Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-474

The venomous insects had been slain in battle.

To tell the truth, this wasn't strange. Those insects hadn't been some particularly powerful existence. What was truly difficult to accept was the way in which they had disappeared.

For eons, the favored method for dealing with venomous insects in the Rosecloud Domain was to use area spell arts. If one wasn't enough, another would be used. In any case, there was nothing wrong with using explosive wide-area methods against these small, fast, and numerous fellows.

There was no precedent for a battle like this.

With the help of the bean soldiers, Tang Jie had managed to create a clash on the battlefield.

Honestly, let alone Scarlet Brow, even Tang Jie was astonished. He had never imagined that the bean soldiers would be this formidable, engaging in a war of man versus insect right in front of him.

The bean soldiers cheered as if they were celebrating their victory. Some of the soldiers even began to give off a special light, and they became faster and stronger.

Leveled up?

Tang Jie was stunned.

Could these bean soldiers get stronger through killing?

But if that was the case, what happened when they disappeared?

There was temporarily no answer, for the bean soldiers had begun their battle against the Scarlet Brow True Person.

Under the command of the king, the more than one hundred soldiers charged at Scarlet Brow.

These bean soldiers were capable of both fighting together and fighting separately, capable of coming together and then scattering to the wind. The Scarlet Brow True Person, despite his power, was momentarily caught off guard.

But he was still at the Celestial Heart Realm. Once he stopped underestimating his opponents, the bean soldiers gradually began to lose ground.

On his end, Tang Jie was able to roughly analyze what was going on with the bean soldiers.

Putting aside the bean generals for now, the strength boost to each bean soldier was limited. Compared to the bean soldiers of the past—or perhaps one could call them "bean militia"—they were about 30% stronger. But with the different soldier types and organization, and when led by a general, their actual combat strength was even higher. Thus, one hundred of these bean soldiers were capable of going against three hundred of the former bean soldiers.

The reason these bean soldiers had failed to hold down their foe as Shi Jingzhai had once successfully made them do was primarily that Scarlet Brow was much stronger than Yu Wanniang, and he also wasn't injured.

Even so, just adding more bean soldiers would probably be enough.

Realizing this, Tang Jie liberally sowed one hundred more beans.

The bean king clearly loved having more beans, and he excitedly shouted.

But this time, he didn't create more soldiers, instead creating a herd of horses.

Once the beans turned into horses, they charged under the feet of the soldiers, and those bean soldiers instantly went from infantry to cavalry, crying out as they charged at Scarlet Brow.

"This also works?" Tang Jie was so shocked that his jaw almost fell off.

These mounted bean soldiers were clearly stronger than before. The Scarlet Brow True Person unleashed a Cyclone Hand, and ten-some shield cavalry raised their shields and managed to endure the strike. At the same time, several dozen spear cavalry rushed past Scarlet Brow, lights flashing as their spears struck his barrier.

Even those militia had been able to affect a True Person's barrier, let alone these professional soldiers who had been converted to cavalry.

Could they get even stronger?

The king quickly gave him an answer.

He pointed at one of the horsemen.

Tang Jie could see that this was one of the promoted soldiers, one of the rare ones who had glowed twice. In other words, this bean soldier had leveled up twice.

Empowered by the king, the soldier roared, and the warhorse under it reared up on its legs and turned into a white bear. A fiery light began to spread out from under the feet of the soldier.

The fourth general.

But for some reason, Tang Jie felt like this general was different from the other three.

As that radiance spread out, all the bean soldiers around the white bear began to blaze with flames.

Howling, they followed the bear rider in a charge at Scarlet Brow. That doll-sized white bear swiped a paw at Scarlet Brow, and there was an explosion of light as it struck the barrier. Scarlet Brow paled in shock and pointed at the bear general with his left hand. "Die!"

Sword energy shot at the bear.

The bear roared and let the sword energy pierce through it. But it only swayed a little before swiping its other paw.

Even a real bear wouldn't be this relentless.

Fiery riders began to slam into Scarlet Brow, and as explosions rang out around him, Scarlet Brow howled and screamed.

The cultivators who had come together with Scarlet Brow to kill Tang Jie were dumbfounded.

What were these things? Pushing a Celestial Heart True Person this far?

The bean king smugly shouted, and then he began to shout at Tang Jie again.

Tang Jie asked Yiyi, "What is he saying?"

"It seems like he wants more soldiers," Yiyi replied. "He says that if he has enough soldiers, he can kill them all."

"That's obvious," Tang Jie brusquely said. "I know that. The problem is that these beans are one-time-use, and I still don't know if the beans he uses can still be used again."

"He says that some can and some can't."

"Which ones can?"

"He says that he can't explain it in one or two sentences, but we'll understand once we see it for ourselves."

"…Fine." Fortunately, Tang Jie had accumulated many beans in the last eleven years, and he was fine with wasting some to see the bean king's real power. Thus, he sowed a hundred-some more beans.

The beans that appeared were different again, turning into golden-armored soldiers wielding spears and shields, mounted upon horses. These horses weren't created from beans, but had come with the soldiers. Even though a single bean had produced a soldier and a horse, each one of them had an aura comparable to the horsemen fighting right now, perhaps even exceeding them. It was like they were all black-armored generals.

