Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-368-30041322

The completely unfamiliar face had left Cao Jiyuan stunned, and also Wei Tianchong and Shi Meng.

They stared blankly at that man with the unfamiliar face, watched as he pummeled Cao Jiyuan with his fists, watched as his body swelled with power, and for a moment, they were rather dumbfounded.

Was this Tang Jie?

Under Tang Jie's flurry of fists, even the Multiplier-empowered Cao Jiyuan began to lose ground.

Under the beating, his body began to shrink, his strength waning with it. Meanwhile, Tang Jie remained as strong as ever, smashing fist after fist into the Seven Absolutions Sect disciple and causing him to wail.

At the same time, Tang Jie turned around and glanced at Wei Tianchong and Shi Meng, saying in an icy tone, "What are you still waiting for? They've seen my face! Kill them all! No survivors!"

These words made everyone wake up. Wei Tianzhi was the first to retreat, shouting, "Run!"

Wei Tianzhi no longer cared about protecting the convoy. After all, keeping his life was the most important thing. Moreover, they were transporting the Gu Clan's goods, and the loss would have no effect on the Wei Clan. What reason did he have to risk his life for the Gu Clan?

Everyone cried out, abandoning the wagons and running off. Wei Tianchong and Shi Meng also seemed to wake from a dream, pretending to give chase and killing two of the Gu Clan escorts, leaving the rest to go back and report. Anyway, they had put on rather awful performances, so it made sense if they weren't able to chase down the escorts.

Meanwhile, under Tang Jie's frenzied beating, Cao Jiyuan finally broke, his body returning to normal.

The moment he returned to normal, a leaden fist from Tang Jie knocked him to the ground.

"Who are you? Who in the world are you, that you dare to oppose my Seven Absolutions Sect?!" Cao Jiyuan crazily yelled.

Tang Jie coldly snorted, upon which he released a small spell art, Crushrock.

Crushrock was the Stone Gate Sect's unique art. Though weak, it was the signature spell art of the Stone Gate Sect. Tang Jie had learned it from the inner sect disciples of the Stone Gate Sect while wandering around Stone Gate Peak these last few days. Its simplicity made it extremely easy to master.

Upon seeing Crushrock, Cao Jiyuan was startled, and then he shouted, "So it was you lot… you… bastards… daring to go back on your words… even trying to steal our money. You're dead! Dead!"

His legs went rigid, and then, he died.

"He's dead?" Wei Tianchong walked over and checked to see if he was breathing. Still not able to rest easy, he hit the corpse a few more times, and only then did he turn to Tang Jie, who had returned to his original appearance.

Wei Tianchong curiously asked, "How did you turn into someone else just now?"

"It was just a human face mask," Tang Jie casually said.

"Oh, I see." Wei Tianchong dumbly nodded. He then asked, "What did he mean by 'going back on your words'? And about 'even daring to steal their money'?"

Tang Jie replied, "Mm, from his tone, it seems like they've already paid. The money is probably already with Shi Jingzhai."

As Tang Jie talked, he relieved Cao Jiyuan of his Mustard Seed Bag and then searched the body, taking anything that he found. His movements were extremely smooth and well-practiced.

Meanwhile, Shi Meng began to open up the crates. After opening up ten-some crates, he finally found what they were looking for. "Tang Jie, look."

Tang Jie walked over and saw that the crate was packed with Icestone Bamboo.

"This should be the wagon." Tang Jie opened another crate and, sure enough, it contained Goldite.

There were four large crates. One had Icestone Bamboo and the other three had processed Goldite. But there was no sign of the most valuable Crystallized Sandworms.

Tang Jie searched the bodies of Zhu and Gu. Finally, on Gu Changan's body, he found a small box. Inside the box were ten Crystallized Sandworms.

"Here it is." Tang Jie nodded in satisfaction. Doing some quick mental math, he said, "One million of each kind, so with three types of resources, there's a total of three million spirit coins here."

"'Three million'?" Wei Tianchong and Shi Meng jumped in fright.

The contents of these crates and the black stones in that small jade box were worth three million?

In all the time they had cultivated, they had never even seen this much money before.

"Mm," Tang Jie confirmed. "And this is only a small part, probably only a thirtieth or fiftieth of the whole thing. The bulk of the shipment hasn't been moved yet."

Wei Tianchong's and Shi Meng's eyes began to twinkle.

Shi Meng muttered, "With this much money, aren't we rich?"

Tang Jie swiftly rebuked him with a sharp slap, "'Rich', your ass! This all belongs to the Basking Moon Sect. You think that you can take it all? Anyone who dares to try and take it all for themselves will die!"

These words cleared Shi Meng's mind, and he awkwardly laughed while scratching his head.

Wei Tianchong felt it was a great pity, and Tang Jie couldn't stand to see him like this. He finally said, "However, while taking it all isn't possible, it might be okay to take a little."

