Chapter 143: Startled Retreat

They must not succeed!

Cheng Yang was burning with anxiety, praying that nothing would go wrong, yet his reason told him that this group of defenseless women and children could not possibly hold out for even a single second against a master sorcerer.

I see them!

Just as Cheng Yang rushed to the second floor, he saw the opposite door fly open. Women and children screamed as they ran out, but the mistress and the little princess were nowhere to be seen.

"Step aside!"

Anxious and furious, Cheng Yang let out a roar and charged forward. At that exact moment, two deafening explosions rang out, shaking the entire building so violently that everyone was knocked off their feet, feeling as though an earthquake had struck.

With a drastically altered expression, Cheng Yang darted forward like a shadow. Reaching the room, the scene before him left him utterly stunned.

Only half of this once-luxurious master bedroom remained; the side facing the window had been completely blasted away. Wisps of blue smoke were still drifting in the air, and the surrounding cracks grew wider by the second. Near the doorway, Song Wanshuang stood clutching Xixi, curled up tightly in a ball. The protective light barrier around them was gradually fading; although they looked somewhat disheveled, they were completely unharmed.

"Madam, are you alright?"

Cheng Yang stepped in front of them to guard them, a trace of lingering bewilderment in his eyes.

"I'm fine. I used a Green Thunder Bead to injure that person," Song Wanshuang said coldly. Looking down at Xixi in her arms, she saw the little girl was also completely unhurt, having merely been knocked unconscious by her own cultivation power.

A Green Thunder Bead? That must be the protective treasure the Sect Master gave to Madam!

Cheng Yang thought instinctively, and his guess was spot on. Before leaving, Jiang An had given Song Wanshuang a few Green Thunder Beads crafted from spirit stones for self-defense. Song Wanshuang had kept them on her ever since. Just now, as they hid in the room, the enemy had suddenly broken through the window and lunged at Song Wanshuang and her daughter, only to be blocked by the first layer of their protective artifact. Just as the sorcerer was about to employ other methods to shatter the shield, Song Wanshuang decisively hurled two Green Thunder Beads. The sorcerer, dismissing them as ordinary trinkets, paid them no mind, only to be caught completely off guard and blown away by the explosion.

"Let's go. The danger is not yet over; we are retreating!"

"Understood."

With that, Cheng Yang escorted Song Wanshuang and her daughter out of the room and headed straight for the back door. Since the enemy's targets were them, keeping the other women and children away actually made everyone safer.

Quickly stepping out of the back door, they found themselves facing a garden. Cheng Yang whipped around just in time to see the King Snake smash through the wall on the side of the house, crushing everything in its path. Then, with a flash of dark shadow, the sorcerer appeared beside the King Snake. Half of the sorcerer's body was charred black, making him look even more hideous. The moment he spotted the three of them, he roared in a foreign tongue, commanding the King Snake to attack.

The sorcerer himself hung back in the rear; having no idea how many more of those explosion-causing items Song Wanshuang might possess, he was naturally cautious and hesitant to act rashly.

Cheng Yang knew that they were still at a disadvantage—injuring the sorcerer himself had been pure luck, and Song Wanshuang had no more Green Thunder Beads left. Therefore, Cheng Yang would have to fight for his life.

"Madam, hide here! If the enemy wants to get to you, they will have to step over my corpse!"

He lifted a stone table from the garden, placing it as a shield before Song Wanshuang and her daughter, and had them hide deeply in the corner. Uttering these resolute words, Cheng Yang turned and charged straight toward the King Snake.

Song Wanshuang bit her lip, secretly cursing herself for her shallow cultivation and low combat power, while simultaneously marveling at the fact that Brother An's subordinates were all truly heroic men.

"Come on, you wretched beast!"

Operating at full firepower, Cheng Yang engaged the King Snake in a fierce battle within the garden. Radiating formidable momentum, he actually managed to suppress the King Snake this time. As the fight progressed and his movements grew increasingly fluid, several puzzling bottlenecks in the Primordial Vajra Technique he had recently comprehended suddenly cleared up. Not only did his inner Qi circulate twice as fast in accordance with the secret chants, but his physical strength also surged significantly, leaving the massive King Snake covered in fresh wounds and stripping away numerous scales to reveal horrifying flesh beneath.

Yet, just at that moment, Cheng Yang let out a muffled grunt. He had fallen victim to the enemy's underhanded scheme, taking a poisoned dart to the shoulder. In an instant, half of his body went numb, and after staggering back a few steps, he collapsed to the ground, entirely paralyzed. His inner Qi not only failed to purge the poison, but was instead contaminated by it, turning his complexion pitch-black and his lips dark purple.

"Haha, finally down! Serpent King, devour him!"

The sorcerer smiled sinisterly, directly ordering the King Snake to swallow Cheng Yang whole. A Grandmaster's flesh and blood were, after all, a potent tonic.

Hiss! Hiss!

The King Snake flicked its forked tongue, its blood-red maw gaping wide as it prepared to swallow the paralyzed and defenseless Cheng Yang in one gulp. Cheng Yang opened his eyes wide, a thought flashing through his mind that Heaven truly wished to destroy him. Suddenly—faster than thought—a flash of cold light cleaved through the air. The King Snake let out a painful shriek, thrashing wildly as it completely abandoned the thought of eating Cheng Yang, because half of its neck had been deeply severed by a massive saber!

"What kind of thief dares to trespass here? Stay and leave your life behind today!"