The golden-armored bean soldiers didn't attack, instead circling around the bean king.

Upon seeing this, Tang Jie roughly understood that the king was creating bodyguards.

Sure enough, just as the bodyguards appeared, Scarlet Brow roared and thrust his palm at the bean king.

He had many years of experience, and though he had initially been caught by surprise, after several exchanges, he could tell that the little man with the golden crown was the center of this army. Thus, he began to attack the bean king without hesitation.

This powerful blast of energy made even Tang Jie grimace. He hadn't expected Scarlet Brow to identify the weakness so quickly. But just when he was about to intervene, the bean king shrieked, and the golden-armored soldiers around him raised their shields, forming into a giant steel slab.

Bang! Scarlet Brow's palm blast made impact, but the shields held!

Once the attack had been blocked, the bean king turned and angrily glared at Tang Jie, babbling something.

"He says that you're too petty. If you were just a little later, he would be dead!" Yiyi shouted.

"You don't need to explain that," Tang Jie said, blushing in shame.

He could admit that he truly had been negligent on this point, underestimating Scarlet Brow and forgetting to protect the bean king. Fortunately, the king hadn't forgotten about his own welfare, which was why he had personally formed his bodyguards once he had the advantage in battle.

Now, he had bodyguards, cavalry, and generals. What could be next?

But it appeared that the bean king wasn't going to show him any new tricks unless he were given more beans.

Tang Jie sowed another one hundred beans.

But this time, the bean king simply turned them all into soldiers and sent them into battle, showing nothing new.

Tang Jie found this somewhat of a pity.

He felt like this world of beans shouldn't have been this simple, that there was a chance of there being a new way of empowering them.

And then he saw the bean king point at another soldier.

Tang Jie saw that this was another soldier that had leveled up.

This soldier fell back rather than attacking, and the armor disappeared, replaced by a long robe. The bean soldier then pointed at Scarlet Brow, and a bolt of lightning shot from its finger!

It wasn't powerful, but Tang Jie and Scarlet were both stunned.

Magic-type bean soldiers!

As expected, this world of beans encompassed everything. It had charging officers, beast-taming officers, magic officers, and there might even be healing officers and commanding officers in the future. But it seemed like all these officers needed to come from soldiers who had leveled up.

As for those three generals that hadn't come from leveled soldiers, he still didn't know what the difference was.

The new soldiers finally caused Scarlet Brow to start giving ground. All he could see were bean soldiers rushing around, making him feel as helpless as a man would be when facing hundreds of mosquitoes. Of course, these bean soldiers were far stronger than mosquitoes.

They were faster, nimbler, stronger, and more damaging. In just a few moments, Scarlet Brow began to bleed.

Unable to take this anymore, he shouted, "What are you standing around for? Together!"

He was shouting at Chun Wei and Fei Bai.

They were responsible for stopping reinforcements and reacting to emergencies, but now, Scarlet Brow was calling for their aid.

The two Cognitive Creation experts joined in and managed to stabilize the battlefront.

Scarlet Brow was now freed up, and his palms began to unleash dark red torrents of energy at the bean soldiers. Several dozen bean soldiers had to combine their powers to block them.

In one of these clashes, as a smaller number of soldiers had joined together, Scarlet Brow's attack sent seven soldiers flying. Throwing up blood, they were unable to get back up.

The bean king was greatly pained by this sight. While healing the soldiers, he turned to Tang Jie and began to jabber again.

There was no need for Yiyi to translate this time.

"More soldiers, I know," Tang Jie said. "That's all you know."

He reached into his bag again.

This time, he was going all-out.

In any case, he had stockpiled plenty of beans in his cave estate in the last ten-some years, so it was fine to use up this entire batch. He had brought a total of seven hundred beans with him this time. Four hundred had already been sowed, and he now sowed the remaining three hundred.

Once this was done, he showed the bean king his bag and pointed at it. "All gone!"

Beans fell like rain.

The bean king elatedly shouted.

He waved his scepter, and the beans turned into lions, tigers, leopards, and other fierce beasts! They roared and charged at Scarlet Brow's people, including Fei Yu and Xiang Zhen, who had been responsible for holding down Yiyi and Shi Jingzhai.

This guy was going to go one versus five!

"Is he really that formidable?" Tang Jie was also shocked.

In his own hands, he would have needed all seven hundred beans to deal with only Scarlet Brow. But the bean king intended to sweep through one Celestial Heart and four Cognitive Creation cultivators.

The newborn beasts charged at their enemies with no semblance of formation, but they were strong and savage. Their fighting methods were akin to those primitive militia beans, lunging and biting. But they were faster, stronger, more ruthless and tenacious.

A bear refined beast that Fei Yu had summoned was instantly covered by several dozen bean beasts. These bean beasts were rather large, and several dozen of them were enough to completely cover that giant bear. There were even two small bean bears who hadn't been able to squeeze in and simply ran in circles and shouted as if they were babies wailing for milk.

