Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-281

Yiyi hugged Tang Jie’s neck and said in a small voice, “Big Brother, I feel like there was something wrong with that guy. Before, he was saying that he would only sell it at three thousand coins, so why is it that he agreed to sell to you for three hundred? And it’s some commentary on ancient formations, which is exactly what we need.”

Tang Jie chuckled, “It wasn’t just the person that was problematic. So is this book.”

“Huh?” Yiyi was taken aback.

Tang Jie explained, “You think ancient formations are like cabbages, that you can find them wherever you look? How could a cultivator who’s never even left the Rosecloud Domain encounter three ancient formations in a row? Even the revered master of my Basking Moon Sect has not encountered three ancient formations.”

Yiyi was shocked. “Then is the book fake?”

“The book is definitely fake, but not necessarily the contents. From what I’ve read so far, the descriptions are extremely professional, and many of these experiences aren’t something that can just be imagined. When reading a book, you know when something is made-up, no matter how well it’s written. And some things you can tell are the real deal no matter how awfully they’re written.” Tang Jie patted the formation commentary and said, “This commentary is exactly like that. While the book is fake, the contents are real, and anyone in the field would be able to tell at a glance. If my guess isn’t wrong, Godhead Palace probably collected all of their research on ancient formations into a book with a fake author. This is very considerate of them.”

“In other words, they’re intentionally probing you? Oh no, oh no! They must be suspecting you now!” Yiyi yelled, jumping up.

Tang Jie loudly laughed. “Silly, you think they weren’t suspecting me before this?”

“But now they must suspect you even more! They can capture you!”

“No, Yiyi, they could have captured me long ago. You still remember Gu Changqing? When he made his move on me, he wasn’t absolutely certain that I was Tang Jiye. If he was 100% sure, why did the Hawk Hall fall apart in internal discord? No, Yiyi. Godhead Palace isn’t the court. They don’t need rock-solid evidence. If they suspect me, they can just make their move without any need to gather more evidence.”

“So why don’t they, then?”

“That’s exactly the problem… Yiyi, after all that’s occurred, why do you think they’re still testing me? Think it over carefully,” Tang Jie said, stroking Yiyi’s head.

Yiyi bit on her fingers as she racked her brain for ideas, but she ultimately stomped her feet and shouted, “Ugh! I hate it! I can’t think of anything!”

Tang Jie laughed. “Silly, the reason is very simple. Because this isn’t a test. You have to understand that this commentary took a lot of work to make, and it’s a bit extravagant for mere bait. No one would invest the cost of the real deal on a fake.”

“Then why would they do that?”

After some thought, Tang Jie replied, “Gu Changqing captured me once, but he wasn’t able to get the Martial Mirror. Godhead Palace presumably understands that it doesn’t matter if they capture me or not, for that will not get them the Martial Mirror. Thus, there’s no harm in thinking about things from a different perspective and giving me a chance, and in doing so, giving them a chance as well. I think… they want to borrow me to open up the Nine Executions Immortal Formation.”

“Then what do we do?”

“What can we do?” Tang Jie smiled. “The Ten Directions Valley is under the control of Godhead Palace, and if they don’t want me to go, then I could wait for one hundred years and still not get a chance. But now, they’re looking for me to break the formation, and I also want to get in. Everyone benefits.”

“But if we do that, they might end up capturing you.”

“Correct, but I could also end up using them to break the formation, steal the treasures, and escape.”

“Big Brother, are you confident?”

“No, but I’m not worried. Godhead Palace will give me the confidence,” Tang Jie said, raising the formation commentary.

This was the confidence that Godhead Palace had given him.

“Why?” Yiyi asked.

“Because in a war, everyone only fights the battles they have a hope of winning.”

Yiyi was finally rendered speechless. “Big Brother, I really don’t get it. The world of adults… is too complicated.”

“But you have to grow up eventually, Yiyi,” Tang Jie couldn’t help but say.

……

By the time Tang Jie arrived, the battle between Peng Yaolong and Yun Wuji was already over. The winner was Peng Yaolong, who was in the middle of the crowd and loudly laughing.

Yun Wuji was expressionless. With a snort, he turned and left.

