Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 413: Request for Aid

If things were allowed to go like this, then Xu Miaoran might really end up pushing Tang Jie into the same bed with Shen Qingdan. In the most extreme case, she might even watch as they performed for her.

Fortunately… or unfortunately, it was only Xu and Shen who had lost their rationality, not Tang Jie.

Thus, after flying for a little bit, Tang Jie got some distance from them and said, “Have you two had your fill of arguing yet?”

The two women looked at Tang Jie in unison.

Tang Jie sighed and said to Xu Miaoran, “You don’t actually want me to get into her bed, right?”

And then he looked at Shen Qingdan. “And you don’t actually want me to consummate our marriage, right?”

Finally, he spread out his hands. “Actually, neither of you want this, so why let your emotions drive you into doing it?”

Xu Miaoran snorted. “What am I afraid of? What man doesn’t have two or three wives? I can just treat it as my man taking a concubine.”

Shen Qingdan glared. “Ridiculous! You think I’m afraid of consummating a marriage with my husband? And also, you had better get it straight. If you were allowed into the Tang family’s door, then you would be the concubine!”

Xu Miaoran was furious, jeering, “Alright, then, you can be the main wife, a main wife whose husband is never home!”

Shen Qingdan furiously retorted, “Regardless of how much my husband is away, I’m still better than a temptress fiend woman like you! Horizon Ocean Pavilion’s fiend women really live up to their reputation!”

Xu Miaoran shot back, “It’s still better than some barbaric woman who came out of nowhere. My Horizon Ocean Pavilion is not an existence that you can speak so lightly about.”

Shen Qingdan replied, “No matter how small my Wandering Palace is, I’m still the young master of a sect. No matter how big Horizon Ocean Pavilion is, it will never be yours! You are only a True Lord’s daughter, not the young lady of Horizon Ocean Pavilion.”

Tang Jie slapped his forehead. “Again with this.”

At least they had dropped the business about consummating the marriage, the topic somehow turning to their status, with no sign that either party wanted to go back to the topic.

Xu Miaoran was a daughter of a True Lord in a major sect while Shen Qingdan was the young palace lord of a minor sect, so they were basically equal. Thus, when comparing backgrounds, neither gave an inch. At least they were in the air, where their argument would not draw countless spectators. To be blunt, their argument was like two housewives arguing on the street and simply wasn’t suitable for the eyes of outsiders.

Tang Jie felt a headache coming on, and he shouted, “I say, are you two done yet?”

He yelled with such force and majesty that the two women finally stopped and looked at Tang Jie.

Tang Jie took in a deep breath before saying, “You’re a True Lord’s daughter and the young lady of Wandering Palace, and we’re all cultivators, so what are you doing to yourselves, arguing in a place like this? Can’t we all just sit down and talk? This matter wasn’t a big deal to begin with, so why turn against each other just because of some maid’s tactless words?”

Xu Miaoran and Shen Qingdan glanced at each other before turning away from each other in a huff. Although they were still angry, they stopped arguing.

In truth, they knew that arguing like this was extremely inelegant, but they were so angry that they couldn’t control themselves. Now that Tang Jie had shouted them down, they were able to master their emotions.

Tang Jie turned to Shen Qingdan and said, “This matter was because of that maid. In truth, Miaoran already punished her. On this matter, I will express my apologies on her behalf.”

Shen Qingdan looked at him and grunted, “That maid truly was despicable, saying that I came chasing a man. Her education must have been sorely lacking.”

By criticizing the servant, she was criticizing the master, and Xu Miaoran was about to fire back when Tang Jie stopped her. “Right, I still haven’t heard: why are you here in Endsea?”

This was a superb question from Tang Jie. Giving Shen Qingdan a chance to explain would cool her rage and also change the subject.

Sure enough, after hearing this question, Shen Qingdan lightened up a little. “I came to Endsea because someone requested me to open an Immortal mobile palace.”

“‘An Immortal mobile palace’?” Tang Jie was startled, never having expected this answer from Shen Qingdan.

Immortal mobile palaces were art relics or divine treasures in the form of palaces. The area offered by these items allowed one to lay down large numbers of formations and seals, so they were often extremely powerful.

Horizon Ocean Pavilion and the Wandering Palace were famous Immortal mobile palaces, even getting their names from these items. This was a sign of how valuable they were.

