Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Sitting in a small hut of gray stone, Tang Jie circulated energy in his body. His mind sank down, gathering at his heart, where it lingered around, sometimes scattering and sometimes concentrating and manifesting in countless forms. There were dragons, snakes, tigers, and leopards, and also sabers, swords, spears, and halberds, and also the sky of stars and the mountains and rivers.

These were Celestial Heart Illusions.

They represented the most important process for a cultivator to condense a Celestial Heart.

Tang Jie finally had the right to make the charge at Celestial Heart.

But no matter what illusions formed, they all ultimately shattered, unable to condense.

Tang Jie wasn't disheartened. He had never intended to make the charge, only to experience things a little.

Charging at Celestial Heart was actually a tempering and refining of the mind.

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The Mortal Shedding Realm was a tempering of the cultivator's body, organs, and will. Hundred Refinement strengthened the body, Nine Revolutions strengthened the organs, and Cognitive Creation brought form to the mind. As for the Three Witherings, they were the shedding of the mortal body and the attaining of the spiritual body.

In this process, the cultivator succeeded in shedding the mortal body, but the soul had yet to do so, remaining the soul of a mortal.

Thus, the Celestial Heart was the shedding of the soul's mortality, but this was not the entirety of it.

This was because the mortal soul shedding process went from Celestial Heart all the way to Violet Palace.

The soul was the most mystical part of the human body, and it was also the most difficult part to refine and nurture. Spirit Will, Celestial Heart, Divine Will, Soul Transformation, and even Violet Palace were all part of the process of cultivating the soul.

In comparison, tempering the body was much simpler.

Ancient body refining didn't have all these complicated processes. Cultivation normally stopped before Cognitive Creation, with Nine Revolutions being considered the peak.

Body refiners didn't need to go through Cognitive Creation, neither cultivating a Divine Will nor cultivating a spiritual body. They made their physical bodies like diamond and relied on that for their ascent, so they always remained at Hundred Refinement or Nine Revolutions. For them, cultivation realm was not important. What was important was borrowing their cultivation to constantly hone themselves.

In contrast, present-day body refiners were still cultivating laws, though they borrowed certain methods to strengthen their body. While they looked the same on the surface, they were fundamentally different.

To take Wang Juemie as an example, his cultivation method differed little from other cultivators. He was still pushing cultivation realms, but the spell arts he cultivated primarily focused on cultivating his body.

Even after entering the Three Withering Tribulations and having his mortal body die, he could use secret arts to preserve his powerful strength, making his spiritual body tough and his life force tenacious. In terms of lifespan, it even exceeded Tang Jie's Heavenly Spirit Law Body, for his body was an Unbreakable Diamond Body.

Peng Yaolong was even less worth mentioning. At best, he was half a body refiner, and he was still essentially a cultivator of laws.

Only Tang Jie's original body was cultivating the secret arts of the ancients, the legacy of the Martial Lord. As a result, he would find it very hard to break through Cognitive Creation, even if he had the help of the Seven Absolutions Sect. His only hope was for some miracle granted by the heavens. But for the original body, this level of breakthrough had become meaningless long ago.

This was because resources were plentiful in ancient times, so the problem ancient body refiners had to consider was how to use up these plentiful resources as quickly as possible. This was why the Martial Lord's Parting Classic was the number one martial arts manual in his era: it used resources to the maximum. It was precisely because of this incredible rate of consumption that the Martial Lord could become a hegemon of that era.

But now, the appearance of blessed lands and paradises, the loss that came from the transcendence of Immortal Platform cultivators, and the frenzied gathering over the eons had drained the world of its resources. Body refining that relied on resources fell out of style and was replaced by more meticulous cultivation of laws, creating this system that could persist over the long term.

Tang Jie was able to walk the path of the ancients thanks to the Nine Executions Immortal Realm. It was only because Tang Jie alone was enjoying the benefits of the Immortal Realm that he could reach his current level of strength. If not for the firebird guarding the valley and making it difficult to get herbs, Tang Jie's original body would have long ago passed greater attainment in the Diamond Body and attained the Immortal Spirit Body.

With the failure to condense the Celestial Heart Illusion, Tang Jie regretfully shook his head. "Manifesting the Celestial Heart isn't easy, but the true difficulty comes with experiencing the will of the heavens and observing the Heavenly Self. Even though I've cultivated Insight, I still can't do it. It's no wonder so many young heroes have been stymied at the Celestial Heart threshold."

It was said that every person was born with a destiny.

The people of the Great Stellar Chiliocosm did not believe in fate set down by heaven, because no one had ever been able to make a calculation and thereby know all that had happened five hundred years into the past and five hundred years into the future.

But they believed that there still existed some power that was compatible with them in the great beyond. This power was called a gift from the heavens!

