Have I seen it before... more than once?

Was it at the entrance of the Xue Clan? Was it also at the Black Spider Villa? Has it drifted here too?

Tang Zhao couldn't control his hand and scratched the cat's belly twice.

"Meow!"

The big tabby cat's fur stood on end. It leaped up from the cushion and landed on Tang Zhao's head. Tang Zhao's head couldn't bear the weight and tilted backward, letting the fat cat slide onto the floor.

The fat cat ignored him, jumped up, and climbed onto the cabinet.

Tang Zhao saw that the cabinet was very exquisite and was teetering due to the fat cat's weight; if it fell, the commotion would be significant, so he hurriedly felt in his pocket, found two candies left, took one out, and said, "Meow-meow, come, come, come here to eat some candy."

The fat cat twitched its nose, jumped down as expected, and ate the candy right from Tang Zhao's hand, then turned around and jumped back onto the cabinet.

This time it jumped onto the bookcase and started clawing at it; Tang Zhao hurriedly said, "You can't do that, this is..."

Wait, isn't this its home?

It should be, right? This isn't the outer wall, but inside the house; it sleeps so brazenly, it must be the resident cat of the house, right?

Then if it rummages through its own things, what does that have to do with anyone else?

Thinking of this, Tang Zhao relaxed and sat back down on the soft chair, saying, "Don't make too much of a mess, or you won't have any good fruit to eat when that big sister comes back."

He hadn't expected that this big sister seemed to like owls, yet the one she kept was a cat; was it that owls were not easy to bring out?

The cat clawed a few times, dragged a book out from the cabinet, held it in its mouth, jumped back in front of Tang Zhao, and threw it onto him.

Thump—

The thick, heavy volume made Tang Zhao's knees sink; Tang Zhao hurriedly caught it with his hands and said, "Watch it, there's someone here."

He glanced through his Glasses and saw the title of the book.

"Primary Chapter of Rune Formula"

Hmm...

He wanted to read it.

Tang Zhao's heart felt as if it were being scratched by the fat cat's chubby paws, an itch he could hardly bear. He was no stranger to Rune Formulas; many Art Tools relied on Rune Formulas to engrave arts, and one of the functions of his Glasses was to display the corresponding Rune Formula when he saw a Sword Art. He had tried several times to look closely at the annotations of the Rune Formulas, but he could never grasp the essentials.

If he could understand some basic knowledge of Rune Formulas, perhaps he could use his Glasses to master a large number of Rune Formulas, which would hold great promise for the future.

He opened it, scanned it briefly, and—hmm, very good, it was a heavenly book.

He had experience with this; he put on his Glasses and began to read.

The door opened, and the young lady, having finished washing and dressing, came out and saw Tang Zhao with his head down, studying a thick book, his expression focused, as if he were completely absorbed in it.

75 Maotouying Zhi Jia (Additional update for Alliance Leader Zhe Sha)