Private matches weren’t very important anymore, and neither Peng Yaolong nor Yun Wuji had used their trump cards. Thus, they weren’t competing in strength, but in who would use more trump cards for the sake of momentary pleasure.

Even so, Peng Yaolong still felt refreshed after beating Yun Wuji and was in an excellent mood. He turned to Tang Jie and unhappily said, “How come you only got here now?”

It was human nature to want the entire world to bear witness to one’s strength. Thus, before the fight, Peng Yaolong hadn’t cared if Tang Jie had followed, but he did care a lot now that he had won.

Tang Jie held up a bag. “The food wasn’t finished, so I had the waiter pack it up.”

“……”

Since the meal was eaten and the fight was fought, everyone chatted with each other before going their separate ways.

The Immortal Fortune Conference had not officially started, so everyone was still quite free to go where they wanted and do what they wished.

Tang Jie had nothing to do, so he went to the market.

Red Plum Ridge had gathered merchants from all around, and the six major sects were presiding, so the market was of a rather high level. Not long did it have a wide variety of goods, it even had high-grade rare herbs, ancient medicines, and high-level fiend pills. It could be considered the highest-level market held within the Rosecloud Domain.

This was also why Tang Jie had only bought herbs for his tempering baths after leaving Old Crow Ridge, purchasing nothing else. It was because the true high-quality goods were all here.

As he made his way through the market, he very seriously chose the materials he required, spending large numbers of spirit coins.

A short man watched him from a distance, occasionally mumbling to himself. “Three taels of Pigcage Grass, two lobes of Rebirth Crabapple, five hundred grams of Black Saltpeter… How strange. This guy is buying such bizarre things, not at all like materials for breaking a formation… Milord, I think this kid’s guard is up, and he’s randomly buying stuff to throw us off…”

Tang Jie continued shopping.

In a short while, he had spent ten thousand coins on a whole host of bizarre items. In Basking Moon Academy, he would have even attracted a great crowd. Thankfully, this was a grand gathering of the six major sects, and many wealthy and noble personages had gathered. Ten thousand coins wasn’t much here, so he did not draw much attention.

This was also why that follower had said that Tang Jie was randomly buying stuff to throw them off, forgetting that someone of Tang Jie’s power didn’t have the buying power to just randomly buy things.

Just like Tang Jie had said, no one would spend the cost of the real thing on a fake.

Tang Jie dared to so brazenly buy materials mainly because what he needed to do was something that Godhead Palace had no understanding of.

An avatar!

An avatar before he had even reached Mortal Shedding.

This was a secret art of the Five Gods Faith, and it had even been lost in the Five Gods Faith itself.

Thus, let alone Godhead Palace, even believers of the Five Gods Faith wouldn’t have been able to recognize what Tang Jie was getting all these materials for.

As Tang Jie was strolling around, his attention was suddenly drawn to something.

This was a snow-white slab of meat the size of a human head. There was an eye growing from it, creepily blinking.

“Eye Flesh!” Tang Jie’s heart thumped.

Eye Flesh was an extremely rare spiritual material that grew from the world. It was beyond the Five Elements and was neither fiend nor sprite nor ghost nor monster. This flesh did not come from any sort of fiend beast, but was instead created in nature. Every one hundred years, it would grow a single eye, which was why it was known as Eye Flesh.

It was an excellent material when it came to cultivating eye-type spell arts.

And Tang Jie also knew that it was the best material for making avatars.

There was no other!

This Eye Flesh had nine eyes, meaning that it was nine hundred years old, meaning that even its age was superb. If he could use this Eye Flesh as one of the base materials, the avatar he produced would even be capable of cultivating. While it would definitely have a tougher time cultivating than the original body, it wouldn’t be “trash” that would be stuck forever at the Spirit Platform Realm.

It had to be understood that having a clone that could cultivate was very important.

His eyes flashed as he inspected the Eye Flesh. Once he had confirmed that it was real, he asked the seller, “How much are you selling it for?”

The seller slowly raised one hand. “Fifty thousand.”

Tang Jie was scared out of his wits by the price. “That’s way too expensive!”

In his years in Basking Moon Academy, he had never seen any material selling for more than ten thousand in the market there.

