Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Forecreek Town.

This was a small town located on the western side of Nadir Hill.

Tang Jie was in a small inn in this town, taking stock of his inventory.

Although he hadn't needed much effort to destroy a minor sect, he had managed to get quite the motley assortment of things, with quite a few low-level art relics, medicines, and talismans.

This sect had been just too small, so he wasn't able to get anything particularly good. The best art relic wasn't even worth looking at in Tang Jie's eyes. But in the end, no matter how low-value they were, they were still worth something.

In the past, Tang Jie would have packed them all up and then sold them off to some store for spirit coins, saving him the time and effort.

But things had changed. Now that Tang Jie had decided to embark on a road of slaughter, he suddenly realized that he didn't have a use for money. There was no need to sell off these things, for spirit coins had no use for him in his current situation.

The art relics could be shattered with the Weapon Mantra, but he would have to pick out which pills he could actually use, and the talismans were nothing more than scrap paper.

Thus, once he was done organizing, he had a pile of bottles and a stack of talismans next to him. These things were truly useless to him, but it was also a pity to throw them away, rather like chicken bones.

"Ha, if only everything could be like with the Weapon Mantra, which can smelt all art relics," Tang Jie sighed. He suddenly sat up. "Yiyi, what do you think the Martial Lord's original reason for developing the Weapon Mantra was? Isn't it said that the Martial Lord spent his entire life in battle? That means a lifetime of killing, and since it was difficult to handle all of his war spoils, what if he decided to create a spell art to refine all these things?"

Yiyi felt dizzy from these words. "You're saying that a spell art as amazing as the Weapon Mantra was created by the Martial Lord just for dealing with trash art relics?"

"Why not?" Tang Jie nonchalantly replied. "Many mighty creations in the world were originally made for the sake of some small desire, but the passage of time eventually caused them to become something else. The same is true for Immortal Arts."

"Then you go and create one," Yiyi shouted.

Tang Jie bitterly smiled. "It's not that easy. All spell arts in the world originate from Daos. Creating an art means first comprehending a Dao, and then…"

Tang Jie suddenly fell silent.

Because he realized that he had met all the conditions for creating an art.

When it came to comprehending Daos, he had already comprehended quite a few, with the Dao of Wisdom being the perfect tool for creating arts. It could let him derive the structure for the spell art as quickly as possible and allow him to constantly perfect and develop it.

Tang Jie hadn't created a spell art before because he had never needed it.

The Basking Moon Sect had a legacy of several thousand years and had as many spell arts as there were stars in the sky. Separating the wheat from the chaff, only the best had been left behind. Tang Jie didn't think his own wisdom could compare to the wisdom of the countless people before him, so he had had no interest in making his own spell art.

But now that he had no spell art for what he needed, things were different.

Tang Jie suddenly realized that he had the ability and the need for a spell art like the Weapon Mantra, one that could let him smelt all these pills and talismans that he had no use for.

Of course, it was impossible to create something like the Weapon Mantra, breaking down all talismans to create a supreme talisman.

Talismans were a manifestation of human wisdom, not crystallizations of spell arts, and it wasn't like the Rosecloud Domain was some sort of computer system. It was impossible to destroy ten thousand talismans to create a single super-talisman.

The same was true for pills and medicines.

The greatest difference between them and the Weapon Mantra was that the Weapon Mantra also wasn't actually creating some art relic, but some kind of material. It was just that this material had the unique ability to transform into any sort of weapon.

From a certain perspective, the Weapon Mantra was doing what Tang Jie now wanted and processing trash. And when processing the trash, it could only produce raw materials, not any sort of finished product.

And this raw material had to be a very fundamental material, one with a lot of commonality.

This was because art relics, pills, and talismans all used varying materials. It was impossible to smelt a pill made with white fungus and get some black sandalwood.

It was precisely because one wanted a method that could refine all things to get the material that one wanted that one needed to work on a deeper and more intricate level.

For example, the golden grains the Weapon Mantra refined were a metal unknown to the world, but it was a metal that existed and that the Weapon Mantra could extract.

