Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 497

Chapter 497: All Within One’s Palm

Boom!

A massive boom came from outside.

Everyone rushed out and saw a lightning bolt crashing into the distance, lighting up the entire area and releasing countless smaller slivers of electricity.

Amidst the crackling lightning, a brilliant rainbow light rose into the sky.

“It’s the storehouse!” Nan Ningjiang scowled. “The defensive formation of Ninebind City’s storehouse has been broken!”

Everyone felt their vision go dark upon hearing this.

Ninebind City’s storehouse was the most important location in the city. Ever since Tang Jie’s crime spree, the storehouses of other places had all been placed under heavy guard, protected by formations. But to their surprise, a storehouse had been attacked again at a moment like this.

Worst of all was that the 12 Hawks had mustered people from all over to capture Tang Jie, and this included the guards of the storehouse.

In other words, the storehouse had a manpower shortage, and now that that mighty lightning bolt had shattered the defensive formation, it was almost completely defenseless.

As the lightning dissipated, a person could be seen rising up.

Huang Yue activated his Celestial Eye, pushing through the piercing pain. He was finally able to make that person out and shouted, “Tang Jie! It’s Tang Jie!”

The Tang Jie that had appeared in the distant sky was naturally not some duplicate, but the real deal.

He raised his hands, and a fog rose up, enveloping the region. The next step was to take out the Mountain River State Diagram and take the entire storehouse. Of course, he had to deal with the remaining guards before this, and as the winds howled, sounds of fighting came from the storehouse.

“Hurry to their aid!” someone shouted.

Everyone flew toward the storehouse.

With the storehouse in danger and Tang Jie appearing there, everyone cast aside Celestial Flower Pavilion, only taking with them the surviving members of the 13 Demons.

Smoke was still rising from the storehouse, but the sounds of fighting were dwindling. It seemed like Tang Jie was just about done.

At this moment, Nan Ningjiang suddenly stopped. “Wait.”

“What?” Everyone looked at Nan Ningjiang in confusion.

Gazing at the distant fog, Nan Ningjiang said, “Why does Tang Jie want to rob the storehouse?”

“For its goods, of course,” the eight Hawk said. “Isn’t that what he’s been doing all this time?”

Nan Ningjiang shook his head. “The problem is that he doesn’t want those goods, but the Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill. Since Tang Jie never entered Celestial Flower Pavilion, how does he plan to get the Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill? Through that Basking Moon spy? Since he planned to use the spy to take the medicine out, why did he not try to stop the 13 Demons of Mount Luo, instead using them to fool us? Simply to deceive us? If it was to deceive us, I admit that he’s done it, but if that doesn’t achieve his ultimate goal of getting the pill, what was the point?”

Everyone realized that his argument made a lot of sense.

Yes, Tang Jie’s real goal was the Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill, so if he didn’t achieve this goal, even if he tricked them all, what did it matter? Because he didn’t get the pill, even though he had fooled them, he had still, from a certain perspective, failed.

Tang Jie wasn’t the type of person who did pointless things.

Third Sister Zhou Fanghua said, “There’s another thing that doesn’t make sense.”

Everyone looked at her.

Zhou Fanghua said, “The smoke talisman. Don’t you feel it was strange to throw it out? It was precisely because of that talisman that Huang Yue lost the opportunity to examine everyone. But in that situation, who would throw out that sort of talisman? And one of such a high level?”

In a chaotic situation, throwing out a talisman in a fight was very common, but who would throw out a smoke talisman?

“Also…” The taciturn second Hawk spoke. “If Tang Jie wanted to trick us, then having a complete grasp on the situation is very important, and he can’t make a single mistake when it comes to timing. But if Tang Jie was disguising himself as a corpse, how could he control the situation?”

Xi Canhen replied, “He has that sprite called Yiyi who can communicate with plants.”

“That only works for the outside, not within the pavilion.”

“What about the clone?”

Nobody had anything to say about that.

Nan Ningjiang suddenly recalled Old Fourth Liu’s hesitant and surprised expression, and how he was indecisive and seemed to be taking orders, and he had a flash of realization, shouting, “It’s not the clone! That was only used to fool us! There was someone else in the pavilion!”

“‘Someone else’?” Everyone was stunned.

“That mysterious True Person Gui?”

“No, impossible!” Huang Yue immediately denied. He knew what True Person Gui looked like, and if that guy had dared to come, there was no way Huang Yue would have missed him.

One of the hawks said, “Then another spy?”

Basking Moon had many spies. If Tang Jie could contact one, he could naturally contact others.

