Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 349
Chapter 349: Chaotic Battle
The blue-robed man was a Spirit Lake Tier cultivator. While he was on the weak side, in normal circumstances, this was more than enough to keep a handle on the casino. As the gamblers rushed him, he knew that he was in trouble, so he ignored Tang Jie’s threats and prepared to cast a spell.
Tang Jie suddenly snorted.
It wasn’t loud, but it was right when the blue-robed man had circulated his energy and was about to unleash it. This snort boomed like a clap of thunder in the man’s ear drums, dazzling him and preventing him from casting the spell.
At this moment, somebody accidentally bumped the dice cup on the table, sending the dice to the ground. The gamblers, who had only planned to teach the blue-robed man a lesson, considered this act to be a stab to the heart.
All of them believed that this man had done it on purpose so as to ruin the wager and prevent them from winning any money.
Their seething emotions instantly exploded, and the crowd began to heedlessly attack the blue-robed man, not caring that he was a cultivator. The blue-robed man couldn’t handle the rapid turn of events, and his actions only made the gamblers go even crazier. Some of them even started stealing money.
Gamblers had no morals or bottom line and couldn’t be trusted in the slightest. Having a gambler follow the rules was like trying to make a weasel not eat chickens, trying to make an internet troll intelligent, or trying to make Clinton not have an affair. It was simply impossible.
This was particularly true for those gamblers who had lost money. The moment they saw this chaotic scene, they began to seize whatever money they could, whether it had belonged to them or not.
Amid the chaos, the casino’s guards began to step in, and the scene only grew more chaotic.
The Gu Clan had operated in Canglong Prefecture for many years, and they ran casinos, escort companies, pawn shops, and high-interest loans, all of which could easily empty a person’s pockets. Thus, they naturally had some capable people in their employ. When it came to number of cultivators, they possibly had as many as Canglong Prefecture’s number one clan, the Jin Clan.
A rush of wind could be heard outside as people began to arrive in response to the incident.
A middle-aged man wearing a long robe was the first to arrive, roaring, “Reckless fools, daring to make trouble in my Gu Clan!”
He formed a sword sign, and the sword on his back flew out and unleashed several dozen waves of sword energy. This attack was more meant to scare than wound, so they only flew back and forth over everyone’s heads. This was enough to have the gamblers weeping and howling as they remembered that the Gu Clan’s establishments were protected by cultivators, and they wondered what had come over them, that they had the guts to do something like this.
Just as they were about to escape, a laugh like silver bells rang out. “These sword waves are quite pretty, but they’re bound to be prettier with these.”
Countless petals drifted in, blooming with dazzling colors under the sword light, appearing like the perfect complement.
As the petals danced, they landed on the sword lights, upon which the sword energy dissipated. In a flash, all that was left was a single sword spinning in the air.
The middle-aged man said in shock, “Who broke my Immortal art?”
It would have been fine if he hadn’t said anything, but by shouting it out, he told everyone that his spell had been undone by someone else. The fleeing gamblers instantly regained their courage. Some of them realized that they had a cultivator on their side, shouting, “The Gu Clan is heartless and cheats us gamblers. A cultivator has finally gotten sick of them and has come to clean them up, taking from the rich and giving to the poor!”
This guy didn’t mind being shameless, even talking about taking from the rich and giving to the poor, but he won many cries of approval. After all, they had all clearly heard that blue-robed man calling Tang Jie a cultivator.
A little girl dressed in white appeared on the roof of the casino, waving her feet in the air as she looked at the middle-aged man. It was none other than Yiyi, that blue-robed man from before bundled up with vines at her feet.
She propped her face up with her hands and looked at the middle-aged man. “Hey, if you have any other spell arts, take them all out so I can take a look.”
The middle-aged man scowled. “So it was a sprite! Evildoer, die!”
He pointed at his sword, and the sword in the air sliced down at Yiyi, shining with a sharper light than before. It was no feint this time.
Yiyi tilted her head and pointed a finger. A vine flew out and began to battle with the sword, and then countless vines erupted from the ground and lunged toward the middle-aged man. This was Yiyi’s frequently used green rose formation. As Yiyi grew stronger, this green rose formation also became fiercer.
