Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 365: Borrowing a Road

The three Stone Gate disciples saw how easily Tang Jie had killed Lin Fan and were momentarily too shocked and horrified to speak.

Tang Jie was seething with murderous energy and clearly didn’t plan to let them go. One of them shouted, “This has nothing to do with me!”

He turned and flew off.

Another one of them shouted, “Idiot, we’re only strong when we’re together! You want to give him the chance to take us down one by one?”

As he spoke, he attacked with the other remaining person, two waves of sword energy sweeping toward Tang Jie. But the scared disciple didn’t care and fled for his life. Although he was a Spirit Master, he spent most of his time cultivating in the sect and had little experience in the outside world. He lacked the composure and resolve of the other two.

If all three of them had attacked, Tang Jie might have had some trouble. After all, the Stone Gate disciples weren’t wandering cultivators and were actually quite strong. In a three-versus-one, even Tang Jie would have had a lot to deal with.

But one of them running off, leaving him in a two-versus-one, saved Tang Jie a lot of effort.

“Want to run? Fixate!”

The fleeing disciple froze in the air.

Tang Jie had already activated the Formless Golden Body and rushed at the remaining two disciples. The Formless Golden Body was much stronger than before, finally exhibiting the power of a spell art of the Sword Classic. The two waves of sword energy struck his body in an explosion of rainbow colors, but they weren’t able to injure even a hair on Tang Jie’s body. Meanwhile, Tang Jie had swung his saber, releasing a wave of fire that forced the two of them to back away.

Ever since it had been upgraded to an art relic, the Heartbreak Saber had only become fiercer. As Tang Jie swung it, it unleashed a raging sea of fire that appeared from a distance like a seething cloud of flames.

The two Stone Gate disciples tried to resist, but the difference in the strength of their spell arts now made itself evident.

Even though the two of them were working together, the damage they could do to the Formless Golden Body was limited, and even if they finally managed to break it down, Tang Jie simply needed to cast it again. As for Tang Jie’s attacks, they were all extremely powerful. Whether it was the Matchless Slash, the Dragonlike Hand, the Divine Court Thousandshift, or even the weakest Eclipsed Star, they could all threaten the defenses of these two disciples. It was often the case where one or two moves was enough to break the barriers they had cast, and what awaited them was a barrage of painful blows.

The two of them tried their best, but as the waves of flame raged and the attacks from Tang Jie intensified, they began to break.

Amusingly, while Tang Jie was fighting, he also occasionally used “Fixate” of the Four-Nine True Word Mantra.

He couldn’t fix that fleeing disciple in place, but he could affect the disciple’s ability to fly. If this guy had had a stronger will, he could have resisted, but he was so focused on running away that just when he was beginning to pick up speed, the “Fixate” would throw his energy into disarray, causing him to stop. Once he recovered, he started flying again, only to have to stop, and in this way, he hobbled through the sky like a cripple.

One of the Stone Gate disciples saw this and shouted in rage, “Sun Yu, you coward! Can’t you see that this bastard has no intention of letting us go? He’s going to kill us all! Whether or not he’s some honored emissary, we need to quickly kill him, or else we’ll be the ones who are dead! We can win if it’s three versus one!”

The fleeing Sun Yu trembled, and he finally turned around.

Tang Jie’s constant Fixates had finally made him realize that he needed to come back and fight for his life.

Tang Jie chuckled. “Unfortunately, it’s too late.”

The moment Sun Yu turned around, Tang Jie swung the Heartbreak Saber in a furious slash.

Matchless Slash!

Another Matchless Slash was unleashed, and as that disciple who had spoken blocked this attack, the Eclipsed Stars appeared again, striking the disciple, followed by the Dragonlike Hand combined with the Thousand Rupture Slash. Four attacks in a row beat upon the disciple like the merciless tide, causing him to throw up blood. While the other disciple unleashed two of his own spell arts against Tang Jie, the most they could do was make him grunt and spit a little blood.

