Aspiring to the Immortal Path
Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 678: Extortion

The battle was over.

Celestial Saber City had been devastated, all the fiends slain.

No—there was one survivor.

The Little Thunder Emperor, the Blossom King, the offender who had led to the demise of Celestial Saber City, was still lying unconscious in the crater.

"Big Brother, do you not plan to kill him?" Yiyi asked, waving a fist at the Little Thunder Emperor.

This lecherous pervert had almost caused her to lose her virginity, and Yiyi wanted to see him suffer a death by a thousand cuts.

"No rush. He still has some value." Tang Jie smiled. "Moreover, he didn't see who I really was."

"You're telling me that you're going to sell him back to the Thunder Blade Fiend Emperor?" Yiyi was rather saddened at the thought that Tang Jie was going to release the Little Thunder Emperor.

Tang Jie chuckled. "Silly, how could I do that? Since he bullied you, he has to die. But before he dies, he has to put in a little work. Moreover, only if he's alive can you vent your anger."

Yiyi's eyes lit up. "That's right. Just killing him would be letting him off too easy!"

The little imp's eyes glimmered as she said, "Then let's go."

She was already starting to imagine how she would ruin the Little Thunder Emperor once they were in the palace.

"Why are you in such a hurry? When you go to a treasure mountain, you can't leave without taking any treasure. This Blossom King's Celestial Saber City has a few treasures, so we have to search it properly." Tang Jie waved his sleeve, and countless duplicates rushed out from his body and swarmed over the city, gathering everything of value they could, whether it was something in the palace or the possessions of lesser fiends. If he weren't holding himself back so as to not cause too much of a stir, he would have even taken the worthless things—to the Mountain River State Diagram, even dirt was a resource.

Two hours later, the duplicates returned with all the resources they could take, which included the fiend corpses, of course. Tang Jie tossed them all into the Mountain River State Diagram without a second look and then headed out with Yiyi.

Another city looted.

He had done this so much that Tang Jie was beginning to wonder if the Jie (劫) in his name wasn't for "disaster" (劫数), but for "pillaging" (洗劫).

Several days later, the Little Thunder Emperor woke up to find himself in a giant cage, surrounded by darkness. Curses had sealed off the spiritual energy flow of his body, and all of his rich accessories were gone.

The Little Thunder Emperor cried out in fear, "Who is it? Who dares to treat me this way? Don't you know who I am?"

He had been knocked out the moment he had appeared back at Celestial Saber City, so he still didn't fully understand what had happened.

There was a laugh, and then a lantern blazed to life and floated over, lighting up this place like a ghostly flame.

A pale face appeared before the Little Thunder Emperor, with eyes streaked with blood. "I am a ghost… come to take your life…"

"AAAAH!" The Little Thunder Emperor staggered backward, his butt hitting the floor.

He shouted, "Don't come over!"

Then he remembered his status, and yelled, "I'm the son of the Thunder Blade Fiend Emperor! Who dares to touch me? Leave at once, or I'll cut you with my saber!"

"'Saber'? You have a saber?" a voice scoffed.

The lantern grew brighter, revealing a corner of this dark room.

A man was seated there, playing with a saber: the Little Thunder Emperor's Thunderbright Saber.

"The Silver Eyes Fiend Emperor?" the Little Thunder Emperor shouted.

As the son of a Fiend Emperor, he had naturally seen the Silver Eyes Fiend Emperor before.

"You should be calling me Uncle," Tang Jie casually replied. Silver Eyes and Thunder Blade were of the same generation, so when they weren't in conflict, the Little Thunder Emperor really did need to call the Silver Eyes Fiend Emperor "Uncle".

The Little Thunder Emperor was startled, and then he said, "Greetings, uncle. For what reason has Uncle imprisoned your nephew in this place?"

While the Little Thunder Emperor was a little tyrant, he wasn't a fool. He naturally didn't try to act tough in front of someone like the Silver Eyes Fiend Emperor. If Tang Jie said something, he would comply.

Tang Jie remained nonchalant. "'Reason'? You kidnapped my little sister. Shouldn't you be giving me an explanation?"

