Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-485

The Mountain of Five Caves was the largest mountain in the northwest region of Nadir Hill.

To the south were the Gargantua Plains, to the north were the Polar Snow Mountains, to the west was the Endless Sea Zone, and in the east was the Grand Heaven Moat. As the area at the intersection of all these places, this area was an important strategic area for cultivators.

Here, Godhead Palace had established Cloudscrape City, which had cultivator workshops, an Office of Insight, a teleportation formation, and even a Nine Heavens Starlight Formation for protection. This was one of the most important cultivator bases in the northwest of Nadir Hill.

The one responsible for this place's daily affairs was a Soul Transformation True Person, and he had four Heart Demon True Persons under him.

For this reason, Cloudscrape City was a very high-tier city. It was possible to find all sorts of spirit medicines and herbs here, including the Basking Moon Sect's Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill, the Seven Absolutions Sect's Nine Revolutions series of medicines, and Horizon Ocean Pavilion's Jasper Grass. If one was lucky, one could even find Whitefiend Lotuses, herbs so rare that they could only be found in the Nine Executions Immortal Formation. Of course, they might not be one thousand years old, as the vast majority of cultivators had no interest in waiting this long.

Cloudscrape City was built on the ridges of the Mountain of Five Caves, so it was at a high elevation, hence its name.

Every day, countless cultivators flew in and out of the city, buying and selling their goods.

In some clouds not far from Cloudscrape City, Tang Jie, covered in the stone canvas, observed the gate of Cloudscrape City.

The city gate was very large, and a beast head hung over it: the large head of a Triclopian Panther Monkey.

Although the Panther Monkey had only its head left, it wasn't dead. Hung up above the city gate, the vertical eye on the center of its forehead was constantly looking around. Every person who entered had to be inspected by this eye before they were allowed to go in.

The Triclopian Panther Monkey was a famous Celestial Eye species, and it excelled at seeing through illusions.

If Tang Jie's disguise ability hadn't been revealed, he might have had small tricks that could get him through, but now that all of Tang Jie's abilities had been published throughout Nadir Hill, mixing into the crowd would no longer be that easy.

Now that the Mountain River State Diagram had leveled up, however, this had ceased to be a problem. He could hide himself in the diagram and let the ghost guard carry it in.

But there was little meaning in this.

Tang Jie hadn't come here for peaceful goals. For him, this vast city wasn't a place to make trades, but to rob. Since he was going to rob it, fighting was naturally unavoidable. Thus, he had another idea.

Before coming here, he had asked around and found that the red-robed cultivator responsible for guarding Cloudscrape City was an irascible and straightforward person, not exactly a person with a good head on his shoulders.

So Tang Jie's plan was also straightforward: apply medicine according to the symptoms.

Glancing at Cloudscrape City, Tang Jie activated Duplication. A pile of Tang Jies appeared next to him, and they flew off in different directions. One of them flew toward Cloudscrape City, showing himself at the gate before running off to the side.

The memories forcibly inserted into the Panther Monkey's mind erupted, and it let out a screech. "Tang Jie!"

A moment later, a piercing alarm resounded throughout Cloudscrape City.

Countless cultivators took to the skies with an energy that could pierce through the heavens.

Their leader was a cultivator wearing a red robe and with a head of green hair. He roared, "Where's Tang Jie?"

A cultivator guarding the city gate pointed. "He just went to the south!"

"We can't let this chance at immense merit get away! After him!" The green-haired, red-robed elder roared, and then he summoned a red cloud and flew to the south, followed by a large group of cultivators.

This old man didn't even ask about how Tang Jie had been discovered, whether he had been passing by or attempting to enter the city, before giving chase.

For him, it wasn't important why Tang Jie had come. What was important was that they couldn't miss out on this chance to capture him. Godhead Palace had promised a high bounty for this man, enough to even tempt a Soul Transformation True Person.

Just like that, a straightforward plan to lure the tiger from the mountain had lured away the tiger. Tang Jie smiled as he turned into a yellow-faced cultivator, after which he flew toward the city.

The Panther Monkey head inspected this person, freezing for a moment as its vertical eye glowed. It paused on Tang Jie for quite some time, and then the head paled and shrieked, "Tang Jie!"

But this time, it didn't bring out anyone. Most of the cultivators in the city had already gone out, and those left behind mostly didn't think they had any hope or weren't interested.

Tang Jie laughed as he strode through the air. "A monkey's eyes really are sharp. Alas, you've seen what you shouldn't, so it's time to dig that eye out."

He thrust forward two fingers of his right hand, plucking out the vertical eye in the center of the monkey's forehead.