Nan Ningjiang instantly rejected the idea. “No! This person was the one giving orders to that Basking Moon spy, meaning he was the real person to take the medicine. He must have understood everything about Tang Jie’s plan. This person has to be very important, so important that…” He looked at the smoke billowing from the storehouse region and said, “So important that Tang Jie would use himself to draw us away and give that person a chance to leave.”

Everyone finally understood why Tang Jie wanted to attack the storehouse.

That person that had been unknown to all of them would take the Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill, and then Tang Jie’s real body would appear, using himself as a distraction to protect that person. Of course, he would also fill his own purse in the process.

An excellent interlocking plan!

“But the Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill is with us!” the fifth Hawk shouted, raising a Mustard Seed Bag.

Everyone gave that Mustard Seed Bag an odd look.

The fifth Hawk also had an ill foreboding.

After taking the Mustard Seed Bag from the red scarf man, as they hadn’t actually cared about the Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill itself, they hadn’t looked inside the bag. But now, they realized that there was no reason for Tang Jie to have gone so far only to give up.

The fifth Hawk opened the Mustard Seed Bag, looked inside, and paled.

He looked at Nan Ningjiang. “There’s no pill.”

No pill!

The Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill wasn’t in the Mustard Seed Bag!

Everyone was stunned!

“That damn bastard!” several people cursed.

There was no need to ask. That Basking Moon spy had played a trick, putting the pill inside and then secretly switching it out.

Nan Ningjiang turned and said, “Second Brother, Fourth Brother, Fifth Brother, Sixth Sister, Seventh Brother, and True Person Liang, come with me to Celestial Flower Pavilion. Third Sister, take the rest to the storehouse to chase after Tang Jie.”

“Yes!” everyone sounded off, splitting into two groups.

Nan Ningjiang hastily led his group back to Celestial Flower Pavilion.

When they arrived, they found that many people had already left.

After all that ruckus, there was no way the auction could keep going. Some people were bored and departed, and the remainder were people who had yet to emerge from their shock and fear.

“Seal the doors! No one else is allowed to leave! Have Hall Master Li check who already left. Sixth Sister, go and check everyone’s identities,” Nan Ningjiang loudly ordered. Although he knew that Tang Jie’s accomplice was no longer here, he still decided to shutter the pavilion and inspect everyone.

Nan Ningjiang found Old Fourth Liu’s body.

The fifth brother searched Old Fourth Liu and then shook his head at Nan Ningjiang. “It’s not on him.”

Nan Ningjiang was unmoved. “It must have been taken away. Fourth Brother, restore the battlefield and see who approached this man.”

“Yes!” The fourth Hawk nodded, and he began his Recall spell art. His eyes glowed with a mystical light that seemed to penetrate through the void and see into the past. Fragmentary scenes began to blink through his eyes, speckled figures flashing in and out.

He tried his utmost to memorize every scene, meanwhile muttering, “No… no… not it… not it either…”

The Recall spell art was an extremely taxing spell art, and the farther into the past one wanted to recall, the more energy it demanded.

Even though Godhead Palace had carefully chosen a disciple that could use the Recall spell art, the fourth Hawk still had an extremely tough time using the spell.

Thankfully, he was rather lucky this time. He had been present for this incident, and the matter hadn’t taken place too long ago, so it wasn’t too much of a burden. If he needed to look too far back, he might become seriously ill and lose much of his life force.

Finally, the fourth Hawk shouted, “I see it! Someone is taking the Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill from Old Fourth Liu’s body!”

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know!” the fourth Hawk shouted. “That bastard has covered his face, as if he knows that I know Recall. And he’s walking through the smoke so that I can’t get a good look at him…”

“His figure, his clothes, where he came from!” Nan Ningjiang shouted.

“He’s crawling across the ground. I’ve never seen someone crawl like that before. He’s very muscular and solid. He’s wearing… servant clothes? Shit; he’s a servant! This bastard is a servant!”

“What sort of servant?” Nan Ningjiang barked.

“I’m looking!” the fourth Hawk shouted back.

The scenes continued to leap through his eyes, and as time continued to reverse, that crawling figure moved backward, gradually withdrawing into the crowd, and then standing up, upon which a talisman flew through the air and into his hand.

“Oh, shit; he really was the one who released the smoke talisman!” the fourth Hawk cried out.

He had finally found the culprit.

He saw that man move his hand toward his face. He knew that he was about to see this man’s true face.

At this moment, the earth quaked, and the fourth Hawk was jostled and fell forward.

The scene crumbled!

“NO!” the fourth Hawk yelled.

The interruption had broken him out of the spell, and he could not bring it back. Moreover, each time reversal would make Recall more difficult, so he had essentially lost the chance to find the culprit.

