Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-543

This was a world drenched in blood.

The soil was a dark purple-red, crimson grasses formed a scarlet plain, and the sky was a light red.

Beneath a distant red cloud, a herd of blue oxen slowly munched on the grass.

They were the only hue in this world that was in discord, their blue skin bobbing in the ocean of red like a forest of kelp. A few hungry red tigers were prowling around the edge of the herd, seeking a chance to attack. But the blue oxen didn't have good tempers and could not be described as docile. When attacking them, one had to watch out for their strong resistance.

The red tigers did not dare to underestimate these big beasts that each weighed a ton and a half.

As they sought their opportunity, a blood rain began to fall.

The red tigers were forced to withdraw. The blood rain was corrosive, and staying too long under the deluge would hurt them. They needed to find a shelter.

The blue oxen didn't care. The blood rain was another kind of protective umbrella for them. They casually paced to and fro in the rain, using the blood rain to wash their bodies.

It wasn't only rain falling from the sky.

There was a flash of light in the sky.

A human plummeted from the heavens like a shooting star, hurtling toward the ground. As that person got close to the surface, a light flashed around them, forming a protective barrier.

A moment later, there was a thunderous boom on the plains, dirt shooting into the air from the formation of a giant crater.

Tang Jie was sprawled out on his back at the bottom of the crater, and atop him were Yiyi and Tutu. The two of them were looking fearfully at the sky, both of them thinking about the Blood River Ancestor's enormous hand.

That hand of blood had been only a little bit from striking Tang Jie.

Nobody doubted the power of that palm. One slap was bound to obliterate the body.

The worst of all was that even though the Blood River Lord's attack hadn't hit Tang Jie, his terrifying pressure had seeped into Tang Jie's body, rendering Tang Jie paralyzed and unable to circulate his spiritual energy as he was teleported. Thus, when he arrived, he plunged straight down.

Fortunately, at the last moment, Tang Jie managed to break free of that pressure's influence and put up a barrier, or else Tang Jie would have been the first Celestial Heart True Person to die from falling.

"Terrifying! Terrifying!" Yiyi muttered. "Is this the power of Immortal Platform? That palm seemed capable of making the entire sky fall."

"I don't know about that, but I do know that we're in big trouble," Tutu said with a bitter expression. "The Blood River Domain! We've actually entered the Blood River Domain!"

"From the sound of it, do you know about this place?" Tang Jie asked as he sat up.

"Naturally," Tutu scoffed. "I've followed the young master for a lifetime. Young Master spent his entire life looking for the Myriad Immortals Cauldron and went to countless domains. Although I didn't come with him to the Blood River Domain, I've heard him talk about it."

Tang Jie straightened up. "Then can you tell me what sort of world the Blood River Domain is?"

Tutu began to describe it to Tang Jie.

It turned out that the Blood River Domain was a domain at one of the lowest layers of the Great Stellar Chiliocosm, and it was named for its ever-flowing Blood River. The greatest difference between this domain and others was that it was a world where humans mixed with fiends and demons.

Humans, fiends, and demons living together meant that humans did not have a dominant position in this world. On the contrary, because of the Lord of the Blood River, humans found it very difficult to live here. It was demons that led this world.

Demons were the evil of the world.

Demons were not one particular species, nor did they have such clear divisions as animals becoming fiends, plants becoming sprites, the spirits of the dead becoming ghosts, and rocks and metals becoming monsters. Demons were not a species, for humans, fiends, sprites, ghosts, and monsters all had the possibility of becoming demons.

A person once said that demons were actually cultivators who had failed at the Heart Demon Tier, a result of the Divine Will being extinguished and the Demonic Will taking form.

A thought to become a god, and a thought to become a demon.

One who cultivated the Divine Will was a cultivator, and one who cultivated the Demonic Will was a demon.

These words were correct, but they didn't tell the whole story.

Demons were the opposite of all creatures, just like how Yin and Yang were two sides.

One could say that demons were the opposite of good, the opposite of light, the opposite of order, the negative side of the world. The Great Stellar Chiliocosm was divided into positive and negative. The positive side was dominated by cultivators, while the negative side, the Primordial Fog Domain, was dominated by demons.

