Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-549

The Celestial Flame Arena.

Tang Jie was in a bout with another fighter.

This fighter wore a white martial artist robe and held a crimson demon spear, which was lashing out like a bolt of lightning, countless ethereal spears thrusting at Tang Jie's head. If he was careless enough to get struck by one, he could easily lose his life.

This was the first competent opponent Tang Jie had faced since entering the arena. Relying on only ordinary methods, not using the Chaoswind Step, Flesh Millstone, or Sovereign Blade, Tang Jie was finding it rather hard to deal with him.

The Rainfrost Sword unleashed wave after wave of sword energy, clashing against those numerous spears and filling the air with sparks.

The man wielding the crimson demon spear was a disciple of the Demon Gate. The disciples of the Demon Gate were called demons, but not because they had failed to overcome their Heart Demon and thus become demons themselves. Rather, they cultivated the Demon Gate Mantra, and because of this mantra, they cultivated methods that were far too cruel, so they were rejected by the orthodox path and considered demons.

The Demon Gate had been exterminated long ago in the Rosecloud Domain, but in the Blood River Domain, the Demon Gate was a supporting pillar of the demon race. This demon spear man was a disciple under the Blood River Domain's Scarlet Refinement Sect, and his cultivation level was rather high. He had come to the Celestial Flame Arena to display his skill, obtain resources, and increase his reputation.

As the crimson demon spear danced, the Demon Gate man laughed. "Brat, it's your rotten luck to run into me. I'm new to the City of Freedom and have to start from the beginning. This Warrior bout is simply a small rest stop on my path upward, and you will be my stepping stone to Blood Hand!"

"Oh, is that so? That's quite the coincidence. You are also the last opponent I have to beat to become a Blood Hand," Tang Jie indifferently said.

He had already won nine battles in a row and needed only this battle to become a Blood Hand.

Tang Jie waved the Rainfrost Sword, sending out points of sword energy that transformed into a vast wave, a surging sea. Inadvertently, Tang Jie had reached a deeper level of understanding in the sword.

The Divine Court Thousandshift was a secret art that could allow one to become proficient in all the weapons of the world, but only in the foundations. Deeper understanding and mastery required constant use.

Swords were different from sabers. Sabers were domineering and fierce while swords were graceful and agile.

This Tang Jie using swords was different from Tang Jie using sabers. When using a saber, Tang Jie got up close and used savage moves, putting his all into utilizing the unstoppable nature of the Sovereign Blade. But when he used the sword, he focused more on spell arts.

At this time, he seemed more like a proper cultivator, calling upon the world's spiritual energy with every move, unleashing a variety of spell arts while flitting about like an Immortal. Even on the dangerous stage, he was so elegant that he seemed more like a performer than a gladiator.

This wasn't intentional on Tang Jie's part. It was just a part of the sword's nature.

Since he was using a sword, he had to grasp this nature, as only then could he advance along its Dao.

Many cultivators in the universe used swords precisely because the nature of swords was most suitable for spell arts. Tang Jie had chosen the saber because the saber's nature was more suited for close combat.

The Sovereign Blade was a blade that could take on any form, but he was accustomed to using it as the Heartbreak Saber, and by treating it as a saber this entire time, he failed to maximize its ability to transform.

Now, starting with the sword, he had begun to switch up his weapons, precisely so that he could better use the Sovereign Blade.

As those countless motes of sword energy formed a raging river, the demon spear man grimaced. With a cry, he manifested a black snake on the tip of his crimson spear, which spiraled into the air in a cloud of black energy.

This black snake was a secret art the man cultivated, imbued with powerful demonic flames which were further empowered by the crimson spear. The moment it appeared, it stirred up a black cloud that engulfed the air above the stage.

The demon spear man savagely laughed. This black demon snake was a king of close-range combat, perfect for these arena bouts. The moment it appeared, the river created by the Rainfrost Sword began to flow in reverse, and it was the black smoke and the snake which began to take over the stage, pushing Tang Jie into a dead end.

The snake's mouth emerged from the dark cloud, like the giant maw of a dragon opening at Tang Jie.

"Die!" the demon spear man arrogantly cried out.

Tang Jie thrust out two Dragonlike Hands, but that demonic energy gathered around the black snake dispersed only a little before coming back together.

Tang Jie couldn't help but frown at the black snake and its overpowering demeanor. He knew that if he continued to hide his strength, he probably wouldn't make it through this battle. But he had entered the arena to get resources and to improve himself through battle by solidifying his foundations. Thus, he was not willing to use his more powerful techniques.

His mind whirred, and as Tang Jie glanced at the black snake, a light glowed on the center of his forehead, falling upon the black snake. He instantly knew that this black snake was a congregation of demonic energy and understood how to deal with it.

