Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 546
Chapter 546: The City of Freedom
Past the scarlet plains was an even larger plain, the Blood River Domain’s infamous Plain of Slaughter.
Befitting the name, much slaughter took place on the Plain of Slaughter, flames of battle rising from all sides and the ground running with rivers of blood.
Compared to the scarlet plains, the Plain of Slaughter had many more people and was much more rife with combat. Various powerful existences from three different directions, the three different factions, would converge on this place every year like moths to the flame, offering their blood and lives to expand the legend of the Plain of Slaughter.
In the center of the Plain of Slaughter was an imposing city of immense size, the city even having its own rivers, valleys, and mountains. A large river ran through the middle of the city, dividing it into north and south, and in its northeast corner was a large mountain range. At the highest point of the mountain range was a majestic tower.
This city was the Plain of Slaughter’s famous City of Freedom.
The City of Freedom was a unique existence in the Blood River Domain. It was said that the city was founded by an Immortal Platform Titan, a pill refiner who had crossed over from another domain. They had wanted to find materials to refine pills, but they ended up getting swept up in the wars. In order to prevent being disturbed by battle, this Titan demarcated an area in the Plain of Slaughter and set up a free city. They encouraged merchants from all around to set up shop here and forbade fighting, thus establishing a peaceful place in the Plain of Slaughter.
As time went on, the city became a special place in the Blood River Domain.
And as all three sides had their needs and wanted a place to trade for them, they gradually came to accept this place’s existence.
At the time, this place was called the City of Peace.
After getting the materials they wanted, that Titan left.
Without anyone to control it, the City of Peace gradually returned to being a bloodstained land.
All the various goods incited countless killings and conflicts.
Just when the City of Peace was about to be abandoned, another Titan appeared and salvaged this city on the verge of collapse—the renowned Flame Celestial Sovereign.
The Flame Celestial Sovereign was famous for being an extremely temperamental existence. In order to satisfy their lust for battle, they took a liking to this land rich in both slaughter and wealth, so they established the Celestial Flame Arena.
From then on, the City of Peace was utterly transformed.
No longer was this a city established for trade between merchants. In a flash, it became a city completely devoted to slaughter.
In this city, killing became commonplace, and peace was a thing of the past.
Everyone was fighting here, killing and being killed, and all of it was crowned with the name of Freedom.
Even though the nature of the City of Freedom had gone from trade to combat, its favorable location and many things that the city required still drew many merchants and customers. To ensure its flow of supply, this city of slaughter established a system for protecting the merchants. This made it so that the City of Freedom was both a land of slaughter and also a gathering place for the merchants from all three factions, making it the Blood River Domain’s largest marketplace.
One could find the best materials here, and also the best pill refiners and tool makers. Everything you could think of could be found here, so long as you could pay the price.
After flying for three days, Tang Jie finally spotted that city looming in the distance.
It was like some behemoth squatting on the ground, the city walls alone towering nearly one thousand feet. Such tall and sturdy walls naturally couldn’t have been made by mortal hands, but through the supreme might of the Flame Celestial Sovereign. If one looked carefully, one would notice that every part of this city had a strange light about it. To outsiders, these lights were simply the lights of the city, but when Tang Jie saw them, he knew that they represented a formation of enormous size.
The formation covered all of the City of Freedom in its protective embrace, and even an Immortal Platform Titan might not be able to break through it by force.
The City of Freedom had 1080 gates in all, open to various directions, and above the city was an invisible defensive barrier that prevented all flight. Anyone who wanted to enter the city, whether human, fiend, or demon, cultivator or mortal, had to come in through a city gate.
Tang Jie landed several hundred meters away from the City of Freedom.
He had barely landed when he heard a clamor: “Don’t let him run!”
Turning his head, he saw a group of Hemos chasing after a human.
That human was desperately running to the gate, and just when he was about to reach it, the leader of the pursuing Hemos cast a blood arrow at the human’s back.
Tang Jie slightly frowned and gave a light grunt.
This grunt resounded in that person’s ear, causing him to tumble to the ground.
The blood arrow shot over his back, and he rolled into the gate.
The moment that human was through the gate, the pursuing Hemos started cursing. But for some reason, they seemed afraid and didn’t dare to go in.
The City of Freedom had its rules. Anyone who entered the city would be protected by the City of Freedom, and anyone who dared to challenge the city’s rules would face death.
By entering the city, that human gained the protection of the City of Freedom, and the Hemos did not dare to pursue him inside. Furious, they turned to Tang Jie, a savage glint in their eyes.
But their leader stopped them. “Let him go.”
The Plain of Slaughter was a lawless place, and surviving here required not just strength, but also sharp eyes.
This man had come down from the sky, so he was clearly a cultivator, and he had shown no reaction to them chasing a human, a sign that he had some confidence in his power.
It was better to not provoke this sort of person.
Tang Jie ignored them and walked toward the gate.
Upon entering the city, he saw that its streets were very lively.
