Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-428-30041322

As the Faceless Serpent fled and the sea fiends were slaughtered, the protracted siege of Joymount Island finally saw a moment of calm.

No one knew if the defeated fiends would come back, but at least for now, they had survived.

Everyone cheered, laughed, exchanged hugs, and threw their weapons into the air.

Shen Ningming even got on his knees and started to cry. After several dozen days of constant fighting, they had finally gotten a moment of peace. Even though he was a revered Spirit Master, he still couldn't help but weep in front of all these mortals.

But nobody blamed him, including Yun Danqi. Everyone felt joy from the very depths of their hearts.

On the shore, the ghost guard saw that the fiends were retreating and was about to leave when it spotted Yun Danqi flying off the walls and coming over.

Yun Danqi bowed to the ghost guard. "True Person, my utmost gratitude. It was thanks to you that Joymount Island was able to be protected. True Person, please stay and let my Yun Clan hold a feast to thank you."

The ghost guard looked at Yun Danqi, and then it looked at the walls to Tang Jie. Tang Jie subtly nodded, so the ghost guard manipulated the air to simulate a voice and say, "Very well."

Yun Danqi was delighted. He had seen the ghost guard's power when killing the fiends and knew that this person had to be a Celestial Heart cultivator. If the Yun Clan could form a connection with a True Person, it would soar in prestige. This could be said to be a blessing obtained from disaster.

Yun Danqi accompanied the ghost guard back, asking many questions about it. Following Tang Jie's will, the ghost guard said that its name was Gui Ping. "Gui" had the same pronunciation as "ghost", and the "Ping" came from Mei Huaping as a way of remembering his contribution to the effort. As for the background, it said that it was a wandering cultivator who was passing through the area and came to help when it saw that the island was being besieged by fiends. It refused to elaborate on the details, and when Yun Danqi wanted to ask more questions, the ghost guard simply said "You ask too many questions" to scare him silent.

The people on the walls had gradually calmed down after celebrating. There was still a lot of clean-up to do after the battle. The bodies of the dead needed to be collected, the wounded needed to rest, and the cultivators needed to get their rewards.

That night, a feast was held on Joymount Island to thank all the Spirit Masters who came to help. Tang Jie was there as well. Of course, the seats of honor were reserved for the ghost guard and Yun Danqi.

After three rounds of drinks, Yun Danqi personally gave a speech expressing his thanks, and servants came to hand out bags of money.

The amount of spirit coins in each bag varied per person. When Tang Jie weighed his bag in his hands, he immediately knew that there were two thousand spirit coins in it. Although this wasn't a lot, one had to consider that he had only joined the battle today, and his cultivation was only at Nine Revolutions. Two thousand coins for half a day's work couldn't be considered petty.

As for the ghost guard, Yun Danqi gave it thirty thousand, and even repeatedly apologized over his lack of preparedness and that he would certainly give it a more generous gift in the future.

This battle had probably cost hundreds of thousands of spirit coins, and even the Yun Clan's wealth could not easily sustain such immense expenditure. Even in these conditions, Yun Danqi had decided to expend the clan's capital to try to recruit this man.

If Joymount Island had had a Celestial Heart cultivator like this from the start, it would not have suffered such an immense loss.

Of course, he did not know that he was bound to fail.

Tang Jie didn't care. In any case, with this opportunity, he had successfully infiltrated the island. He could now carefully look for the Beast Garden. With the ghost guard, he would probably be able to avoid detection from those eyes in the sky…

The smoke over the coast had dissipated, but the observer in the cloud continued their watch.

In the clouds, Chang Baimei coldly looked below. Behind him, Helian Hu stood with his arms at his sides.

The cheers from the island displeased him, and he lightly creased his brow and muttered, "We still haven't found Tang Jie, and then this Celestial Heart comes out of nowhere. Elder Brother Feng, what do you think about this matter?"