And in the Primordial Fog Domain, there were human Archdevils like the Nine Disaster Fiend Monk and fiend Archdevils like the Sacred Beast White Tiger. They did not discriminate by species, considering themselves all to be on the same side.

For this reason, the vast majority of demons congregated in the Primordial Fog Domain.

The Blood River Domain was one of the few exceptions, a world where humans, fiends, and demons mixed. Here, wars were constant, and humans bitterly fought for the right to survive.

If the Rosecloud Domain was an ordered world of peace, then this was a chaotic world of war.

Here, blood and power were king!

Because of the unique environment of the Blood River Domain, the majority of cultivators here were blood cultivators, proficient in various blood spell arts. They were rich in blood energy and possessed powerful constitutions.

In summary, this was a world brimming with slaughter, and one had to watch every step.

"I see," Tang Jie said. He had finally shaken off the effects of the Blood River Lord's terrifying energy, and he stood up. "In other words, in this world, the Lord of the Blood River isn't the only big boss?"

The horror that had infected Tutu was easily broken by Tang Jie's words.

The rabbit said in shock, "Of course not, but they are the most formidable."

"No matter how formidable they are, they can't move," Tang Jie snorted. He took that piece of blood gem from Yiyi's hand. This blood gem was the essence of the Lord of the Blood River, the key through which they controlled the Blood River. It was like the Blood River Lord's essence blood, and of great significance. But the master of the Blood River had far too much of this essence blood, which made it less valuable than the essence blood of other Immortal Platform cultivators.

Even so, this small blood gem would be an extremely valuable material in the human world, for it came from the Lord of the Blood River.

Tutu hastily said, "You must not underestimate the Lord of the Blood River. Although their actual body can't move because of the Blood River, they can create an avatar that can move."

"An avatar…" Tang Jie considered this. "Is it powerful?"

Tutu replied, "That depends on how much effort they're willing to make. The Lord of the Blood River is the monsterized Blood River that then turned into a demon, and they have lived for eons. They are naturally proficient in the Dao of Essence Blood, and they care the most about essence blood. Their essence blood can be used to control the Blood River, allowing it to take on various forms. It can also be formed into an avatar that can walk the world and serve as an extension of their will. The more essence blood they are willing to use, the stronger the avatar they can form."

"But there must be a limit, right?"

"Of course. No matter how much effort they put in, the avatar can only be half as strong as the actual body at most. Thus, it cannot be at the Immortal Platform Realm—Violet Palace at best."

"Then if the avatar were destroyed, the essence blood that made it up would be completely lost?" Tang Jie asked as he played around with the blood gem.

"Yes."

"If the total amount of strength doesn't change, then when the avatar is created, the creator will become weak, and the weakening will depend on how strong the avatar is. Is that right?"

"…Yes."

"In addition, the Violet Palace avatar would not be invincible in the Blood River Domain, right?"

Tutu nodded again. "Yes."

"So this old man won't lightly make the decision of making a Violet Palace avatar to come and find me, as this would pose some level of risk to both the original body and the avatar. Most importantly, I'm only at the Spirit Ring Tier, yes?"

"…Yes."

Tang Jie smiled. "Then we're good. You must realize that so long as I'm not being chased by a Violet Palace avatar, I have some confidence in myself."

"Yes, the Lord of the Blood River won't send an avatar that's too strong at first, but after they've suffered a loss, they will start to give you their full attention!"

"That's something to think about after that happens." As Tang Jie spoke, he returned the Space Crystal to the Mountain River Diagram, upon which he saw that the teleportation formation was damaged. With much heartache, he shook his head. "This is a real problem. I wonder if the Blood River has materials to fix the formation."

This place was different from the Rosecloud Domain, and materials that were abundant in the Rosecloud Domain might not be so in the Blood River Domain. Of course, the Blood River Domain might have its own unique resources. If Tang Jie could get back to the Rosecloud Domain, then he could get rich simply by selling what each world lacked.

Now that he thought about it… he happened to have a large batch of resources on hand.

Tang Jie's mind quickly worked, and he started to move from a survival mindset into becoming a dimensional merchant.