"'Your little sister'?" The Little Thunder Emperor was stunned.

"Yes, your aunt." Tang Jie pointed to the woman next to him.

The Little Thunder Emperor was confused when he looked at the woman.

He had never seen her before.

"I… kidnapped her?" The Little Thunder Emperor pointed at her. "She is your little sister?"

Tang Jie nodded. "Correct."

"This is impossible!" the Little Thunder Emperor shouted. "I have no interest in this sort of woman. I like the young ones, the younger the better!"

"Like this?" Tang Jie pointed at the pale woman, and the woman's appearance changed into that of Yiyi.

Upon seeing Yiyi, the Little Thunder Emperor shuddered. "It was you? You were the little sister of the Silver Eyes Fiend Emperor?"

Yiyi clenched her little fists. "You like them young? Hmph, you piece of trash, I wonder how many girls you hurt. This young lady will remove this menace to fiend society today!"

Tang Jie pointed again, and Yiyi assumed that other appearance, though without the pale complexion and streaks of blood at the corners of her eyes. "He's yours, but remember not to kill him."

"Relax," Yiyi said, waving her fists.

She walked closer and closer to the Little Thunder Emperor, her face very much like that of some wicked stepmother out of a children's tale.

The Little Thunder Emperor was horrified by Yiyi's appearance, shouting, "No, no! I know my errors. Release me, release me! Uncle, Uncle, save me! Out of respect for my father! I know I was wrong. I really didn't know she was my aunt…"

"…" Shaking his head, Tang Jie walked out of the dungeon, the screams of the Little Thunder Emperor ringing in his ears.

Pretending not to hear, Tang Jie went for a stroll around the garden.

Torturing the Little Thunder Emperor was a part of his plan, serving both to soothe Yiyi's anger and also deepen the Little Thunder Emperor's familiarity with Yiyi's new face, the latter of which would be extremely important to the next part of his plan.

One hour later, Yiyi emerged from the dungeon.

She had a refreshed look on her face.

"Done?" Tang Jie asked.

Yiyi replied, "Mm, this Little Thunder Emperor is both useless and afraid of death, so he coughed up answers almost instantly."

Yiyi gave Tang Jie two jade strips recording the two techniques that the Thunder Blade Fiend Emperor was most proud of: the Thunderbright Mantra and the Thundershatter Saber.

Like the Longevity Sword, the Thundershatter Saber was a top-class combat technique at the Divine Connection level. Although Tang Jie could cultivate it, he wouldn't be able to use its full power while he wasn't at the appropriate level.

But Tang Jie was in no rush. He hadn't obtained the Thundershatter Saber to cultivate it in the first place.

At least not right now.

Putting away the jade strips, Tang Jie said, "This is only the beginning. Starting from now, you should give that brat a beating every day so that we can get what we need from his mouth. Remember to not ask him too much, to avoid drawing suspicion."

"Relax; I know," Yiyi excitedly said. She adored this mission Tang Jie had given her.

She was so excited that Tang Jie felt like she was developing into a little devil.

"Great. Now, you can head off to the back mountain to cultivate the Imperial Ember Lotus Mantra, so that you won't be so outmatched the next time something like this happens." Tang Jie smiled.

"That was just because they had too many people." Yiyi pouted. But she still obeyed Tang Jie and went to the back mountain to cultivate.

The fiends of the palace already knew that the Silver Eyes Fiend Emperor had gone out and come back with a girl.

But nobody could have imagined what their emperor had done for this girl.

Meanwhile, news of what had happened in Celestial Saber City quickly spread throughout the Thunder Blade Fiend Empire. A city had been massacred, and it was the city governed by the emperor's only son! This was never going to be some small matter. It was said that the Thunder Blade Fiend Emperor was furious, and he immediately ordered for the Little Thunder Emperor to be found and for the culprit to be investigated.

While the Little Thunder Emperor was difficult to find, finding the culprit wasn't hard. Though everyone in Celestial Saber City had been massacred, the Silver Eyes Fiend Emperor had a rather flashy appearance, and besides, Tang Jie had also used the Fiend Emperor Flag to summon countless fiends.

