Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The screams and slaughter continued.
Amid the blood and dust, Tang Jie continued to enjoy himself.
If the battlefield was the stage for the strong, then the story was just reaching its climax.
If slaughter was a feast of death, then the feast had barely finished serving the appetizer.
Tang Jie was like a busy chef, treating all the people hunting him as lambs to the slaughter, swiftly waving his saber and taking their lives so that he could prepare them and have them solemnly delivered to the dining table.
Of course, in this process, one first had to engage in a life-or-death clash.
A cold light flashed, and a head rolled.
Another Godhead Palace disciple fell to the ground.
Tang Jie swiftly drew back his saber, took the Mustard Seed Bag, and retreated into the fog, having done everything smoothly and efficiently.
As he fled, a blast of palm wind suddenly shot toward him.
As Tang Jie raised his hand to block, he realized that the power of this palm was immense and that he couldn't block it. With a grunt, he was sent flying, and a person charged at him.
"True Person Liang?"
The person coming at him was none other than the good friend of Dark Fiend—that cultivator Xi Canhen had killed—Liang Chunsheng.
This True Person Liang had probably worked the hardest to find Tang Jie. He had focused all of his hatred arising from Dark Fiend's death on Tang Jie, which spurred him into hunting down Tang Jie, and was also why he was alone.
True Person Liang's eyes were red as he thrust out his palm again. "Die, Tang Jie!"
The blast of wind struck the black smoke, accompanied by a long howl.
Tang Jie didn't pay this any mind at first, but he then realized that there was something special about this howl.
This howl had some sort of psychic effect, making a person feel distressed and irritated.
Tang Jie knew that True Person Liang was an expert in disturbing the mind, and it seemed like his reputation wasn't faked. The demonic howl had barely entered his ears, but he was already being affected, his movements just a little slower. A moment later, True Person Liang's palm slammed into Tang Jie's chest, sending him flying.
True Person Liang savagely laughed, "Now that you've taken my Corroding Yin Hand, let's see how you…"
He was silenced midway.
Beneath Tang Jie's clothes was a flashing golden suit of armor.
Godhead Armor.
True Person Liang's insidious strike had struck the Godhead Armor, leaving behind a deep handprint on it.
It was a truly powerful move to leave behind such a deep handprint on an upper-grade art relic Godhead Armor, but alas, it hadn't been able to harm Tang Jie.
True Person Liang was startled, and then his face turned even more savage. "So what if you've got armor? Die!"
He jumped into the air and slapped his palm down, this time aiming at Tang Jie's head.
At the same time, howling filled the air, and even though Tang Jie had blocked up his ears, he still couldn't stop the sound from reaching his mind.
His vision blurred, and he was no longer able to see True Person Liang. He knew that this demonic sound had utterly disrupted his senses.
Even though he couldn't see the person, the wave of attacks came nevertheless.
Wind erupted from Tang Jie's feet as he rapidly turned his body and activated the Chaoswind Step.
"You can't run!" True Person Liang's cry seemed to come from all directions.
In a daze, Tang Jie saw a savage head appear in the black smoke, crazily laughing and brandishing claws at him.
This was a sign that the mental disruption had worsened.
It went from mental distress to loss of the senses to seeing illusions. This mind disruption art's effects on Tang Jie were intensifying, getting worse and worse.
Suddenly, a person shot at Tang Jie from an angle and thrust a palm at the top of Tang Jie's head. Tang Jie dodged, but to his surprise, that person disappeared.
Not good! An illusion!
Tang Jie immediately knew that he was in trouble and lunged forward.
A palm brushed past his forehead and struck his shoulder. A black handprint appeared on the shoulder, sinking down into his body and eating away at him.
Tang Jie grunted and continued to charge forward, his left hand reaching into his Mustard Seed Bag and taking out a pill. As he swallowed the pill, he jabbed his arm several times with a finger, stopping the poison from spreading any farther.
"It's useless!" True Person Liang crazily laughed. "Hurry up and die, Junior!"
There was a piercing whistle as another person lunged at him. Tang Jie turned and swung his saber, but it was another illusion.
All around him was the manic laughter of True Person Liang. Suddenly, that savage face made of black smoke lunged at Tang Jie. Tang Jie raised his saber to block, and as the head bit down, it bit right onto the saber but was unable to bite through. There was a gasp of surprise as if someone had run into an unexpected obstacle.
A moment later, Tang Jie faintly smiled. "Have you finished having your fun?"
"What?" True Person Liang was shocked and immediately had a bad feeling. Tang Jie abruptly swung the Heartbreak Saber at the air, but despite this, it came away with a long trail of blood.
"Aaaagh!" True Person Liang bitterly screamed, and his hidden figure rapidly retreated through the air. "How did you find me?"