He could see the red-skinned Hemos, humans, and also demons, their bodies wreathed by black energy. Whether they had been humans, fiends, or something else, once they became demons, they would always be surrounded by a lingering black cloud. Some of the more extreme ones manifested in various bizarre fashions—for example, headless demons that carried their heads in their hands, death row prisoners who shambled around with shackles, and half-human half-spider demons. The world of demons was a bizarre place that had everything and anything.
All these bizarre creatures in another place probably would have fought each other until rivers of blood flowed. But thanks to the powerful system of the City of Freedom, they were all getting along, and even energetically shopping in the marketplace.
Because of the Great Stellar Chiliocosm, countless worlds had all once been administered by the same authority, which was why all the domains fortunately had a common language in addition to their own language. The Rosecloud Domain, as one of the worlds that had preserved all of its heritage from High Antiquity, had completely retained the language and used none other than the common language. But in the Blood River Domain, local language mixed with the common language, and there were even various dialects. But at least one could still say that communication wasn’t a problem.
Because of this, the City of Freedom seemed particularly lively, as everyone was hawking their wares, using various languages to haggle. If one didn’t know the truth, one really might take this place to be some popular marketplace. Only when one went deeper would one discover that every item up for sale had a bloodsoaked history.
Tang Jie had come here for the materials to repair his teleportation formation.
He browsed as he walked.
Suddenly, a voice rang out behind him. “Please wait!”
Turning his head, he saw that man who had been chased earlier running over. He bowed to Tang Jie and said, “Sir, thank you for saving my life.”
Tang Jie looked at the man and said, “It was nothing.”
He turned and left.
When the man heard this, he was ecstatic. He wasn’t actually sure that Tang Jie was the one who had saved him, but that grunt had come at just the right time and saved his life, so he knew that the chances were good that someone had intervened. And besides himself, only Tang Jie had entered the city, so that man instinctively guessed that his savior was Tang Jie. He came forward to express his thanks, as there would be no harm done if he guessed incorrectly. But if he did guess right, he could use this chance to get closer to Tang Jie.
It had to be understood that knowing how to make friends was key to surviving in this world. Just like how Tang Jie had relied on Wei Tianchong to enter the academy, the man also wanted to get in Tang Jie’s good graces.
The man hastily approached and said, “This lowly one is Li Bofeng. I am endlessly grateful to Sir for saving me. If Sir does not mind, this lowly one is willing to serve you until the end of his life!”
Tang Jie glanced back at Li Bofeng. “Interesting.”
He had said this because he could naturally tell what Li Bofeng was thinking.
To seize this limited opportunity in such a short amount of time and attempt to ingratiate himself to Tang Jie, Li Bofeng was clearly a very sharp person. And it just so happened that Tang Jie was a newcomer. While Han Fei had explained some things to him, he was ultimately still unfamiliar with the area and needed someone to help him. Thus, after some thought, he asked, “Do you know a lot about the City of Freedom?”
Li Bofeng could tell that there was a chance, and he happily said, “This lowly one has spent a long time in the City of Freedom, and there is nothing here that this lowly one does not know about.”
“Then why were you being chased by those people?”
“Hah, what else could it be except for the sake of making a little money?” Li Bofeng helplessly said.
Many goods were being exchanged within the City of Freedom every day, and numerous merchant caravans came and went. The merchants were protected in the city from being killed, but its authority did not reach beyond the walls. Wicked bandits were always wandering about the Plain of Slaughter, seeking out targets of opportunity. The caravans naturally weren’t willing to be robbed, so they sought bodyguards to escort them. Thus, the roads leading to the City of Freedom also brimmed with blood and death.
Li Bofeng was just one of those unfortunate souls. He had taken an escort mission, but the caravan had come under attack by the Hemos, and everyone had scattered, fleeing in separate directions with the goods. As everyone had Mustard Seed Bags, the caravans here were different from normal ones. They could be divided into two types: wagon caravans and Mustard Seed Bag caravans. Wagons were used to transport goods that were large in quantity and cheap in value while Mustard Seed Bags were used to carry valuable goods that were few in quantity.
Upon encountering powerful opposition, everyone immediately split up and headed toward the city. This was commonplace for escorts, and it was why Li Bofeng had been chased by those Hemos. If he wanted to survive. he could just throw over his Mustard Seed Bag, but he was very dutiful and insisted on running all the way to the city.
Entering the city essentially completed his mission. He simply needed to hand over the goods to the designated merchant.
Tang Jie inspected Li Bofeng. This man was a Cognitive Creation Spirit Master, so his cultivation level was passable. After some thought, he asked, “Then how much can you make on a single trip?”
Li Bofeng replied, “A round trip is eight days, and if nothing bad happens, I can get four hundred blackstone coins. But now that something has happened, I can only get half, alas.”
“‘Blackstone coins’?” Tang Jie was surprised. “This place doesn’t use spirit jades to trade? What are blackstone coins?”
