Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-521-14051342

"Aaaah!"

With a scream, a person slammed into a mountain wall and then limply slid down, leaving behind a long streak of blood.

"Hong Yuan!" Xian Tao rushed over and hugged the fallen girl. Angrily turning around, she shouted, "Are you even still human? She just finished recovering, and you're already being so harsh on her!"

Nearby, Tang Jie stood with his hands behind his back. He coldly said, "Is she dead? If not, then stand up so that we can continue the training."

"Still not done?" Even Xu Miaoran was shouting. "Tang Jie, you're not really planning to beat them to death, are you?"

At this time, Xu Miaoran, Xian Tao, and Hong Yuan were all covered in wounds.

A few days ago, Tang Jie had officially started training them.

Initially, he had lectured them on some knowledge of how to escape and battle techniques, and after that came the practical training.

Cultivators had many abilities and tricks, and a lot of his knowledge from his old world had no meaning here. What was truly important was his way of thinking. Tang Jie taught them precisely this way of thinking, the ability to go to any lengths to defeat one's opponent for the sake of surviving. The things he taught were unconventional and went against the common grain, generally unacceptable to the ethical standards of the Rosecloud Domain.

For example, Xu Miaoran's torturing of Qian Yingchen was actually a form of psychological torture, for Qian Yingchen had been stripped naked for his torture.

In this era, women couldn't be seen naked by men, and they also couldn't see the naked bodies of men.

Tang Jie didn't care at all, bluntly saying, "What's wrong with seeing a man's naked body? Who isn't born being stared at by a bunch of people and will have to look at a bunch of people in the future? There are plenty of naughty kids in the countryside who go around butt-naked, so does that mean you have to kill yourself if you see one? If that was really the case, then in battle, if your opponent just takes off his pants, does your side need to put down their arms? If you need to see it, see it. There's no need to avoid it. Taking a look at his private parts won't make you lose your virginity, not even mentioning that this kid doesn't have any."

Qian Yingchen had been an experimental subject, studied from all angles.

Another person might have needed to be taught this way for some time before the lessons took effect, but the people of Horizon Ocean Pavilion were different. Fiend women were fiend women for a reason, and while they were somewhat conflicted, they soon became anxious to learn.

They learned everything, including how to use their advantages in battle and various ways of killing people, making rapid progress.

But when it came to practical battles, problems started cropping up.

The three girls had never tasted much hardship before. Putting aside Xu Miaoran's background as a rich young lady, the two maids, though they served their young lady, mostly did things like serving tea. The rougher work was naturally left for servants of lower status. After cultivating, they learned many spell arts that saved them time and effort. Thus, on their flight from Endsea, though there had been some heavy labor needed, a single spell art was usually able to solve the problem. As a result, though they were maids, they had gotten rather spoiled.

Tang Jie's training was meant to squeeze out their potential. The training wasn't in spell arts, but in having the will to fight in various extreme situations and a mentality to never give up.

Actually, these girls already had this kind of mentality. It had appeared in the fight against Qian Yingchen.

But their performance had been far too basic, only biting back when they had fallen into enemy hands, unable to change the overall situation that much. Tang Jie wanted them to fight back no matter how strong the opponent was, battling them to the death.

In this aspect, the three of them were far too lacking, even Xu Miaoran.

Thus, the training was very simple: the three girls would work together and fight Tang Jie.

Tang Jie's original body was so strong that he only needed one finger to crush the three of them, but Tang Jie didn't hold back. During battle, he exerted the full strength of his aura. Xu Miaoran was somewhat able to endure the realm pressure, but Xian Tao and Hong Yuan didn't even have the courage to resist.

This earned Tang Jie's sharp rebuke. "Why aren't you attacking? What? When the opponent is stronger than you, do you not even have the courage to attack them? Forget about realm pressure. That's just a tool used to bully the weak. The true braves would even dare to challenge the heavens. Think about Zhang Shuhan. Can the gap between you and me be compared to him and the Heavenly Dao? No! Realm pressure doesn't exist. All that exists is the timidity in our hearts. Take out your courage and bravely confront the challenge!"