While Tang Jie had Insight, his expertise was in farsight, not in seeing through illusions. True Person Liang's Dao of Illusion shouldn't have been so easily seen through by Tang Jie, and even Huang Yue would have needed some time to break through it. It didn't make sense for Tang Jie to find his real body so quickly.
While he was shocked, he was also somewhat unconvinced. As he retreated, he let out an even more piercing demonic howl. But to his surprise, as the demonic howl resounded, the golden saber that had wounded him was thrust at him once more.
The long saber turned into a whip and stabbed into True Person Liang's right leg.
As he cried out in alarm, the tip of the whip erupted in light, blasting off his leg.
True Person Liang was rendered helpless, and he screamed as he plummeted from the sky.
Landing on the ground, he yowled, "Impossible! Impossible!"
Yes, there was no reason for Tang Jie to easily see through his illusion art.
He was only at the peak of Mortal Shedding, and no matter how formidable he was, it was only because of his schemes. How was it possible for him to so easily defeat a True Person?
He looked in disbelief at Tang Jie, who simply sneered and said, "You're quite the unlucky one."
He raised his left hand, showing off the jade bracelet he was wearing.
"That's…" True Person Liang's eyes widened.
He finally saw what it was.
A Mindsoothe Bracelet.
The art relic that was his greatest counter, and the highest class of this type of art relic as well.
True Person Liang had never imagined that Tang Jie would have such a thing. This item paired with Tang Jie's own perception could easily break through his illusions.
"Then, earlier…" he hastily asked.
"I was pretending, of course." Tang Jie charged out, turning the whip back into a saber and unleashing a cold wave of energy.
If he hadn't pretended to be weak, True Person Liang would have never been so easily slain. It was true that the golden saber ignored defenses, but it needed to reach the opponent first. For this reason, Tang Jie had intentionally taken the attack while seeking out an opportunity to take down his foe in one strike. Otherwise, it would take some strength for him to kill a Spirit Ring True Person all by himself.
"You can't kill me!" True Person Liang crazily roared.
His Spirit Ring began to expand, and his entire body flashed with golden light as he applied a defensive barrier to himself. His right hand began to stir the air, creating clouds around him, while his left hand formed signs that created a shield of spiritual energy. And as he howled, the air coming from his mouth condensed into an arrow and shot at Tang Jie.
Tang Jie ignored them at all, his saber thrusting forward.
It struck the shield, and the shield shattered.
It plunged into the clouds, and the clouds parted.
It cut into the barrier, and the barrier shattered.
True Person Liang's defensive methods were as fragile as paper in front of the golden blade, none of them able to do a thing. As the golden saber struck his body, there was a flash of golden light.
At that moment, Tang Jie's arm finally stopped.
But a moment later, the golden saber still cut through the radiant Godhead Armor like it was made of tofu, stabbing into True Person Liang's chest.
Throwing up blood, True Person Liang shivered as he looked in disbelief at Tang Jie and that saber.
Tang Jie coldly stared back at him. "Like I said, you're quite the unlucky one."
Blood was coming from his nose as a result of that sonic arrow.
Saber energy erupted through True Person Liang's body and created a long fissure in the ground.
At the same time, Tang Jie thrust his left hand at True Person Liang's head.
"Aaaaaa!" True Person Liang punched at Tang Jie's chest.
Tang Jie lightly moved his body as his thrusting palm turned into a finger that struck True Person Liang's forehead, shooting out a white beam of energy that penetrated entirely through his head.
But True Person Liang still wasn't dead. Furiously glaring, he roared, "You can't kill me!"
He bellowed, wind erupting from his mouth and raging like a tornado, blowing Tang Jie and his bloodstained finger away. Meanwhile, True Person Liang's forehead had gained another hole.
Liang Chunsheng went insane, his Spirit Ring flashing and torrents of energy pulsing outward. With his life in danger, he was unleashing an unprecedented amount of power.
This show of force prevented Tang Jie from getting close.
He hadn't expected that all this still couldn't kill his foe, and his mind was slightly shaken. Liang Chunsheng was engulfed in a storm of spiritual energy, so even getting close was difficult, and time didn't permit him any more delay. His eyes turned cold as he whispered, "I hate people like this."
As he spoke, a giant mountainous figure charged out of the darkness, covering Liang Chunsheng in its shadow.
Liang Chunsheng raised his head in shock and saw an enormous figure descending from the heavens…
Bang!
Blood and flesh splattered.
The original body callously pulled back his hammer and glanced at the meat paste on the ground.
One strike of the hammer had wiped True Person Liang from the earth.
But Tang Jie wasn't happy.
He had thought that the avatar plus the golden blade could easily kill a Spirit Ring cultivator, but reality proved that while defeating them was easy, swiftly killing them was more difficult. The difference in cultivation realm was something not easily covered by a good weapon.