Li Bofeng replied, “Spirit jades are primarily used in the human region, but they don’t accept them here. The transactions in the City of Freedom must all be done in blackstone coins, which are this place’s exclusive currency.”
Tang Jie frowned. He didn’t have any blackstone coins.
Li Bofeng saw that Tang Jie was in a tough spot, so he smiled and said, “Sir, is this your first time here? I’m on the way to hand in my goods, so once I receive my money, I can give some to Sir in repayment for saving my life.”
“There’s no need. I just need you to tell me how I can make blackstone coins.”
“Sir needs only to ask, and I will tell you everything I know. Right, I have yet to ask for Sir’s name.”
“‘Tang Jie’.”
Li Bofeng began to explain.
There were generally three ways of making blackstone coins. The first was running a business. The City of Freedom was the Blood River Domain’s largest commercial zone, and various goods from the three factions would all be sent here. Given the dangers of transporting the goods, the profits were huge. An object transported from the human region would often sell for ten to twenty times the original price here. The second was to work for someone. Li Bofeng was such a person, taking up part-time jobs for money. Blackstone coins had somewhat more useful value than spirit coins, and so the exchange rate was one blackstone coin to five spirit coins. Of course, this would change depending on the goods being bought. The third way of making money was the Celestial Flame Arena.
In truth, this was the real draw.
Every year, numerous heroic individuals would come to the Celestial Flame Arena to battle it out. Meanwhile, those bigshots with money and no place to spend it would come to spectate the battles.
The arena was itself a place to spend tons of money. Every fight would sell large numbers of tickets, with the price dependent on the popularity of the bout. For this reason, anyone who participated in a fight, whether they won or lost, could get some money. It was just that the loser earned less while the winner earned more. Of course, the loser also had to bear the risk of death.
The spectators preferred their battles to be on the bloody side.
Thus, the one who fought the most ruthlessly was often the most popular.
“Anyone can go?” Tang Jie had heard about the Celestial Flame Arena before, but the old man had given few details, limiting his understanding. He was even more interested now that he was hearing more about it.
“Yes, anyone can apply,” Li Bofeng replied. “But everyone usually has to start with a melee, and there’s an admission fee of ten blackstone coins. Only by surviving the melee can you prove your strength and gain the right to participate in the one-on-one battles. Every duel allows spectators to vote, and when your support reaches a certain level, you can enter the special tournament. Only people who can enter the special tournament have a chance at extravagant rewards, some of which could even tempt Violet Palace cultivators.”
“They don’t care about cultivation level?”
“The Celestial Flame Arena cares only about strength, not cultivation level. On the contrary, a gap in cultivation is more liable to excite the crowd and throw some uncertainty into the mix. If you’re confident enough, you can challenge someone above your cultivation level. Of course, those of lower cultivation level or ranking have the right to refuse challenges from those of higher cultivation level or ranking.”
“Then what’s the highest cultivation level in the Celestial Flame Arena at the moment?”
“Soul Transformation. The masters of the Violet Palace Realm normally don’t participate in the fights.”
Tang Jie nodded. Existences of the Violet Palace Realm didn’t need to rely on fighting to make money. This sort of thing would only get people to laugh so hard that their teeth fell out.
“I see.” Tang Jie nodded. “It all sounds rather interesting.”
“Sir, you aren’t thinking of going to the arena, are you? You must be careful. That’s where blood flows in the City of Freedom, and countless heroes have died there. Nobody can guarantee that they can win forever, and even losing once could mean losing it all!”
“I know, but it still draws many people to participate, right?”
Li Bofeng sighed. “The rewards are just too tempting.”
The competitors of the Celestial Flame Arena had their own strength ranking, and anyone who could squeeze their way onto the ranking could command a high price. Every time they appeared, they would generate a lot of money.
The resources gained with this money could make anyone else turn green from envy.
If one wanted to make it farther and faster along the Immortal path, this money was necessary.
Tang Jie was able to attain True Personhood in only twenty-some years primarily because of the resources he had gone to such great lengths to obtain.
It all started with using the Wei Clan, and then it was conspiring to take resources from Godhead Palace, and after that, there was Apricot Pavilion, the Valley of No Return, Old Crow Ridge, the Langya Blessed Land, the Stone Gate Sect, the Water Moon Paradise, and then that frenzied crime spree in Nadir Hill. By seizing every opportunity and taking everything he could, he was able to reach his current level of strength.
But even so, the distance he had been able to cover on this Immortal path was extremely limited.
In the future, there would be a longer and even more distant path waiting for him to climb, confront, and conquer.
In these circumstances, the Celestial Flame Arena wasn’t looking too bad.
In this battleground where the best of the domain gathered, there were countless battles, endless applause and glory, and uncountable rewards and resources.
Even Tang Jie couldn’t help but be interested.
Of course, he couldn’t immediately make his decision. He first needed to observe the situation and make an analysis of the danger versus the rewards, and then he could make his decision. Before then, he would have to rely on Li Bofeng for his living expenses.
