Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-567

The Blood Sea disappeared, leaving behind only a deluge of blood that fell from the heavens.

Na Shan had a glum expression, as if someone owed him hundreds of thousands of blackstone coins.

He looked at Tang Jie and asked, "So is your name Tang Ran or Tang Jie?"

"Tang Jie is my original name," Tang Jie replied.

"Then, Tang Jie, shouldn't you give us an explanation about all this?" Na Shan sternly asked.

Hei Yan and the other two shared a look, and then Hei Yan said, "Big Brother Na Shan, what do you mean? We just killed someone, is all. We're all comrades here, so why are you making such a big deal out of this?"

"What do you know?" Na Shan angrily retorted.

He might have been confused at first, but he was now pretty sure that Tang Jie had used them.

Shui Yao saw the state he was in and asked in confusion, "Just what is the problem?"

Na Shan opened his mouth, but he ultimately shook his head and said nothing.

He didn't dare to say anything until he was absolutely sure.

Moreover, if it really was related to the person he was thinking of, then this was a big problem, and he would be even less willing to talk about it—once the other Hemos found out he had killed an avatar of the Blood River Lord, the Hemos wouldn't let him go.

On the contrary, if he didn't say anything, the Blood River Lord probably wouldn't say a thing—he would be humiliated if it got out that he got cut down by a few juniors.

Moreover, the Blood River Lord had always been a recluse, and even though the Hemos venerated him as their grand ancestor, he never cared about the Hemos, which could be seen from how he had created an avatar to hunt down Tang Jie.

He had never even thought about using the Hemos.

Thus, the best plan was to play dumb. Moreover, privately, Na Shan was hoping that he was wrong. It could be some other person that cultivated a blood-type Divine Connection with a similar effect! If that was the case, then his words would just be misguided speculation.

Thus, when Hei Yan asked him what was wrong, he didn't know what to say. After some thought, he pointed at Tang Jie and said, "This person has ulterior motives. I'm thinking that his playing host for us was because he wanted to use us."

Everyone looked at Tang Jie.

Tang Jie shook his head to deny the accusation.

"You swear that you didn't invite all of us to a meal because you knew that he would come to find you?" Na Shan questioned.

Tang Jie sighed. "Before inviting all of you to a meal, I did know that he had entered the city, but he hadn't been able to find me. I invited you all because I wanted to become good friends. In my view, the City of Freedom is so big that even if he was really here, there was no way he would manage to find me. But to my surprise, he really did have a way… It's your choice to believe it or not."

Even for Tang Jie, this matter was quite unfortunate. If not for tonight's dinner, even if the Blood River Lord had come to the City of Freedom, it would have been extremely difficult for him to find Tang Jie. And in another three days, he would have entered the Treasure Paradise, at which point it would have been impossible for the Blood River Lord to find him.

Who could have expected that the Blood River Lord would find him on his sole excursion?

The moment he sensed the Blood River Lord chasing him, Tang Jie felt a deep helplessness.

Na Shan was surprised, and when he saw that Tang Jie's expression was sincere and unfeigned, he gained a little trust and asked, "You swear on your Heart Demon?"

Tang Jie firmly said, "I swear on my Heart Demon that I had no idea that he would discover me when I invited you all to a meal. In truth, if you think about it, you would understand that we would be going to the Treasure Paradise in another three days, so I had no need to go and provoke him. Couldn't I have just avoided him and then escaped into the Treasure Paradise when the time came? Why would I drag all of you out to fight him together? He must have some secret art to track me, but the secret art's connection is not very strong and is easily broken, which is why things lasted until now…"

As he spoke, he looked pensively at the piece of blood gem in his hand.

Na Shan's complexion improved a little.

Since the meal hadn't been Tang Jie's plot to get their help in a murder and this entire matter was a coincidence, Na Shan's resentment to Tang Jie lessened a little.

But the thought of inexplicably offending a Titan still left him unhappy.

Tang Jie saw that he was troubled and indifferently said, "I thought someone capable of pulling up mountains would also be extremely bold, but you ended up being a softie the moment you ran into someone ruthless. If I knew things would be like that, I wouldn't have invited you."

"What did you say?" Na Shan glared. "Do you know who you offended?"

