Chapter 49: The First Victory
Translator: Cenniwdyl Editor: Caron_
These were the disciples of the Jindao School. There were five of them; two were in the tenth layer of the Aura Refining realm, one in the ninth layer, and the two others were in the eighth layer.
Mo Tiange’s brows were tightly furrowed. With the amount of energy drained from using Green-Wood Art, she only had enough spare energy to protect herself against two or three cultivators whose cultivation levels were similar to hers. As for more than three cultivators…
She wondered how many of them Qin Xi could deal with.
At this moment, Qin Xi had already returned his sword to his Qiankun Bag. He whispered, “Junior Martial Brother Ye, give the two tenth layer Aura Refining disciples to me. As for the other three, try to trap them.”
Mo Tiange nodded. Whether it was Green-Wood Art or the formations she mastered, all were useful in trapping the enemy, but not killing. If she was told to fight against them directly, she really didn’t know what she would do at all, but it was definitely easier if she only had to trap them temporarily.
Qin Xi pushed on ahead. Sure enough, when their opponents saw that he was in the tenth layer of the Aura Refining realm, the two tenth layer Aura Refining disciples stepped forward and maneuvered their spirit tools to attack him.
After the Immortals Assembly, Mo Tiange hadn’t seen Qin Xi fight again. Nevertheless, he was extremely proficient in spells and was practicing Body-Refining Technique—both were appropriate and convenient for a fight of magical powers. Presumably, he was stronger than other tenth layer Aura Refining cultivators.
Mo Tiange didn’t have time to worry about Qin Xi. Two of the remaining three disciples were rushing towards her. She took a step back and spun around to avoid their attacks. Right after that, she promptly took out her Green-Wood Sword, controlling it as it hovered in the air while she threw some seeds with her hand.
Not knowing what the seeds in her hand were, the two disciples chose to dodge. The next second, however, they realized that the seeds had fallen beside their legs and rapidly grew into thorny vines which had flickering red glows on the thorns. The moment they paused in shock, they instantly felt pain as if they were being burned.
Before they could react, Mo Tiange threw more seeds. Fire Thorns once again sprouted in an instant, forming a simple Spirit-Trapping Formation which trapped them at the center. Another seed was thrown. The moment it landed near them, it sprouted into a huge white flower. It bloomed and spread a captivating fragrance. The two disciples suddenly felt dizzy and couldn’t move their spiritual aura.
Mo Tiange heaved a sigh of relief. She retrieved the Green-Wood Sword and fixed her gaze on the remaining one disciple. That disciple originally thought that since Mo Tiange was only an eighth layer Aura Refining disciple, the other two cultivators in the same realm as her were enough to defeat her. It never occurred to him that they could be trapped by her in a flash. Hence, he immediately maneuvered his spirit tool to attack her.
This man was astute. When he saw Mo Tiange’s strategy, he directly used Light Body Technique and chose to fight her in the air.
Since their bodies were fluctuating in the air, she could neither lay formations nor use those thorny vines to trap him. He would only need to fight against her Bewitching Flower and Green-Wood Sword.
This was Mo Tiange’s shortcoming in a fight of magical powers. After entering the Foundation Building realm, cultivators normally had their fights in the air. Those thorny vines and such wouldn’t be of any use. As for Green-Wood Art, it could only prompt an instant growth of plants. Therefore, these things were completely ineffective against Foundation Building cultivators.
The man before her eyes just needed to deploy Light Body Technique to fly in the air and her Green-Wood Art was already rendered half useless.
For a while, they were trapped in a deadlocked situation. Mo Tiange took a quick glance at the Spirit-Trapping Formation and her brows furrowed tightly. Spirit-Trapping Formation could only trap people for a while; it would be bad for her if this situation dragged on.
With this kind of thought in mind, Mo Tiange took out talismans from inside her robe, planning to finish the fight as quickly as possible. To her surprise, however, her opponent suddenly uttered a frightened and furious “AH!”
Mo Tiange turned her head and saw that Qin Xi was reaching out to pick something up. Only one of his opponents remained.
She was ecstatic. Taking advantage of the moment her opponent’s focus was shaken, she hurled talismans at him liberally. In the midst of her talismans bursting into flames, the identity tablet hanging on that man’s waist emitted a soft white light. The man’s body disappeared into this light then the identity tablet grew dimmer and fell to the ground.
After picking that identity tablet up, she turned around to join Qin Xi in his fight with the remaining tenth layer cultivator. This person was already flustered because his companions were being teleported out one after another. It didn’t take long for him to also be eliminated and have his identity tablet taken by Qin Xi.