"Old Liang!" someone screamed.
It was He Yueyang!
The battle with Liang Chunsheng had ultimately taken some time, preventing Tang Jie from retreating in a timely manner, so someone else had managed to arrive on the scene.
The first to arrive was none other than He Yueyang.
He Yueyang was furious as he looked at the pancaked body that had once been Liang Chunsheng.
"Scoundrels!" he bellowed. Raising his hands, he attacked both the avatar and the original body.
This was the attack of a Heart Demon True Person, so the avatar did not dare to take it. After a lightning-fast exchange of thoughts, avatar Tang Jie hastily retreated to the rear while the original body charged forward, unleashing icy flames at He Yueyang.
The icy flames were like a guttering candle in the face of that blast of palm energy, lasting for a brief moment before vanishing. The remaining power struck the original body in a powerful shockwave, like an ocean wave striking a reef.
"This is… body refining?" He Yueyang blurted out in shock.
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Even though Tang Jie wanted to keep pretending to be a spell art cultivator, He Yueyang was too capable for that. His sharp eyes and many years of experience allowed him to instantly see the truth.
This was no Nine Revolutions cultivator! Clearly, this was a body refiner. 33926
Upon realizing this person's true strength, He Yueyang did not dare to let the original body get close. The first thing he did was retreat into the skies.
He didn't fly too high. While the Great Mountain had some effect on him, it wasn't a lethal effect. On the other hand, He Yueyang was keenly aware of what would happen to him if a body refiner got too close.
As he flew up, He Yueyang began to mutter something.
Though his voice wasn't loud, every word carried an intense energy.
But unlike Liang Chunsheng's demonic howl, this voice didn't produce any illusion. Rather, as He Yueyang chanted, his body became a resplendent gold.
"The Godhead Immortal Body," Tang Jie muttered.
He had seen this once before, when Gu Changqing used the Godhead Immortal Body.
But it was different when He Yueyang used it.
When Gu Changqing had used it, he had been insane and attempting one final desperate attack. With his body under a heavy burden, he had only barely managed to cast this spell art.
But when He Yueyang used it, he exuded such majesty that they seemed like two entirely different spell arts.
Gu Changqing had used that art to extend his life whereas He Yueyang was using it for defense, showing the difference in power from the very fundamentals.
As He Yueyang cast the Godhead Immortal Body, his body became like a radiant god, invincible and immovable.
At the same time, the first attack from the original body arrived.
The massive hammer thundered at He Yueyang with enough power to smash open a mountain.
But He Yueyang only lightly raised his hand, and an illusory hand appeared to block the hammer.
This was the purest clash of strength and spell art!
Boom!
There was a massive boom, and He Yueyang was sent flying one hundred meters, his entire body flashing with golden light. But a moment later, the disturbance subsided, and He Yueyang looked at Tang Jie as if nothing had happened.
This was the first time the original body's full-strength attack had been ineffective. It appeared it hadn't even inflicted a minor injury on him.
It had to be understood that this was a clash between strength and spell art. Spell arts had the advantage in variety while strength had the advantage in sheer power. If a spell art was able to draw with strength, strength had essentially lost.
But this was Godhead Palace!
Godhead Palace, famed for its defensive might!
What other sects would have found completely impossible, Godhead Palace found completely possible.
The so-called Godhead Armor was simply a microcosm of Godhead Palace's defensive might. It had never represented the true defensive methods of Godhead Palace.
In the past, when Tang Jie had faced other members of Godhead Palace, they either lacked the strength to use these defensive measures or else had other specialties but were not true practitioners of Godhead Palace. For example, the Hawk Hall's 12 Hawks existed to chase down an enemy, so they naturally wouldn't take up the defensive methods of Godhead Palace. As for True Person Liang and Huang Yue, they had been sent because they had special skills meant to deal with Tang Jie, so they also could not represent Godhead Palace. There was also He Chong, who specialized in formations. Just like Chang Mingxin of the Beast Refining Gate, he was an eccentric of his sect, and his purpose was to enrich the strength of the sect and make it so that the sect's strength wasn't restricted to a certain area. As for Xu Mingyue and Ming Yezhen, they were not members of Godhead Palace, so their abilities could not be used as proof of anything.
But He Yueyang was an authentic member of Godhead Palace, inheriting its most powerful secret arts and serving as an exemplar of Godhead Palace.
When a standard member of Godhead Palace was ready for a head-on confrontation, they could take on even the attacks of those one tier above them!
He Yueyang was cautious, so when he ran into Tang Jie's original body, he immediately used his strongest defensive art. The protection of the Godhead Immortal Body meant that even the original body's prodigious strength couldn't destroy him.
He Yueyang chuckled and casually looked at Tang Jie's original body. He shouted, "As expected, you've already cultivated to the middle of the Diamond realm. There are very few body refiners who can reach this level nowadays. Just who in the world are you?"