When the Thunder Blade Fiend Emperor learned from the goat and the other fiends that the Silver Eyes Fiend Emperor had been searching for someone, he had his answer—he was keenly aware of his son's problem.

Twelve days after the incident, Tang Jie was in the imperial study reading reports.

A minor fiend came forward and said, "Your Majesty, an emissary from Thunder Blade is seeking an audience."

"Oh?" Tang Jie raised an eyebrow. "Finally here? Please, come in."

A fiend general entered the study and bowed. "Mighty Sea Marquis Bo Lai pays respects to Your Majesty Silver Eyes."

Tang Jie had heard of this Mighty Sea Marquis before. This fiend was a golden swallow fiend. While he wasn't strong, he had a very special talent, which was probably why Thunder Blade had sent him.

Tang Jie chuckled. "So it was the Mighty Sea Marquis! You must have come for that Little Thunder Emperor, yes?"

Bo Lai was startled, saying, "Your Majesty is saying that the crown prince truly is in Your Majesty's custody?"

Tang Jie casually replied, "Of course. I won't hide it from you. I exterminated all the fiends who saw me that day and didn't leave you any clues, but still, to need twelve days to come here… you were rather slow."

Bo Lai exhaled in relief. Everything was fine so long as the Little Thunder Emperor wasn't dead. He smiled and said, "We were too incompetent, which ended up making Your Majesty wait. We already understand the cause of all this. The crown prince was rash and kidnapped one of Your Majesty's people, so he needed to be disciplined. Now that this matter has passed, can Your Majesty please let the crown prince go?"

"'Passed'?" Tang Jie looked at Bo Lai. "So you're saying that you can decide this?"

Bo Lai froze. Tang Jie leaned back on his chair and said, "You should just let me talk with Thunder Blade directly."

Bo Lai sighed and nodded. "Yes."

Beams of light shot out from his eyes, and another person appeared. This man wore a yellow dragon robe, a towering golden crown, and opulent boots, and he had an imperial appearance: the Thunder Blade Fiend Emperor.

The moment he appeared, he said, "Silver Eyes, do you have my son?"

Tang Jie smiled. "Your son was incompetent, daring to try something on my little sister, so I could only teach him a lesson in your place."

Thunder Blade sighed in relief when he heard that his son was still alive. He then scowled and said, "'Your little sister'? When did you get a little sister?"

"I recently took one in." Tang Jie waved his hand, and Yiyi, who had already received the news and rushed back from the back mountain, presented herself to the Thunder Blade Fiend Emperor.

She bowed and said, "I pay respects to the Fiend Emperor."

Pursing his lips, Thunder Blade said, "You? That's not right. You don't suit my son's tastes."

Yiyi grunted. "Why don't you just ask your son?"

With a wave of her hand, a vine pulled out the Little Thunder Emperor.

"Son!" the Thunder Blade Fiend Emperor roared.

Yiyi kicked the Little Thunder Emperor in the back, and he felt his throat loosen, allowing him to speak. "Dad, save me!"

Thunder Blade pointed at Yiyi. "For a woman like this, you ended up getting all of Celestial Saber City massacred?"

The Little Thunder Emperor glanced at Yiyi and fearfully nodded.

"Trash! Good-for-nothing!" The Thunder Blade Fiend Emperor moved to slap his son.

Even though it was just an illusion, the slap still floored the Little Thunder Emperor, and his cheek began to swell. At the same time, the Mighty Sea Marquis threw up blood. It was clear that he was the one who had to pay the price for this slap.

After slapping his son, Thunder Blade angrily glared at Tang Jie. "My son was the first to wrong you, so if you let him go, I won't seek compensation for the annihilation of Celestial Saber City."

Tang Jie sneered. "Thunder Blade, do you really think one city is enough to compensate for my little sister's purity? You might not want to seek compensation, but I do! You want me to let the Little Thunder Emperor go? Fine, then hand over your Profound Heavy Water and Holy Nullight Armor!"