This middle-aged man had entered Mortal Shedding and had some strength. Seeing that the situation was poor, he formed a sign and took the skies. The vines were landbound, so he flew up in order to render the vines ineffective.
But the moment he flew into the sky, countless petals howled at him, instantly blotting out the heavens. And they continued to expand like a giant cloud of petals, encompassing several blocks.
Numerous people saw this sight. Yanzhi and Shi Yue, who were hurrying over, saw this cloud of petals above them and muttered in unison, “So beautiful!”
Even the middle-aged man was shocked by this gorgeous display.
But a moment later, he came to his senses. With no time to make an attack, he hastily cast his strongest defensive spell art.
Yiyi laughed. “No rush, no rush! I’ll wait for you.”
As the middle-aged man strengthened his defenses, Yiyi lightly waved her hand, causing the petals to spin into a vortex.
The flower cloud began to condense, each petal beginning to spin so fast that it whistled. The moment the middle-aged man finished his defenses, Yiyi pushed out with her hands and shouted, “Go!”
Silkheaven Net!
Tens of thousands of petals, each one like a dart, formed together into a giant flower dragon that surged toward the middle-aged man. It slammed into the spell art barrier, unleashing a burst of rainbow light and raining down the fiercest rain of petals.
Not even a fifth of the flower flood was needed to shatter the middle-aged man’s defensive barrier. At the moment it shattered, the middle-aged man took out a Diamond Talisman, which applied a Diamond Barrier to himself. Yet this defense so tough that it was called a Diamond Barrier swiftly fell under the attack of the Silkheaven Net. The flower flood seemed endless, continuing to charge toward the man, and despair appeared in his eyes.
He had never imagined that there could be a spell art this fierce.
Just when the flower flood was about to engulf him and tear him apart, it suddenly stopped and swam past him. Only a few petals struck him, knocking him from the sky.
Countless vines coiled around him, and with the flower dragon still floating above him, the middle-aged man didn’t dare to move. The vines wrapped around him tightly, and several thorns jabbed into his body, draining his spiritual energy so that he wouldn’t have the chance to counterattack.
Just before he was completely bound, the middle-aged man shouted, “I get it! No wonder this spell art was so strong! It can be attacked while taking form! You put on an impressive show so that I would only focus on defending myself.”
“Hm?” Tang Jie turned to the middle-aged man, not having expected him to say such a thing.
Even more surprisingly, he had identified the weakness of the Silkheaven Net.
The most terrifying aspect of the Silkheaven Net was its powerful attack.
Of course, this was only when compared to spell arts of a similar level. A spell art like Heavenly King Mara’s Incantation was still stronger than the Silkheaven Net, but it had a very long casting time, and casting an art had many restrictions, like the inability to move. Besides that, it had less explosive power than the Silkheaven Net and consumed more spiritual energy.
Yiyi’s Silkheaven Net didn’t have these problems, which made it one of the strongest arts of its level.
Its only problem was that it could be destroyed, and as petals were soft and tender, each petal didn’t have much defensive power. Thus, the best way to deal with the Silkheaven Net was to attack it before it had a chance to attack. Using large-area spells, even if one couldn’t completely eliminate the cloud of petals, one would at least be able to cut down the number.
The fewer the petals, the smaller the power.
Yiyi had given the middle-aged man the chance to cast a defensive spell art partially because she was looking down on him and partially because she didn’t want to give him a chance to identify the weakness. Surprisingly, the man had only needed to see it once to figure it out.
Tang Jie asked in surprise, “What’s your name?”
The middle-aged man knew that he was in trouble for revealing the flaw of the Silkheaven Net, and he turned ghastly pale. Upon hearing Tang Jie’s question, he timidly replied, “This one… this one is Lu Chengfeng. I pay my respects to the Honored Immortal.”
Tang Jie nodded. “To be able to think about the weaknesses of the enemy while in danger shows that you are focused and serious. I like you.”
He proceeded to ignore the man.
