Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-555

According to Hero, not long after the Flame Celestial Sovereign had opened the Treasure Paradise and obtained that natural Dao armament, he broke out of the domain and began to wander about, leaving the Treasure Paradise and Celestial Flame Arena for his four disciples.

He had taken all four disciples in the Blood River Domain, and they had remained here to handle business for him. In order to avoid conflict, the Four Heavenly Kings had decided after some discussion to use the Treasure Paradise to decide who would become the ruler of the Celestial Flame Pagoda.

The one who could get the greatest number and most valuable treasures from the Treasure Paradise would rule the pagoda for the next twenty years.

According to the agreement, each side could send in twenty people, with no limit on cultivation level or means of obtaining treasure. Anyone who emerged alive with the treasure would be allowed to keep half, but in reality, less than half were usually able to come back alive.

As it was opened and entered again and again, and with the silent permission of the Four Heavenly Kings, the secret of the Treasure Paradise gradually ceased to be a secret, and many people came to know that there was a world stuffed with treasure beneath the Celestial Flame Arena. As the Flame Celestial Sovereign still lived and there were no Dao armaments that could be removed from the Treasure Paradise, no Titans were tempted to take the place for themselves, but the treasures did manage to draw over countless youths. They fought and struggled in the arena, hoping to draw the attention of the Four Heavenly Kings and gain the right to venture into the Treasure Paradise.

Rewards, resources, treasures, and even the grudges between the races drew countless people to this place, and their lives or the lives of their enemies were used to fill that endless sea of blood beneath the arena…

"So I'm considered one of the twenty selected by the Western Heavenly King? If there's supposed to be twenty, why is there only the five of us?"

Tang Jie looked over to Na Shan's group.

Tang Jie had only needed to think a little before agreeing to this deal.

He had no reason to disagree. This was a danger, a trap, but it was also an opportunity.

Once Tang Jie agreed, Hero laughed and took his leave, and only the five he had selected were left in the hall.

Na Shan replied, "You think people are that easy to select? The Four Heavenly Kings have constantly been observing and selecting talented individuals in order to gather the finest talents. While twenty are chosen, they are actually chosen from hundreds to thousands of candidates."

Hei Yan added, "It's naturally not easy to select from so many people, but on that subject, if someone is particularly outstanding, they will naturally be chosen."

Qing Lian added, "Thus, the earlier one is chosen, the more outstanding they are. The five of us didn't need to be selected from the middle of that sea of people. Instead, the Western Heavenly King took a liking to us and had us join his team early so that we could go through more training."

Tang Jie understood.

Shui Yao smiled. "This again, using the opportunity to brag the moment you get one. Brother Tang, don't listen to their boasting. In the end, it's hard to say who is better and who is worse, and the Four Heavenly Kings actually have different standards. The Western Heavenly King explored the Treasure Paradise in his early days and barely survived, so he favors people with lower cultivation levels, as this sort of people will encounter less danger. But that's less certain if they have to contend against the people sent by the other Heavenly Kings. It is said that the Northern Heavenly King favors those with the strongest combat power, and he doesn't care about any risks. If he can choose Soul Transformation cultivators, he won't go picking Heart Demon cultivators."

Tang Jie frowned at these words.

Although he could contend against those above his level at his current level of strength, his opponents were all experts chosen by the Four Heavenly Kings from the arena, so they all had this ability. When facing this sort of elite, surpassing one's level was no longer so easy. Moreover, there could even be Soul Transformation cultivators. He could no longer hope for a simple victory if he wanted to overcome a gap of two tiers.

"Regardless, being able to join early is a good thing," Na Shan said. "Starting from now, Tang Ran, all of your expenses in the Celestial Flame Pagoda will be covered by the Western Heavenly King."

Tang Jie's eyes brightened. "You're saying that I can use anything inside the Celestial Flame Pagoda?"

