49: Chapter 49: Shifting the blame

The whistling sound of these two arrows simultaneously alerted Bounty Hunters from other directions, and two other groups also quickly moved to surround him.

Returning inside, Tang Long first examined his wound.

The crossbow bolt had great force; it had pierced through the several layers of leather he had padded beforehand, and the arrowhead had penetrated his flesh, embedding itself between his ribs.

It hurt a bit. But it was somewhat unexpected that he only lost a little over two hundred HP.

After all, looking at the power and speed of that crossbow bolt, it seemed much stronger than expected. This should mean that he was actually much tougher than he had estimated?

Fine, but now was not the time to delve into that.

The current situation was ideal; it didn't hinder his movements, and it allowed him to feign weakness to confuse the enemy, achieving the effect he wanted.

While cutting away the hard leather, Tang Long called out loudly.

"Friends outside, are you Bounty Hunters? Let's talk things over, don't attack yet!"

"Your men are dead, but I didn't kill them—it was the Blasphemers!"

"I was also lured here by the Blasphemers; this is a trap!"

Behind a mound of earth about thirty paces outside the cave entrance, Old Qi and Old Qu heard the shouting and couldn't help but look at each other.

"What should we do?"

"That kid has already been hit by an arrow; if we rush in together, we can finish him in thirty seconds. I'm just afraid..."

"Yeah. Rushing in is easy, but that kid's voice is so loud, I'm afraid it's not just us who heard it. The Sect's laws in this city state that anyone who hears of or discovers traces of Blasphemers must report it to The Sect as soon as possible. We can play deaf today, but if some bastard reports it later, this charge of violating the law..."

The Gods are supreme, and The Sect's laws are paramount.

And the Blasphemers organization is regarded as a scourge by all sects.

If you break national law, there is a standard for sentencing. But if you violate The Sect's laws in this regard, regardless of the circumstances, as long as the priests are in a slightly bad mood, they can impose capital punishment.

Even old hunters like Old Qi and Old Qu, who have plenty of blood on their hands, hold The Sect's laws in deep awe.

Their prediction was correct; Tang Long's voice was indeed very loud, and the four Bounty Hunters encircling from the other two sides also heard it.

Not only did the Bounty Hunters hear it, but one other person heard it too—that was Lv Yang, who had just arrived.

As one of the Four Great Bishops of the Songcheng Sect and a powerhouse in the Spirit Map realm, a hundred kilometers was no different from a stroll for him. With his powerful mental energy, he could easily grasp every movement within several miles. Because he was here, the owner of this house couldn't wake up, and even the unrelated personnel in the entire camp would remain in a deep sleep.

With the help of the jade tablet bestowed by the High Priest, he also quickly and smoothly locked onto his target—Tang Long.

He just felt... surprised, and a bit disappointed.

On the way here, he had considered many things, but he never expected the other party to be this weak—merely at the third stage of Qi Manipulation, and it looked like he had just broken through.

The High Priest had previously said he had 'average strength'.

According to his understanding, to earn this evaluation from the High Priest, he might be slightly weaker than the average level of the Apostle Sequence, but at least he should be at the Open Origin Lower Realm. Even if he couldn't reach Open Origin, the Blood Refining Upper Realm would be acceptable.

A mere Qi Manipulation, does this level deserve an evaluation from the High Priest himself?

Being weak is fine, but the problem is that this is too weak; there isn't much difference between him and an ordinary person.

Even if he were brought back to The Sect, and even if his identity were special, what weight would his words have? The other colleagues probably wouldn't even consider him a person, so what use would his support be?

Lv Yang couldn't figure it out even more; with this little strength, how on earth did he influence the High Priest?

Moreover, this kid seemed capable of causing trouble; there were two Bounty Hunter corpses in the room where he was. Attacking and killing Bounty Hunters, although not a big deal in his eyes, was still an illegal act.

What gave him the biggest headache was that a team of Bounty Hunters had already surrounded him on all sides and was about to launch an attack.

Lv Yang had come for Tang Long, so he certainly couldn't let him die just like that.

But if he were to step in and eliminate these Bounty Hunters, it would be difficult not to be noticed by Tang Long, which would have a significant impact on the subsequent evaluation.

Then, he discovered Tang Long's little trick.

Having a move is good; having a move means he has some confidence in escaping on his own. If Tang Long could break through the encirclement on his own, he wouldn't need to step in.

Lv Yang was just afraid that he would try to be clever only to end up killing himself. He forced himself to watch him take that arrow, and then a flash of strange light crossed his eyes.

The Bounty Hunters' standard-issue hand crossbow had decent power, enough to hunt most medium-sized exotic beasts.

For a normal person, that arrow would have been enough to pierce the bone, yet Tang Long had actually only suffered some superficial injuries.

Lv Yang immediately realized that Tang Long must have practiced some kind of very special body-refining technique, and it had reached a considerable level for him to possess such defensive power.

For him, this was good news.

With this kind of defensive power, at least he wouldn't die easily, and he had a better chance of breaking through.

But in the blink of an eye, he heard Tang Long shouting at the top of his lungs, and he had even mentioned the Blasphemers.

This caused his impression of Tang Long to plummet.

First, he could immediately tell that Tang Long's voice had a strange spiritual energy vibration, but it wasn't very sophisticated; it must be some kind of sonic illusion technique from the Polar Snow Kingdom.

Since it was a sonic illusion technique, he was definitely lying to distract the Bounty Hunters.

The Blasphemers organization was strictly structured with mysterious movements and was adept at bewitching people's hearts; in recent years, their power had grown, and they were difficult to identify. It wasn't just Song City; all sects in the world were probably extremely troubled by them.

Telling such a lie casually also indirectly indicated that Tang Long has no awe for The Sect's laws, and the High Priest probably wouldn't like such a person.

After receiving the news, Yellow Beard felt both angry and amused.

At this time, seeing no one else around him, Elder Ming leaned in to ask, "What's wrong?"

"Just now, that kid actually shouted that the Blasphemers killed my men and that he was innocently lured over."

A look of hatred appeared in Elder Ming's eyes. "This cunning kid, to think he could come up with such a lie. What are you waiting for? Don't care what he says; tell your men to kill him immediately."

Yellow Beard glanced at him sideways. "Is Elder Ming joking? When it involves The Sect's laws, who in their right mind would dare ignore it? Can you jump out and clarify that you Blasphemers didn't do it?"

"This..." Elder Ming was immediately speechless.

To exact personal revenge, he had contacted the Medicine Market organization members without authorization, which was already a major taboo for the organization.

Although Yellow Beard was willing to help him, it was mostly to claim credit. Now that the person had basically been caught, it was only natural to play it safe.

Elder Ming could only force himself to suppress his impulses and express his understanding.

Yellow Beard then replied to the hunters.

"Allow him to defend himself, but he must first put down his weapons and surrender. Everyone be careful; the other party might be using a trick. As long as he makes any unusual move, kill him immediately."