Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-818

Tang Jie was dead.

Just like that?

Everyone dumbly stared at the battlefield.

In the end, had the number one genius of the Rosecloud Domain failed to create a miracle and died to Rosecloud's number one Violet Palace expert?

All of them felt like it was a great pity.

The Basking Moon Sect had ultimately lost this duel.

But it had been a Pyrrhic victory for Horizon Ocean Pavilion. Putting aside the heavy price the Jewel Immortal Sovereign had paid for this victory, even the wager she should have won had probably gone up in smoke along with Tang Jie.

But while some felt pity, others celebrated.

Only Xu Miaoran remained composed.

She gazed at the valley, her eyes firm. "No, my husband didn't die. He's a man who can create miracles, so he would never die like this."

"Miao'er." Xu Guanghua sorrowfully looked at his daughter, wanting to comfort her but not knowing what to say.

The Jewel Immortal Sovereign heartily laughed. "How can the dead talk of miracles? Ling Xiao, I've won this wager. Starting from today, the inter-domain trade–"

"Starting from today, the Immortal Sovereign must retreat from society and remain in seclusion for the rest of her days."

A voice casually rang out, and everyone froze as if they had been struck by lightning.

A person emerged from the void, strolling through the air. Who else could it be but Tang Jie?

"How is this possible?" the Jewel Immortal Sovereign cried out.

While a cultivator's Immortal arts were powerful, in the end, they still had mortal bodies. Perhaps they could completely recover from injuries, even regrow heads, but that was normally because they had the protection of the corresponding Immortal art. But there was no record in the Great Stellar Chiliocosm of someone being able to revive after being sliced into mincemeat.

At the Violet Palace Realm, this was true. However, at Immortal Platform, this was no longer, as those were true Immortals, undying and everlasting.

This was why nobody believed that Tang Jie could have survived.

But Tang Jie had done it.

He stood in the air and coldly gazed at Jewel. "It's possible if you've prepared for it."

As he spoke, an immense energy radiated from him, drawing that minced flesh back into Tang Jie's body, making his body seem even more solid and powerful.

Jewel was so familiar with this energy that she blurted out, "Immortal Essence power! How!?"

Immortal Essence was the power of Immortals, one only those who had cultivated to Earth Immortal could truly control, and it was the greatest difference between Immortal cultivators and spirit cultivators. Only when one reached Soul Projection could one barely reach the threshold of Immortal Essence, so how could Tang Jie already possess it? And it seemed like he had even more than she did.

She didn't know that this was the strongest attribute of the Martial Lord's body cultivation arts. Although the Immortal Spirit Body seemed to be on par with Violet Palace, in reality, it far surpassed it. The greatest difference was that cultivating the Immortal Spirit Body essentially allowed one to skip an entire realm that law cultivators had to go through and grasp Immortal power early.

The Immortal Spirit energy grasped by a peak middle-grade Immortal Spirit Body was already close to what an Earth Immortal could have. But law cultivators normally used Immortal Essence to create even more powerful Divine Connections. While they would also nourish their bodies with it, as their bodies were comparatively weak, they used less of it on this aspect. One could say that thirty percent went to their bodies while seventy percent went to Divine Connections.

Body cultivators were the exact opposite, spending the vast majority of Immortal Spirit power on their bodies and only a little on Divine Connections. This was exactly why body cultivators at Immortal Spirit Body, while still being able to cast arts, were vastly inferior at it compared to true law cultivators. Tang Jie had always been better with his fists than spell arts, so he had never wasted his Immortal power on spell arts.

Thus, while law cultivators used Immortal power in attacking, body cultivators used it for self-preservation.

Earth Immortals were "undying and everlasting" precisely because of Immortal power. Of course, they were not truly like this, but Immortal Spirit energy was able to keep one alive far better than spiritual energy.

Earth Immortals like Yun Tianlan and Ye Yun were able to use Immortal energy to create endless Divine Connections to devastate the world, while all Tang Jie could do with his Immortal Spirit Body was make himself an unkillable cockroach. Back during the battle of Godhead Palace, Tang Jie had been able to survive Han Wuxin's Slaughter Dao strike that had sealed him in ice thanks to this Immortal Spirit power.

