Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 327
Chapter 327: A True Immortal Cultivator
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
As lightning flashed, a small golden lightning bolt came out of the clouds and toward Tang Jie.
Tang Jie didn’t resist, pointing upward with the sword sign in his left hand and firing off an Energy Needle.
It struck the golden bolt of lightning, causing light to explode. This was “Sword Finger Alarming Lightning”, a method for intensifying energy.
The intensified golden lightning bolt cut down like a sword, and as it crashed down on his head, the receiving formation around him exploded with a dazzling light. Upon contact with this light, the golden lightning bolt turned into a stream of energy that poured into Tang Jie, and then Tang Jie started shaking.
“Focus your mind, calm yourself, and guide the energy in a circuit through your body and then into the Spiritual Space! You can’t rush things!” Xie Fengtang cried out entirely on instinct. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to fly to Tang Jie’s side and yell into his ears.
This was the first key point of the charge at Mortal Shedding. One needed to borrow this energy to clean one’s body, achieving an effect similar to that of the Parting Classic. This was the moment to strengthen the constitution, and it was the first qualitative change a Mortal Shedding cultivator would experience. It was meant to prepare the body for the even greater surges of energy to come.
Xie Fengtang was filled with regret. If Tang Jie had a pill meant for charging at the Mortal Shedding Realm to take right now, the efficiency of the absorption could be increased, strengthening the constitution and increasing the margin of safety.
In the middle of his lamentations, Tang Jie suddenly slapped out with his left hand, and a small bottle flew out of his bag. The round yellow pill inside it flew out and floated in the air.
“What is that?” Xie Fengtang didn’t immediately recognize it.
But Madam He of Horizon Ocean Pavilion did, gasping, “A Harmonic Threshold Breaking Pill?”
Xie Fengtang and the others instantly realized that this was one of the Green Hill Sect’s famous Harmonic Threshold Breaking Pills, but how had Tang Jie gotten his hands on one?
Everyone turned toward Horizon Ocean Pavilion. The Green Hill Sect had also sent a representative to this conference: a deputy sect master. But this deputy sect master seemed baffled. It was clear that he didn’t know where Tang Jie had gotten it.
But Xie Fengtang didn’t relax after learning what this pill was, and pounded his chest in frustration. “A waste! What a waste!”
It truly was a waste. The Harmonic Threshold Breaking Pill had the dual purpose of both harmonizing energy and breaking through the threshold, and of these two, breaking through the threshold was more important. After all, the charge at Mortal Shedding was meant to erect the Heaven-Earth Bridge.
That Tang Jie was using it so early meant that the energy-harmonizing effect was maximized but the threshold-breaking effect was basically irrelevant.
Everyone saw a golden radiance flow around Tang Jie’s body as the energy circulated and strengthened his constitution. But while an ordinary person would simply have their skin slightly glow in this process, Tang Jie was practically translucent—a rare sight.
This was the power of the Parting Classic.
Although Tang Jie’s avatar didn’t have the formidable constitution imparted by the Parting Classic, this body was still made from the original Tang Jie’s flesh and blood, so it had inherited the immaculate quality of Tang Jie’s original body. Together with the effects of the Harmonic Threshold Breaking Pill and the Heaven-Guiding Immovable Mantra, he experienced the maximum risk and the maximum reward. He accepted this energy running through his body without restraint, and at this moment, his body grew stronger as if it had taken a Parting Classic bath worth twenty thousand coins. Although he was far from reaching the strength of the original, it was still an enormous boost.
Once his entire body had been washed, the power of the formation guided the golden torrent toward Tang Jie’s Spiritual Space. As gold mixed with silver, the most important step of the charge to Mortal Shedding began.
Xie Fengtang shook his head. “What a pity, what a pity that he didn’t use that pill now…”
As he was speaking, another Harmonic Threshold Breaking Pill flew out of that bottle and into Tang Jie’s mouth.
Xie Fengtang’s face twitched as he fell silent.
He now fully understood that Tang Jie was far more well-prepared than he had imagined. He even had an exquisite grasp of when to use the pills. It was as if he had a Celestial Heart True Person at his side, guiding him in what to do.
Tang Jie’s hand signs changed, and spiritual light gushed out of his body, turning him into a being of light. The light was so intense that even some of the respected masters thought that they were seeing things.
A Mortal Shedding master asked his friend, “I don’t think my radiance was this strong when I was charging at Mortal Shedding, right?”
