Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 375: One Versus Sixteen

Chapter 375: One Versus Sixteen

Tang Jie didn't immediately go over now that he knew the direction. Instead, he first changed himself into Wang Juemie's appearance.

This wasn't to fool everyone, but to deal with Mu Yi, who possessed the Celestial Ears.

Mu Yi's Celestial Ears could protect him against concealed weapons, surpassing even Tang Jie's Insight in some ways. But it had its own flaws, such as how it could not distinguish between sources of sound.

If it was already a target he was sure about, then Mu Yi could pick it out beforehand, but things got difficult if there were targets he wasn't sure about. This was also why Tang Jie was even closer than last time but was still undiscovered: Mu Yi didn't know if Tang Jie had arrived or not, or which direction he was coming from. When he received all sound, he had the complex and weighty task of analyzing and filtering all this sound. When one considered that he also had to keep an eye on the battlefield, some gaps were inevitable.

This was exactly why the best way to deal with Mu Yi wasn't to make sure that he didn't make any sound, but to alter all the sounds that he made so that Mu Yi would automatically ignore them.

This was why he had used the Illusion Thousandform. This was an extremely high-level illusion ability, not just imitating appearance, but height, weight, sound, and even heart rate.

When Tang Jie turned himself into Wang Juemie's form, he acted in every way like Wang Juemie. Mu Yi, in order to not be confused by the numerous sounds within the valley, would undoubtedly be automatically filtering out the people or objects that he did not need to defend against, and Wang Juemie was definitely one of these filtered people.

In this way, the sounds Tang Jie made would naturally be filtered out.

This was the solution Tang Jie had developed against Mu Yi after the Immortal Fortune Conference.

After he turned into Wang Juemie, Tang Jie and Yiyi quietly made their way up the mountain path.

After going some two hundred meters, Yiyi pointed at a distant clearing and mouthed to Tang Jie, "They're right there."

There was nothing in the clearing, only a few stumps that indicated that this clearing was man-made.

But if one looked carefully, one would realize that a few blades of grass would inexplicably flatten from time to time, as if someone was stepping on them.

Tang Jie smiled.

He looked at the clearing and then looked up at the sky in order to confirm the positions of each person. The pacing girl in particular was essentially a moving target. Using her, Tang Jie was able to very quickly pinpoint where everyone else was.

After grasping their position, Tang Jie didn't immediately strike. Instead, he used Heart Consonance to transmit orders to Yiyi.

Yiyi repeatedly nodded, smiled at Tang Jie, and made a gesture that meant "relax". She transformed into a vine and burrowed into the ground.

Tang Jie stealthily circled around to the rear and began to wait.

Down in the valley, the battle continued. Wang Juemie was like a tireless war god, continuing to dauntlessly slay his foes, and the Stone Gate Sect disciples had already suffered heavy losses from his rampage.

That Stone Gate disciple who had previously received mysterious instructions expectantly looked around, waiting for a miracle, but Wang Juemie ended up pulverizing him, turning the previous incident into an unsolved case without witnesses.

No, not an unsolved case.

As Wang Juemie killed that disciple, he laughed and said, "Tang Jie, you're here, aren't you? If you're a man, get out here right now! Don't go slinking around like some rat!"

This shout resounded into the horizon and made the three Stone Gate elders pale in shock.

Tang Jie smiled, but he ignored Wang Juemie's challenge and continued to wait.

Although Wang Juemie had been able to deduce that Tang Jie had arrived from the performance of the Stone Gate disciples, a deduction was ultimately a deduction. There was no telling what the numbers were until the dice cup was removed. The true idiot would be the person who appeared when called out.

The battle intensified, and the three elders gradually began to lose ground.

Yu Wanniang was the weakest, so she was the first to falter. Wang Juemie swung the shield in his left hand—a simple strike imbued with immense power. Yu Wanniang was able to dodge, and the shield slammed into the ground with such force that the valley trembled. The shrapnel from the impact smashed into Yu Wanniang.

As the spray of stones struck her, she threw up blood and was sent flying.

Shi Jingzhai and Liang Xingbang attacked from the sides, but with a shake of Wang Juemie's left hand, the shield left his grip and spun toward Shi Jingzhai. This shield was the Earthbane Shield, an item capable of both attack and defense. The shield face could defend the body, and the edge was sharp, its spinning action able to wound the foe.