Tang Jie had only had a little bit of Immortal Spirit power then, but now, he had the Immortal Spirit power of the peak middle grade, and the difference was like night and day.

Tang Jie had kept this trump card in his back pocket, waiting until the very last moment to use it.

The Jewel Immortal Sovereign was able to restore her condition through the Jade Ocean Lotus, and he had his own ways of doing the same.

Of course, restoring himself from such a shattered state was difficult through only Immortal Spirit power. But he had laid down a formation here.

With all the spectators, Tang Jie found it impossible to pull any tricks with the formation.

But being unable to lay any traps didn't mean that he couldn't design it to benefit him.

Heavenly Balance Mountain's formation was actually a formation that could boost one's recovery, and its core was the Imperial Sky Stamp, a Life Dao armament. Tang Jie had also let the Spotted Char out of the Myriad Immortals Cauldron and had the Imperial Sky Stamp absorb it, filling it with life force. This and the formation meant that being in the Valley of the Eight Wilds would vastly boost one's recovery abilities.

This boost was impartial, affecting everyone, so even Horizon Ocean Pavilion couldn't say anything. This was no longer a trick, only a battlefield that Tang Jie had chosen.

This boost had little effect on the Jewel Immortal Sovereign, because she wasn't trying to win the battle through out-healing her opponent.

But it was extremely important for Tang Jie. After all, his recovery abilities were immense, and this boost only made them better.

In addition, this formation also collected Immortal power. When Tang Jie's body was minced, the formation activated this Immortal power, converting it into a vast flood of resurrecting energy. Even if Tang Jie had been left with only a single cell, he could still be reborn, truly becoming undying.

Alas, it could only be used once. The formation was spent of energy, and Tang Jie was spent of Immortal Spirit power, and it would take him some time to recover.

Even so, this resurrection had brought Tang Jie to his full strength. Other than his Immortal Spirit power, he had everything, even being able to use the twelve strikes of the Combat Emperor Catalog again.

Not only that, he had found to his delight that he had actually grown stronger.

Meanwhile, the Jewel Immortal Sovereign had paid a bitter price to defeat Tang Jie.

Although she could still fight, against Tang Jie at his full strength, she had no chance of winning.

"Impossible! This is impossible! You were clearly dead! How could you come back to life!?" the Jewel Immortal Sovereign shrieked, unable to accept her defeat.

Her eyes glinted with savagery, and she shouted, "Even if you've come back to life, I'll just kill you again!"

She waved her hands, sending a hurricane sweeping toward Tang Jie.

She did not use the Gale of Dancing Void this time. She no longer had the Dao power to sustain it.

As for this attack, while it was fierce and powerful, it was nothing at all for Tang Jie.

She was gambling, gambling that Tang Jie was putting up a false front.

Tang Jie sighed. "Immortal Sovereign, if you insist, don't blame me for being harsh."

"I'd like to see how tough you can really be!" The Jewel Immortal Sovereign reached out a hand, and an elegant hand emerged from the hurricane, reaching for Tang Jie. Even though she was at the ends of her strength, this hand could not be underestimated, and even the spectating cultivators were surprised at how much power the Jewel Immortal Sovereign still had left.

Tang Jie chuckled, and then he said, "Devil Crushing Fist!"

The punch thundered forth, shattering the Jewel Immortal Sovereign's hand.

"No!" The Jewel Immortal Sovereign cried out in pain, and her body flashed as her arm regrew. She still refused to give up, summoning the remaining energy of her Three Purities World to crush Tang Jie, her Three Pure Bodies illuminating the world in divine light.

"Still not done?" A light emerged from the center of Tang Jie's forehead, spreading out in a ring around his feet as a vertical eye opened and gazed at the Jewel Immortal Sovereign. This glance made the Jewel Immortal Sovereign's heart tremble as she inwardly cried out, How could this be?

She knew that Tang Jie had the Dao of Insight, but as it was no use against people on Jewel's level, Tang Jie had never taken it out.

But now, Tang Jie had opened his Celestial Eye and activated his Dao Realm to observe Jewel.

