Douluo Dalu: Volume 25: Single Category Clans

by Tang Jia San Shao

  “Old brother, you bringing him this time, is to force me to gamble!”

  Tai Tan sighed, saying:

  “I’m not forcing you. How to decide is up to you. I only hope that we brothers can be together in our remaining years, just like before. Matching our strength every day, drinking together. You should know I’m not a negligent person. Naturally I have reasons for my decisions.”

  Niu Gao lowered his voice:

  “But, you should also know that the two great Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School and Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan have been destroyed. There’s no need to ask to know who did it. Before long, I’m afraid our Spirit Master world will be reshuffled again. I have to consider my clansmen. Here, the worst choice is to adhere to Spirit Hall. I have to consider the continuation of the whole clan.”

  Tai Tan said:

  “Our sect isn’t a Spirit Master sect in the traditional sense. Simply said, we’re more like a business. Just a business with formidable military strength.”

  Niu Gao stared blankly,

  “Business? I don’t understand.”

  Tang San smiled:

  “There’s always a need for income to provide for the members of the sect. Our Tang Sect’s first client is the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School. It’s also a long term client. I think the next client will be the Heaven Dou imperial family. Besides Spirit Hall, we’ll do business with anyone.”

  Just at this moment, Niu Ben came in from outside. Afraid to draw his father’s anger, he specially knocked on the door as he entered,

  “Dad, uncle Tai Tan, the food is ready, do you want to eat while chatting?”

  Niu Gao nodded, saying to Tai Tan:

  “Let’s go, we’ll eat while talking.”

  Hearing talk of food, Ma Hongjun immediately grew excited. He was hungry since earlier, and couldn’t help asking Niu Ben:

  “Is there meat? I want a big, big piece.”

  Niu Ben laughed out loud,

  “Little fatty, if our Defense Clan lacks anything, it isn’t meat. Even if our spirit is the Plate Armored Giant Rhinoceros, we’re all carnivorous. There’s enough.”

  At the table, Tang San immediately understood what Niu Ben meant about being carnivorous. The whole three meter diameter large table was piled up with meat dishes, not a vegetable dish in sight.

  There was even more three jars of wine, ten jin size, holding alcohol. Drinking in big gulps, eating big mouthfuls of meat, perhaps this was the nature of those with outspoken characters.

  Tang San never thought he was a small eater, but seeing this table he knew what was called being a minor magician in the presence of great ones. Let alone, Niu Ben, Tai Long and the others, the appetite of the two clan chiefs was astonishing. Great chunks of meat were swallowed as if there was no need to chew. They drank one jin of wine in one gulp. Moreover, they were on their second bowl of wine before Tang San saw his first.

  “Kid, come, drink!”

  Niu Gao handed wine to Tang San.

  Tang San immediately smiled wryly,

  “Senior, you drink. If I finish such a large cup of wine, I’m afraid I won’t be able to sit at the table.”

  Niu Gao frowned,

  “Why can’t youngsters drink? When I was your age, I drank huge volumes.”

  Tang San smiled:

  “You still have huge volumes now. Since it’s senior’s invitation, I’ll accompany you for a cup.”

  Speaking, he drained the cup in front of him until it was basically empty. When drinking, he was using Mysterious Heaven Skill to protect his throat, swiftly letting that wine flow into his stomach, basically without tasting it.

  Niu Gao also drank in big mouthfuls, laughing loudly,

  “Right, this is the heroic spirit youths should have.”

  Tang San had never had so much wine, and also drank very rarely. Right now he only felt a burning sensation in his stomach, scalding his face deep read, speechless.

  Just when Tang San secretly regretted being so impulsive, suddenly, the Mysterious Heaven Skill circulated within him, an ice cold feeling merging into the blazing heat. The flow of his blood seemed to speed up, that scorching sensation very quickly turning into a warm current. Not only did the painful feeling disappear, he on the contrary had a refreshing feeling of his blood vessels being unimpeded.

  Because he only drank low strength wine when he drank before, this was actually his first time drinking such strong wine. It was also the first time he felt the effects of high strength wine.

