Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-586

The Mountain River State Diagram unrolled, and Tutu and Yiyi appeared.

Tang Jie pointed at one avatar and said, "Go and hold that one down. He can leave the valley, but don't let him get too far."

"Eh?" Tutu's head shrank back at the suggestion that it should try and hold down one of the Blood River Lord's avatars.

Tang Jie glared. "Holding him down is Yiyi's job. You simply need to bring Yiyi away when she reaches her limit. I just need you to hold him down so that he can't run too quickly or get too far, in addition to keeping track of his location. I'm not asking you to capture him."

"Understood." Tutu sighed in relief.

Tang Jie threw the Treasure Cosmos Formation and a Mustard Seed Bag full of beans to Yiyi. "Use these two things to help you out. They should be enough to hold him down."

"Understood!" Yiyi patted Tutu, and they took off in pursuit of the Blood River Lord's avatar.

At the same time, Tang Jie sprinted off in the direction of the other avatar. Thanks to that bird of white flame above his head, all the other flames made way for him. Tang Jie even put down his barrier and found that not a single tongue of flame burned him. It was an unprecedented sense of freedom that made Tang Jie want to throw his head back and yell.

Madly laughing, he ran as fast as he could. As he didn't need to waste energy on his barrier and was supported by his spirit-restoring pills, he threw all his energy into speed, so he quickly caught up to the Blood River Lord's avatar. Once there, he did the same thing, the firebird summoning a wave of fire creatures.

The Blood River avatar had no choice but to turn around and fight back, shooting Tang Jie a venomous glare.

The venerable Lord of the Blood River was being chased by a Spirit Ring brat? The humiliation alone could kill him.

Though he was indignant, there was nothing he could do.

Tang Jie wouldn't give a second thought to his mood. Each Blood River avatar was a fine treasure to the Flesh Millstone. The blood energy from the avatar he had just absorbed was somewhat stronger than what came from a blood gem, and the Flesh Millstone's power had been further refined, giving off some of the feeling of the Blood Sea Divine Connection. Once he absorbed this avatar, the Flesh Millstone might even be able to use some of that Divine Connection's powers.

Meanwhile, Yiyi and Tutu had caught up to the other Blood River avatar.

As they were in the sea of flames, any plants she summoned would instantly be burned to ash, so Yiyi didn't try to use them to attack. Instead, she threw out energy wall after energy wall. These walls wouldn't hurt the Blood River avatar, but they would hinder him. Each time he had to force his way through a wall would slow him down a little and waste a little more energy.

The Blood River Lord was incensed by this harrassment, but every time he turned around to deal with Yiyi, Tutu would run off. This rabbit wasn't good at anything else, but its speed was just amazing, and nobody could match it in a short-term sprint. The avatar wanted to use the Blood Sea Divine Connection, but in the sea of flames, the weakened Blood Sea would be burned up before it could expand far enough. Even if he did manage to expand it, the rabbit was too fast to catch. Thus, the Blood River Lord could only give up and keep going, after which Yiyi and Tutu would come back to throw up more energy walls and hinder his progress.

The two parties continued this game of cat and mouse as they made their way through Holy Fire Valley.

The Blood River Lord tried all manner of methods to deal with Yiyi.

Sometimes, he would slow down and wait for Yiyi to get closer before suddenly lunging at her. But Yiyi had been with Tang Jie for many years and had seen all sorts of tricks, so such things couldn't fool her.

Other times, he would feign a pursuit, making Yiyi run, and then he would turn around and suddenly accelerate. Alas, the rabbit was just too fast, so when it saw that the Blood River Lord was running, it would immediately put on the speed and catch up in a flash.

After all the back and forth, the Blood River Lord just couldn't throw off Yiyi.

But as they had started in the middle region of the valley, while running at full speed, the Blood River Lord finally managed to reach the entrance of the valley.

His heart rejoiced when he saw the clear and open world outside.

Once they were out of Holy Fire Valley, he wouldn't have to worry about his Blood Sea being weakened. Thinking this, he picked up speed.

Yiyi smirked and waved her hand. Outside the valley, numerous plants rose up and formed a green cage. The moment the Blood River Lord ran out of the valley, he rammed straight into the thick net of vines and was instantly bound up in them.

"Tsk, the sea of flames restricted you, but it also restricted me!" Yiyi put her hands on her hips and crowed.

The Blood River Lord struggled to break free and failed. He said with a nasty laugh, "You think this is enough to hold me?"

His body turned to blood that seeped through the openings in the cage.

Yiyi snorted. "It's not like I haven't seen this before. I was ready for this!"

She waved her hand, and countless roots emerged, stabbing into the blood and greedily drinking it.

What she had summoned were Vampire Vines.

Vampire Vines loved to drink blood, and they instantly drained a great deal of the power inside the blood, causing the avatar to yowl. Although he managed to break free of the Vampire Vines, he had lost a great deal of blood because of it, even a few drops of precious essence blood. The Vampire Vines didn't have Tang Jie's Insight, but the number of vines meant that some of them were absorbed purely through blind luck.

The blood reformed into the Blood River Lord, and he angrily yelled, "Little girl, I'll kill you!"

The Blood Sea Divine Connection was activated, an ocean of blood expanded, and more than a hundred large birds made of blood emerged from the ocean.

The Blood Sea Divine Connection was the Blood River Lord's fundamental Divine Connection, the basis upon which he could use various other mighty spell arts and Divine Connections.

The blood birds were just one of these methods. These blood birds actually weren't very strong, but they didn't use much energy. The battles and constant draining forced the Blood River Lord to consider not just how to defeat his foes, but how to do so while using the least amount of energy.

Yiyi had also emerged from Holy Fire Valley at this time. When she saw all the blood birds, she looked up and pointed at the sky in disdain. "Go!"

