Can a Scholar Be Called a Villain

Chapter 44: Tang Can’s father

“How dare you people try to harm my son?”

The man that had rushed over from afar roared, his sloppy figure seemed rather powerful, or at least it did in Tang Can’s eyes.

Tang Can’s fingers and complexion were pale from overexertion, due to the fact that the hidden weapon techniques of the Tang sect expended a great amount of mental strength and stamina.

With his back bent, his expression distorted in shock the moment he heard the familiar voice.

Even despite his blurry sight, he could feel the emotions in the man’s roar.

It was full of fatherly love and concern.

“Father.” Tang Can muttered.

The man that forcefully slaughtered his way towards him was his drunkard father, Tang Tian Hao.

In his memory, Tang Tian Hao was a drunkard that he had never seen sober. Tang Can was used to relying on himself for his own food and survival, collecting firewood and taking care of livestock in the village for goods and money to sustain himself and even occasionally that drunkard.

Tang Can had neither met his own mother nor experienced even a hint of fatherly love in his life, it could be said that he was basically an orphan.

But at this moment, staring at the man that had rushed over, his figure was reflected in his eyes as a small flame started to burn in the depths of his heart. It was warm.

A surge of strength came from his heart as he straightened his body resiliently, and after exhaling a deep breath, he started circulating the Tang sect’s heart technique. Tang Can then poised himself, readying himself to use his remaining hidden weapons for his own self-preservation.

Tang Tian Hao came closer.

He looked shabby as ever with an unkempt beard, and yet, his eyes were full of worry and love. Swinging around a large hammer, he attacked his surroundings and displayed an explosive might with his hammer that Tang Can had never seen before. Everyone that collided with the hammer would die, and with even the smallest contact with his weapon, someone would be injured.

The pulsating fluctuations from his body were unstable, wavering at the eighth layer of the Manifestation realm. However, he did not release his Manifestation transformation.

Then, he finally arrived at Tang Can’s side.

Grabbing Tang Can’s hand, he swung his hammer with his other hand as he roared towards the skies, causing his spiritual power to explode in his vicinity and killing more than a hundred people at once.

“Father, why are you here?” Tang Can asked agitatedly.

With his beard covering his slightly reddened face, he responded, “I have been following behind you ever since you left the village, and the moment I noticed that something was amiss in this valley, I rushed over.”

Tang Can smiled bitterly, “Something is definitely off, these people are going insane.”

“No, they are insane.” Tang Tian Hao responded with a solemn expression as he continued to swing his hammer, leading Tang Can towards the centre of the area, “Don’t talk, I’ll lead you over there first.”

He wanted to see what was there.

Tang Can thought in his mind: Father, what is your identity? Why were you secluding yourself in the village?

He never expected a drunkard like his father, a man who had no aspirations or ambitions, to be a cultivator in the Manifestation realm. Could such a person truly be satisfied with living in an ordinary little village like they did? And for decades no less.

But as his father protected him, Tang Can felt nothing but warmth and security.

An emotion that was forbidden for disciples of the Tang sect, it was their weakness.

As a Tang sect disciple, he needed to maintain his composure and rationality constantly, but he was ultimately still a human that longed for parental love.

He wanted to leave this place safely with his father and have a proper discussion with him.

Perhaps his father’s identity would be something he had never expected.

“Move aside, you bastards!” Tang Tian Hao cursed as he swung his hammer, smashing into a swordsman in his path.

“Chaotic Wind Chopping, Splitting-Style!” With a roar, blinding light exploded from his hammer as it pressed down on the people in his vicinity, burying them into the ground and leaving them vulnerable for others to kill.

By this point, Tang Can’s entire body was being carried by Tang Tian Hao as he swung his hammer madly and made his way into the centre of the battlefield. Raising his head, Tang Can could see the horrific sight of the battlefield.

The people that had absorbed the Dragon God Crystals were being targeted the most, with countless cultivators surrounding them. Murong Jing, Liu Xing Mang and Le Qing Qing were being attacked by more than a hundred experts each, and even with their strongest moves, they couldn’t hold off these insane people.

At the same time, they descended into madness as their eyes reddened and their teeth gnashed together.

At the side, Murong Jue was already ripped into pieces. His upper body laid on the ground as fear and resentment filled his face.

