Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 558
Chapter 558: Challenge
When the starlight from beyond pierced through the energy barrier to fall upon the hidden realm, it was a sign a new day had come.
In the center of the mountains was a peak that looked like a squirrel looking up at the moon, so it was called Squirrel Peak.
Standing on the right side of Squirrel Peak’s summit and looking into the distance, one could see through the energy barrier and vaguely make out the Gold Ignis Astral Winds rampaging in the beyond.
The Rosecloud Domain was in that direction.
Every morning, He Chong would sit here and look at those golden currents. Home was so close, yet so far. It was only one wall away, but he would never be able to go back.
Putting aside the fact that he didn’t even have the ability to break through the hidden realm’s protective barrier, even if he did, he would just be walking out into the infinite void. Even if home were just next door, he couldn’t get through those Gold Ignis Astral Winds that could even devour Violet Palace Realm Titans.
At the start, he had tried with all his might to capture Tang Jie, but as Tang Jie escaped again and again and grew stronger and stronger, He Chong knew that the moment had passed.
Thus, in the end, all he could do was come here every day and dumbly look at home.
But he knew that Tang Jie would come to find him one day.
He would bring with him an unstoppable strength.
Today, just like before, He Chong was at the summit of Squirrel Peak, gazing at the golden clouds.
Down below, Duan Fourth and Deng Yuqing were playing go.
In this hidden realm, there were no amusements to speak of, so go became their only hobby. Ten-some years of arduous effort had ended up raising a pair of go masters.
As he looked at that golden glow beyond the barrier and then looked around at the sea of grass, he inexplicably felt a sense of unease.
A scene appeared in his mind.
It was Xu Muyang.
He thought of his battle against Xu Muyang at Jade Orchid Mountain.
He thought about that little courtyard in Anyang where Xu Muyang had chosen to self-detonate.
Why was he suddenly thinking of the past? He Chong shook his head and shooed away these random thoughts. A cloud drifted over from the distance, blocking He Chong’s sight. He waved his sleeve, sending the cloud off so that he could once more see that distant glow.
And then He Chong saw a beam of light emerge from that distant glow, heading this way.
This was…
He Chong gazed at that beam of light in shock.
He saw that beam of light fall upon the hidden realm’s energy wall in a dazzling burst of colors.
This was a light that linked two worlds.
It was teleportation!
He Chong stood up.
It was a teleportation between Rosecloud and the hidden realm, from the ancient battlefield to this paradise!
Someone was finally coming in through Ten Direction Valley!
He Chong was so excited that he wanted to shout.
He had stood watch here for ten-some years, always hoping that, one day, Godhead Palace would be able to send someone in through Ten Direction Valley.
But all these years, none of the hoped-for reinforcements had arrived.
Without Tang Jie, they couldn’t get in.
Today, the teleporter between the ancient battlefield and here had finally been activated again.
He Chong excitedly flew toward where the beam of light had landed.
He flew with the haste and anxiety of a drowning man clutching onto that last stalk of rice.
But when he got close, he saw a familiar figure and was left dumbfounded.
“Tang Jie?”
Standing before him was clearly Tang Jie himself, but unlike before, he was wearing a brand-new moon-white robe. There was someone next to him, wearing a veiled hat that obscured his face.
He Chong was dazed, and then he realized and shouted, “You went! You can leave this place, right?”
Tang Jie had always kept the teleportation formation a secret from He Chong, for if he had known, he would have definitely scoured the world for it.
All the peace and quiet concealed a despair at the inability to return, and any little bit of hope could be the spark for an uprising.
Tang Jie naturally wouldn’t let that happen.
But today, he didn’t need to keep hiding it.
Wearing a brand-new robe, he had come in through Ten Direction Valley rather than the teleportation formation, as Tang Jie no longer needed to hide anything. He didn’t need to hide the teleportation formation from He Chong, and he didn’t need to hide his connection to the hidden realm from Godhead Palace.
He had gone in through Ten Direction Valley because that was his only way to get to the ancient battlefield, which still had numerous treasures.
