Chapter 61: Playing Tricks

  "That's right, Mingying! You first explain what 'Mingying' is all about?! This time give me a clear explanation, no more beating around the bush!" Tang Mingjing frowned and stared at Tang Yan.

  Tang Mingzhong's expression was complex: "You little scoundrel, you've been causing trouble nonstop since your return. First, you offended the Li family, and now this incident has provoked the Yang family's hostility. I heard that Yang Ruyan was seized and interrogated as soon as she returned home, and it won't be long before the Yang family comes over to demand an explanation."

  Tang Yan was leaning against the bed, dazed and distracted, without hearing their interrogation, until Tang Ming Jing slapped him on the back of his head: "Stop pretending to be stupid, speak clearly!"

  Tang Yan smiled wryly and rubbed his temples: "I'm telling you, Dad, I'm the victim here, can't you be a bit gentler?"

  "Stop nagging! If you don't give me a clear explanation, I'll be the victim later!"

  "It was just a while ago in the psychedelic forest..." Tang Yan briefly explained what had happened at that time.

  "What? You... you... you took her up?" The atmosphere in the room suddenly became strange, even Tang Jun was a bit stunned. This little guy really had a lot of nerve.

  "Did... did it work?" Tang Mingzhong leaned in, lowering his voice. The others all looked attentive, and Tang Mingjing even began to fantasize about how he would propose. If they really managed to get Yang Ruyan on board, things would actually be quite easily resolved - just propose, get married!

  "Cough, cough!!" Elinda let out a heavy cough.

  "Uh...... Hehe......" Tang Mingzhong coughed awkwardly a few times, straightened his face and scolded: "You little rascal, how can you do this! Continue speaking, explain clearly!"

  "It should have been fine originally, but then someone interrupted and started fighting again. At that time, the situation was chaotic, and I accidentally hooked her bag away with my hand. Who knew it actually had the Yang family's 'Phantom Spirit'? As a result, I picked it up."

  "Is this all of the Phantom Spirit Essence?! Where is it?!" This time, the Tang family was truly not calm, and Tang Mingjing and Tang Mingzhong were staring at Tang Yan with burning eyes, as if they had found an absolute treasure.

  "Only the first half of 'Misty Shadow', is this what you want?" Tang Yan took out a cyan wooden plaque.

  Tang Ming Jing reached out his hand to take it over, but thinking of the giant elephant academy instructor beside him, he didn't dare stretch out his hand.

  "'Phantom Spirit' is the Yang family's most treasured possession, and it's also the top-notch spiritual martial art. Even just the 'Shadow Mirage' part alone is absolutely precious. They would certainly want to keep it for themselves, but if it were to be leaked out...the Yang family would definitely come knocking on their door."

  Feeling the strange atmosphere in the room, Ailinda secretly sighed and turned her head back without leaving any trace. As expected, it was a father-son duo, one more shameless than the other, who had just been scolding with anger and suddenly became like this.

  "Hehe... This time, thank you so much, Master Elinda, for saving my child. The Tang family will definitely remember this kindness. If there's anything we can do to repay it, we'll definitely try our best." Tang Ming said with gratitude towards Elinda while secretly stretching out his hand towards Tang Yan.

  "Hypocrisy." Tang Yan rolled her eyes and handed over the Misty Shadow.

  Tang Jun said with a frown, "This Phantom Spirit is really troublesome. If you hadn't revealed it, no one would have known, and we could have kept it hidden. But now... the whole city is discussing this matter, so it's best to find an excuse to gloss over it."

  Tang Yan said, "Simple, I won't admit it even if I die. If the Yang family really gets angry, you can say that Yang Ruyan and Li Shouze colluded to frame me first, almost taking my life. And insist on it, at that time when I was with Yang Ruyan... it succeeded!! It was she who actively let me see it afterwards, and then took it back."

  "Is...this alright?" Tang Ming Jing and Tang Ming Zhong furrowed their brows at each other.

  "If they dare to make trouble again, let them go and check if Yang Ruyan is pregnant or not."

  "Hmm... how shameless!!" The crowd was filled with a sense of indignation, while Eriinda couldn't help but feel that she had heard enough.

  Tang Yan shrugged calmly: "Unless you want to hand over 'Misty Shadow', otherwise, when the time comes for a thick skin, it's got to be thick. This isn't shameful, it's the way of survival. I can remind you that Misty Shadow's martial skills are quite extraordinary, and seem to have some auxiliary effect on the Blazing Flame Technique."

  "Really?" The Tang family's spirits were slightly shaken, and their eyes once again burned with fervor.

  "You can try it out, anyway I feel that they complement each other."

  "Alright, I'll take care of this." Tang Ming Jing stuffed the wooden sign into his chest and made up his mind to be shameless just once.

  "Also, regarding this sneak attack incident, I think there are four possibilities: Dong Leiming, Yang Ruyan, Li Shoujian, and...". Tang Yan paused slightly, intentionally or unintentionally glancing at Tang Qian.

  Tang Ming Jing understood his meaning and said: "Qian Er, you go and take charge of searching that group of mercenaries, find the clue as soon as possible."

  Tang Qian remained calm and led the idle people in the room out. Erynda also knew to leave the room.