As the shield flew out, Shi Jingzhai roared, and giant rocks appeared in front of him, forming walls, armor, shields, and spears. In a flash, he had used so many spells, truly living up to his title as the Deep Earth True Person. But despite this variety of spell arts, the shield pressed forward.

It flew toward Shi Jingzhai, smashing through stone walls, snapping stone spears, penetrating through stone shields, and finally slamming into Shi Jingzhai's earthen armor.

With a piercing wail, stone fragments fell to the ground, the Earthbane Shield slicing away at Shi Jingzhai's armor like a saw. Shi Jingzhai suddenly spat out blood at the shield, and the shield stopped for a moment, allowing Shi Jingzhai to fall back.

But he was at the end of his tether. Wang Juemie threw a punch from a distance, striking the shield and causing it to suddenly accelerate. Shi Jingzhai tried his best to dodge, but the Earthbane Shield still brushed past his body.

Whoosh!

In a fountain of blood, his arm flew into the air.

"Aaaaah!" Shi Jingzhai screamed.

This was a serious wound.

Worst of all was that the shield released a sinister energy that penetrated into his blood, preventing him from healing the wound.

At Celestial Heart, a severed arm was no longer an unhealable wound, but there would be no regrowing the arm until he removed this sinister energy.

Shi Jingzhai pulled out medicine and began to take it so as to remove this energy.

After taking down Shi Jingzhai with the shield, Wang Juemie slashed at Liang Xingbang with the Heavenfire Sword.

He was also limited by his spiritual energy, so he could only use the Heavenfire Conflagration once. But with this divine sword and his own formidable constitution, his vigorous moves were comparable to any spell art.

No matter how Liang Xingbang dodged, Wang Juemie slashed again and again, leaving behind scars in the air like ink across paper. The sword energy lingered in the air, creating a terrifying net of swords.

In this net of swords, Liang Xingbang found it harder and harder to keep up.

But he still had a sliver of hope. Wang Juemie, who was battling with the seven treasures, was covered in blood, and he was moving more and more slowly.

This wasn't because he had been injured, but because of pressure from the seven treasures.

Even if they were just projections, Dao armaments were not meant to be used by Mortal Shedding cultivators. One had to at least be in the Celestial Heart Realm to endure the pressure of a Dao armament, and the time they could use it for was limited. Wang Juemie was able to do so because of his incredible constitution, which was about on the first tier of the Diamond Body—the level the original Tang Jie was currently at, or perhaps even a little stronger. This was the only reason he had managed to last this long.

But after all this time, Wang Juemie was finally beginning to weaken.

It was like he was holding up a mountain, blood seeping out of every pore, his appearance savage to behold.

Liang Xingbang shouted, "Wang Juemie, why don't you stop already? If we continue fighting, you'll be dead before us!"

Wang Juemie laughed. "Give up? What a joke! Ever since I set out upon the Dao, I forgot the meaning of 'giving up'!"

He punched again, creating a powerful gust of air that forced Liang Xingbang to use some of his precious spiritual energy to dodge.

Wang Juemie was running out of steam, but so was the Stone Gate Sect.

Under Wang Juemie's ferocious assault, they were forced to use up their precious spiritual energy. If not for the trio's various hidden cards, even the use of a Crystallized Sandworm to boost their spiritual energy reserves, Wang Juemie would have already squeezed them dry.

Even so, after this bitter battle, the three of them were burning out.

While Liang Xingbang was asking Wang Juemie to stop, he was actually trying to buy time to catch his breath. But Wang Juemie was crazy and didn't know the meaning of the word "stop". Liang Xingbang raged, "We have no grudge against you, so why push us so far? If you want these goods, we can just give them to you. All we ask is that you let us go."

If this were Tang Jie, he might have said in response to Liang Xingbang's proposal, "If I let you go, then once you leave this land bereft of spiritual energy, you'll recover your true strength, and when you launch a counterattack, how will I stop you then?"

But Wang Juemie did not.

He loudly replied, "Battle and bravery take precedence, and there is no need for hatred to battle to the death! I want both the goods and your lives!"

His resounding battlecry shook the entire valley!

