Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-704

When a person started acting without inhibitions, all principles, rules, and restraints became pointless.

There was no meticulous analysis, reasonable conjectures, or masterful plans, only bashing and smashing, weapons clashing and blood splashing.

After experiencing so many things together with Tang Jie, Xu Miaoran had learned that when it came to cultivators, no matter what sort of schemes one had concocted, one would inevitably end up talking with their weapons. All calculations were merely a prelude to the decisive confrontation, to increase the chances of one's victory and correspondingly decrease the chances of the other side winning.

Strength was still what decided victory.

Only strength!

But only when the battle began did Xu Miaoran realize just how strong the opponent she was facing actually was.

As that blast of palm energy howled toward the group, they shouted in unison and thrust out their palms.

The combined power of twenty-some cultivators naturally wasn't weak. Not only did it block the palm, it kept going, sweeping toward Sang Hongmei. But just when everyone was celebrating, Sang Hongmei threw out an Immortal-Binding Rope to tie up Hong Yuan and tossed her up into the clouds, after which she laughed and said, "These juniors dare to attack this fairy? Let me teach you why you are nothing but ants trying to shake a tree!"

She threw out her Coiling Dragon Cane, which transformed into a blood dragon and charged at the group with a howl.

"Be careful!" Cai Junyang shouted a warning, having already experienced the power of this cane.

Ten-some cultivators attacked the blood dragon in unison, but as they did, the Blood Fairy rushed up to one of the All-Talent Society's Spirit Ring cultivators, stretching out a claw toward them. That person backed away in panic, but the claw pressed up against his chest, shattering his barrier and leaving five deep holes in him.

Several waves of sword and saber energy flew at her. Sang Hongmei dodged two of them and then weathered the attacks from three as she thrust out a claw again, grabbing at that cultivator. She was so fast that she instantly had a grip on his head, upon which she closed her hand, crushing the cultivator's head like iron pincers crushing a walnut.

"Qin Yu!" Xu Miaoran shouted.

In killing a person in the first exchange, Sang Hongmei had let everyone know what a real expert was like.

Xu Miaoran shouted, "Group up in threes! Don't let her divide and conquer us!"

Unless there was some immense gap in strength, when the weak battled the strong and the numerous battled the few, the outnumbered side normally had only one tactic: to defeat opponents one by one.

Sang Hongmei could not change this.

This was why she had lashed out so savagely, seeking to weaken the enemy and lower their numbers. Once the numbers were small enough, she could turn the tables.

But Xu Miaoran's group understood this and were ready. Rather than looking to kill, they prioritized preservation, emphasizing helping each other out so that Sang Hongmei couldn't take them down individually.

Sang Hongmei cackled and once more rushed at one of them, this time targeting Peng Yaolong.

Peng Yaolong bellowed, mighty torrents of power issuing from his fists as he chose to go blow for blow.

The two powers clashed, and Peng Yaolong felt five blasts of air penetrate through his fist blast and enter his right arm. A moment later, five spurts of blood fountained out of his arm as he was sent flying hundreds of feet.

Just as Sang Hongmei was about to attack Peng Yaolong again, there was a rush of wind behind her. Ye Tianshang and Qi Shaoming attacked together, one sending a hurricane of sword energy and the other producing nine phantoms that charged at her.

These attacks had been linked up perfectly so that they could intercept Sang Hongmei, but Sang Hongmei simply grunted. As the sword energy touched her body, she erupted in crimson light, and eighteen blood plum blossoms bloomed from her clothes.

As the sword lights struck the blood blossoms, Sang Hongmei shot forward, thrusting her palms and striking Ye Tianshang and Qi Shaoming back, after which she charged at Peng Yaolong.

Two more sword lights headed her off, this time from Bei Canghan and Wei Tianchong.

Just as she had pushed back these two, Zhou Peng charged in.

As a Soul Transformation True Person, though he was no match for Sang Hongmei, he was still able to hold her for a while. This was the mission that Xu Miaoran had given him, protecting the others so that Sang Hongmei couldn't kill anyone.

His lack of caution had already let Sang Hongmei kill one, so after this dereliction of duty, he put his all into preventing Sang Hongmei from getting another chance.

Zhou Peng's interception robbed Sang Hongmei of her chance to kill Peng Yaolong, and he retreated and took a pill to rapidly heal. Xu Miaoran had gone all out for this battle, buying up large numbers of healing medicines.

Meanwhile, Xu Miaoran and Fan Chenglong had managed to hold down the blood dragon.

When the strong battled the weak, the most important thing was to not be held down.

Once one was held down, the battle became one of attrition, as if one was sinking into a swamp. This was not to Sang Hongmei's advantage at all. No matter how formidable she was, she couldn't exhaust almost thirty Celestial Heart True Persons. Even Tang Jie couldn't do this.

