Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 514

Chapter 514: Hostage

The message talisman carrying Xu Miaoran’s sweet message vanished in a streak of flame, carrying with it Xu Miaoran’s expectations.

Everything suddenly seemed to be taking a long time, with even a few moments feeling like a long torment.

Fortunately, the reply came back quickly.

The jade amulet lit up with Tang Jie’s words: “Where are you?”

Marking one’s location in the Spirit Mountains wasn’t easy. Fortunately, Xu Miaoran quickly found a landmark. “There’s a tall mountain that looks like a saber. Will be at the base of that mountain in the direction of the back of the saber.”

“I will be right there. Be careful.”

The words were short, but they were brimming with affection, and Xu Miaoran happily smiled.

“Come on—let’s head over to that mountain,” Xu Miaoran said to Xian Tao and Hong Yuan.

Hong Yuan looked at her dazzling smile and snorted. “Running halfway across the world to see her boyfriend, and now she’s finally getting her wish.”

“Stubborn girl, you and that mouth of yours.” Xu Miaoran moved to slap Hong Yuan, but Hong Yuan nimbly dodged, and the three of them began to tease each other as they moved.

As they walked, Hong Yuan asked, “Young Lady, what do you plan to do after meeting Tang Jie?”

“What else?” Xu Miaoran replied. “Naturally, I’ll join together with him and teach those Godhead Palace bastards a lesson.”

“That might cause a problem,” Xian Tao sighed. “At that time, Horizon Ocean Pavilion will have to think of how to explain things to Godhead Palace.”

Xu Miaoran laughed. “I’m just messing with you. I was originally planning to call over my dad once I found Tang Jie so that he could take both of us away, but now that the Spirit Mountains have been sealed, I can’t call him…”

She had originally planned to find Tang Jie and then have her father save the both of them, but upon entering the Spirit Mountains, she realized that the entire place had been locked down, and even a Violet Palace True Lord would find it difficult to break through the seal and descend. As a result, her plan was completely ruined.

She thought this over and ultimately shook her head. “Eh, forget it. Let’s think of a way to get out of these mountains first.”

Suddenly, she dropped her voice and said as if talking to herself, “Actually, escaping isn’t important. What’s important is the two of us being together.”

Xian Tao and Hong Yuan were rendered speechless by these words. 6444

Hong Yuan whispered, “What’s going on with her? That Tang Jie is probably some fiendish man of some evil sect who’s used some seducing art. The young lady is basically finished now that she’s fallen for his charms.”

Xian Tao found this notion laughable. Jabbing Hong Yuan’s forehead, she said, “No more nonsense from you.”

The two of them looked at each other and laughed. It was clear that they both thought that Xu Miaoran had been enchanted by some seducing art.

In the end, Xu Miaoran said, “Alright, enough messing around. Right, Xian Tao, did you remember to let out the Silken Incense?”

Xian Tao replied, “I was spreading it out the entire time. It’s impossible for Godhead Palace to track us through scent.”

But Xu Miaoran wasn’t happy, wrinkling her little nose as she muttered, “Strange… Then why do I have this sense of unease?”

Hong Yuan smiled and said, “Young Lady is probably too nervous.”

“No!” Xu Miaoran stopped.

She looked around and scowled. “We’re being followed.”

“What?” Xian Tao and Hong Yuan were startled.

“Let’s go!” Xu Miaoran barked.

She ran off to the side, no longer heading toward the base of the mountain.

At the same time, there was a shriek from behind her, and then a silver streak shot toward the three. As it got close, it turned into a giant net.

Xu Miaoran had started running first, and her sudden burst of acceleration allowed her to barely evade the silver net. But Xian Tao and Hong Yuan were a little slower, so they were caught in the net.

“The Myriad Net?” Xu Miaoran gasped when she saw the item.

Five people shot out from behind them, led by a rather handsome blue-robed man holding a feather fan.

“Qian Yingchen!” Xu Miaoran’s heart instantly sank to rock bottom upon seeing this man.

It was none other than Qian Yingchen.

Qian Yingchen smiled. “Lady Xu, long time no see. When last we parted, this one could not forget about you. The heavens must have ordained that we should meet again…”

Before he could finish, Xu Miaoran threw out a golden hoop.

The golden hoop expanded in size and attempted to close around Qian Yingchen.

Qian Yingchen sighed and waved his fan, unleashing a hurricane of flame at the golden hoop.

The two attacks clashed in an explosion of light, stuck in a stalemate for a few moments.

Seeing this, Xu Miaoran knew she was in trouble, and she turned to run, not caring about her golden hoop or her two maids.

