Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-572

With some experience, Tang Jie was now watching out for the divine sword's power.

While others regarded the divine sword's power as a danger to be avoided, he would rush over whenever he saw the divine sword's radiance in order to "negotiate" with it.

Tang Jie managed to encounter the divine sword's power quite a few times.

Most of the time, Tang Jie was chased off by the divine sword, sometimes even sustaining heavy injuries.

As the divine sword primarily exhibited might depending on the target's cultivation level, so long as one's true strength exceeded one's level, one would be much safer. Besides that, he also had a rabbit fiend to fly him around. Thus, so long as Tang Jie didn't use his original body to unleash the Devil Crushing Fist, he would be much safer than the average person.

But Tang Jie loved experimenting, and in the middle of all his constant provocation and experimenting, the danger he faced steadily rose.

The worst time was when Tang Jie inexplicably angered the sword soul, and a dazzling sword light had cut him in half. In the end, Tutu had carried Tang Jie around for half a day in flight before finally throwing off that sword.

When Tutu questioned Tang Jie, he found that he had "accidentally" taken out the Soul Refining Pearl while messing with the divine sword. The Soul Refining Pearl refined souls, and the remnant soul of the sword spirit was a special kind of soul, so there could be some connection between the two.

So Tang Jie tried it again.

And he was cut in half, again.

This experiment proved two things. Firstly, the Soul Refining Pearl couldn't become his golden finger, as he could not absorb the sword spirit's remnant souls. Secondly, he could anger the remnant souls, and the consequence of this was that that the sword soul would grow at least one tier stronger.

Tang Jie wasn't satisfied with this "at least" and wanted to get a more accurate result, but Tutu refused—it was too dangerous!

Considering that Tutu was an irreplaceable element in his ability to evade the pursuit of the divine sword, Tang Jie had to drop the matter.

New challenges and tests continued.

Searching for swords, challenging them, and being chased by them became almost all of Tang Jie's life.

As he interacted with the remnant souls more and more, he developed a greater understanding of them.

He found that while the remnant souls had all come from the same sword spirit and shared a tight connection, this long period of separation meant that they had begun to develop their own consciousnesses. This developing thought manifested in the slightly different attack methods the sword souls employed. Only someone familiar with them would be able to tell the difference.

In addition, the sword souls had their own likes and dislikes.

All of them loathed tools that could refine souls such as the Soul Refining Pearl, and discovering such a thing would instantly cause their strength to soar. In addition, they also had a strong dislike for the powers of Darkness, Slaughter, and Destruction, and they ignored Life and Wisdom.

Their favorite was the power of Yin Yang and the Five Elements, and when Tang Jie used the Infinity Sphere Art to fend off the divine sword, he felt like their attacks were at their weakest. But this didn't mean that he could rely on the Infinity Sphere Art to deal with the sword, for he had only cultivated to the fourth level and still could not unleash the technique's full power. Besides that, each of them had a different one of the Five Elements that they preferred. In addition, when Tang Jie tried to use the Weapon Mantra on them, it failed as expected, but it didn't provoke the expected intense reaction, and the subsequent attack only stabbed a few holes in his body.

Tang Jie guessed that this was because the Yin Yang Division Sword controlled the Dao of Yin Yang.

In addition, they seemed rather interested in Karma and Fate.

When Tang Jie attempted to use the power of Karma to find the sword souls, he managed to attract three of them. In the face of such "enthusiasm", Tang Jie could only take to the hills upon his rabbit.

Finally, they also had a fondness for Space power. When Tang Jie used spatial methods against them, the weakness of the attacks was second only to when he used the Infinity Sphere Art.

From this, Tang Jie thought that they might be interested in Time power, so he used his Time ability. But when he piled up all his spell arts and unleashed them at a single point in time, all he got was a gorgeous bisection at the waist.

From this, Tang Jie drew a painful conclusion.

The sword souls were fond of Space power because the Qian Kun Bag was a Dao armament of the Dao of Space. The sword had merged with the Qian Kun Bag, so they treated Space power with gentle hands.

From this, he surmised that the sword souls found Karma more acceptable not because Karma's nature was complementary with Yin Yang, but because Divine Genesis belonged to the Dao of Fate. The energies of the Yin Yang Division Sword and Divine Genesis had commingled, so the sword souls were somewhat more considerate of objects related to Karma, as you might act toward the grandson of your fourth aunt descended from your husband's eighth greataunt on his mother's side.