Tang Jie had never imagined that this would be Shen Qingdan’s reason for coming, so he blurted out, “What sort of mobile palace?”

Shen Qingdan shook her head. “I don’t know either.”

Three months ago, Shen Qingdan had suddenly received a message in the Wandering Palace. It said that an Immortal mobile palace would soon appear in Endsea, and that Shen Qingdan’s aid was requested to open it. If she could do this, the requester was willing to give her most of the resources within the mobile palace.

The Wandering Palace had its own mobile palace and lived year-round within it, traveling all over the place, so they were experts at opening up sealed Immortal mobile palaces. Horizon Ocean Pavilion was no match for them in this aspect.

The Wandering Palace had taken such requests before, and since the requester had promised most of the resources in the mobile palace, Shen Qingdan had come personally. Of course, she hadn’t expected to run into Tang Jie in Endsea.

“I see. And you still have the time to argue here?” Tang Jie said in a half-joking tone, trying his best to lighten the mood.

Shen Qingdan glared at Tang Jie. “I also don’t know where that Immortal mobile palace is. The requester has yet to appear, so I can only wait. And since I have nothing to do…”

Tang Jie smiled. “Could that person be scamming you?”

Shen Qingdan rolled her eyes. “Do you think everyone is as insincere as you? The requester already put in a deposit of one hundred thousand spirit coins. If he doesn’t fulfill his end of the contract, I’ll happily take the free money. Moreover, if that person hadn’t appeared by now, you really think I would talk about it with you so casually?”

Tang Jie brought his hands together and bowed. “My lady, thank you for explaining this matter, and thank you for your tolerance.”

“Forget it,” Shen Qingdan lazily said. “Just control your servants better in the future.”

She turned and left.

As they watched Shen Qingdan leave, Tang Jie and Xu Miaoran shared a look and started laughing.

Tang Jie smiled. “Did you enjoy it? It’s really hard to tell that you’ve got such a spicy temper.”

Xu Miaoran grumbled, “Tsk, if not for your sake, I would have never let her go.”

Seeing how stubborn she was still being, Tang Jie sighed. “If I knew it was going to be like that, I wouldn’t have stopped you from dragging me off to consummate my marriage with her.”

Xu Miaoran glared. “You dare!”

She placed her hands on her hips. “I was testing you to see if you were that lowly. Thankfully, you had some tact. If… if…”

She was unable to say what came next, and then she seemed to think of something and started laughing.

Tang Jie was rendered speechless. Pulling her, he said, “Look how silly you are, laughing like that. Let’s go.”

“‘Go’ where?”

“Back to the inn. Yiyi sent word that someone has come to find me…”

————————

When they returned to the inn, Yiyi came to welcome him, saying, “He’s waiting for you in the inner hall.”

Tang Jie nodded and went inside. A person was pacing back and forth in the hall, a worried look on his face. It was none other than the owner of the ship that Tang Jie had saved, Yun Changan.

Elder Yun saw Tang Jie coming and immediately went up to him. “Young Sir Tang, you’re finally back. Please, you must help out my Yun Clan!”

“Elder Yun, please rise.” Tang Jie quickly helped the old man stand up. “Please, speak slowly. Did something happen to the Lucksnow?”

The old man shook his head. “The Lucksnow is fine. We’ve already returned from Thousand Sail Island. But the Yun Clan is facing a calamity…”

The old man explained the situation to Tang Jie.

The Yun Clan was originally one of four great clans on Spirit Gale Island, possessing great wealth and numerous Spirit Masters. Apparently, it even had several peak Mortal Shedding cultivators in its employ.

The Yun Clan’s primary business was in the Silverscale trade. Silverscales came from a kind of sea fiend, the Shuttlefish. It had a slim and long body like a shuttle and a mouth like a spear, hence its name. This fish swam very quickly, and its silver-colored scales were a rather precious cultivation material. Shuttlefish were mostly concentrated in the regions of Joymount Island and Southrise Island. These islands were under the Yun Clan, so the Yun Clan had also always controlled this region of the sea.

Around forty days ago, the Yun Clan’s fishermen encountered a school of Shuttlefish out at sea. The fishermen on the boat used the Silversilk Nets made by the Yun Clan to try and catch these Shuttlefish. While Shuttlefish counted as sea fiends, they were naturally born at a low level and were very weak. A prepared fisherman could easily catch them, and an occasional high-grade one could be dealt with by a local Spirit Master.

