Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 367
Chapter 367: True Face
Looking at this comical trio of bandits, Wei Tianzhi and Wu Xing looked at each other and smiled in disdain.
Wei Tianzhi said, “We were the ones who opened up this road, and we ran into quite a few bandits, but it’s my first time seeing ones all covered up like this, refusing to show their real faces. I’d like to see who’s under that face scarf of yours that dares to touch a convoy of my Wei Clan.”
As he waved his hand, green threads flew out to entangle the trio.
This was Wei Tianzhi’s Threading Hand, which excelled in transformation and control. As the green threads coiled toward Tang Jie, Wei Tianchong rushed in and chopped his hand down, dispelling all the threads.
Meanwhile, Wu Xing began to fight with Shi Meng.
On the other end, Gu Changan wanted to help, but Tang Jie confronted him, punching at Gu Changan and Zhu Kaishan while laughing, “You two are mine!”
The seven of them were soon locked in combat. As for the escorts, they were just ordinary people and couldn’t be of much help, so they just stayed by the wagons to make sure that other people didn’t launch a sneak attack.
When it came to strength, while it was three versus four, Wei Tianchong alone could have taken care of all four of them.
But being unable to use their weapons and spell arts greatly limited their abilities. It was only when Wei Tianchong was fighting his older brother that he realized that he didn’t really have any spell arts that could be used on him.
The Changfeng Thirteenth Style? No, his big brother had seen it before, when he had been sparring with him and Wu Xing a few days ago.
Fireball? No, he had also seen that.
The puppet? Absolutely not! He was already famous for it.
Though he racked his mind, he still couldn’t think of a spell art that Wei Tianzhi had never seen before, so in the end he could only use popular sword techniques like the Swiftwind Sword to fight him.
Shi Meng was in the same situation. As a servant student, he had privately sparred with Wu Xing before.
As a result, the two of them were pushed back.
Tang Jie was in a somewhat better state.
He had many spell arts, like the Matchless Slash and Star Finger, that Wei Tianzhi and Wu Xing had never seen before. Although he couldn’t use the Matchless Slash because he couldn’t use the Heartbreak Saber, and the Heavenly Blade was too powerful to be used here, he could handle the situation well enough with only the Star Finger and Dragonlike Hand.
He also had his Jewel Body, so even in a one-versus-two, he still had the upper hand, such that he could occasionally help out Wei Tianchong a little.
In this way, this somewhat uneven battle was fought to a draw, with neither side able to get the upper hand over the other.
As the main overseer of the Gu Clan’s escort company business, Zhu Kaishan, though only a Spirit Disciple, had a rather sharp gaze. He immediately saw that Tang Jie was the leader of the trio, with more than half of the attacks from their side being neutralized by him, so he shouted, “Split them up! All of you, help Young Master Wei attack those two!”
The escorts began to throw their darts and knives at Wei Tianchong and Shi Meng, with someone even taking out a powerful bow and taking aim at Wei Tianchong. Aghast, Wei Tianchong was forced to retreat. Without a barrier, if he were struck by an arrow from such a bow, he would be heavily injured if not killed.
The battlefield was split in two. Tang Jie couldn’t help Wei Tianchong, and Wei Tianchong and Shi Meng were forced to dodge around as Wei Tianzhi, Wu Xing, and the escorts deluged them with attacks. The tables had instantly turned.
An arrow flew through the air, and Wei Tianchong had barely dodged it when Wei Tianzhi threw a punch into his chest, giving a jolt to his heart. He threw up blood, staining his head covering red.
Tang Jie knew that this wasn’t good, so he finally said, “Clear the mind and see the true nature, linking the spirit to the will…”
Wei Tianchong was startled, and then a mantra appeared in his mind. It was none other than the Bright Heart Art from the Ninedark Mantra that Tang Jie had taught him.
Tang Jie was clearly reciting part of the mantra, but it had a completely different meaning in Wei Tianchong’s ears. As the mantra flashed through his mind, the scene before him no longer appeared as simple.
He had experienced something like this a few years ago. Every time he entered this state, he would learn things very quickly. But he had always felt like these were sudden bursts of enlightenment, that he had just been in particularly good condition on that day. It was only now that he truly understood.
But the situation didn’t give him time to celebrate. As Wu Xing unleashed a Gale Blade at him, he snorted and sliced with his hand. He chopped right between Wei Tianzhi and Wu Xing, cutting an opening between the two. At the same time, he formed a sword sign with his left hand and pointed, unleashing a brilliant wave of sword energy.
