Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-819

The Zephyr Mountains.

As expected, today was yet another grandiose victory banquet.

All the members of the Basking Moon Sect were celebrating Tang Jie's victory, celebrating the Basking Moon Sect's rising power.

In today's battle, Tang Jie had used his Deification cultivation to become the number one Violet Palace expert in Rosecloud, which meant that the Basking Moon Sect had officially become the strongest of the six– no, four major sects. Although the Earth Immortals meant that this was not an overwhelming advantage, it was enough to make everyone rejoice. Moreover, everyone else also harbored the idea that if Tang Jie could beat Soul Projection while at Deification, perhaps he could beat Earth Immortals while at Soul Projection.

Moreover, the difficulty of reaching Soul Projection was much lower than reaching Earth Immortal.

Until Immortal Platform, minor tiers were always easier to advance into than major realms. So long as there were no accidents, Tang Jie reaching Soul Projection was only a matter of time.

For this reason, all of the Basking Moon Sect was wildly celebrating. But the main character of all this was not present for the festivities.

The back mountain of Starsnatch Peak.

In the thatched hut.

Tang Jie respectfully stood before Yun Tianlan.

Yun Tianlan waved his hand. "Sit."

Tang Jie sat down.

Yun Tianlan looked Tang Jie over before nodding in satisfaction. "You did very well this time. Although you defeated Jewel, you managed to win everyone's hearts. Right now, there are even many people inside Horizon Ocean Pavilion who are complimenting you. Some of this is thanks to Xu Guanghua and his daughter, but more of it is thanks to your magnanimous attitude. This is how a proper person of authority should act."

"This disciple does not live up to Martial Ancestor's high praise."

"There's no need to be polite." Yun Tianlan waved his sleeve. "I had you come because there's something I want to ask you. As I was observing your battle, I found that your last strike, the Reincarnation Strike, seemed different from before, its power much greater. How did that happen?"

The Reincarnation Strike Tang Jie had thrown out at the last moment had been shockingly powerful, and even the full defense of a Soul Projection Celestial Sovereign had been unable to stop it, causing Jewel to be heavily injured. And after Tang Jie recovered, this power boost had remained, his Devil Crushing Fist also becoming much more powerful, shattering Jewel's arm and then throwing the Three Purities World into disarray.

Tang Jie replied, "This is thanks to the War God Mantra. Your disciple hadn't expected this mantra to be a set with the Combat Emperor Catalog."

Tang Jie had obtained the War God Mantra from the fragment of the Court of Myriad Domains.

At the time, Tang Jie had obtained three mantras: the Longevity Sword, the Free Roaming Divine Connection, and the War God Mantra. Of them, the War God Mantra had been the only one that could be learned at the Celestial Heart Realm. Tang Jie had learned this art upon entering the Heart Demon Tier, and he found that while it had increased his body's combat power, its effects were limited. Gradually, he put it aside. It was only after he had grasped the Longevity Sword that he realized that the War God Mantra might not be ordinary either, upon which he started cultivating it again. But he hadn't gotten the Combat Emperor Catalog at the time, so he still didn't feel any benefits, so he once again gave up on it. He also learned that Free Roaming Divine Connection, but alas, this Divine Connection was good for long-distance traveling and of little use in battle. As time went on, Tang Jie forgot about the War God Mantra.

In his battle with the Jewel Immortal Sovereign, in that final moment, Tang Jie had mustered all of his power, and through the Black Yellow Treatise, the War God Mantra had been activated as well. To his surprise, when the War God Mantra and Combat Emperor Catalog were put together, they created an unbelievable power, boosting the attacks of the Combat Emperor Catalog by at least forty percent.

In an actual battle, forty percent was extremely useful, and as a result, Jewel had been heavily injured.

Only then did Tang Jie understand that the War God Mantra and Longevity Sword were both meant to match with the Martial Lord's skills.

After hearing Tang Jie's explanation, Yun Tianlan nodded. "I see now. This Immortal Ji Yao is truly an extraordinary person, able to create arts that are so complementary with the Martial Lord."

Tang Jie agreed. "Yes. It's a pity I didn't know about it earlier. If I had and cultivated the War God Mantra to a more profound level, today's battle might not have been as difficult. But it's rather strange. When I was in the Verdant Cloud Domain, I once told her about what I had encountered in the Myriad Court fragment, so why didn't she explain the function of these two arts to me?"

"Perhaps she was testing you and hoping that you would find out yourself," Yun Tianlan replied.

Powerful people had their own eccentricities that made them act strangely, which was why Yun Tianlan said this.

Tang Jie shook his head, a pensive look in his eyes. "I don't know, but I always feel like there's something wrong about Immortal Ji Yao. I just don't know what."

"Oh?" Yun Tianlan was surprised. "What's wrong about her?"

After some time, Tang Jie replied, "I can't describe it. From the moment I came to know her, she seemed to be engulfed in clouds of suspicion that obscure her true form. I feel like she's trying to hide something."

"'Hide something'?"

Tang Jie shook his head. "I don't know."

Yun Tianlan lowered his head and pondered the question, and then he waved his sleeve. The Eternity Sarcophagus appeared, the Azure Dragon lying within it.

"Since you don't know, why don't you ask this old dragon?" Yun Tianlan said.

He took off the lid, and the Azure Dragon sat up.

Coldly gazing at Yun Tianlan and Tang Jie, the dragon grunted, "Why have you so quickly called out this old Immortal once more? What questions do you have this time?"

Yun Tianlan replied, "I don't have any cultivation questions with which to trouble you, Honored Immortal, but I do have some questions concerning Immortal Ji Yao."