Lu Chengfeng didn’t know what Tang Jie’s “I like you” meant. Did it mean that he was going to be let go because of his hard work, or was he going to be killed for his hard work, or was he going to be raped because of his hard work… With his back to the wall, he inevitably started to get a little wild with his thoughts. As all sorts of speculations popped up in Lu Chengfeng’s mind, he found it hard to calm down.
With Lu Chengfeng taken care of, three more people from the Gu Clan soon arrived, but alas, they were worse than him—three Spirit Platform disciples.
Tang Jie still did nothing, allowing Yiyi to capture them with vines.
The Gu Clan casino was completely ruined by now. The ceiling had been torn off, and the surroundings were devastated. If Tang Jie hadn’t been restraining himself, the entire street might have been wiped out.
The pedestrians who had been fleeing in fear saw that the damage was limited to the casino’s environs, and gradually built up enough courage to stick around to spectate.
Even some gamblers who had run off with money began to come back after stowing away their money back at home, standing on the street and pointing at the casino.
While Tang Jie didn’t do anything, he was the only person present, so it would be difficult to not realize that he was behind this mess. As for Yiyi, who was seated atop a shattered wall, she became the center of attention.
A toothless old lady saw the white and tender Yiyi and enviously said, “What a beautiful little girl! I almost want to take her back to be my granddaughter.”
Someone else remarked in fright, “That’s an Immortal Master! While she looks young, she’s probably lived countless years. I’ve heard of Immortal Masters who’ve lived tens of thousands of years without aging. ‘Take her to be your granddaughter’? You might not even be old enough to be her granddaughter!”
Two more people from the Gu Clan arrived, and they were also captured. Yiyi currently had seven people bound up in her vines, so Yiyi decided to make a display, hanging them up in the air like seven dolls.
Perhaps realizing that they were dealing with a tough customer, the Gu Clan stopped sending people.
After a while, ten-some people appeared in the air. It appeared that they had gathered their forces first before setting off.
Their leader was a whiskered Daoist holding a horsetail whisk, and behind him were nine men and five women, for fifteen people in all. Adding on the seven that had already been captured, the Gu Clan had a rather impressive twenty-two cultivators under its command.
But it didn’t have many Mortal Shedding Realm cultivators. Of the fifteen, four were at the Mortal Shedding Realm, and with the Lu Chengfeng that Tang Jie had already captured, there were five in all. The one with the highest level was the whiskered Daoist. Tang Jie saw that he was at the Nine Revolutions Period.
But Tang Jie would wager that this guy didn’t even have the strength of Gu Changqing, who had also been at the Nine Revolutions Period.
The fifteen of them flew over, and when they saw Tang Jie and Yiyi with the seven bound-up cultivators, the whiskered Daoist’s face flashed with rage. But he restrained his rage and brought his hands together in a salute to Tang Jie. “Daoist Brother, what crime has the Gu Clan committed that has earned this visit from you?”
Tang Jie lazily replied, “No crime at all. I just came to gamble some money, but your people didn’t like seeing me win and accused me of cheating. And to prove myself, I have yet to use a single spell art or even attack anyone. Daoist Brother, if you don’t believe me, you can check it with a spell to confirm that I haven’t used any spell arts.”
He didn’t use any spell arts?
Everyone was stunned.
So he didn’t capture those seven people?
The whiskered Daoist thought it over and then made some hand signs, applying a detection spell on Tang Jie to see if he had utilized spiritual energy. Sure enough, the spiritual energy flowed through Tang Jie, and as none of it had leaked out, it showed that he had not used any spell arts recently.
Everyone was in an uproar, not knowing what to do.
They had thought that this man had come to settle a grudge, but in the end, it turned out to be their casino’s fault. They would be humiliated if this got out.
Tang Jie had reason on his side, so let alone the casino, he could tear down the Gu Clan without anyone complaining.
The whiskered Daoist was thinking about what to do when someone behind him whispered, “Master, why are you still wasting words on him? Since he dares to destroy our Gu Clan’s casino, he has to pay the price. As for who was trying to scam whom, isn’t it only the words of the winner that count?”
The one speaking was called Gu Hao. As a member of the Gu Clan, he naturally didn’t have as many misgivings as the whiskered Daoist.
The Gu Clan had always been involved in unpopular shady business. For them, trust, reason, and rules were just tools. They would use them if they were useful, but they would be thrown to the side once they stopped working.