Shi Meng's eyes brightened. "You're saying that we should hide some of it first, right?"

Tang Jie gave Shi Meng another slap. "'Hide it', your sister! Would you rather have money or your life? There are plenty of ways to make money, so why do you always think about the shady ways?"

Shi Meng complained, "How can I know what sort of method you're thinking of?"

"The 'method'? The method is very simple." Tang Jie suddenly threw the small box back onto Gu Changan's corpse, and the little black stones rolled off the body and onto the ground.

He then used his saber to hack open the boxes, letting the Goldite and Icestone Bamboo spill out.

Wei Tianchong and Shi Meng were dumbfounded by the sight, shouting, "Tang Jie, what are you doing?"

"Cut the chatter and help me out. Take all the silver on the bodies and then take these crates with us," Tang Jie said, pointing at several crates of goods. The crates he had indicated were some of the more valuable goods the Gu Clan had brought this time, but they were greatly lacking compared to cultivation resources like Goldite and Icestone Bamboo.

Tang Jie's actions left Wei Tianchong and Shi Meng rather dumbfounded. It took a while for Wei Tianchong to finally understand. "You want us to pretend that we don't know what these things are? To not take them with us?"

Tang Jie nodded. "This is the only way to remove the suspicion of exposure so that the deal can continue. These three materials are not frequently seen on the market, and a normal bandit wouldn't recognize them. It's very common to make the wrong judgment in this situation."

"So we have to give up on this money?" Shi Meng said with great heartache.

Tang Jie replied, "This is bait. With it, we can draw out the Seven Absolutions Sect, and we can use that chance to understand their motives."

"Three million in bait!" Even Wei Tianchong couldn't stand it.

Three million!

Did they really have to throw it away?

Wei Tianchong raised a trembling finger. "Why don't we take just a little?"

"Not a single thing," Tang Jie tersely replied. "'Not knowing what they are' means not knowing what they are. Taking any would be exposing ourselves."

Wei Tianchong and Shi Meng sighed in sorrow, but they followed Tang Jie's orders and quickly left with the goods he had pointed out.

Before leaving, Tang Jie suddenly stopped, bent down, and picked up a piece of Goldite.

He looked at this stone, and then his left hand flashed with spiritual light, creating an item identical to the piece of Goldite in his right hand.

Tang Jie threw the one in his left hand to the ground before catching up to Wei Tianchong. "Hey, here's the little bit you wanted."

Wei Tianchong speechlessly took it.

Of course, Tang Jie could have duplicated a more valuable Crystallized Sandworm, but the sandworms were small and easy to carry around. If it were put into a Mustard Seed Bag, he wouldn't be able to observe the outside world. He used Duplication on a piece of Goldite precisely so he could spy on the Seven Absolutions Sect. He still had some questions, and perhaps the Seven Absolutions Sect had the answers.

The three of them didn't go far before hiding themselves in the vicinity and beginning to wait.

As this was a rather remote area, they had to wait for quite some time until someone finally appeared from the Duskland direction.

This person sped out of the distance. Stopping in the air, he grunted, took out a talisman, wrote a few words on it, and then burned it.

The next visitors came much more quickly.

After a little more than an hour, a group of people flew over.

Ten-some people landed in the clearing.

Through the duplicated Goldite, Tang Jie could see that their leader was a tall and muscular man.

One could tell at a glance that he was different from others. The others all wore the standard green robes of the Seven Absolutions Sect while this big man wore a tiger skin. This tiger skin was pure white, and the fur had a gloss to it that instantly identified it as an extraordinary item. The tiger skin could not completely cover the man's body, and his exposed copper skin and rippling muscles showed that he was brimming with strength.

As he landed, the ground trembled as if some giant beast had stomped down.

The big man looked around with a majestic gaze and sternly said, "Who can tell me what the hell is going on here!?"

His voice wasn't loud, but it was bursting with energy.

The Seven Absolutions Sect disciple who had come first said, "It should be passing bandits, but they couldn't see the value of the goods, only taking some of the worthless goods with them. They took a total of four crates, which implies that there couldn't have been more than four."

"It was three people," said a voice that made Tang Jie shiver.

Mu Yi!

The wooden voice carried an indifferent self-confidence. The tiger skin man turned to Mu Yi and said, "Talk."

Mu Yi pointed nearby. "The battlefield was split into two parts. One was over there. The escorts gathered together and aimed throwing knives, darts, and arrows at this area. Based on where they fell, their attacks were concentrated at two locations. But there are no dead around, so while it seems lively, there wasn't any intense combat. But over here…"

Mu Yi pointed at another area nearby. "This was the true battlefield. Cao Jiyuan joined together with Gu Changan and Zhu Kaishan against a foe, and from the shared cause of death of Gu and Zhu… they were both cut apart by a single blade. Thus, the other site was probably where Wei Tianzhi and Wu Xing were fighting with the enemy, two versus two, and with the help of the escorts, they managed to draw."

