Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 374

Several burial mounds were scattered around the forest. They had seemingly been here for countless years, some of them even lacking grave stones.

The sounds from the battle were much quieter here, but this would not impair anyone with an intent to spy. In front of a small mound all by itself near the northern corner, an eyeball floated in the air, looking down.

After quite some time, a hand suddenly emerged from the earth, grabbing the eyeball. With a slight squeeze, the eyeball dissipated in spiritual light.

A moment later, in a large surge of dirt, Tang Jie emerged from the burial mound.

Slapping the dust off his body, Tang Jie slowly stood up.

In the valley, the battle continued. With the Dao armament, Wang Juemie had exploded in strength, easily handling his three opponents and even forcing them back.

Tang Jie didn’t find this strange. When he saw what sort of preparations had been made in the valley, he knew that the Stone Gate Sect wouldn’t stand a chance.

Wang Juemie’s group had set up more than just the Heaven Earth Spirit Isolation Formation to deal with the three True Persons of the Stone Gate Sect.

The spirit isolation formation was only the most core formation. On the outer edge of this formation was a wall formation to prevent the three True Persons from escaping.

Beyond that formation was a transmission formation used to project the power of the seven treasures, and there was perhaps even another formation beyond it.

The layers of formations essentially meant that the Stone Gate Sect was doomed the moment it stepped into the valley.

The only surprise was how Wang Juemie had decided to play around by fighting the three True Persons using just his physical strength. While it was impossible for him to defy the heavens and achieve victory, his formidable performance against the combined power of these three Celestial Hearts was praiseworthy. It was no wonder so many disciples of the Seven Absolutions Sect were devoted to him, and it was no wonder Shen Qingdan feared him. His daring alone was enough to win the admiration of others.

But although the Seven Absolutions Sect’s plan was meticulous, it could still be undone.

As he looked at the curling smoke in the distance, Tang Jie laughed and formed a guiding energy sign with his hand, saying, “The seven treasures are being transmitted using the Heavenly Vortex Cyclic Light Art. This method of transmission doesn’t cost much, but it requires constant maintenance of spiritual light. Attacking the seven Seven Absolutions Sect disciples maintaining the channels will be enough to remove the power of the seven treasures.”

He said this very softly, but down below, one of the several dozen Stone Gate disciples suddenly shouted, “Destroy the channels, and the seven treasures will disappear!”

The three Stone Gate elders all heard this.

Shi Jingzhai was the first to react, pressing a hand on the ground. The mountains on the side quaked, and the entire valley swayed. His greatest expertise lay in Earth element spell arts, and if not for the spirit isolation formation requiring him to conserve spiritual energy, he could have flipped over the entire valley.

The earth trembled, the mountains swayed, and the seven disciples maintaining the transmission channels lost their foothold. The channels flickered, and the seven treasures on Wang Juemie’s body immediately grew faint.

The Stone Gate Sect disciples were delighted by this, but at this moment, Mu Yi snorted and threw out a red gauze veil.

It would seem quite embarrassing for a man to have something like a red gauze veil, but as he tossed it out, the flickering channels instantly stabilized.

Upon seeing that veil, Yu Wanniang shrieked, “The Rinsing Stream Gauze… they even prepared that! I should have thought of that possibility.”

With spiritual energy cut off, the factors that would decide victory were body refining and spiritual reserves.

Humans could store spirit, as could objects.

The Rinsing Stream Gauze was a tool for storing spiritual energy, similar to Tang Jie’s Cosmic Breeze Pearl. It was said that it was actually a product that came from the research done on that item.

This gauze floated in the air, unaffected by the quaking of the earth, and stabilized the channels.

Wang Juemie laughed. “Die!”

He charged into the crowd like a gale.

He was a famed body refiner maniac who disliked spell arts, so almost all the spell arts he used were meant for strengthening his body. In combat, he normally fought with pure strength, fist versus flesh. His fighting style was more like that of a martial artist than of an Immortal.

He was in the mood right now, so he immediately exhibited the full breadth of his style. His warboots flashed with light, causing him to accelerate, and in a blink, he appeared next to a Stone Gate disciple.

Before this disciple could react, Wang Juemie grabbed his throat and pulled down.