But this time was different.

For some reason, the school of Shuttlefish actually broke through the Silversilk Net. Not only that, they attacked the Yun Clan’s fishermen, killing many of them. Only three of them managed to escape.

After this incident, the Yun Clan sent out three Spirit Masters to investigate.

But to their shock, none of the three Spirit Masters came back.

The Yun Clan could no longer underestimate this matter, so it mustered all of its Spirit Masters to investigate the seas and find out what was going on. They ended up running into two of the more famously powerful creatures of that region, the Sawtooth Shark and the Giant Clawed Octopus.

The Yun Clan’s twenty-some Spirit Masters went into battle against the thirteen middle-grade Mind Opening Sawtooth Sharks and two upper-grade Mind Opening Giant Clawed Octopuses.

Surprisingly, the result of this battle was the loss of the numerically superior humans.

The Yun Clan Spirit Masters suffered a major defeat, ten-some Spirit Masters dying in battle and only seven managing to escape, with three of them taking severe wounds.

In these circumstances, the Lucksnow, which had just been about to set off on a voyage, had to give up on a Spirit Master escort and set off alone. If not for Tang Jie’s help, the Lucksnow would have also been finished.

Other than shipping goods, the Lucksnow had the additional important mission of recruiting more Spirit Masters for the Yun Clan. The defeat’s effects on the Yun Clan had just been too severe. Not only had their fishing revenue been severely cut down, other clans were beginning to get ideas.

Alas, Spirit Masters couldn’t be hired just because one had money. Even though Yun Changan had offered a high price, there were few respondents. At present, Yun Changan had only managed to hire two Spirit Masters.

And at this moment, the Yun Clan faced another crisis.

As Yun Changan was heading back to Spirit Gale Island with the two Spirit Masters, he received a message from the Yun Clan. It turned out that, seven days ago, the Yun Clan’s strategic base of Joymount Island was besieged by sea fiends.

It was not unheard of for sea fiends to attack an island.

When sea fiends were allowed to reproduce unchecked, their rise in strength would stimulate their savagery, and they could even join together to attack humans.

The Sawtooth Sharks, the Giant Clawed Octopuses, and even the tyrants of that region, the Faceless Serpents, had all appeared to attack Joymount Island.

But the Yun Clan had operated Joymount Island for a hundred years, so it had comprehensive defenses. With its advantage in terrain, the Yun Clan managed to defend Joymount Island. But wave after wave of sea beasts attacked, and the Yun Clan’s situation got worse and worse.

The Yun Clan had sent this message to Yun Changan in this situation, the clan head ordering Yun Changan to seek the assistance of powerful Spirit Masters no matter what. Otherwise, if Joymount Island was lost, the Yun Clan was finished.

But this poor elder was only a mortal, so what powerful Spirit Masters could he know? At this moment, the rumors of Tang Jie and Xu Miaoran traveling around reached him, and the old man immediately grasped this rope and hastily went to seek Tang Jie’s aid.

In truth, the one he really wanted help from was Xu Miaoran, but he knew that his status was too low to ask for Xu Miaoran’s help. Thus, he had to go through Tang Jie.

After understanding what had happened, Tang Jie began to think. “There’s something I don’t quite understand. Isn’t Endsea ruled by its own major sect? Since Joymount Island is in danger, why didn’t you seek aid from Horizon Ocean Pavilion? The six major sects receive tribute from all the world, so they naturally have to handle such disasters.”

Elder Yun sorrowfully sighed. “We thought the same, but Joymount Island isn’t under the direct administration of Horizon Ocean Pavilion, but Jade Cliff Pavilion. Jade Cliff Pavilion has already sent Spirit Masters to help, but there are so many sea fiends encroaching upon a wide area, far more than just Joymount Island. Jade Cliff Pavilion alone can just barely hold on. There are even rumors that a Transformation fiend has appeared at Jade Cliff Pavilion’s main base.”

“I see.” Tang Jie understood.

He didn’t ask why Jade Cliff Pavilion hadn’t asked for help from Horizon Ocean Pavilion. As a Basking Moon Sect disciple, he understood how inter-sect relationships worked.

Unless it was a foreign invasion, if a minor sect sought help from a major sect, it would always have to pay a huge fee, and it would sometimes even come with very stringent conditions.

