Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-552

After winning the match against Yuan Lian, Tang Jie returned to his cave estate.

The cave estate was on a mountain in the eastern part of the city. Tang Jie finally understood why the city had a mountain range: it was meant for cultivators.

The mountain range was called the Heaven Manor Mountains, and it had a spiritual spring within that made the area rich in spiritual energy. A formation surrounded the mountain range, preventing spiritual energy from leaking out, and cave estates were distributed across the area. Anyone who wanted to get a good cultivation site would have to pay a large sum.

One could say that cultivators fought to the death in the arena just to get a little farther on the path of Immortality.

After taking part in twenty-some matches in the City of Freedom, Tang Jie finally had enough money to rent a cave estate.

Upon entering the cave estate, Tang Jie immediately entered seclusion.

The battle with Yuan Lian had been very enriching for Tang Jie. The aggressive style of the Demon Dao had allowed Tang Jie to see his shortcomings, and he had also deepened his understanding of the Dao of Slaughter. He needed to digest all these insights as quickly as possible so that he could get stronger.

His seclusion lasted for half a month.

Only after digesting all the battle experience from that period did Tang Jie cease his seclusion. At this time, he remembered that there was still something he hadn't done: look over the spoils from Yuan Lian's body.

The possessions of those who died on the battlefield all went to the winner, but normally, other than the art relics that they intended to use, nobody would bring anything extra for Tang Jie to take. Moreover, it wasn't every match where one could kill their opponent, so in the twenty-some bouts, Tang Jie hadn't exactly been able to strike it rich from the wealth of the dead. The one or two art relics he occasionally got were turned into golden grains, as Tang Jie had been too lazy to sell them off.

But Yuan Lian was an exception.

This man had thought that he was going to win for sure, so he hadn't stored away his wealth, taking his Mustard Seed Bag to the battlefield, which allowed Tang Jie to take it all. When Tang Jie opened it up, he immediately saw more than thirty thousand blackstone coins, much to his delight.

Besides the money, there were some medicines for treating injuries, a book for a Demon Dao technique, and those black gauntlets.

Tang Jie looked at the technique, but he saw that it wasn't right for him and gave up on it. As for the black gauntlets, they turned out to be an upper-grade art relic. While nice, it was also for the Demon Dao and not suitable for Tang Jie. However, he could sell it off for at least seventy thousand blackstone coins.

With money in hand, Tang Jie could now buy materials, so he headed off to Heavenly Flax Street.

If the City of Freedom was the commercial center of the Blood River Domain, then the southern region was the commercial center of the City of Freedom, and Heavenly Flax Street was the commercial center of the southern region.

Heavenly Flax Street was always the liveliest place in the city. Here, one could find the most valuable medicines, the best art relics, the finest talismans, and the highest quality of materials in the Blood River Domain. So long as one had enough money, one could get anything they wanted.

Tang Jie had come here more than once for the materials he needed. In truth, of the 11 materials he had yet to purchase, some of them had appeared in Heavenly Flax Street, but the sky-high prices had stopped him cold.

While Tang Jie could afford them if he sold some treasures and materials, Tang Jie usually only kept around what he could use. Many of the materials he had couldn't be found in the Blood River Domain, so once he sold them, he would find it very hard to buy them back.

But the battle with Yuan Lian had finally resolved his capital problem, allowing him to step into Heavenly Flax Street.

Warm Heart Market was the largest human-run store on Heavenly Flax Street. Tang Jie entered together with Yiyi, and a shopkeeper came up to attend to him.

Tang Jie immediately said, "I want to see the Stellarite you have here."

Stellarite was a most important material for making a teleportation formation, and it could also be used to cultivate space-type spell arts. This object could only be found in the void beyond domains, making it an extremely rare space-type material, packed with space energy. Teleportation formations broke through space to achieve teleportation, so they relied on space power, so Stellarite was a core material. Its attributes were similar to the Space Crystal, though the actual power was far inferior.

For this reason, when Tang Jie took out the Space Crystal to teleport, causing the spatial balance of the Mountain River Diagram to collapse, the Stellarite in the teleportation formation had replaced the Space Crystal in stabilizing space. But the Stellarite in the formation shattered after brief usage, and half of it had been destroyed in that process.