Changfeng Thirteen Moves, Sword Transformation!
Turning his finger into a sword, he unleashed awesome sword energy.
Up until now, Wei Tianchong had only ever been able to grasp the first move of the Changfeng Thirteen Moves. But in this sudden burst of insight, he had been able to comprehend the spell art that had eluded him all this time. As he unleashed the waves of sword energy, they howled through the air and left Wei Tianzhi and Wu Xing in a panic as they were pushed back.
Tang Jie softly chuckled.
He drew back his fists and charged out, slamming into Zhu Kaishan and Gu Changan. When the three had previously clashed, though Tang Jie had his Jewel Body, he was still only at minor attainment while the other two were fighting back with spell arts, so they had drawn. But in this collision, Tang Jie’s fists erupted with spiritual light, and then there was a boom. The other two were sent flying, this one strike causing them to throw up blood.
Energy-Blood Simulflow!
After four years of cultivation, Tang Jie had managed to both cultivate to proficiency the arts of the Basking Moon Sect and also make remarkable progress in the Ninedark Mantra.
After pushing them back, Tang Jie laughed and said, “I already said you guys were no match, but you didn’t believe me. That being the case, don’t blame me for being merciless!”
As he spoke, he reached out and snatched a sword from the hand of an escort. He thrust the sword at Gu Changan and Zhu Kaishan. As the sword tip struck empty air twice, it created two energy vortices that flew at the two.
The Twelve Hidden Whirlpool Art.
If these vortices were to make contact, the two of them would die on the spot.
At this moment, a voice called out, “Shameless boasting!”
A figure charged out, thrusting their palms at the energy vortices. Bam! Bam! The two vortices disappeared.
An escort was standing in front of the two—the one who had first noticed Tang Jie’s group approaching.
This escort was seemingly in his thirties and looked like a farmer. His claw-like hands were shriveled but vigorous, and his eyes were bright with energy.
“Cao Jiyuan?” Zhu Kaishan said in surprise.
Cao Jiyuan was an escort that the Gu Clan had introduced a few days ago. At the start, Zhu Kaishan had taken him to be a relative of the Gu Clan and had treated him very well. But when he found Cao Jiyuan to be not much of a talker, and then he also learned from asking some powerful individuals in the Gu Clan that even they didn’t know who he was, he gradually started to ignore the man.
He hadn’t expected Cao Xuyuan to come out of nowhere like this, first discovering these bandits and then saving them.
As he stood in front of Zhu Kaishan, Cao Jiyuan coldly said, “Friend, where do you come from, that you would dare to touch the goods of the Basking Moon Sect?”
“‘The Basking Moon Sect’?” Tang Jie threw his head back and laughed. Dropping his head, he said in a dark and raspy voice, “Other people might be afraid of your Basking Moon Sect, but not my Seven Absolutions Sect.”
“The audacity!” Cao Jiyuan’s face darkened, and a cold white energy gathered in his hand. He suddenly grabbed at Tang Jie’s face as he bellowed, “You’re clearly using the Star Finger and Dragonlike Hand, yet you dare to say you’re from the Seven Absolutions Sect! Hurry and reveal yourself!”
Tang Jie raised his arms to block, and he felt a chill entering his arms, almost freezing his blood. But it was only a momentary sensation. Tang Jie simply circulated his blood energy to neutralize the chill.
“What about you? Isn’t this the Freezing Nether Claw of the Seven Absolutions Sect?” Tang Jie smiled. “So it was actually Sir who was a member of the Seven Absolutions Sect! Why have you come to Sageheart to be an escort?”
Cao Jiyuan grunted, “Being able to use the Freezing Nether Claw doesn’t make me a member of the Seven Absolutions Sect!”
He clawed at Tang Jie again.
“Sounds good! Then my using the Star Finger doesn’t mean I’m from the Basking Moon Sect,” Tang Jie laughed.
One was part of the Seven Absolutions Sect and pretending to be part of the Basking Moon Sect, and the other was from the Basking Moon Sect and pretending to be part of the Seven Absolutions Sect. Just like that, they began to fight.
But it was clear that Cao Jiyuan was no longer holding back now that he had been exposed, using the Freezing Nether Claw again and again—each one fiercer than the last.
