Chapter Fourteen: A Battle of Wits with the Heavenly Cripple Sect

Fu Lintian steadied himself and said, “Lei Xiang, protect the Blue Lotus Plate. You may look but must not interfere.” With that, he turned into a streak of light and shot out of the house.

At this moment, the entirety of the Myriad Talismans Sect was on highest alert. The defensive grand array was fully activated, and everyone was poised to face the enemy. Only one hundred and fifty-seven people remained on the plaza—these were the elite forces of the sect, each a master at least at the eleventh level of Qi Refining.

But the sharp, eerie cries they heard had already caused two people to spit blood on the spot. The sound continued, warbling and lingering, at times like a nightingale’s song, at others like a grieving woman’s sob. Even these Qi Refining experts could barely maintain their composure.

“One Talisman to suppress demons, my heart is clear; Myriad Talismans Sect, neither gods nor ghosts dare to startle!”

With Fu Lintian’s thunderous shout, the strange cry of the night owl was ruthlessly cut off. Everyone felt their chests lighten, their minds clear, and no further injuries occurred.

At that moment, Lei Xiang saw a carriage suspended in midair, drawn by eight jade horses. The carriage was thirty feet long and over nine feet wide. Seated atop it were a man and a woman: the man was a short, stout, black-skinned fatty, while the woman was tall and sturdy, her face powdered so thickly it was like a stack of coins. She was admiring herself in a small mirror.

Beneath the massive carriage, fourteen black-clad figures fanned out in formation, chanting toward the sky, “We welcome the arrival of our Leader and Madam. The Heaven-Deficient Gang sweeps through East Yue. Chief Gao’s ambitions reach the Infinite!”

The black fatty pressed his hand downward, instantly silencing his followers. Lei Xiang, however, caught a glimpse of his right hand—it had seven fingers.

It seemed the Heaven-Deficient Gang truly lived up to their reputation of being “different.”

Those fourteen black-clad men were all missing limbs or features; not one was a normal person. Only the Leader’s wife seemed to possess all her parts.

Now Gao Tiancan and his wife disembarked, waving a hand to stow away the carriage. Lei Xiang watched as the carriage shrank to the size of a finger, clicking his tongue in admiration. “So this is the legendary Swift Step. Far more impressive than any mere personal conveyance. I’ve heard that a lowly Qi Refining cultivator couldn’t afford one even if he neither ate nor drank for a lifetime.”

The black fatty let out a “jie jie” cackle, the night owl’s voice resounding, “Old Fu, hurry up and save me the trouble.”

Fu Lintian puffed out his chest. “Heh, Chief Gao, you are too arrogant. Wasn’t it I who just broke your Sound Demon Technique? Besides, we’re both Foundation Establishment cultivators. What makes you so certain you can wipe out my sect in three days? Don’t forget, after three days your Heaven-Deficient Gang can no longer persist.”

“Hohahaha! Old Fu, stop pretending. Beware of thunder striking you down! Your cultivation has long dropped back to the Qi Refining stage. I guarantee I’ll exterminate you all in three hours. Hand it over if you want to die whole.”

Fu Lintian’s beard quivered in anger. “Gao Tiancan, you underestimate both the Myriad Talismans Sect and my six hundred disciples. You will not get the Lotus Plate. Today we fight to the death!” With that, he waved his hand. “Talisman barrage—attack!”

At his command, a storm of talismans was unleashed. Talismans of every color and type rained down on the Heaven-Deficient Gang. Gao Tiancan was momentarily stunned, but Lei Xiang noticed the cruel, cold smile curling at the corners of Madam Gao’s lips. Immediately after, Gao Tiancan burst into wild laughter. “Since you wish for death, let me grant your wish!”

The myriad talisman spells exploded in midair—some became fire dragons or water serpents, others burrowed into the earth. The variety of attacks displayed the Myriad Talismans Sect’s mastery of their craft.

Gao Tiancan smiled coldly and, with utmost respect, said to his wife, “Madam, I’ll leave this to you.”

Madam Gao batted her eyes, sending chills down the spines of all present. She twirled her jade wrist, aimed her little mirror outward, and uttered a melodious incantation: “From Heaven to Earth, back to where you came!”

Instantly, all the fire dragons and water serpents were enveloped in a burst of clear light. Even those spells that had gone underground were drawn back out, one by one.

Then, the tens of thousands of attack spells reversed course in unison, hurling themselves viciously at the protective mountain array.

The air was filled with thunderous explosions. The surface of the grand array was pocked with depressions and crisscrossed with countless cracks. It was on the verge of collapse.

“Husband, your turn to show off.” The saccharine address made Gao Tiancan instantly youthful, his forehead gleaming with excitement.

“Wife, just watch me.” He drew a spear eight feet long, which straightened in the wind, and lunged forward.

The spear elongated without limit, its tip piercing straight through the grand array. With a flick of his wrist, Gao Tiancan spun the spear, creating gunflowers the size of water jars. The array cracked and shattered with a resounding crash, then crumbled to ashes.

Fu Lintian was aghast and shouted, “Initiate the second plan!” He secretly sent a divine sense message to Lei Xiang: “I underestimated the Heaven-Deficient Gang. When the fighting begins, you must withdraw at once.”

At the order, the hundred and fifty-seven elites withdrew five yards, exposing a patch of open ground. The sixteen members of the Heaven-Deficient Gang now stood directly before them.