This "gift" did not refer to someone being talented in a particular thing, but a power hidden very deep within a person that was in tune with the will of the heavens.

When a cultivator made the charge at Celestial Heart, they found this gift and used it to create their own Heart Manifestation, ultimately condensing it into a heart of will.

Because of this process of experiencing the will of the heavens to create this heart, it was called the Celestial Heart!

Tang Jie was skilled in Insight, so he thought that even if he couldn't condense the manifestation, he would at least be able to complete the first step of finding that power. Yet reality had given him a thump on the head.

But he did not mind. Observing the Heavenly Self was widely acknowledged as being second in difficulty only to the condensation of the manifestation, and over the eons, the Rosecloud Domain had developed countless methods of improving one's chances of observing the self. The most effective of them was the Heaven Questioning Pill.

It was called this because one directly asked the heavens for the answer, and the effects were even better if used with Illusion Heart Dew.

Tang Jie already had Illusion Heart Dew, and he also had a Heaven Questioning Pill. Moreover, because of his style of taking everything and the kitchen sink, he had stolen enough to observe the self at least a dozen times.

If it weren't for the fact that he still didn't feel ready, Tang Jie might have already attempted to glimpse the will of the heavens.

"In the end, I have to think of a way to get a Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill," Tang Jie sighed.

The Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill was a treasure for condensing manifestations. The moment he tried to condense a manifestation, Tang Jie had realized how arduous it was to condense the will. With his power alone, even condensing a sliver was tiring, so he could only imagine how hard it was to condense a complete Celestial Heart.

But where was he going to get a Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill?

After the heist of Cloudscrape City, Godhead Palace had realized what Tang Jie's objective was, and all medicines that could assist in the charge at Celestial Heart were being strictly managed. It was so bad that Tang Jie's later robberies hadn't been for stealing a particular thing, only for the act of stealing. What he got was of little use to himself.

As he was thinking, Old Fourth Liu entered.

"Sir, the sect has sent word."

"Tell me," Tang Jie said, putting aside his thoughts for now.

Tang Jie was excited to finally get some news from the sect.

"The sect already knows that Sir ended up in Nadir Hill for the sake of protecting the Space Crystal, and they also know of Sir's recent actions. The sect has said that you are to be praised for risking your life to protect the Space Crystal. The sect has currently sent people to patrol the borders of Nadir Hill in the hopes that Godhead Palace can open up the net and let Sir out. But…"

"But Godhead Palace won't agree to this, right? Everyone knows how important Tang Jie is to Godhead Palace, and now that the meat is finally in their mouth, how could they just spit it back out?"

"Precisely. The Basking Moon Sect has been fighting for Sir, but as you know…"

"I know. The will to save cannot overcome Godhead Palace's desire to capture. Things will get even more problematic if Godhead Palace makes some sort of promise, like that they will send back the Space Crystal once they capture Tang Jie. In the end, the Basking Moon Sect and Godhead Palace are not mortal enemies, and it's very difficult to make an enemy of an entire sect for my sake. And that's not even considering that the Beast Refining Gate is still watching from the sidelines."

"Sir is truly wise," Old Fourth Liu sighed.

He had also been stunned when he received this message.

But to his surprise, Tang Jie had been expecting it.

Old Fourth Liu sighed. "The sect's ability to help you is limited. Sir will ultimately have to rely on yourself."

Tang Jie said, "Who says that their ability to help is limited? Wrong! They can help me with a lot of things."

"Huh?" Old Fourth Liu was startled. Looking at Tang Jie, he asked, "Sir, what do you mean?"

Tang Jie casually said, "The Basking Moon Sect's ability to help me is limited because they're not exerting their strength in the right place. Attempting to get Godhead Palace to open the net and let me out is futile, because Godhead Palace will naturally never agree. But if they changed their method, Basking Moon Sect could easily give me a huge helping hand through only a slight effort."

"So what is this 'slight effort'?"

Tang Jie replied after some thought, "Go back and tell the Basking Moon Sect that I want the Basking Moon Sect to do a few things. First: send someone from the sect to hold talks with Godhead Palace, and have them make a wager."

"'A wager'?"

"Yes—whether or not Godhead Palace can do anything to Tang Jie if they send no one at True Lord or above."

Old Fourth Liu was shocked to hear this, but as a spy, he was also very sharp. He immediately figured out what Tang Jie was trying to say. "You're going through the Basking Moon Sect in order to force Godhead Palace's True Lords to not attack you?"

"Correct. They haven't done anything yet because too little time has passed. But I've caused so much of a ruckus lately that they're probably going to lose their patience soon. The Divine Will of Violet Palace is connected to the heavens and earth, and their abilities are completely unreasonable. No manner of schemes is enough to deal with this sort of opponent. The only method is to not permit them to intervene, and on this, I can only ask the sect for help and have them set up a Six Sects Alliance Oath with Godhead Palace."