The Panther Monkey screeched in pain, at which point the two cultivators guarding the gate realized what was going on. Aghast, they were about to strike when a bolt of lightning shot out. This bolt of lightning was actually the ghost guard, and as it approached the gate, it split into two, targeting the two guards.

Tang Jie casually landed in front of the gate, playing with the monkey eye as he sauntered forward, the Dao of Wisdom operating at full power as he began to analyze the structure of the eye.

Just like his Celestial Eye, the monkey eye was an observation tool. But there were slight differences. The Celestial Eye was better at peering far into the distance, excelling at guarding against enemy ambushes. Meanwhile, the monkey eye specialized in seeing through illusions. Though they differed in the details, the two came from the same source, so it was very easy for Tang Jie to absorb the Dao Will in the monkey eye. On his walk, he thoroughly analyzed the monkey eye, during which the vertical eye on his own forehead grew brighter and brighter.

His Dao of Insight was further perfected thanks to the monkey eye.

The Panther Monkey was still screeching, "My eye!"

Tang Jie snorted. "You've got only a head left and you're still aiding your enemy. Lowering yourself to such a level is no different than seeking death."

He punched, pulverizing the monkey head, and then he strode into the city.

A cultivator was just coming out of the city when he saw this sight. Shocked, he pointed at Tang Jie and said, "You…"

Tang Jie instantly grabbed the cultivator by the throat. "Where are Cloudscrape City's teleportation point and storehouse?"

"I… I don't… know…" the cultivator struggled out.

"Then what are you even good for?" He crushed the cultivator's throat, took his Mustard Seed Bag, and then threw the body behind him.

A light flashed behind his head, and a scroll unrolled: the Mountain River State Diagram.

Tang Jie had thrown the cultivator right into the scroll. In a flash of light, the cultivator disappeared. In the scroll, there was a little flash of light as the cultivator was smelted.

Two other cultivators flew over, the ghost guard having thrown the corpses of the two guards into the diagram.

Starting from today, the Mountain River State Diagram was no longer a simple formation diagram. Its nature had been fundamentally changed, and it had its own world that could contain all things. And the smelting formation allowed anything that was thrown inside it to be broken down into its most fundamental parts, which would remain in the world, and this wasn't only spiritual energy.

Tang Jie sauntered through the streets, killing anyone he saw.

In enemy territory, there was no such thing as mercy. Only by killing the enemy to get stronger could one survive.

The surprise attack had come so suddenly that the vast majority of cultivators were caught completely unaware. All they saw was a god of death charging through the streets, a tide of blood in his wake.

Most of the cultivators left in the city were rather weak, and none of them could take even one blow from Tang Jie. Even the Goldplate Soldiers in charge of guarding the city were taken down one by one, either turned into golden grains by the Weapon Mantra or thrown into the "world furnace" and melted down.

He moved through the streets as if there was no resistance.

But Tang Jie knew that this was only temporary, and Cloudscrape City couldn't be completely devoid of experts. He had the upper hand for now, but the red-robed Soul Transformation True Person and his four Heart Demon True Persons could come back at any time.

But so what?

Robbery was all about speed.

Catching the enemy off guard and stealing whatever could be stolen was considered a success, and Tang Jie was much faster than anyone could imagine.

The fourteenth cultivator he seized was a guardian disciple of Cloudscrape City. This person had already been scared silly by Tang Jie's style of killing those who didn't answer him, so he told Tang Jie where the teleportation point and storehouse were before Tang Jie even had time to ask.

In gratitude, Tang Jie didn't kill him, instead breaking all his limbs before throwing him aside.

He then charged straight toward that palace in the very center of Cloudscrape City.

A guard cultivator finally realized that something was wrong and shouted, "Activate the formation! Call for reinforcements!"

Tang Jie grunted, "Too late!"

He suddenly accelerated, no longer seeking to kill and focusing only on charging forward.

The distant palace began to shine, and a pillar of light pierced the skies. This was a sign that a teleportation formation was activating. Even the Nine Heavens Starlight Formation had been activated, but this formation was primarily meant to defend against external attacks, a strategic defensive formation. It was no good against enemies who had entered the city, so the teleportation formation was more practical.

But the teleportation formation was used for transporting reinforcements. If the reinforcements didn't respond, then activating the formation was useless. And at this time, the main base of Godhead Palace had yet to receive the request for reinforcements, so there could naturally be no response.

Of course, the emergency signal had already been sent. But as it hadn't been sent by the red-robed man, it needed to be confirmed before reinforcements could be sent.

This process wasn't that long, normally taking only a few minutes. In normal circumstances, Cloudscrape City would definitely have been able to last these few minutes.

But these weren't normal circumstances. In fact, if they were, Cloudscrape City wouldn't have even needed to call for reinforcements. The red-robed man alone would have been enough to deal with Tang Jie.

