Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 1115: Resolution

“In my opinion, we fight! There’s no need to worry about what happens afterward!”

On the thirteenth floor of the Spiral Flame, a thickly-bearded man shouted.

He was the master of a small sect of the Flame Yang Domain, with the surname of Shan. While he hadn’t had the right to speak in the first conference, when it came time to pay the debt, both the big sects like the Great Sun Sect and the small sects had to pay, and nobody would be spared. Those who hadn’t taken part in the conference had the greatest resistance, so they were first to jump out and call for all of the Rosecloud Domain cultivators to be killed. Otherwise, even a small share of the debt was enough to overwhelm a single sect.

“That’s right! Those people from the Rosecloud Domain are too ruthless, demanding so many resources from us. If we let this go on, then we’ll be working for several hundred years, perhaps even more than a thousand.”

“In my opinion, we fight and kill them to end everything.”

“Sect Master Shan is right!”

Sect Master Shan’s words drew many words of support.

But there were also objectors.

“You can’t say that. Those resources were ultimately used on us, no? The cost of laying down two great formations is not insignificant.”

“True, and they also sent so many cultivators to help us fight, with quite a few of them falling in battle. No matter what, they did us a favor, and for us to return their favor with violence… not even demons would go this far, right?”

“Agreed! Sect Master Shan may want to fight, but that goes against human morals. If we truly do this, how will we explain this to our disciples? How can we serve as a model to others? How will we answer our Dao Hearts, prove ourselves to the heavens? Such conduct does not match that of cultivators!”

There were also neutral ones.

“They truly did help us, but they also asked for a high price. While the resources were used on us, the debt was too great, far beyond the original value.”

“Indeed. These people provided aid for the sake of their own profit. While they did help us, they didn’t show us any favors. This was purely a business deal.”

“But even if it’s a business deal, you have to carry out the terms of the contract. How can you just go back on your word?”

“If they’re so heartless, then we don’t have any need to be so faithful.”

“That’s just an excuse for your own ingratitude. Is someone helping you for the sake of their own profit a good reason to forsake all sense of gratitude or fidelity?”

“Why are you speaking up for them anyway?”

“I just still have some conscience left.”

The people argued back and forth.

There was naturally no result to such arguments. The ultimate decision rested with Yuan Tianzhong.

Yuan Tianzhong’s brow was deeply furrowed in thought.

He was conflicted and hesitant.

On one hand, he was grateful to the Rosecloud cultivators for all they had done for Flame Yang. On the other, the heavy debt was a great burden on him.

A morality that had been built up over one thousand years made him unwilling to be so ungrateful, but cruel reality made him think twice.

As he stewed in his conflicted emotions, he exposed softness and hesitancy unbefitting a professional politician.

After a while, he said, “Why don’t… we first speak with Tang Jie and see if he can lower our debt.”

This answer started another argument.

Some people thought it was fine, and other people wondered how much the debt could drop to be appropriate.

Some proposed being polite and lowering it by twenty percent, while others wanted it all and sought ninety percent. Those who sought twenty percent naturally didn’t agree, believing this to essentially be shirking their debt, which would undoubtedly be refused by the Rosecloud Domain, so the two sides began arguing again, quickly devolving back to, “If they don’t agree, we’ll fight!”

The comparison of strength once more became a focus.

The Rosecloud Domain side was undoubtedly the weaker side at the moment, but their backer was far stronger.

But the pro-war hawks of the Flame Yang Domain remained confident because they had control of the teleportation formation.

At this moment, another voice spoke.

“But you seem to have forgotten just who made the teleportation formation.”

Everyone turned to the formation elder of the Great Sun Sect, Yi Hong.

“Wasn’t it Tang Jie?” someone said.

“Correct, so you do know that it was Tang Jie who made the teleportation formation. So since he made one, why can’t he make another?” Yi Hong darkly said.

Everyone was aghast.

Right!

Tang Jie could make one teleportation formation, so why not a second?

While teleportation formation resources were rare, if one were set on gathering them, one could scrape them together. Moreover, when first making the teleportation formation, did Tang Jie really use all of the resources he was given?

What if he had secretly stowed some away?

If the Flame Yang Domain decided to attack the Rosecloud Domain group and Tang Jie had the resources to make another teleportation formation, what would the result be?

Everyone reeled in shock.

Yi Hong added, “And it seems like we’ve already offended the Rosecloud Domain once.”

Everyone remembered how their anger over the debt to Rosecloud had made them “request” all the Rosecloud cultivators to leave Great Sun City.

To be honest, there was no sense of political tact at all in this move, offending someone without getting anything from it. But cultivators weren’t politicians, and they usually didn’t consider things to that extent. It was only now that they thought back to it that they realized that they had inadvertently taken the path to standing against Rosecloud.

