Chapter 284: Scapegoat

Translated by: Hypersheep325 Edited by: Michyrr

As the hand of white jade shot out, Tang Jie made a powerful jump backward while thrusting out his own palm.

As the two palms clashed, Tang Jie's body shuddered, and he flew back even faster. In a flash, he was over the wall.

But before he could land, a white figure shot out, catching up to him. It was none other than An Rumeng.

While still in the air, An Rumeng pointed a finger at Tang Jie, and a powerful pressure instantly assailed him.

Tang Jie grunted and just barely managed to dodge.

He had disguised himself and wasn't worried about being recognized, but this was also his disadvantage. He did not dare to use the Formless Golden Body or Aquagel Shroud for fear of exposing himself.

He had only barely dodged, and An Rumeng's blast of finger wind still managed to strike him in the shoulder, instantly causing blood to fly into the air. Tang Jie groaned as he once more flew out.

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An Rumeng pursued like his shadow. She moved with incredible speed, and with a few leaps, she greatly shrank the distance between her and Tang Jie. Tang Jie knew that if she managed to catch up, it would be difficult to keep his identity hidden. He could only bend a finger and fire off a blast of energy.

Energy Needle!

This was the most common spell art of Basking Moon Academy.

Even so, An Rumeng still gasped in surprise, clearly recognizing this spell's origin. But though she was surprised, she only accelerated, instantly reaching Tang Jie and giving him a kick.

Bang!

The tip of her foot struck Tang Jie on the chin, causing his head to fly up and reveal a familiar face. An Rumeng froze, a look of disbelief on her face. "You Shaofeng, how is it you?"

In the night, the young face had an expression of panic. Who else could it be besides that You Shaofeng who had attempted to frame Tang Jie during the exam?

As An Rumeng beheld the face, "You Shaofeng" instinctively covered his face and charged into a nearby building.

This building was brightly lit and awash with laughter and conversation, marking it as some sort of brothel. Tang Jie quickly stepped in and vanished into the crowd.

An Rumeng couldn't possibly give him the chance to run. She rushed in and waved her hands. "Make way!"

Boom! A powerful shockwave blasted through the building, pushing everyone back.

But Red Plum City wasn't some ordinary city, and any random passersby might be a Mortal Shedding Realm cultivator. Someone instantly shouted, "Who dares to cause trouble in Flower Pavilion!?"

With a bang, at least seven powerful energies erupted out of the building and swept toward An Rumeng.

An Rumeng did not dare to take this head-on, and with no other choice, she fell back.

In the distance, a figure suddenly jumped away. It was none other than "You Shaofeng".

An Rumeng was just about to give chase, but those cultivators weren't about to let her go after having their good time interrupted. Numerous art relics emerged and attacked An Rumeng, forcing her to fall back again.

Tang Jie was able to use this opportunity to create a lot of distance.

He knew that even his Violet Lightning Lunge wouldn't be able to outrun An Rumeng. Thus, after making some distance, he borrowed the narrow opportunity given by the darkness of the night to rush into a nearby estate.

This was a vast estate that consisted of several dozen buildings. Tang Jie landed in front of one of them, and with a thrust of his hand, he opened a window and went inside. As soon as he entered, there was a girlish shriek.

Tang Jie was also surprised. Many of these buildings had been lit, and only this one had been dark, so he naturally believed that there was no one inside and went in. He hadn't expected this building to also be occupied.

Tang Jie turned and covered the girl's mouth.

But to his surprise, the girl reacted quickly, tilting her head to avoid Tang Jie's hand while thrusting a finger at his forehead. Tang Jie immediately moved his head to the side to dodge, at the same time stepping forward and throwing a knee at the girl's head.

The girl dropped down to dodge and kneed Tang Jie in the belly. Tang Jie used his own knee to block, and the collision caused both of them to grunt. While the girl was shocked, Tang Jie was also surprised at his opponent's strength.