The Azure Dragon snorted. "Immortal Ji Yao? What is there to say about this woman? She was originally a fairy of the court, but after she fell to demonhood, she rebelled against the court, and Yu Cheng ended up sealing her in that small demon domain for ten thousand years."

This story was no different from what Tang Jie and Yun Tianlan knew, but it wasn't what Tang Jie wanted to know.

Tang Jie asked, "Could you go into more detail?"

The Azure Dragon rolled its eyes. "I don't have any deep relationship to that demon woman, so how much could I really know? Moreover, you ruined my reincarnation plan, so why should I tell you anything?"

Tang Jie wasn't angry over being talked back to by "her", smiling and saying, "She was the one who gave me this Eternity Sarcophagus. Without it, you might have recovered some of your power and broken free already. Don't you resent her?"

These words poked the old dragon's sore spot, and it hesitated.

But after a while, it shook its head. "In the end, I hate you a little more. I won't help you."

Tang Jie was in no rush, putting it to the side and saying to Yun Tianlan, "To get the Eternity Sarcophagus, I removed half of the Immortal talisman. I always felt like there was something afoot with that. Perhaps the seed planted on that day will be the fruit that allows Immortal Ji Yao to escape. We have to take precautions. Martial Ancestor, do you have a way of reinforcing the talisman?"

After some thought, Yun Tianlan asked, "What is the state of your Mountain River State Diagram as of late?"

"It's still in the middle of construction. I've recently gotten the stars to begin moving."

Yun Tianlan nodded. "I will have Ling Xiao continue sending resources your way. Perhaps in a little while, I will be able to go in, but we can't put this off for too long."

Tang Jie understood what he meant. If too much time passed, Yun Tianlan would become a True Immortal, at which point the Mountain River State Diagram would once more be unable to hold him.

A small world had its own power limits. The higher the power limits, the greater the power it could hold. Unlike with people, this limit could be increased by constantly investing resources into the world, with no upper limit. In the end, it could become like the real world, able to hold tens of millions of cultivators.

Tang Jie's Mountain River State Diagram already could hold Yun Tianlan, but it was rather forced, and some of his power would leak out, which was enough to affect the teleportation formation. As for an avatar, that was out of the question. An avatar formed from a spell art wouldn't be able to last for the three whole days of teleportation.

"If it's really no good, we'll have to find some materials to strengthen the teleportation formation," Tang Jie replied. "So long as we're willing to think, there will be a way."

Saying this, Tang Jie sighed. "Now that I think about it, Immortal Ji Yao is still my master's wife, and she's helped me a lot. It's rather unfilial of me to constantly scheme against her."

Tang Jie spoke these words with utmost sincerity. From his point of view, it was poor form to suspect Immortal Ji Yao without the slightest evidence.

The old dragon was confused. "When did Immortal Ji Yao become your master's wife?"

Ever since she had been stuffed into the Eternity Sarcophagus, she spent most of her time sleeping within. Yun Tianlan was worried that she might recover her True Immortal strength, so he never let her out without good reason, and when she was let out to answer some questions on cultivation, she was immediately put back afterward. This was why this was the first time the three were holding a conversation in the last two hundred years. This was also because Yun Tianlan, who was nearing True Immortal, had gradually been able to sense the dragon's recovery speed. He knew that she needed an extremely long time to recover, and besides, Tang Jie needed her help. Thus, in a first, he had not immediately put her back into the coffin.

For this reason, the old dragon had not known about Immortal Ji Yao's relationship with Tang Jie, and hearing that she was his master's wife had her so surprised that she couldn't help but ask.

Tang Jie slowly explained his tale.

"That's why the Martial Lord could be considered my master. And when I was in the Verdant Cloud Domain, Immortal Ji Yao used the Peaceful Divine Abode Classic to severely damage my Divine Soul. When my avatar was on the verge of death, I found that this item had the ability to protect the soul…"

Tang Jie took out the Pearl Lady painting and statue.

At times, one had to pay in information to get information, so Tang Jie decided to not hide these things so that he could get the information he wanted from the old dragon.

When he described how he had given the statue to Immortal Ji Yao, who had recognized the Martial Lord and called him by his name of Li Jiuyang, the old dragon blurted out, "'Li Jiuyang'? The Martial Lord you're talking about is Li Jiuyang?"

"Yes." Tang Jie was taken aback at the fact that the dragon knew of the Martial Lord.

The old dragon was a little dazed at first, but then she started to laugh. "Li Jiuyang… So the master you're talking about is Li Jiuyang. Immortal Ji Yao is your master's wife? Ha! Ha! Ha! This despicable, shameless scorpion of a woman, rotten from the inside out, this woman that Li Jiuyang hated so much he would want to eat her alive—when did she become your master's wife? If Li Jiuyang still had some semblance of sentience down in the underworld, he would definitely come out and give you a slap on the face, you idiot!"

"What did you say?" Tang Jie said in alarm.

The old dragon loudly replied, "I'm saying that while it's true that the Pearl Lady was Li Jiuyang's woman, Immortal Ji Yao isn't the Pearl Lady. Did you think that just because she had 'pearl' (yao) in her name, she was the Pearl Lady? Hahahaha, you fell for it, you fool! No wonder Immortal Ji Yao gave you the Eternity Sarcophagus. She wasn't trying to stop me from recovering my strength, but to prevent me from conversing with you and exposing her!"

Tang Jie was left dumbstruck, as if a lightning bolt had come out of the blue and shocked the life out of him.