As that black snake bit down like a mighty dragon descending from the heavens, Tang Jie coldly snorted.

He put away the Rainfrost Sword, and a violet sword appeared in its place.

This sword was three feet and seven inches long, the blade long and slender, and it crackled with violet lightning that extended to the hilt.

The Purging Lightning Sword!

It was one of the ten treasured swords of Peerless Sword Pavilion.

He waved his hand, and a violet bolt of lightning cracked through the air, striking the black snake and throwing its body into disarray, rendering the demonic energy unable to condense back together.

Lightning innately possessed anti-demonic properties, and the Purging Lightning Sword was a sword specifically meant for slaying the wicked. All attacks made through this sword were imbued with a powerful Violet Lightning attribute, maximizing their power against the evil and wicked. Even the most casual blow would have the effect of suppressing demons.

The demon spear man was startled by this attack as the black snake's body lost cohesion.

Tang Jie swung the sword three times.

In these three attacks, the black snake was utterly vanquished.

Just like that, the demon spear man's secret art was undone. Enraged and stunned, he bellowed and rapidly thrust his spear, the crimson spear unleashing a powerful Astral Wind. This howling Astral Wind was even imbued with demonic energy, able to invade the soul with the slightest contact.

The demon spear man was taking out his ultimate trump card for the sake of victory.

Tang Jie didn't dare to be careless in front of his demonic Astral Wind. As the gale approached, he changed swords again.

This time, it was a giant sword of earthen yellow, the blade so broad it could serve as a door plank, the hilt needing both hands to hold. It appeared more like a giant saber than a sword.

One of the three divine treasure swords, the Sword of the Five Sacred Mountains!

Tang Jie grabbed the giant sword and leaned his body forward. An earthen light expanded around him, manifesting into a small mountain, and though the Astral Wind unleashed by the crimson spear was fierce, it failed to break the mountain.

Tang Jie swung the sword, and that small mountain flew over to crush the demon spear man.

Aghast, the man swung his spear to block, and there was a thunderous boom as the mountain slammed into the spear, almost as if it was real. It had so much weight that the man's feet sank into the ground, that stage made from Vajra Stone partially collapsing.

The Sword of the Five Sacred Mountains was imbued with the power of five mountains, five real mountains. At this time, the Five Sacred Mountains Sword was only using the power of one mountain, but the demon spear man was already at his limit. Tang Jie swung the sword again, and another mountain appeared.

The demon spear man instantly reached his limit, the two mountains crushing him into a meat pancake so swiftly that he didn't even have time to concede, obliterating the stage with him.

The Five Sacred Mountains Sword was imbued with the Five Mountain Shift Divine Connection, so even among divine treasures, it was rather highly graded. The power of the two mountains was enough to squash the life out of that man.

The audience was in awe.

Nobody had imagined that a divine treasure would appear in a little Warrior bout. The spectators were amazed and envious, and some of them even began to harbor ill intentions.

The City of Freedom was a gruesome place that was home to all sorts of people who could do anything. Since Tang Jie had shown a treasure but not the strength befitting it, some avaricious fellows would naturally start to have dangerous thoughts.

With this match over, Tang Jie had won ten matches in a row and had officially become a Blood Hand.

At Blood Hand, the winner got one thousand coins instead of one hundred, or two thousand if they killed their opponent. It was much better than escorting goods. This was one of the reasons the arena could attract so many people.

The Celestial Flame insignia on the jade tablet turned into that of a Blood Hand. Rather than participating in another match, Tang Jie returned to his inn.

Upon returning to the inn, Tang Jie sat down cross-legged and began to meditate, and as his mind entered that state, a gray death energy began to cloud over him.

This cold, gloomy, and frightening energy carried the horror of death, and where it was highly concentrated, one could even see flashing Dao Runes of the Great Dao of Slaughter.

After each bloody fight, Tang Jie deepened his understanding of the Dao of Slaughter. With the assistance of the Dao of Wisdom, he was able to more swiftly comprehend the Dao of Slaughter.

Tang Jie broke down, comprehended, and absorbed these Dao Runes, attempting to carve them into his body.

Trying to enter the Dao without the Myriad Immortals Cauldron as a reference was exceedingly difficult.

But Tang Jie was in no rush.

The Celestial Flame Arena was the perfect place to study Slaughter, and with his experience entering the Dao of Yin Yang and the help of the Dao of Wisdom, what was a massive chasm to others was only a matter of time for him.

This was one of the advantages behind Tang Jie's choice to comprehend Wisdom back then. The Dao of Wisdom deconstructed the world. He had been able to comprehend so many Dao Wills in these twenty-some years, and even enter the Dao of Yin Yang, entirely because he had the foundation of Wisdom, with lucky chance and motivation helping him finish the job.