  In fact, there was a very close relationship between capacity for wine and the condition of the body, and Tang San’s physical condition could be said to be so good it couldn’t be better. Having passed countless times of forging, his body had an extremely powerful ability to absorb wine. Especially the baptism to his energy channels of the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Precious Apricot. Even though he couldn’t be said to be immune to poison, absorbing a bit of strong drink wasn’t a problem.

  Strong drink could improve blood circulation, and a bit of wine was advantageous to the body. Tang San’s physical absorption ability could completely absorb this much wine.

  Niu Gao watched Tang San empty the cup, his face already deep red, and immediately understood that this youngster wasn’t any big drinker. That he could happily drink such a large cup, and even not say anything, that gave him face. In his heart he could help having a bit of favorable opinion towards Tang San.

  Loosing a long breath, Tang San slowly passed his breath, saying to Niu Gao:

  “Senior, junior really has a low capacity for drinking. I’m afraid I can only accompany you for this one cup.”

  Niu Gao laughed loudly, saying:

  “Good. This old man won’t force you, I’ve finally regained my face at the wine table. You little fellow really is strong, this is the first time I’ve lost since settling in Rising Dragon City.”

  Tang San knew he still had some bad feelings about him winning before, and smiled:

  “Actually it was only junior using some tricks. In true defensive strength, how could junior compare to senior?”

  To the side, Niu Ben heard something a bit odd, but his questions were stopped by a look from Tai Tan.

  Niu Gao said:

  “A loss is a loss. There’s no need for you to gild an old man’s face. It seems I really am old.”

  Tang San said:

  “Junior isn’t being modest. In fact, junior took a very large advantage. It might seem that junior’s proposal not to use spirit was disadvantageous to myself, but in fact, it was to blunt senior. Even if junior used spirit abilities, it would absolutely be impossible to compare to senior in defensive strength. Moreover, the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer method could only display it’s power in circumstances where it can store power like that. Junior was using my own strengths to attack senior’s weaknesses, then luckily obtained senior’s approval. If senior had used your full strength once, junior would have been unable to resist. Rather than saying it was junior’s win, it would be better to call it senior’s consideration for the younger generation.”

  Hearing Tang San say this, Niu Gao blinked, his originally depressed mood easing a lot. Smiling, he said:

  “Good kid, you can actually talk. I don’t recall a child of the Clear Sky School that could talk like you before.”

  This moment, Niu Ben could no longer restrain himself, his expression changing,

  “Dad, he’s from the Clear Sky School? You……”

  “Shut up.”

  Niu Gao shot his son a glare,

  “Even if he’s from the Clear Sky School, I’ve already promised him that our grievances with the Clear Sky School will no longer be related to him. He was brought by your uncle Tai Tan, hereafter he’s a friend of our Defense Clan.”

  Niu Ben was in a daze as he heard his father’s words. He knew how deep his father’s complaints of the Clear Sky School were. That this youth in front of him could actually make his father give up on his grudges
now definitely wasn’t just because Tai Tanhad stepped in.

  Niu Gao drank another cup with Tai Tan, then asked:

  “Old Tai Tan, carefully tell me about that Tang Sect.”

  Tai Tan nodded, saying:

  “This Tang Sect of ours is established in the mansion of my Strength Clan. It’s mainly to manufacture a kind of special weapon called hidden weapons, selling them and using them to increase our own strength. Our Strength Clan is well known for forging. Young master brought some exceptionally good designs. If they could be mass produced, they could be enormously dangerous to low level Spirit Masters. If we succeed, then our forging world won’t be as lowly as it is now. Dealt with appropriately, even Spirit Hall could be threatened.”

  “Special weapons capable of threatening Spirit Masters?”

  Niu Gao looked at Tai Tan not quite daring to believe it. He didn’t doubt Tai Tan, he believed this brother of his wouldn’t shoot without aim. But reason made it difficult to accept this as fact.

  Tang San pulled out the Godly Zhuge Crossbow from his chest. Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times, more talk wouldn’t display the strength of Tang Sect hidden weapons.