Tang Jie replied, "A true hero will even charge through a sea of fire and mountain of knives, braving any danger without hesitation. This sort of person would only ask where the enemy is, not who the enemy is. Am I right or not?"

Na Shan fell silent, but Hei Yan clapped his hands and smiled. "Right, right, Big Brother Tang speaks the truth. This person truly is powerful, but in the end, we still killed him."

Na Shan rolled his eyes.

Shui Yao saw the problem, though, and she said, "Does this person have an extremely powerful backer?"

They didn't know that this was the Blood River Lord's avatar, but since his death had Na Shan so nervous, there was clearly something wrong here. But they imagined that they had killed a person from some powerful Hemos tribe, which was slightly troublesome. And as Na Shan was a Hemos, it was only natural that he was tense.

After some thought, Na Shan nodded.

On that subject, the original body could be considered the avatar's backer, so it wasn't wrong to say this.

Shui Yao covered her mouth and chuckled. "Here I thought it would be some big deal. Could any backer be stronger than the Celestial Flame Pagoda?"

Qing Lian tersely said, "Not afraid!"

Na Shan rolled his eyes again at how brazen these guys were being, as if they were all true heroes. Just thinking about them shouting at the Blood River Lord, "We don't ask who the enemy is, only where the enemy is!" had his head hurting.

Even so, Tang Jie's words had riled up Na Shan's boldness.

There was one thing that Tang Jie was right about. A powerful warrior who could pull up mountains was a heroic figure, and how could one be a hero if one felt fear at the mere mention of a powerful enemy?

Na Shan and the others had all fought their way out of the arena, selling their lives for money many times. While it wasn't right to say that they didn't fear death, at least they wouldn't instantly lose their courage upon hearing the mere mention of it.

Na Shan had been angry because Tang Jie had been too secretive and also because the Blood River Lord was just too infamous.

But now that Tang Jie had pointed things out, he realized that offending the Blood River Lord wasn't too big of a deal. It wasn't much more dangerous than their adventure into the Treasure Paradise. Their kind of people had always lived on the edge of the blade, been willing to take risks so long as there was something in it for them.

If that was the case, was killing the Blood River Lord's avatar that big of a deal?

Everyone needed some self-consoling. The past was the past, so rather than be afraid, it was better to bravely face it. Na Shan had been through countless fights, and after this self-consoling session, his confidence swelled. Casting off his fear, he loudly said, "Yes, who cares how strong the enemy is? Even if it's the Blood River Lord or Flame Celestial Sovereign, I won't back down!"

Hei Yan and the others paled, shouting together, "Don't go too far now!"

"……"

Regardless of what Na Shan was thinking, there was no choice now except to deal with whatever consequences would come. Fortunately, the Treasure Paradise was opening soon, and even with the Blood River Lord's prodigious abilities, he wouldn't be able to get here that quickly.

Of course, the best way to solve things was still with money.

Tang Jie gave each of the other four fifty thousand blackstone coins.

After all, anyone treated to a meal or given a gift would find it hard to reject a request from the giver.

If Na Shan still had some lingering anger, then this sumptuous gift dispelled it all. Of course, this was because he really didn't have a choice—the job was already done. Not taking the money was idiotic, whereas taking the money would be acknowledging the transaction.

Between being an idiot and acknowledging the transaction, Na Shan chose the latter.

Thus, after taking the money, Na Shan began to wish for the day of their Treasure Paradise expedition to come a little faster.

――――――――――

The matter had finally been settled.

The other four returned to the Celestial Flame Pagoda while Tang Jie went to the Heaven Manor Mountains in the eastern part of the city.

He still had the cave estate here, and Xu Miaoran and the others were staying here.

Opening the seal on the cave estate, Tang Jie strode in and was welcomed by Xu Miaoran and Yiyi.

"What's the situation?" Xu Miaoran worriedly asked. Through a secret art, Xu Miaoran had already found out what had happened. Rather than actually asking about what was going on, it was better to say that she had asked out of an instinctive concern.

"Everything is fine." Tang Jie hugged Xu Miaoran and gave her a kiss. "It was just an idiot who was delivering a blood gem."

He stuffed the blood gem into Xu Miaoran's hand. "You can use it to refine Blood Spirit Pills."

Tang Jie's casual demeanor inexplicably lightened Xu Miaoran's mood. She nodded and put away the gem. "I'll put it to the side for now."