For Tang Jie, Stellarite was necessary to repair the teleportation formation. Not only that, Tang Jie hoped to get extra. When using the Space Crystal, Tang Jie had realized that he might need to take out the Space Crystal in the future, so he would need sufficient amounts of Stellarite to stabilize the Mountain River Diagram.

The manager of the store instantly knew that this was a big customer, and he personally invited Tang Jie up to the second floor.

"True Person Tang, how much Stellarite do you need?" the manager asked after the introductions had been made.

"Twelve," Tang Jie replied.

A shopkeeper came forward with a jade box that held the Stellarite Tang Jie needed.

They sparkled like diamonds. Each crystal was the size of a walnut, which was the standard for Stellarite accepted across all the Stellar Chiliocosm. Through processing, a Stellarite had all its impurities removed, leaving only the spatial energy.

Tang Jie picked up one. This 23-sided prismatic Stellarite reflected a rainbow of colors, and Tang Jie could see countless selves traveling through the prism, being drawn out into long straight lines, and finally circling back to return to his eyes. What he was looking at was dragged out to infinity, as if the speed of light was slowing down.

"The crystals are transparent and free of impurity. Very good!" Tang Jie sighed in praise. Warm Heart Market deserved its reputation as a top-class store. The Stellarite they cut had preserved almost all of the original energy.

The manager grinned. "Each one will cost fifteen thousand blackstone coins."

Tang Jie's hand stiffened. "This expensive?"

15,000 blackstone coins was 75,000 spirit coins, and twelve pieces was nearly a million. Although Stellarite was one of the priciest of materials, Tang Jie still winced at this manager's appetite.

The manager said, "This crystal only exists in the void beyond domains, not a place ordinary people can go, so it's not easy to obtain. This small store doesn't have many, and this is our store's last bit of stockpile. Once we sell it off, there won't be any left."

Tang Jie shook his head. "Eight thousand!"

"Absolutely not." The manager shook his head. "Fourteen thousand is the lowest I can go."

The two of them haggled back and forth, Tang Jie doing his best to take the price under ten thousand, but the manager was immovable.

Tang Jie made some calculations. Even after inheriting Yuan Lian's wealth, the money he had now still wasn't enough to buy the Stellarite. After some thought, he said, "Fourteen thousand is fourteen thousand, but I only have one hundred thousand on hand. Can I put in a deposit? I would like your honored store to hold them for twenty days."

Tang Jie was confident that he could make the rest in the next twenty days.

The manager stroked his beard and said, "There's naturally nothing wrong with that…"

Before he could finish, a voice boomed, "Fifteen thousand apiece! I'll take all the Stellarite this store has."

Raising his head, he saw a man stride in.

This was an abnormally large Hemos male, his bare upper body revealing bulging muscle, and there were two battleaxes slung across his back.

Although humans, fiends, and demons could trade among each other in the City of Freedom, in reality, everyone mostly kept to their own, buying and selling in stores run by their respective races. A Hemos would rarely run over to a human store to buy something, just like how a human wouldn't go buying from a demon store.

Of course, if they really did go, there usually wouldn't be a problem.

The Hemos went up to the manager and loudly said, "Fifteen thousand apiece! I want it all!"

Tang Jie scowled. "Brother, doesn't 'first come, first served' matter anymore?"

The Hemos man replied, "But so does the higher price!"

"This isn't an auction house."

"It's fine if the store is willing."

The Hemos man turned to the manager.

The manager appeared to be in a difficult spot.

While stores sought profit, they also cared about their reputation. Although he really wanted to sell the Stellarite to the Hemos man, he knew that this could easily affect his store's reputation, and he would also be offending someone. After some thought, he said, "Since I have already agreed on a price with True Person Tang, I cannot so easily go back on my word. But my store has no policy on refusing business. So I would propose that instead of accepting a deposit, True Person should simply buy as much as you can with the money you have available. If True Person doesn't have enough money and has treasures you want to sell, this lowly store will take them. After that, the rest can be bought by this friend. What do you think?"

Before Tang Jie could reply, the Hemos man said, "I don't like it. Why are you being such a wimp? Those with money can get all the treasure they want! Your store has 24 Stellarite in all, and I have five hundred thousand here. I want it all."

He threw a bag full of blackstone coins in front of the manager.

Five hundred thousand blackstone coins was no small sum, and as it jangled on the floor from the impact, it shook the manager's heart.