Even though this was his clone and not his original body, making it much less tough, it was still at the apex of the Wood Body, much stronger than the body of an ordinary cultivator. But this girl was just as strong as him, neither of them able to get the upper hand in that clash just now.

It was a small room, and the two were in close-quarters combat, so there was no time to cast any spells. Thus, they kept trading blows, and while they were just ordinary strikes, they were savage blows aimed at vital points. Just one hit striking true, even without any spiritual power, would be enough to paralyze the opponent. But these two were both unreasonably good at close combat. They quickly exchanged several dozen blows with neither coming out on top.

Shockingly, they traded blows in silence. It was clear that neither of them wanted to alarm anyone, so much so that after exchanging palm blows one more time, they stopped and looked at each other.

It was hard to make out features in the darkness, and both of them were dressed in black, only their two eyes exposed, twinkling as they stared at each other. They both understood that there was some misunderstanding here.

Tang Jie was just about to say something when a voice came from outside. "Alright, you're all dismissed. I want to be alone."

The footsteps of a single person began to draw close.

Tang Jie and the girl both tensed. They exchanged another glance, and then the girl stepped back and hid behind the door. Tang Jie looked around and then shot up to the roof beam.

With a creak, the door opened.

A girl entered the room. Using the light of the lanterns outside, it was possible to see that she was rather young and wore a pink robe of light cotton, and that her hair was bundled up in a tall topknot.

The girl walked straight to the desk and was about to light a lantern when she shivered and said, "Who's there? Come out!"

From these words, it could be seen that this girl lacked experience. In these situations, it was best to leave the room before shouting.

The girl in black suddenly attacked, grabbing at the pink-robed girl's shoulder.

That girl hastily retreated and struck out with her palm.

But she didn't have the same apprehensions as Tang Jie and the girl in black. As she thrust out her palm, there was a flash of starlight, and a cloud of light emerged.

The girl in black couldn't take this palm without using spirit power, so she dropped her body to dodge.

The girl in pink turned her palm thrust into a chop when another figure came down from the ceiling and struck her right arm. She was about to cry out in pain when another hand covered her mouth. At the same time, two fingers were pressed up against her eyes, clearly saying that if this girl dared to move, he would use these two fingers to scoop out her eyes.

The girl in pink finally realized that things had gone bad. She was shocked that there were two people in the room, and she hated herself for being careless.

The girl in black was delighted, and with a flip of her wrist, she took out a dagger and stabbed it at the girl in pink.

But to her surprise, Tang Jie turned his body, exposing his back to the girl in black.

The dagger stabbed, and Tang Jie's back flashed with golden light. None other than the Formless Golden Body had blocked this stab.

The girl in black had clearly not expected Tang Jie to help out the other party, and she froze in shock. A moment later, Tang Jie made a shhh sound.

This sound left both of the girls startled, and then they heard the ruffling of clothes from outside as someone landed on the roof.

Someone in the estate shouted, "Who dares to intrude on this private residence?"

There was a soft snort, and then An Rumeng began to speak.

She said, "My dear You, I know you're around here. You can't run. If you have some sense, you should know what to say and what not to say!"

With a wave of her sleeve, she floated away.

The girl in black pointed overhead and then pointed at Tang Jie as if saying, "She came looking for you?"

Tang Jie nodded.

The girl in black pointed at the girl in pink and then pointed at herself, meaning, "Give her to me."

Tang Jie firmly shook his head, and it was clear that he wouldn't agree.

The girl in black chuckled and said no more. She flew out the window and vanished into the shadows.

Tang Jie continued to keep ahold of the girl in pink.

After a while, the girl said, "They're all gone, so why haven't you let me go?"

"My apologies. I came here to avoid danger and do not have anything to do with that other person, let alone harm you, miss. Please forgive me, and don't shout. I'll be leaving right now." Tang Jie released his grip and retreated.