The Six Sects Alliance Oath was a rule set down when the six major sects joined together. For the sake of a future battle against the Primordial Fog Domain, the oath bound the sects to not exterminate each other no matter how much they fought, nor could there be large-scale organized fighting. And unless the fate of the sect was at stake, the Immortal Platform ancestors of the sect were not allowed to intervene, thus maintaining a certain bottom line for any conflicts.

What Tang Jie wanted was for the Basking Moon Sect and Godhead Palace to set up a similar kind of oath, with the goal of restraining the other party's Violet Palace True Lords.

Of course, an official oath was impossible. The Basking Moon Sect wouldn't do this just for Tang Jie, and it wasn't allowed for them to have this level of an oath with Godhead Palace. But changing things up and using a bet was possible.

"Only a Violet Palace has the right to make a wager with a Violet Palace," Old Fourth Liu warned. This matter wasn't as easy as it looked.

Tang Jie chuckled. "Relax. They'll agree."

He didn't say this too loudly, but the weight in his words left Old Fourth Liu speechless.

He had never seen anyone like Tang Jie before, confidently declaring that a True Lord would come and make a wager with another sect for him.

But Tang Jie was this confident because he was sure that Ming Yekong wouldn't ignore this matter.

For them, Tang Jie's making waves in Nadir Hill could be considered a good thing. After all, even though the two sects weren't mortal foes, they weren't friends, either. They couldn't suppress Godhead Palace for him, but having them use a wager to limit Godhead Palace wasn't out of the realm of possibility.

And this matter truly didn't sound difficult. Ming Yekong would just need to swagger over to the territory of Godhead Palace and declare, "If you don't send out your Violet Palace True Lords, you can't hope to capture Tang Jie." Godhead Palace would definitely disagree, and so, the wager would be set. Even though they would know that they were taking the bait, for the sake of their dignity, they had no choice but to accept.

"This subordinate understands." Old Fourth Liu nodded.

"I'm not done yet," Tang Jie said. "The second thing is that I want someone in the sect to contact the Seven Absolutions Sect and tell them that the new goods will be here soon."

"'The new goods will be here soon'?"

"Yes, and it will be ten times what it was before."

Old Fourth Liu looked at Tang Jie in a daze.

He didn't know the meaning behind Tang Jie's words, but he knew about the relationship between the Seven Absolutions Sect and Godhead Palace.

This son of a bitch.

There were no kind intentions behind Tang Jie's words. It appeared he also wanted to pull the Seven Absolutions Sect into this mess.

But that was to be expected. Given the grudge between the two sects, the Seven Absolutions Sect would be happy to have a little fun with Godhead Palace.

Tang Jie didn't tell the Seven Absolutions Sect to do anything, because he didn't want to be threatened by the Seven Absolutions Sect, but he knew that the Seven Absolutions Sect would definitely act after receiving this message.

No matter what they did, it was bound to benefit Tang Jie and disadvantage Godhead Palace.

This was enough.

"Sir, is there a third task?" Old Fourth Liu asked.

"Of course. I don't know what Godhead Palace promised the Basking Moon Sect that made them give up on making Godhead Palace let me go, but please have the Basking Moon Sect declare that returning the Space Crystal must be among these conditions."

"Why is that?" Old Fourth Liu asked.

"Because the Beast Refining Gate needs it," Tang Jie coldly said. "The Beast Garden was built upon the Time Crystal, so they probably also want the Space Crystal because of the Beast Garden. But for some reason, Xu Hanling was inexplicably a Godhead Palace spy. I don't know if this was always the case or if he was recruited later, but I can be certain that the Beast Refining Gate is furious over this matter. Although they've stomached their rage and are even working together with Godhead Palace to capture me, I'm sure that cracks have definitely formed in the relationship. If we make this declaration that Godhead Palace must return the Space Crystal to the Basking Moon Sect, the Beast Refining Gate definitely won't agree, which will affect their alliance. I'm stopping Godhead Palace from sending out their True Lords, so I naturally have to consider how to stop reinforcements from the Beast Refining Gate."

Old Fourth Liu was rendered speechless.

After a while, he said, "Is there anything else?"

Tang Jie whispered, "The Thousand Passions Sect, as an ally of my Basking Moon Sect, should also help out. But this matter has little to do with them, and getting an ally to intervene for the sake of little Tang Jie is a little too much. We have to find a reason to get them involved."

Old Fourth Liu started sweating. It appeared that when this guy was in enemy territory, he was only thinking about how to drag everyone in with him.