“How dare you trample on us? I dare you to do it again!” A soldier screamed as he stomped on Murong Jue’s corpse, his insane expression terrifying even to Tang Can.

The head lackey under Murong Jue, Li Kai with the foot fetish, was also surrounded by quite a number of people. Exhausting all his energy, his bloodied head slumped as an expression of resentment hung on his face.

Pierce.

A judge pen pierced through Murong Jing’s body.

Tang Can’s mind went numb.

The person holding the judge pen was Murong Xing, the usually calm and refined-looking gentleman.

And at this moment, he killed his own brother.

With his own hands.

With reddened eyes, Murong Xing’s lips rose slowly.

Then, he turned away to continue fighting other people.

Murong Jing’s body was instantly dismembered by waves of maddened cultivators and refined for his Dragon God’s bloodline. Those that were unable to arrive in time could only eat his flesh and drink his blood with horrifying expressions decorating their faces.

“Hahaha! The Dragon God’s bloodline! It’s mine!”

“Eat it! Quick, eat it! Or they’ll get it first!”

“What kind of a shitty fourth prince are you, hah! I’ll stab you!”

Tang Can could only watch as his own friend was split into pieces and eaten.

“Why?” He murmured with a dazed expression.

He had seen plenty of people die in both of his lives, but not to this extent. The extent of their cruelty and ruthlessness, and the insanity of these murderers was something he never could’ve imagined.

He didn’t even dare to imagine the consequences of these deaths for Yan, and what kind of ripple effect it would have.

“Jiang Tian Sheng! What are you doing!” Tang Tian Hao suddenly bellowed.

With one swing of his hammer, he obliterated the lunatics around him and then bellowed towards the confused Jiang Tian Sheng, who was suppressing three other Manifestation realm experts. Faltering ever so slightly, Jiang Tian Sheng’s reddened complexion recovered negligibly as a mouthful of blood escaped his mouth, disrupting his breathing.

Finding Tang Tian Hao through his voice, Jiang Tian Sheng’s gaze became clearer as his expression turned dazed, and then, tears started to flow from his eyes.

As he trembled, he slowly opened his mouth and shouted towards the skies with all his might, “Jiang Tian Sheng greets the Vast Sky General!”

Jiang Tian Sheng was visibly agitated as well, but he controlled himself as he carried Tang Can towards Jiang Tian Sheng’s side.

“Tian Sheng, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other, this is my son, Tang Can.” Tang Tian Hao greeted him.

Jiang Tian Sheng nodded with an expression of realisation, “Oh! As I suspected! I thought that Tang Can seemed familiar.” Looking at the individuals at his side, he seemed indignant and grief-stricken.

“This, why is this happening?” Jiang Tian Sheng’s face was filled with disbelief as he watched the sea of people hacking away at each other and the tens of thousands of corpses on the ground, his expression slowly becoming insane.

Tang Tian Hao interrupted with a solemn expression, “Jiang Tian Sheng, this isn’t the time to be talking, bring Can’er out with you, I’ll go save the princes.”

Before he could respond, Tang Tian Hao had already shoved Tang Can into his arms. Jiang Tian Sheng spoke frantically, “General, what about you? I……” But before he could finish, his gaze became bloodied yet again, filled with the intent to kill.

Noticing his state, Tang Tian Hao quickly injected his spiritual powers into his body as he gritted his teeth and took out a spiritual pill, splitting it into two and feeding them into the mouths of Tang Can and Jian Tian Sheng.

“This is the lower Sky-level Qing Shen spiritual pill that can help the both of you to maintain your rationality for fifteen minutes, leave now! I will take care of this!” Tang Tian Hao roared as he turned around, swinging his hammer at the group of Manifestation realm experts that had surrounded them.

“Father!”

“General!”

Both Tang Can and Jiang Tian Sheng shouted hurriedly, but neither of them had the ability to help him. Tang Can was injured, and Jiang Tian Sheng’s spiritual powers were almost completely depleted, he could no longer fight.

Tang Tian Hao didn’t even turn back once as he attacked the five Manifestation realm experts, he could only shout, “Leave!”

Translator’s note

If you enjoy this novel, consider leaving a review in Novel Updates, or subscribe to my Ko-fi for 10 advanced, unedited chapters.

I upload once a day on Ko-fi, and I post about 6 edited chapters a week on my website.