His voice resounded like a bell, being heard all around and informing everyone of Tang Jie's greatest trump card.
A body refiner who had reached the Diamond realm?
Nan Ningjiang's face almost cramped when he heard this.
So it really was a grave misjudgment of strength?
Using True Person Gui as the standard had led everyone to believe that the limit of Tang Jie's strength was the Spirit Ring Tier, so sending Heart Demon True Persons against him was already showing him an extremely high level of respect, and sending Soul Transformation True Persons was an immense honor.
But rather than Spirit Ring, this guy was at the equivalent of the fucking Heart Demon Tier!
If judged by the shockwave just now and He Yueyang's cautious tone, this unknown cultivator was strong enough that even He Yueyang wasn't sure of his victory.
But even like this, outside Celestial Flower Pavilion, this person had shamelessly pretended to be a spell art cultivator.
Utterly shameless!
Nan Ningjiang already knew how Little Eight had died.
When underestimating an opponent's strength, it was very normal to be instantly killed by a stronger opponent so that there wasn't even time to send back word.
Nan Ningjiang felt his vision going dark.
Fortunately, although the gap in strength wasn't as large as imagined, in terms of overall strength, Godhead Palace was still stronger.
Thinking this, he shouted, "My lord!"
"I heard it," Master Xuan Zhong grimly replied.
The attack from the will of the Great Mountain had been rather severe, but it wasn't fatal. He had needed only a little rest to recover.
Master Xuan Zhong was just about to go and help when a gale kicked up in the formation. The black smoke thickened, and it momentarily became difficult to orient oneself.
"The Eight Gate Banners!" Ling Tianqi shrieked.
This person had been suppressing the power of Tang Jie's formation all this time, but as Nan Ningjiang and He Yueyang spoke, the formation suddenly swelled in power. Ling Tianqi finally realized that he had only been able to suppress the formation all this time because Tang Jie had let him.
Only now did he reveal his true mettle. It was clear that Tang Jie knew what was going to happen now that the power of his original body had been exposed.
The battle would become more difficult, and he needed more power to assist him in this battle. And the first priority was to prevent Master Xuan Zhong from intervening in this battle.
But while Ling Tianqi had been caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the Gate Banners, he would quickly take back control of the situation. This was exactly why Tang Jie hadn't been willing to use this move unless the situation was critical.
But now, that critical moment had come.
What Tang Jie needed to do now was to kill He Yueyang.
If he could kill him, the battle would be worth it.
The loss of a Heart Demon True Person would even make the six major sects wince, was a loss that they would find hard to accept.
Nan Ningjiang and Master Xuan Zhong also realized this. Upon understanding Tang Jie's true strength, they would no longer naively believe that Tang Jie couldn't kill He Yueyang.
"Save him!" Nan Ningjiang shouted.
"I know!" Master Xuan Zhong looked around at the fog being churned by the howling wind. Even with his arts, he wasn't able to make out where he was in the formation, or even where He Yueyang's voice had come from. And this place's mysterious presence prevented him from forcing his way through. His mind whirred, and then he suddenly pulled out an item. "Supreme Mystery Bell (Tai Xuan Zhong), go!"
As he cried out, a large black bell flew into the air, spinning in the air and expanding in size, quickly engulfing the entire forest.
"The Supreme Mystery Bell?" Tang Jie paled.
The Supreme Mystery Bell was a famous art relic, and it was also where Master Xuan Zhong's title had come from. That this art relic could be used as a title was a sign of how powerful it had to be.
Master Xuan Zhong had put many years into the use of this bell and was extremely skilled with it. As the bell flew out, he let out a roar.
This sound resounded in everyone's ears and shook everyone down to the core.
At the same time, a gust of wind howled out of the horizon.
The will of the Great Mountain.
It was clear that Master Xuan Zhong was not welcome to engulf the region with his bell, and the blast of wind attacked the bell.
But Master Xuan Zhong was ready for this, flying up into the air, interposing himself between the bell and the wind, and attacking the gust.
The will of the Great Mountain was actually quite strange, treating people differently.
If a visitor came with a domineering strength, the pressure would also be great, but if their strength was weak, the pressure would also be weak.
While Master Xuan Zhong was no match for the will of the Spirit Mountains, he also wouldn't die to it. There was a boom as Master Xuan Zhong was sent flying, slamming into the bell. He threw up blood which stained the black bell red.
Master Xuan Zhong called out, "Yueyang, take the bell!"
He Yueyang looked up at the sky with excitement in his eyes. "My lord, thank you for your generosity!"
He waved his hand, and the black bell flew into his hand.
If Master Xuan Zhong couldn't help personally, he would just give his most powerful art relic to He Yueyang. At that moment, he had very decisively made an extremely tough decision.
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