Once the Cloudsoarer Immortal ship parked above the Nine Palaces complex, it did not descend.
Nan Baicheng waved his hand, and a rainbow cloud arrived under his feet and slowly carried him down.
Countless servants were waiting down below. As Nan Baicheng descended, all of them bowed. “Paying respects to the esteemed master!”
Nan Baicheng waved his hand. “No need. Where is Sir Ji at the moment?”
A bright-eyed page replied, “He’s managing the formation from the Heart Anchor Hall.”
“Take me there!”
The page quickly guided Nan Baicheng to the Heart Anchor Hall.
Passing through the 81 lanterns, Nan Baicheng stood on the heavenly formation simulation diagram before the old man and bowed. “Nan Baicheng pays respects to Brother Ji!”
Ji Wujiu waved his horsetail whisk. “Brother Nan is too polite. As Changfeng’s disciple, you have the same seniority as me. There is no need for such courtesy.”
Nan Baicheng smiled. “But I cannot compare to Brother Ji. I can see from Brother Ji’s complexion and white hair that your energy and blood are exhausted, meaning that you’ve entered the Three Witherings. This means you’re half a step from Celestial Heart, and is truly worthy of congratulations.”
Ji Wujiu squeezed out a smile. “The Three Witherings are difficult to overcome, and if I don’t do it properly, I will remain at this stage for the rest of my life, perhaps even dying a solitary man.”
“Brother Ji is greatly talented and won’t be hindered by this obstacle in any way!” Nan Baicheng promptly flattered him, at the same time presenting a silk box. “A small gift as a show of my consideration.”
Ji Wujiu said, “Brother Nan, is there really a need to be so polite?”
Despite his words, he waved his whisk, putting the silk box away in his sleeve.
The two of them exchanged pleasantries first. In terms of strength, Ji Wujiu was far above Nan Baicheng, being half-step Celestial Heart, but Nan Baicheng was Yan Changfeng’s disciple, which carried outstanding weight. Let alone half-step Celestial Heart, even an actual Celestial Heart True Person would have to kowtow to True Person Changfeng. Thus, he was also polite to Nan Baicheng.
Now that they had finished with the courtesies, Ji Wujiu said, “I know of Brother Nan’s reason for coming. It just happens that a student broke through an illusion. I wonder if it is one of the two people you had me keep an eye on.”
“Someone has already broken through an illusion?” Nan Baicheng shuddered so fiercely that he almost fell over.
What sort of joke was this?
The Nine Palace Illusion Formation was an Immortal-level illusion formation. Even if only two of its layers had been activated, the students of Basking Moon would need three to five days to break through it.
Breaking through an illusion didn’t mean breaking through the formation, but the illusions were the basis of the formation. If this student had broken through the illusion so quickly, could breaking the formation be far off? If this continued, the formation would be broken in half a day.
He had only just arrived at the Nine Palace complex, and he was already hearing this news. His shock had reached the maximum level.
Ji Wujiu waved his whisk, and a figure appeared on the crystal.
Nan Baicheng saw the person and blurted out, “Tang Jie! It really is him!”
Tang Jie was sprinting through the Waxen Sea Illusion. The dam continued to extend endlessly into the ocean, and he continued to sprint without hesitation, resolve on his face.
Ji Wujiu couldn’t help but sigh as he watched. “So this child is Tang Jie? He is intelligent and sharp, using illusions to deal with illusions… He’s a real talent.”
Nan Baicheng inhaled. “If he is allowed to get out of the formation first, he will undoubtedly start laying traps on the Devil Crushing Path to hinder the other students and buy time for Wei Tianchong. The earlier he gets out, the more traps he can lay… Brother Ji, this is the person you must obstruct. Please, act and prevent him from breaking through!”
Ji Wujiu lightly nodded. “Out of respect for Brother Lin, I will assist you in this matter. But while the Nine Palace Illusion Formation is under my control and can change through my will, this is a test, not a defense against the enemy. I cannot casually ruin a student’s attempt to break the formation.”
“You can’t ruin them, but you can increase the difficulty.”
“That is true, but I have heard of this child’s outstanding combat power. He once went one versus one hundred in the Student Forest, so such methods will most likely be ineffective.”
