In the Five Origins Estate, various spatial fissures flew about, turning the entire region into a death zone. Even Earth Immortals had to be careful when moving around here.
As Flowing Wind’s group advanced, Jade Truth anxiously said, “Just when are we going to escape this damned formation?”
Flowing Wind looked at the Overflowing Heaven Mirror and replied, “Don’t worry. We’ll be out soon.”
Although his understanding of formations was limited, the Dao of Fate encompassed all, and the Overflowing Heaven Mirror could calculate the secrets of the formation. Gradually, they were leaving the main concentration of spatial fissures.
Jade Truth grumpily said, “‘Soon’, ‘soon’! That’s what you said a while ago. Just how much longer do we have to travel?”
Flowing Wind shot him a scornful look and was about to reply when a ripple of Fate energy came from the Overflowing Heaven Mirror. Flowing Wind reached out with his senses and then came to a shuddering halt.
A cultivator saw him stop and asked, “Sir, did something happen?”
Flowing Wind stiffly said, “Junior Brother Origin Defender… has been slain.”
“What?” everyone said in shock.
Flowing Wind shook his head. “I’m not sure.”
Fate could only give the result, not the reason.
Jade Truth snarled, “There must be someone else helping him from the shadows!”
No matter what, he would never believe that Tang Jie was this powerful.
Thousands of years of inertia made everyone think this way, and even Flowing Wind didn’t think Tang Jie was capable of this. Only the Flame Celestial Sovereign felt like Tang Jie might have done it. When he was chasing Tang Jie, Tang Jie had already displayed a transcendent strength that was enough for him to fight with an Earth Immortal, and he didn’t even have Nearby Horizon at the time. Tang Jie had clearly grown stronger since then, and this was his territory, so in a one-versus-one, Tang Jie really might have been able to do it.
This thought filled the Flame Celestial Sovereign with fear.
Flowing Wind said, “Everyone, be careful. Whether he did it or someone else, what’s certain is that he currently doesn’t have the strength to deal with all of us, which is why he’s thinking of ways to split us apart. Try and stick together.”
These people were all Titans who would make an entire region tremble in awe, but now they were being forced to group together because of a single Violet Palace expert. The thought of it was humiliating.
The irascible Jade Truth was the first to grow sick of it. He shouted, “Tang Jie, get out here! If you’re a man, don’t hide in your formation like a turtle! Come out and fight!”
Tang Jie replied, “You brought five Immortal Platform and four Violet Palace cultivators to come and find me, and I didn’t even say anything, just used a small formation, and that makes me not a man? Ridiculous!”
The voice came from all around so that they couldn’t tell where he was.
Jade Truth, “Come out and I’ll have a duel with you!”
“If you want to fight me alone, I welcome it, but I’m afraid your companions won’t agree,” Tang Jie answered.
“How are they not willing? You just need to not have anyone else lying in wait to ambush me!”
Tang Jie immediately replied, “If that’s the case, then you can have your companions wait here while I lead you out of the formation to fight with me. Do you dare accept?”
The Immortals looked at each other.
Flowing Wind shouted, “How can we know that you’re not lying? What if you have people outside in hiding? Won’t doing this be walking right into your trap?”
“That’s right!” the Flame Celestial Sovereign agreed. “The death of Origin Defender is proof.”
Tang Jie chuckled. “You definitely wouldn’t believe it if I said that I killed Origin Defender all by myself. Why don’t we do this? I’ll swear an oath on the Heavenly Dao that I will have a fair match with Jade Truth. At the same time, I will use the Water Curtain art to display my match with him to serve as proof. What do you think?”
They were all taken aback by this proposal. Had Tang Jie really killed an Earth Immortal all by himself?
Jade Truth shook his head. “No, this is impossible. He’s lying to try and scare us.”
While it might be a lie, it does present an opportunity,” Flowing Wind muttered.
“What do you mean?” Jade Truth asked.
Flowing Wind told everyone, “I have a method that allows me to peer across space such that if Tang Jie does play the scene of his battle, I can trace it back and find his real location.”
“Seriously?” Jade Truth said in delight.
“Of course. But it needs some time, and I don’t know if Brother Jade Truth can…”
Jade Truth immediately understood what he meant, coldly chuckling. “You think I wouldn’t be able to last a few rounds against this brat?”
Flowing Wind smiled. “Brother Jade Truth, don’t misunderstand. I’m just wondering if that Tang Jie might play a trick.”
Jade Truth proudly answered, “Even if he’s played a trick and has several Earth Immortals waiting to ambush me, so long as there’s no True Immortal, I can last for half a day without a problem.”
He took out a snow-colored robe, which had the Taiji diagram woven on the back, the flowing Dao Runes upon it indicating its nature.
This was Jade Truth’s pseudo–Dao armament. It was purely defensive, which was why Jade Truth dared to make such a claim.
Flowing Wind smiled. “If that’s the case, then I will leave this task to you, Brother.”
He bowed to Jade Truth.
Laughing, Jade Truth shouted, “Tang Jie, I agree to your terms. Transmit the image!”
“Okay!” Tang Jie agreed.
A painting scroll appeared in the sky, showing Tang Jie standing. At the same time, the spatial fissures harrying the Immortals spread apart to open a path.
“Immortal Elder Jade Truth, please come along this path. The rest of you will wait here,” Tang Jie said, after which he made his Heavenly Dao Oath.
Seeing this, Jade Truth turned to Flowing Wind and said, “I’ll be waiting for all of you outside.”
Flowing Wind answered, “Sir, please be at ease.”
He bowed to Jade Truth again, which left him very satisfied, and he departed with a laugh.
In doing so, he missed the cold glint in Flowing Wind’s eyes.
The Flame Celestial Sovereign sighed. “With a major foe before us, why bring ourselves more trouble?”
Flowing Wind lightly glanced at him and said, “Jade Truth, that buffoon, has offended me many times before this, and I truly do want an opportunity to kill him. But I wasn’t lying just now. If Tang Jie transmits his image over, I have the means of finding him.”
“But you’re the one who decides when to go and find him, right? Regardless, Brother Origin Defender is already dead. Whether Tang Jie did it alone or with a group, it proves that the enemy has the ability to kill an Earth Immortal. Having him go in such circumstances is too risky.”
Flowing Wind indifferently replied, “This was his own decision. What does it have to do with me? I only need to see the truth. If his strength is lacking and he’s killed, that’s his own problem, not mine.”
Flowing Wind shot a bolt of energy at that painting scroll, and his mirror flashed with light as it began to calculate Tang Jie’s position.
The Flame Celestial Sovereign chuckled.
Flowing Wind wanted Jade Truth dead, but didn’t he want them dead as well?