As the giant snake bit down, the golden-armored man laughed and thrust his spear again.

As the two Transformation great fiends attacked, the entire area was filled with killing intent.

In the face of this intimidating offensive, there was no room for Tang Jie to hold back. All he could do was throw out a Heavenbane Lightning Pearl.

Upon seeing the Heavenbane Lightning Pearl, the white snake instantly pulled back in fear, its body shrinking as it shot off into the distance. At the same time, the golden-armored man hastily pulled back his spear while light erupted from his armor.

As they fell back, the Heavenbane Lightning Pearl exploded, blazing Astral Winds engulfing the area.

Even though the two fiends had retreated promptly, some of the flames still managed to lick the golden-armored fiend. The powerful Astral Winds made the armored fiend grunt in pain. Several golden armor scales were thrown into the air, carrying large chunks of flesh with them.

But this was all.

This was the first time Tang Jie’s use of the Heavenbane Lightning Pearl had been so ineffective. In truth, this was an inevitable result for this weapon. While it was extremely powerful, it was easy to defend against when one was prepared.

Fortunately, the Heavenbane Lightning Pearl held off the fiends so that Tang Jie and Shen Qingdan could create more distance between the two groups.

“Trying to run?” Chang Baimei snorted. The golden eagle shot out like an arrow, streaking toward their heads. With a raise of its head, it sent a lightning bolt crashing at the two.

Although it wasn’t a Transformation great fiend, it was still at the upper grade of Mind Opening, so this thunderbolt was extremely powerful. Even with Tang Jie’s impressive lightning resistance, when the lightning bolt hit him, he still grunted. He swung his right hand around, a golden light moving to coil around the eagle’s neck.

But that eagle was ready for this. With a flap of its wings, it just barely dodged the golden wire.

At that moment, the white snake and pangolin returned. However, the black bear and hyena continued to watch from the sidelines, acting as Chang Baimei’s guards.

With no other choice, Tang Jie grabbed a handful of bean seeds from his Mustard Seed Bag and scattered them.

Sowing beans into soldiers!

Numerous bean soldiers rushed out to battle the three fiends.

These fiends were so powerful that even the likes of Liang Xingbang and Yu Wanniang hadn’t been able to hold them off. These three fiends were somewhat weaker than those two, so for a moment, they were unable to advance.

But Tang Jie knew that while he could hold off the three fiends, killing them was impossible.

The bean soldiers had been able to deal with Liang Xingbang and Yu Wanniang because they had both been severely wounded. The white snake and pangolin didn’t have this concern, and there was still Chang Baimei and his other two fiends waiting in the wings. The elimination of the bean soldiers was only a matter of time.

Thus, after sowing the bean soldiers, Tang Jie immediately ran off with Shen Qingdan.

Sure enough, Chang Baimei wasn’t able to just sit back as his most important fiends were surrounded. He came together with his fiends to clean up these annoying things. Even with their strength, it took some time to kill all of them, by which time Tang Jie and Shen Qingdan had vanished.

Chang Baimei had not fully vented his rage. He snorted, “Escape? You think you can escape this old man’s palm?”

As he spoke, the hyena sniffed the air, and then it charged out. Chang Baimei and the other four fiends casually followed behind it. This hyena wasn’t one of the hunting dogs specifically trained by the Beast Refining Gate, but it still had powerful scent tracking abilities.

On the other end, after flying for some distance and seeing that no one was behind them, Tang Jie and Shen Qingdan slowed down a little.

Shen Qingdan let out a sigh of relief. “Whew, we finally escaped. Hey, what spell art did you use just now? How was it so powerful?”

“Sowing Beans into Soldiers.”

“Duh! You think I’ve never seen the Sowing Beans into Soldiers before?” Shen Qingdan placed a hand on her waist. “But yours is different.”

Tang Jie didn’t answer her question. Looking behind them, he said, “While that old man hasn’t caught up, you should hurry and leave.”

“Do you really want to drive me away so badly?” Shen Qingdan glared.

Tang Jie helplessly sighed. “I’ve killed many people from the Beast Refining Gate, and that whitebrowed old man won’t let me go. We’ve only temporarily thrown him off, but I’m sure that he’ll catch up soon.”

Shen Qingdan looked around and asked, “Don’t you have that spell art that can transform your body?”

Tang Jie shook his head. “It won’t work on the Beast Refining Gate.”

While the Duplication spell was powerful, it wasn’t perfect. It couldn’t duplicate odor, so the Beast Refining Gate, which primarily relied on scent-based tracking methods, countered the Duplication spell.

“I won’t leave either. This palace lord isn’t someone who can just abandon her friends and escape on her own,” Shen Qingdan said, folding her arms.

Tang Jie rolled his eyes, really wanting to say that they weren’t friends, but he felt that these words were too harsh and would damage their relationship. As he was hesitating, he suddenly sensed something. Turning around, he saw Chang Baimei’s figure appearing on the horizon.

“Pretty fast,” Tang Jie helplessly said.