“If that’s the case…” someone muttered.

He didn’t finish, but everyone knew what he meant.

If they wanted to deal with the Rosecloud Domain, they first had to deal with Tang Jie!

At this moment, a disciple came forward and reported that Tang Jie had returned, and Captain Wu had gone to meet him.

The Flame Yang cultivators were all elated.

“Once Captain Wu brings him to the tower, we’ll take him captive!” someone shouted.

Nobody sounded off in approval of this proposal, but nobody objected.

Everyone used their silence to express their support.

But disappointing news soon arrived.

“Captain Wu failed to bring back Tang Jie. After conversing, Tang Jie left Great Sun City.”

“Not good!” Chang Xiran shouted. “He’s going to Anyuan Peak!”

“If he goes, he won’t come back,” Meng Qihong slowly said.

“The only way we’ll be able to seize him then is by open warfare,” Fairy Hong Luan said. “Once we start fighting, if we can’t get rid of him fast enough, and if he has enough materials for a teleportation formation…”

Everyone shivered, all of them understanding what this meant.

“Get him!” everyone shouted in unison.

Yuan Tianzhong was still hesitating, not wanting to commit to war, but this moment of crisis gave him no time to think.

Acting almost purely on instinct, Yuan Tianzhong ordered Wu Xiuqian, “Xiuqian, stop Tang Jie!”

“What?” Within Great Sun City, Wu Xiuqian was taken aback by this order.

“Catch him, and don’t let him leave Great Sun City!” Yuan Tianzhong shouted.

That first order had broken the dam, and Yuan Tianzhong had cast aside all his hesitation and made up his mind.

The scenes from Tang Jie’s challenge of the tower replayed in his mind.

If they captured Tang Jie, they could stop him from making another teleportation formation and ensure the safety of Flame Yang. If they captured Tang Jie, they could gain his strange abilities—that ability that could absorb the essence of fiend beasts and herbs, that ability that could absorb fire, and many others!

Capture Tang Jie, and they would have everything!

Let Tang Jie go, and they would lose everything!

After giving up on his bottom line and considering only the pros and cons, Yuan Tianzhong’s mind became extremely clear.

“Capture Tang Jie at all costs!”

As he repeated the order a third time, he charged out of the Spiral Flame and toward the city gate.

At the same time, Wu Xiuqian called out, “Brother Tang, please hold!”

He reached to grab Tang Jie.

If he hadn’t done this, Tang Jie might not have realized his goal, but when he turned around and saw Wu Xiuqian reaching a clawed hand toward him, he froze for a moment, and then he understood.

He smiled. “So you plan to capture me? True—you’ve also realized that I’m the key.”

He wasn’t speaking very quickly, and with Wu Xiuqian’s speed, that clawed hand should have reached him before Tang Jie could even get a single whole word out. But the reality was that when Tang Jie finished speaking, Wu Xiuqian’s hand had just barely reached his shoulder, as if there was an entire world between the two.

This hand that had almost reached his shoulder was never able to touch it.

Tang Jie slowly raised a hand.

It was truly very slowly, so slow that every movement could be clearly seen. Yet this slowly-raised hand managed to grab Wu Xiuqian’s hand before Wu Xiuqian’s hand could reach his shoulder.

Holding Wu Xiuqian’s hand, he said, “The Shadow Dragon Claw, hm? Such powerful corrosive energy. If this claw had landed, my shoulder would have been crippled. You called me a brother just moments ago, yet now you’re being so ruthless. Brother Wu, you really have no heart.”

Wu Xiuqian stared at him in shock, struggling and failing to break free, as if a giant had clamped his hands down.

He was only at Heart Demon, so how could he be this powerful?

Not even a body cultivator could be like this!

He stared at Tang Jie, who finished speaking and gave a light twist.

Crack!

Wu Xiuqian felt an intense pain as his right hand was broken off.

He had no time to howl, for Tang Jie thrust the severed hand into his chest.

Spiritual energy surged into his body, cutting off his vocal cords and causing blood to flow out of his seven orifices. He wanted to strike back, for as the captain of the Demon Hunters, he was built for combat, always fighting no matter what damage he sustained.

But it was useless.

Tang Jie embedded Wu Xiuqian’s right hand into his chest cavity.

What seemed like a frenzied storm of spiritual energy was actually precisely aimed at choking his meridians and cutting off the flow of spiritual energy.

Thus, the people of Great Sun City saw a cultivator being impaled as if they were a mere mortal.

“Tang Jie, you’re not leaving!” Yuan Tianzhong roared.

Behind him were hundreds of cultivators, twenty-some Violet Palace True Lords among them.

The mightiest of Flame Yang were all here!

The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!