“Astral Guardian Winds, Seven Star Mooncrosser, the 79 Coldlight Chain Swords… and you still say you’re not from the Seven Absolutions Sect? Have you no shame!?” Tang Jie rolled his eyes.
After being exposed, Cao Jiyuan had begun to flagrantly use his sect’s spell arts, but Tang Jie elected to continue keeping his cover.
They were both at the Hundred Refinement Period, but Tang Jie couldn’t even use 30% of his power while Cao Jiyuan was able to go all-out. And this wasn’t even considering that Gu Changan and Zhu Kaishan were occasionally making opportunistic attacks on Tang Jie. It wasn’t long before Tang Jie was on the back foot.
Cao Jiyuan moved like lightning, rushing up to Tang Jie and thrusting a clawed hand at Tang Jie’s chest. Without the protection of the Formless Golden Body, Tang Jie was sent flying, five bloody holes appearing on his chest.
“Not daring to use your full strength?” Cao Jiyuan crazily laughed as he unleashed a wave of sword energy at Tang Jie.
While flying through the air, Tang Jie laughed and said, “You have to have the ability to force my hand first.”
He raised his head, and his eyes flashed white. A light exploded in the air, and then a curved blade plummeted toward Cao Jiyuan, dragging two long chains behind it.
The Heavenly Cloud Blade!
Cao Jiyuan paled. In truth, he had been ready for Tang Jie to use some powerful spell art, but he had never even heard about this particular spell art.
Could he be not a Basking Moon Sect disciple, but a disciple of another sect pretending to be one?
Cao Jiyuan couldn’t help but think this.
As this thought was running through his mind, Cao Jiyuan dodged to the side. With the Seven Star Mooncrosser, he became like a wisp of smoke, dodging the Heavenly Blade.
This was the first time someone had dodged the Heavenly Cloud Blade.
Tang Jie didn’t care.
With a light wave of his finger, the curved blade, rather than disappearing after missing, changed directions and continued to pursue Cao Jiyuan.
This wasn’t a power of the Heavenly Blade, but the effect of the Ninedark Mantra. Violet Temple Radiance actually allowed all spell arts made from condensed spiritual energy to last for a little longer.
Tang Jie had never done this before because he had never run into a proper opponent and also because he hadn’t been skilled enough in the Heavenly Cloud Blade.
But now, both conditions had been met.
Cao Jiyuan was aghast at the pursuit of the blade. While the Seven Star Mooncrosser was nimble, it couldn’t outrun the Heavenly Blade. With no other choice, Cao Jiyuan bellowed and swung his sword.
A wave of sword energy struck the Heavenly Blade, causing it to freeze.
A moment later, the Heavenly Blade started to crumble.
Cao Jiyuan sighed in relief and then snarled, “What other tricks do you have?”
Tang Jie’s eyes coldly glinted. “Then take a look at this one.”
He formed signs with his hands and then pointed, upon which another light burst out in the air.
But this light was even brighter than the last, and the Heavenly Blade appeared again, but this time, there were two.
“How?” Cao Jiyuan cried out in shock.
He didn’t know that there were originally 81 Heavenly Blades. The Heavenly Cloud Blade spell art that Tang Jie had developed from the Jade Gate Heaven Seal Formation had precisely sought a rapid increase in power by boosting their number. Thus, after making the first one, he didn’t just stop, continuing to put his effort into creating more Heavenly Vortex Blades.
But as this had been based on a formation, it wasn’t easy for one person to do it all. However, Tang Jie had the Ninedark Mantra, and the Twelve Hidden Whirlpools and Violet Temple Radiance specialized in overlapping spell arts. In this urgent situation, he had made a sudden breakthrough and had gone from one Heavenly Vortex Blade to two.
These blades plummeted down, the four chains behind them clattering in the air.
Cao Jiyuan let out a frightened yelp and flew into the air, unleashing wave after wave of energy from his sword. At the same time, he used the Seven Star Mooncrosser to constantly evade this powerful attack.
He was still a Seven Absolutions Sect disciple, and while he wasn’t an elite, he also wasn’t trash. With all of his power, he ultimately managed to avoid this offensive.
But those two Heavenly Blades weren’t willing to go back empty-handed. Since they couldn’t catch Cao Jiyuan, they turned around and flew toward Gu Changan and Zhu Kaishan.
Tang Jie didn’t have any good impression of these two, so he showed them no mercy.
The curved blades swept past their bodies, and then two people became four chunks, blood fountaining into the sky.
Only then did the chains pull the blades back into the sky.