The girl in pink turned to look at him, and though the night was dark, her twinkling eyes seemed to be able to clearly see Tang Jie as they stared. She remained silent as Tang Jie left the building, and only then did the sparkle in her eyes begin to dissipate.

She then shouted, "Auntie Liu!"

There was a black puff of smoke in the building, and when the smoke scattered, a middle-aged woman dressed like a palace maid appeared.

The moment this woman appeared, she realized that something was wrong. She looked around in fright and said, "Young Palace Lord, just now…"

"It was that scoundrel Wang Yun. Hmph, one day, I'll personally peel off her skin!" the girl called Young Palace Lord snorted. "This wicked girl is spreading word about us all over the place, giving us trouble. With her around, my Wandering Palace will never be able to know peace. This place is no longer safe, so let's leave first."

Upon leaving the courtyard, Tang Jie moved quickly, and it was only after he confirmed that there were no pursuers that he changed back into that simple and frank youth from before.

This was Tang Jie's first time using the avatar to move, and he hadn't expected such a surprise on the very first day.

Although he had used You Shaofeng's identity to conceal his identity, as he thought about it, he still decided that he had made a misstep.

It had to be understood that You Shaofeng had also come to Red Plum City, and he was with Long Dao's group.

Once An Rumeng came to find him and the two of them started asking questions, the truth would come out. At that moment, it would become known that there was a Basking Moon student skilled in transformation.

If Godhead Palace found out that there was somebody in Basking Moon Academy with this power, it would only bring more trouble to Tang Jie.

The Illusion Thousandform wasn't impervious. Only when it was unknown could it have the maximum effect.

This was his first time using Illusion Thousandform, and he had made no mental preparations beforehand. Thus, his planning had been sorely lacking.

But after tonight's incident, he finally realized the usefulness of Illusion Thousandform. He had originally been planning to use the avatar to go to Ten Direction Valley for him, but now that his avatar had Illusion Thousandform, he felt like he had an even better idea.

As he walked, countless thoughts emerged in his mind.

How to cover up tonight's incident, how to use Illusion Thousandform, how to deal with Godhead Palace, how to get what he wanted… One plan after another appeared in Tang Jie's mind, as did the faces of countless people.

The plan was just a jumbled mess of random ideas at first, but as the chaos was tidied up, a new path appeared before him.

This path led to fortune and was clear of all obstructions.

His eyes began to brighten.

Cleansing Sword Garden.

Tang Jie's original body, reading the ancient formation commentary, slightly raised his head.

He put down the book, walked out of his room, and looked up at the sky.

"Big Brother? What happened?" Yiyi could see that Tang Jie had a lot on his mind.

"Oh," Tang Jie replied. "My avatar just came up with a new plan. It will be safer for me and has a higher chance of getting me the Martial Lord's treasures."

"Isn't that good?"

"But this plan might require killing some people."

"Bad people?"

"You can't call them bad or good. They're annoying, but not so bad that they deserve death. But for my own sake, I'll have to send them on their way."

He left his courtyard and went to another corner of Cleansing Sword Garden, down a long corridor, and into a quiet little alley. Going up to a small room, he knocked on the door.

The door opened, and a young face appeared.

It was You Shaofeng.

"Why is it you?" You Shaofeng was startled. "What have you come here for?"

"I need to speak with you."

You Shaofeng grunted, "We don't have anything to talk about."

He began to close the door.

Tang Jie stuck out his foot to stop it.

"You!" You Shaofeng angrily glared at Tang Jie. "What are you trying to do?"

Tang Jie softly sighed.

He said no more. He lightly waved his hand, and a golden needle flew out.

It entered You Shaofeng's forehead in a flash of blood.

He instantly went rigid. Staring in disbelief at Tang Jie, he struggled out, "You… dare…"

Tang Jie reached out and stopped his falling body. "Though you've caused me trouble time and time again, I've never once taken it to heart. Killing you… is nothing personal."

He swung his palm at You Shaofeng's head.

With this strike, he extinguished You Shaofeng's life.