Hei Yan said, "So long as they are resources, techniques, and treasure grounds belonging to the Western Heavenly King, you can choose from them. As for materials, art relics, and other limited resources, so long as you don't go too far, you can use them. So long as it's for the sake of getting stronger, the Western Heavenly King isn't stingy about investing a little."

This was the greatest advantage of being selected early: the ability to use the resources within the pagoda to get stronger. It was a huge expense, so the Four Heavenly Kings only chose to invest in those with potential. This was also why Hero had focused so much on Tang Jie after learning that he had read the entirety of the original Infinity Codex. While this didn't mean he was strong, it meant he had incredible potential.

According to Na Shan and the others, there were still 150 days until the official opening of the Treasure Paradise. In this time, everyone was thinking of every way they could to get stronger. If there was anything they needed, they could speak to the personnel within the pagoda, and the pagoda would provide them with it so long as it had it.

With this promise, Tang Jie immediately listed out the materials he needed and had the Celestial Flame Pagoda seek them out for him. He even included the materials for the teleportation formation.

Of course, even if he fixed the teleportation formation, Tang Jie wouldn't be able to summon his original body within the Treasure Paradise.

The reason was simple. The Treasure Paradise was its own isolated world. Going from the Treasure Paradise to the Blood River Domain and then from the Blood River Domain to the Nine Executions Immortal Formation involved passing through multiple domain barriers, and a teleportation formation wasn't capable of breaking through that many, unless it was an Immortal Grade formation. Tang Jie was able to link to the Martial Lord's hidden realm in large part because it was located in a domain fissure, which made it a perfect relay station. Through the Martial Lord's hidden domain, the thickness of the barrier between domains was essentially halved.

But this half was not to be underestimated. At times, even a sliver was enough to be a chasm. For a teleportation formation, double the thickness made the teleportation ten times more difficult. Only someone of immense power like the Lord of the Blood River could break such a domain barrier.

But if the original body could first enter the Blood River, then summoning it would no longer be a problem.

―――――――――――――

The fifth floor of the Celestial Flame Pagoda.

Pushing open a pair of heavy double doors, Tang Jie was greeted by a grandiose sight.

A cliff of ice spanned in front of him like an ancient glacier, radiating a frightening chill. But on the other end of the ice cliff was a volcano which blazed with fierce flames. At the intersection of these two places, icy winds clashed against waves of heat, immersing Tang Jie in a world of ice and fire.

This was one of the Celestial Flame Pagoda's famous cultivation grounds, the Cliffs of Fire and Ice, the best place to cultivate the energies of Yin and Yang. The Flame Celestial Sovereign had used his supreme abilities to shift over a giant glacier and a mountain of fire before linking them using the energies of Yin and Yang, stabilizing the entire thing with Sacred Eternium, creating this half-natural, half-artificial cultivation ground.

Cultivating a Yin Yang technique in this place would boost one's efficiency by more than ten times.

Tang Jie wanted to get stronger, and to do that, he first needed to get stronger in the Infinity Sphere Art. He had only cultivated to the first level of the Infinity Sphere Art, which had a limited effect on his strength. If he could get to the third level or higher, his strength would rise exponentially.

With his understanding of the Dao of Yin Yang and the effects of the Cliffs of Fire and Ice, he was sure that he wouldn't need long to reach the third level.

He went to the intersection of the glacier and the volcano, placing himself between extreme cold and extreme heat. Even with his constitution, he couldn't help but shiver.

The streams of frost and waves of heat assailed his body, the ice nearly freezing his blood and flames almost melting his body. Tang Jie knew that he needed to seize the moment, so he circulated the Infinity Sphere Art. As he circulated the technique, he absorbed and converted the energies of fire and ice into slivers of Yin and Yang energy.

This Yin Yang energy rapidly gathered in his body, and Tang Jie could feel himself getting stronger and stronger, and he felt like he was cultivating in the Water Moon Paradise again. He couldn't help but sigh in wonder at the power of this place.