He still wanted to maintain the reputation of his store, but then the Hemos man pointed at himself with his thumb and said, "My name is Na Shan (Mountain Taker)!"

The manager didn't dare to say another word, and even Tang Jie was startled.

Na Shan's reputation was too resounding. He was a prodigy of the arena and was an Asura. It was said that he was the person with the greatest hope of being promoted to God Killer.

It had been many years since a new God Killer had appeared in the Celestial Flame Arena.

One thousand victories had never been easy to achieve.

The manager did not dare to offend a potential God Killer.

Na Shan received the jade box and then glanced at Tang Jie with a challenging look. "Don't go shopping if you don't have the money."

Tang Jie chuckled, stood up, and walked out without a word.

Na Shan was startled that Tang Jie wasn't angry at all and had just left.

Looking at Tang Jie's departing figure, Na Shan suddenly shouted, "Trash!"

Tang Jie paused.

He slowly turned around and gave Na Shan a cold look.

Na Shan proudly said, "What? You're not convinced? All you humans are trash."

Tang Jie suddenly laughed.

He said, "Let me take a guess at what you're going to say next."

"Huh?" Na Shan was taken aback.

Tang Jie said, "Next, you'll probably say: 'Hey, kid, if you've got the guts, fight me. If you beat me, all this Stellarite will be yours'… Something like that, right?"

Na Shan was stunned. It was clear that Tang Jie had spoken exactly what he had been meaning to say.

Tang Jie continued, "Using Stellarite as bait and humiliating words to provoke me into fighting you… You didn't come to buy Stellarite by coincidence, right?"

Na Shan scowled.

And then he erupted in laughter. "Interesting! No wonder the Western Heaven King favors you."

"'The Western Heaven King'?" Tang Jie was surprised. "Who is the Western Heaven King?"

"You don't even know the Western Heaven King." Na Shan smirked and suddenly threw the box of Stellarite over, actually giving it all to Tang Jie.

As Tang Jie was surprised, Na Shan said, "Just a minor gift as compensation for my rudeness."

Giving away five hundred thousand blackstone coins' worth of Stellarite at the drop of a hat? Na Shan's generosity was truly alarming.

But Tang Jie frowned and then pushed the box back to Na Shan. "It's too expensive. I can't take it."

Na Shan raised an eyebrow. "What? Are you looking down on it?"

"No, I just feel like there's no such thing as a free lunch. At times, the cheaper something is, the more expensive it actually is. Thus, either you or that Western Heaven King behind you wants something, so you might as well come out and say it."

"'The cheaper something is, the more expensive it actually is'…" Na Shan pondered these words, and then he threw his head back and laughed. "Good! Good! An excellent saying! Not getting too emotional and not being greedy over a little profit! Brother Tang is truly a resolved and clear-headed person. Although it's still not clear how strong you are, this mindset alone is very rare. The Western Heaven King's eyes are as good as ever. It's no wonder he asked me to probe you out. Alas, I'm too useless, unable to even get Brother Tang to exchange a few blows with me, and only turned myself into a petty person instead. Ridiculous!"

He then gave the Stellarite back to the manager and took his blackstone coins back. "I won't be buying the Stellarite anymore."

He had earlier so easily bought the Stellarite at over twenty thousand apiece, but after Tang Jie had exposed him, he had gone back on the deal, even taking his money back. It was truly shameless to the extreme.

But that manager was cowed by his reputation and did not dare to say anything, only bowing his head and accepting it. He then turned around and gave Tang Jie a pitiful look, wondering if Tang Jie would still buy them.

Before Tang Jie could say anything, Na Shan impatiently said, "Stellarites at fifteen thousand are too expensive. I think nine thousand is good enough."

The manager's soul almost left his body, but while he wanted to say something, Na Shan's glare silenced him.

Na Shan then said, "Brother Tang, you have one hundred thousand, right? You have just enough to buy it. This won't be a free lunch then, right?"

The manager was in a panic. Nine thousand times twelve was one hundred and eight thousand! How could one hundred thousand be "just enough"!?

But he tactfully remained silent.

Tang Jie chuckled and took out his money. "Then I will have to thank Brother Na Shan for his friendship. But what are we doing next?"

Na Shan replied, "It's nothing. It's just that you've hidden your power too well, and someone wants to see your real strength and wants me to trade blows with you."