With another swing, Tang Jie’s saber left his hand, catching up to that disciple and slicing down, cutting him in half!

It was at this moment that Sun Yu flew over, but this shocking sight made him pause.

Tang Jie smiled. “It’s still two versus one.”

He turned around and thrust out a palm, blocking the attack of the other disciple. He unleashed more waves of saber energy, but in doing so, he completely opened his back to Sun Yu.

“Sun Yu, hurry, kill him!” the other disciple roared as he desperately blocked Tang Jie’s attacks.

The disciple called Sun Yu froze in the air, hesitantly looking around while the hand holding his sword trembled.

The disciple knew that there was no hope, so he furiously roared, “Only cultivating arts and not the mind! Even if you were at Violet Palace, you would still be a weakling! Tang Jie, don’t go too far! You know what will happen to you if you kill us!”

“What will happen is that you will be dead and I will be fine,” Tang Jie callously said as he swung his saber.

Mighty saber energy slammed into his opponent’s sword, breaking it into two. The remaining power sliced into that disciple’s body, cutting him in two.

At this moment, Sun Yu finally seemed to wake up. Shaking, he fired off a stream of cold light at Tang Jie, but Tang Jie casually blocked it, and then he rushed up, placing his saber on Sun Yu’s neck. Sun Yu was so scared that his face was ghastly white and his legs were shuddering.

Tang Jie coldly said, “There’s no ground here, so you don’t need to kneel. Answer my questions and I can consider letting you go.”

“Okay, okay,” Sun Yu replied.

“Was it Shi Jingzhai’s idea to have you provoke me with insults?”

“Yes. Elder Shi felt like your lingering here was getting in the way of business, so he wanted us to think of a way to get you into a fight. When the time came, whether it was a win or loss, the elder would appear to drive you away,” Sun Yu replied in a trembling voice.

It had been a pretty good plan, but to his surprise, Tang Jie had run out and taken the battle outside of Stone Gate Peak.

If Shi Jingzhai followed, he would have to show himself, and he had no good excuse for not stopping the fight. But if he didn’t follow, he wouldn’t be able to control the situation. After all, a Celestial Heart True Person wasn’t omnipotent.

Of course, in Shi Jingzhai’s view, so long as they were willing to fight, it didn’t matter who won or lost. What was important was that he could use this opportunity to drive Tang Jie away, which was why he chose to not follow them, which led to the deaths of Lin Fan’s group.

From another perspective, Shi Jingzhai’s plan had succeeded.

Now that Tang Jie had killed someone, even if the Stone Gate Sect couldn’t punish him, it could at least drive him out.

But Tang Jie didn’t care.

He coldly looked at Sun Yu. “‘Getting in the way of business’? What business?”

Sun Yu shook his head. “I don’t know. I only know that Senior Brother Lin Fan was tasked with driving you out, and this lowly one was only here to offer support.”

“Do you know who does know?”

Sun Yu thought it over and answered, “Only the senior brothers close to the elders are likely to know, like Senior Brothers Lin, Zhang, and Jiang. But I’ve heard that the one most likely to know is probably Senior Brother Qian.”

Tang Jie knew all the people Sun Yu had spoken of. He suddenly frowned and said, “‘Senior Brother Qian’? Are you talking about Qian Jiangchao? I remember that he’s Elder Liang’s disciple, but his strength is average.”

“Yes,” Sun Yu replied. “In the past, Senior Brother Qian never received much attention, but he was suddenly promoted a few days ago, becoming a steward of the sect and endowed with great authority, able to mobilize anyone in the sect.”

“Oh? When did this happen?”

“Four days ago.”

“Four days ago… Was that when the Jewel Madame returned?”

“Yes, the day after the Jewel Madame returned, Senior Brother Qian was promoted and given command over the personnel affairs of the sect, sending us off every day to do strange things.”

“How are they strange?”

