Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-551

Tang Jie stepped onto a lush green meadow and grabbed a handful of grass.

The abundant grass had that sweet scent unique to plants.

Tang Jie couldn't help but take in a deep breath.

He had spent too long in this blood-colored world, where everything he saw was red.

The sky was red, the earth was red, and even the people were red.

But in this arena, he could see green grass and take in its aroma, and he couldn't help but sigh.

This was Arena No.16 of the Celestial Flame Arena: Meadow.

The meadow of lush grass billowed with waves of green.

At the end of the green waves was a man clad entirely in black armor, his face obscured. Tendrils of black smoke leaked out from the cracks in the armor, indicating that his opponent was a demon.

"You are Tang Ran?" A deep voice came from behind the steel mask. "That guy with one divine sword and two ultimate-grade art relics?"

"Tang Ran" was the pseudonym Tang Jie had registered to the arena under.

Although he didn't know that the Blood River Lord was looking all over for him, he did know about the Blood River Lord's status in this domain, so he naturally didn't use his original name.

Tang Jie looked at the metal mask man and said, "You are Yuan Lian?"

Yuan Lian was a rather famous Blood Hand.

As a Blood Hand, he had a record of 95 battles and 95 victories, not a single loss.

There was no doubt that this was someone who considered the Blood Hand level to be just a formality. He was making his way to Asura, or even God Killer.

In comparison, Tang Jie had taken part in 31 battles, with 25 wins and 6 losses, far from being at Yuan Lian's level.

When Yuan Lian appeared, the crowd erupted in cheers, a sign of his popularity.

Yuan Lian laughed. "You've got rotten luck running into me. Hand over your sword and I'll spare your life!"

Tang Jie shook his head. "This is the arena, not a platform of life or death. Perhaps you can win, but you can't kill me."

Yuan Lian declared, "You're wrong! If I want you to die, you will die!"

With a roar, demonic energy erupted from his armor.

This demonic energy was dense and powerful, rocketing into the sky as a flame before turning into a metallic black hand. This hand swatted at Tang Jie like it was striking a little fly.

Yuan Lian arrogantly called out, "Die!"

Sensing that immense pressure coming from above, Tang Jie rapidly retreated while swinging the Purging Lightning Sword, unleashing a violet lightning bolt.

Lightning was the best tool for suppressing demons.

But the moment the violet lightning emerged, Yuan Lian laughed. "Useless!"

The violet lightning cut at the giant hand, but it failed to break the black hand, only slicing away a little sliver of black energy.

Yuan Lian laughed and tyrannically said, "Would my Desolate Ancient Demon Art still be considered a High Antiquity demon art if it could be undone by your puny lightning bolt? Die!"

The hand pressed down!

Just as the hand came down, Tang Jie turned into a lightning bolt and just barely evaded.

But a moment later, Yuan Lian's giant black hand flicked a finger: "Supreme Astral Finger!"

A sharp blast of energy turned into a slender black sword and shot at Tang Jie.

Yuan Lian laughed again. "The power of Supreme Astral Finger is unstoppable when used with my Desolate Ancient Demon Art. Die for me!"

Tang Jie swung his lightning sword, sending numerous bolts of purple lightning to head off the black sword.

Plush! Plush! The slender sword broke through everything and approached.

The barrier around Tang Jie lit up, and then the black sword shattered it and slammed into Tang Jie. Tang Jie's body shone with the golden light of the Formless Golden Body.

Tang Jie grunted and fell back.

Even though the barrier had weakened the blow and the Formless Golden Body had protected him, the finger sword had still done some damage to Tang Jie, so great was its original power.

Yuan Lian sent three more finger swords at Tang Jie.

Tang Jie didn't have time to put up another barrier. He put away the lightning sword and took out the Five Sacred Mountains Sword, holding it horizontally in front of him and manifesting a mountain to protect himself.

Yuan Lian crazily laughed. "I knew you would use that!"

Those three swords turned into three trails of smoke that moved around the mountain to get at Tang Jie.

Tang Jie knew he was in trouble and rapidly retreated, at the same time thrusting out the Five Sacred Mountains Sword. The five mountain souls flew out of the sword and turned into huge mountains. Meanwhile, Tang Jie was struck by the three streams of smoke and sent flying.

Yuan Lian fearlessly raised his head. "So what if it's the power of five mountains? Tyrant Body, grow and resist!"

As he bellowed, his body instantly grew larger, and his armor grew with it. In a flash, he turned into a giant one thousand feet tall that roared as it faced the sky.