And the Jewel Immortal Sovereign felt like Tang Jie was seeing right through her.

Tang Jie punched.

He punched at a corner of the Three Purities World, a seemingly unremarkable piece of land.

But when the punch landed, that furious surge of fist energy shook all of the Three Purities World.

The three avatars all let out wails of immense pain and plummeted to the ground, while the Three Purities World began to crumble and collapse.

Just one punch had brought down the Three Purities and made the world collapse. Just what sort of power was this?

Just when it seemed like the Three Pure Bodies would shatter, Tang Jie waved his hand, and the Imperial Sky Stamp flew out of the valley. The stamp let out three rays of light, which fell on the Three Pure Bodies and protected them.

"Tang Jie, what are you doing?" Everyone was dumbfounded.

Tang Jie explained, "Jewel, you've already lost this battle. The Three Purities are the foundation of your Immortal Three Purities Mantra. If I were to destroy them, your strength would greatly fall. Let alone advancing any higher, you might even suffer a fall in cultivation. But the Rosecloud Domain has only a few Celestial Sovereigns, so losing one would be a great loss. In another eight hundred years, the Primordial Fog Calamity will arrive, and to deal with this calamity, I hope to preserve your strength. When the calamity comes, there will be at least one human Celestial Sovereign to stand up and fight for the humans of the Rosecloud Domain."

These words left everyone stunned.

Nobody had expected Tang Jie to be so open-minded. After all, the Jewel Immortal Sovereign had just killed him once.

But it seemed from Tang Jie's expression that he was not faking it.

And he really wasn't. When he was lacking strength, he had done everything he could to get his hands on resources and win, resorting to the lowliest of methods.

But after reaching a certain level of achievement, one became much more open-minded and began to consider different problems.

Those of high status took on responsibility for the world. Those who still only thought for themselves were not suited for such a position.

Of course, this didn't mean being completely selfless, which was why Tang Jie would still try to defeat Jewel. But so long as conditions permitted, he would always try to consider the greater picture.

Tang Jie's words left Jewel speechless, and even the spectators and several great powers who were watching from the shadows nodded in agreement.

Immortal Essence suddenly flew out and fell on Jewel's Three Purities.

This power stabilized the Three Pure Bodies, and so long as the Three Pure Bodies existed, the Three Purities World could be rebuilt.

A voice came out from the distance. "Jewel, you've lost, so follow me back to Horizon Ocean Pavilion. From now on, Guanghua will be the Helmsman of Horizon Ocean Pavilion, while you will enter seclusion to cultivate. Unless there's a big incident like the Primordial Fog Calamity, you will not leave seclusion. You've always had a violent temperament, so being forced into seclusion after this loss might actually be good for you. If you do well, you might even be able to reach Earth Immortal."

All the cultivators immediately prostrated. "We pay respects to Fairy Gu She!"

Fairy Gu She, the Ice Mountain Fairy, was an Earth Immortal of Horizon Ocean Pavilion, a member of the former Four Absolutes of Near Antiquity. In terms of seniority, even Yun Tianlan was a little younger than her.

Fairy Gu She's words meant that the Jewel Immortal Sovereign had no choice but to concede.

Throwing over the Primal Yang Needle, the Jewel Immortal Sovereign said, "I've lost today's battle. The Freedom Celestial Sovereign, with his Deification cultivation, defeated a Soul Projection expert, creating an unrivaled miracle. From now on, you are the number one Violet Palace expert of the Rosecloud Domain. I hope that the Celestial Sovereign won't be satisfied with this and will keep advancing. In the Primordial Fog Calamity, your power might be needed to save us all!"

It didn't matter if these words were sincere or not.

After her anger had subsided, the Jewel Immortal Sovereign finally showed off the bearing proper of a mighty individual, no longer speaking about grudges or revenge, instead congratulating Tang Jie on his achievement.

After saying her piece, Jewel left.

From now on, unless it was the Primordial Fog Calamity or her sect was in danger, she would not appear in the Rosecloud Domain.

The spectators all looked at each other for a while, until finally someone shouted, "Freedom Celestial Sovereign, congratulations on becoming the number one Violet Palace expert!"