  Under everyone’s attentive gazes, with a series of sonorous noises, Tang San had wound the Godly Zhuge Crossbow’s mechanism.

  “Senior, could I ask you to block with your spirit? Like that you should be able to best feel its power.”

  Watching the small black box in Tang San’s hand, Niu Gao grew even a bit more doubtful of what Tai Tan said. Could such a small thing deal with Spirit Masters?

  Tai Tan said:

  “Old rhino, absolutely don’t underestimate this thing. Within a certain range, it’s killing power is quite considerable. I tried it once. It really makes you gasp. Very difficult for Spirit Masters under the fortieth rank to resist, and even past the fortieth rank, without using defensive abilities in advance, getting killed wouldn’t be any surprise. You know the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School. They were attacked at the same time as the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. That in the end they could save the majority of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School’s direct descendants wasn’t because their attackers started of leniently, nor was it because they had less experts than the contingent aimed at the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. It was because these Godly Zhuge Crossbow hidden weapons had an important effect. It was by relying on more than a hundred of such hidden weapons that they blocked the raiders’ tidal attack.”

  Niu Gao was shocked,

  “Really?”

  Tai Tan pointed to the Godly Zhuge Crossbow in Tang San’s hand,

  “You try and you’ll know.”

  Niu Gao no longer hesitated, immediately releasing his spirit, his pitiful jacked once again bursting from the defensive power. His first, second, and third spirit rings flashed simultaneously, his whole body covered densely with a layer of horn plates just like plate armor.

  “Come, kid. My current defensive strength counts as that of a fiftieth ranked Spirit Master going all out.”

  “Senior, be careful.”

  Tang San shouted, pushing the trigger button on the Godly Zhuge Crossbow.

  At such close range, practically nobody saw the Godly Zhuge Crossbow firing. There was only a flash of shadow, before a series of popping noises sounded at Niu Gao’s chest.

  Sixteen crossbow bolts rebounded without exception. Tang San reached out, using Controlling Crane Catching Dragon to pull them into his grasp.

  Everyone’s eyes all fell on Niu Gao’s chest, finding sixteen neat white scars on that solid plate armor, each mark half a cun deep or so.

  Tang San couldn’t help sighing in admiration:

  “Senior, good defense.”

  Niu Gao grinned, using his hand to rub the scars on his chest, the plate armor healing at a miraculous speed,

  “It smarts. Old orangutan, you didn’t exaggerate. If this was a Spirit Master under fortieth rank, he absolutely couldn’t resist. Such a small thing, how can it have such great power? Really difficult to believe! Once your Tang Sect is established, sell me a batch as well. Our Defense Clan has always lacked attack power. This toy is pretty good.”

  Tai Tan laughed loudly,

  “That’s still just a common thing, there are even more formidable ones. With true top quality hidden weapons, even Spirit Sages might not be able to resist. You can buy if you can, I’ll give you the manufacturing price. Young master, what’s our manufacturing price for the Godly Zhuge Crossbow?”

  Tang San pondered, then said:

  “Consider it sixty gold spirit coins.”

  “So expensive?”

  Niu Gao stared wide eyed at Tang San. In fact, the entire building planning and construction business of his clan only had a few hundred gold spirit coins in income each month. Not every clan was as wealthy as the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School.

  The price Tang San mentioned really didn’t count as high either. The Godly Zhuge Crossbow’s real manufacturing price was around thirty gold spirit coins, but to that was added the labour cost and the price of poison for the bolts, making sixty gold spirit coins the real manufacturing price.

  Back when Tang San sold to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, a full set was five hundred gold spirit coins. Among this set of hidden weapons, chief was the Godly Zhuge Crossbow. There were still Sleeve Darts, Sand Projecting Shadow, Tight Back Lowering Head Crossbow and so on. The complete manufacturing price didn’t surpass two hundred gold spirit coins.

  Tang San laughed loudly, saying:

  “This Godly Zhuge Crossbow is made from refined iron, requiring extremely high skill. The crossbow bolts are dipped in poison, if not for the horn plates on your chest, perhaps you would already be poisoned. I’ll trouble you to go carefully wash it off later. The manufacturing cost for each Godly Zhuge Crossbow really is sixty gold spirit coins. If it was on the market, it would be roughly over one hundred fifty gold spirit coins.”