A booming roar exploded from the skies above. Cheng Yang forced his head up with great difficulty and saw a small black helicopter flying in from the horizon. At the cabin door stood a robust old man—none other than Dao Mo!

Bang!

As the helicopter lowered its altitude, Dao Mo leaped directly from mid-air, crashing into the ground with a heavy thud that carved out a deep crater right beside Cheng Yang. With a wave of his hand, the heavy saber stuck in the ground not far away flew back into his palm of its own accord. Channeling his internal energy, Dao Mo sparked a three-inch-long white blade aura at the tip of the saber.

Without wasting a word, Dao Mo unleashed a cleaving strike reminiscent of splitting Mount Hua. A brilliant arc of saber light slashed across the void, instantly overtaking the retreating King Snake and slicing it cleanly into two halves. The ground itself was gouged open by a terrifying, deep trench.

So strong!

The sorcerer was stunned for a moment by Dao Mo's ferocious saber technique and overwhelming momentum. Recovering his senses, he chanted an incantation. A green light flashed across the two writhing halves of the snake on the ground, instantly shrinking them down so he could recall them into his sleeve. Only then did he coldly lock eyes with Dao Mo.

"Just what kind of person are you? I do not kill nameless ghosts!"

After delivering his strike, Dao Mo first administered some medicine to Cheng Yang, then shouldered his heavy saber and said through gritted teeth, having not been this angry in a long time.

"A nameless ghost? When this old man was roaming the world unhindered, you were still unborn in your mother's womb! Such arrogant drivel—you deserve to die!" The sorcerer snorted coldly.

"Hmph, you don't even dare to state your name, yet you dare to trespass and injure people. If you aren't a nameless ghost, what are you?"

"Very well. You can be considered a strong practitioner, so you are qualified to know this old man's name. Listen well: this old man is Tepong! Thailand's premier master sorcerer. Why haven't you kowtowed in reverence yet?" the sorcerer declared with an air of supreme arrogance.

"Tepong? The sworn brother of Phasong?"

Hearing this name, Dao Mo immediately identified who this person was. This individual was indeed a peerless expert among Thai sorcerers and enjoyed a modest reputation worldwide.

"What sworn brother? Phasong is nothing more than trash!" Tepong suddenly burst into furious curses. "I entrusted my son to his care, expecting him to learn a thing or two, only for my son to fall victim to your little Jiang fellow's schemes, leaving him in agonizing torment now. Tell me, shouldn't I come looking for you people to settle this score?!"

Dao Mo was momentarily stunned, then blurted out, "Cai Xincong is your son?!"

Between Thailand and Phasong, the only connection Dao Mo could piece together was the border mission the Prince had once told him about—where the Prince had mentioned slaying a Thai Grandmaster, subsequently encountering the Divine Ranking expert Phasong and his second disciple, Cai Xincong, who had managed to escape. Moreover, in Dao Mo's memory, Cai Xincong had returned to the country posing as a Nanyang Chinese, and everyone had assumed he was ethnically Chinese. Who would have guessed he was actually Tepong's son!

"Hmph!"

Tepong let out a grunt through his nose, implicitly confirming it.

"Hahaha, how laughable! Back then, Cai Xincong took the initiative to ambush our Sect Master, and when he was outmatched, he fled. Sparing his life was already a stroke of good fortune for him, yet you old undying bastard have the nerve to come seeking revenge? Furthermore, while you may not be ranked on the Divine Ranking, you possess strength comparable to a Third-Realm Grandmaster. To cross borders and enter my Hua Xia nation—do you really think the Guardian Dragon Manor is made of paper? Watch and see, today is your death anniversary!"

With that, Dao Mo gripped his heavy saber with both hands, his aura surging to the heavens as he locked his spiritual lock firmly onto Tepong, ready to strike at any moment.

Tepong's face twitched. After a brief silence, he sneered, "Heh, you aren't qualified to fight me. I'll wait until that little Jiang fellow shows himself. If this old man wants to leave, do you really think you can stop me?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a billow of black fog violently erupted from his body, spreading in all directions. Anything it touched—whether ground or grass—instantly dissolved into liquid, demonstrating its terrifying toxicity. Dao Mo's expression shifted slightly. He formed hand seals and chanted an incantation, hurling a massive fireball with a single hand straight into the black fog. The fireball detonated with a booming crash, incinerating the black fog entirely and leaving behind only a faint, foul stench.

As for Tepong, his figure was already nowhere to be seen.

Seeing this, Dao Mo secretly let out a breath of relief. Tepong was formidable in his own right, and with wounded personnel and the mistress to protect, the consequences of a protracted fight would have been unimaginable. He had simply been forced to put on a bellicose front to frighten the man away.

"How are you holding up?"

Dao Mo helped Cheng Yang up and asked with deep concern.

"I'll manage. The poison has been temporarily suppressed; the Prince's medicine is truly miraculous," Cheng Yang forced a smile and replied.

Dao Mo sighed softly, then turned to ask Song Wanshuang, "Madam, I am deeply sorry for frightening you. If anything had happened to you and the little princess, this old servant would have had no choice but to take his own life before the Prince to atone for his failure."

"You speak too heavily. Instead, I should be thanking you all for risking your lives to protect us. You should tend to Grandmaster Cheng first," Song Wanshuang said with a bitter smile.

At that moment, the helicopter landed nearby. Fan Jun hurried over, first paying his respects to Song Wanshuang before asking Dao Mo and Cheng Yang for a debriefing of the events.

"Madam, Master Dao, things are far from simple!"