Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-717

Er Hu was flying as fast as he could under a crimson sky, but his speed was half as fast as usual, thanks to a large wound that had almost emptied out his chest. Black energy lingered around the wound, preventing it from healing, and a wicked energy was further infiltrating Er Hu's body, almost making him fall from the sky.

A pack of fiends wreathed in black wind was chasing him, led by a Transformation black bear fiend general. With an ugly face and savage expression, he roared, "Foul brat, you can't escape! Obediently accept your death!"

He accelerated toward Er Hu, thrusting out a palm.

Suddenly, Er Hu turned around, a red light in his hands. The black bear fiend immediately knew he was in trouble and tried to draw back his hand, but his extended arm had already been chopped off in a crimson flash.

"Awwooo!" The black bear fiend was both stunned and infuriated, never having expected that this human would still be able to resist after taking his Black Bane Fist. But the black bear quickly regrew his severed arm.

Er Hu turned around and kept flying. But after that strike, his injuries had worsened. Inwardly, he groaned that that strike, despite containing the last of his power, had only been able to take the black bear's arm. Given how much life force the bear fiend had, it really wasn't a problem.

The fiends were catching up, and Er Hu didn't have the strength to keep running. He inwardly cursed and wondered, Am I going to have to use my trick again?

At this moment, a voice rang out in his mind.

"Er Hu."

Stunned, Er Hu called out, "Master!"

He hastily looked around, but there was no sign of Tang Jie. He bitterly smiled and said, "So it was an illusion."

But a moment later, something absurd happened.

A small fiend among the fiends chasing him suddenly tripped and crashed into the fiend in front of it. Caught off guard, this fiend lost grip of its saber, which flew out of its hand and smacked the head of the black bear fiend, who staggered. Although this saber hadn't done any damage, the black bear was enraged, roaring, "Who was it? Who dares to strike me?"

But a moment later, the clouds roiled, and bolts of lightning began to bombard the fiends, throwing them into disarray.

This lightning honestly wasn't very powerful, but it had eerily appeared without any pulse of spiritual power, and all of the bolts were extremely accurate when striking their targets. The black bear was further enraged, yelling, "Who's there?"

But nobody replied.

Er Hu watched all this in awe, upon which that voice rang out again. "Hurry up and get moving!"

This voice wasn't real, seeming more like a feeling, but it brought Er Hu to his senses, and he turned and ran.

The black bear wanted to give chase, but other than the lightning, his subordinates had fallen into disarray and were starting to mistakenly attack him, leaving him vexed and unable to catch up. He could only watch as that accursed human escaped, stomping his feet in rage.

Upon finally escaping, Er Hu was in disbelief. If it was his master who had saved him, why hadn't he appeared? And why had he used such strange and mild methods?

As he was thinking, that bizarre feeling engulfed him once more.

Er Hu blurted out in shock, "Daoxiang Village!"

For no explicable reason, Er Hu understood that Tang Jie was in Daoxiang Village.

Gritting his teeth, Er Hu turned and flew toward Daoxiang Village.

He had chosen to believe in this feeling, believe in the guidance of Fate!

He ended up flying for several days.

Finally, Daoxiang Village appeared in the distance.

As he flew closer and closer, that sense of familiarity grew stronger and stronger.

Master was here!

Master was here!

Er Hu wanted to cry out in excitement.

He flew right into the village, landing on the ground, the directions in his heart guiding him toward Tang Jie's house.

And then he saw a tanned, middle-aged man standing in front of a furnace, holding a large hammer and forging a piece of metal. Around the building, several villagers were gawking at him.

Er Hu ignored the villagers, looking only at the blacksmith.

The man raised his head, revealing an aged but familiar face, and smiled at him. "You've come."

"Master!" Er Hu shouted.

And then he fainted.

When he woke up, Er Hu found himself lying in bed. That terrifying wound on his chest had been healed so perfectly that not even a scar remained.

He got up and walked out of the room. Outside, Tang Jie was repairing a broken plow. He turned at the sound of the noise and smiled. "You're awake. There's water on the side. You can pour it yourself."

"Master…" Er Hu spat out, looking at Tang Jie's "aged" face.

He wanted to ask why Tang Jie looked like this, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.

The confident and far-sighted Tang Jie of his memories had been replaced by a Tang Jie that forged farming tools. Er Hu found it impossible to imagine or understand.

Tang Jie continued to busy himself with his work while saying, "You don't have to look at me so strangely. While I've been working in the village, the villagers will think it odd if I don't appear a little weathered. But by coming over, you've essentially exposed me. But it's fine. Being exposed isn't that big of a deal."

Er Hu was startled by what he was hearing. "Master, how long have you been here?"

"Twenty years," Tang Jie answered without raising his head.

Twenty years.