The big man nodded, and Mu Yi continued, "Let us look back at where Cao Jiyuan is. This is where the battle was truly decided. The battle was particularly intense, Cao Jiyuan even using a Multiplier Pill—as can be seen by those fallen trees—but he still lost. This is precisely what I find so strange about the situation."

"What's so strange about it?"

Mu Yi explained, "If it was passing bandits, as Senior Brother Cheng said, then these were bandits that could defeat Senior Brother Cao while he was empowered by the Multiplier Pill. This isn't the strength of some ordinary bandit."

That Senior Brother Cheng smiled. "Junior Brother Mu's words make sense, but it's not impossible for such a person to exist. The world is vast, and there are countless wandering cultivators. Let alone Mortal Shedding, there are even wandering cultivators at Celestial Heart, even Violet Palace. These people look just like everyone else normally, but because they lack cultivation resources, they're secretly willing to do anything to get what they need. It's not strange for a wandering cultivator to play the part of a bandit. And because they don't belong to any particular sect, they have limited experience and can't recognize real value. How else can you explain how the goods are just scattered about on the ground, untouched?"

The other disciples nodded in agreement.

Mu Yi replied, "But there are also those who can forsake the small to gain even greater profit."

"Then they never should have made a move. How could someone with great plans lose their patience? They should have waited in hiding for the right moment, striking and taking everything at once."

Mu Yi finally found a question he couldn't answer. After thinking it over for a long while, he shook his head and said, "Senior Brother Cheng is right. I cannot find an explanation for this. Perhaps it really was as Senior Brother Cheng said and just a coincidence. But I still think it would be better to adjust the plan. Of course, the exact details are up to Great Brother."

'Great Brother'?

Tang Jie's heart jumped at the term.

The title of Great Brother was not lightly used in the six major sects. Those called Great Brother had a certain amount of prestige and commanded the servitude of their peers.

This wasn't an honor granted by the sect, but a title of respect that the students gave all on their own. This was precisely why they were even more rare than the members of the top ten.

In Basking Moon Academy, over the last ten years, it had only been Bei Canghan, Peng Yaolong, and Tang Jie who had held this title. And once one was in the sect, the title of Great Brother became even more rare. At the very least, Bei and Peng were no longer addressed this way.

This tiger skin man had an intimidating appearance that oozed majesty. His aura was even greater than Peng Yaolong's, and from how respectfully Mu Yi treated this man, Tang Jie almost instantly realized who he was.

Wang Juemie!

Through the duplicate, Tang Jie memorized the appearance of this tiger skin man who had unsuccessfully pursued Shen Qingdan and led this young palace lord to choose Tang Jie as her groom.

Upon hearing Mu Yi's words, Wang Juemie turned to that Senior Brother Cheng and said, "Cheng Qi, I want to hear your opinion."

Senior Brother Cheng immediately replied, "In my view, this matter was a coincidence, so we should not react at all and continue with the original plan. In fact, even if there was some scheme afoot, we wouldn't need to be afraid of anything. Our costs in this deal were always limited. So long as we take these goods with us, we'll have recovered the capital and even made a small profit. Whatever comes next, we won't suffer any loss. Since that's the case, what do we have to fear?"

There wouldn't be a loss?

Tang Jie was shaken by these words, and he finally understood some of the questions that had left him confused.

If he weren't observing things from a distance using the duplicate, and if this Duplication spell art the Martial Lord had left behind hadn't been one of the most amazing illusion spells in the world, the emotional turmoil he was experiencing might have exposed him.

The Seven Absolutions Sect people continued to speak with each other.

After listening to Senior Brother Cheng, Wang Juemie let out a low and raspy laugh. "Cheng Qi, you still like to argue with Mu Yi on everything. You really think that this was all a coincidence?"

Senior Brother Cheng was startled, and he dropped his head and didn't dare to speak.

Wang Juemie looked at the wreckage of the convoy and the goods spilled out over the ground and shook his head. "I don't think things can be this much of a coincidence. Based on how we usually do things, we should be avoiding all potential risks."

Senior Brother Cheng's face dimmed.

"But…" Wang Juemie suddenly said, "I, Wang Juemie, seek to dominate the world. When have I ever feared a little risk? I would even dare to battle a Celestial Heart True Person. Even if there is a trap, so what?

"I'll just trample over it," he coolly said.

These five simple words overflowed with a tyrannical aura!

A moment later, Wang Juemie raised his head and declared, "Inform the Stone Gate Sect that the trade was a success and that everything went smoothly. We're keeping to the original plan and holding the final exchange in three days at Sunset Valley!"