Sun Yu gave a brief summary. It was nothing but going around hunting for fiends that might or might not exist, strengthening surveillance over various areas, and so on. The only unusual thing was that Senior Brother Qian was particularly passionate. He wasn’t just managing his own area, but the areas of others as well.

“‘The areas of others’?” Tang Jie asked.

“Yes. Senior Brother Qian said that it was our duty to take care of all the common folk of the world. The moment he heard of some sort of evil taking place, he sent members of our sect out to do good and accumulate merit.”

“I see,” Tang Jie softly chuckled.

He could tell from what Sun Yu had said that the Stone Gate Sect was preparing to ship the goods.

Some unknown factor had caused Tang Jie to be cleared of suspicion, and so his presence in the sect was now nothing more than an obstacle. The Stone Gate Sect naturally wanted him to get out so that they could carry on with their own business. That Senior Brother Qian’s actions were simply a diversion while the preparations for the trade were being carried out.

Alas, there were still no details on the time of the shipment and the route it would take. Even that Senior Brother Qian was protected by the Stone Gate Sect, so trying to get close to him would be far too difficult.

Thinking of this, Tang Jie asked, “Do you know anything about that Senior Brother Qian?”

Sun Yu shook his head. “I’m not too sure. I just know that he’s a distant relative to some rich clan in Canglong Prefecture and has some connections. Originally, he didn’t have much status in the Stone Gate Sect, but for some reason, last year, he suddenly received a lot more attention and became Elder Liang’s disciple.”

“‘A rich clan of Canglong Prefecture’?” Tang Jie chuckled. “I’m quite familiar with Canglong Prefecture. Which clan was it? Or did he make up a clan?”

Sun Yu considered the question and replied, “I don’t quite remember. I think it was Du, or maybe Gu.”

Tang Jie was startled. “What did you say? The Gu Clan? Could it be that Gu Clan that runs casinos?”

Sun Yu shouted, “Right, right, right! The Gu Clan that runs casinos!”

Tang Jie’s face instantly sank.

Countless ideas emerged in his mind as he recalled everything that he knew about the Gu Clan.

One thing suddenly burst into Tang Jie’s mind!

Aghast, he activated Heart Consonance: “Yiyi!”

“What’s up? I’m here,” Yiyi replied.

“Young Master Wei once told me that the Gu Clan had asked to borrow a trade route from him. Immediately go and ask him if this trade route was the one between Canglong Prefecture and Duskland.”

A few moments later, Yiyi replied, “Yes, it was the trade route leading to the Watcher River Town secret market.”

Tang Jie gasped.

He instantly understood everything.

The Stone Gate Sect had so many goods that it couldn’t possibly stuff it all into Mustard Seed Bags, so it had to use the most primitive method of caravans to transport them. In these circumstances, they had worked through the Gu Clan to borrow a trade route from the Wei Clan.

This trade route was none other than the one that Wei Tianchong had opened up using his status as True Inheritor. No one would dare to inspect the goods on this route!

Such audacity!

Using the trade route of a Basking Moon Sect disciple to ship illicit goods! If this matter were exposed, Wei Tianchong would find it hard to escape the blame.

Tang Jie’s heart chilled, and he shouted, “Has the trade route been lent out yet?”

Although he had shouted this question out loud, Yiyi still received the question, replying in a cute voice, “It’s already been lent out. Elder Young Master and Wu Xing are personally escorting the convoy, and the first batch of goods is already on the road.”

What? The Wei Clan is personally escorting the goods?

Thick murderous intent gathered on Tang Jie’s face. “Gu Clan… you deserve death!”

Sun Yu was scared silly by his expression, shouting, “You promised to let me go!”

Tang Jie’s face turned pensive.

A few moments later.

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A saber swung and a head flew.

Looking at that pillar of blood, Tang Jie callously said, “I’ve considered it, and I still think it’s best if I don’t let you go.”

Those sneaky Gu Clan guys are up to no good!