"I see." Tang Jie smiled. "Actually, it's not a big deal for me to stop hiding my strength. I'm not actually someone who cares about being inconspicuous, but since I want to live long, I can only keep some strength hidden. If I run into a person that needs all my strength to deal with, Tang Ran definitely won't hold anything back."

Tang Jie wasn't lying about this.

He wasn't hiding his strength so that he could play a pig to eat a tiger, nor was it so that he could put on an explosive performance. It was purely for safety. The arena was rife with hidden dragons and crouching tigers, and in the upper ranks, there were no mediocre fighters.

Tang Jie had never believed that he could sweep the arena with his strength. This being the case, he needed to hide his strength so that he had some trump cards to use.

Trump cards were trump cards because they were strongest when nobody knew about them. if they were discovered, their effects would be greatly reduced. But Tang Jie was hiding too many trump cards: saber intent, the Sovereign Blade, the Chaoswind Step, the Soul Refining Pearl, the Flesh Millstone, Insight, and so on. He was even unwilling to use the Heavenly Cloud Blade.

"But you know how to concede, right?" Na Shan smiled.

He no longer seemed like some bored fool who went around challenging people.

Tang Jie scratched the back of his head. "I just haven't run into anyone who's worth showing my real strength."

Na Shan laughed. "As expected. Fine, Brother Tang, since you want to be straightforward, I'll be frank…"

He glared at that manager and said, "What are you still standing here for? Trying to eavesdrop?"

The manager mentally cried out in injustice, You're the ones talking in my store, alright?

But he didn't dare to say anything extra and headed downstairs with the rest of the Stellarite. But at this moment, Tang Jie said, "Keep the remaining twelve for me. I'll come and buy them in another few days, one hundred thousand."

The manager almost fell over.

Tang Jie sat down with Na Shan, sipping on the leftover tea. Tang Jie said, "If my guess is right, the one who requested Brother Na Shan's help should be that Western Heavenly King, yes? But who is the Western Heavenly King, that he is able to request your help?"

Na Shan chuckled. "I really have to hand it to you, fighting in the Celestial Flame Arena for so long without knowing who the Western Heavenly King is. You don't know the Western Heavenly King, but you should know about the Four Heavenly Kings, right? And if you don't know them, then you should know the Four Apostles, right?"

Tang Jie realized upon hearing the term "Four Apostles". "Is the Western Heavenly King of the Celestial Flame Pagoda's Four Apostles?"

Although the Flame Celestial Sovereign had established the Celestial Flame Arena, he had not concerned himself with its affairs for many years. It was said that this person had ascended to the Immortal Platform many years ago and spent most of his time wandering the Myriad Domains, rarely returning without a special reason. The Celestial Flame Pagoda was actually run by his four disciples, the so-called Four Apostles of the Celestial Flame.

As they each ruled one of the four directions, they were called the Four Heavenly Kings.

The Four Heavenly Kings were said to be Violet Palace experts, and since they were also the de facto rulers of the Celestial Flame Arena, it was no wonder they were able to command the likes of Na Shan.

But Tang Jie was curious as to why the Western Heavenly King was interested in him.

Na Shan told him the truth.

"You were able to read the entirety of the Infinity Sphere's original codex, and you were able to cultivate to the first level in forty days. It was clear that you were capable of far more than what you actually showed."

So I was still found out, Tang Jie thought to himself.

In the battle with Yuan Lian, he had used the Yin and Yang energies together with the Flame Dragon Sword and Frost Drake Sword, and though he had hid the energies exquisitely, a few attentive watchers had still noticed. And he had read the original codex with that servant girl next to him, so it wasn't strange for word of that to get out.

Casually sipping his tea, Tang Jie said, "It's no wonder the Celestial Flame Pagoda lets anyone who can read the original codex learn the full technique. So it had this sort of objective? But why is the Western Heavenly King interested in this sort of person?"

Na Shan chuckled. "Why do you think the Celestial Flame Arena exists?"

Tang Jie was surprised by the question. "It's not for money?"

"Money is naturally necessary, but what's more important will always be the people!" Na Shan said. "The Celestial Flame Arena has always existed with the goal of selecting talented individuals. Battle is simply one of those selection methods, and reading the original codex is another."

"'Selecting talented individuals'? For what?"

"Do you want to know?" Na Shan laughed.

He removed the battleaxes from his back and said, "Fight me! Prove you have the right to join us by enduring ten of my moves."