"Raaa!"

Roaring like a tiger, Wang Juemie punched, punched, and punched again!

The blood seeping from his body had completely drenched him, but he didn't care.

In the sky, Mu Yi couldn't help but sigh. "It's always like this. Whenever he starts fighting, he no longer cares for his life. Sometimes, I truly find it strange how Great Brother has managed to live this long."

Liang Xingbang felt like Wang Juemie should have been reaching his limits, but those who knew him understood that this only symbolized that he was starting to get excited.

The wounded Great Brother was the real Great Brother!

But as Mu Yi was speaking, he suddenly stiffened up and cocked his head to listen. He paled and cried out, "Behind…"

"Haa!" Tang Jie sighed.

As Mu Yi paled, Tang Jie removed his transformation and charged out with the Violet Lightning Lunge, shooting forward like a purple bolt of lightning.

"Someone…" Mu Yi had just barely sounded the alarm.

Tang Jie lunged into the clearing. The moment he entered the clearing, the surroundings changed. The sixteen disciples all appeared around Tang Jie, and at the same time, Tang Jie's figure appeared in the sky above the golden cage.

"Tang Jie! You really did come!" Wang Juemie laughed, not afraid at all that someone might ambush him.

The three Stone Gate elders turned ghastly pale when they saw Tang Jie, not happy at all that they had been saved.

Within the forest.

The moment Tang Jie appeared, he fired off a Star Finger at nine targets. Meanwhile, his right hand unleashed the Dragonlike Hand, sweeping up everyone else.

He had readied these attacks before even entering, even roughly calculating the direction he should fire them, only waiting for the final confirmation upon entry. Thus, his attack was able to get all sixteen people in one go.

But as he attacked, Mu Yi thrust a hand to the ground, creating a spiritual energy barrier.

Curse it!

Tang Jie almost cursed out loud. These people were really too cautious, even setting down a small defensive formation here that was able to block all incoming spell arts!

But Mu Yi was a little too slow. As the barrier rose, the Star Fingers had arrived. Of the nine Seven Absolutions Sect disciples, only three managed to react and dodge in time. The remaining six were all knocked to the ground by the Star Fingers. Tang Jie had gone easy and didn't go so far as to take their lives, only knock them out. But while these people were knocked out, vines erupted from the ground, coiled around these disciples, and dragged them into the earth.

Mu Yi did his best, but he ultimately only managed to get back two of them.

Meanwhile, Tang Jie's Dragonlike Hand slammed into the barrier in a great clatter, but it failed to destroy it.

Tang Jie found this a great pity. If he were able to use his Heavenly Blade, the barrier, even if it didn't shatter, would have been greatly spent. After all, this land had been drained of spiritual energy, so a formation laid out here couldn't draw on any outside force and could only be supplied through spirit stones. The Heavenly Blade was powerful enough to almost instantly drain a spirit stone of energy.

The energy balance between offense and defense would always favor the offensive side.

Unfortunately, the Seven Absolutions Sect wasn't a mortal foe, so Tang Jie didn't want to kill anyone. Thus, he did not use the extremely lethal Heavenly Blade, which gave the Seven Absolutions Sect a chance.

As Mu Yi set up the barrier, the female Seven Absolutions Sect disciple let out a cry and threw out her flying sword.

The flying sword passed through the barrier and shot at Tang Jie, unleashing a dazzling light that engulfed Tang Jie.

Tang Jie grunted, but he continued to charge forward, ramming into the barrier.

Tang Jie had comprehended Wisdom, so he could see that this barrier only kept out spell arts, not people, leading to his decision to resolutely charge. Otherwise, if he had elected to stay outside and exchange fire, he would be outnumbered twelve to one, and there was a formidable opponent in Mu Yi on the other side. Tang Jie wasn't confident he could win in those circumstances.

But things were different once he was inside!

Tang Jie was confident in his ability to defeat his opponents in close combat.

This was precisely why he didn't use the Formless Golden Body to fend off that flying sword. The barrier kept out spell arts, so he wouldn't be able to go in if he used it.

Pushing through the sword light and charging forward, Tang Jie entered the barrier in a rain of blood, forcing his way into the Seven Absolutions Sect's defensive zone.