The armguards flashed with golden light, and then Wang Juemie obliterated the protective barrier around the disciple, snapping his neck while he was at it.

“Bing Si!” Yu Wanniang cried out in pain. The disciple who had died was her personal disciple. Before he had even had a chance at any sort of bright future, he had died.

With a laugh, Wang Juemie threw aside this disciple and turned to another. With one punch, he penetrated through the disciple’s chest.

Twenty-some spell arts struck him, and there was a burst of golden light. Wang Juemie slowly turned around and sneered, “Even without the seven treasures, I could take this level of power.”

He shot over to another disciple, exploding the disciple’s head with a punch.

He intentionally ignored the three elders, only attacking the Stone Gate Sect disciples and slaughtering them as he pleased. The three elders were so enraged that their eyeballs almost popped out, but there was nothing they could do. No matter what sort of attack they used, they couldn’t break through the astonishing defenses of the Seven Inferno Heaven Treasures.

The lines on the armor formed strange and ancient characters. These were Dao Runes, and they reduced the power of all the attacks that struck Wang Juemie by more than half. Unless one had a Dao armament on par with the Inferno Heaven Treasures, it was impossible to ignore them.

This alone was enough to allow Wang Juemie to run rampant.

In truth, this Dao armament was so strong that an ordinary person couldn’t endure even its projection. Only a formidable body refiner like Wang Juemie could endure it. All of his strength was actually being used to resist the pressure from the Dao armament. The one truly doing the killing was the Dao armament projection.

After this successful attack, Wang Juemie moved onto another foe, waving the shield and pulverizing a disciple. His opponents simply weren’t strong enough to warrant him using the shield for defense. If it weren’t required to wear all seven of the treasures to use their Dao Will, he would have only used the helmet, breastplate, armguards, and legguards for combat, for both improved performance and reduced burden.

The three Stone Gate elders panicked as Wang Juemie rampaged like a tiger among sheep.

But they couldn’t stop him. Liang Xingbang’s erupted with murderous intent. “Kill the others first!”

Since they couldn’t stop Wang Juemie, they could only trade pieces.

The three simultaneously attacked the Seven Absolutions Sect disciples stationed on one of the mountains.

Seeing this, Tang Jie could only shake his head and sigh.

The Seven Absolutions Sect disciples wouldn’t have dared to so brazenly appear before the three True Persons unless they had a way to protect themselves. In fact, this might even be bait to lure them into wasting spiritual energy.

The three elders unleashed a blazing tide of light.

To kill their target, the trio no longer cared about conserving energy.

But as the spiritual tsunami washed over the mountain, rather than seeing the mountain scoured clean of people, they saw that the Seven Absolutions Sect disciples were still standing there.

They froze in shock. What was going on?

Crazed laughter rang out through the air.

The people on the two mountains faded away. Instead, that group of Seven Absolutions Sect disciples appeared atop the bird cage.

Liang Xingbang cried out in realization, “It was an illusion.”

“No, not an illusion, but a reflection,” Tang Jie muttered.

The Seven Absolutions Sect didn’t have the Duplication spell, and it was impossible to create an illusion of this level, nor could the illusions have created spiritual energy channels. But without these things, they could use reflections of light to cause the opponent to misunderstand.

Tang Jie recalled that the Seven Absolutions Sect had something known as the World Reverse Mirror, which could invert locations. When the mirror was used, while one could appear to be at the fore, in reality, one could be at the fore, back, left, or right.

At even higher levels, the World Reverse Mirror could create multiple inversions.

In other words, this position of the Seven Absolutions Sect disciples could still be false. These Seven Absolutions Sect disciples were probably hiding somewhere in the valley, using precalculated positions to constantly reflect themselves into new positions.

Tang Jie was so certain of this because Shi Jingzhai had used a spell art that had covered the entire valley in order to disrupt the channels, and the channels had been affected. It was clear from how unsteadied the disciples had been and the flickering of the channels that this hadn’t been faked.

Thus, the Seven Absolutions Sect disciples had to be somewhere in the valley.

And upon further thought, this had to be right. These disciples had to use their spiritual energy to maintain the channels. How could they waste it on flight?

But where exactly were they?