This was what the Basking Moon Sect’s Service Hall did. If a lower sect was in trouble, Yan Changfeng would arrive, brush in his left hand and sword in his right. After signing an unequal contract and handing over one’s treasures, one could get him to wave his sword and eliminate all dangers.

It was probably for this reason that Jade Cliff Pavilion would not lightly ask for the help of Horizon Ocean Pavilion. While they could hold on, factions like the Yun Clan would suffer.

Joymount Island was besieged, and the Yun Clan was in dire peril, so it had sent this old man to seek reinforcements.

Tang Jie couldn’t help but sadly sigh after hearing Elder Yun’s story.

But while he sympathized, his answer was ultimately, “My apologies. I can’t help you with this.”

“Young Sir Tang!” Yun Changan shouted.

Tang Jie still shook his head. “Making Horizon Ocean Pavilion send people to assist you would have me accused of meddling in another sect’s affairs. In the end, I’m not an Endseanian, only an outsider. I don’t have the right to say such words or do such things. While I am good friends with Lady Xu, I cannot lose sense of who I am and what my role is because of it. As for myself, I’m only a Nine Revolutions cultivator, so I cannot turn the tides. Moreover, I have my own business to take care of, so… I can only apologize.”

Yun Changan felt his heart go cold. He looked at Tang Jie for a long while before finally shouting, “What important business could you have? Aren’t you just playing around with the Xu Clan’s young lady?”

This was insulting one’s superiors, but Tang Jie could understand the old man’s worries and emotional state, so he only frowned.

Yun Changan began to wail.

He tottered out of the hall and yelled, “Cultivators? Nothing more than a pack of selfish and greedy ghosts! All that talking about cultivating Immortality, seeking long life, freedom, and invincibility is nothing more than one-sided selfishness. They have no place in their heart for the world, but they seek to dominate it! The mad dreams of a lunatic, the idle dreams of a daydreamer, and the unrealistic dreams of an idealist!”

The old man began to crazily laugh.

As he emerged from the inn, he yelled at the sky, “The Heavenly Dao has no eyes! The Heavenly Dao has no heart! The Heavenly Dao has no compassion!”

One of the island lord’s guards wanted to seize this raving man, but Tang Jie stopped him. Looking at Yun Changan, he said, “Let him talk… He’s not wrong. Cultivators really are nothing more than selfish ghosts, only knowing to reap the profits and take none of the responsibility. In this Rosecloud Domain, there have never been natural disasters, only man-made ones.”

A guard said, “But he’s so brazen, even criticizing the Heavenly Dao.”

“Let him criticize,” Tang Jie indifferently said. “If the Heavenly Dao has eyes, it will naturally strike him down with lightning. If the Heavenly Dao doesn’t mind, why should we humans?”

The guard had nothing to say to that, and withdrew.

Yun Changan continued to walk along the street, shouting and raving.

Suddenly, the sky rumbled with thunder, giving Tang Jie a fright.

But no lightning struck the old man dead, though it did begin to rain hard.

In this rainy night, as Tang Jie looked at the old man’s back, he felt an inexplicable sense of desolation.

“Do you regret your choice?” Xu Miaoran’s voice came from behind him.

Tang Jie said without turning, “You heard it all?”

Xu Miaoran confirmed. “In truth, let alone you, even I can’t casually interfere in the pavilion’s business. While I might be a True Lord’s daughter, when has it ever been the right of a mere county lord to decide the business of a major sect?”

“I know, but in the end, I was selfish.”

“It’s us… we are selfish,” Xu Miaoran replied. She sweetly said, “Good or bad, in the end, we made this decision together. Next time something like this happens, remember to not push me to the side.”

Tang Jie was startled.

He reached out and put his hand around Xu Miaoran’s waist.

This action made Xu Miaoran stiffen up, and then she gradually began to relax.

“Come on. Let’s go back to the room,” Tang Jie said.

“To do what?” Xu Miaoran suddenly began to panic.

“Silly girl.” Tang Jie flicked her nose. “I just want to find a place with no one around to talk with you.”

Xu Miaoran relaxed.

“Of course, if you want to do something else, I have no objections.”

Xu Miaoran blushed and punched him in the back. “Go and die, pervert!”

Sadly, it’s not like Tang Jie can help out every island in peril. And it’s not like he has any reason to intervene.