His friend looked at him and jeered, “Did you have radiance back then? I didn’t see any.”
“……”
In the middle of this radiance, a beam of energy shot out from the top of Tang Jie’s head and into the sky, causing everyone’s hearts to tremble.
This was the most important part of the process. At this stage, everyone knew that Tang Jie had smoothly finished the Heaven-Earth Bridge. Although there were many important points to keep in mind in this process, it now seemed like all these problems were nonexistent. Tang Jie had finished receiving and guiding the energy, clearing the land, and building the bridge. What came next was linking the bridge to the heavens and earth.
The difficulty wasn’t too great at this stage—at least, it was not as hard as clearing an area in the Spiritual Space. Theoretically, someone who could so quickly build the bridge would have no problem linking the bridge to the heavens and earth.
But this step was also where one could comprehend the Dao.
When the cultivator’s energy linked with the energy of the heavens and earth, their mind would also penetrate deep into the world, giving them a chance to comprehend the Dao of the world. As for which Dao one would comprehend, it depended on the person. Someone overflowing with talent might comprehend an entire Dao, while those a little less competent might get a glimpse through the door. But most people wouldn’t even be able to get to the door and would ultimately comprehend nothing.
This was precisely why it was best for the time to erect the Heaven-Earth Bridge to be as short as possible, and the linking process to be as long as possible.
The longer the linking process was, the more chances one would have to comprehend the Dao, and the more one would comprehend.
“What a pity. If only he had another Harmonic Threshold Breaking Pill,” Xie Fengtang helplessly sighed. The effects of the Harmonic Threshold Breaking Pill when used a third time would be even more profound and would last even longer.
Xie Fengtang then saw a third pill fly out of the bottle and into Tang Jie’s mouth.
Xie Fengtang was rendered speechless. All he could manage was, “Son of a bitch!”
The sky of the Langya Blessed Land was awash with light, the rays of the morning sun seeming dim in comparison to that pillar of light.
Tang Jie went from sitting to standing. Standing in the receiving formation, standing on the fish lip rock, he faced the rising sun, his entire body radiating a supreme energy.
His Spiritual Space had already gone through a momentous transformation. While the bottom was still a vast Spirit Sea, a layer of clouds had formed above it, and on these clouds was a golden pagoda that was crisscrossed with golden chains. The pagoda thrust upward, up from Tang Jie’s body into the sky and the unseeable vastness beyond.
This was the Heaven-Earth Bridge Tang Jie had built with that golden energy.
Every person’s Heaven-Earth Bridge was actually a recreation. As its purpose was to link to the heavens and earth and harness their energy, most people elected to create a simple passage.
Perhaps because of his preparation and his excellent constitution, Tang Jie had absorbed far more of the golden energy than he had anticipated, so he had the leeway to make a very special Heaven-Earth Bridge: the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda.
The form of the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda was based on that of the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, Li Jing, from his original world. As for the chains, they were used for stabilization. The reason for this was that the energy he had released had shot into the sky and was still going, causing his pagoda bridge to sway. Thus, Tang Jie had been forced to use the golden energy to create chains to stabilize the tower.
This energy was his mind, and as it soared up, it broke through the blessed land, broke through the Domain Astral Winds, broke through the Rosecloud Domain, and arrived in the vast sea of stars. Countless motes of light twinkled in the distance, and the resplendent light of treasures drifted about.
Tang Jie knew that this was the Boundless Sea of Stars.
This was no illusion, but a region that really existed somewhere in the depths of the infinite void.
When a cultivator charged at Mortal Shedding, their energy would link with the heavens and earth and their mind would plumb the depths of the void. So long as one’s energy vein was long enough, one could reach this place. The energy would serve as a rope, tying the mind to this place, thus completing the final step.
Thus, no matter where one was, so long as there was spiritual energy, one could use the power in one’s body to harness the power of the world, allowing for the use of powerful spell arts. Only then could one be considered a true Immortal cultivator.
But the Boundless Sea of Stars was not the terminus of the Heaven-Earth Bridge. If one’s energy vein was even longer, it could keep going deeper into the Boundless Sea of Stars and see countless resplendent treasure lights. These were real treasure lights, divine artifacts naturally formed from the immense power of the world over the eons in the sea of stars.
