Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-856

The world had both spiritual energy and Immortal energy.

It was because of Immortal energy that the Immortal Platform Realm existed.

Spiritual energy was an energy that existed in nature.

By absorbing, studying, and controlling spiritual energy, humans became stronger and could use spell arts and Divine Connections.

Immortal energy was not at all the same. It was an artificial energy, transformed from spiritual energy when cultivators reached a certain level of cultivation.

This was a qualitative transformation that created something completely different from spiritual energy, which was why it was called Immortal energy.

Immortal Platform was the level at which spiritual energy was converted into Immortal energy, which included the spiritual body being converted into an Immortal body.

Cultivators had gone through a similar process once before, during the Three Withering Tribulations of the Mortal Shedding Realm.

This was a complete transformation from mortal to spirit, breaking free from all that made one mortal.

Immortal Platform was the same kind of transformation, breaking free of all that was spiritual to become Immortal.

Upon becoming an Immortal, one would grow stronger in all aspects.

Putting aside cultivation, in terms of lifespan, Immortals were vastly different to spirit cultivators.

Mortals, with their bodies of flesh, would die from severe wounds. Spirit cultivators, with their bodies of spirit, could not be harmed by ordinary wounds, and they could even regrow severed heads and shattered hearts. And once one became Immortal, one entered the everlasting phase, and one was said to have the same lifespan as the heavens. Of course, this was an exaggeration. Even Boundless Gold Immortals couldn't live forever, but to say that they were unkillable was no exaggeration. Spirit cultivators could survive from being beheaded, but Immortals could be pulverized and survive, capable of rebirth if only a single cell remained. This undying nature was why Earth Immortals were willing to take risks. Of course, the actual details differed from person to person.

In truth, Tang Jie had interacted with Immortal energy before.

The Immortal Essence refined by his Immortal Spirit Body was Immortal energy.

But it differed in some ways from real Immortal energy. Law cultivators converted spiritual energy to Immortal Essence and then used Immortal Essence to modify their bodies, turning them into Immortal bodies. All law cultivators had to go through this step.

As a body cultivator, however, Tang Jie went through a different process, the energy directly modifying his body with no intervening step. While he produced Immortal Essence, it was far less flexible than the real thing. Thus, all he had been able to do with this Immortal Essence was use a few more spell arts than usual.

Long ago, Tang Jie had been delighted over the fact that he could use powerful spell arts after obtaining Immortal Essence, but when he found out the difference, that he could only use some ordinary spell arts, he became deeply disappointed.

Thus, while Immortal Essence was essentially the same as Immortal energy, its true purpose was in strengthening the body, and it lacked the heaven-toppling might of law cultivators. And its method of strengthening was in physical might, not even allowing for rebirth from the ashes. In this aspect, one could say that it provided even less survivability than normal Immortal energy.

A body cultivator had less survivability than a law cultivator!

Then what was even the point!?

He had gone through so much effort to cultivate both body and law so as to gain supreme power, but then he found that one path was a dead end that wasn't even worth going down.

Upon realizing this fact, Tang Jie had seriously questioned his life choices.

But when he recalled how the Martial Lord had shattered the court in his rage, he regained his confidence.

Although he couldn't see any hope in body cultivating for the time being, the Martial Lord had left him a glimmer of hope in the Martial Mirror, letting him know that he was far from the end of this path, that there was something worth it at the end of it all.

And now, Tang Jie found that the Imperial Sky Stamp could condense Immortal energy.

It was the real thing!

Tang Jie stared at the Imperial Sky Stamp in speechless awe.

As he had cultivated Immortal Essence, he was keenly aware of what Immortal energy felt like, and he knew at a glance that this was Immortal energy.

It was obvious that the Imperial Sky Stamp had been able to condense Immortal energy for only one reason: the Wailing Baby had been too strong.

This guy had entered the Dao of Life, so its life essence was far greater than a regular peak Divine Division fiend's. Thus, when the Imperial Sky Stamp harvested its life, the energy gathered broke through the limit and turned into Immortal energy.

As Tang Jie attempted to absorb it, he felt a grandiose energy surging into him that soothed and comforted his entire body, washing away all his fatigue and exhaustion.

Was this the power of Immortal energy?

Tang Jie was amazed. He hadn't expected such a small sliver of energy to make him recover so much. It was no wonder Earth Immortals were so powerful. He couldn't help but tremble at this power.

At the same time, Tang Jie realized that this ability to convert spiritual energy into Immortal energy must have been the true function of the Imperial Sky Stamp.

This was a real Dao armament!

But this conversion clearly had extremely high requirements. The minimum requirement was an extremely powerful life force, but this clearly wasn't enough. Tang Jie had never seen any sort of transformation despite all the fiends he had absorbed, so it clearly required some enormously powerful fiend.

The Wailing Baby had been a peak Divine Division fiend that had entered the Dao of Life. Tang Jie didn't know whether one or both conditions were required. If only one didn't suffice, then it probably meant that he would have to have the stamp absorb Void Returning fiends to produce more Immortal energy. The Beast Refining Gate had only their ancestor as an Earth Immortal, so they naturally had had no Void Returning fiends with which to perform experiments, so it was no wonder they hadn't known about this function.

Void Returning fiends were fiends that had become Immortals, so the Imperial Sky Stamp producing Immortal energy from them was nothing strange, which dropped its value somewhat. Still, it was better than not having it.