The earth cracked open, and countless black tentacle-like vines rushed out, a deep roar coming from the abyss.

It was Black Sin.

But compared to the previous times, Yiyi could summon a stronger Black Sin even more easily and quickly.

After entering Transformation, Yiyi didn't gain any new abilities, but her new power was used to strengthen her old abilities, and a lot of that power had been used on Black Sin.

As her strongest move, Black Sin immediately revealed a heaven-shaking power, charging at the Blood River Lord with a guttural roar. Even though it had just been summoned and had no fiends to feed on, making it the weakest it could be, it still displayed a shocking level of power.

In a pure clash of strength, the Heart Demon avatar might not be a match for Black Sin.

But the Blood River Lord naturally wasn't dumb enough to go head to head with a plant his foe had summoned. He had some of his blood birds fend off the attacks from below while other blood birds continued to fly at Yiyi.

Yiyi cocked her head and pointed at the ground. "Rise!"

Countless vines rose up.

But rather than forming a simple cage, they intertwined and weaved together as they crept ever upward. As they grew, some of the vines took the form of giant hands that grabbed the attacking birds, whereupon Vampire Vines would greedily drink them up. As for the rest of the vines, they densely coiled themselves around branches to form cages, with leaves used as filling, creating tightly-packed constructions that even blood couldn't seep through. In the blink of an eye, they crushed the diving blood birds.

Once all the blood birds had disappeared, an enormous and beautiful verdant palace had appeared.

The verdant palace had three floors.

The lowest level consisted of a large number of green mats that laid out the foundation, speckled with a few petals. There were also flying arches made from intertwining green branches, eight of them in all, spanning the upper and lower level.

The middle floor consisted of a large platform upon which there was a small hall made from vines and covered in flowers in a rainbow of colors. There were small doors on the sides of the hall, revealing the intricate layout within. Everything one might expect was here, including chairs, tables, beds, windows, and roof beams. This was no empty shell, but a real palace.

On the highest floor of the palace was an eight-sided flower pavilion, made entirely from flower petals. It was a joyful sight, bringing together all of the world's most beautiful colors.

The Jade Blossom Palace!

After reaching Transformation, Yiyi finally completed her spell art, another powerful spell art to join her arsenal alongside the Silkheaven Net. Its greatest use was in defense, imprisonment, and support.

It could even be of use while it was growing.

Yiyi stood upon the eight-sided pavilion made from more than three hundred kinds of flowers and plants, wearing a rainbow crown of flowers, holding a floral staff, wearing garments made of flowers, and wearing shoes woven from petals. These were the Mystic Flora Regalia that Tang Jie had found for her, a set of four ultimate-grade art relics.

Yiyi proudly looked down at the Blood River Lord and declared, "Big Brother ordered me to hold you down, and I know that this was for my sake. But actually, I want to try killing you!"

The Blood River Lord was stunned. Had this girl gone crazy?

Yiyi very earnestly said, "It's not necessarily impossible. You're at the Heart Demon Tier while I'm essentially at Spirit Ring. Although I've only just entered Spirit Ring, in the end, I'm only one tier weaker. I know that you're an avatar of an Immortal Platform cultivator, so even a Heart Demon Tier avatar can't be underestimated, but you aren't at full power, and you're probably not even at 40% of your peak. With Black Sin and Tutu to help me, I can fight it out with you, and besides, I have other tricks as well."

The Blood River Lord laughed. "This old man's strength truly has been affected, but that's simply because I've used too much of my energy and can't last in a long battle. My actual strength hasn't fallen. You really think you can outlast my energy reserves?"

"I'm just trying it out. It's no shame if I lose, and I can just run back to the valley.," Yiyi folded her arms while speaking as if she was like an old man.

The Blood River Lord smiled in anger, and a giant hand formed in the Blood Sea and reached for Yiyi. Down below, Black Sin bellowed, and countless vines rose up. At the same time, Yiyi slapped her flower palace, and countless petals flew out, gathering into a flower dragon that attacked the blood hand.

Silkheaven Net!

Supported by the Mystic Flora Regalia, the Silkheaven Net was three times stronger than before.

The flower dragon of the Silkheaven Net and the vine dragon of Black Sin battled with the blood hand, and the area outside of Holy Fire Valley erupted with brilliant blasts of light.

The Blood River Lord saw that Yiyi was actually fighting him evenly. He snorted, and countless Blood Fiends emerged from the Blood Sea to attack Yiyi. These Blood Fiends weren't strong individually, but they were rather troublesome to deal with, as they would explode on death, and their blood had corrosive properties.

The Blood River Lord had never feared group battles, for his Blood Sea Divine Connection could produce countless creatures and take on infinite forms.

The Blood Fiends swung weapons, pulled with their arms, or even just gnawed on the vines. Those vines which were tougher than steel were gradually broken apart, and the foundations of the Jade Blossom Palace began to loosen.

Yiyi did not panic, sowing 1500 beans.

The bean king, with his blood-colored crown and golden armor, proudly stood in the center of this army, jabbering and shouting.

Yiyi patted him on the head and said, "Be good, be good. I've given you all the soldiers I have. There aren't any more."

The little bean king stomped his feet several times, expressing his dissatisfaction over the lack of beanpower.

While these two were messing around, the bean soldiers took up formation and charged, beginning their battle against the Blood Fiends.

In this large-scale battle, the commander-less Blood Fiends were clearly no match for the bean soldiers.

Led by various bean generals, the bean soldiers assembled into various formations and charged through the battlefield. In just a few charges, they had the Blood Fiends running for their lives in a complete rout.

"What… what are these things?" The little beans boldly fighting and yelling left the Blood River Lord stunned.

Even with his more than ten thousand years of experience, he couldn't recognize where these beans had come from.