Finally, Tang Jie found that the sword souls, because of their shallow intelligence, held grudges.

If Tang Jie provoked them once, then came back after running away, he would face a stronger attack.

But their memory wasn't too good, and they would usually forget after a while.

Because of all the testing and being chased around, Tang Jie basically didn't get any treasures in this period of time.

Of course, he didn't care.

But while he didn't care, someone else did.

Even though he wasn't focused on progressing, as his exploration of the perimeter concluded, Tang Jie had to venture deeper in, so he couldn't avoid running into other people.

One day, as Tang Jie was flying about, he saw a little old man flying out from the distance, appearing around fifty years old.

This old man wore a long robe, appearing like a scholar, and he had a genial smile on his face.

Tang Jie had seen this person before and knew that he was one of the twenty representatives recruited by the Eastern Heavenly King.

Representatives had an odd relationship with each other. The Four Heavenly Kings had never demanded that the representatives fight each other, only that they take treasures, but in order to do this, they would have to fight each other.

Thus, Tang Jie was on his guard around this old man.

The old man spotted Tang Jie and slightly bowed to him, indicating that he meant no hostility. He flew up to around a thousand feet from Tang Jie and stopped. "This one is Zuo Quanming. I pay respects to this Daoist friend."

Tang Jie returned the bow. "This one is Tang Jie. I pay respects to you, Daoist friend."

Through his Celestial Eye, Tang Jie could already see that this person's cultivation level was a little higher than his, at the Heart Demon Tier.

Zuo Quanming was elated by Tang Jie's return gesture, and he said, "I did not expect to see Brother Tang here. I thought that everyone had gone farther in."

Tang Jie replied, "But you haven't gone farther in either, no?"

"I am not a person who seeks advancement," Zuo Quanming said with a laugh. "Seeking peace and quiet, I prefer to stroll about the perimeter rather than going in."

"Same, same," Tang Jie sighed. "I can only content myself with the trash outside."

The two of them looked at each other and simultaneously erupted in laughter.

They had seemingly been polite, but they had actually been implying to each other that neither of them had ventured deep into the Treasure Paradise, so there was no treasure to be had from them.

Finding that they shared the same intention, they both laughed.

They saluted each other and then went off on their own ways.

As he flew past, Zuo Quanming suddenly turned around, and a white jade tablet flew out of his sleeve at the back of Tang Jie's head.

As he threw out the jade tablet, Tang Jie also turned around, a large sword in his hand.

The Mountain Parting Sword!

The energy from the sword struck the jade tablet, instantly stirring up a gale.

Zuo Quanming hadn't expected Tang Jie to have the same idea. After a momentary pause, he grew angry and shouted at Tang Jie, "How could you be so shameless, trying to ambush me from behind?"

Tang Jie was startled. "Weren't you using the jade tablet to ambush me?"

Zuo Quanming angrily retorted, "How can you call that an ambush? I was testing you, training your reaction time and seeing if you were vigilant. As the saying goes, it's no good to think about hurting people, but you have to be on your guard against people. My attack with the jade tablet drew upon these wise words, but you chose to return my kind warning with hostility…"

He jabbered on and on.

As Tang Jie was being rendered speechless by the shamelessness of this man, he saw Zuo Quanming grab his jade tablet and say, "Seeing as you're a complete fool, I won't argue with you anymore. Goodbye!"

He brought his hands together and bowed before turning to leave.

But Tang Jie wasn't going to just let him leave because he wanted to. He coldly laughed and said, "I think you should stay right here."

He reached out with his hand.

As he was extending his hand, he could see a cunning look in Zuo Quanming's eyes, so he instinctively activated the Formless Golden Body and his other protective spell arts.

A moment later, Zuo Quanming separated his hands.

His hands had been holding the jade tablet originally, but the act of bringing them together to bid farewell had concealed his hands behind the tablet and his sleeves. Now that he had separated his hands, it was revealed that his left hand held a golden dragon stamp while his right hand was casting a combat spell. It seemed like he had been using his words to mislead Tang Jie into thinking that he was going to flee, but he was actually using his actions as a means of concealing his spell casting. He was truly a treacherous one.

Now that the spell art was complete, a dragon of golden energy stormed out of his sleeve, stabbing into Tang Jie's body like a heavenly lance. Tang Jie instantly threw up blood as the sound of cracking bones came from his body. He crashed into a distant mountain and sent up great plumes of smoke from the impact site.