Alas, he didn't have the ability to kill Void Returning fiends. If it was really no good, he could ask the ancestor to kill a few and see if he could get anything from them.

As Tang Jie was thinking, a group of cultivators approached.

These cultivators were all dressed in purple, clearly belonging to a single sect. However, he hadn't seen them before, so they had probably entered later.

After all, not every sect arrived on the day the court opened. In truth, many great powers chose to enter later. For example, the Reverend Yellow Heaven that Tang Jie had been searching for all this time had yet to appear and probably wouldn't arrive until later.

These purple-clothed cultivators probably didn't belong to some big sect, for they were led by two Soul Projection cultivators.

Even so, they were strong enough to deal with a single Deification expert like Tang Jie.

These cultivators arrived to see Tang Jie pondering the Imperial Sky Stamp.

Great Dao armaments naturally exuded an Immortal aura and light.

They could tell at a glance that this was some incredible treasure, bursting with grandiose energy.

They immediately wanted it for themselves.

Upon seeing that the owner was a mere Deification cultivator, the two Soul Projection cultivators looked at each other and laughed. "Lucky us! Hurry and seize that treasure!"

The violet-robed cultivators charged.

Tang Jie had witnessed people murder others for their treasures several times while in the court, but they usually tried to put on a kind face while looking for a chance, or even a pretext to strike. This was the first time he had seen someone so straightforward, skipping the excuses and going straight for the fight.

Seeing that he was outnumbered, Tang Jie decided to run rather than fight. He patted Tutu and said, "Go!"

Tutu pathetically said, "Master, I can't run anymore."

Tang Jie placed the Imperial Sky Stamp under Tutu's nose. "A treat for you. Absorb a little of this."

Tutu hastily breathed in.

This was Immortal energy! Tutu naturally wouldn't give up on this chance.

As Immortal energy rushed in, Tutu felt all its fatigue disappear, and its body was filled with some indescribable power. With a cry, it shot into the air, several times faster than before. Before those cultivators could even get close, Tutu was gone, leaving them dumbstruck. The two Soul Projection cultivators sighed, for they had seen what Tang Jie had done. "Stimulating the fiend's power, giving it a huge boost in strength! It really was a treasure!"

There was endless regret in their words.

Meanwhile, Tutu was running along without a thought in the world, utterly lost in the ecstasy of speed.

Seated on Tutu's back, Tang Jie took back the Imperial Sky Stamp and cursed, "You beast, I only told you to absorb a little, but you took so much! This is Immortal energy, not something you can easily digest! You might end up exploding because of it!"

Tutu was alarmed, and as it felt its condition, it realized that the Immortal energy was swelling and expanding within its body. It was only a Soul Transformation fiend, two tiers lower than Tang Jie. Tang Jie had only needed a small sliver to fully recover, but it had absorbed more than Tang Jie, so it had basically stuffed itself to the point of exploding. Full of fear, it ran even faster, putting all of its power into flight in the hopes of using up the excess Immortal energy.

But the Immortal energy was expanding faster than it could be used up. As the energy grew stronger, Tutu's body heated up. It cried out in alarm, thinking that its doom had come as it ran faster and faster.

They had spent a long time in the outer edge of the court, but now that the rabbit was literally sprinting for its life, they quickly made up the distance and entered the depths of the court.

Even so, that burning power left the rabbit in excruciating torment.

The rabbit found that its body was uncontrollably expanding.

Tutu cried out, "I'm going to explode! Going to explode!"

"Hurry up and shed the excess power!" Tang Jie urgently said.

This little thing had expanded to the size of a building thanks to the Immortal energy. Seated atop it and out of ideas, Tang Jie decided to punch the rabbit.

This punch should have left Tutu in immense pain.

But to his surprise, Tutu called out, "Oooh! That's nice!"

Running wasn't the only way to use energy. Being beaten was also a means.

The Wailing Baby had been defeated using this exact method.

Seeing Tutu cry out in relief from this punch, Tang Jie began to punch it over and over.

But this was still not enough, only slightly slowing Tutu's growth.

"What do we do?" Tutu yelled.

At this moment, they flew past a large mountain.

In the distance, a group of cultivators was fighting a large ape.

This ape was a huge and powerful beast, jumping around and hollering.

Seeing it, Tutu rushed over and slammed into the ape. Transforming into a giant rabbit man, it seized the ape and gave it a savage beating, shouting all the while, "Hit me! Hit me!"

The giant ape swung its fists in fury. Its punches were so powerful that not even a Violet Palace cultivator dared to take them directly, but Tutu endured them as if they didn't even exist, crying out in delight as it fought with the ape.

The cultivators watched in dumbfounded awe.

One of them said, "If I'm seeing things correctly, a single late-phase Transformation rabbit fiend is fighting evenly with a Divine Division fiend ape!"

"And the rabbit seems to be more powerful," another said.

The rabbit and ape rampaged through the landscape, Tutu hammering the giant ape while taking the same brutal bashing in return. Finally, the giant ape let out one last howl and stopped moving.

Tutu had knocked it out.

After this fight, Tutu felt much better, saying in delight, "This way works!"

It turned back into a rabbit and charged off again.

Tang Jie and Xu Miaoran promptly mounted it, at the same time taking the ape for themselves. "We just lent a helping hand; no need to say thanks."

And then they were gone.

The other cultivators were startled, and then they turned furious. "Bullshit! You stole our fiend, you scoundrel!"

They wanted to catch up and settle accounts, but that rabbit was already gone, off to find another fiend to fight.