Chapter 166: Novice
Bang!
Wood chunks went flying into the air as the trio strode into the Xu Estate.
In the courtyard, the servants had all lined up, and held cudgels and knives as they warily faced down the trio. They were led by a youthful woman, none other than the fake Young Lady Xu. It appeared that they had been expecting this.
Xu Xi’an stood nearby. As he saw the three burst through the gate, he sighed, “In the end, you came back.”
Tang Jie smiled. “I gave you the time to run, but you chose to resist until the end. Who gave you all this daring? True, Lin Lang is still a sixth-year student of Cloudflow. But do you think that Lin Lang and Xu Mujun, plus this servant student and the rest of your estate, will be enough to deal with us?”
“Pah!” the fake Xu Mujun spat. “We don’t need that many people to deal with you. My clan’s son-in-law is enough to deal with you!”
“‘Son-in-law’?” Tang Jie narrowed his eyes.
Xu Xi’an shouted, “Mo Xiang, quiet!”
He then turned to Tang Jie and anxiously said, “Young Master Tang is truly wise, and this old man knew that there would be no deceiving you. But my Xu Clan has no intention of opposing the Immortal sect. It’s just… it’s just what the situation compelled us to do. Young Master Tang, please be gracious and spare this clan!”
The old man had lost his composure and was now tearfully begging such that even Tang Jie couldn’t help but be a little moved. But he still said, “‘Compelled by the situation’? None of the people here seemed compelled at all. Tell me Lin Lang’s location, and you will still have a chance.”
“Young Master!” Xu Xi’an shouted. “Please give me three more days… no, no, just one day. After one day, I will hand over Lin Lang to you!”
“Master!” Mo Xiang shouted.
“Shut your mouth!” Xu Xi’an roared. “In the first place, I should have just hardened my heart and slain that beast! Do you really want my Xu Clan to be wiped out just for him? For all the loyal servants of the clan to die just for him?”
The servants glanced at each other and shouted, “Master, we are willing to sacrifice our lives for the Xu Clan. Now is the crucial moment, and we cannot hand over Sir Son-in-Law.”
Xu Xi’an trembled, unable to speak.
Tang Jie sighed. “One day… My apologies, but I don’t have that time. Many other students are fighting to complete this mission, and no one can say when someone else might arrive. For my young master to become a True Inheritor, I do not care about what difficulties the Xu Clan is facing. Since you are not willing to hand over Lin Lang, I will have to force him out. Young Master, Shi Meng, go!”
As he spoke, Wei Tianchong waved his hand, and his puppet charged at Mo Xiang.
The girl called Mo Xiang was Xu Mujun’s servant student, a Spirit Lake student who had cultivated at Cloudflow Academy for four years. She was unafraid of the charging puppet, shouting as she thrust her sword at it.
Wei Tianchong had invested an enormous amount of time and money into that puppet, and it was much stronger than the average puppet. While Mo Xiang was a fourth-year student, her talent and resources were both lacking. In terms of development, she was like Shi Meng, and her strength was very limited.
As the sword struck the puppet, the puppet seemed to not feel it and surged forward, its bowl-sized fist smashing at Mo Xiang.
Mo Xiang took several steps back, but just when she was about to cast a spell, there was a gust of cold wind. It formed a wind cave, and a little shadow soldier jumped out from the wind cave.
This shadow soldier was about a foot tall, about the same size as one of Daoist Fuyu’s Bluefang Ghosts. It had no weapons and could only use its claws to scratch, so it possessed pitiful combat power. This was none other than Wei Tianchong’s Evilhook Shadow Soldier.
Shadow soldiers were not creatures of spiritual energy. Rather, they were summoned from the Shadow Domain.
The Shadow Domain was one of the domains of the Great Stellar Chiliocosm. It was a cold and barren world where only natural shadow creatures could survive. There were no barriers around this domain, and countless evil winds blew out from it across the other domains, so it was extremely easy to summon its creatures.
This Evilhook Shadow Soldier was one of the most ordinary and lowest-class beings of this domain.
Wei Tianchong had cultivated the Evilhook Shadow Soldier for a little more than half a year and was proficient with the spell. Several more Evilhook Shadow Soldiers followed the first out of the wind cave. Shouting at Mo Xiang, they began to fly toward her.
Although they didn’t have the attack power of Bluefang Ghosts, they were born with the ability to fly. Moreover, they had a cold and icy nature, so the moment they attached themselves to a human body, while they might not be able to actually bite or claw anyone, the cold energy in their bodies would cause serious headaches.
Mo Xiang immediately felt her body stiffen and grow heavy.
Alarmed, she instantly fired off a gust of wind at Wei Tianchong.
To her surprise, Wei Tianchong took a slight step to the side and dodged the attack. Meanwhile, Mo Xiang received a punch from the puppet.
Seeing that his attack had worked, Wei Tianchong pointed at Mo Xiang and shouted, “Baobao, go and get her!”
These words were aimed at his new fiend fox.
To his surprise, the little fox looked at Mo Xiang and then looked at Wei Tianchong, after which it turned around and ran off to take a nap.
Wei Tianchong furiously called out, “Hey, you’re my fiend beast!”
The fox ignored him, causing him to stomp his feet in anger.
Seeing that her wind blade had been no good, Mo Xiang produced an azure cloth belt and shouted, “Kiloweight Satin!”
The azure belt transformed into countless strands of silk that shot at Wei Tianchong. Wei Tianchong covered his head in fright and shouted, “Holy shit!” as he took to his heels.