"Big Brother!" Aghast, Yiyi flew after Tang Jie.

Zuo Quanming thrust out his palm.

An enormous palm of energy appeared, swatting at Tang Jie like he was a fly and flattening the peak of the mountain.

Seeing that Tang Jie had stopped moving, he coldly snorted as he drew back his hand. "Trying to fight with me? Seeking death!"

He flew above Tang Jie and closely examined him. He saw that Tang Jie was not breathing, clearly slain by his palm.

The Golden Dragon Stamp Art he had used was extremely powerful, but it took somewhat long to cast. For this reason, in every battle, Zuo Quanming would always try to swindle his opponents with words. He liked wearing long-sleeved robes because they were ideal for concealing his movements. For this purpose, the cloth he used was True Cloud Silk, which had exceptional anti-surveillance properties. That white jade tablet was also for the purpose of throwing off energy detection.

And when this blow struck true, even a Spirit Ring True Person would often be slain in a single blow, and he even followed it up with a Heaven Topple Hand.

He saw that Tang Jie was lifeless, a little girl hugging his corpse while weeping, and he mentally remarked, He should have stayed out of my way.

He grabbed Yiyi with one hand.

Yiyi flailed and struggled, but Zuo Quanming ignored her, his other hand reaching for Tang Jie's Mustard Seed Bag.

But the moment he was about to touch it, he realized that something was wrong.

That sprite girl had seemingly entered Transformation already, and even if her cultivation level wasn't that high, she shouldn't have been so easily captured.

He instinctively turned and saw that Yiyi was coldly staring at him. Although she was still loudly wailing, there was no sorrow or grief on her face. Rather, there was a sinister smile.

This smile made Zuo Quanming's hair stand on end.

He swiftly reacted, beating a hasty retreat.

At the same time, the "deceased" Tang Jie suddenly opened his eyes and punched at his back.

Zuo Quanming felt a powerful energy surge into his body. With a howl, he tried to escape into the skies, but he found that numerous vines had wrapped around him. Yiyi had opened her hands, unleashing numerous branches and vines that wrapped around Zuo Quanming like snakes.

Only in this perilous moment did Zuo Quanming show off the qualities of a powerful cultivator. With a great roar, his body erupted with flames.

The flame was so powerful that it instantly burned up all the vines Yiyi had released. It had to be understood that Yiyi was much more powerful after reaching Transformation, and while she hadn't learned any new spell arts, her original spell arts were much stronger. All the plants she summoned were as tough as steel, immune to most weapons, water, and fire.

Whatever spell art these flames came from, they had instantly broken the vines, and Yiyi backed away in fright.

Meanwhile, Tang Jie's second punch slammed into Zuo Quanming's back. As for his right hand, it stabbed the Annihilation Gale Sword at the crafty old man's head.

Just when the sword was about to touch him, Zuo Quanming's body suddenly faded, becoming ethereal.

The sword hit nothing solid, and Tang Jie looked to the distance in shock, where a human figure was emerging from the void. But while others emerged from the void with majesty and dignity, he came out like a loach struggling out of the mud, writhing as he emerged from space, even flopping around for a bit like a fish out of water. Finally, gasping for breath, he fearfully looked at Tang Jie.

He pointed at Tang Jie and said, "You treacherous cad! How could you pretend to be dead?"

Tang Jie was dumbfounded. He had clearly been treacherous first, ambushing him, so how could he criticize him without feeling the slightest twinge of guilt?

He was about to say something when he suddenly realized that the situation wasn't right. He gave the man a closer look and found that there was something odd about the finger he was using to point. Other people used their index finger, but he was using his thumb, his other four fingers drawn back and hidden.

Tang Jie instantly knew that this was bad news, and he hastily flew up. At that moment, Zuo Quanming's thumb lit up, and an energy sword shot out.

Thankfully, Tang Jie had dodged quickly, or else this finger sword would have struck true.

Tang Jie knew without even thinking that this finger sword was just as powerful as that golden dragon.

Though he had only been pretending to be dead, that golden dragon had been quite savage. If not for the armor of Mother Cloud Essence Metal, those two attacks would have left him heavily injured, if not dead. Even then, he had been badly wounded. He hadn't expected to almost fall for the same trick.