“Which bastard did that!?” the fourth brother angrily roared.

Turning his head, the fourth brother paled as he muttered, “Heavens!”

Outside of Celestial Flower Pavilion, numerous vines flailed like black tentacles, approaching in a wave of death.

As the fourth brother turned around, a black tentacle lashed out like a whip, curling around him and dragging him out of the pavilion.

Having just used Recall, the fourth brother was utterly exhausted, helpless to resist, and was pulled away by the tentacle.

“No!” he shrieked.

“Fourth Brother!” Nan Ningjiang shouted, hugging the fourth brother’s body. The second and fifth brothers swiftly followed. But as they jumped out, more of those vines began to assail the people in the pavilion.

Cries of alarm rang out. While the cultivators were able to battle against the tentacles, the ordinary people who had just come here to do business were instantly caught.

There was a chewing sound, and then a boom as countless bones shot out, peppering the insides of the pavilion and painting the walls red with blood.

Everyone was aghast at this sight. Meanwhile, the fourth brother was still caught in the clutches of a vine, and it was only the strenuous effort of Nan Ningjiang and company that kept him from being dragged away.

Nan Ningjiang shouted, “It’s Black Sin! Second Brother, use the Holy Sword!”

The second brother raised his right arm, and a blade of light emerged on his arm and chopped at the fiendish vine.

The vine instantly broke, and a bitter scream came from outside the pavilion.

With this, they were finally able to pull back the fourth brother.

As they were celebrating, there was suddenly a cold snort.

Upon hearing it, Nan Ningjiang’s heart turned cold. “Shit!”

The countless vines shot forward in unison like a wall of spears, all of them stabbing at the fourth brother.

“Stop them!” Nan Ningjiang frantically cried out, thrusting forward his palms with all his might.

But this Black Sin was not a newborn. It had been feeding beneath Ninebind City for quite some time, the activation of the formation and the countless deaths providing it plenty of food. Its strength had swelled to that of a Spirit Ring True Person.

The hundreds of vine spears penetrated through the palm blasts of Nan Ningjiang and company, shattered the protection of the Godhead Armor, and pierced into the fourth brother’s body, then they swiftly drew back. In a flash, the fourth brother’s body erupted with fountains of blood.

His body had been turned into a sieve.

As a peak Mortal Shedding cultivator who had been through the Three Witherings, the fourth brother wasn’t dead yet. A fiendish gale blew, and ice and fire surged into the pavilion. In this confined space, the fourth brother had nowhere to run, and in that torrent of spell arts, he let out the most terrified scream of his life.

Outside the pavilion, a tall and imposing figure loomed with his back to the sun, his face covered in shadow. There was no doubt that this attack had been his doing.

“Fourth Brother!” Nan Ningjiang painfully cried out. He turned to that mysterious dark figure and gasped. “You didn’t leave?”

The black figure coldly grunted and spoke in a raspy voice. “Since you split your forces, I attacked!”

This was Tang Jie’s style.

This person was none other than Tang Jie’s original body.

The one speaking to Old Fourth Liu this whole time had been the original body. As for the one who had turned into the corpse and was plundering the storehouse, that was the avatar. The original body was getting the medicine for the avatar while the avatar provided the distraction for the original body to escape. The ultimate goal of all this was to conceal the existence of the original body.

As Tang Jie’s greatest trump card and greatest secret, Tang Jie wouldn’t use it until the very last moment.

The original body had been about to leave when he saw Nan Ningjiang’s group splitting up, so he turned around.

The original body was strong enough to deal with those in Nan Ningjiang’s group.

“You must die!” Nan Ningjiang was furious after seeing his fourth brother die miserably in that storm of ice and fire. He crazily howled and thrust a palm at Tang Jie’s original body, and a golden hand appeared in the air. At the same time, the second brother took out a sword while the sixth sister let out a mournful lament that would make anyone who heard it feel sorrow and lose the will to fight. As for the seventh brother, a gray cloud emerged from his hand and drifted toward Tang Jie.

Three Spirit Ring True Persons and one peak Mortal Shedding Spirit Master attacked in unison—a most formidable offensive.

Tang Jie sneered.

He no longer considered Spirit Ring True Persons a threat. Not too long ago, his Diamond Body had reached the middle tier, and his strength was comparable to that of a Heart Demon True Person.

He was just about to take care of all four when he suddenly received a mental transmission.

Frowning, he waved a palm, blocking the golden hand and scattering the gray cloud. However, he allowed the sword to strike him, and in a spurt of blood, Tang Jie grunted and fell back. He roared, “The Recaller is dead, so this one shall take his leave.”