Thus, these few minutes became lethal!

As the beam of light surged upward, Tang Jie accelerated again, shooting into the palace like a bolt of lightning.

"Stop him!" a voice shouted, and several dozen cultivators flew up.

This was the last defensive strength Cloudscrape City had. Their leader had a circle of spiritual energy at his feet, indicating that he was a Spirit Ring True Person.

Tang Jie chuckled before ignoring that True Person and charging into the palace.

"Don't even think about it!" that True Person shouted, thrusting a palm out. He knew that Tang Jie was trying to destroy the teleportation formation and stop the teleportation, so he tried to stop him with everything he had.

But as he attacked, the figure of the ghost guard charged out from Tang Jie's side.

There was an immense boom, and the ghost guard hugged the Spirit Ring True Person and tumbled out of the air, leaving Tang Jie with the several dozen other cultivators.

One cultivator watched Tang Jie charging over, and his face turned savage. He suddenly tore off his robe, revealing the golden armor underneath. "Wall of Steel, halt!"

The several dozen cultivators all tore off their robes, revealing their golden Godhead Armor. All of these suits of armor shone at the same time, creating a sturdy wall. This was Godhead Palace's famous Steel Wall Battle Formation.

These cultivators all belonged to Godhead Palace's combat department and were tasked with guarding Cloudscrape City, and they were experts in combination techniques. Just like the Basking Moon Sect's hundred-man attack formation, the Godhead Palace had its Steel Wall Battle Formation, and this was not all.

That cultivator then shouted, "Spear of Slaughter, go!"

The several dozen cultivators behind him raised their arms in unison, their energies gathering into an enormous spear in the air. This was the powerful attack that accompanied the Steel Wall Battle Formation.

Joining defense with attack was the proper path. No one understood this principle more keenly than Godhead Palace.

Their Spear of Slaughter wasn't as impressive-looking as the Basking Moon Sect's hundred-man attack formation, but it was not one bit weaker.

Tang Jie simply chuckled and threw out a small pearl.

A Heavenbane Lightning Pearl.

The cultivators all paled at the sight of this item.

After Tang Jie had massacred more than a hundred Beast Refining Gate disciples in that battle on the sea, the Heavenbane Lightning Pearl had grown famous, and the Heavenly Extinction Sect had benefited. The Heavenbane Lightning Pearl's price had risen, and their disciples were able to swagger around a little more. Of course, in gratitude, they sold the pearls to Tang Jie at a lower cost.

More than a decade after that incident, this item's reappearance still shook the Godhead Palace disciples.

Of course, they weren't unprepared like the Beast Refining Gate had been back then, and they knew to avoid this item the moment it came out. Thus, without the need for that commanding cultivator to say anything, they shot to the sides, avoiding the Heavenbane Lightning Pearl.

But this also meant that the Steel Wall Battle Formation fell apart.

Worst of all was that the pearl didn't stop, but flew past them, and behind them was none other than the building with the teleportation formation.

The leading cultivator immediately shouted, "Oh no!"

He finally realized that Tang Jie's pearl wasn't meant to blow them up, but to blow up the teleportation formation.

Boom!

A huge explosion blew the small palace hall into smithereens that flew everywhere, and the cultivators could only watch in shock.

The leading cultivator moaned, "It's over!"

Tang Jie laughed. "Not at all! What's destroyed can be rebuilt, and what's lost can be taken back. There's no need for all of you to be worried."

He thrust out his palm several times, pushing those disciples aside before leaving.

The cultivators were all stunned. It was still that leading cultivator who noticed the direction Tang Jie had flown off in and shouted, "The storehouse! He's going to the storehouse!"

Why had he come all the way to Cloudscrape City?

Why else but to rob it?

Cloudscrape City's biggest merchant was Godhead Palace, and the greatest store of wealth was Godhead Palace's storehouse, so if there was a place to be robbed, that was it.

Destroying the teleportation formation was just to buy him more time. The storehouse was his ultimate goal.

Tang Jie flew forward as quickly as he could, the Godhead Palace cultivators in hot pursuit.

The Spirit Ring cultivator also threw off the ghost guard and gave chase, shouting, "Anyone who captures Tang Jie alive will be rewarded by my Godhead Palace with one hundred days of cultivation in the Jade Firmament Paradise, a top-class Godhead Armor art relic, and one million spirit coins!"

The cultivators went crazy!

While the red-robed man had brought many cultivators with him, there were still many cultivators doing business within the city, though they were somewhat weak. When Tang Jie attacked, they had fled his sudden assault. But now that the shock had passed and they had calmed down, they would start to get ideas.

And the rich rewards promised by Godhead Palace only further encouraged them.