It didn't seem impossible.

So long as he fixed the teleportation formation, transporting resources wouldn't be a hard task.

"So… my first priority is to fix the teleportation formation," Tang Jie muttered.

The teleportation formation wasn't damaged too severely, but it needed many materials to fix. While some of them were only needed in very small amounts, it was impossible to go completely without them.

Tang Jie repeatedly checked things over, and he found that fixing the teleportation formation would take at least 63 different materials. He had 21 in his Mustard Seed Bag, but he would have to search the area for the remaining 42.

Of these 42, thirty-some weren't too rare and probably wouldn't be difficult to find, but a few of them had been extremely difficult to find in the Rosecloud Domain. He just didn't know how common they were here.

But regardless, the teleportation formation was his link to Rosecloud, so he had to do his best.

With this thought in mind, he patted Tutu and Yiyi on their heads. "Let's go."

"To where?" Yiyi asked.

They knew nothing about this place's geography, so they had no idea where to go.

"We'll go wherever there's fun to be had. Let's find a place with some people first," Tang Jie replied.

"What if we run into a gathering place of fiends and demons?" Tutu asked in a trembling voice.

"What else? We kill them. And if we can't kill them, we run. That's life." Tang Jie grinned.

"……"

Tang Jie got out of the crater and flew into the air with Yiyi and Tutu.

They didn't know east from west, so they just picked a random direction.

They didn't fly very far before they saw a massive Cinnabar Luan flying toward them. This Luan had a massive length of two hundred feet, appearing like a small mountain, its wings blotting out the sky. Just the mere sight of it alarmed Tang Jie.

He could tell at a glance that the Cinnabar Luan was a great fiend that had lived for several centuries, its entire body a treasure. In the Rosecloud Domain, its appearance would immediately have numerous cultivators gathering to kill it and extract every piece of value from its body, ensuring that nothing went to waste.

But here, the Cinnabar Luan fiend could freely cruise the skies.

Not only that, when the Cinnabar Luan saw Tang Jie, it flapped its wings and then dived, its claws reaching toward Tang Jie like giant hooks.

"You fucker!" Tang Jie cursed, swinging the Sovereign Blade.

The claws clashed with the Sovereign Blade, and blood fountained into the air. The Cinnabar Luan screeched in pain as Tang Jie lopped off a claw. But a moment later, the Cinnabar Luan's immense inertia sent Tang Jie flying.

Such terrifying physical strength!

Tang Jie was deeply shaken.

The Cinnabar Luan screeched and spat flame at Tang Jie.

Tang Jie's body flashed with ice as he released the Frost Domain, and his layers of defense flashed under the Luan's flame. This fire spit had turned out to be quite powerful.

Confusingly, this Cinnabar Luan didn't seem to have human intellect. It was unable to speak and crazily attacked like a primitive fiend.

"It doesn't cultivate intellect, only cultivating brute strength?" Tang Jie's eyes gleamed in surprise. The fiends here were rather different from those of the Rosecloud Domain.

The Cinnabar Luan soared back into the skies, and then it swooped back at Tang Jie in a crimson arc.

Tang Jie could only use the Chaoswind Step to dodge, and then he cast a spell, a massive Heavenly Cloud Blade crashing down onto the bird. But this bird was so tough that the impact failed to behead it, only leaving a bloody gash.

Screeching in anger, the Cinnabar Luan turned its head and spat again.

Yet this was no flame, but corrosive blood. The moment it fell on his defensive barrier, it melted through it. Even though Tang Jie had reacted quickly and withdrawn using the Chaoswind Step, some of the blood on the defensive barrier still managed to get on him.

There was a hiss, white smoke rising from his body as the blood melted his flesh.

Tang Jie immediately sliced off the infected flesh, leaving him in so much pain that his vision blurred. But the Cinnabar Luan was much weaker after spitting out this blood, its movements much slower. Yiyi's Silkheaven Net slammed into it, and petals carpeted its body. Tang Jie followed up with his blade, but this time, he attacked the wings, cutting one off with a single chop.