“You…” Cao Jiyuan looked at Tang Jie in shock. He hadn’t expected Tang Jie to be so ruthless.
With Gu and Zhu dead, he suddenly realized that this was no ordinary bandit, but someone who was aiming for the special goods in this convoy.
Cao Jiyuan immediately knew that he was in trouble and that this deal was not going to go well. He rushed off into the sky, attempting to escape.
Tang Jie snorted at this escape attempt. “Trying to escape to the skies after seeing my Heavenly Blades?”
He pointed at the air, and another Heavenly Blade formed. He didn’t use two this time. Having only recently gained this ability, he found it easier and less tiring to use only a single blade.
Seeing this, Cao Jiyuan rushed back to the ground before the blade could form.
Unable to escape, he gritted his teeth and took out a small bottle from his Mustard Seed Bag, throwing a pill into his mouth.
He moved so quickly that even Tang Jie grimaced at the sight.
Even now, he hadn’t forgotten about that Demonblood Pill that Zhuang Shen had used.
Cao Jiyuan was from the Seven Absolutions Sect, so he was bound to have even more such things.
As Cao Jiyuan downed the pill, his body began to rapidly grow. At this time, the Heavenly Vortex Blade finished forming, and it chopped down at Cao Jiyuan. Cao Jiyuan simply laughed and punched.
This one punch instantly obliterated the blade.
Cao Jiyuan’s body was still growing in size, only stopping when he had reached a height of around five meters. Standing in front of Tang Jie, he was like a giant as he laughed, “Just die already!”
He brought a large hand down on Tang Jie.
Tang Jie’s eyes flashed with a harsh light. “A Multiplier Pill? Then perhaps I can still try.”
The Multiplier Pill was different from the Demonblood Pill. The Multiplier Pill simply increased the strength of the body by increasing its size. The larger one’s body was, the more strength one could draw on.
Cao Jiyuan’s body was three times the size of a normal person, so his strength was about six times greater. He made for a frightening figure, but it wasn’t enough to make Tang Jie afraid, which was why he said that he wanted to try.
As Cao Jiyuan’s hand pressed down, Tang Jie punched, his fist flashing red and white.
White was the color of spiritual light, and red was the color of blood energy.
Energy-Blood Simulflow, Blood Refining Spirit!
Tang Jie’s body seethed with energy and blood, and as he infused his fist with spiritual energy, he unleashed the strongest blow he was capable of!
Boom!
In a fierce collision, Tang Jie was swatted away like a fly, but Cao Jiyuan wasn’t much better off. Tang Jie’s punch had blasted a large hole in his palm, causing him to howl in pain.
Both sides had been injured in this exchange.
A moment later, Cao Jiyuan charged at Tang Jie, his feet stomping forward. Tang Jie didn’t back down and countered with a swinging punch.
Everyone else was dumbfounded by this battle.
Wei Tianchong and Wei Tianzhi stopped fighting and watched Tang Jie battle the giant.
Trees toppled beneath the giant while the earth groaned.
Fists infused with spiritual energy unleashed a frightening light that tore apart everything in their path!
Tang Jie’s black clothes were torn apart, and the covering around his face could no longer hide him, revealing some of his face.
“Let’s see how long you can keep this act up! Show your true form!” Cao Jiyuan roared as he punched at Tang Jie.
He no longer had any hopes of killing Tang Jie, but he was determined to tear off Tang Jie’s mask and see who this was. Perhaps he even had a chance of sending word back to his senior brother…
Boom!
A powerful current of air ripped forward like a tornado.
Tang Jie raised his arms to block his face.
But the all-penetrating wind got through the openings between his arms and tore away Tang Jie’s face scarf.
“Oh no!” Upon seeing this, Wei Tianchong couldn’t help but cry out in alarm.
Wei Tianzhi shuddered upon hearing his voice, looking at Wei Tianchong in disbelief.
Tang Jie’s face was still hidden behind his arms.
Cao Jiyuan laughed. “Still trying to hide it? Given your abilities, you must have been sent by the Basking Moon Sect. If my guess is right, you should be…”
Before he could finish speaking, Tang Jie put down his arms and looked at Cao Jiyuan. “You know me?”
The shriveled yellow face of a middle-aged man appeared before everyone’s eyes.
Cao Jiyuan was dumbfounded. “Who are you?”
“Go and ask that question in the underworld,” Tang Jie said, unleashing a thunderous punch.
