I Have 10 Equipment Slots-Chapter 155 - 112: Beauty Gu Zheng
"What a delicious little beauty..."
...
...
"Ping’an, Cheng, have you found anything?"
At a crossroads, a man and a woman wearing the Hundred Households Armor of the Demon Suppression Guard saluted Gu Zheng and Cheng Zong and asked,
"Nothing."
Cheng Zong shook his head. "Four Directions Prefecture City is huge. It takes time just to walk through all the districts and streets. We haven’t found anything, but perhaps the others have. Shuncheng, how many noble youths did you and Zhou Meng run into while you were searching?"
"We saw seven."
Gushuncheng answered, "Dugu Feihua of the Winter King’s bloodline was among them."
’Dugu Feihua?’
Gu Zheng’s mind raced.
’The Dugus are here, too!’
The Domain that opened in Four Directions Prefecture City was Tier 2, which was a blessing in disguise. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
But because of the Demon Spirit Race’s special abilities, only those at the Super Body Realm could move about safely while searching for the Rule Array Hub inside the city.
For this reason, the Demon Slayer Bureau had dispatched six Hundred Households.
Gu Zheng arrived later. Coincidentally, Cheng Zong was also summoned, so the two of them were assigned to the same team.
Gushuncheng and Zhou Meng, whom they had just run into, were another team.
The Demon Slayer Bureau had done this, and the Noble Families were no different.
The people they sent were all at the Super Body Realm as well!
"We ran into the Xie family of the Flaming Python."
Gu Zheng frowned slightly. "Anyone from the Xie Family is disgusting just to look at."
"Ahem~"
Cheng Zong gave a light cough and explained, "The Xie family snatched a Wind-Raising Banner that Gu was just about to get his hands on."
"How despicable. It’s not the first time they’ve done something like this," Gushuncheng agreed, frowning. "These members of the Noble Families will only muddy the waters by coming here. If rivals run into each other and start a fight, they’ll have no regard for the common folk and wantonly destroy the buildings."
BOOM~!
A muffled boom suddenly rang out from the left.
Along with the sound, a plume of dust and smoke shot into the sky.
"Great, I just jinxed it," Gushuncheng muttered, the corner of his mouth twitching.
"Let’s go check it out!"
Cheng Zong shouted, then pushed off his toes and shot down the street to the left.
Gu Zheng followed closely behind him.
Gushuncheng and Zhou Meng quickly followed suit.
The group of four crossed two streets and found the source of the commotion at the entrance to an alley.
Two blurs of light and shadow clashed relentlessly, the shockwaves from their fight sweeping through the surrounding buildings.
One was a brilliant golden light, its aura so condensed it was almost tangible.
The other, an enormous, ice-blue mass, radiated a ferocious and terrifying aura.
With a sweep of his Eyes of Golden Flame, Gu Zheng saw a massive white tiger, its four hooves wreathed in dancing blue flames.
On the tiger’s back rode a handsome youth wielding a Fangtian Halberd. Arrogance was plain to see on his face, his eyes overflowed with sharp light. His body moved in sync with the white tiger’s leaps, and as he swung the Fangtian Halberd, he unleashed a terrifying aura.
Each strike of his halberd unleashed a crescent of bladed Gang Qi that tore through the air, slamming into a Golden Bell Shield manifested by another young man in his twenties. This man was slender, yet he possessed an even more powerful aura.
BANG~ BANG~ BANG~!
Muffled impacts echoed from their battle.
The shockwaves from their collisions ravaged the area, destroying wall after wall.
Strangely, however, none of the nearby pedestrians showed any fear. They merely moved away instinctively to avoid the fight.
"The Ice Venerable Flame Tiger... is that someone from the Tang Family?"
Gushuncheng raised an eyebrow and exclaimed softly, "Has the Tang Family’s power awakened so soon?"
"Who’s he fighting?" Gu Zheng asked.
Gu Zheng had read about the Ice Venerable Flame Tiger. Like the Su Family, the Tang Family was a Spirit Beast Family.
Unlike the Su Family’s Snowy Spirit Cat, with its special ability to perceive people, objects, and the world with its heart, the Ice Venerable Flame Tiger was a conventional combat Spirit Beast. Its Innate Divine Technique, Ice Flame, was both chillingly cold and explosive.
Anyone set alight by it would have to endure a terrifying ordeal of both ice and fire, leaving them hovering between life and death.
And yet, such destructive power was being easily blocked by the other man’s Golden Bell Shield.
Even the Tang family member’s Heaven-Fighting Halberd Technique couldn’t break through it.
"Zhong Tianlang."
Zhou Meng glanced at Gu Zheng, seemingly surprised that he didn’t recognize the man.
’Zhong Tianlang... Zhong?’
Gu Zheng’s sharp eyebrows twitched, but he didn’t say the rest of what he was thinking aloud.
’Zhong Tianlang... so his surname is Zhong!’
’The royal family of Jing Country. I’ve finally met a member of the Zhong family.’