Er Hu was stunned.

It was no wonder Tang Jie had to take on this appearance.

But why would he stay in this village for twenty years? And that sensation of being called out… was that his master's work?

He had far too many questions he wanted to ask, yet he couldn't get any of them out of his mouth.

As he looked at Tang Jie, he suddenly felt sorrow welling up within him, and his eyes began to tear up.

He dropped to his knees and bowed.

He began to weep, "Master, I had such a hard time trying to find you!"

He had spent eighty years on the battlefield and experienced countless close brushes with death and challenges, sometimes even despairing in the midst of his battles. But each time, he had struggled through and survived, all so that he could see his master again.

Now that they were meeting each other again, all of his heartache, all of his suffering, all of his disappointment and sorrow, erupted. Er Hu clung onto Tang Jie's leg and wept.

Tang Jie sighed and patted Er Hu on the head. "In terms of age, you're nearly a hundred years old, and in terms of cultivation, you're already at Spirit Ring, so why do you still act like such a child?"

Quite a few villagers had gathered around, quietly watching this sight.

An old man with a dragonhead cane walked out and deeply bowed to Er Hu. "Might I ask if you are Senior Er Hu?"

Er Hu raised his head and looked at the elder in confusion, lightly nodding.

The old man immediately grew excited. "My father is Er Shouzi."

"Er Shouzi?" Er Hu was taken aback.

He looked at Tang Jie, who nodded to confirm that he already knew. He had lived in the village for so long that there was no way he wouldn't understand its ins and outs. It was just that he had never revealed this knowledge.

Er Hu asked, "Where is your father?"

The elder replied, "He passed away thirty-some years ago."

Er Hu was stunned. "When Er Shouzi and I parted ways, he was just a naughty child… but now, eighty years have gone by, and many people have passed away. I'm guessing that there is nobody left here that I know."

Upon hearing these words, the villagers became sure that this was Er Hu who had left Daoxiang Village all those years ago, and all of them prostrated.

Not just to Er Hu, but to Tang Jie as well.

Although there was no one left in Daoxiang Village who recognized Tang Jie or Er Hu, their legends had remained, and today, they finally realized that Blacksmith Tang was actually Immortal Tang.

That day was an unprecedented day of festivity for Daoxiang Village.

Daoxiang Village celebrated their Immortal Tang who had been "protecting" this village the whole time.

Yes, in their view, Tang Jie had remained here to protect them.

While the villagers celebrated, in the house, Er Hu recounted his eighty years of bloodsoaked life to Tang Jie.

After separating from Tang Jie, Er Hu set off on his own path of cultivation.

As the Blood Bane Classic required killing, he couldn't cultivate it in Fengshan. His only choice was fiend territory.

Thus, another vicious butcher appeared on the battlefield.

Er Hu had been on the battlefield all this time. He started by killing the weakest fiends and slowly grew stronger and stronger, until the name of Sanguine Blade King Er Hu became renowned among the human cultivators.

Thirty years ago, Er Hu finally broke through into Celestial Heart, and he became stronger and even more valiant in battle. But as he couldn't achieve this in the appointed time, Er Hu believed that his master had already left. Even so, he did not lose heart and continued to fight on the battlefield.

As he killed more and more fiends, he began to gain infamy among the fiends, with some fiends even opening bounties on him. As he gradually became a center of attention, he started to find life more difficult.

This chase had simply been one of many.

Even without Tang Jie's help, Er Hu might have survived. This was because he cultivated the Blood Flight Art, which allowed him to flee by consuming large amounts of his blood energy. But this escape art was too costly, and each time he used it, it would damage his cultivation.

The reason Er Hu had not been able to reach Celestial Heart within thirty years despite the power of the Blood Bane Classic and all the fiends he had killed was the Blood Flight Art. It was Er Hu's lifesaver, but it was also the culprit behind his slow progress.

Hearing this, Tang Jie nodded. "No wonder I found that your blood energy had been severely consumed and your foundations exhausted and damaged when I was treating you. With the current state of your body, without some natural treasure or some supplement rich in blood energy, your progress will stop here for the rest of your life.'

Er Hu sincerely said, "Er Hu doesn't care about progress. Er Hu is happy enough to stay at Master's side."

Tang Jie smiled. "Silly! If you can't progress, you won't get any stronger, so even if you're at my side, you can't help me, only burden me."

Er Hu's heart froze. "Master, I…"

"That's why your Master won't accept this state of affairs." Tang Jie stood up and walked out.

"Master, where are you going?" Er Hu asked.

"To get you some natural treasures, of course," Tang Jie casually said.

"But… natural treasures aren't easy to find," Er Hu muttered.

"True. The fiend pellets of fiend kings are easier to get. Just rest here. Your master will be back soon."