Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-87

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

After six matches in a row, the seventh opponent was finally a little different. In terms of both reaction time and casting speed, he was a lot better.

Nevertheless, Tang Jie’s onslaught swiftly blasted down his will to fight.

As that boy left, he even cried, “Why do you have to be such a bully? You don’t even let me cast a single spell.”

Helpless, Tang Jie could only try and soothe him. “I use the Formless Golden Body, a body-strengthening spell art from the Divine Firmament Sword Classic. Your loss was not without reason.”

The student was greatly comforted to hear this.

After seven victories in a row, many people at the sparring ground had begun to pay attention to Tang Jie’s battles.

Qiu Jing’s group had grim expressions.

Li Huaihai sternly said, “He’s fought seven matches in a row. This kid is clearly coming after us.”

“I saw that ages ago,” Qiu Jing scoffed. “He’s come to get back his young master’s dignity.”

“Then he’s got a lot of fighting ahead of him.” Han Zhe played the cultured scion, fanning himself as he smiled. “There are several hundred people on the sparring ground. He’ll have to get lucky to pull us. He might even exhaust himself to death before that happens.”

At this moment, a distant voice shouted, “Zhong Han! Tang Jie!”

Zhong Han paled. “No way! So fast?”

Qiu Jing explained, “Is there even a need to ask? He must have bribed that Zhao Shuxin. That greedy ghost took our money and then took Tang Jie’s. He truly working for both sides.”

“Shit! Well, if it’s a fight he wants, it’s a fight he gets! I’m not guaranteed to lose!” Zhong Han stubbornly said.

He spoke heroically, but there was a hint of cowardice in his voice.

Upon entering the room, Zhong Han immediately used a defensive spell, but he saw that Tang Jie wasn’t moving. He just looked at Zhong Han and asked, “You smashed my young master’s puppet?”

“If I did, what about it?” Zhong Han proudly raised his head.

“Very good. That puppet cost my young master two thousand spirit coins. Pay up and I’ll let your group go.”

Zhong Han was startled at first, and then he began to laugh. “Pay you? Are you joking with me? And let us go? You want to let me go, but I don’t want to let you go! Penta-Earth Sword!”

He swung his hand, a yellow sword beam shooting toward Tang Jie.

Tang Jie dodged to the side and charged at Zhong Han, throwing a punch!

“Rock Armor!” Zhong Han roared, a layer of earthy yellow armor appearing on his body.

A moment later, Tang Jie’s fist smashed into Zhong Han’s armor, and the enormous energy smashed a dent into the armor and sent Zhong Han staggering back. He grimaced. “Such strength.”

Tang Jie kicked at Zhong Han.

He coldly said, “I’ll say it again. Pay compensation and I’ll let all of you go.”

“Compensation?” Zhong Han laughed so hard that he could hardly breathe. “Have you lost your mind? What will you do if I don’t compensate you? I just lose a round. So what? If you’ve got the guts, kill me!”

Tang Jie shook his head. “That being the case… I will have to do this.”

He suddenly swung his hand down like a saber.

Scared, Zhong Han instinctively raised his sword to block. Tang Jie’s palm sliced down, striking the blade of the sword, and with one strike, crack! The sword was cut in two.

Zhong Han was dumbfounded, and then he began to moan, “My sword!”

This sword was a lower-grade spell weapon, but to his surprise, Tang Jie had destroyed it with one strike.

Tang Jie couldn’t be bothered with him. He grabbed his lot and threw him out of the room.

Seeing the miserable state Zhong Han was in, Qiu Jing and the rest all scowled.

They didn’t find it strange that Zhong Han had been defeated. The strength of their group wasn’t much better than the students who had come before him. But they hadn’t expected Tang Jie to break Zhong Han’s sword.

“What do we do now?” They got together to talk about what to do.

“I don’t know what sort of technique this guy practices, but he can break a weapon with his palm. He’s clearly aiming at our weapons, so we can’t use them when fighting him,” Qiu Jing grimly said.

“But doesn’t that mean that we’ll be even less of a match for him?”

“Don’t panic. Slowly wear him out. He’s fought eight matches in a row, and I don’t believe that his spiritual energy is endless. It’s not like he can get matched with our entire group of ten-plus people.”

But the slap to the face from reality had always been callous.

For the next few matches, Tang Jie really did manage to get matched only with members of their group. As they were afraid of Tang Jie’s revenge, they didn’t dare use their weapons, causing their strength to fall, so Tang Jie was able to beat them more easily than he had his previous opponents, basically knocking them down as soon as they stepped up. Others tried to use movement techniques to wear Tang Jie out with hit-and-run tactics, but alas, Tang Jie’s Violet Lightning Lunge was faster, and so their tactics ended up making them lose even faster.

One unfortunate soul had been wearing spell-weapon-grade armor. It was able to take the initial blow, but then Tang Jie grabbed it and tore the armor to shreds, causing another one to leave the sparring room in tears.

As they saw the people around them being called out and defeated one by one, Qiu Jing’s group grew more and more depressed.

Finally, a voice called out.

“Ye Xing. Tang Jie.”