A rare stone like Softscent Jade would go for four to five thousand per block, and Violet Gold was in the neighborhood of four thousand. For this Eye Flesh to be fifty thousand coins was truly shocking.

The seller snorted, “Items are priced based on rarity, and do you really think nine-hundred-year Eye Flesh is easy to get?”

When it came to things like Softscent Jade and Violet Gold, no matter how rare they were, there were always some ore veins to be found. But this Eye Flesh was generated from nature, and it was impossible to raise such things. Thus, it was extremely rare, and if he missed out on this piece, it might be several hundred years before he ran into another.

This was precisely why the Eye Flesh’s price far exceeded its practical value.

But this was only for people who didn’t know the actual uses of the Eye Flesh. Since Tang Jie could use this Eye Flesh for an avatar, its actual value far exceeded fifty thousand spirit coins.

It had to be understood that the avatars of the Five Gods Faith had never been able to cultivate precisely because Eye Flesh was difficult to obtain, and other materials had to be substituted. This process had gone on long enough that the Five Gods Faith had started believing that their avatars simply couldn’t cultivate, and had eventually lost this art.

Tang Jie had to get this Eye Flesh no matter what, but he lacked the money.

He said, “But it’s still only a supporting material for cultivating eye spell arts. For one supporting material to sell for fifty thousand is too crazy. It’s not even worth five thousand.”

The seller was deaf to his words, impatiently waving his hand and saying, “If you can’t afford it, scram! Don’t bother me.”

He felt this item was worth hoarding and was determined to wait for the right chance, so he completely ignored Tang Jie.

Tang Jie’s face darkened.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t pay fifty thousand, but this would completely empty his pockets. With this Eye Flesh, he was bound to need some other high-level materials to combine with it to get its true effects. Otherwise, he would be throwing away money.

Tang Jie made a rough calculation and found that the most he could pay for the Eye Flesh was twenty thousand. Past this, he wouldn’t have enough to buy the other materials, making buying the Eye Flesh pointless.

But if he just let it go, he couldn’t possibly forgive himself.

Eye Flesh was extremely difficult to find, and that he had run into it today was essentially a once-in-a-century miracle.

At this moment, Yiyi whispered, “That Godhead Palace bastard is still following us.”

Hmm?

Godhead Palace?

Tang Jie suddenly realized something, and he had a cunning idea.

He then said, “Ten thousand coins! What about it?”

The seller glared, “Scram! Ten thousand to buy my Eye Flesh? Keep dreaming! Out, out, out! Stop bothering me!”

Tang Jie was furious, yelling, “Aren’t you way too greedy? This Eye Flesh might be rare, but it’s just a supporting material for improving eye spell arts. The most it can do is improve the ability to see through illusions. It’s not even worth five thousand, yet you want ten times that. If I didn’t need an eye spell art that could see through illusions, you really think I would even pay ten thousand?”

“That has nothing to do with me,” the seller stubbornly said.

Tang Jie angrily paced back and forth in front of the stall, clearly wanting to buy the Eye Flesh but unable to afford it. Finally, he stomped his feet and resentfully left. While leaving, he kept looking back, clearly unwilling to let the Eye Flesh go.

It wasn’t long before the news arrived at the ears of a golden-robed man.

It was none other than Deng Yuqing.

Standing at a high point, Deng Yuqing looked down at Tang Jie’s figure in the market and muttered, “The ability to see through illusions… Could he be talking about the Nine Executions Immortal Formation? But the Nine Executions Immortal Formation doesn’t have illusion formations. Ah, while it doesn’t have illusion formations, illusion-piercing eyes can also see spiritual lines, allowing one to find the gates and break the formation. This kid isn’t strong enough to break the formation with brute force. Only by being able to see through all of the formation can he have any opportunity.”

Deng Yuqing asked, “Who was selling the Eye Flesh?”

“Milord, a wandering cultivator,” a voice responded from the darkness, no sign of the speaker to be seen.

“Tell that wandering cultivator to sell to Tang Jie for ten thousand. We will compensate him with twenty… with ten thousand.”

“Yes!”

Tang Jie once more exploiting Godhead Palace for his own gain!