But no matter how he shouted, the two girls didn't have the courage to fight him. Only Xu Miaoran dared to attack him, but Tang Jie was able to easily handle her attacks, meanwhile shouting that they were too weak.

He knew that the reason Xian Tao and Hong Yuan didn't attack was that they were still under the impression that he wouldn't kill them. In order to shatter this sliver of hope, Tang Jie held nothing back, sending Hong Yuan flying with a strike of his palm.

In response to Xian Tao's criticism, Tang Jie coldly said, "Did you come here to help me and fight alongside me, or to be a burden for me? In terms of strength, the three of you put together are at least stronger than Yiyi, but you're not even half as effective as her! A little injury has you backing away, a little pain has you afraid, and a small threat makes you freeze. Did you come to help me, or are you Godhead Palace spies?"

Xu Miaoran looked at Tang Jie and saw the serious look in his eyes.

This gaze said, "If you want to fight alongside me, you have to be worthy of it first."

Thus, Xu Miaoran smiled and said, "You're right."

She turned to her maids and shouted with all her might, "Stand up! Don't forget that I'm your young lady! If I haven't fallen yet, what right do my maids have to fall? Back then, you two insisted on coming with me! If you want to give up, then hurry up and get out!"

"Young Lady!" Xian Tao was startled by Xu Miaoran's words.

While Hong Yuan seemed like a carefree person, she had a stubborn streak. Pushing aside Xian Tao, she stood up and said, "Don't worry about me! I can do it!"

She glared at Tang Jie and flashed her incisors. "It's not every day you get the chance to beat up the husband-to-be. Hmph, this girl doesn't want to give up yet! Near Horizon Finger!'

A finger pierced through the firmament!

Tang Jie faintly smiled. "Good job."

He allowed the finger to pierce into his body. "If you can leave ten wounds on my body, this battle is your victory. Remember, ten wounds. There has to be blood."

"Yah!" The three girls looked at each other and finally lunged out in unison, unleashing their strongest attacks as if they were facing the most wicked devil in these mountains.

Several months elapsed in the blink of an eye.

Tang Jie had been in Nadir Hill for more than a year.

Half of his time had been spent sowing chaos within Nadir Hill, and the other half had been spent in these mountains.

Under Tang Jie's training, the three girls didn't have much of a change in their cultivation, but their actual combat skills saw a huge improvement, particularly in willpower and teamwork. When Tang Jie was holding back, the trio could put on quite an impressive fight with him.

And with Tang Jie's permission, the three were able to use any sinister and cunning moves they could think of. They spent every day thinking about how to ambush him.

While walking, Tang Jie might suddenly be ambushed, or even in his sleep or when cultivating, and sometimes his food would be poisoned… but in all cases, the three slowly realized that this guy was practically unkillable.

But they also had to watch out for Tang Jie's counterattacks. Fortunately, Tang Jie focused on technique in his sneak attacks rather than using his strength to overwhelm them. So long as the three could notice him, they would be considered to have won. This made the three girls much more interested, which allowed the game to continue.

Besides the training, they were also engaged in a battle of wits and courage with Godhead Palace.

After all, this was not a truly safe environment, and in reality, the threat of Godhead Palace hung over their heads like a giant mountain. While going through their tough training, they also had to deal with the constant danger of Godhead Palace.

A person from Godhead Palace might come over while they were training, which meant that they would have to immediately flee and change their base, which also allowed them to apply the escape methods they had just learned.

Initially, Tang Jie even needed to carry them around, making them real burdens.

But the three of them quickly got used to the tempo. They learned how to efficiently allocate their spiritual energy, how to combine their body's strength with spell arts so that they used less and moved faster, and they learned how to persevere.

They learned how to escape, and also gradually how to fight. Although their cultivation levels were rather low, they were no longer crushed as if they didn't even exist. And in the face of differing situations, they were able to make the correct decisions, ensuring that their existence had worth and wasn't just another addition to the enemy's kill count.

They learned how to quickly make judgments on the enemy and the situation and then take the most appropriate countermeasures.

This might not be enough to let them win, but it could let them survive and take action in critical moments.

In this sort of high-pressure environment, one either crumbled or grew up.

Fortunately, they weren't ordinary people. After getting past the most difficult initial period, they grew rapidly.