Ten-some meters from Chang Baimei, two men were seated on a cloud with a go board between them, on which they were playing go. If one looked carefully, one would find that the men were identical. One was wearing a black robe and the other was wearing a white robe, and they looked like young men in their twenties, yet Chang Baimei addressed them as Elder Brother.

Upon hearing Chang Baimei's question, both men stopped playing go.

After a few moments, the black-robed man said, "That Celestial Heart… is not weak. But for that reason, I am not very worried."

"Oh?" Chang Baimei looked in confusion at the man behind him.

The white-robed man said, "This person's strength means that they cannot be Tang Jie in disguise. Thus, I would pay more attention to that Spirit Master who came first."

Chang Baimei understood what he meant and said, "I examined that Qiu Zheng very carefully, but I saw no traces of disguise."

The man in black indifferently said, "You found no problems, but does that mean there are no problems? If that's the case, Brother Chang, why don't we make a bet? Look at my two bodies here. Which one is the avatar? And which one is the original? I will give you thirty minutes. If you guess correctly, I will give you that piece of Celestial Spirit Stone. If you lose, you need to give me that hundred-year Immortal Heart. What do you think?"

Chang Baimei froze, and then he nodded. "My eyes are too lacking to see the difference, but since there is only one original and one avatar, I have a 50% chance just by randomly guessing. I will take this bet."

The white-robed man chuckled. "Thus, when you say that you see no problems, in the end, it means that you can't see a problem, not that there is no problem, yes?"

Chang Baimei seemed unconvinced. "Elder Brother Feng, are you looking down on me? Tang Jie is only at Nine Revolutions. I don't believe he can deceive my eyes!"

The black-robed man picked up a piece and examined the go board. After what seemed like a long period of consideration, he said, "I am not looking down on Brother Chang, but there are many capable people on the path of Immortality, and nothing can be said for certain. It could not be said to be rare for a junior to have some method that can deceive the heavens and mix fish eyes with pearls. Moreover, if Tang Jie had been that easy to deal with, Chang Mingxin wouldn't have died."

The mention of Chang Mingxin made Chang Baimei's face turn solemn.

Though they shared a surname, there was actually no blood relationship. It was just that they had had a good relationship, and the people of the Beast Refining Gate often referred to them as the Two Changs. In terms of direct combat power, Chang Mingxin had even been superior to him.

Chang Mingxin's death meant that Chang Baimei had lost a good friend, so he naturally hated Tang Jie for it. But he also understood how difficult it was to kill Chang Mingxin.

Even killing a Chang Mingxin that had exhausted himself by using the Ten Thousand Sword Mountains was extremely difficult.

For this reason, Chang Baimei had no choice but to confront reality.

Helian Hu finally could no longer help himself, saying, "Seventh Master, from what you say, you feel that that Qiu Zheng might be Tang Jie?"

The man in black finally finished considering his move and put his piece down. He then said, "Helian Hu, how many times have you studied the report of the battle on the sea?"

Helian Hu froze, and then he said, "Once."

The white-robed man quickly picked up a piece and made his move. "You should study it more. It will benefit you. Right, I've read it four times—two times from me and two times from him."

The white-robed man pointed at himself and then at the man in black.

The man in black looked at the piece the man in white had played and deeply frowned. "In that battle on the sea, Tang Jie fought five battles in total: killing Bai Yue, going one versus four, killing Tiande, hunting on the sea floor, and finally, killing Chang Mingxin. From these five battles, did Helian Hu manage to recognize Tang Jie's habits?"

Helian Hu shook his head.

The man in black sighed and put down a piece. "Battle is a matter of life and death, and for such an important matter, you must be observant. Only cultivating is like only training soldiers. While the soldiers might be strong and the general fierce, without the knowledge of a strategist, they are nothing more than brutes!"

Helian Hu immediately started sweating. The white-robed man casually played his piece and continued, "Tang Jie killed Bai Yue in a single blow, so there is nothing to say there. When going one versus four, he used a unique golden weapon, one that we have never seen before or heard about before. This battle also left Tang Jie with some injuries. Later, with the battle against Tiande, Tiande was on his guard, so the golden weapon was no longer effective, and Tang Jie ended up using some paralyzing secret art. Tang Jie used the same art against Lan Yu several years ago at the Immortal Fortune Conference, but he did not use it again until this time."