Enraged, Tang Jie pointed at Zuo Quanming and shouted, "Shameless! Watch my sword!"

He stabbed the Annihilation Gale Sword at Zuo Quanming.

Zuo Quanming was going to block, but he realized that the sword's attack wasn't strong at all. As he was wondering why this was, he heard a wailing from above.

Looking up, he saw countless crescent blades descending, trailing long chains and flashing with lightning. His soul almost left his body as he shrieked, "You're the shameless one, faking your death and then telling me to watch your sword! What do you mean, your fucking 'sword'? Is this a sword? These are blades, blades!!!"

But despite his wailing, he was moving rather quickly, taking an Eight Trigrams stone disc from his Mustard Seed Bag and throwing it into the air.

The Eight Trigrams disc grew and began to fire off bolts of lightning.

The crescent blades failed to break through the disc, exploding against it in a rather beautiful sight.

Tang Jie snorted. "Better than you! Watch my sword!"

He attacked with his sword again.

Zuo Quanming was going to scoff at this, but then he saw smoke spiraling and sensed trouble. With a shrill cry, he jumped into the air and repeatedly teleported while the sword gave chase. Like a snake, the old man wriggled through the skies, somehow managing to endure the sword's might.

It had to be understood that this was a Divine Connection.

As expected, anyone who could be selected as a representative was extraordinary. Na Shan had been easily able to take the Five Mountains Shift, and this old man was able to evade the Annihilation Gale.

Even so, the old man still moaned, "A divine treasure! A divine treasure! You actually have a divine treasure! So you're that kid with the divine sword, and with more than one! I say, if you already have a divine sword, why did you even come?"

"When it comes to divine weapons, the more the better." Tang Jie produced another sword: the Sun Crow Sword.

As he swung, a Golden Crow emerged, emitting boundless flames.

The old man had already expended a great deal of strength to evade the Annihilation Gale, and another Divine Connection had him scared out of his wits. He shouted, "No more fighting! I surrender!"

Tang Jie was somewhat tempted to accept.

He was rather curious about this old man's methods. Casting spell arts in his sleeve was merely a petty trick, but the methods he had used to burn up Yiyi's vines and escape the sword were quite bizarre.

He wanted to capture the old man and interrogate him, so he had the sword spirit stop attacking.

The Golden Crow cried out unwillingly before flying back. As Tang Jie was about to talk, the old man thumped his chest and said, "What a formidable divine sword. You almost killed me. I didn't think that you could use two Divine Connections. But you won't be able to use another one now, right?"

His eyes focused, and he rushed up to Tang Jie and swung a crimson scimitar in his hand, unleashing a wave of bleak and murderous energy.

But Tang Jie was ready this time. Smirking, he said, "I knew you would try something."

Putting away the divine swords, Tang Jie produced the Five Sacred Mountains Sword with his right hand, pointing it at the old man. "Suppress!"

The five mountain souls descended.

Zuo Quanming's heart shivered in fear.

He knew that Tang Jie had a third divine sword, but he didn't realize that Tang Jie still had the strength to harness its power.

Being able to flatten a mountain peak with a single palm didn't mean that he could take on five of them, and Zuo Quanming did not dare to take this attack. But this old man seemed to have a streak of stubbornness, suddenly shouting, "I'm taking you down!"

He charged at Tang Jie with all his might, seemingly intent on taking Tang Jie down with him.

Tang Jie wasn't planning on going with him to the underworld, so he began to retreat. At the same time, he threw out palm blasts to prevent Zuo Quanming from getting closer.

But to his surprise, as he retreated, he found that Zuo Quanming was actually retreating as well. He clearly had his face toward Tang Jie, but he was actually flying backward, faster than when he flew forward! Moreover, he was also moving his hands and feet as if he was running forward, even though his body was clearly running backward. As such, by the time one realized what was going on, he had already retreated a great distance.

Caught off guard, Tang Jie could only watch him run away. That face dwindling into the distance still had a savage look on it, as if he was in his final death charge. He was still even shouting, "I'm taking you down…"

"Taking you down…"

"Down…"

While still making that determined battle cry, he disappeared from Tang Jie's sight.

There was a great rumble as the Five Mountains Divine Connection struck nothing. There was confusion in this rumbling, as if wondering how this old man had managed to escape them.

Tang Jie's eyes were wide open as he stared. After a long while, he finally squeezed out, "This guy's a real talent."