The gray death energy lingered around Tang Jie for a time before finally dissipating.

Tang Jie opened his eyes and ceased his meditation on Slaughter. His lips curved into a smile. "Finally, success."

At this moment, a person's voice suddenly came from outside. "Is Young Master Tang present?"

It appeared to be the voice of the inn's servant.

Tang Jie's eyes gleamed with a sharp light.

This was because he knew that there were two demon cultivators standing behind the servant. They were already ready to kill him the moment he opened the door.

The moment he revealed a divine treasure in the ring, he knew that someone would try something on him.

Although the City of Freedom forbade personal fights outside of the arena, Tang Jie had never blindly believed in this law. The rules were used to bind the obedient, but they were ineffective against bandits, and the City of Freedom had no shortage of them.

If the temptation was great enough, they could do anything. In this world, even escorting goods carried the risk of death. Killing to steal was nothing at all.

But the bandits clearly hadn't expected Tang Jie to be ready. Before they came, Tang Jie already had Yiyi outside watching. She had watched them from when they arrived at the inn and asked where Tang Jie was staying, watched them as they forced that servant to lead the way.

He softly pulled out the Purging LIghtning Sword, around which gray energy coiled. However, the lightning made it difficult to notice.

Tang Jie replied, "What is this about?"

The servant outside said in a shaky voice, "We just received a batch of fresh melons, and we would like to have our honored guest taste them."

"Send it in." Tang Jie grabbed a wooden plank and threw it into the air. The wooden plank turned into Tang Jie and walked over to open the door.

The door opened.

Two sharp bolts of lightning struck the duplicate opening the door.

Bang.

The duplicate exploded like a balloon, leaving the ambushers stunned.

A cold laugh came from next to them, and the Purging Lightning Sword unleashed a dazzling flash of lightning that brushed past the servant's face to stab into the head of a cultivator behind him. With one strike, he sliced open the head of that cultivator.

That cultivator howled and mustered all of his blood energy to heal the wound. He had long ago shed his mortal body, so ordinary wounds couldn't kill him. But his head was now infected by death energy, so no matter how much blood energy he used, he couldn't heal the wound.

That cultivator's head was so split in two that it seemed like he had two heads, and he felt his life force rapidly leaving him. But he couldn't stop it, and all he could do was shriek in fear.

This was the power of Slaughter. Anything touched by Slaughter would have a hard time healing injuries. Not only that, the injuries would worsen and cause one's life force to rapidly drain away. Tang Jie had comprehended Slaughter to a deeper level than back at the underground palace, and his attacks were also sharper. With one strike, he had severed that cultivator's vitality.

At the same time, the other cultivator realized what was going on, and with a howl, he threw out a jade stamp, which grew larger as it hurtled toward Tang Jie.

Tang Jie chuckled and flicked his finger. As his fingertip touched the jade stamp, it turned to dust, leaving behind only a twinkling little golden grain.

"How?" That cultivator was stunned at how easily Tang Jie had destroyed his art relic, not daring to believe his eyes.

Tang Jie thrust out his left hand, pushing the servant to the floor as he swung the sword in his right hand across that cultivator's throat.

Blood fountained out of the throat, the gray energy lingering around the wound rendering his struggles to stop the flow futile.

Tang Jie gazed at that energy as his mind worked, upon which that gray energy began to seep into the wound, devouring that cultivator's life force as if it was a living creature. But after devouring a little, it stopped.

Tang Jie sighed. He understood that he wasn't at the level where he could command the power of Slaughter, only let it passively work. Having the power of Slaughter invade the enemy would probably have to wait until he entered the Dao.

But this was fine. Even the most basic power of Slaughter could create irrecoverable wounds, making it extremely useful. It had to be understood that the stronger cultivators became, the greater their recovery abilities.

For example, Tang Jie, as someone who had shed his mortal body, could still survive with his head missing so long as it wasn't for too long. If he cultivated to an even higher level, he could even regrow the severed head. Slaughter stopped recovery, which had huge implications. Alas, he couldn't command much power of Slaughter, and he could still only use it in close combat. It would be much better if he could use it with spell arts.

But that was clearly something that would require entering the Dao.

As the two ambushers collapsed, a boom came from behind him.

A person broke in through the window.

There was a third!

A bright bolt of spear energy shot at Tang Jie's head. The ambusher was a silver-armored demon general.

Tang Jie swung the sword behind him to block without turning his head.

The sword and spear clashed in a melodious hum.

To his surprise, Tang Jie wasn't able to push back his foe, and the two of them backed away in unison.

The two gasped in surprise, the silver-armored general even saying, "So you were hiding your strength."

"Same to you," Tang Jie slowly said. He turned around and saw that the silver-armored general was wearing a mask, clearly trying to hide his identity.