“In the battle at the Student Forest, none of the students had the intent to kill and they did not use lethal moves, which allowed him to flaunt his strength. While Tang Jie is fierce, he is only at the Spirit Lake Tier. If Brother Ji acts, you will certainly be able to hinder him.”
Ji Wujiu shook his head. “With only two layers, the Nine Palace Illusion Formation has limited power. Ah, forget it. I will do all that I can. At least, I will make it harder for him to break the formation. Otherwise, my Horizon Ocean Pavilion would lose face if this got out.”
In truth, while the Nine Palace Illusion Formation belonged to Horizon Ocean Pavilion, it had been laid down with the assistance of people from the Seven Absolutions Sect. If this news actually got out, Horizon Ocean Pavilion’s reputation wouldn’t be damaged at all. Ji Wujiu was simply seeking an excuse for his actions. This wasn’t because he needed to explain himself to anyone, but because he was half a step from Celestial Heart. He needed to start worrying about his Heart Demon, so he had to find an excuse for everything.
Ji Wujiu waved his whisk again, and the raging sea on the crystal’s surface changed!
Tang Jie was running on the dam, his hands constantly firing off spiritual energy into crucial points in the sea, allowing the dam to keep rising up all the way until it reached the other side.
As he was halfway there, he heard a howling, and a massive wave rose up from the ocean’s surface. A massive snake emerged from the top of the wave and lunged at Tang Jie.
“A sea snake fiend?” Tang Jie’s heart trembled as he accelerated. Boom! The giant snake slammed into the dam, causing it to crumble. Dirt flew into the air and then dissolved into spiritual light.
There was no way Wind Devil Island could have such a large snake, so this sea snake had to be an illusion. But while it was an illusion, it still had some offensive power. If Tang Jie had to actually fight it, he could easily deal with it. The problem was that this was a creature born of illusion, which made it very problematic to deal with. No matter how much one slaughtered in this place, it would all be futile.
Tang Jie didn’t want to get dragged down in a fight, so he charged forward as quickly as he could, and the sea snake pursued, a giant wave rising up from the ocean’s surface.
But Tang Jie was determined, and he knew that everything before him was an illusion, so he ignored it, sprinting forward using the Violet Lightning Lunge. The sea snake couldn’t catch up to him, and no matter how angrily it roared, it could do nothing.
At this moment, a dark silhouette appeared in front of Tang Jie and rushed toward him.
Illusionary attacks were weak, more sound than actual fury, so Tang Jie ignored it and charged straight over. But as he intersected with that silhouette, Tang Jie suddenly paled and pulled out his saber.
Thud!
With a boom, Tang Jie collided with the dark silhouette, and while Tang Jie managed to knock it away, he had to come to a stop.
Worst of all was that he had also stopped casting, so the dam stopped extending.
Tang Jie stopped and took another look at the dark silhouette. It was a dark bull, and it was taking aim at Tang Jie with its horns, stomping on the ocean as it charged at him.
“Shit, it’s real,” Tang Jie cursed.
This black bull had impressive charging power and was clearly no illusion. Rather, it was a real fiend beast of Wind Devil Island, probably upper-grade Spirit Sensing. This fiend wasn’t actually aquatic, and the appearance of walking on water was just an illusion. But there was nothing fictional about its attacks.
Tang Jie couldn’t be careless around an upper-grade Spirit Sensing fiend. He activated the Formless Golden Body and swung his saber at the bull.
Even the upper-grade Spirit Sensing black bull couldn’t handle his current level of power, and it howled as it was sent flying. But it had a tenacious life force, and while this swing had hurt it, it was far from ending its life.
At the same time, the sea snake caught up and bit at Tang Jie.
Tang Jie didn’t even dodge, punching out and roaring, “Break!”
His fist exploded on the snake’s head, and then spiritual energy exploded, dispersing the sea snake into countless particles of light.
But a moment later, the sea surged, and several dozen black bulls appeared, charging across the waters.
“How is this possible?” Tang Jie was startled.
While Wind Devil Island had fiend beasts, this wasn’t the Valley of No Return, where fiend beasts ruled. Most importantly of all, there were no Mind Opening fiend beasts.
Since there were no Mind Opening fiend beasts, upper-grade Spirit Sensing fiend beasts ruled the roost.
And when it came to fiend beasts, the kings lived alone while the weak lived in packs.
The bull fiend was of the upper grade, so it was a king of the island. Thus, unless there was something even stronger, there was no reason for the bulls to gather into a herd.
