“It’s from Master Ming,” the boy replied, and then he disappeared. His movement technique was so far above the students present that their hearts shivered.
“‘Master Ming’…” Ye Tianshang looked over. “Could he be talking about Hall Master Ming?”
“Who else could it be?” Tang Jie said, raising the small book.
On it was written “An Analysis of the Chaoswind Step”, and on the bottom were the words “Ming Yekong” in smaller script.
“The 27 Star Chaoswind Step?” Peng Yaolong cried out.
Ming Yekong had always been known in the Basking Moon Sect for his light and nimble movement techniques. When he was in Basking Moon Academy, he had taken the record for Celestial Flash Hall, and there was still no one who had been able to break it.
Upon entering the Basking Moon Sect, Ming Yekong had gained the moniker of “Gentleman Among the Flowers”. This moniker emphasized how his handsome appearance attracted women, but it also referred to how he could pass through a field of flowers without a single leaf touching his body.
Ming Yekong was one of the 19 Celestial Chiefs now, and no one dared to bring up that name. But his movement techniques remained mystifying, and everyone still knew about his peerless ability to dodge. The Chaoswind Step was the movement technique that he was most proud of, and the one he had used to sweep across the world.
Everyone glanced at each other, utterly dumbfounded.
While Ming Yekong had come together with them to the Immortal Fortune Conference, he had spent most of his time in private, never speaking with anyone. Even at the conference, he sat alone instead of with the students, so no one had even gotten a chance to speak with Ming Yekong.
But now, this boy had suddenly come out of nowhere to deliver to Tang Jie the movement technique of Ming Yekong. What was going on here?
All of the students gawked at Tang Jie, and couldn’t help but grab Tang Jie’s face and say, “Are you really my servant student? Could you be the secret student of some bigshot?”
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Tang Jie slapped away his hand and helplessly said, “Get off! And watch your mouth!”
Standing up, he turned to Ming Yekong and bowed. “Master Ming’s favor leaves me dazzled. This lowly one has no achievements and is too ashamed to accept this!”
He did not speak too loudly, but knew the one seated above could hear.
Ming Yekong said nothing, but Xie Fengtang said, “This is a small gift from Master Ming to you. Accept it.”
“Yes. This one does not dare to refuse the gift of an elder!” Hearing Xie Fengtang’s words, Tang Jie seemed to understand that Xie Fengtang had helped him get this book.
From a bigshot like Ming Yekong, a single hair on his head could be as thick as Tang Jie’s thigh. Thus, it wasn’t strange at all for a small gift from him to be so valuable.
As for why it was a core spell art like the Chaoswind Step, Tang Jie thought he knew.
The Chaoswind Step was an extremely profound spell art. It wasn’t created by Ming Yekong, but it was Ming Yekong who had made it famous.
At the very start, the Chaoswind Step was a foot technique that allowed movement in a defined range. Unlike other foot techniques, with every move, there were nine special points. These nine points were like the Eight Gates of formations, each one holding special significance. Through various combinations, they could create all sorts of mystical effects. They were called the Nine Bases, and they were why the Chaoswind Step was also called the Nine Star Chaoswind Step.
But in Ming Yekong’s hands, the nine special points became 27, creating a vaster and more complex system capable of infinite variation.
There were so many variations that it was said that even Ming Yekong hadn’t fully mastered them and was still in the middle of research.
This was precisely why the spell art book he had given to Tang Jie wasn’t called “Chaoswind Step” but “Analysis of the Chaoswind Step”. It was because Ming Yekong didn’t think that it was done and was still in the middle of finishing it.
For the same reason, whenever Ming Yekong saw a worthy talent, he would give them this commentary of his. This commentary didn’t actually describe practical applications for the Chaoswind Step. Rather, it described various combinations of the 27 stars so that the reader could do their own exploring.
This sort of exploring would be of huge benefit to Ming Yekong and allow him to improve in this aspect as well.
This was precisely why, while many of Ming Yekong’s disciples were skilled in the Chaoswind Step, each one used it in a different way. It was all the same foot technique, but there were so many variations that it became a school all on its own. And Ming Yekong himself was something else. In borrowing the power of the masses, he had become number one in the Basking Moon Sect when it came to movement techniques.