Tang Jie laughed. "Alas, while you have the strength, you choose to hide yourself and rely on your strength to steal from others."

The general roared in fury, "Shut your mouth!"

He swung his spear, which began to shine like the morning sun.

This inn wasn't made of rare metals like the underground palace, and the moment the silver general unleashed his power, the inn shuddered. Just when it seemed like it was about to collapse, Tang Jie suddenly thrust out his sword at the center of that solar radiance. Though it was a casual strike, it actually broke through that endless light.

The light in the room dimmed as if the morning sun had been obscured by a cloud, the sunny day turning overcast. That overwhelming aura also weakened, which managed to stabilize the room.

The silver general was alarmed as Tang Jie thrust his sword again. This sword that had broken through the sun carried a somber energy that scared the silver general so much that he didn't dare to linger. He hastily backed off and then bashed a hole through the wall, flying out of the inn.

"Trying to leave? You have to leave something behind first!" Tang Jie shouted.

A giant crescent blade descended from the sky, slamming into the general. The silver armor shattered and blood gushed into the air as one of the general's arms was severed.

A cry of pain came from the distance. "I won't forgive you for this!"

"Bring more people next time," Tang Jie said as he played with the golden grain in his hand.

He turned to that servant, who had managed to survive the battle and was trembling in fear.

"Where are the melons?"

―――――――――

Author's Note: I know that many reader friends find it weird. Zero Destiny's writing style seems to have changed a lot and isn't what it was before. He's even written a standard xuanhuan tournament arc. This has caused much speculation.

Is my state not right? Am I ill? Is there some other reason?

It's actually none of them.

Writing Immortal Path has always been a sort of test for me.

Friends who have read Infinity Armament and All-Around Alchemist know that Zero Destiny is better at western-style conversations, preferring to reflect reality. All-Around and Infinity both have thought-provoking sentences, but there's none of that in Immortal Path.

Yes!

Why?

It's a problem of style.

I'm constantly trying to merge my style with xianxia, but in truth, my efforts have failed—I'm quite surprised at what I've managed to achieve.

My style has always been more realistic.

But cultivation is all elegance, unworldlyness, transcendence.

Thus, writing realistically is fundamentally in conflict with xianxia.

This is why Immortal Path doesn't have as much of what Zero Destiny is good at, because their natures are in conflict.

I didn't realize this at first, but I've always been thinking about it.

It was only later that I realized why Immortal Path was said to lack any sort of Immortal flavor to it.

This is a conflict of style and nature. It should be graceful and ethereal, but it's being used like mud. It's got an earthiness to it, but that takes away some of the Immortal flavor.

And Immortality perhaps should never be pursuing earthiness.

An Immortal who's down to earth lacks that elegance, that Immortal flavor.

With gain came loss.

There are also two other important reasons.

The first is that being logical and being exciting are truly contrary to each other. If you emphasize logic for everything when writing a book, the story's excitement will fall, and if you prioritize excitement over logic… well fuck, the entire world will pick at your errors.

Yes, this is the second problem. The more you try to write it so that there are no flaws, the more readers will try to find them. Originally, I thought this was the complainers' fault, but now that I've thought about it, it's still my fault. I tried from the start to give my reader a world without errors or flaws.

I was wrong.

We write novels to give readers a nice world, not a world without mistakes.

I forgot about this, forgot that I once said to myself that I could sacrifice a little logic for the sake of excitement.

I singlemindedly pursued logic, but I failed to achieve logic while losing excitement.

Stories are still about being fun.

It doesn't matter how logical a novel is if it's not fun to read.

Thus, after understanding all this, I started to try and change my writing style.

This is a xianxia world, so I should write according to the rules of a xianxia world.

Not sticking with the old can lead to the development of new things, but you also lose some of the old excitements.

Thus, even if some things are rather cliche, you should still have time.

Cultivating is about those things: hidden realms, hunting monsters, killing people to level up. I was trying to be different from others, which means that I couldn't have anything to do with those cliche excitements, which means that I would push away the readers who liked those cliches.

Thus, the cliches that should be used need to be used, should be learned need to be learned!

This is why we have the Blood River Domain as a change of map and the arena arc.

Starting from this arc, Immortal Path will emulate some of the cliches from other novels.

I know that this might disappoint some old readers, causing the rating to fall, but I have to do this. All I can try my best with is to control the degree. While I have to learn what should be learned and keep what should be kept, I also have to break convention when I need to break convention.

You can't completely copy ideas, but you also can't completely reject them.

The latter half of Immortal Path will be me relearning, improving myself from another angle. if you don't like it, I express my apologies, but I'm truly trying. I'm not slacking off, only changing my style, so some discomfort is inevitable.

The above is in response to some readers who were concerned about me.