Tang Jie couldn’t figure out the answer.

The battle in the valley continued, and Wang Juemie continued to rampage through the Stone Gate Sect’s forces. If all went as expected, the Stone Gate Sect’s defeat was set in stone.

But Tang Jie didn’t want to see the Stone Gate Sect lose like this. They could lose, but they at least had to make a contribution first.

Upon thinking this, he softly said a few things. The eyes of a fleeing disciple suddenly lit up, and then he shouted, “The Dao Will of the Seven Inferno Heaven Treasures is Tenacity, which is subordinate to Slaughter! Strong attacks are not effective on it, but using a soft touch will be remarkably effective!”

These words made Wang Juemie’s confident and brash expression grimace.

Yu Wanniang was startled at first, and then she fired a bolt of energy from her finger at Wang Juemie.

This bolt of energy was like a willow catkin, drifting lightly on the air. As it attached itself to the Seven Inferno Heaven Treasures, it unexpectedly penetrated through the Dao Runes and struck Wang Juemie, causing him to stagger.

Although it was not a significant injury, this stagger made everyone see hope.

“It really works!” Yu Wanniang blurted out.

They knew that something was fishy, as that disciple had no reason to see the flaw, but there was no time to ask questions. Even if the Basking Moon Sect was coming to kill them, they would have to finish this battle first.

The Stone Gate Sect forces all attacked, firing off various weak spell arts at Wang Juemie, and even Wang Juemie started to find it hard to push through them all.

“The audacity! The puny disciples of Stone Gate dare to challenge the majesty of a Dao armament?” Wang Juemie furiously roared.

He shook his right hand, and a sword appeared within it. It was none other than the sword of the seven treasures which he had yet to use.

Upon seeing the sword, Yu Wanniang cried out, “Watch out!”

Wang Juemie stabbed the sword at the air.

It was not pointed at any particular person, but at the sky.

But as he stabbed, flames coiled up the sword and into the air, spreading out and almost instantly setting the skies aflame.

Heavenfire Conflagration!

Although the Seven Inferno Heaven Treasures had the Dao Will of Tenacity, it was an artificial one made from seven divine treasures. Its greatest problem was its lack of purity.

Lack of purity meant that it was easily suppressed, which was why the Seven Inferno Heaven Treasures was considered the lowest level of Dao armament, and it was known as the worst Dao armament. But it was also this lack of purity, the seven divine treasures that made it up, that allowed this Dao armament to have many functions, which made it more useful for the battle at hand.

The Heavenfire Conflagration was the unique power of this Heavenfire Sword. The Heavenfire Sword was the foremost of the seven treasures, and even if it had not entered the Great Dao, as a divine treasure, it possessed considerable power. It was from the Heavenfire Sword that the Seven Inferno Heaven Treasures derived their name.

As Heavenfire danced in the sky, the Stone Gate elders panicked.

Shi Jingzhai shouted and threw out a small item, a stone pestle.

The stone pestle exploded with light, stopping the Heavenfire for a moment. But as the Heavenfire burned, the stone pestle began to shrink.

Liang Xingbang threw out his own item, a small jade bottle. Large amounts of water poured out of the bottle, contending against the flames. Water counteracted flame, and magnificent clouds of steam began to form. But Liang Xingbang had a very pained look on his face. The water in this bottle was Heavy Water that he had spent many years condensing. Though it was just a single bottle, it actually contained a lake’s worth, allowing it to be used for many spell arts. The Heavenfire from the Heavenfire Sword was simply a spell art from a projection. To use Heavy Water to cancel out Heavenfire was a huge loss, but in this dire situation, he had no other choice.

Yu Wanniang took out a water-blue band of silk. With each wave of this band, she released a wave of water, and these successive waves managed to dampen the flames. But the searing might of Heavenfire began to scorch holes in her silk band, which left her heart wincing in pain.

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The Stone Gate Sect was a small and poor sect. Although they were Celestial Heart experts, upper-grade art relics were their limit. And though they had managed to privately embezzle quite a lot in these last two years, they mostly exchanged these resources for boosts to cultivation level rather than trading them for a new treasure. Most importantly, if they had traded for a peak-level art relic or even a divine treasure, they would essentially be announcing that they had been embezzling goods. Only by trading for medicines that could be eaten could they ensure that they went undetected.