Now that Tang Jie had the Chaoswind Step, he quickly immersed himself in the complicated star positions of this foot technique.
The battles on the stage remained fierce. After Cai Junyang’s match, Basking Moon and Godhead fought several more battles, each side winning some and losing some.
As before, Ye Tianshang won his battle with little suspense. This was his fourth victory, and he was now essentially guaranteed entry into the next round.
Wei Tianchong was unfortunate enough to run into Yun Wuji. After a fierce battle, Wei Tianchong was defeated, suffering his first loss.
But Yun Wuji’s victory hadn’t been easy. The puppet’s strength and Wei Tianchong’s own power and excellent control had made Yun Wuji suffer quite a bit. When Wei Tianchong was finally knocked out of the ring by Yun Wuji’s Cloudreaching Hand, Yun Wuji was wounded by Wei Tianchong’s sword gale. In terms of injuries, Yun Wuji actually appeared worse off.
This battle amazed many people. It turned out that the unimpressive Wei Tianchong was hiding some formidable strength, and everyone began to talk about it. Sure enough, even a good-for-nothing could be made very powerful when made a True Person’s disciple. They attributed everything to Yan Changfeng.
Once all twenty matches were over, the Basking Moon Sect had won eleven, lost eight, and tied one, coming out ahead of Godhead Palace. This also temporarily made them number one in the whole Immortal Fortune Conference.
Everyone was very excited by this, jumping around and cheering. It was up to Tang Jie to pour cold water on them and say, “Don’t celebrate too early. Tomorrow is the battle of life or death. Are all of you ready?”
The mention of the battle of life or death made everyone’s hearts sink, and they looked together toward the Beast Refining Gate.
In the distance, the students led by Helian Hu looked back.
Upon seeing the looks of the Basking Moon students, the fierce Helian Hu coldly laughed and raised his right hand, sweeping it across his neck. His threat was obvious, and the Basking Moon students grimaced.
Someone was about to curse him out when Peng Yaolong stopped him and said, “Let’s go. If you have the strength, use it on the stage. No need to waste it here.”
He turned away and left, and the students followed.
That night, the Basking Moon students and Beast Refining Gate students didn’t go out to drink after the matches. Instead, they locked themselves in their rooms and studied up on the tactics they would use tomorrow.
The pressure of the battle of life or death meant that no one could be careless. Even Wei Tianchong was repeatedly going over the situations he might run into and the countermeasures he might take. Although his opponent wasn’t strong, his life was at stake here, so he wasn’t leaving anything to chance.
Perhaps the only one who still maintained an air of leisure was Tang Jie.
Sitting in his courtyard, he was reading that ancient formation commentary under the moonlight. He had already reached the last page of the book. In these ten-some days, he had basically memorized the contents of this book, and he was making rapid progress in his understanding of ancient formations.
As he read the last word, he exhaled and closed the book. “I’m finally done. It seems like Godhead Palace hasn’t been doing nothing these last few years. They’ve studied ancient formations rather deeply. If I didn’t have their ancient formation commentary, I really wouldn’t be confident in my chances at getting through the Nine Executions Immortal Formation.”
Yiyi lunged over and asked, “Then can you get through it now?”
“If it’s only the first few layers, I’m very confident.” Tang Jie nodded.
“That’s great.” Yiyi excitedly clapped.
“The problem is…” Tang Jie hesitantly said.
“What other problem could there be?” Yiyi asked.
Tang Jie replied, “From this ancient formation commentary, you can basically tell that ancient formations are extremely proficient at using the power of the world, and they are extremely demanding on the body. In these three ancient formations, several areas require the formation breaker to move aside giant stones without using spiritual energy in order to open the path. This is the simplest way of breaking a formation gate, but in this age, there are very few people who can do it. The Nine Executions Immortal Formation will probably have similar requirements.”
“Isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?” Yiyi said, clapping her hands. “You said before that the Parting Classic was the key to opening the formation.”