As he charged in, the sword light left a large number of wounds on him. This single attack had left more than a hundred wounds across his body. However, as that female disciple had been in a rush, the power of her flying sword hadn't been great, and Tang Jie's Jewel Body had been enough to keep him alive.

Even so, the terrifying wounds left everyone aghast.

Tang Jie's face was so covered in wounds that it was horrifying to behold. Tang Jie simply smiled and kept going, punching at the female disciple.

The female disciple had decent strength and reaction time, but that was exactly her misfortune.

As she had been the first to attack, she had yet to call back her flying sword. She was also a girl that cherished her face, and when Tang Jie charged up with his bloodied face, she was mentally shaken enough that she was a little too slow. Just as she was about to release her spell art, Tang Jie arrived and punched her in the abdomen, sending her flying, callous to her beauty.

A vine flew out, wrapped around her, and began to drag her into the ground.

The girl tried to resist, so Tang Jie punched again.

This punch was accompanied by a bloody burst of light. He had activated the Blood Refining Spirit and then used Energy-Blood Simulflow. It was an energy-greedy move that was also very powerful, knocking the wind out of the girl.

This was because Tang Jie had a high opinion of her, as this was someone who could stand alongside Mu Yi to supervise the battle, and who was also able to send out the flying sword to attack him the moment Mu Yi gave the warning. There was no doubt that she was one of the more outstanding members of the Seven Absolutions Sect, so he didn't mind expending spiritual energy to end the battle quickly.

This girl was quite unfortunate. Before she had been able to use even 10% of her power, she had been undone by the scheming of Tang Jie and Yiyi.

Taking care of the female disciple had seemingly been complicated, but it had only taken two or three seconds. At this time, some of the disciples were still focused on maintaining the spiritual energy channels, some of them even having yet to react and shouting, "The channels are flickering! Hurry and stabilize them!"

Only Mu Yi shouted, "Give up on the channels!"

The moment Tang Jie appeared, Mu Yi realized that they wouldn't be able to hold the channels, and attempting to do so would only give Tang Jie an opportunity to exploit.

Alas, despite his words, some people still hesitated, worried that Wang Juemie wouldn't be able to win without the seven treasures.

Tang Jie used reality to demonstrate the consequences of their hesitation.

He stepped back and chopped his hand at the neck of one of the disciples maintaining the channel. This disciple was entirely focused on maintaining the channel and was utterly defenseless, so this one strike instantly caused him to faint. Yiyi immediately dragged him down.

One of the channels flickered and vanished, and Wang Juemie's legguards disappeared.

Tang Jie turned around and charged at another disciple. Just when he was about to attack, Mu Yi blew on his flute. Tang Jie froze for a moment, allowing that disciple to roll away.

Wang Juemie's breastplate disappeared.

In the sky, Tang Jie was like a tiger down from the mountain, charging in and out of the crowd. It was only a little while before he had brought down two more disciples.

Everyone finally realized that, whether they wanted it or not, these seven channels couldn't be maintained. They withdrew together, and the remaining five channels disappeared. Only the channel being supported by the Rinsing Stream Gauze remained, which belonged to none other than the helmet.

This item defended against Divine Will attacks, which was the only method the three elders could use to kill Wang Juemie, so it was maintained.

Even so, six of the seven treasures were gone, and the helmet didn't have any sort of offensive ability, so Wang Juemie had lost much of his power.

But Wang Juemie didn't seem to care, laughing, "Fine with me! My body feels much lighter now. In any case, the three of you are basically spent of spiritual energy, so this should make for a good fight!"

He once more punched, still holding the initiative.

On the other end, Tang Jie looked at the sole remaining channel and the furious Seven Absolutions Sect disciples glaring at him, and chuckled. "Don't worry. I won't destroy this channel. After all, I would never want to get the most outstanding disciple of the Seven Absolutions Sect killed… unless he wanted to kill me first."

He tilted his head. "What I want to do is capture all of you."

"You alone want to go against the sixteen of us?" A disciple looked in disbelief at Tang Jie.

Tang Jie unhappily said, "Don't be so shocked. Isn't your Great Brother going one versus three? And that's against Celestial Hearts. Moreover…"

After a slight pause, Tang Jie added, "You're no longer sixteen, but nine."