Compared to his first time, Tang Jie was no longer as powerless against them as before. He made a circuit of the ancient battlefield, taking the high-value ones into the Treasure Cosmos Formation and shattering the low-value ones into golden grains, strengthening the Sovereign Blade. He didn’t even spare the corpses, taking them all into the Mountain River State Diagram—Tang Jie had set up a new teleportation formation in the Blood River Domain, freeing up the Mountain River State Diagram.
After all, he had the money.
Tang Jie smirked at He Chong. “Yes, the teleportation formation is on the other end of the mountain. There’s a little forest there, and if you go through it, you’ll come upon a cliff. In front of the cliff is a tree, and if you circle around the tree three times, a cave will appear in the cliff. Don’t go straight into the cave. Instead, walk to the area three meters to the right of the cave entrance. That will get you safely into the cave, and inside the cave is the teleportation formation.”
“So that’s how it was…” He Chong muttered, his face devoid of excitement. He looked at Tang Jie and slowly said, “It seems that you’re confident in beating me?”
“You know that I’m not the sort of person to be blindly arrogant,” Tang Jie said, answering He Chong’s question in his own style.
The person next to him took off the hat, and He Chong saw another Tang Jie.
“An avatar!” He Chong’s eyes narrowed. He had long ago deduced that Tang Jie had an avatar.
Even though there were two Tang Jies, He Chong could tell at a glance that the one who had been speaking to him just now was the body-refining original body. The one wearing the veiled hat was the avatar. Surprisingly, its cultivation level was at the Spirit Ring Tier. Despite all of its inherent restrictions, this guy had managed to raise the avatar to this level? It was dumbfounding.
“No wonder you’re so confident. You have a Spirit Ring avatar, and you yourself have gotten stronger, so you’ve decided to finally tie everything up?” He Chong could naturally tell that even the original body had gotten stronger by leaps and bounds.
But no matter how great its progress, his physical body was still at the middle tier of the Diamond Body.
“One at middle-tier Diamond Body, and another at the Spirit Ring Tier, to deal with me, who is at Soul Transformation… Don’t you think that’s still a little lacking?” He Chong chuckled. Using the Rosecloud Domain’s standards of strength, a single Soul Transformation was strong enough to deal with five Heart Demon cultivators. Tang Jie had only one avatar, but he thought he could win? Had he forgotten how bitter his previous losses had been?
That was fine too. Youths had hasty personalities, which gave him a chance.
He Chong savagely laughed as he flew into the air, his body swelling with power.
Tang Jie was unmoved, simply replying, “My current level of cultivation does seem a little low to deal with you, but that’s what makes a battle interesting. If I waited until I was the same cultivation level to fight you, what would be the meaning of the victory?”
“What did you say?” He Chong was taken aback. It sounded like Tang Jie was doing this on purpose, and also that he didn’t plan to use his avatar.
Tang Jie said, “I said that I alone am enough to deal with you. As for him…”
He pointed at the avatar. “That’s just there to guard against any surprises, and also to watch your two subordinates.”
As he spoke, the figures of Duan Fourth and Deng Yuqing flew out from the distance.
Tang Jie’s avatar immediately shot at the two. The pair instinctively unleashed a torrent of spiritual energy, but a moment later, the avatar punched out with both fists, red and white energies forming Dragonlike Hands that slammed into Deng and Duan and sent them flying.
Aghast, Deng and Duan tried to fight back, but as they cast their spell arts, they felt their bodies grow heavier, a seemingly infinite amount of blood energy pressing down on them like a mountain, trying to squeeze the air out of them.
What spell art is this!?
The avatar placed his hands behind his back, blood energy coiling around him, growing thicker and thicker as it paralyzed the two. Only then did the avatar say, “If you stay here and don’t move, I won’t kill you. Otherwise… death!”
He Chong’s pupils sharply constricted.
Although Deng and Duan had been imprisoned in the Martial Lord’s hidden realm all these years, the high concentration of spiritual energy in this place had allowed them to rapidly advance. It had taken the pair only five years to pass through the Three Withering Tribulations, and though they were now stuck at the threshold to Celestial Heart, they were still peak Mortal Shedding cultivators, much stronger than before. But peak Spirit Masters seemed like nothing before Tang Jie’s avatar, having been routed in a single strike.
Defeating two peak Mortal Shedding cultivators with one move wasn’t something the average Spirit Ring True Person could do. This meant that, just like the original body, Tang Jie’s avatar possessed strength far above its level.