“Yes. Body cultivation, formation knowledge, and the Martial Mirror pointing the way—only these three things put together can open the formation. This is why Godhead Palace and its prodigious strength have not been able to open it after all these years.” Tang Jie sighed. “But in other words, this means that the five levels of the Parting Classic correspond to the nine layers of the Nine Executions Formation. With my Jewel Body, I should be able to get into the fourth layer, and with the support of my formation knowledge, I might be able to get into the fifth.”
“Isn’t that enough?” Yiyi asked in surprise. Tang Jie had initially said that he didn’t plan to get through the entire Nine Executions Immortal Formation in one go. Getting into the fourth layer should have been enough, so why was he annoyed?
“The problem is that only the original body is capable of this,” Tang Jie replied. “If it’s the avatar, it might not even be able to get through the third.”
Yiyi suddenly understood.
According to Tang Jie’s original plan, it should have been the avatar pretending to be You Shaofeng that would head to Ten Direction Valley to break the formation. Everything Tang Jie had had “You Shaofeng” do before this was to inform Godhead Palace of a new piece of information: You Shaofeng was the real Tang Jiye.
Previously, Tang Jie had given Godhead Palace an alternative explanation by claiming that he was a Basking Moon Sect spy. So now, he was giving Godhead Palace a third explanation.
In this new plot, the story had changed again.
Tang Jiye, after taking up the identity of You Shaofeng, had infiltrated Basking Moon Academy, after which he had secretly bribed Tang Jie into pretending to be Tang Jiye so as to draw Godhead Palace’s attention.
This provided another very plausible explanation.
As for whether Godhead Palace believed it or not, this wasn’t important, for Godhead Palace would assign suspicion to You Shaofeng all on its own.
Back then, Tang Jie had only shouted that he was Tang Jie, and Godhead Palace had gone and attached various reasons to claim that he was Tang Jiye. In truth, they still didn’t have any evidence that confirmed that Tang Jie was Tang Jiye. It was all based on guessing and speculation.
The same was true for You Shaofeng.
If they really suspected that he was Tang Jiye, they could use the same method to find various so-called “suspicious points”.
So long as Godhead Palace believed that You Shaofeng was Tang Jiye, what came next was very simple. Once the avatar was in, it could find a suitable time to throw out You Shaofeng’s corpse. This corpse could be manipulated in a way to make it seem like Godhead Palace had killed him, or that the formation had killed him. In any case, Tang Jiye would be dead.
From then on, his background would be clean, and Tang Jie’s original body could bring his harvest from the formation back to the Basking Moon Sect.
At that time, with the spoils from the formation, he would be able to rapidly progress in cultivation.
But all of it had been ruined by the nature of the Nine Executions Immortal Formation.
Though the avatar had the Illusion Thousandform ability, it couldn’t imitate the formidable power of Tang Jie’s body. It was only at the peak of the Visceral Manifestation Classic and only at the very first part of the Parting Classic. At most, he could get into the second layer, with chances at the third being rather low.
After all that effort, Tang Jie couldn’t accept being only able to get through one layer.
“In other words, the original body has to go, right?” Yiyi asked.
“Mm, I’m afraid so.”
“But your original body can’t turn into You Shaofeng, so throwing out his corpse won’t do you any good.”
“I know, so I’m going to have to make some changes.”
“What changes?” Yiyi asked.
Tang Jie fell silent.
After a long while, he said, “If you can’t get a mask of lies, then you might as well take the exact opposite path and make everything as simple as possible.”
“‘Make it as simple as possible’?”
“Yes, since we can’t deceive them, then we won’t try to deceive them. We’ll just keep them in the dark!” Tang Jie replied. “We don’t need to give them You Shaofeng’s corpse. He can just disappear. The rest… can be left to their imaginations.”
“And you? How are you going to leave?”
Without You Shaofeng’s corpse to trick them, how could Tang Jie throw off his pursuers and get out of the formation?
Tang Jie had no answer to this question.
He looked up to the sky, and after a while, he said, “Yiyi, do you know? To make a miracle, you have to think the absurd. To catch someone by surprise, you have to break the rules. To complete an impossible task, you have to make a sacrifice that other people can’t make…”
Yiyi said in confusion, “Big Brother, I don’t understand.”
Tang Jie smiled, “Go in, and don’t come out!”