Of course, the fact that the avatar was with Godhead Palace had an extremely important role in all this.

There were many pursuits where it was only the avatar's timely warning that allowed them to escape. The most dangerous time was when King Canis He Changan had locked onto the original body's trail and heavily wounded Tang Jie with a single strike.

Tang Jie had no choice but to let out a large number of bean soldiers to cover their retreat.

In that battle, Tang Jie lost 1800 bean soldiers—the greatest loss Tang Jie had sustained to date.

1800 bean soldiers could even deal with a Heart Demon True Person, but in the face of King Canis, they were only able to last a few moments before suffering a complete collapse.

But after losing that opportunity, King Canis wasn't able to pick up Tang Jie's tracks again. Not even his nose, which was as sharp as a dog's, was able to catch Tang Jie's scent. After all, Tang Jie had plenty of Befuddling Grass.

This was a spirit plant meant for dealing with tracking dogs. Once applied to the body, it made it difficult to distinguish one's scent. Just as Nan Ningjiang had said, anyone who could deal with hunting dogs could deal with King Canis.

But the Befuddling Grass would run out eventually, and Tang Jie wouldn't be able to replenish his supply. Since his original body's scent had already been picked up once, he would definitely be detected once the grass was used up. For this reason, the moment the original body's scent had been found, this battle became one of attrition. It was only a matter of time before the knives came out.

But for Tang Jie, the one in need of time was the avatar, not the original body.

――――――――――

A quiet little room.

In his private chamber, Tang Jie, in the form of Qian Yingchen, was meditating. A ring of light beneath him was constantly expanding and retracting, brightening and dimming.

White wisps trailed out of Tang Jie's nose, drifting into the air and lingering. No matter how this white mist drifted around, it never left the ring. Any that did leave the ring would immediately dissipate.

Gradually, white mist accumulated in the ring of light, and the ring also expanded, reaching the limits of his Spirit Will before finally stopping.

More white mist accumulated, and eventually, Tang Jie was almost completely enclosed within it.

Only then did Tang Jie open his eyes, and as he did, the white mist in the Spirit Ring suddenly shifted, becoming like a vortex and howling around Tang Jie.

Whew! "This Frost Domain really isn't easy to cultivate. After three months, I've only reached minor attainment."

After attaining Celestial Heart, the avatar had secluded himself in the quiet room and focused entirely on cultivating the Frost Domain.

One reason for this was to reduce his interaction time so as to avoid being exposed. Although he already knew that King Canis He Changan had been too proud to meet with Qian Yingchen before this, meaning that he didn't know Qian Yingchen's scent, meaning he couldn't be exposed from that avenue, he still had to watch out for Huang Yue. Who knew when this guy might suddenly look over with his Insight and see through him? And another reason was the Frost Domain itself.

The Frost Domain was not an art of the Basking Moon Sect, but a secret art of Godhead Palace. To get this art, Tang Jie had promised to send Godhead Palace the remains of a Ghostback Phoenix Beast once this matter was over.

The Ghostback Phoenix Beast was a beast of High Antiquity, and it was nearly extinct in the present. Several hundred years ago, the Beast Refining Gate had had the fortune of finding the grave of a Ghostback Phoenix Beast, and there had been the bodies of several dozen of them inside. It was said that they still retained their divinity from High Antiquity and were excellent materials for making armor.

Godhead Palace was without rival when it came to forging armor, so it placed a high value on such materials and was very interested in the remains of a Ghostback Phoenix Beast. After gaining Tang Jie's promise, it agreed to pass the Frost Domain to Tang Jie. Of course, Tang Jie had to swear to not pass it on to outsiders.

Tang Jie swore in Qian Yingchen's name that he would be punished by the gods if he broke his promise, and Godhead Palace was very satisfied by his sincerity, so the deal was struck. In any case, the art of the Frost Domain was only the surface. Without the core, even if someone else learned it, they wouldn't understand how to properly use it.

It was like someone with refined beasts but without the Myriad Beast Union Mantra. They would be unable to command beasts with such proficiency as the Beast Refining Gate did.