The five mountains smashed into Yuan Lian's back, and as he held up the mountains like Atlas holding up the world, he let out thunderous roars that made everyone's hearts chill with fear.

The spectators cheered, excited at how Yuan Lian was resisting the Five Mountains Shift Divine Connection.

It turned out that Yuan Lian was, like Wang Juemie, a body refiner. The demon mantra he cultivated refined the demon into the body, allowing him to possess tremendous strength that could resist the Five Mountains Shift Divine Connection.

Of course, this was because Divine Connections from divine treasures generally had only power for one attack, lacking any follow-up. Meanwhile, Yuan Lian could continue to gather the power in his body to resist. This was why Yuan Lian could resist an attack above his level and have his physical body hold back a Divine Connection.

Even so, Yuan Lian was under immense pressure. Waves of power battered his body, shattering his armor, but black energy would rise up from his body to repair it. It turned out that this was not a real suit of armor, but a manifestation of demonic energy. That giant surrounded by black energy began to crack, and at the same time, the five mountains swayed, shedding large chunks that dissolved into spiritual energy.

This fierce collision was even causing the surrounding defensive formation to flash with spiritual light.

Finally, the mountains ceased pressing downward, the five mountains dissolving and their souls returning to the sword.

Yuan Lian was also no longer able to maintain his giant form, and he gradually shrank back to his original size. However, the black smoke was now tinged with blood, a clear sign that he had been rather badly wounded in the clash just now.

Even so, Tang Jie was still very impressed.

In terms of strength, that Tyrant Body alone could allow him to go toe to toe with a Heart Demon cultivator, and that wasn't even considering that Desolate Ancient Demon Art, yet this person was still at the same cultivation tier as Tang Jie. Thus, in the Spirit Ring Tier, this person could be considered top-class.

Even so, he was still a little lacking compared to Tang Jie.

Those three Supreme Astral Fingers might have been powerful, but the damage they had done to Tang Jie was far less than what he had been led to believe. In truth, Tang Jie could have killed him while he had been busy with the five mountains.

Tang Jie didn't do this because he was impressed by this man's talent and didn't want to rely on the divine sword to kill him. Instead, he wanted a rematch with this guy at full power after they had entered Asura and he could reveal more of his moves.

For this reason, Tang Jie shouted, "The Demon Gate's Tyrant Body is truly formidable, even able to hold out against a Divine Connection. Admirable. But you must have suffered rather badly in doing this, no?"

Yuan Lian laughed. "Blocking this strike took up 60% of my power, but 40% is enough to deal with you."

Tang Jie chuckled. "So you're saying that if I use the Five Mountains Shift again, you'll die?"

Yuan Lian laughed. "Don't try and play with me. You're only at Spirit Ring, so activating a divine treasure once will consume all your power. You want to activate it again? Why didn't you just attack while I was dealing with the mountains, then? Hand over your life!"

The demonic energy gathered above his head, and that black hand once more pressed down.

He was both right and wrong.

An ordinary Spirit Ring True Person truly did have the power to activate a divine treasure only once.

This was why everyone believed that Yuan Lian had won after resisting the five mountains, and some of those who had bet on him were already cheering.

They didn't think Tang Jie could do anything else.

But Tang Jie had used a Crystallized Sandworm, so he had 30% more spiritual energy than his peers, and his Heavenly Spirit Law Body made it so that every cell of his body was packed with power, doubling his spiritual energy reserves in comparison to others. Besides that, cultivating the Ninedark Mantra had made casting more efficient and also more powerful, which indirectly increased his spiritual energy reserves. Finally, his Spirit Ring had also expanded to the limit, and the Spirit Ring was itself a representation of the spiritual energy accumulated outside the body. The larger the Spirit Ring, the more spiritual energy one had.

This was why Tang Jie could use a divine treasure's attack three to four times while an ordinary Spirit Ring True Person could only use it once, and he was only at first level of the Spirit Ring Tier. As he continued to cultivate, his spiritual energy reserve would only grow.

Tang Jie had no plans to reveal this. His original intentions had been to scare Yuan Lian into conceding. But since Yuan Lian didn't believe it and was attacking again, he backed away while saying, "You're right, so I'll concede."

If you won't concede, then I'll just concede, okay?

Yuan Lian truly was powerful, so there was nothing wrong with conceding to him. He had already run into several good fighters. Some of them had used some method to block the Five Mountains Shift while others simply hadn't given him a chance to use the Divine Connection. In any case, they were formidable enough to not be taken down by a single Divine Connection, and since Tang Jie was unwilling to show his real power, he chose to concede.

All he was doing was repeating his past behavior.

