Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-828

Right after the old man had finished his lecturing, three more people flew out. These were a muscular man with a saber on his back, a blue-robed scholar, and a middle-aged beauty. Like the old man, they were all Celestial Heart cultivators, all at the Heart Demon Tier. As Tang Jie had guessed, this place probably permitted entry only to those at Heart Demon or below.

It was probably these people who had suppressed the valley, allowing the disciples to pass through.

This was most likely intended as a test and tempering for the disciples. Those that passed could continue exploring while those that failed had to either promptly turn back or die within the valley.

Once all four were present, the man with the saber said, "The early opening of the Five Origins Paradise is a blessing for my Herding Yang Sect. Let the four of us lead this expedition. We must grab all the benefits for ourselves, before the Avatamsaka Temple and Verdant Goat Sect react. My Herding Yang Sect must end up the winner of this expedition. Does everyone understand?"

"This disciple understands!" all the cultivators shouted, and they charged farther into the estate.

Tang Jie now had a general understanding of what was going on.

It seemed that it was three sects, not one, that jointly controlled this place.

Because they were wary of each other, no sect could put all their energy into exploring, so in the end, the three sects had reached an agreement, which was that four Heart Demon cultivators would lead a group of Mortal Shedding disciples into the paradise. This essentially made the paradise into a training ground for the disciples.

This approach had its benefits, as the paradise became a location that could be repeatedly used, and each entry would have new discoveries and surprises. Earlier, Tang Jie had found quite a lot of nice things, and while they weren't good enough to reach his level, for these low-level disciples, they were extremely valuable treasures.

His arrival had caused the Five Origins Paradise to open early. The Herding Yang Sect was probably closer to the area, so it had probably decided to immediately muster up a group and head in first.

Tang Jie had gotten one thing wrong. The four Heart Demon cultivators weren't merely the result of a compromise, but because the paradise was sealed with the Twelve Circuit Heavens Seal, which only permitted twelve Celestial Heart cultivators to enter each opening. This was why the three sides had agreed to send only four Heart Demon cultivators from each sect.

The Herding Yang Sect could use their location to head inside the Five Origins Paradise first, but they did not dare to take up the remaining eight Celestial Heart spots.

Once the disciples had dispersed, the four Heart Demon True Persons looked at each other and also departed. But they traveled together toward one location: the garden.

The garden was the most valuable location of the Five Origins Paradise, but those eighteen High Antiquity puppets were the greatest challenge. Each one had the strength of an early-phase Soul Transformation cultivator, and this estate forbade anyone above Heart Demon to enter, which meant that one had to use Heart Demon strength to challenge Soul Transformation in order to get a spirit plant.

It was no wonder so few of those spirit plants in the garden had been collected.

But the garden was now under Tang Jie's control, and the plants within had become his private property. How could he let anyone get their grubby hands on them? After some thought, he said, "Yiyi, what do you think about switching out one of the puppets?"

Yiyi's eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands and laughed. "That's a fun idea!"

Four Heart Demon True Persons would have a tough time beating a single Soul Transformation puppet, and the Mother Cloud combat puppet? They could tire themselves to death and still not get a single plant.

But then Yiyi shook her head. "The puppets are too different to make it work."

"True," Tang Jie sighed. The initial designs had only considered combat strength, not any disguise ability.

Ice Phoenix suddenly said, "I have an illusion art that can change the appearance of that puppet. I guarantee that those four Heart Demon cultivators won't see through it."

"You?" Tang Jie said in surprise. "You want to help me?"

Ice Phoenix sneered. "Why can't I help you? You're stronger than me, so if I want to escape, I have to go for cunning rather than strength. Opposing you will only make you put up your guard against me, so it would be better to temporarily humble myself and obey your commands. Once I've gotten you used to ordering me around, I'll abruptly make my move. Wouldn't that be much better? Now that I think about it, I'm a demon woman, so this is the path I should have chosen in the first place. It's just that I haven't been a demon for long and lack the experience, which made me forget about it. I apologize for showing you such a crude display."

Her tone was rather stiff and stern at first, but it gradually turned more and more polite and charming, leaving Tang Jie amazed. A few moments later, he nodded and said, "That's right—this is how a demon woman should be. Compared to a real demon woman, the demon women of the Thousand Passions Sect are sorely lacking."

Ice Phoenix covered her mouth and giggled, but her face still exuded hatred. It was clear that she still wasn't good enough at putting up a false front. She then asked, "So, do you dare or not?"

Tang Jie indifferently replied, "Why not? If you're willing to be my maid, why should I be afraid to be your master?"

These words made Ice Phoenix's face freeze, and she became so angry that she almost erupted. But then she took in a deep breath and smiled. "If that's the case, your maid will accompany Young Lady Yiyi."

Yiyi laughed and flew toward the garden. "Hurry, hurry. Those people have already gotten pretty far. If we let them get there first, it will be hard to make the switch."