While speed wasn’t Chang Baimei’s expertise, he was still a Spirit Ring True Person. No matter how bad he could be, at full speed, he was still faster than Tang Jie.

Seeing that Chang Baimei was about to catch up, Tang Jie could only sow another batch of bean soldiers to hold him down and escape. But this time, he didn’t dare to slow down to catch his breath.

A great chase commenced.

Even though Tang Jie tried everything he had, no matter how he tried, he wasn’t able to throw off Chang Baimei. And with space thrown into chaos, he also couldn’t summon his original body.

As time passed, the number of bean soldiers Tang Jie could summon dwindled. And not only had he used up numerous bean soldiers, he had also used two Heavenbane Lightning Pearls.

As Chang Baimei continued to give chase despite Tang Jie’s attempts to stop him, Tang Jie’s expression turned gloomier and gloomier.

“Shit…” He turned around and whispered, “Do you really want to kill me that badly? Fine! So what if you’re a Spirit Ring True Person? Let’s fight, then!”

He turned around and flew off in a certain direction.

Shen Qingdan shouted in surprise, “Where are you going?”

Tang Jie tersely replied, “To make trouble for that old bastard!”

He charged into an area of craggy rocks. As he entered, a bolt of lightning crashed down at him while countless water arrows emerged from the surface.

It turned out that there was a formation there.

There were numerous formations in the Beast Garden, and one happened to be here. Tang Jie was well versed in formations, so he naturally wouldn’t blindly charge into one. But this time, even though he knew of the danger, he still went in. As he entered the formation, he waved his hands, throwing out countless points of light. “Break!”

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled within the formation.

He was trying to break the formation through force.

As Shen Qingdan was still in flabbergasted shock, she saw Tang Jie throw something out.

This was a black object, round on the top and pointed on the bottom like an awl.

This item was called a “formation breaker”, and it was something he had taken from Long Dao some years ago. But he normally relied on himself to break formations, so it was only now that he had finally used it.

Because he just didn’t have the time.

Tang Jie threw the formation breaker toward the Open Gate.

The Open Gate was the central pivot, the most critical area. Once it was broken, the formation would essentially fall apart.

Even with Tang Jie’s strength, it was very difficult to break the Open Gate.

But as the formation breaker landed, it erupted with light, and the inside of the Open Gate was thrown into chaos.

Tang Jie began to form hand signs to seal the Open Gate.

With the power of the formation breaker, he began to seize control and reform the formation.

Amidst countless hand signs, Tang Jie thrust out his palm eighteen times, each one at a different location. “Wind, Fire, Lightning, hear my call! Extinguish!”

The raging lightning instantly disappeared.

Tang Jie called back the formation break and threw out three small flags.

The Alarm Gate Banner, the Stop Gate Banner, and the View Gate Banner!

After throwing out the three banners, Tang Jie scattered another bunch of materials, and a new formation was created.

Shen Qingdan gasped in shock. “What is this?”

Tang Jie replied, “This was originally a Lightning Flame Formation, a Grade 2 formation of average strength, and it had no effect on fiends. But with my modifications, it is now a Grade 5 Five Lightning Formation that can also work on fiends.”

“You’re going to fight to the death with him here?” Shen Qingdan was so alarmed that her soul almost left her body.

This was a Celestial Heart True Person, two tiers higher than Tang Jie. With just this formation, he was going to take on a True Person directly?

Although a Grade 5 formation was sufficient to kill a True Person, “sufficient to kill” and “certain to kill” were different things.

Moreover, as Tang Jie had set up this formation in haste, it was probably half as powerful as a regular Grade 5 formation.

And in these circumstances, he had to deal with one Celestial Heart True Person, two Transformation fiends, and three Mind Opening fiends.

Tang Jie slowly pulled out the Heartbreak Saber. “If you’re afraid, you can leave.”

Shen Qingdan bit on her lip, but she didn’t move.

Tang Jie was rather surprised at how determined she was. Finally, he said, “Is this really necessary? We’re just ordinary friends. There’s no need for you to die together with me.”

Shen Qingdan proudly raised her head. “I just don’t have a habit of casually abandoning my fellow Daoists.”

“‘Fellow Daoists’…” Tang Jie muttered, and then he smiled.

“Yes, fellow Daoists!”

With these words, Tang Jie officially acknowledged Shen Qingdan as a friend. Shen Qingdan couldn’t help but chuckle.

The two of them stood next to each other, quietly waiting for Chang Baimei to come.

Chang Baimei soon appeared.

With him were his five powerful war beasts.

Chang Baimei was startled that Tang Jie hadn’t run, and he laughed in delight. “Tang Jie, have you finally stopped running?”

“Of course,” Tang Jie scoffed. “Since you want to die so badly, why don’t I send you off?”

He shook his arms, and lightning erupted behind him. He shouted. “Tang Jie is here! Old man, do you dare fight me!?”

Do you dare fight me!?

Do you dare fight me!?

Do you dare fight me!?

The heavens resounded with his roar.

Tang Jie going head-to-head against a True Person! No sneak attacks this time!