’And the first one I meet is already at the Super Body Realm. What’s more, he’s at the Super Body Celestial Ladder stage...’
’No, that’s not right!’
As Gu Zheng carefully sensed the aura emanating from Zhong Tianlang, he was inwardly astonished.
’This Zhong Tianlang is actually at the peak of the Super Body Realm!’
His Divine Wondrous, physique, and Spirit all gave Gu Zheng the impression that they had reached the very limit of the Super Body Realm.
’No wonder...’
’No wonder the Tang family member couldn’t do anything to Zhong Tianlang, even with the help of his Spirit Beast, the Ice Venerable Flame Tiger. In fact, Zhong Tianlang was enduring the frenzied assault and forcing him to retreat with constant counterattacks.’
’One had to understand that the assistance of a combat-type Spirit Beast was not a simple case of one plus one equaling two. The effect was greater than two, maybe even reaching three.’
In terms of aura, the youth riding the white tiger was on a similar level to Gu Zheng.
...
BOOM~!
Another loud explosion.
WHOOSH~
"ROAR~!"
Following a low tiger’s roar, the young man with the surname Tang put away his Fangtian Halberd. Riding his white tiger, he quickly retreated toward the end of the street.
"Zhong Tianlang, we’ll fight again another time! Your people are here now, so I’m done playing with you for today."
His clear voice echoed down the alley as the Tang youth and his white tiger vanished from sight.
"Tang Qihu, if you can’t win, just admit it. What’s this nonsense about me having backup?"
Zhong Tianlang slowly reined in his aura and called back in a clear voice, "These are my comrades from the Demon Slayer Bureau! They’re here to slay Demon Fiends and destroy the Rule Array Hub. They are all heroes!"
The sound of his voice carried a long way, but no reply came.
Zhong Tianlang paid it no mind and turned to walk toward Gu Zheng and Cheng Zong.
"Greetings, Young Master!" Cheng Zong bowed and clasped his fist in salute.
’Crown Prince?’
Gu Zheng’s mind raced, but his actions were swift. He followed suit, saluting as well. "Greetings, Young Master!"
"Greetings, Crown Prince."
"Greetings, Your Highness!"
Gushuncheng and Zhou Meng saluted in unison.
"No need to call me Crown Prince, and you don’t have to call me ’Your Highness’ either."
Zhong Tianlang waved his hand, smiling warmly. "I’m the second son in my family. Please, just call me Tianlang. At home, even my parents don’t bother with titles."
"That would be improper," Cheng Zong said, shaking his head insistently. "We must at least address you as ’Your Highness’. By the way, Your Highness, this is Gu Zheng."
Cheng Zong turned slightly to introduce Gu Zheng to Zhong Tianlang. "Gu is a great talent. Not long ago, he was even taken as a student by both Grand General Meng and Grand General Xie."
"Oh?"
Zhong Tianlang’s warm gaze fell upon Gu Zheng. He stepped forward slowly and clasped his fists. "Gu, I have heard of your great name for a long time. It is my good fortune to finally meet you today!"
"Your Highness is too kind. My meager reputation is not worthy of such praise." Gu Zheng turned slightly to the side and took two steps back.
’Whatever the Zhong family might be like in private, there was no need to create tension publicly.’
’Besides, the goodwill Zhong Tianlang showed felt quite pleasant.’
’It just felt... a bit fake?’
’Maybe just a hair better than standard, superficial friendliness?’
Though Gu Zheng felt a stir of suspicion, he didn’t let a trace of it show on his face.
"Your Highness, I’ve found something!"
As they were speaking, a figure came running from a nearby street corner.
"This is Zhang Sanshi, or Zhang,"
Zhong Tianlang said to Gu Zheng as he looked at the newcomer. "Zhang was assigned to my team to search for the Rule Array Hub."
With that, he turned to the approaching Zhang Sanshi and asked, "Zhang, what did you find?"
"Your Highness, I discovered an underground cave behind the Sun Mansion’s estate."
Zhang Sanshi, whose eyebrows nearly formed a single line, gave a salute and then answered, "It’s a spacious network of underground caves with many tunnels."
"It has the aura of the Demon Spirit Race inside!"
Zhang Sanshi added.
"The Demon Spirit Race’s aura?" Zhong Tianlang thought for a moment, his eyes lighting up. "Does that mean this natural cave is a region from the Demon Realm that has merged here?"
"It’s more than likely," Zhang Sanshi said, his face wreathed in smiles.
A Domain is the product of two worlds overlapping.
With Four Directions Prefecture City on the surface, it was perfectly logical for a network of natural caves from the Demon Realm to exist underground.
"Let’s go!"
Zhong Tianlang waved a hand and said with excitement, "Gentlemen, what say you follow me and we’ll brave these caves together?"
"Sounds perfect," Cheng Zong said with a laugh.
"The Rule Array Hub might just be in those caves," Zhou Meng added.
"Highly likely," Gushuncheng agreed. "We’ve almost completed a full sweep of the surface and haven’t seen the Rule Array Hub. The damn thing probably spawned underground."
"Wait!"