Thus, the three of them didn’t have any excellent items.

While the Heavenfire was powerful, this one’s divine treasure was still ultimately a projection.

Yet it was this divine treasure projection’s Heavenfire that was able to melt away the stone pestle, steam up the Heavy Water, and burn up the silk band. In the end, however, the three of them working together managed to weather the storm.

Wang Juemie had also expended a lot with this attack, and he was no longer as fearless as before. The battle entered a stalemate.

Tang Jie was happy to see this.

While these two tigers wrestled, he began to observe the Seven Absolutions Sect disciples in the air.

There were sixteen disciples, seven of them responsible for maintaining the spiritual energy channels while seven more were substitutes who switched with them at set intervals. At each switch, they would eat spirit pills and meditate to recover energy, caring not for how much they used. The last two were responsible for observing the situation and responding to new developments. One of these was Mu Yi, who had earlier thrown out the Rinsing Stream Gauze. The other was a girl.

She was of average appearance and wore rather gaudy clothes, but as Wang Juemie had tasked her with responding to the situation, she had to be extremely strong.

As they didn’t need to worry about the spiritual energy channels, Mu Yi and this girl had much more freedom than the other fourteen people. They focused on the battle in the valley while Tang Jie stared at them.

“Their gaze is level. As expected, they aren’t in the sky,” Tang Jie muttered.

If they were in the air, they would have been looking down instead of having an almost level gaze. This meant that the distance between them and Wang Juemie was far lower than expected. From the angle of their gaze, Tang Jie estimated that they were at a height of two hundred to three hundred meters. In other words, they were at about the same altitude as him.

On second thought, he realized this had to be the case. This distance was ideal for Mortal Shedding Realm students to observe the situation. So long as they focused, they could still hear what was being said. If they were a little farther, this might not be possible at their current level of strength. And this distance was also ideal for both joining the fray and retreating.

But where exactly were they in this circle of mountains?

Tang Jie looked around, but the sea of trees gave no clues. As for the reflection, they were surrounded by nothing but empty whiteness.

But Tang Jie knew that this was the concealment of a spell art so that the Stone Gate Sect would believe all the more that they were up in the air. All they needed to do was use a spell art to cover up their surroundings and then reflect their location.

But…

Tang Jie stared hard at Mu Yi and the girl.

Mu Yi seemed unconcerned. In that scene in the sky, he wasn’t moving at all.

But the girl was anxiously pacing back and forth.

Tang Jie carefully studied her steps and the direction she was facing.

Alas, even with his Dao of Wisdom, he couldn’t decipher their location from these clues.

After some thought, he had an idea and softly muttered.

The Stone Gate Sect disciple from before suddenly turned around and fired a spell art at the distant mountain. A lightning bolt cracked down midway up the mountain, letting out a thunderous boom and toppling a tree.

The girl turned to the sound in shock.

Tang Jie noted the direction she looked and made some calculations. He cursed, “Shit, they’re nearby!”

Great minds think alike. This place had the best line of sight and terrain, making it a perfect lookout.

Tang Jie had chosen this place, and so had Mu Yi’s group.

Fortunately, to avoid the eyes and ears of others, Tang Jie had chosen this somewhat lower burial mound. Mu Yi had probably chosen an area that was a little higher up.

This was also lucky, for if Tang Jie had emerged from the earth, only to see a bunch of people standing around him, saying something like, “Oh my, Tang Jie, you came too?” things would get messy.

Now that he knew the general direction, he grew more cautious. He whispered, “Yiyi!”

A small tree next to the mound transformed into Yiyi.

The little girl waved her hands, and the wind delivered her will, swaying the grass and trees.

Yiyi listened, and then she shook her head. “Not there.”

Tang Jie grabbed Yiyi and moved one hundred meters laterally. “Try again!”

Yiyi listened to the messages from the plants again. Finally, she smiled and said, “A group of people passed through here… They’re over there!”

Yiyi pointed at a spot midway up the mountain.

Tang Jie smiled. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go and say hello to some old friends.”

The Seven Absolutions Sect disciples have been found out! Time for Tang Jie to throw them a surprise party!