But as he ran, he dodged using the Mistnet Step, and though those countless cloth belts attempted to seize him, his plump figure always managed to wriggle its way through an opening, much to Mo Xiang’s shock.
She didn’t know that Wei Tianchong had been tempered in the Divine Battleground. He was now well-versed in kiting tactics, holding down the enemy with shadow soldiers, attacking with the puppet, and evading with the Mistnet Step.
While he was being run rather ragged, his steps weren’t frantic at all, moving agilely as if there was wind beneath. He was truly as slippery as a mudfish.
Those who were experienced with dealing with this fatty all knew that pursuit wasn’t the right choice. Instead, one had to kill his shadow soldiers and exhaust his spiritual energy, rely on even greater speed such that Wei Tianchong’s puppet and shadow soldiers were no longer effective, or use spell arts to attack a large area…
But Mo Xiang didn’t know any of this. With her sword and belt, she had Wei Tianchong running for his life and seemed to have the upper hand, but she was never able to turn this advantage into a victory.
As the two of them fought, the Xu Estate servants hadn’t been standing around. They charged forward with a bellow.
Shi Meng sneered as he took out a bamboo flute and put it to his mouth. With a blow, a soundwave swept over the crowd as if it was solid.
Although he had taken Tang Jie’s advice and learned primarily support spells, he had to have some way of protecting himself. This Sonic Flute was his combat spell art.
Before being sold to the Wei Estate, he had been an ox herder boy. When he had nothing to do, he would blow on a shepherd flute. He played rather well, and Wei Tianchong enjoyed listening.
Tang Jie had told him to learn skills based on his interests, so he had chosen the Sonic Flute spell.
However, while the Sonic Flute attacked a large area, it dealt limited damage. It was barely useful against cultivators, but it was more than enough against servants of a mortal clan.
As the sound of the flute drifted out, the servants all covered their ears and moaned. Shi Meng flipped around the flute in his hands, and his right thumb pressed down on one of the air holes, firing off a jet of wind from the flute that was aimed right at Mo Xiang.
This was known as the Sonic Sword. Spiritual energy was funneled into the flute and then ejected from the end of it. It was essentially a way of condensing spiritual energy into a sword, just by using the Sonic Flute to make the art manifestation easier.
Each hand sign for a spell art had a unique purpose, and the special forms of weapons would often enhance certain spells in different ways, mostly by making them stronger. But Shi Meng, by using the flute to condense energy into a sword, could skip the casting step and make the art manifestation faster.
The Sonic Sword caught Mo Xiang off guard, and with a bark, she created a blue barrier around her that stopped the attack.
But in doing this, she opened herself up to Wei Tianchong.
He stopped running.
Turning around, he produced a small axe made from refined steel and hacked at Mo Xiang.
There didn’t seem to be anything special about this axe swing, but as the axe made impact with Mo Xiang’s watery barrier, it passed right through as if it wasn’t there. Her barrier tore apart like a sheet of paper, and Mo Xiang instantly jumped back in fear, not daring to take the axe directly. But she instantly felt a pain at her back as the puppet punched again.
“Young Master, good job!” Shi Meng shouted.
Wei Tianchong chuckled. Hefting his axe, he made a face at Mo Xiang. “A fourth-year? You don’t seem like anything much.”
What he had used just now was none other than the Ghost Axe spell. Though he had originally learned this spell for making puppets, it was a spell that was capable of cleaving through metal, one that excelled at penetrating through armor. Thus, using it in close combat was perfectly acceptable. However, unlike the Windcleaver, it wasn’t as fast, instead unleashed through heavy and decisive axe swings. In battles, it was difficult to continuously use such an attack.
As for the small axe, that had been on Tang Jie’s advice, and he had traded in the Watersplit Sword the Wei Clan had given him for it. Its name was the Bonecrush Axe.
Fitting its name, it was a weapon that excelled at breaking through tough defenses.
Wei Tianchong was mostly a summoner, so he didn’t desire long-range attacks, only that his close-range attacks could deal effective damage. The combo of the Bonecrush Axe and the Ghost Axe spell dealt substantial damage. For someone who relied on a puppet to attack while he ran around to have this move was truly surprising.
And with Shi Meng supporting Wei Tianchong, the two of them had succeeded in taking the upper hand against Mo Xiang.
Her face flashed with savagery. “You dare to look down on my Cloudflow?”
She threw her sword into the air. “Go!”
The sword erupted with light and then slashed at Wei Tianchong.
“Oh shit! The Flying Sword spell!” Wei Tianchong blurted out. After spending so long with Tang Jie, he had begun to learn how to curse from him.
The Flying Sword spell was basically the standard for Spirit Platform students. To go from wielding a weapon in one’s hands to freeing up the hands was itself a qualitative change. This meant that the student was less restrained in battle and could attack more effectively.
The flying sword howled through the air, gleaming with a sharp light. Wei Tianchong didn’t dare to show off any longer, shrinking back and using the Mistnet Step once more. As he ran around, all of his grace and elegance vanished.
Mo Xiang had learned her lesson from last time, so when she saw that the flying sword wasn’t able to catch him, she pointed her finger and sent the sword at Shi Meng.
Shi Meng panicked and began to form a spell. “Concealment!”
He wanted to hide himself.
But he had focused on quantity, not speed, when it came to spell arts, and so even though this was the lowest-level Concealment spell, it was still rather complicated for him. As that flying sword shot over and he still hadn’t finished casting the spell, he began to panic. But at this moment, a figure appeared in front of him. It was none other than Tang Jie.
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