People would die for wealth as birds would die for food.

This one reason was enough for everyone to suddenly grow bold.

Thus, those cultivators who had scattered to the winds out of fear of Tang Jie now flew up and converged on Tang Jie from all sides.

Only in such a situation would one realize just how many cultivators there were in Cloudscrape City.

But as they flew up, a primal roar erupted from beneath Cloudscrape City. A fissure opened in the earth, countless vines extending from it toward the cultivators.

Some of the weaker cultivators were caught off guard and pulled into the fissure, and all that was left of them were their wails.

"Black Sin! It's Black Sin!" an experienced cultivator cried out.

There was no need to ask. It could only be Tang Jie who had brought this legendary terror to Cloudscrape City.

In reality, this creature wasn't invincible. While Black Sin's strength could grow endlessly, it couldn't maintain this strength. Every time, Yiyi could only summon the most basic form of Black Sin, and it required much killing and devouring to obtain a temporary boost in power. Once Black Sin was called back, its strength would fall again, and it could only keep 1% of the strength it had obtained through devouring.

But Black Sin's infamy made every person tremble in fear.

With Black Sin covering for him, Tang Jie charged to the storehouse at full speed. The Godhead Palace cultivators gave chase, and behind them, the ghost guard hunted down the Godhead Palace cultivators.

The one closest to Tang Jie was not the Spirit Ring cultivator, but a dwarf. Despite his unassuming appearance, he was extremely fast. If he weren't worried that he was weaker than Tang Jie, he might have already caught up. As he followed Tang Jie, he shouted, "Tang Jie, don't think that you're the only one with a Heavenbane Lightning Pearl!"

He threw out a black pearl, a Heavenbane Lightning Pearl.

Tang Jie immediately used the Chaoswind Step, his body blinking away. There was a mighty explosion behind him as the pearl annihilated the area, the massive impact actually pushing Tang Jie forward even faster.

This immaculate calculation showed just how well Tang Jie understood this pearl. He turned back and laughed, "Thirty thousand spirit coins squandered just like that… Oh, it's forty thousand now. The Heavenly Extinction Sect raised its price."

The dwarf was furious at how tens of thousands of spirit coins had been wasted so quickly. He immediately grabbed another pearl and threw it out.

Tang Jie sighed and evaded it again. "Do you really think the Heavenbane Lightning Pearl is that good? No, they can kill a lot of people not because they're Heavenbane Lightning Pearls, but because I'm the one using them."

These words made the dwarf tremble, and he decided to not throw out a third pearl.

Tang Jie coldly glanced at him and smiled. "That's right. Find a chance to scam some idiot into buying them. If you keep throwing them at me… the Heavenbane Lightning Pearls are going to fall in price."

He howled and then flew forward. In front of him, at the base of the wall, was a squat building.

If he hadn't been informed beforehand, he really wouldn't have known that this was Godhead Palace's storehouse.

It didn't look very big, but it was actually huge, extending several floors deep underground. Each floor contained many goods, and in normal circumstances, one would need half a day to move them all. As for putting the contents in a Mustard Seed Bag and taking them away, that was even more impossible, for there was no Mustard Seed Bag with that much space.

But for Tang Jie, this wasn't a problem.

As he reached the storehouse, he pointed a finger. "Rise!"

The Mountain River State Diagram flew into the air, revealing before everyone a stunning sight.

The Great Broken Stream appeared right on top of the storehouse, the mountain and stream overlapping with the building like two intertwining paintings.

The beautiful scene of a waterfall descending from the sky appeared over Cloudscrape City, but this time, there was also a setting sun.

In the middle of this gorgeous view, the storehouse began to fade and disappear. But the world of the Great Broken Stream only became more and more clear.

The Great Broken Stream was continuing to sink downward, continuing to penetrate into the underground storehouse. As it descended, some items would automatically be sent into the world of the Mountain River State Diagram.

At the same time, a flower palace appeared, keeping out all other cultivators.

This flower palace both blocked cultivator attacks and obscured this sight.

Although Tang Jie knew that this matter would be exposed eventually, he wanted to put off that day as long as he could. With the flower palace obstructing the view, the cultivators could only see that waterfall descending from above the city, not the Mountain River State Diagram devouring the storehouse.

Everyone thought that Tang Jie was seizing this chance to plunder the storehouse, some people even mocking him for his desire for greed over his life as they attacked the flower palace.

But the speed of Tang Jie's robbery was clearly faster than expected.

As the flower palace was pulverized and Black Sin was killed, everyone saw nothing but flat ground and a pitch-black hole. Far beyond it, a streak of light was fading into the distance.

Upon seeing that black hole, the Spirit Ring cultivator fainted. He knew that he was finished.