He flew off into the distance.

Nan Ningjiang and company wanted to pursue, but Black Sin attacked them with countless vines, forcing the four of them to work together to fend them off. The opportunity was swiftly lost, and that dark figure was gone.

At the same time, a resounding shout came from the distance.

“Evil creature, die!”

With this roar, a giant hand flew out of the distance and crashed into the ground, blasting through the vines and striking Black Sin’s body underground. Black Sin let out a long wail.

Energy fists began to crash down, eighteen of them in all striking Black Sin’s body. Boom! Black Sin finally reached its limit and shattered, leaving behind only a deep fissure in the ground.

“True Person He!” Nan Ningjiang and the others shouted.

It was none other than He Yueyang. It was only a Heart Demon True Person like him that could so easily exterminate a greatly empowered Black Sin.

Tang Jie’s original body had retreated precisely because he had been informed that the two Heart Demon True Persons had broken out. With his strength, he naturally wasn’t afraid of He Yueyang. He could even deal with both of them at once.

The problem was that this would expose his greatest source of combat power.

The Heart Demon Tier was Tang Jie’s upper limit, but it was not Godhead Palace’s upper limit. Even if he didn’t have to worry about Violet Palace True Lords, there was still the Soul Transformation Tier above the Heart Demon Tier, as well as peak Celestial Heart and Celestial Chief level True Persons, and that wasn’t even considering the terrifying power of numbers.

Killing two Heart Demon cultivators was simple, but the real trouble came when stronger people were sent.

That being the case, it was better to leave those two alive. Fleeing whenever they showed up would make them think that they were more powerful than him and that this level of power was enough to deal with him.

In this way, one day, if the other party really did find him, with his current level of power, Tang Jie would be able to turn the tables.

Considering all this, Tang Jie resolutely gave up on killing Nan Ningjiang and the others, intentionally taking an injury and using the chance to run.

Thus, while it seemed like Tang Jie had been taking risks this whole time, he was also taking measures to lower and control the level of risk.

He Yueyang arrived and sternly asked, “What’s the situation?”

Nan Ningjiang sorrowfully said, “Fourth Brother has passed.”

He Yueyang’s body shivered, and after a while, he finally said, “This scoundrel is cunning and was hiding allies. The storehouse was also attacked by Tang Jie, but Li Song has already gone over, so there should be no problem. But Tang Jie laid out a formation across the entirety of Ninebind City. Once the storehouse’s defensive formation was broken, that formation fell apart on its own. But the city lord’s mansion was attacked by that True Person Gui. With the entire city under attack, we’re basically being led along by the nose and don’t have the time to pay attention to him. Catching him again will be difficult.”

Tang Jie had laid down a formation that enveloped all of Ninebind City, and now, as smoke rose into the air, many people had died, various critical locations were under attack, and the people were fleeing in panic. The Hawk Hall was being run ragged, so Tang Jie could mix into the crowd and simply walk out of the city, without needing to use any escape spell arts. Even if Ming Yezhen sealed the space of the entire city, he wouldn’t be able to stop Tang Jie from leaving.

Fortunately, Tang Jie hadn’t gone to excessive lengths. While the formation was a lethal one, it had left a way out, so while there were many casualties, the deaths were limited. Even so, with the entire city ablaze, the casualties still reached a shocking number.

Tang Jie had amply displayed the abilities of an Immortal, brazenly sowing destruction in the land of his enemy.

He Yueyang couldn’t help but be disheartened by how all their efforts to capture Tang Jie had come to naught and had caused so much devastation.

He painfully said, “In the end, we lost this round.”

“No!” Nan Ningjiang suddenly said, “We haven’t lost yet.”

He examined his palm and smiled. “Quite the contrary. Everything is within our palm.”

———————————

Far in the distance, up in the sky, Tang Jie gazed down at the smoke-ridden city.

“The plan is complete.”

“Oh, we finally got the Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill. Now, Big Brother can prepare for the charge at Celestial Heart. Breaking into Celestial Heart in enemy territory… haha, just the thought of it makes me giddy,” Yiyi said from Tang Jie’s shoulder, clapping her hands.

“I think the same.” Tang Jie chuckled as he took out the bottle containing the Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill.

With this pill, Tang Jie would need two years at most to complete the charge into Celestial Heart.

Just as Yiyi said, there was something very exciting about charging into Celestial Heart in enemy territory.

Tang Jie felt heroism and pride welling up within him.

While the enemy might be numerous and mighty, what did he have to be afraid of? All of them were toys in the palm of his hand.

As Tang Jie thought this, he opened the bottle.

All of a sudden!