It wasn't just the Basking Moon Sect, but also the Seven Absolutions Sect and Thousand Passions Sect, and he was also conspiring against the Beast Refining Gate. The only sect he wasn't causing trouble for was Horizon Ocean Pavilion. This was because of his relationship with Xu Miaoran. This matter was far too dangerous for him to let Xu Miaoran get involved.

What he didn't know was that Xu Miaoran had already left home.

She wasn't expecting to be able to rescue her boyfriend, but she had a very powerful father. In her view, she simply needed to go to Nadir Hill and find Tang Jie. If she were in danger, her father would naturally intervene.

Xu Guanghua naturally wouldn't let his daughter do this and had already sent out many disciples to catch her. Thus, Xu Miaoran was also a fugitive. Of course, her life wasn't in any danger.

After some thought, Tang Jie couldn't think of a way to drag in the Thousand Passions Sect. In the end, he could only sigh and shake his head. "Let's wait. There's no opportunity now, but there might be in the future. I don't believe that there's nothing connected to the Thousand Passions Sect in a place as big as Nadir Hill."

This daring to seek out a way to bring in the Thousand Passions Sect staggered Old Fourth Liu.

Once all was said, Old Fourth Liu went to send over this report.

Several days later, the Basking Moon Sect sent back word that it had agreed.

Surprisingly, the one to set the wager with Godhead Palace wasn't Ming Yekong, but Xiao Biehan.

Tang Jie didn't know what sort of wager it was, and it was only much later that he learned that Xiao Biehan had gone over with the God-Conquering Merak Sword.

When he arrived at Godhead Palace, he immediately said that Godhead Palace was too useless, unable to catch even one disciple, and that they would have to send out a Violet Palace True Lord to get anything done.

These words enraged the old ancestor of Godhead Palace, and he almost broke the Six Sects Alliance Oath and slapped Xiao Biehan. Even so, he still made a wager with Xiao Biehan, promising that none of Godhead Palace's experts of Violet Palace or above would intervene.

If Tang Jie escaped, the Basking Moon Sect would win.

If Tang Jie were captured, Godhead Palace would win.

There was no time limit.

Each side bet a Dao armament.

Old Fourth Liu was stunned when he heard the contents of this wager.

Old Fourth Liu had been so stunned about Tang Jie's idea of a wager that he had forgotten that both parties needed to put something on the line. Only now did he learn how liberal the two sects were, both using Dao armaments as their wagers.

What would Tang Jie do if he loses?

Oh, right, if he loses, he's dead, so why would he care?

And if he wins… fuck, if he wins, the Basking Moon Sect gets a Dao armament, so they might even reward Tang Jie as a sign of their thanks.

This kid can't lose!

Old Fourth Liu felt his vision going dark.

He finally understood where all of Tang Jie's confidence was coming from.

Tang Jie was rather carefree.

For the next few days, he continued to cultivate and escape. After that second wave of robberies, Tang Jie stopped for a while. He would occasionally show his face before going back into hiding.

He spent most of his time cultivating, trying to observe the will of the heavens and find his Heavenly Self.

It hadn't been long since he had reached the peak of Mortal Shedding, and he still needed time to solidify his cultivation realm. He also needed time to experience all the various difficulties and challenges that the charge at Celestial Heart would present to him.

But the more he experienced them, the more he realized how difficult this truly was, which made him more anxious to get his hands on a Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill.

Today, as Tang Jie was cultivating, Old Fourth Liu walked in.

Tang Jie asked without opening his eyes, "What's the matter?"

Old Fourth Liu replied, "I've just received word that there will be an auction held at Ninebind City soon. One of the items up for auction is a Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill."

Tang Jie's eyes flew open.

———————————

Author's Note: Yesterday, many friends didn't understand why Tang Jie needed to go out and run around.

The reason is very simple. The 12 Hawks have a secret art that can trace Tang Jie's trail like a hunting dog. But this secret art isn't very fast. If Tang Jie finds a place to settle down, then he'll be caught, but if he's constantly on the run, the 12 Hawks can't catch up, so Tang Jie has to constantly be on the move. Even if he stops somewhere, he can't stay for too long.

If he repeatedly goes to the same place, he has to show himself somewhere else. This is because when he appears at a certain place, the person using the tracking art will naturally stop tracking him and go straight to the place he appeared. In this way, he can avoid having his base discovered. This can be considered a way of exploiting the human mind.

There's also another simple method, which is to make a bunch of duplicates and have them run all over the place. The 12 Hawks naturally won't be able to track them all.

Thus, when the 12 Hawks discovered that Tang Jie probably knew about them and saw that Tang Jie didn't plan to stop running, they didn't use this method to track him, instead blockading areas that had the things Tang Jie needed.

Even so, Tang Jie still has to take the proper precautions.

It's the same principle as locking your door even though you know your apartment complex doesn't have any thieves.