Helian Hu and Chang Baimei earnestly listened to the white-robed man's words.

While waiting for the black-robed man to finish thinking, the white-robed man continued, "In that hunt in the ocean, he used the deep sea environment to ambush and hide. It sounds simple, but actual application is difficult. I would never believe it if you said that Tang Jie had no means of disguising himself."

The eyes of both Helian Hu and Chang Baimei suddenly lit up.

The white-robed man continued, "And in that battle under the sea, he used Heavenbane Lightning Pearls, and it was precisely these things that caused our Beast Refining Gate such grievous losses. In this aspect, it is clear that Tang Jie has a habit of hiding himself and attacking from the shadows. He could have used the Heavenbane Lightning Pearls, that paralyzing art, and that method of sowing beans into soldiers in his battle against four, but he did not, even sustaining injuries to hide his techniques. This was why Tiande died and we suffered such heavy losses in that battle under the sea. All of this was because we did not take precautions against his methods. From this, we can see that he is an extremely patient person, and he has many more tricks available to him than we can imagine."

Chang Baimei and Helian Hu both nodded in agreement.

"Finally, and what leaves me the most confused: how did Chang Mingxin die? As Chang Mingxin's body no longer exists, we can no longer inspect the corpse, and the disciples who came later did not see what happened and could not tell us how Tang Jie ended up battling Chang Mingxin. They only said that Tang Jie took advantage of the weakened period Chang Mingxin was in after using the Ten Thousand Sword Mountains. But…"

The man in black chuckled. "Helian Hu, hit me with all your power."

Helian Hu was startled. "How could this disciple dare to attack Seventh Master?"

"I'm asking you to hit me, so hit me, and use your strongest move."

Helian Hu lowered his head and respectfully said, "Yes!"

He took out the Heavenly Garment Knife, which shone with a sharp light as it was thrust at the black-robed man.

As this knife stabbed at the man in black, the man in black suddenly slapped the go board. A single piece jumped out in front of Helian Hu's attack, and Helian Hu found that he could no longer thrust his knife any farther.

A moment later, another go piece jumped out and slammed into Helian Hu. Helian Hu immediately felt his body go limp, unable to exert any more power.

The man in black said, "I used ten percent of my strength to block your attack."

Stunned, Helian Hu dropped his head and said, "This disciple understands."

No matter how weak Chang Mingxin had been, he should have been able to at least keep ten percent of his power.

In other words, even in his weak state, killing Tang Jie should have been easy for him, and being killed by Tang Jie would have been nearly impossible.

The man in black continued, "But if we take into account a sneak attack, Tang Jie's mind paralysis art, his golden weapon, and his lightning pearls, it's possible."

Chang Baimei chuckled. "Getting close to Chang Mingxin isn't easy. Elder Brother Feng is right. This Tang Jie has a habit of hiding his cards, and one of these hidden cards is very likely to be the ability to change his appearance and cover his traces."

The ability to change one's appearance wasn't strange. What was far stranger was that it could fool a True Person.

Helian Hu nodded. "The Heavenly King Mara Incantation was used on the island. Although the incantation has circulated very broadly, not just anyone can learn it. This spell art has never appeared on this island before; it was only when Qiu Zheng arrived that it was used. Thus, this Qiu Zheng truly is very suspicious. Since that's the case, we should immediately go and capture that Qiu Zheng!"

On the board, the tide had turned completely against the black pieces. The man in black stared at the board, his brow furrowed. "If not for that new Celestial Heart, I wouldn't mind you going immediately to capture him. But now, I'm afraid that's no longer an option."

Chang Baimei said, "I will go and hold that Celestial Heart down while Elder Brother Feng captures that man."