But it was precisely because the Cliffs of Fire and Ice were so amazing that Tang Jie couldn't monopolize them. He could only apply to cultivate here for up to six hours each day. Even so, six hours in the Cliffs of Fire and Ice was comparable to several days of cultivation outside of them.

Six hours later, Tang Jie left the Cliffs of Fire and Ice.

A servant was already waiting outside.

"Has everything I asked for been prepared?" Tang Jie asked.

The servant offered a pile of books and respectfully replied, "It has all been readied for True Person."

These books had all been selected from the library according to Tang Jie's specifications. There were books regarding all sorts of weapons, whether they be sabers, swords, whips, tridents, axes, hooks, spears, or otherwise.

Tang Jie took the books and left.

That servant pursed his lips and muttered, "What does he want all of them for? He's probably just trying to act impressive."

He was unaware that Tang Jie was actually planning to learn all of them.

Only by being proficient in all weapons could Tang Jie use the real power of the Sovereign Blade.

Of course, while he was learning them, he still had his priorities.

His first priority was still saber techniques. After all, that was his expertise. The saber manual Tang Jie had chosen was called the Hellslayer Saber, a demon saber technique that was brimming with Slaughter. Tang Jie had chosen it primarily to use with the Dao of Slaughter he had comprehended. The demons were bloodthirsty folk, so their arts and techniques were often compatible with Slaughter and Destruction. Besides the Hellslayer Saber, Tang Jie had also picked a manual going by the title of the Traceless Soulchaser Saber. This technique emphasized invisible strikes, focusing on undetectability over the Hellslayer Saber's focus on violence.

As for sword arts, Tang Jie had chosen the Longevity Sword. The Longevity Sword had been valuable enough to be consecrated in that building, so it naturally had to have extraordinary value. Besides that, Tang Jie had chosen two other sword arts, but only to use as a smokescreen.

As for the other weapons, he was mainly trying to get a grasp of them, not master them. He just needed to be able to unleash the Sovereign Blade's power whenever it assumed the form of those other weapons.

Even so, mastering the two saber arts and the sword art he had chosen was no easy task, so Tang Jie threw himself into cultivation.

Besides cultivating on his own, Tang Jie also trained together with Na Shan's group.

As the five most favored by Hero, they needed to fight both alone and in a team. And in order to boost the combat power of the five, Hero had given them a special combined combat technique: the Minor Five Elements Combat Formation.

The Flame Celestial Sovereign had obtained this formation when wandering the myriad domains, and he had later given it to Hero. This formation could only be used with five people, and it had the disadvantage of covering a small range. But the power it unleashed far surpassed that of similar-sized combat formations.

In addition to cultivating, Tang Jie also fought in the arena. Hero did not confer upon him limitless resources, and the pursuit of strength was a bottomless hole. For this reason, after receiving support from Hero, Tang Jie didn't stop earning money. On the contrary, he fought even more fiercely, spending the money almost as quickly as he made it.

Time quickly passed in the middle of all this training, and in the blink of an eye, forty days had passed.

Today, Tang Jie was cultivating in a private chamber when a voice came from outside: "True Person Tang, the resources you wanted have been delivered."

Tang Jie grew excited. "Finally here? Send them in!"

The door opened, and a group of Celestial Flame Pagoda warriors carried several large crates inside.

Tang Jie opened them up and saw that they were packed with materials.

Some of these materials were needed to repair the teleportation formation, but most of them were for other purposes. And these several large crates had used up basically his entire resource quota. Cultivators like him who had been selected early had large resource quotas that included cultivation medicines and art relics, but Tang Jie had chosen none of that stuff, having used all of his quota for materials.

Not only that, he had even taken out all the money he had made from the arena, even potential revenue from the next one hundred days in the arena, to pay for the resources.

He had asked for so many resources that even the Celestial Flame Pagoda had needed forty days to get them all.

After seeing these materials, Tang Jie nodded in satisfaction. "I don't want anyone to know about this. Am I understood?"