  Niu Gao looked over Tang San, then again looked at Tai Tan,

  “Isn’t that robbery? Our Defense Clan’s income in one month is only a few of these toys.”

  Tai Tan looked at Niu Gao with meaning in his eyes,

  “That’s why I say that our Tang Sect’s road of money is immeasurable! Since it wouldn’t appear at the heart of conflict, there can be a certain profit. In the relative safety of Heaven Dou City, quietly watching the world changing outside.”

  * * *

  [1] Niu Ben - (牛奔) “Bovine Rush”

  Chapter 174: Defense Clan Enters Tang Sect

  Niu Gao looked unhappily at Tai Tan,

  “Fine, don’t tempt me. I still have to think it over carefully. As for that, even though this thing of yours is attractive, it’s still not that powerful. After all, we rely on defensive power to protect ourselves. However, to the Speed Clan, this thing is quite useful!”

  “Eh?”

  Niu Gao’s words were like a meticulous jab at Tang San. Tang San was intelligent, and immediately understood his meaning. The Speed Clan’s main ability was speed, there was no need to doubt their superiority in speed. But at the same time, because of the single attribute, even if they had speed, they really were rather weak in other areas. With speed, they could dodge instead of block, but what about attacking? Even though speed and force were directly related, the boost to attack power was still limited.

  If the Speed Clan’s speed was matched with the attack power of hidden weapons, it would undoubtedly substantially increase their overall strength. Moreover, among all the four single attribute clans, it was the Speed Clan whose fortunes were worst. Niu Gao’s meaning seemed to be, rather than roping in their Defense Clan, it would be better to make plans for the Speed Clan.

  Just when Tang San was pondering the deep meaning within Niu Gao’s words, a Defense Clan clansman hastily entered from outside, quickly stepping over to Niu Gao, leaning over to whisper a few words by his ear.

  Hearing his words, Niu Gao couldn’t keep his expression
fro changing,

  “What did they come to do? Old orangutan, the Elephant Armored School’s people came.”

  Tai Tan frowned,

  “Who?”

  Niu Gao stood, saying:

  “Heavenly Elephant Huyan Zhen came personally. I have to give him some face.”

  Tai Tan said:

  “Then fine. I’ll go with you to take a look.”

  With the two both getting up, the younger generation naturally followed. Tang San wasn’t conceited about his own position, following the two clan chiefs alongside Tai Long and Ma Hongjun.”

  Just at the courtyard, everyone’s gazes were immediately drawn to those five enormous bodies. The leader was past his seventh decade, and at a visual estimate, he was at least two and a half meters tall. He stood there like a mountain of meat. Dark skin, a pair of large eyes like copper bells. His dark skin seemed to have a particular luster. This was the Elephant Armored School master, Heavenly Elephant Huyan Zhen.

  The four people following behind Huyan Zhen also seemed past sixty, their builds only slightly inferior to Huyan Zhen. Each and every one were reserved, and the five people standing there were like five large mountains, their might impressive.

  Huyan Zhen was clearly familiar with Niu Gao from before, and seeing Niu Gao lead everyone out, he immediately laughed loudly, stepping forward to meet them with large strides,

  “Brother Niu, we haven’t met for some time. How is it, have you been well?”

  Niu Gao returned the politeness with a somewhat skin deep smile,

  “Thanks to luck, my body is still healthy. I don’t know for what errand the noble Heavenly Elephant graces us with his presence?”

  Huyan Zhen laughed loudly, saying:

  “Brother Niu, this definitely isn’t right, don’t tell me you won’t invite a brother to sit and chat? Oh, this old brother’s stature is so robust, I don’t know who he is?”

  His gaze fell on Tai Tan.

  Niu Gao said calmly:

  “This is my big brother Tai Tan. We’ll go speak in the drawing room.”

  Huyan Zhen’s eyes displayed a trace of astonishment,