If one’s mind could settle here, and if one’s luck was good, one might be able to lock onto one such treasure. In the future, if one was able to reach a certain level, one could utilize this treasure light. And if one was so fortunate as to venture into the sea of stars, one could use the treasure light as a beacon and seek out this divine artifact.
But this still was not the end of the Heaven-Earth Bridge.
These divine weapons were naught but ordinary items in Tang Jie’s eyes, unable to draw his attention. His mind continued forward as if it would never stop.
As he passed through that dazzling region, a haze appeared before him.
In this haze, Tang Jie saw an enormous law wheel, simple and unadorned, imbued with a timeworn bleakness, brimming with an immense and enigmatic majesty.
The Heavenly Dao Law Wheel!
Tang Jie’s heart fiercely pulsed.
Compared to that brief glimpse from when he was in front of the Heavenly Dao Stele, Tang Jie had a much clearer view this time.
It was so vast that it seemed to encompass the entire world, as if it held the entire universe. Something this enormous should have already been beyond the ability of the physical eye to observe, just like how one couldn’t observe an entire mountain while on top of it.
But Tang Jie could see it. He felt the vastness of the Heavenly Dao Law Wheel and could clearly see it in its entirety.
It was like a giant gear clock. Its outermost edge had countless gears while its center had twelve giant needles that pointed in twelve different directions. Each direction was associated with a character, but these characters were too blurry to see clearly. And down below, a giant pendulum swung back and forth.
Strangely, what should have been the largest and clearest, the twelve clock hands, were the blurriest to Tang Jie, but the smallest and what should have been least visible, the edge gears, were clearly visible to him.
He could see that those gears weren’t gears at all, but black needles made from smoke and formed into gears.
If one looked even more closely, one would realize that even this smoke was fake, consisting of countless interweaving rays of light. These rays of light seemed like words and pictures, dancing around in the air and winding around each other. They all seemed to have some unique meaning, with no repetition. These were the Dao Inscriptions.
It was these Dao Inscriptions that formed the various Daos of the world, creating the entire universe.
The Dao was divided into the Heavenly Dao, the Great Dao, and the minor Dao.
There was only one Heavenly Dao, whereas there were twelve Great Daos, and countless minor Daos. Whether it was a Great Dao or minor Dao, they were all beneath the one and only Heavenly Dao.
The Heavenly Dao could not be comprehended!
The saying that the superior comprehended the Heavenly Dao was actually hyperbole. Only the Great Daos and minor Daos could actually be comprehended.
Those gears were the minor Daos, and the twelve clock hands were the Great Daos.
His ample preparations, the abundant resources, and the ideal location of the Langya Blessed Land had made Tang Jie’s energy strong enough to break through the sea of stars and glimpse the Heavenly Dao. If he concentrated and observed any single Dao, he would be able to comprehend a minor Dao. As for how much he comprehended, that would depend on how many Dao Inscriptions he could understand.
Tang Jie’s eyes flitted over the countless minors before turning to the twelve Great Daos in the center.
For him, these were the only ones worth pursuing.
He tried to get closer so that he could get a better look, but his energy refused to advance another step no matter how he pushed it.
Worst of all was that the energy was weakening and slowly drawing back.
Each second of delay would shorten the time Tang Jie had to comprehend the Dao, and if he delayed too long, he would miss his chance.
“No!” Tang Jie looked up at that Heavenly Dao Law Wheel far off in the distance and roared, “I’ve observed the Heavenly Dao Law Wheel before, comprehending Insight, and now that I’m shedding my mortality, I should be able to glimpse the secrets of the heavens and comprehend a Great Dao.”
As he mentally roared, it resounded through the heavens, striking that Heavenly Dao Law Wheel like a giant mallet.
A moment later, the vertical eye emerged from the center of his forehead, and Tang Jie’s body was engulfed with light, preventing outsiders from glimpsing his appearance.
In the depths of the void, his mind swelled with power and advanced forward another step. His eyes moved like lightning, penetrating through the thick haze and falling on one of the clock hands.
And then, Tang Jie saw that this Great Dao clock hand was also made from countless Dao Inscriptions. As Tang Jie’s gaze fell upon them, these Dao Inscriptions came alive. As if they could sense that someone was looking at them, they exploded with golden light.
As this golden light fell on Tang Jie’s mind, this mind that was linked to the world suddenly drew back as quickly as lightning, swiftly retreating into the horizon.
“Agh!” Tang Jie cried out, his body suddenly jumping up.
That powerful will followed his energy back and thundered into his brain.