In normal circumstances, they would naturally follow the rules, but when it was time to fight, they would be faster than anyone else. All they were doing now was doing openly what had once been done in private, and this wasn’t the first time the Gu Clan had done such a thing. A rabbit pushed into a corner would bite, let alone a vicious dog.
The whiskered Daoist knew that things would be hard to settle peacefully now that Gu Hao had spoken. If he really let Tang Jie go, the Gu Clan would still suffer a loss. He could only say, “Since that is the case, please return with me to clearly explain yourself!”
He waved his hand, seeking to grab Tang Jie.
Tang Jie laughed. “Sure enough, starting to act unreasonable, huh?”
He dispersed the Daoist’s palm of energy with a single punch.
He had proved himself in front of countless people already, so he no longer hesitated in striking out.
As he dispersed the energy palm, Tang Jie took out the Heartbreak Saber and gave it a powerful swing.
The wave of saber energy was peerless, cleaving through all, but as it was aimed at the sky, it didn’t strike any of the buildings below.
The cultivators on the other side hastily dodged to the side in shock.
The whiskered Daoist flew into the air while shouting, “Don’t hurt the common folk! Let’s fight in the air!”
He knew enough to try to act like a good person and recover a little of his dignity.
Tang Jie laughed. “Fine!”
He flew upward.
As he flew up, the whiskered Daoist’s eyes flashed, and he shot a bolt of energy from his finger.
At the same time, the three other Mortal Shedding Realm experts, two men and one woman, attacked Tang Jie in unison.
The four of them had attacked in concert, and it was right when Tang Jie was flying upward and had let down his defenses. It was the perfect ambush, and the four of them mentally exulted at their success.
But at this moment, Tang Jie’s body suddenly disappeared.
“What?” The four of them were stunned.
From above, they heard Tang Jie coldly say, “Chaoswind Step!”
A chilling saber wind slashed at one of the Mortal Shedding men, the sharp energy instantly cleaving through his barrier and striking his arm. But the man was at Hundred Refinement and Tang Jie’s blow had been weakened by the barrier, so he managed to keep his arm. However, it now hung limply in front of him.
The man howled in pain, alarming the other three. The whiskered Daoist felt like he had heard about the Chaoswind Step somewhere, but he couldn’t remember where. Meanwhile, the other two attacked Tang Jie.
But Tang Jie disappeared again, and when he next appeared, he was behind the whiskered Daoist.
“Behind you!” the female Mortal Shedding cultivator shouted.
The whiskered man reacted swiftly, dropping his head and lunging forward. Behind, a wave of saber energy struck his back in an explosion of light.
The remaining eleven Spirit Disciples finally came to their senses and began to attack Tang Jie. Tang Jie appeared behind one of them, punching him in the back. This single punch shook the Spirit Disciple’s barrier so badly that he threw up blood.
After making this strike, Tang Jie disappeared and reappeared elsewhere.
While this group had numbers, Tang Jie was like a ghost, impossible to catch and easily playing around with them.
The whiskered man shouted, “You’re no match for him! Go and seize that girl and save Chengfeng and the others! Zhou Hua, Tang Hong, and Huang Shi, help me hold him down!”
The best strategy was to rescue Lu Chengfeng and the others. The whiskered Daoist could be considered to have made the correct choice.
The eleven Spirit Disciples descended, and Yiyi laughed as she waved her hands, sending large numbers of vines and petals to meet them.
“You hold down that girl! Xu Qing and Xie Qiang, come with me to save the others!” Gu Hao shouted.
He was quite clever and knew that this wasn’t the time to fight. Using their numbers advantage to save the others was the best choice.
Sure enough, as eight people began to unleash various spell arts at Yiyi, even though Yiyi was a Mind Opening sprite, she still found it difficult to deal with all of them.
Gu Hao rushed over and began to pull at the vines. “Master Lu…”
But he saw that Lu Chengfeng appeared shocked rather than happy.
Gu Hao was startled, his heart chilling. Turning his head, he saw a giant tiger lunging toward him. A paw slapped him in the face, instantly sending him flying and mangling his face.