  Only Tang Mingjing, Tang Mingzhong and Tang Jun were left.

  "There's also Zhou Ling Wang. All four of them have a reason to take action, but none of them dare to make a move in the open in this Giant Elephant City, so they can only dispatch mercenaries. What I don't quite understand is that if they want me dead, why not hire some really capable mercenaries?"

  Tang Ming said, "It's not that they don't want to, but they can't find it. The Giant Elephant City is adjacent to the Mystic Forest, and mercenary groups often stay there. In order to maintain stability, once they enter the city, they will be closely monitored by various families. If it's just an ordinary group without any excessive behavior, the patrol team won't pay much attention for too long. However, if there are more than three martial artists or notorious mercenaries inside, the surveillance will continue until they leave."

  "This mercenary group that attacked you has two Wu Zongs and six or seven second or third tier Wu Lings, making it a relatively strong team among the unmonitored mercenary groups."

  Tang Ming Zhong looked at Tang Yan with a strange expression: "Under normal circumstances, this team should be enough to easily get rid of you, but... I'm very curious, how did you manage to escape?"

  Tang Yan chuckled and continued, "Actually, I think the possibility of Zhou Lingwang taking action is not high. If it were really him, he wouldn't be so hasty and rough. The remaining suspects are only Dong Leiming, Yang Ruyan, and Li Shoujian. In that case, we don't have to worry too much, just a small disturbance. However, I have a suggestion: let's take advantage of this incident and pin it on Dong Leiming!"

  "Why?"

  "I'm thinking of a way to get Dong Leiming to hand over the Golden Elephant Scripture to me honestly. This matter is just an excuse. We'll spread the word outside that Dong Leiming secretly instructed mercenaries to assassinate me, with the intention of framing him for not paying his debts. Then you guys will step in and negotiate with Dean Dong, using a tough tone, making it so he has no choice but to hand it over."

  Tang Jun sighed and said: "You little guy is playing tricks one after another, who did you learn from?"

  "This is called clever strategy!"

  Tang Mingzhong's face didn't look too good: "You must have the Golden Elephant Technique? Practicing too many and varied martial arts is not a good thing, being skilled in one can cultivate to the extreme. Your current kung fu is already enough, where will you get the energy to practice the Golden Elephant Technique? The Giant Elephant Academy regards the Golden Elephant Technique as more important than life itself, if this matter gets out of hand, it can only lead to a falling out between the academy and the Tang family.

  "First it was the Li family, then the Yang family, and now it's the Giant Elephant Academy. You've been back for over a month, and you've directly pushed the Tang family to the opposing side of the entire Giant Elephant City! What do you want to do? Do you want the Tang family to become the public enemy of Giant Elephant City?"

  Tang Ming Jing roughly guessed the true purpose of Tang Yan's obsession with the Golden Elephant Key, and hesitated before saying: "I think it's okay, if not, let Old Master go negotiate with Giant Elephant Academy."

  "Big brother!! This matter isn't a joke, our Tang family may not be afraid of them, but there's no need to make things so tense. I think it would be better to shift the blame onto the Li family rather than having conflicts with Giant Elephant Academy."

  "Rest assured, I have a good grasp of this matter. Yan'er, for the time being, you'd better stay at home and behave yourself. If you dare to go out and cause trouble again, be careful that I'll lock you up, remember, it's real confinement!"

  Inside the inner courtyard, Tang Jian slapped the housekeeper, Adou, to the ground with a loud slap: "Can't even handle such a small matter, what's the use of having you?"

  Ad's mouth corner was bleeding, and he hastily scrambled to his feet, trembling with fear as he said: "Young master, please calm down, it should have been a success originally, but... I... I really didn't think that Ailinda had already broken through to the second stage of Wu Zong, the concept between the second stage and first stage is completely different. The majority of 'Lei Ya' mercenary group's strength was tied up by her alone, and it seems like Tang Yan has some kind of powerful weapon. According to Lei Ya leader's recollection, he was pierced through the body by something, received a huge shock, so... so... he retreated ahead of time."

  Tang Qian's eyes were cold as he stared at Ad, the killing intent in his gaze making the other man tremble: "I don't care what excuse you have, but since you messed this up, you'll have to clean it up for me! We can't let outsiders know about it! This is your last chance. If there's any more trouble, don't blame me for turning against you."

  "Master, rest assured. I have secretly arranged for the 'Lei Ya' mercenaries to be stationed in one of our Tang family's martial arts halls. They are all being watched over by our own people and will not leak any information."

  "What's the point of staying? Only dead men can keep secrets, don't you understand that?"

  Aden hastily nodded: "I'll take care of it very cleanly! Guarantee that this matter will be suppressed forever. Young master, shouldn't we think of other ways? Tang Yan has changed a lot this time, and his strength is also very strange, we need to take more extreme measures."

  "Wait a minute, let's talk about this later when things have blown over, go out for now."

  "Uh...yes, young master."

  Tang Qian's face was gloomy as he sat on the wooden chair, his eyes changing unpredictably between sunny and cloudy. After a moment, his right fist heavily slammed onto the tea table: "If you're honest and just being a playboy, we can be good brothers. But if you really want to take over the position of head of the household, I'd like to have a good competition with you."