As for the remaining eight layer cultivators trapped inside the Spirit-Trapping Formation, right after they managed to escape from the formation, they were immediately barraged with spells and were easily defeated without much resistance. Once their bodies disappeared, their identity tablets fell on the ground.
Mo Tiange sighed with relief. She didn’t have much experience in battle. Although this time, they won with two against five, she actually didn’t feel like she had any grasp on the battle. She had been tense from the moment the fight began, so when it was finally over, she felt like she lost all strength in her legs.
Seeing those two identity tablets, Mo Tiange hesitated for a moment. Although this time, Qin Xi fought against two people and she fought against three, it was in fact because Qin Xi took care of the first man that she had an opportunity to fight back. Thus, as a matter of course, she shouldn’t take these identity tablets. However, she felt quite unwilling to give them up.
Qin Xi smiled. “Junior Martial Brother Ye, these two men were trapped by you. You can take their identity tablets.”
His willingness to forfeit them made her feel rather close-minded as shame filled her heart. However, she also learned not to play a game of refusing things back and forth, so she directly took the identity tablets before she earnestly said, “Thank you, Senior Martial Brother Qin. I’ll bear this generosity in mind.”
Qin Xi only waved his hand without saying anything.
At this moment, a sound of footsteps emerged from outside the chamber. Mo Tiange and Qin Xi glanced at each other. They felt depressed in their hearts—how could another group appear right after they finished dealing with one group?
The next second, they were both startled to see the man who walked into the room. It was actually Liu Yidao!
“Senior Martial Brother Liu!”
Liu Yidao was surprised to see them. “Turns out you two were walking in front of me! What about Junior Martial Brother Jiang and Junior Martial Brother Xu? Have you seen them?”
Mo Tiange shook her head. “We haven’t. Senior Martial Brother Liu, how’s the situation outside?”
Liu Yidao answered, “When I realized the formation was broken, I went looking for you guys straightaway. In the end, I looked for a long time but wasn’t able to see anyone until I arrived here.”
“The two senior martial brothers aren’t outside?”
“I didn’t see them.”
Mo Tiange frowned. “It looks like their situation isn’t good.” It should’ve been very easy to find this place after the formation was broken, yet the two of them still hadn’t come.
Liu Yidao and Qin Xi stared at her in bewilderment.
After taking out a Summoning Jade Talisman from her Qiankun Bag, Mo Tiange inserted her spiritual aura into it, wanting to send it to Xu Jingzhi. However, the jade talisman didn’t have the slightest reaction. She sighed, stored the jade talisman back, and said, “They’re not here; they’ve probably been eliminated already.”
Qin Xi promptly said, “Were they eliminated by those five people from a moment ago?”
“Must be; they also got teleported to this place after all. The two senior martial brothers must’ve met them outside and were defeated by their joint efforts.”
Liu Yidao was confused. “What happened?”
Mo Tiange explained: “Right after we arrived in this chamber, five disciples from Jindao School came in.”
Liu Yidao was surprised and asked, “Where are they now?”
“We defeated them and they got teleported out.”
A short moment passed before Liu Yidao responded. He sighed and said, “I underestimated the two of you. You were two against five, but you actually won!”
Mo Tiange smiled. “They were just caught unprepared because they weren’t familiar with the characteristics of my magic. It was Senior Martial Brother Qin who should have all the glory. He wasn’t flustered at all even though he was fighting one against two and even beat one of them first. I wouldn’t have been able to do anything if it wasn’t for him.”
Qin Xi simply shook his head and changed the topic: “Since Senior Martial Brother Liu is also here, we’d better discuss our next steps. We’ve been here about half a day yet we know nothing about the situation outside.”
Liu Yidao said, “In that case, how about we go out?”
Mo Tiange hesitated. “Wouldn’t it be too dangerous for us to go out now?”
Liu Yidao answered, “Junior Martial Brother Ye, it’d be even more dangerous for us if we hid here for a long time. Miwu Valley isn’t that large, but there are lots of disciples from the Zixia Sect this time. When they’ve cleared out all the people outside, they might turn around and start searching in this area. At that time, it’d be very hard for us to hide. When they do find us, we won’t have a way out.”
What he said was very reasonable, so Mo Tiange and Qin Xi pondered his suggestion for a while. Qin Xi then said, “Let’s go out. Since we can’t hide, let’s discuss again after we beat several more people.”
Liu Yidao and Mo Tiange didn’t object.
With Liu Yidao guarding them, Mo Tiange and Qin Xi decided to first adjust their breaths to recover the spiritual aura they used up in their previous fight. When they recovered their spiritual aura and strength, the three of them packed up their things and walked out of the formation.