The white-robed man played another piece, sealing his advantage. "The problem you've seemingly forgotten is that if Qiu Zheng really is Tang Jie, it means that he has a disguise spell art that even we can't see through. When the time comes, he can simply change his face, and how will we capture him then?"

Chang Baimei instantly froze.

Yes, there was now a Celestial Heart on the island, and it would be difficult for the Beast Refining Gate to act without alarming anyone. The slightest disturbance might cause Tang Jie to immediately change his face, and once he had disappeared into the crowd, what could they do?

"Unless…" Helian Hu coldly said.

He didn't finish, but everyone knew what he wanted to say: "Unless we kill everyone on the island!"

But even Helian Hu knew that this wasn't possible.

This was Horizon Ocean Pavilion's territory, and it wasn't the place of the Beast Refining Gate to act recklessly.

Butchering an island? This was slapping the face of the reigning sect.

The man in black started shaking his head at the board, clicking his tongue and sighing, "Lost… In the end, I still lost the game…"

He started to count the points.

The white-robed man raised his head and looked at the other two. "What should be done now that this game has been lost?"

Chang Baimei seemed to understand, smiling. "Naturally, we start another game to decide who wins and who loses."

The white-robed man laughed. Throwing away the pieces, he stood up, put his hands behind his back, and looked down from the clouds. "Our objective is ultimately the Beast Garden, not Tang Jie. Whether or not this Qiu Zheng is Tang Jie remains unknown, but those above are about to calculate the location of the Beast Garden. If all goes as expected, it will be born in a few days. We only need to wait for the right moment."

"'Born'?" Chang Baimei noticed this word. The Beast Garden had been a supreme treasure of the Beast Refining Gate, so why was the word "born" being used?

The white-robed man sighed. "Yes, 'be born'… According to those above, the Beast Garden has changed, and there are some things that neither you nor I can predict. As for the exact situation, we'll know when the time comes."

Suddenly, he said, "Time is up. Brother Chang, can you guess which is my real body?"

Chang Baimei looked at the man in white and then at the man in black. He chuckled, "You've played three games with that black-robed man. You lost the first two games and have only won this one, and now, you are intentionally speaking to me with the white-robed one. If my guess is right, you must have lost to fool me. The avatar cannot be more intelligent than the original, so, the black-robed one is the original!"

The white-robed man threw his head back and laughed. "Why can't the avatar be more intelligent than the original? Brother Chang, you seem to have forgotten what my title is."

"'The Twinheart True Person'?" Chang Baimei grimaced.

The man in white slowly raised a hand. "What I seek is to have my avatar have more independence and to have intelligence that surpasses mine. Everyone thinks that the original must be stronger than the avatar, failing to realize that this avatar of mine has already surpassed the original in strength and intelligence. He lost to me just now because he intentionally yielded. As you said, I truly was attempting to fool you…"

The man in black slowly flew up, turning into a stone statue with the same appearance as the man in white. Beneath the stone statue was a white lotus blossom platform.

"Celestial Spirit Stone…" Chang Baimei saw that stone statue and the lotus blossom platform, and he greedily swallowed his saliva. Only then did he take out an orchid and hand it to the white-robed man. "This Immortal Heart Orchid is now yours, Feng Buzhi."

He grunted and then left with Helian Hu.

Once Chang Baimei was gone, Feng Buzhi, the man in white, chuckled, and then his face turned solemn.

The stone statue in his hand suddenly turned back into that black-robed man. As for the man in white, he also turned into a stone statue, landing on that lotus blossom platform made from Celestial Spirit Stone.

The man in black casually said, "What does it matter which is the real avatar? He is me, and I am him. How can one reach the apex if one does not know how to sacrifice the self? Moreover, on the path to Immortality, two people on the road is always better than one."

He turned his head to the white-robed man, who had reappeared.

They looked at each other and then looked down from the clouds, saying in unison, "Tang Jie, no matter what identity you use or where you hide, you will inevitably come to the Beast Garden! We will meet again on the day the garden opens. Tang Jie… I will wait for you!"

They turned and moved off in the same direction as Chang Baimei.