“Heh, so this is all the Myriad Talismans Sect amounts to. Even your mountain-protecting array was so feeble…” Gao Tiancan’s mouth twisted nearly behind his ears. Madam Gao, however, was unfazed. “Don’t celebrate too soon. Old Fu is cunning—watch your feet.”

No sooner had she spoken than dozens of hands shot up from the ground, seizing the Heaven-Deficient Gang’s legs.

“Commence target practice!”

Lei Xiang gave the order. Hundreds of talismans flew forth, their targets the immobilized Heaven-Deficient Gang.

Lei Xiang understood it all: this was the sect’s plan—to feign weakness, withdraw to lure the enemy into the ambush, then attack from below while the elites struck at those who couldn’t move.

As the talismans struck, Gao Tiancan roared, his spear spinning and breaking dozens of spells before him. Then with a point of his finger, he sent the spear plunging into the earth.

When he withdrew it, he brought up a spray of blood. Stabbing and withdrawing, he quickly dispatched the dozens of experts hidden underground. Looking up, he saw that the fourteen members of the Heaven-Deficient Gang were already all dead.

Gao Tiancan was unmoved; in his eyes, these people were no better than dogs. But Madam Gao shrieked and fainted.

After a round of massage, kneading, and an infusion of spiritual power from her husband, she slowly revived, gritting her teeth. “Husband, those were our gang’s elite, old followers of decades. We must avenge them—slaughter the city, kill them all!”

Gao Tiancan nodded fiercely and launched himself like a monstrous bird at the Myriad Talismans Sect. Before he arrived, his spear shadow swept across them.

A spear shadow dozens of feet long ravaged the crowd like autumn wind scattering leaves. Their protective shields were as fragile as paper before the onslaught—over thirty people were slain in an instant.

At this rate, even hundreds would not be enough to appease his bloodlust.

Lei Xiang turned his palm, revealing a silver coin—solid, with no central hole.

He casually tossed it up, sending a blue incantation into it. The coin expanded rapidly, reaching a span of thirty feet. “Everyone, get behind the Helan Shield. Rotate spiritual power through it—you’ll survive.”

Everyone quickly retreated behind the Helan Shield, Lei Xiang among them. This was a top-tier artifact, barely enough to withstand a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Spear shadows blotted out the sky; the blue shield stood solid.

It was a contest of spear and shield, but in the end, the defensive Helan Shield held a slight edge, repelling the eight-foot spear.

Gao Tiancan was furious, eyes bloodshot, hands gripping the spear as he whirled it, dark light erupting from its head.

“Come, Gao Tiancan! Don’t bully the weak, let this old man play with you!” With that, Fu Lintian leapt forward, palm slicing diagonally, thunder and wind in its wake.

His sworn brother was not to be outdone, charging in with his fists. The two of them, both at the peak of the fourteenth level and over a hundred years old, formed a pincer against Gao Tiancan, the short, fat Foundation Establishment master. After hundreds of exchanges, neither side had the upper hand.

The sect’s disciples watched nervously from behind the Helan Shield, but Lei Xiang kept his gaze fixed on Madam Gao, sensing that she was the true key to this battle.

Madam Gao paid no heed to the fight. Her entire focus was on her little mirror. In her left hand she held it, while her right hand gently traced her own cheek.

“So old already!” she lamented, plucking out several white hairs with a bitter smile. “Perhaps only the Blue Lotus Plate could…”

In a moment, her expression calmed. She gazed skyward and shouted, “The time has come—collect!”

To everyone’s astonishment, a wall over thirty feet wide and ten feet high materialized out of thin air, crashing toward the Helan Shield where the sect’s survivors hid.

It was a wall of flesh—a moving wall.

“Where did this wall come from?”

Before anyone could react, Madam Gao flicked her hand, spinning the Glorious Mirror, sending it spiraling into the sky. It spewed a stream of silver liquid, which crashed down upon the Helan Shield.

The shield shuddered violently, groaning under the strain, its surface riddled with ever-deepening cracks.

The silver stream, like a reversed Milky Way, battered the shield relentlessly, while the wall of flesh bore down.

With a thunderous boom, silver light exploded in the sky, and a rain of silver droplets fell.

Everyone—including Madam Gao—was stunned. The Glorious Mirror had vanished, but the Helan Shield still stood firm.

“Who dared to ambush me?” Madam Gao’s gaze swept the crowd, finally settling on the equally dumbstruck Fu Lintian. “You?”

She herself could hardly believe it—under the barrage of Gao Tiancan’s spear, who would have had the leisure to launch a sneak attack?

Who could it have been?

Then, with another ear-splitting crack, the Helan Shield finally shattered. The wall of flesh crashed down, crushing over thirty of the sect’s elite, only to be struck by a pale blue blade of light. It left not the slightest mark on the wall.

At last, Madam Gao discovered the attacker—the round-faced youth grinning at her, his little tiger teeth on display.

“Fatty, crush that annoying brat with the tiger teeth,” Madam Gao commanded, as she always did. But this time, nothing happened.

No attack came. Lei Xiang continued grinning mischievously.

She called again, but no one responded. Madam Gao frowned. Fat Dragon was supposed to be hiding in that wall—why wasn’t he obeying?

Suddenly, she caught the strange look in her husband’s eyes. Following his gaze, she saw the low wall begin to crack open, oozing a sticky red liquid.

A second crack appeared, then a third—countless fissures spread, and the low wall broke apart.

ps: Only one chapter today, three more tomorrow!