But the moment he said the word "concede", Yuan Lian let out a mighty roar.

This thunderous roar resounded through the heavens, filling up the entire arena with its din.

Tang Jie's concession was drowned out by the thunderous roar.

At the same time, Yuan Lian accelerated, that giant hand pressing down at even greater speed.

The winds howled within the arena, and an immense pressure weighed down.

In a flash, Yuan Lian had unleashed all his power.

He had prevented Tang Jie from conceding and was trying to finish him once and for all.

Tang Jie moved like a bolt of lightning through the arena while shouting, "I said 'I concede'!"

This time, he gathered the sound into a sharp needle and sent it straight into the referee's ears.

According to the rules of the arena, the moment the referee heard the concession, they could immediately end the match. Anyone who kept fighting would receive the ruthless suppression of the arena.

Even though Yuan Lian's thunderous roar had drowned out all other noise, Tang Jie was sure that his concentrated needle of noise could reach the referee.

But the referee didn't move, seeming unaware as he continued to silently watch the battle.

Tang Jie was startled, and then he realized that Yuan Lian had probably bribed the referee. Yuan Lian wanted his divine treasure, and the only way to get it was to kill him, so how could he just let Tang Jie concede? Thus, he had bribed the referee and then used his thunderous clamor to drown out his voice, giving the referee the ability to say that he hadn't heard.

"Bastard!" Tang Jie cursed.

Yuan Lian's hand struck him, the Supreme Astral Finger blasting apart his barrier and piercing through his golden body to leave behind several bloody holes.

"Die! The divine sword is mine!" Yuan Lian continued to swing his hand as he roared, but he was actually roaring to suppress Tang Jie and prevent him from conceding.

His steely body rushed forward with a wave of demonic energy.

Yuan Lian rushed up to Tang Jie's side, and that giant black hand returned to him, forming a steel gauntlet around his right hand, which he swung at Tang Jie.

This was the close-combat form of the Desolate Ancient Demon Art, and it was even stronger than its other form.

Yuan Lian was a body refiner, and the combination of his Tyrant Body and Desolate Demon Art produced unparalleled power. He became like a primal beast of High Antiquity, brimming with power. Besides that, the demon armor he had refined also possessed powerful close-combat abilities.

No one could match him in close combat!

As Yuan Lian swung his steely fist, he felt like he could already see Tang Jie being pulverized, and the face under that mask savagely smiled.

At that moment, Tang Jie raised his head.

The eyes that looked upon Yuan Lian were cold and unfeeling, like he was looking at a corpse.

"You… are seeking death!"

Another way of seeking death!

This was Tang Jie's evaluation of Yuan Lian.

He pulled out a sword.

The sword radiated with a dazzling cold light.

The Army Crushing Sword!

This was not one of the three divine swords, but one of the ten relic swords. Tang Jie didn't want people to know that he could use a divine treasure's ability several times, so he chose to use another ultimate-grade art relic sword.

Crush an army of one thousand, subdue an army of ten thousand!

This sword's strength was power, a tyrannical power that could sweep through an army!

The one who used this sword wouldn't get some new ability, but it could concentrate, enhance, and magnify all the power a cultivator already had. Rather than putting everything into one attack, it emphasized the entire battle.

One sword was endowed with peerless might!

Clang!

The sword clashed with the fist in a dazzling explosion of light.

An expanding ball of light appeared in the arena, a shockwave rising to the heavens.

Amid the dust and smoke, Yuan Lian and Tang Jie flew high into the air.

Everyone fell silent.

Nobody had expected Tang Jie to have the strength for this kind of attack.

Surprise flashed in Yuan Lian's eyes, but as he flew up, he once more let out a frenzied roar, that black hand reforming and blotting out the sun as it moved to grab Tang Jie.

He still believed that he could win, that the attack just now was Tang Jie's last desperate struggle. Thus, he kept up his roaring to prevent Tang Jie from conceding.

Tang Jie's eyes erupted with murderous intent. "If you want to die, then I'll kill you!"

Tang Jie put away the Army Crushing Sword and produced another one.

This sword was three feet and three inches long, and the blade was thick. The hilt had a ring hanging from it.

As he grasped the sword and thrust it at Yuan Lian's throat, the blade flashed with lightning, and he moved with such speed that his attack managed to reach Yuan Lian first.

Yuan Lian rushed backward while the black hand swung down and grabbed the sword. Tang Jie roared and thrust forward with all his might. Clang! The tip of the sword ran into the armor around Yuan Lian's throat.

While the armor was deformed, it managed to block the strike.

Yuan Lian laughed. "It's useless!"