“Shit, it’s our group again. How much money did Tang Jie give Zhao Shuxin that has that bastard working so hard?” All of them ground their teeth until they were sore.

Ten spirit coins was quite generous from Tang Jie. A low-level student could ignore the rules for one spirit coin, and ten spirit coins was enough for them to stomp on the rules, not even considering that these ten spirit coins were from a student who had inherited the Sword Classic.

In any case, Ye Xing didn’t care. He rumbled, “Let’s fight, then, and find out who’s disciplining who here!”

In terms of strength, Ye Xing was the best of their group.

Swinging his warhammer, he walked into the room.

Although he came from a rich clan, he had a savage face and was both short and fat. His spell weapon was also a rarely seen hammer.

He cultivated the Large Bone Great Strength Mantra, a rare mantra that molded the body through spells. Even in the Basking Moon Sect, it was a path that very few people chose. It provided incredible amounts of strength and was ideally suited for close combat. If one weren’t thinking about the long term, it would give one a natural advantage in strength at the Spirit Disciple level. It was only Wei Tianchong’s fighting method that could counter him. Normally, few people would be able to take him on in direct combat.

Because he used a war hammer, he wasn’t worried about Tang Jie doing anything to his weapon and felt okay about using it.

As he entered the room, Ye Xing placed the head of the hammer on the floor with a loud thump.

He looked at Tang Jie and laughed. “Kid, don’t think that this old man is as easy to deal with as those rookies.”

Tang Jie’s gaze rested on the war hammer for a few moments, after which he softly said, “You used this hammer to smash my young master’s puppet?”

Ye Xing erupted in laughter. “Yes! What sort of shitty puppet was that? Just a few blows from my hammer were enough to knock it to pieces! That kid Wei Tianchong was even hugging my leg and crying, haha!”

He pointed at the scar on his face and savagely said, “You see this? The puppet did this. Even though I got injured, I still had to beat him and smash that puppet of his. Let’s see how cocky he can be after that!”

“Good, very good!” Tang Jie nodded. “That being the case, I will smash your hammer.”

“Smash my hammer? Are you trying to tell a joke?” Ye Xing didn’t dare to believe his ears.

His war hammer weighed more than one hundred kilograms, and ordinary mortals couldn’t even wave it around. Even he could only swing it around after using the Brute Strength spell. Although it was cheaper than the puppet, it was much tougher.

And this fellow was saying that he was going to smash it? Absolutely ridiculous!

A moment later, Tang Jie charged out and punched at Ye Xing.

“Raaa!” Ye Xing bellowed, “Whirlwind Hammer!”

The iron hammer howled around, stirring up a gale as it hurtled toward Tang Jie.

The Brute Strength spell plus the Whirlwind Hammer was Ye Xing’s killer combo. Moreover, the spell weapon had a strengthening function of its own, so this hammer had the force of at least one thousand kilograms.

Ye Xing was confident that Tang Jie would have to dodge this hammer blow!

No one could withstand his hammer. Let alone Tang Jie, even those at the top of the ranking couldn’t. On this point, Ye Xing had always been confident.

So long as Tang Jie dodged, Ye Xing would follow up with the Wind Needle. Once it hit, Tang Jie’s movements would undoubtedly be hindered, after which he could smash that hammer into Tang Jie’s body. The thought made him happy, and he savagely smiled. He felt like he could already see Tang Jie’s bones breaking under his hammer.

It was a pity that he wasn’t allowed to kill.

He even felt a hint of regret.

But at that moment, he saw Tang Jie charging straight at him.

He stared straight at the metal hammer and swung his fist!

How could that be?

Ye Xing was startled.

He was going to confront the hammer with a fist?

Events moved faster than he could think.

At the moment the hammer was about to meet the fist, Tang Jie extended a finger.

That finger concealed under the brightness of the hammer flashed with a bloody light.

It touched the hammer.

A single finger!

Bang!

Spiritual light exploded through the room.

Ye Xing felt his hands lighten, and he could no longer control his boosted strength and staggered forward.

Staggered into Tang Jie!

The air was awash with countless pieces of metal dust.

He then saw Tang Jie take one step forward.

Just one step.

A knee slammed into his belly.

“Agh!” Ye Xing screamed in pain. It was just a knee into his belly, but he felt like he was about to vomit his guts.

He then saw the world spinning around him, the sky and earth reversed… He flew out and crashed heavily to the ground.

“Not even able to last one blow,” Tang Jie spat. He seemed to casually clean up the metal debris at his feet, a golden light silently flowing through the sole of his foot into his body.

Just now, he had used the Weapon Mantra. After those two baths, Tang Jie could finally use the Weapon Mantra without fainting. Even so, he felt completely tired out.

Tang Jie grabbed Ye Xing’s lot and then swept a hand across his own shoulder, creating a red line of blood. He then walked out, upon which Ye Xing began to wail. He was weeping over his hammer.

Upon seeing Tang Jie come out, Wei Tianchong excitedly rushed up. “You won again?”

“Mm, I shattered his hammer.”

“You shattered his hammer?” Wei Tianchong yelped in surprise. “How did you manage that?”