The leading warrior saluted. "True Person, please be at ease!"

Once those warriors had withdrawn, Tang Jie took out a formation diagram and began to place the materials into it. At the same time, he began to draw formation lines on the diagram with a brush.

It wasn't long before he was done.

Tang Jie waved his hand, and thirteen swords appeared and entered the formation diagram.

Thus, thirteen swords appeared on the formation diagram.

At the very top were the three divine swords, and in the center were the ten ultimate-grade art relics.

There was a large blank spot below, waiting for treasures to fill it, though Tang Jie didn't have any on hand.

The Treasure Cosmos Formation.

This was a formation used for controlling treasures. Treasures were placed in the formation, waiting to be released when the time was right. Art relics and divine treasures were all controlled through the formation, saving the cultivator the spiritual energy and focus needed for the task. In turn, spirit stones were consumed.

The Treasure Cosmos Formation could hold ten thousand treasures, but Tang Jie had only thirteen. However, he was in no rush. After all, the Treasure Paradise would have plenty of art relics. Once he had enough art relics in the formation, he might even have enough power packed in there to take down a Violet Palace or Immortal Platform cultivator.

Of course, controlling that many art relics would take a shocking number of spirit stones. Fortunately, Tang Jie had no plans to gather ten thousand treasures. For him, one hundred was good enough. Considering that he had three divine treasures, he could already deal with a Soul Transformation cultivator.

But this was only part of Tang Jie's preparations.

All those materials weren't merely for the teleportation formation and the Treasure Cosmos Formation. He still had many more formations and formation diagrams to make and use.

For the expedition into the Treasure Paradise, Tang Jie's greatest resource wasn't the Sovereign Blade, his saber intent, or the Flesh Millstone, but his knowledge of formations.

One formation diagram after another unfurled, and materials were thrown into them.

Other than what the Celestial Flame Pagoda had given him, Tang Jie also used many of his saved-up resources, investing them into formation after formation.

If Hero had been here to see this, his jaw probably would have fallen off in shock. This was because the value of the resources Tang Jie was using up was already double what the average cultivator could take out from the Treasure Paradise.

This enormous expense created extremely powerful formations. After using 80% of his materials, Tang Jie finally stopped, and he now had 17 formation diagrams.

After this was all done, Tang Jie muttered, "Things are done here. All that's left is the other side."

――――――――――――

The Rosecloud Domain, the underground palace.

A domain-crossing teleportation formation was in the middle of production.

As Tang Jie laid out the formation, he occasionally explained what he was doing. "This formation line is to provide energy. If this area is damaged, it will lead to an energy shortage. In the best case, it just won't activate, but in the worst case, you might teleport halfway before being kicked out. At that time, you will realize that you've been flung into the infinite void, or perhaps you haven't even gotten through the domain barrier and will be exposed to the Gold Ignis Astral Winds, which will turn you to ash in a split second. Thus, you have to set up defenses around the formation so that no human or fiend can get close. Before every activation, you have to carefully inspect the formation for any mistakes."

Xu Miaoran earnestly listened.

As this was a fixed teleportation formation, it cost much less than the other one. Even so, it still needed more than a million spirit coins. Fortunately, Tang Jie had nothing if not money. The wealth from dismantling the palace was enough to build ten such teleportation formations. After selling off those jade foundations that couldn't be turned into golden grains, Tang Jie was finally able to complete this teleportation formation.

At that moment, Tang Jie was able to successfully teleport between the Rosecloud Domain and the Blood River Domain.

As Tang Jie explained to her how to use the formation, he put in the last materials, and a shining ball of light emerged from the teleportation formation.

It was a sign that the link to the Martial Lord's hidden realm was complete.

Tang Jie exhaled and then smiled at Xu Miaoran. "Are you interested in seeing the legendary hidden realm of the Martial Lord and the Blood River Domain?"

"I've been looking forward to it," Xu Miaoran said, her eyes glowing.