Qian Yingchen sighed again. “We’ve just met, so why are you in such a rush to leave?”

His figure blinked away, and then he appeared in front of Xu Miaoran and thrust out his palm.

Xu Miaoran punched out with her left hand while her right hand formed a sign, casting a spell: “Sea Anchor Stamp!”

Qian Yingchen turned his palm into a claw, taking Xu Miaoran’s Sea Anchor Stamp head-on. Boom! The two of them parted, and while Xu Miaoran was sent flying, Qian Yingchen was also forced back several steps, his face paling. However, he was able to quickly regain his composure.

It appeared as if Xu Miaoran had had the upper hand in this clash, but Xu Miaoran knew that she had lost.

After all, she had used the supreme secret art she had inherited from her father while Qian Yingchen had simply struck back with a clawed hand. Moreover, the Beast Refining Gate specialized in controlling beasts, not direct combat. Qian Yingchen had used his weak point against her strong, and wasn’t even using his full power, but Xu Miaoran still hadn’t been able to do anything to him. From this, one could see that Qian Yingchen was far more powerful than Xu Miaoran.

But Xu Miaoran wasn’t going to thank him for going easy on her. She turned to run, at the same time flinging out a pair of golden serpent-shaped scissors at the giant net.

It was an excellent attack, but Qian Yingchen again sighed. “Why put yourself through all this trouble?”

He casually waved his hand, firing a bolt of air at the scissors. The serpent scissors let out a clang and then turned into a golden serpent that attacked Qian Yingchen. Qian Yingchen snorted and said, “A mere snake dares to act like a true dragon? Know your place!”

He turned his finger into a palm, and a palm made of energy descended, suppressing the golden serpent scissors. At the same time, he blinked again, appearing in front of Xu Miaoran.

Murderous intent appeared on Xu Miaoran’s face. “If you block me again, I won’t be polite!”

Qian Yingchen remained at ease, casually saying, “Young Lady Xu has spoken, so Yingchen does not dare to obstruct you. That being the case… Red Fox, go and play with her.”

He put his hands behind his back and floated off.

“Yes!” A sweet voice rang out, and a red blur shot out of the forest toward Xu Miaoran.

It was a swift attack that left Xu Miaoran no time to dodge. Clenching her teeth, she began to thrust out her palms, creating a wave of energy palms.

A moment later, there was a series of bangs and booms, and Xu Miaoran was sent flying. Fortunately, her opponent was clearly going easy on her, and the series of attacks had only left Xu Miaoran shaken and not too badly hurt.

When Xu Miaoran landed on the ground, she saw that her attacker was a girl in red, with a pink face, charming eyes, and a sharp chin. But she had a long and bushy tail dragging behind her—a sign that she was a fox fiend.

Xu Miaoran was startled at first, and then she realized and blurted out, “Transformation? But how?”

She looked at Qian Yingchen in disbelief.

While the beast-controlling arts of the Beast Refining Gate were powerful, they always carried the restriction of being limited by one’s cultivation realm.

Just like Tang Jie, Qian Yingchen was at the peak of Mortal Shedding and had yet to enter Celestial Heart, so how could he control a Transformation fiend?

She suddenly thought of something and shouted, “A Heavensent Fiend? Or a Gifted Fiend?”

Heavensent Fiends were fiends that were naturally close to humans and willing to follow them. In these circumstances, there was no such thing as a cultivation limit. The relationship between Tang Jie and Yiyi was like this. As for Gifted Fiends, those were fiends gifted by one’s seniors.

Qian Yingchen laughed. “Heavensent, of course. Otherwise, how do you think I was able to stand out among the thousands of disciples of the Beast Refining Gate?”

This Heavensent red fox fiend was Qian Yingchen’s greatest resource.

Early on in his travels, he had come upon this fiend, and because of some happenstance, this fox fiend that had been close to Transformation had been willing to follow him. At the time, Qian Yingchen was only at the Spirit Platform Realm. To suddenly get the allegiance of a near-Transformation fiend naturally gave him a huge boost in strength.

This fiend’s help was like giving Qian Yingchen a golden finger. From then on, he soared upward, succeeding in both missions and cultivation. He quickly became one of the most talented disciples of the Beast Refining Gate, and with his help, the red fox successfully reached Transformation.

It was said that Feng Muyuan’s Blue Sky Demon Wolf was his own Heavensent Fiend. It was precisely because of this similar experience and Qian Yingchen’s own efforts that Feng Muyuan had taken a shine to him and adopted him as his son.

The red fox charmingly laughed. “Yingchen, is this the girl you like? Once we capture her, let me educate her. She’ll definitely be able to satisfy you then.”

She licked her lips, a bewitching look in her eyes.