In this aspect, pills and talismans were the same.

Tang Jie shook his head. "This is impossible. I might be able to create a spell art, but extracting something like the golden grain requires deep research into the origin, and an even deeper understanding of the world and Daos, as well as mighty and divine methods. I lack both experience and these divine methods, so I can't create such a spell art."

"'The origin'?" Yiyi's eyes twinkled. "Isn't the origin of the cultivation world spiritual energy?"

Tang Jie chuckled. "Of course it's spiritual energy, but…"

He was just about to say "it's not only spiritual energy" when he froze. He looked at those pills and talismans, his face suddenly beaming.

He jumped up and shouted, "Right, spiritual energy! I'm so dumb! Why can't I return them to spiritual energy? Spiritual energy is this world's most fundamental substance, the thing we interact with and understand the most. I can't be like the Martial Lord and extract some material that nobody understands, but I can turn these items back into spiritual energy! Isn't that fine?"

"But…" Yiyi muttered, "What's the use of that?"

Yes, what was the use?

There was spiritual energy to be found everywhere in the world. What was the most important thing in the world to cultivators was also actually the most worthless. If one needed spiritual energy, one could just breathe. Why go through such a complicated process as smelting items? Moreover, wouldn't the spiritual energy that was smelted return to the earth?

Tang Jie chuckled. "What if we just don't let it return to the world?"

"Huh?" Yiyi froze. "What do you mean by that?"

"We'll just capture it," Tang Jie answered. "Just like the six major sects."

"Where would we keep it?" Yiyi asked.

"In the Mountain River State Diagram," Tang Jie replied.

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A small mountain range outside of Forecreek Town.

Today, the mountain range had a new waterfall.

Beneath the waterfall, various creatures pranced around. These were the creatures that lived in Tang Jie's Eternal Universe Formation. These creatures provided energy to the formation, and the formation provided them a space to live in. From this perspective, the Great Broken Stream was its own dimension, though one that was rather small.

Tang Jie stood at the base of the waterfall, watching the water descend from the clouds. He smiled and then sowed some substance that seemed like both cloud and soil. As this substance fell down, it turned into a small slope.

This substance was Cloud Mud.

He then poured out a bottle of green water, which descended over the Great Broken Stream like a small shower. Everything began to grow, the creatures cheering, and even the Cloud Mud began to give off a rainbow luster.

Jade Toad Fluid.

He had gotten both of these substances from the Stone Gate Sect. Along with the Seven Demon Soul-Sealing Nails, they had been the most valuable treasures. The nails had been used to hold a prisoner and create the ghost guard, but Tang Jie had never had anything to use the Cloud Mud and Jade Toad Fluid on. Today, he could finally take them out.

Since he had his own little blessed land, there was no point in creating a spell art. It was far better to create a formation. Moreover, while Tang Jie would find it very difficult to create a spell art at his current strength, creating a formation was much easier.

Tang Jie had chosen the Mountain River State Diagram as the site of the formation.

For this formation, Tang Jie had performed countless simulations, and after ruining an entire batch of materials, he had formulated a formation. Whether it was a mule or a horse would all depend on this last round.

To ensure that he successfully invented the first formation in his life, Tang Jie was using the best materials he had, adding them little by little.

This was Tang Jie's first time "adding on" to the Mountain River State Diagram.

Adding on had a special meaning for the Mountain River State Diagram. Whenever this diagram changed owners, it would be emptied out. And whenever it took in a piece of land, no more extra land could be added.

This was why the Seven Absolutions Sect had been willing to give the diagram to Tang Jie. The Mountain River State Diagram was like a painting canvas. Once a painting was placed inside it, it could not be changed unless the painting were removed entirely.

But while it was impossible to change things on a large scale, it was possible to make small additions, like making a few extra strokes on a painting.

Tang Jie was currently making such an addition.