"No, use it as quickly as you can. I suspect that Blood River can sense his blood gems. He relied on this to find me."

This gave Xu Miaoran a fright. "I'll go and refine it right now."

"You don't need to be in that much of a rush," Tang Jie chuckled. "How's the project going?"

"Which one?" Xu Miaoran paused for a moment, and then she said in realization, "Oh, it's about done. Follow me."

She lightly strode into the cave.

In the deepest part of the cave estate, a diagram was hung on the wall: the Mountain River State Diagram.

The Mountain River State Diagram was half-open, and it was possible to see the scenes playing out within. Several people were busying themselves within the diagram—none other than He Chong, Duan Fourth, and Deng Yuqing.

Underneath the Mountain River State Diagram was a flashing formation that covered almost the entire floor of the cave estate. Inside the formation was a black hole that led to some unknown place.

Standing next to Tang Jie, Xu Miaoran softly said, "This already goes more than ten thousand feet down… they wanted a lot. Is this really okay?"

Xu Miaoran looked worriedly at Tang Jie.

"It's only some soil, no big deal," Tang Jie soothed, patting Xu Miaoran on the shoulder.

"But I don't understand why we have to do this," Xu Miaoran said as she looked at the Mountain River State Diagram in confusion.

Only she and Yiyi knew what they were sending through this formation into the Mountain River State Diagram.

Large amounts of soil and other physical matter had been sent through this black hole formation into the diagram. Of course, this wasn't some precious resource, only soil, plants, and even air.

"Because these are the foundations for creating a world," Tang Jie replied. "They don't seem valuable, but they are still the foundation. And what we need to do is to use this world to enrich our own world."

His gaze stopped at that black hole teleportation formation.

It was like a pipe that was stabbed into the insides of this world, constantly sending over everything the Mountain River State Diagram world needed.

"Your intention in sending He Chong's group into there was never to set up a teleportation formation to replace the Space Crystal, right?" Xu Miaoran asked.

"Of course not," Tang Jie chuckled. "I needed their help to complete the world within the diagram, making it more real and rich."

Xu Miaoran was surprised. "And why is that? Do you realize how many resources this will take?"

"Of course I do, but I also know how important this is," Tang Jie replied.

"How is it important?" Xu Miaoran asked.

Tang Jie replied, "The first reason is that it will become our resource base. There are hundred-year blessed lands, thousand-year paradises, and ten-thousand-year Immortal Realms, but I don't ask for much, only a hundred-year blessed land."

Xu Miaoran nodded. It was true. Other than serving as a formation, the Mountain River State Diagram's greatest use was the ability to become a blessed land. In the past, cultivators had made the diagram take up vast tracts of land precisely because they had lost a paradise.

Tang Jie had lost that first opportunity to take in a large tract of land, but thanks to the Space Crystal, he had the ability to constantly add physical matter to the space and add to the land. Since he had the opportunity to expand the diagram into a blessed land, how could he give it up?

But turning the diagram into a blessed land was no easy matter.

Tang Jie had only moved in that waterfall initially, so he was lacking far too much physical matter and spiritual energy. The only area suitable for life was that limited space covered by the Eternal Universe Formation. Outside of this space was only barren land… and sometimes not even the "land".

While the Space Crystal could expand the space, it expanded only the space. The physical matter that filled it had to come from somewhere else.

And after being transported into the diagram, it also required people to process this material and put it to work, or else it would just be a pile of trash.

This was why Tang Jie had persuaded He Chong into the diagram.

He didn't need to tell He Chong what to do, only get him into the diagram. He Chong would work to modify the environment for the sake of his own survival.

An environment in which humans could survive was one where resources could grow. In this aspect, most humans, let alone cultivators, were even more "picky" than Immortal plants.

Whatever He Chong asked for, Tang Jie would do his best to satisfy.

The living circumstances of the diagram gradually began to change, growing more suitable for human habitation, for plant growth, for the existence of life.

"If there's a first reason, then is there a second reason?" Yiyi asked.

"The second reason is actually what I realized in my battle with He Chong. It was only after that battle that I made up my mind to modify the diagram," Tang Jie replied. "The second reason is that it can help me fight against a Violet Palace cultivator."