Meanwhile, the refined beast rolled around in pain. Those little guys attached to it were the craziest and most bloodthirsty wild beasts, tearing chunks of flesh off the refined beasts. In just a few moments, that refined beast had been completely devoured, leaving behind only white bones.

"No!" Fei Yu was so shocked that he didn't dare to believe his eyes.

A powerful upper-grade Mind Opening refined beast had been devoured alive by several dozen beans! He was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

But such things were still happening.

Following the bear was Fei Yu's spotted white python, and then his Spirit Sensing fox, which Fei Yu had had such high hopes for that he had allowed it to keep its intelligence. For this reason, as the fox died, it begged for mercy, which made Fei Yu's heart twist in pain.

The last to fall was that Jadefeather Golden Eagle, brought down under an assault of bean birds.

The bean beasts howled in excitement after devouring the divine beasts, their bodies flashing as they also leveled up.

Tang Jie was utterly stunned.

He was shocked not by the power of the beans, but by the bean king's choice.

These bean beasts appeared to be attacking everyone, but in reality, they had been primarily targeting Fei Yu's four refined beasts.

Three hundred beans had been enough to fight against one True Person and two Cognitive Creation Spirit Masters, so they could naturally handle four refined beasts. And since these beans had taken the form of savage beasts, they had been able to take care of them in short order.

And the result of the four refined beasts being handled was that Yiyi and Shi Jingzhai were now free, tipping the balance of power.

This was a tactic commonly seen in war, creating a local advantage that could allow one to gain victory in the overall battle.

Tang Jie believed that this was no coincidence. Rather, the bean king had an extremely sharp mind for tactics and strategy.

It was precisely because he could make these sorts of choices, making the proper adjustments to his troops, that he could defend against the attacks of a True Person again and again.

With the four refined beasts dead, the three hundred bean beasts lunged at Fei Yu and Xiang Zhen. Yiyi and Shi Jingzhai joined in, and it became the case that every extra second those two lasted was a miracle.

Finally, the weaker Fei Yu failed, his barrier shattering and the bean beasts tearing away at him. Just like that, this Beast Refining Gate disciple followed his pets in being buried in the mouths of beans.

Next was Xiang Zhen. Immobilized by Yiyi's flower formation, he could only watch as the bean beasts tore away at him. His barrier couldn't last against these savage creatures, and melted away. He struggled and shouted, "True Person, save me!"

But how could Scarlet Brow save him?

Under the command of that king, three hundred bean soldiers did all they could to hinder him, ensuring the local victory. He even sent in his bodyguards while he hid behind Tang Jie. For the sake of victory, this little guy could use everything possible. Even the tactically accomplished Tang Jie was flabbergasted.

As the three hundred bean beasts were about to finish devouring Xiang Zhen, Scarlet Brow knew he was in trouble. Once those three hundred bean beasts and Yiyi and Shi Jingzhai enclosed him, the battle would be hopeless.

Although he was unwilling, Scarlet Brow stomped his feet and shouted, "We've lost this battle! Run!"

They had come as five, but they had been pressed so hard that they hadn't even had the chance to attack Tang Jie—a thought which made him feel helpless.

As he flew into the air, the bean soldiers gave chase, soon turning into little dots in the sky. Meanwhile, the three hundred bean beasts chased after Chun Wei and Fei Bai. These two didn't dare to stay and fight. Even Scarlet Brow had run off, so after exchanging a glance, the two fled in separate directions.

"Don't even think about running!" Yiyi shouted. She and Shi Jingzhai chased one while the three hundred bean beasts chased the other.

Tang Jie was the only one left on the battlefield.

He looked at the bean king, who was looking at him with his head held high as if asking, "How did I do?"

Tang Jie considered his answer. "The original body being weak is a flaw. Although you can create bodyguards, you still need to be careful of powerful opponents. The stronger the opponent, the more bodyguards you'll need, which means we lose the manpower advantage."

These words struck right at the bean king's weak point.

For example, a target that would have needed two hundred bean soldiers to handle would only need seventy if the bean king was around, but to protect the bean king, the bean king would have to make soldiers to protect himself, which meant that they weren't saving as much manpower as they could have.

The little guy wasn't convinced, jumping around and jabbering. Tang Jie couldn't understand him, so he indifferently said, "Another flaw is that the army's ability depends on the ability of the commander, so when the commander is deceived, the army will also be deceived."

The bean king was furious, putting his hands on his hips and shouting at Tang Jie. It appeared that he was asking, "How have I ever been deceived?"

Tang Jie reached into his bag and pulled out the Heartbreak Saber. "Really? Then how can you explain the fact that you were fooled by a certain person's diversion…"

Tang Jie turned and swung his saber.

A domineering wave of energy struck a tree one hundred meters behind him.

A moment later, there was a scream, and the figure of the Scarlet Brow True Person was sent flying into the air.

Half of his body was drenched in blood, and he shuddered from the intense pain. But the shock drowned out his pain, and he glared at Tang Jie in shock and anger.

"You aren't in the Three Witherings. You're… peak Mortal Shedding?"

"Correct answer."

Saber energy burst out!