Tang Jie had used all of his available space on the Eternal Universe Formation and the teleportation formation, so there was no space for a third formation. Thus, Tang Jie had to use the Cloud Mud to add space to the Mountain River State Diagram.

There was a little blank spot on the lower left corner of the Mountain River State Diagram.

This was where the Cloud Mud was placed, creating an extension of the Great Broken Stream on its left side.

The third formation was to be placed here. As the materials were thrown in and spiritual lines crossed the sky, a smelting formation gradually took form.

Finally, as all the materials were laid out and the last line completed, a ball of light rose up over the slope, signaling that the formation was complete.

Tang Jie took out those useless talismans and pills and threw them into the formation.

There was a flash of light, and then a flame burst forth, turning the talismans and pills to ash.

Ash drifted to the ground, and at the same time, imperceptible spiritual energy floated into the air. If Tang Jie hadn't achieved Spirit Will, he truly would have found it hard to detect.

As the spiritual energy drifted outward, it was stopped by an invisible barrier. This was the spatial seal formation Tang Jie had laid down, making it so that while the Great Broken Stream existed within the world, it was isolated from it by an invisible membrane.

Probing with his Spirit Will, Tang Jie found that the spiritual energy returned wasn't plentiful.

Tang Jie had based this smelting formation on some pre-existing smelting formations. It was rather crude, and its efficiency was low.

But this was fine. For him, this was only the beginning. As time passed, he would continue improving the formation. Tang Jie had even left enough space for future modifications.

As for right now, with the completion of this smelting formation, Tang Jie finally had his own blessed land.

This blessed land wasn't like those of major sects, which were vast worlds that were brimming with energy, but it had its own advantages. For example, it was easy to carry around, and he could smelt anything he wanted by putting those items inside the diagram. Meanwhile, other sects needed the sacrifices of countless seniors Returning their Remnants.

In the future, when Tang Jie gathered a lot of items, he could send them all in to be refined, and he was certain that the spiritual energy within would become extremely concentrated. At some point, he could cultivate in there and reach the same level of efficiency as the Water Moon Paradise.

His own Water Moon Paradise.

Tang Jie couldn't help but smile at the thought.

He threw in the rest of the talismans and pills. The smelting formation turned all of them back into the most primordial substance. The light spiritual energy floated into the air while the heavy soil sank to the earth.

Joyful cries came from the Eternal Universe Formation. It seemed like the creatures living within it had also sensed the changes to the world.

They frolicked around the stream, breathing in the spiritual energy of the world, and their bodies grew stronger and healthier.

"I didn't think you guys would be the first to benefit." Tang Jie smiled at this sight.

He didn't care that the extracted spiritual energy was being absorbed by the creatures in the formation. After all, when they died, the spiritual energy would return. This was an inevitable phenomenon of a blessed land. Compared to other paradises and blessed lands, its only flaw was that it was small.

When he thought about the size, he suddenly thought of something.

He thought about how Xu Hanling had been snatching at the Space Crystal.

The Space Crystal had clearly been in the center of the hall, but even though Xu Hanling had the help of the White Tiger's blood, he had still needed some time to just barely get ahold of it.

Tang Jie had a sudden realization.

"Space Crystal!" he blurted out.

Tang Jie looked at the Great Broken Stream with a new idea in his mind.

What would happen if he put the Space Crystal in there?

He didn't know.

But at that moment, he had an irrepressible urge to try.

He took out the Space Crystal and activated the Blood Refining Spirit spell.

The White Tiger's essence blood allowed him to briefly control the Space Crystal, so he was at least better than Xu Hanling in this aspect.

Under his control, the Space Crystal was slowly pushed up to the air above the Great Broken Stream, up to that spring which seemed to be gushing out of a cloud.

There was nothing else above this. The top of the waterfall was the ceiling of the Mountain River State Diagram.

But as the Space Crystal rose, the ceiling of the Great Broken Stream seemed to rise.

Thus, Tang Jie saw something strange. The Space Crystal seemed to be stuck at the ceiling, but for some reason, Tang Jie could feel it rising higher and higher.