Without one wing, the Cinnabar Luan could no longer fly, and it shrieked as it dropped. But before it could hit the ground, a Heavenly Cloud Blade to the head finished it off.

Tang Jie had killed the Cinnabar Luan, but a single fiend had left him covered in wounds. Tang Jie was speechless.

The Blood River Domain was too different from the Rosecloud Domain, and he couldn't judge things according to his common sense.

Perhaps one could say that the common sense of the Rosecloud Domain was completely different from the common sense of this place.

Landing back on the ground, Tang Jie dismantled the Cinnabar Luan, taking the time to research its body. He then realized that the bird didn't have a pellet.

Although it didn't have a fiend pellet, it was rich in blood energy, surpassing even Transformation great fiends of the Rosecloud Domain in this regard. Even the three-thousand-year-old Li Yu didn't have as much blood essence as this probably-five-hundred-year-old Cinnabar Luan.

In other words, the true value of this fiend was in its flesh.

For the same reason, the fiends here were probably all extremely powerful, outmatching those of the Rosecloud Domain by a large margin in both spell arts and physical bodies.

Once he had satisfied his curiosity, Tang Jie roasted the Cinnabar Luan and had it for dinner the same night. While the bird seemed big, it actually didn't have much meat, and the three of them managed to eat half of it in one sitting.

As that meat entered his stomach, Tang Jie felt his body surging with a hot energy, sending his bloody energy seething as it spread to every part of his body, and he even felt himself get a little stronger.

Ever since he had attained the Heavenly Spirit Law Body, he had reached a bottleneck in body refining. The Heavenly Spirit Law Body was a supreme spiritual body, favoring the storage and circulation of spiritual energy. Using inner vision, he saw a crystalline body. He could store more spiritual energy and cast spell arts faster to greater effect. But for these reasons, it was difficult to make much improvement in body refining. Just like how the original body had no hope of ever passing the Three Witherings, the avatar had no hope of attaining a Diamond Body. After all, body refining emphasized the strength of the flesh and density of cells, but the Heavenly Spirit Law Body called for relative looseness so that every cell could hold spiritual energy. The two types were opposed to each other.

This was why his constitution had been stuck at the middle tier of the Jewel Body.

But after eating the Cinnabar Luan's flesh, Tang Jie had felt a clear increase in strength.

This was power that came from the blood, and that seething torrent of power amazed Tang Jie.

It wasn't just him. Yiyi and Tutu also felt themselves getting stronger.

"Wow! I'm so full, so comfortable!" Yiyi sprawled onto her back, her belly bulging.

"The fiends here are very unusual," Tang Jie said. "It seems like eating them can increase our blood energy and strength without being affected by our constitution. Excellent, excellent." Tang Jie started laughing.

The strength provided by the fiends had nothing to do with constitution. It came directly from the blood energy, which was perfect for the avatar's constitution.

Tang Jie had already made up his mind to start killing and feasting on these fiends.

The Blood River Domain was full of oddities, and he had no idea what treasures awaited him. Since he was here, he might as well make sure he had a proper adventure.

After dinner, the three of them camped on the plains. The next day, they continued in the direction they had picked.

They didn't know what was waiting for them, nor did they know what the future held. But as they walked through this vast and strange world, they felt not the slightest fear, only an endless yearning.

What they didn't know was that at the time of their arrival, upon the distant Blood River, an anger not seen in ten thousand years was gathering force on an enormous face.

"Bastard! Bastard! Bastard! Stealing my essence blood! You're dead! 'Tang Jie', right? I've remembered your name. I'll chase you to the ends of the earth for the crime of stealing my essence blood!"

As they roared, the Blood River surged.

Amid heaven-stunning waves, a blood-colored human began to form.

This human was just a clump of blood at first, but gradually, it grew more and more solid, eventually turning into a monstrous being that, other than its red skin and two curled horns, was no different from a human.

Once it was done forming, that human-shaped monster of blood opened their eyes and gazed into the distance.

He stepped onto the shore of the Blood River and sniffed the air. He then whispered, "Over there! I sense him!"

It was the Blood River Lord's voice.

As he spoke, he began to stride in Tang Jie's direction.