There were now several dozen, and all of them were upper-grade. This was just too unbelievable.
But with a thought, Tang Jie got it. All of these black bulls were illusions.
After all, all of these bulls were sporting wounds identical to the slash Tang Jie had given the first bull, which was clearly intentional.
The Nine Palace Illusion Formation had illusory beast attacks, true. It had real beasts, also true.
The problem was that it was very rare for illusory beasts and real beasts to appear at the same time.
This situation could only mean one thing: someone was presiding over the formation.
This stage was meant to test the ability of students to break the formation. While the formation was operating on its own, the person presiding over the formation was not to interfere. All shifts should be due to the normal operation of the formation. Yet the current situation was clearly deliberate.
Someone was targeting him.
Though he had mentally prepared himself for this, Tang Jie was still angry that the other party was being so brazen about it.
Nan Baicheng, are you telling me that I will never succeed with you around?
Do you really think these fake bulls mixed with the real one will be able to stop me? You’re wrong!
Enraged, he stopped holding back, barking, “Yiyi, use the Floral Formation at the weakest level!”
Yiyi opened her hands, and a large formation of flowers appeared out of nowhere, coiling around the illusory bulls. While these bull fiends had been substantialized, they still didn’t actually exist. They were inferior to the real bull in all aspects and were instantly stopped by the flower formation. Only that true bull remained as strong as ever, charging through the flower formation.
Seeing this, Ji Wujiu couldn’t help but curse, “Idiot!”
The bull fiend lacked intelligence and didn’t understand how to use the situation. With this weakest flower formation, Tang Jie had found the real bull, and with another swing of his saber, he heavily injured it. At the same time, a light shot out from the bull’s horn, striking Tang Jie, but Tang Jie only swayed a little before grabbing the bull by the horn, raising it over his head, and then slamming it into the ground, causing the bull to moo in distress.
Back in the Valley of No Return, he could already challenge upper-grade Spirit Sensing fiends with his bare fists, and after several months of cultivation, his potential had been stimulated and his strength had increased. Dealing with this bull was truly nothing but play for him, and Ji Wujiu and Nan Baicheng were both gobsmacked.
But a moment later, the waves roared, and several dozen more illusory bulls appeared.
Alas, this time, he wouldn’t give them a chance.
Tang Jie locked onto the real one, ignoring all these illusions and charging into the herd. He took on the illusory attacks as he grabbed the real bull by the horns and kicked the bull in the head.
This one kick deformed the bull’s head, and Tang Jie pressed the bull to the ground and began to savagely punch it.
His fury spurred him to show no mercy, and he beat on the bull as if it was Nan Baicheng, his steel fists pummeling at its flesh, sending blood and gore flying into the air.
The bull fiend desperately cried out and struggled, but it couldn’t shake off this terrifying human.
Its strength gradually died away and its cries went silent. It was finally lifeless, the unfortunate bull beaten into a pulp by Tang Jie. As for the illusory bulls, Yiyi and the tiger working together had long ago destroyed them.
An upper-grade fiend beast coupled with many illusions would present an enormous problem to most students, but Tang Jie easily took care of them, leaving Ji Wujiu and Nan Baicheng stunned.
Was this still a Spirit Lake student?
Slowly drawing his hand back, Tang Jie spotted three flashing azure lights in the bull’s body. He reached in and pulled three azure jades of varying sizes.
Azulwind Jades!
The bull hadn’t produced these in its body. Rather, Horizon Ocean Pavilion had intentionally fed the Azulwind Jades to the fiend beast. The jades were hardy and resisted digestion, but they would absorb the fiend beast’s blood energy and grow richer in spirituality. These were known as glossed jades.
Thus, Azulwind Jades obtained from the body of a fiend beast were even more valuable than regular Azulwind Jades.
These three Azulwind Jades had probably been in the fiend beast for some time, and as they glistened in Tang Jie’s hand, he could faintly hear the howling of the wind.
But Tang Jie was unmoved.
He looked up at the sky.
Through the crystal, Tang Jie’s eyes met Nan Baicheng’s, and at that moment, Nan Baicheng’s heart trembled. It was as if he had really met Tang Jie’s gaze, and he inexplicably shivered.
And then he saw.
A fog stirred, and Tang Jie disappeared!