After flying for some time, the Space Crystal finally stopped.

It was still floating above the stream, appearing to be only a palm's width away from the waterfall.

But that was only the distance as it appeared on the painting.

If one reached out with one's senses, one would find that it was a sun suspended high in the sky!

But because this sun had no energy, it was dim and gave off no heat or light.

Yet the moment it appeared, all of the creatures in the Eternal Universe Formation prostrated to this sun.

It was like a bunch of cavemen piously worshiping the sun!

Tang Jie narrowed his eyes.

A mustard seed could contain the world!

If he was seeing things correctly, this was a mustard seed holding a world in the true meaning of the saying.

The Great Broken Stream still appeared to be the same size, but the space inside was actually much larger.

After some thought, Tang Jie stepped into the Great Broken Stream.

Tang Jie hadn't entered the diagram before this because the Great Broken Stream had limited space. Tang Jie had used almost all the space that could be used for his formations.

But this time, he was finally willing to try.

As he stepped in, the world in front of him transformed.

Tang Jie was standing on an open plain covered in grass, a light fragrance floating in the air.

In the distance was a red setting sun in the shape of a hexagonal prism. It was clearly the Space Crystal, but because of its dim light, it had created this beautiful vision of the setting sun.

Where the sun set over the mountains, he could see a magnificent river falling from the heavens.

It was a grandiose sight, the vast sea of mist created by the falling water reflecting a riot of colors in the "sunlight", and Tang Jie marveled at the scene.

If he weren't this world's creator and had been born here, then his understanding of the world would have perhaps been entirely different. He would think that the sun was a hexagonal prism, and the water flowing down from the heavens would never run out…

Tang Jie flew into the sky, and then he saw that a group of creatures were prostrating to the sun at the base of that heavenly river.

To the west of the river stood a mighty volcano, great gouts of flame rising from it.

This was the smelting formation.

Behind the heavenly river was that stone cliff from which the waterfall had descended. It was now a majestic mountain.

Tang Jie knew that there was a cave in that mountain.

This was where the teleportation formation to the Nine Executions Immortal Formation was located.

The Great Broken Stream was still here, but the world had become limitlessly vast!

Whew! Tang Jie exhaled.

A moment later, he withdrew from this land.

The vista remained, but it was no longer as glorious and breathtaking.

But Tang Jie knew that this seemingly small stream was no longer as simple as it appeared.

Pondering all this, he put the Mountain River State Diagram away.

He then saw that the place where the Mountain River State Diagram had been, the location that its space had overlapped with, was now a blank space.

There had been a forest here, and the Mountain River State Diagram had been overlaid atop it. But when the Mountain River State Diagram was put away, the forest was gone, leaving behind empty space.

Tang Jie raised up the scroll and carefully inspected it. Using the Celestial Eye, he was finally able to find that forest in a corner of the diagram.

Seeing this, Tang Jie chuckled.

He suddenly understood that he was in the middle of creating a miracle.

He didn't know if the Martial Lord had created the Weapon Mantra for the purpose of getting rid of trash art relics, but Tang Jie had created this miracle because he had been trying to get rid of trash pills and talismans.

His mind suddenly filled with ideas about how to use the diagram, and then he began to laugh.

The laugh grew louder and louder, eventually resounding throughout the world.

Finally, he let out a crazed roar:

"Godhead Palace, the moment of your death has come!"

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Author's Note: In the previous chapter, I originally didn't have Feng Buzhi come out, but someone from Godhead Palace. But later, I felt like writing Feng Buzhi was better, because this would naturally explain how Godhead Palace knew about Tang Jie so quickly, and it would also explain that the Beast Refining Gate was also involved in this operation against Tang Jie.

But by doing this, I made a plot hole and didn't correct the "my Godhead Palace" in the conversation, creating a mistake.

This is something that frequently happens when editing. When adjusting something, you also have to adjust everything relating to it, but when you're in a rush, you miss some things.

Regardless, this is still a mistake, so I apologize to everyone.