The saber was about to hit and potentially kill Shu Mingyang, or at least heavily injure him. Suddenly, Shu Mingyang brought his hands together and caught the saber between them.
Pa!
This determined strike was caught between his palms, and the two of them were fixed in place for 0.01 seconds.
A moment later, in an explosion of light, Shu Mingyang’s palms unleashed a spiritual torrent that pushed Tang Jie away. Shu Mingyang also retreated several steps, grunting as blood seeped out of his mouth.
He made several hand signs, forsaking his talismans, and then thrust his palms skyward. “Elephant Subduer spell, suppress!”
In Beicang, there was once a giant elephant that stood one kilometer tall and was so powerful that it could uproot mountains. When True Lord Miao Fengzi of Basking Moon passed through Beicang, they fought for ten days, and through a boundless divine connection, the Dracodemon Elephant Subduer Art was created, which suppressed the giant elephant and transformed it into Divine Elephant Mountain.
The Elephant Subduer spell was the basic spell one needed to cultivate the Dracodemon Elephant Subduer Art. Though it was called Elephant Subduer, it was a profound spell art that used skill to break through power.
Tang Jie hadn’t expected Shu Mingyang to know this spell. As he thrust his palms at the heavens, an enormous pressure descended that held Tang Jie fast. This was the forerunner of the Elephant Subduer, which specialized in suppressing the prodigiously strong.
At the same time, Liu Hongyan and Cai Junyang attacked from the flanks, the three of them encircling him and robbing him of any chance to interfere. Liu Hongyan shouted, “Tang Jie, stop struggling! You’re no match for us!”
“You have to beat me before you can say that!” Raising his saber, Tang Jie unleashed a wave of saber energy. He no longer cared about stopping Yang Zhiyuan and the others, allowing them to leave.
“Is this really necessary? Wei Tianchong is nothing but a pile of mud who can’t hold up a wall. Even if you have him become a True Inheritor, the opportunity will probably just go to waste!” Cai Junyang hollered as he swung his sword.
Tang Jie raised his saber vertically to block the blow, at the same time thrusting his left palm at Liu Hongyan. “He has to try first! I’ve received the kindness of the Wei Clan, and I must pay it back. Not being able to do it is one thing, and whether or not to do it is another!”
“If you hand over the head, then we will support Wei Tianchong in the future!” Shu Mingyang shouted as he pressed a hand down, upon which Tang Jie felt the pressure on his shoulders drastically increase.
“I’ve never been a passive actor in my life. Rather than handing over the head to you so that I can beg for scraps in the future, I’d rather take it for myself so I can carry out my great aspiration. In the future, if any of you need assistance, you simply need to call and I will rush to assist you! Ha! Out of the way!”
The Heartbreak Saber unleashed a dark energy that billowed like a cloud. Boom! The energies of the four collided, and then they explosively separated, each retreating to their own side.
While Tang Jie was powerful, the combined power of the trio had sent him far away, and he looked like he had been run over by a carriage.
But he executed a roll on the ground and jumped to his feet. Putting his saber away, he said, “My mission is done, so I’m leaving first!”
He ran out of the Xu Estate.
Aghast, Cai Junyang shouted, “Don’t let him run!”
He was just about to give chase when Liu Hongyan grabbed him. “There’s no need to chase him!”
“What are you doing?” Cai Junyang asked in confusion.
Liu Hongyan answered, “When we clashed just now, I used a secret art to inspect his Mustard Seed Bag. There was no head in there.”
“A secret art? What secret art lets you probe the contents of a Mustard Seed Bag?” Cai Junyang asked.
Liu Hongyan knew that Cai Junyang didn’t believe her, and she sighed. She raised her hand and a red light appeared.
As the red light flashed, an outline of Tang Jie’s Mustard Seed Bag appeared. Its contents were visible only as shadowy silhouettes, but it was possible to see that there was no head here.
“So it was the Spiritual Light Shadow spell,” Shu Mingyang blurted out.
The Rosecloud Domain did have spells that could use spiritual light to probe something and then produce images of what was there, but these were mostly very difficult to learn, had little practical use, and didn’t last for long. Students normally didn’t study this spell in their early days.
But Liu Hongyan had actually mastered this spell.
Cai Junyang’s expression darkened. “When did you learn this spell? Why didn’t I know?”
Liu Hongyan brusquely replied, “Why don’t you ask Shu Mingyang when he learned the Elephant Subduer? Or when Ping Jingyue learned Hurricane Sweep? Or how Tang Jie broke out of the Immortal Bind talisman? Everyone has their secrets. What’s the point in asking so many questions?”
Cai Junyang angrily said, “I don’t have that many secrets!”
Liu Hongyan rolled her eyes. “Then you’re brainless!”
She turned to leave. Cai Junyang was dumbfounded by her insult, and he turned to Shu Mingyang and said, “Did you hear her? Did you hear that? That girl said I was brainless!”
Shu Mingyang shrugged. “You really are rather brainless.”
He walked away.
Cai Junyang was left alone, hopping mad as he shouted, “Fuck your ancestors!”
A fierce gale swept across the skies.
Ping Jingyue was like the goddess of storms as she drifted through the skies, her long hair flying behind her and her robes fluttering.
The darkness couldn’t block her sharp gaze, and she quickly spotted a little fatty galloping away on a horse. From his shape, she could tell that it was Wei Tianchong.
Smiling, Ping Jingyue muttered, “Let’s see where you run now!”