Tang Jie didn't go after the two. Yiyi had been with him for many years and was no longer that silly little girl. He trusted in her deeply. Moreover, Ice Phoenix was at Soul Transformation while Yiyi was at late-phase Transformation, so the two were of the same cultivation level. But Yiyi also had the combat puppet, the bean soldiers, the Treasure Cosmos Formation, and even Tutu as her mount. Tang Jie had essentially given her everything except the Mountain River State Diagram and the Sovereign Blade, so he wasn't afraid of Ice Phoenix trying anything.

After some thought, Tang Jie flew off after those Mortal Shedding disciples.

He wanted to take a look at that youth called Yuan Chenfei.

Few could maintain a pure heart on the treacherous Immortal path. Since he had run into one, he might as well help him out.

Moreover, Tang Jie vaguely sensed that there was something strange about this youth, which made him even more interested.

Not long after Tang Jie left, two more groups charged out of the valley.

One consisted of staff-wielding monks, and the other consisted of green-clothed cultivators.

The leader monk had a square face, large ears, and a muscular body. As he emerged from the valley, he looked around and thumped his staff. "Those rascals from the Herding Yang Sect got ahead of us. We must make haste and delay no longer."

Those two groups of disciples went off in pursuit.

The Five Origins Paradise was very large, and of its locations, Tang Jie had only been to the Ghost Fog Palace and All Flora Garden.

The Ghost Fog Palace was too dangerous, and anybody below Violet Palace would have a hard time surviving, which made it forbidden ground for the three sects. The All Flora Garden was too difficult, and only Celestial Heart cultivators had any hope of getting one or two plants. The disciples could only go to the Rainbow Meadow.

Here, there was a vast field, lush forests, high mountains, and abundant water, all of it coming together to form a treacherous and complex environment that was rich in resources.

The Rainbow Meadow produced many fiends, but they were mostly at the Mind Opening level, with the occasional fiend king at Transformation. The luck and adaptability of the disciples would be tested here. While the Rainbow Meadow was an extremely dangerous place, it wasn't a place that Mortal Shedding disciples couldn't go. If they were lucky, they could gather spirit plants and kill some fiends, which they could trade in for many benefits back at their sect.

This was why the Rainbow Meadow's plants were generally around one hundred years old, with only a few at around several hundred years. They were worthless to Tang Jie, but they were quite valuable to the disciples of the three sects.

Disciples who had gotten through the valley could freely search for treasure on their own.

The Herding Yang Sect's disciples had all headed off to the Rainbow Meadow together.

After traveling together for some distance, Senior Brother Du waved his hand, upon which everyone dispersed to search for plants. Although being together was safer, this meant that they would find less, and the question of splitting the spoils became a problem. Thus, in the vast majority of circumstances, the disciples would split up to search for plants, relying on their own abilities.

In these circumstances, it wasn't strange for people to die or go missing—after all, what was an expedition without any danger?

Yuan Chenfei picked a direction to go off on his own. He had no idea that someone was following him.

Yuan Chenfei carefully avoided the main road.

Although he was a righteous fellow, he also wasn't a fool. He knew that when exploring this hidden realm for treasure, he couldn't completely trust anyone, not even his fellow disciples. Hiding himself and doing his best to remain undiscovered was the way of survival.

After traveling for a distance, Yuan Chenfei reached a small lake and spotted a green grass growing next to it.

Yuan Chenfei had read the books in the sect, so he knew that this was a spirit plant called Moonlight Grass.

The paradise had opened forty years early, so this Moonlight Grass was only sixty years old, but it was still rather valuable.

Yuan Chenfei moved to get it, but after walking a few steps, he sensed that something was wrong. Removing a circular blade from his back, he threw it into the air.

The circular blade buzzed through the air toward the Moonlight Grass.

A moment later, countless silver fish jumped out of the lake at the blade.

These silver fish were about a foot long, with slender snake-like bodies and a mouth full of sharp teeth. As their teeth bit into the blade, they easily bit chunks out of the blade, so swiftly that the blade didn't even slow down.

The blade flew a hundred meters, and before it could even reach the Moonlight Grass, it had been all eaten up by the silver fish, which made Yuan Chenfei's heart shiver.

"Scissor Serpents! That was close, close," Yuan Chenfei muttered.

Scissor Serpents possessed a tiny bit of Silver Dragon blood, which was why they were called serpents. But they were probably the smallest serpents in the world, only growing around a foot long. They had savage natures, lived in groups, and were born with sharp knife-like teeth that could bite through almost anything. So long as there were enough Scissor Serpents, they could even bite a Celestial Heart cultivator to bits.

If Yuan Chenfei had been attacked by those things, he would have been torn to shreds before he could even react.

But now that he knew that these were Scissor Serpents, he knew how to deal with them. Yuan Chenfei looked around to confirm that there was no one else around, and then he extended his right arm and made a cut on it with his left hand, letting out a few drops of blood.

He cast the blood into the lake, and as the blood spread out, all of the Scissor Serpents scattered as if they had run into their worst enemy.

Chuckling, Yuan Chenfei flew up to the Moonlight Grass and easily collected it, with not even a single Scissor Serpent attempting to bite him.

"Eh!" In Tang Jie's mind, the voice of the Vermillion Bird rang out.

She shouted, "What a familiar scent. This is…"

After pondering for a while, she shouted, "The Lithos Dragon bloodline!"