The Frost Domain, as a secret art of Godhead Palace, really could be said to have divine power. The most important thing about it was that it was a fourth type of defensive system.

Current knowledge indicated that cultivators could not endlessly apply defensive barriers on top of each other. Usually, only one of each type of defensive method could exist.

For this reason, cultivators could normally overlap three types of defensive systems: body-strengthening, armor, and barrier.

For example, the Formless Golden Body was of the body-strengthening type, Godhead Armor was of the armor type, and the Aquagel Shroud was of the barrier type. Only one of each of these three types could work on a person's body at the same time.

Unlike other sects, Godhead Palace had a fourth defensive type: the ring type. To put it simply, it extended the defensive system outside of the body, borrowing the Spirit Ring to create an external defense. For this reason, this art could only be used by True Persons at minimum, as only someone with a Spirit Ring was able to use it.

The Frost Domain was a ring-type defensive spell art.

As a Water-type spell art, its greatest use wasn't defense, but weakening.

All spell arts that entered the Frost Domain would be greatly weakened. Given the absolute control granted by the Spirit Ring zone, this spell art's defensive abilities were on par with the other three types. Not only that, other cultivators would be affected if they entered this zone.

But Tang Jie wanted this art not for its defensive ability, but for its obscuring ability.

The Frost Domain was a spell art with a broad array of uses. Once activated, it would fill the Spirit Ring with icy fog, and no one except the caster could see anything. It was perfect for close combat. Another advantage was that it diminished Huang Yue's Insight to a certain extent.

It had to be understood that spell arts had their own hierarchy.

Tang Jie disguise spell art was formidable not because of its variation, but because it was hard to see through.

There were countless cultivators who could turn into other things, but there were also just as many who could see through them. Only transformations that could not be seen through had any meaning. The transformation spell Tang Jie had obtained from the Illusion Fox was of a very high level and not easily seen through.

And when a defensive barrier was applied to this transformation, even Huang Yue's level of Insight would find it very hard to see through. To see through it, Shi Wunian himself might have to come. Other than the Aspirational Lord's Great Aspiration Divine Connection, Shi Wunian was also famous for his pair of Celestial Eyes.

With the Frost Domain, Tang Jie was much more confident in dealing with Huang Yue.

For this reason, the moment Tang Jie broke through, he secluded himself and cultivated the Frost Domain. Every day, he would come out for only a little while in order to gather intelligence.

Even so, Tang Jie still needed three months to grasp it, and this was with the original body's help. Alas, because the original body could never enter Celestial Heart, it would not be able to use the Frost Domain.

In truth, as the two bodies made their separate advancements, this sort of thing would happen more frequently. Many spell arts could only be cultivated when one reached a certain cultivation level, and this became more frequent the higher one ascended.

Regrettably, the original body seemed to be stuck with only his powerful constitution, as there seemed to be no spell art that he could use.

This had Tang Jie feeling rather rueful. Upon reaching Celestial Heart, the avatar had erupted in strength, and he could now fight against Heart Demon cultivators while still at Spirit Ring.

But the original body, as a cultivator at the middle tier of the Diamond Body, still found it hard to fight against Soul Transformation cultivators.

Considering the resources and arts the original body had available to him, it seemed to not fit with the legacy he was inheriting.

This gap rested on the fact that the original body had only brute strength and no techniques to use it with.

Perhaps the next layer would resolve that problem.

Tang Jie couldn't help but wonder.

Perhaps the sixth layer had the solution, and the original body was strong enough to open up the sixth layer now. As for the key to opening the sixth layer, the original body had found it long ago. It was in the valley.

But after learning his lesson from last time, the original body had acted with caution.

Alas, the original body still couldn't return to the formation, so this matter could only wait.

Having gotten a basic grasp of the Frost Domain, he was in the middle of rejoicing when the voice of a maid came from outside.

"Young Master!"

"What? Didn't I say that I wasn't to be disturbed while cultivating?"

"It's… Young Master Jin has come," the maid said in a shaky voice.

"'Young Master Jin'?" Tang Jie was startled. "Which Young Master Jin?"

"It's Young Master Jin Yutang, your good friend."

Tang Jie was alarmed by these words.

He finally recalled who this Jin Yutang was.