"Zhou Peng, you dare fight me!?" Sang Hongmei barked.

"Fairy, my apologies, but I must carry out my duty." Zhou Peng was throwing out energy palms and doing everything he could to stop Sang Hongmei from killing Peng Yaolong, but he didn't dare to be rude with his words.

He was well aware that the Blood Fairy had yet to use her real power.

Sang Hongmei's face flashed with cruelty. "'Your duty'? This fairy will teach you where your real duty lies! Blood Plums, bloom!"

Zhou Peng paled and shouted, "Everyone, dodge!"

He rapidly retreated as his hands thrust out again and again, throwing out countless wind blasts to protect himself.

The blood plum blossoms on Sang Hongmei's robes flew out and attacked the cultivators around her.

Each plum blossom was the size of a metal basin, spinning like a saw. Bei Canghan was closest to Sang Hongmei and was the first to be attacked. The plum blossom sliced right through his barrier and kept going, carving out a large chunk of his abdomen.

Of the remaining blossoms, seven attacked Zhou Peng, and the rest of them were split up among Peng Yaolong, Cai Junyang, Qi Shaoming, Liu Hongyan, Wei Tianchong, Zuo Quanming, Ye Tianshang, Shi Meng, and the two Spirit Ring cultivators of the All-Talent Society.

Zhou Peng didn't dare to be careless against the Blood Plum Blossoms, and with his full strength, he only barely managed to hold them off. But this meant that he had nothing left to help others, such was the gap between him and Sang Hongmei.

As for the others, they each employed their own method to deal with these terrifying plum blossoms. Cai Junyang used his comprehension of Slaughter to destroy his, Qi Shaoming dodged it with his Passing Shadow Phantom Clone Slash, and Wei Tianchong had a puppet take the blow for him.

As Zuo Quanming had yet to reveal his strength such that even Sang Hongmei hadn't seen through him, he was only dealing with a single plum blossom. He was actually able to easily destroy it, but this wily fellow only neutralized 90% of the blossom's power before letting it hit him in the belly. He howled as if he had taken on a heavy blow, but in reality, it was just a flesh wound.

The remaining six were all hit.

Peng Yaolong and Ye Tianshang had the lightest injuries. One had a tough body and strong defenses, while the other neutralized most of the blossom's power with a sword gale. Shi Meng was the most badly wounded, this one strike essentially stripping him of the ability to fight. Thankfully, he was wearing armor and had chosen to protect his weak points, so he didn't die. But he was forced to retreat while being covered by the others.

The battle had only begun, but Xu Miaoran's group already had one dead and one seriously wounded.

The Blood Fairy wasn't done attacking. As the eighteen Blood Plum Blossoms finished their assault, Sang Hongmei let out a crazed laugh. "As expected, there are some pretty good fighters among you juniors, but that's what makes a battle enjoyable! Since that's the case, this fairy will show you a little of her true face!"

As she spoke, her body glowed. Her wrinkles began to smooth out, time seeming to reverse, and her face became young and beautiful. In the blink of an eye, an old granny had turned into a maiden in the prime of her youth.

Everyone was flabbergasted, Xu Miaoran even blurting out, "The Counter Current Rebirth Art! You actually cultivated that!?"

Her voice was thick with panic.

The Counter Current Rebirth Art was a powerful secret art of Horizon Ocean Pavilion that could reverse time's effect on the physical body. One could say that it was almost a Dao. One who cultivated this art would age faster than normal, even with a spiritual body. Only when one reached greater attainment in the art could one return to one's youth. But as a positive, it greatly increased the power of one's Divine Will, both making arts more powerful and also making the future charge at Violet Palace easier.

One could say that the Blood Fairy must have been extremely determined when she chose to cultivate the Counter Current Rebirth Art. Of course, without this daring, the Jewel Celestial Sovereign would have never taken a liking to her and taken her as a disciple.

But nobody had imagined that the Blood Fairy had actually achieved greater attainment.

Upon regaining her youth, she was no longer old and repulsive, but she still had those cruel and haughty eyes.

Looking at the group, Sang Hongmei coldly said, "Free my dead body, return my spring, follow my will, move my universe!"

As she spoke, the eighteen Blood Plum Blossoms bloomed once more on her body.

This move was one of Sang Hongmei's trump cards, and each time she used it, she had to wait a long time until she could use it again.

But with this chant, they were fully restored.

With a wave of her right hand, the blood dragon returned to her, but it took on the form of a spear rather than a cane.

Grasping that dragon spear, the eighteen plum blossoms morphing into a suit of armor, Sang Hongmei became a heroic woman general.

The scene awed everyone.

Sang Hongmei laughed. "You thought you could beat me with numbers, not realizing that before a truly fierce beast, sheep will always be sheep!"

She thrust out her dragon spear, and its splendor illuminated the skies, threatening to pierce through the heavens.