The black hand grabbed the sword while Yuan Lian's steel fist produced black spikes, turning it into a mace as it hurtled at Tang Jie.

"Is that so?" Tang Jie pulled back on the hand holding the sword, and there was a bright light.

A shortsword emerged from the sheath.

The shortsword shot forward like a bolt of lightning, striking at that deformed area of armor where the longsword had struck.

It pierced through!

The Mother Son Bolt Swords!

"Awooo!" Yuan Lian let out a howl of unprecedented pain, but this time, it wasn't to stop Tang Jie from conceding. Everyone winced as if Tang Jie had stabbed them as well as Yuan Lian, and the crowd fell utterly silent.

"This is impossible!" Yuan Lian howled in unwillingness.

He grasped his throat with one hand while reaching into his Mustard Seed Bag with his right hand, producing a set of black gauntlets. He snarled, "You're not the only one with art relics! Demon Dao Slaughter Gauntlet, Tribulation Stamp Hand!"

As he roared, the black gauntlets sent a torrent of energy at Tang Jie.

At the same time, two dragons made of energy, red and white, appeared in the sky and merged together.

The black tide of energy collided with the red-and-white energy dragon and instantly melted like snow under the summer sun. The dragon slammed into Yuan Lian and sent him flying into the air.

The energy dragon dissipated, and two swords were revealed to the crowd, one red and one blue. They made a circle in the air before falling back into Tang Jie's hands.

The Flame Dragon Sword!

The Frost Drake Sword!

The combined might of fire and ice had heavily wounded Yuan Lian, and as he reeled in shock, he finally realized that he had made a grave error.

He wanted to concede.

But just as he was about to speak, Tang Jie roared.

His bellow resounded like thunder.

A bladeless sword chopped down from the sky, tearing away at Yuan Lian's body with a heaven-rending force.

The Mountain Parting Sword!

Whoosh!

Yuan Lian's body was momentarily frozen in the middle of the raging sword energy, and then he exploded.

It was clearly only a single slash, but Yuan Lian's body had been sliced into several chunks.

Even the formidable life force of a body refiner had basically been wiped out by this one attack.

A deathly silence fell over the arena.

―――――――――――

The arena's western viewing platform.

A man wearing a veiled red robe was watching the battle.

When Yuan Lian was meeting an explosive end to his gladiator career, the red-robed man chuckled. "Interesting, truly interesting. The report from that servant girl was correct. This person really did manage to comprehend the original codex of the Infinity Sphere Art. Haha, she found another talent. I will be sure to richly reward her."

Next to the man sat a woman in a blue gown. She smiled and said, "This is strange. In this battle, that man has only used art relics in battle, and he's never used anything else. How is the Western Lord so certain that he has comprehended the Infinity Sphere Art?"

The red-robed man replied, "That's because you didn't pay close enough attention to his last two moves. Shui Yao (Water Fiend), you thought that the twin dragon strike was purely the power of those art relics? No, the real power was the energies of Yin and Yang! Those two swords simply maximized the power of Yin and Yang. Otherwise, how could Yuan Lian's demon armor be so easily broken? But because he didn't use Yin Yang fusion, which is the manifestation of the Infinity Sphere Art, and changed the face, you failed to recognize it."

"I see." The eyes of the blue-gowned Shui Yao flashed with admiration and reverence, a gaze which made the fiery man feel extremely smug.

He liked it when women revered him. It made him feel superior and all-powerful.

Pleased, he added, "That's not all. Based on the thickness of the energy pillars, this person has already reached the first level of the Infinity Sphere Art. With such swift cultivation speed, he can be considered a genius."

"He only needed a little more than a month to reach the first level?" Shui Yao was truly surprised this time.

"Correct! It was worth it to watch so many bouts. This child is very good at hiding his strength. If not for Yuan Lian, it would truly have been hard for him to reveal himself. It appears that this kid is still hiding more.

"Those in the arena want nothing more than to show everything they have to please the crowd, except this kid.

"Demagogues don't make it very far. Only those who hide their strength can take people by surprise, which will allow one to travel far rather than gain only a moment of glory."

Shui Yao was startled, and then he said, "Western Lord, could it be that you favor this person…"

The red-robed man dryly laughed. "It's hard to say. This person excessively hides his strength, so it's hard to determine his limits. But his cultivation level truly is on the low side."

"Then, the Western Lord means…"

"Let's keep watching. As the days go by, a person's heart will be revealed. Let's send a few more good fighters at him."

"But this person doesn't like to show off. He concedes the moment he runs into a strong opponent."

"You can concede in the arena, but what about outside of it?"