Qian Yingchen smiled. “There’s no rush, no rush. Go and play with her first.”

He withdrew, standing together with the four people who had accompanied him.

Upon seeing this, Xu Miaoran suddenly realized something and shouted, “You’re not catching me on purpose! You’re trying to lure over Tang Jie!”

Qian Yingchen had clearly been following Xu Miaoran in order to find Tang Jie, but now that Xu Miaoran had noticed him, this plan was naturally done for. Xu Miaoran would never take them to see Tang Jie.

But Qian Yingchen had a smart head on his shoulders, and he immediately developed a new plan: to bait Xu Miaoran into fighting him.

When Tang Jie didn’t find Xu Miaoran at the place they had arranged, he would definitely realize that she was in trouble and go searching for her. The sounds of fighting would serve as the perfect lure, and there were already others who had arranged a trap in the surrounding area.

This wouldn’t be like last time, where Tang Jie had provoked the battle, choosing a battleground where he had already laid out an ambush.

This time, it was Qian Yingchen baiting the enemy onto the hook, Qian Yingchen choosing the battlefield. The balance of power was completely different.

Upon realizing this, Xu Miaoran decided to stop fighting.

She dropped her hands and let the red fox’s hand thrust at her throat, causing the red fox to hastily draw back her hand in fright. Even so, the excess energy still managed to graze her throat, leaving a smear of blood.

“Seeking death!” Qian Yingchen’s face momentarily flashed with murderous intent. “You think that will do you any good? Once we seize you, we can lure Tang Jie over all the same.”

He waved his hand, and two of his followers began to attack, but it was each other that they attacked, with more sound than fury. It was clear that they were fabricating a battle to draw Tang Jie over.

Qian Yingchen pointed at Xu Miaoran and said, “Seize her!”

“Who dares!?” Xu Miaoran took a step back and placed a glowing right hand on her chest. “If anyone touches me, I’ll kill myself right here! My father won’t forgive anyone who forces me to kill myself!”

Qian Yingchen scowled fiercely. “‘Kill yourself’? Good, good, an excellent showing from the young lady of the Xu Clan. The daughter of a Violet Palace True Lord is willing to throw away a boundless future and die for that bastard Tang Jie! But you really think that the threat of suicide is enough to make me back down? Have you forgotten what this place is? This is the Spirit Mountains, the territory of Godhead Palace! If you die, Xu Guanghua will only settle accounts with Godhead Palace. If we don’t say anything, who will know that we were the ones who did the deed?”

Xu Miaoran was startled. “You…”

She looked around.

Qian Yingchen grunted. “There’s no need to look. No one from Godhead Palace is around here. Godhead Palace is currently wrangling with that crazy old Daoist. Nan Ningjiang was worried that someone might try to draw him away, so he gave me the secret mission of standing guard.”

“But you didn’t notify them?”

“Why should I?” Qian Yingchen asked back, gnashing his teeth. “Those bastards… It’s one thing for them to not help when my Beast Refining Gate is racking its brains on ways to get the Space Crystal, but to steal the Space Crystal from us!? They tell us that they’re going to give it to us, but nobody knows what sort of price we’ll have to pay. If we didn’t need that alliance, my Beast Refining Gate would have broken things off with them long ago. But what they can do, we can do too. Don’t they want Tang Jie? We’ll just catch Tang Jie before them, taking back the Space Crystal and then selling Tang Jie to Godhead Palace at a high price.”

Xu Miaoran was rendered speechless by these words. Sure enough, the two sects privately had their own plans. While they cooperated generally, they undermined each other in the details.

It was no wonder there were no Godhead Palace people here. It seemed like Qian Yingchen had no plans of sharing this secret with Godhead Palace.

“But you think your lot is enough to deal with Tang Jie?” Xu Miaoran snorted.

Qian Yingchen chuckled. “He has a Heart Demon Tier ally, so I really wouldn’t be confident in my chances at beating him in a fight. But I have you!”

Xu Miaoran’s heart sank. “You…”

Qian Yingchen casually said, “Young Lady Xu has come afar to find her husband, and I trust that he isn’t some ingrate. If Tang Jie really has no heart and cares not for your life, then you can only blame your rotten luck and poor eyes. At that time, while I might miss out on a chance to capture Tang Jie, I will have at least helped Young Lady Xu expose your lover’s true face, which might be considered a blessing out of disaster, protecting the heart of a young maiden. So I say that this situation is win-win for me!”

He erupted in laughter.

Xu Miaoran was so angry that she was shaking. “Qian Yingchen, you’re dreaming! Even if I die, I won’t fall into your hands!”