He could accept breaking a sword, but how had Tang Jie even managed to destroy a hammer?

“Perhaps he bought one of poor quality,” Tang Jie said, spreading apart his hands.

“Tang Jie, even if it’s poor quality, it’s still made of iron!”

“I cultivate the Lesser Sea Grotto Metal Mantra. It’s supposed to pierce through metal. Perhaps if it were made of wood, I might not have been able to shatter it.”

At this time, Ye Xing walked out, carrying the metal shards of his hammer.

Upon seeing that Ye Xing’s hammer had been shattered, Qiu Jing’s group paled, and they looked fearfully at Tang Jie.

The entire sparring ground buzzed with chatter.

No one knew how he had done it, but destroying a hammer with one strike was a stunning feat.

Someone muttered, “The Divine Firmament Sword Classic! This must be a spell art of the Divine Firmament Sword Classic!”

In truth, the Divine Firmament Sword Classic had many spell arts that could destroy spell weapons in one strike, but one needed to cultivate them to a high level to achieve it. If Tang Jie had wanted to destroy a spell weapon with one strike using the Formless Golden Body, he would need to practice it for at least three more years.

Thus, Tang Jie had done something extremely risky.

But he had to do this.

This was a chance, a chance to publicly show that he had the ability to destroy the weapons of others.

If he missed the chance, he had no idea when he would get another.

And after this, he would be able to explain himself when he tried it again in the future.

When it was hard to hide something, it was better to just make up an excuse for it so that it could be used openly. In this aspect, he and Gu Changqing were on the same page.

This was also why he had fabricated an injury. It was to let everyone know that he had exerted too much strength and injured himself.

Zhao Shuxin saw his state and asked, “Do you still want to continue?”

Tang Jie chuckled. “I’m going to rest a little first.”

After fighting all these matches and using the Weapon Mantra, even he was unable to keep fighting for now.

He sat down and began to circulate Circuit Heavens.

He was recovering the physical strength he had used, but in the eyes of others, he was treating himself.

It appeared like he was going to keep fighting, and everyone began to talk again, looking at Qiu Jing’s group with amusement.

“Boss, what do we do?” Han Zhe and the others began to panic.

Qiu Jing stomped his foot. “We’re leaving!”

If they left the sparring ground, Tang Jie would no longer be able to cause them trouble.

They hastily began to leave.

The crowd in the training area immediately erupted in laughter. Everyone loved to laugh at the suffering of others.

In today’s battles, Qiu Jing’s crew had been utterly humiliated, and they would probably have to keep their heads down when they saw anyone in the future.

Tang Jie didn’t continue to challenge. He asked Wei Tianchong, “What about it? Is your anger vented now?”

“Mm, I’m good,” Wei Tianchong grinned.

To destroy a sword, a suit of armor, and a hammer all in one go meant that the other party had suffered a greater loss, and they had also been publicly humiliated. His anger had been thoroughly vented.

“Good,” Tang Jie indifferently said, his eyes following Qiu Jing’s group as they left. He saw Zhong Han and the others throwing aside their broken spell weapons, and he had an idea. “Third Young Master, can you help me with something?”

“What is it? As your young master, I’ll help you out.”

“Nothing much. See that sword and armor those two threw away? I want you to bring them back for me.”

“What do you want to do with those?” Wei Tianchong asked in surprise.

“Nothing much—just to keep them as souvenirs. After all, they’re the results of my first day of matches, so I have to take good care of them,” Tang Jie replied with a smile.

Wei Tianchong was enlightened, and he hurried off to pick up the discarded sword and armor, making sure to show them off to the crowd as he brought them back.

After receiving the sword and armor, Tang Jie saw that he had basically recovered his physical strength. He didn’t plan to keep fighting, so he turned to leave.

As he was leaving, he heard a student comment, “Taking first place on his first day, he’s truly Mad Student Tang Jie.”

“Tsk, his luck was good. He didn’t get anyone difficult.”

“True. He didn’t even get anyone of the Fierce Brave level. He’s also lucky that he didn’t get his evaluation back today, so he only got paired against rookies.”

The students chattered on.

One of the more clear-headed students asked, “Shattering a hammer in a single blow can be called luck?”

But he was quickly drowned out by the voices of the angry crowd.

Tang Jie was rather amazed that he had gotten first place. Only now did he see today’s Spirit Spring battle ranking. After winning fourteen matches in a row, he now occupied the top spot.

Startled, he asked Wei Tianchong, “How is my score so high?”

“Of course. You won fourteen matches in a row. If you aren’t the highest, who else would be?” Wei Tianchong excitedly said. “If everything goes as usual, today’s first place should be yours.”

“No one else might snatch first place from me?”

“What are you even saying?” Wei Tianchong rolled his eyes. “They would have to win fifteen matches in a row and waste a ton of strength. You can only get on the rankings for five days a month. Those people capable of getting on the ranking wouldn’t be so bored as to go all-out just for a single day, while those who lack the ability to get on the ranking won’t be able to beat your score. You’re the one who told me all this. How could you forget?”

Tang Jie was dazed for a moment. He muttered, “I was just messing around, so how did I end up getting first place?”