Fight against a Violet Palace cultivator!

Yiyi and Xu Miaoran were dumbfounded.

――――――――――――――――

This was an extremely barren and desolate land, so desolate that even dirt was a rarity.

Standing in the air, He Chong looked at the ground below. The silt mixed with yellow soil was so thin that it seemed like a fruit peel.

Rather than saying he was surveying the earth, it was better to say that he was looking for it, and rather than saying he was looking for earth, it was better to say that he was creating it… That bastard Tang Jie probably wanted to use me to modify the environment from the beginning, right? He Chong bitterly thought to himself.

After spending long enough, he had grasped Tang Jie's "plot".

This world had no stars, no mountains or rivers, no sky-obscuring forests, no oceans or birds or beasts.

This world was so barren that even clouds were a luxury.

Making a formation to replace the Space Crystal in this environment?

It was pure bullshit!

He had already spent so long here, but he couldn't even see the framework for a spatial formation. Tang Jie had never given him materials for a spatial formation, only saying that the current environment didn't fit the requirements.

He was the formation designer, so if he said it wasn't good enough, He Chong could only accept it!

Raising his head, he looked up at that prismatic red sun blazing in the sky.

He Chong knew that this was the Space Crystal.

The Space Crystal's power had divided the diagram world into three parts.

The core part was the Great Broken Stream.

This was the space that Tang Jie had initially cut out from the world and completely sealed using the Eternal Universe Formation, creating an isolated world like a reclusive Immortal's island.

In this "Broken Stream Immortal Island", life could freely breathe, proliferate, and survive, and many creatures lived within.

This place was also most suitable for He Chong to live in.

But Tang Jie, using the reason of protecting the formation, refused to let him in.

Outside of this island, a large swath of physical matter floated.

This was all physical matter that Tang Jie had added to the diagram in various ways in the past that had been converted back into raw material. This raw material turned into a gray-red soil that spread out from the edge of that "solitary island".

If the Broken Stream Island was the city, this land was the wilderness outside the city, the beaches to the island.

They were desolate, barren, and devoid of anything.

But at least they existed.

Farther still loomed a volcano, the furnace that Tang Jie had created to melt everything down to its raw materials. It was like another core, taking in the substances that Tang Jie had no use for and spitting out large quantities of "volcanic ash". This ash would fall to the ground and become the gray-red soil, but some of it would become the purest of most fundamental energy, fusing with the air and granting this world heat and wind.

Thus, in this world, it was the volcano and not the sun that provided heat.

The island and the wilderness formed a landmass.

Beyond the landmass was the void created by the Space Crystal.

There was absolutely nothing in the void, and the matter provided by the furnace was far from enough to fill it.

It was like a sea, completely encircling the landmass.

The world furnace allowed this little piece of land to stubbornly and doggedly expand.

The solitary island, wilderness, and void were the three parts of the diagram world.

He Chong was not allowed to enter the island and was not willing to enter the void, so modifying this barren wilderness was his only choice.

Even without Tang Jie's encouragement, he would work hard so that he could live a better life.

"Sir, the surveillance formation is done," Deng Yuqing respectfully said as he came up to He Chong's side. He passed a piece of paper to He Chong. "These are the results."

He Chong took the paper and shuddered. "This big?"

"Yes," Deng Yuqing replied. "According to my calculations, completely filling the void at the current speed would take at least ten thousand years."

"We don't have that much time," He Chong grimly said.

"So long as the void is here, this place will never be stable," Deng Yuqing said.

Duan Fourth came over and said, "Sir, the Drought Scholar Trees we planted a few days ago are all dead."

"Even Drought Scholar Trees can't survive," He Chong muttered.

Drought Scholar Trees were an extremely hardy plant that could basically survive as long as there was soil, a symbol of hardiness in the plant world. But even a plant like this couldn't survive in this desolate soil.

"We need water," Duan Fourth said.

"Water…" He Chong's eyes gradually brightened. "No, we need a sea!"

"Where would we get a sea?" Deng Yuqing asked.

"We make it ourselves, of course," He Chong replied.

He gazed at the distant volcano. "Since there is a furnace formation, there should also be an ocean-making formation. Starting from today, we will start dividing up the matter here into soil, water, and energy. If the world will not do the dividing… then I will do it for the world!"