The light in her hand grew brighter. It was clear that she had made up her mind to immediately kill herself if Qian Yingchen and the others tried to do anything to her.

Qian Yingchen stared her hand and snorted, “If you kill yourself so easily, then you’ll be missing out on a big opportunity!”

Xu Miaoran snorted, and then she suddenly shouted, “Then I’ll die for you to see!”

The light in her hand erupted as she slammed it toward her chest.

Qian Yingchen hadn’t expected her to commit suicide at the drop of a hat, and he cried out, “Don’t!”

Suddenly, a palm emerged from behind Xu Miaoran, interposing between Xu Miaoran’s palm and her chest and blocking the attack.

Xu Miaoran seemed to have predicted this. As her right hand was blocked, she thrust out her left elbow and then swung her right hand around. “Sea Anchor Stamp!”

Boom!

There was a flash of light, and a figure was sent flying, crashing through several trees before coming to a stop.

This person was none other than Feng Buzhi.

“As expected, you had more people in hiding,” Xu Miaoran snorted. “A mighty Heart Demon True Person was hiding in the shadows and preparing to ambush a Mortal Shedding cultivator! Shameless!”

If she hadn’t sensed an ill intent in Qian Yingchen’s words and reacted quickly, the palm that had stopped her suicidal attack would have been restraining her instead.

Feng Buzhi almost threw up blood in anger at Xu Miaoran’s words.

His reward for saving this woman had been an elbow and a Sea Anchor Stamp. Even though he was a Heart Demon cultivator, this Sea Anchor Stamp had still been very painful, and then she had even mocked him.

“Fucking crazy woman!” Qian Yingchen was also angry.

This woman was truly ruthless!

If not for Feng Buzhi, this woman would already be a damn corpse!

This woman wasn’t sure that there was another enemy lurking in the area, but she had still chosen to kill herself. This resolve and ferocity left Qian Yingchen stunned.

It seemed to be true that the fiend women of Horizon Ocean Pavilion couldn’t be understood using common sense.

But this also proved that she really dared to do such a thing.

At this moment, Xu Miaoran’s palm began to glow again, and she placed it on her head as she viciously looked at her foes.

Feng Buzhi frowned.

He didn’t care too much about whether Xu Miaoran lived or died, but if they lost this hostage, they wouldn’t be able to threaten Tang Jie, which would be a big problem.

He looked at Qian Yingchen, who took in a deep breath and said, “Fine, fine, you’ve forced my hand.”

Xu Miaoran was startled.

She saw Qian Yingchen walk toward Xian Tao and Hong Yuan.

Xu Miaoran realized what was happening and shouted, “Don’t!”

Qian Yingchen strode over to the pair, opened the net, and roughly dragged out Hong Yuan.

“No! Young Lady! Young Lady!” Hong Yuan shrieked in fright.

Qian Yingchen pressed Hong Yuan to his chest and breathed in deeply. Savagely laughing, he said, “This little girl is pretty good. Tell me: should I rape her first and then kill her, or kill her first and then rape her?”

Those callous words resounded in Xu Miaoran’s ears, causing her to shudder.

As she inwardly cursed Tang Jie for still not showing up, she shouted, “Let them go!”

“‘Them’?” Qian Yingchen laughed. “Ah, right, ‘them’. There were two.”

He dragged out Xian Tao and threw her to his two remaining subordinates. “I’ll let you two have her. You two can take turns, so it’s perfect.”

Xian Tao was seized by the two, who savagely laughed as they pushed her to the ground.

The terrified Xian Tao struggled with all her might, but there was no way she could evade their assault. Her clothes were swiftly torn away, and one of the men brazenly took off his pants and prepared to go in.

The vulgarity of humanity was on full display, primal urges erupting forth.

“No!” Xu Miaoran furiously roared. Glaring at Qian Yingchen, she shouted, “Qian Yingchen, you’re not human!”

But Qian Yingchen greedily sniffed at Hong Yuan’s neck, treating her fearful screams like an angel’s choir.

He abruptly said, “Stop!”

The cultivator who was just about to make the thrust stopped right at the moment of penetration. From the flames in his eyes, it seemed like he was strenuously holding himself back.

Qian Yingchen stared at Xu Miaoran. “As I said, you forced my hand. You still have time to surrender, but if you miss out on this last chance… don’t forget that my Beast Refining Gate has both people and beasts.”

Xu Miaoran’s heart shivered.

Fiends silently appeared, surrounding the girls.

Qian Yingchen continued, “Trust me when I say… my Beast Refining Gate has experience in this.”

Xu Miaoran took in a deep breath.

Finally, she put down her hand and said, “I surrender.”