She turned her body and shot down like a bolt of lightning.
Wei Tianchong felt a gust overhead and looked up. Spotting a tornado in the distance, he immediately shouted, “Oh my god!”
He spurred his horse into a full gallop, but no matter how fast a horse galloped, it couldn’t outrun a person flying through the sky.
Giggling, Ping Jingyue flew over and grabbed at Wei Tianchong. “Hurry up and get down from that horse!”
Wei Tianchong swung his axe, but a little hand popped out of the vortex and grabbed the axe. Before the Ghost Axe spell could take effect, Ping Jingyue had seized the axe.
Alarmed, Wei Tianchong tried to let out his puppet, but a fair foot kicked out of the tornado, striking him right in the face and off his horse.
The masterless horse kept galloping for a while before coming to a stop.
Wei Tianchong rolled on the ground and sat up. Covering his nose, he shouted, “Don’t kick me in the nose!”
The vortex disappeared, and Ping Jingyue walked out of the wind. “I really didn’t think that the mighty Young Master Wei wouldn’t be able to take even one blow from me. You’re a little too useless.”
“Bullshit. I cultivate the Dao of Puppetry, not self-strengthening,” Wei Tianchong shouted. As he waved his hand, the puppet appeared next to him to protect him.
“The Dao of Puppetry?” Ping Jingyue looked at the puppet and shook her head. “You’re really unfortunate. I cultivate the Crouching Rabbit Thousand Meter Mantra, which is all about speed, control, and group battles. While your puppet is strong, I happen to exactly counter it. The moment you release your puppet, I can use Windbind to separate you from your puppet, and with your connection to your puppet disrupted, you become much weaker. Moreover, with my extreme speed, your puppet will find it very hard to hit me with its heavy strike, as I can easily avoid them.”
“That’s not for certain!” Wei Tianchong got to his feet. “Don’t forget that my Evilhook Shadow Soldiers can slow you down.”
Ping Jingyue remained unperturbed. “It’s true that shadow soldiers are problematic, but they’re too weak and need to rely on numbers. But my Dao of Gale Dancing happens to be suited more for group battles than single duels. In a one-on-one, I would be worse than Liu Hongyan and the others, but my wind spells can easily take care of your shadow soldiers.”
Her argument was so solid and reasonable that Wei Tianchong had nothing he could say.
Looking left and right, he suddenly lifted up the little fox in his embrace. “I also have this. Don’t underestimate it. It’s very formidable. Once… once…”
He wanted to say that the little fox had once captured him, but considering how humiliating it was, he ultimately kept silent.
In any case, the little fox simply flourished its tail and continued to sleep in his bosom, ignoring him. It was as if everything that was happening had nothing to do with it.
Wei Tianchong felt bitter and frustrated over this scene, and even Ping Jingyue couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t know where you managed to get a fiend beast, but it seems to have already entered the lower grade, which is rather lucky for you. It’s lucky for me, though, that it doesn’t really listen to you, or else it would be a real headache.”
Ping Jingyue’s face chilled. “Alright, hand over the head. Since we’re classmates, I won’t make things hard for you.”
“The head isn’t on me!” Wei Tianchong swiftly replied.
Ping Jingyue’s beautiful face grew even colder. “You dare to lie? Tang Jie came on this mission for you, so who else would he give the head to? If you won’t hand it over, I’ll have to search you!”
She was just about to make her move when Wei Tianchong jumped up and patted down his body. “I really don’t have it. Look, look! I don’t even have a Mustard Seed Bag, so where would I even put it!?”
Ping Jingyue really didn’t know if Wei Tianchong had a Mustard Seed Bag or not.
While Mustard Seed Bags were convenient, they were ultimately only a convenience. For students who were so desperate for resources, they rarely had the money to spend on a Mustard Seed Bag. For example, Tang Jie sold off the first Mustard Seed Bag he got, and later on, when he had three, he kept only one at his side.
It was very normal for Wei Tianchong to not have one.
As she watched Wei Tianchong pat himself down, she confirmed that it didn’t seem like he had a Mustard Seed Bag. Ping Jingyue thought it over and shook her head. “No, you might not be able to hide the head, but you could be hiding a bag. Perhaps it’s hidden under your clothes? Open up your clothes and let me take a look.”
“What?” Wei Tianchong yelped.
Ping Jingyue blushed, but the head was too important for her to care about such things. Pointing a slender finger at Wei Tianchong, she shouted, “Hurry up! Or do I have to do it myself?”
Helpless and knowing that he couldn’t beat Ping Jingyue, Wei Tianchong began to undo his clothes.
It was the intersection between summer and autumn, so the weather was rather warm, and Wei Tianchong wasn’t wearing a lot. He was also a rather straightforward and honest person who didn’t know to cover himself. After taking off his long robe and then the tight-fitting shirt beneath, he exposed his shining white belly.
Ping Jingyue was a young lady who had never seen a man’s bare body before, so she immediately blushed and instinctively looked away.
When Wei Tianchong saw her turn her head, he was taken aback. Weren’t you the one who wanted me to take off my clothes? Just when he was about to ask what was going on, he had a sudden thought: Isn’t this the best opportunity to strike?
He immediately acted on the thought, and without considering the consequences, he lunged at Ping Jingyue.
Ping Jingyue had not expected this move at all, and they were already standing very close, so by the time she noticed, he had already gotten up in her face.
But at this moment, Wei Tianchong froze.
He discovered that he didn’t know what to do next!