He Chong narrowed his eyes as he looked at the original body. “Good, good! So you do have some skill to back up your talk! Then let me see just how much stronger you’ve gotten!”
He waved his sleeve, which swept toward Tang Jie like a long dragon. “Universe-Holding Sleeve!”
Facing that long sleeve, Tang Jie didn’t move. As it was about to strike, he grunted, and his body instantly grew to several times its size. Transformed into a 10-meter-tall giant, he reached out and grabbed the long sleeve. “Get down here!”
He Chong shook the sleeve, which extended as if it was an infinite spool of cloth, easily shedding Tang Jie’s boundless strength. This was a law cultivator’s greatest advantage against a body cultivator: the ability to not directly clash with that boundless strength.
As he let his sleeve endlessly extend, he thrust his palm downward.
The majestic palm crashed down as a mountain. Tang Jie faced it, baring his teeth, and then his body grew larger once more, going from 10 meters to 13 meters. At the same time, Tang Jie punched at the air.
The blast from his punch thundered through the air, striking that palm. He Chong was a Soul Transformation cultivator, so his palm truly did have the power of a mountain, but in this clash of palm and fist, it was the fist that won.
The titanic strength of this punch could make even mountains crumble in a single blow.
The wild strength of the fist blast dispelled the giant hand and rocketed toward He Chong’s face.
Just when it was about to make impact, He Chong’s body flashed with golden light. A golden barrier protected him from the punch, but the sheer force still sent him flying back more than a thousand feet.
Even so, He Chong wasn’t surprised. If Tang Jie hadn’t been able to block this attack, he wouldn’t have even come to find him.
As He Chong was pushed back, he formed a spell art with his left hand, and a sawtooth saber appeared in the air.
This saber was 180 feet long and seemed capable of sundering the heavens and crumbling mountains. This was not some simple spell art manifestation. Rather, it concealed He Chong’s art relic of many years, the Celestial Moongrave.
This relic was not made of any metal, and it could take on all kinds of forms and even merge with spell arts. When used, it could unleash a power that could make all the world bow or become as delicate as a needle.
Murderous intent gathered on He Chong’s face as he pointed at Tang Jie. “Go!”
That giant saber swung down.
Tang Jie didn’t use his fist to respond.
He shook his hand, and a black halberd appeared in it.
“The Desolate Heavens Halberd!” He Chong paled.
He naturally knew about this art relic.
But how had He Changan’s art relic ended up in Tang Jie’s hand?
Could it be…
He Chong didn’t even want to think about it.
Tang Jie laughed as he swung the halberd at the descending saber.
Saber and halberd clashed in an explosion of light.
An invisible shockwave spread out from Tang Jie, causing an explosion of rock and dust as it slammed into a distant mountain.
An enormous vortex appeared in the air. Tang Jie and He Chong stood like majestic gods, one savage and huge, the other like a flashing golden emperor.
“He Chong!” Tang Jie roared as he flew at He Chong, unleashing wave after wave of energy from the halberd.
The body cultivator’s path of victory was found in charging, and charging, and charging again!
No matter the difference in strength, a body cultivator had to always fearlessly press forward.
He pushed through wind and lightning, facing down deafening sound waves, chilling frost, searing flames, and a deluge of swords.
He Chong unleashed spell arts at a frantic pace. As a Soul Transformation True Person, he had reached greater attainment in his Divine Will. Although he lacked the Violet Palace, his thoughts could still reach the world. This could not be considered “manifesting all arts with a single thought”, but he could throw out spells as one would throw out flower petals at a wedding.
Spell arts came down in a rain.
Compared to this terrifying spell art deluge, Tang Jie’s actions were very simple. No matter how many spell arts there were, he would just keep charging and push through everything!
A life-or-death battle played out in the skies of the Martial Lord’s hidden realm.
The hidden realm wasn’t small, but it also wasn’t large.
They fought from the skies in the south to the ground in the north, from the mountains in the west to the lake in the east. Even the firebird in the lava pool was alarmed.
It awoke from the lava, flapped its wings, and took to the skies, where it floated in the air and observed the battle from a distance. The sun and moon rose and fell in its eyes, the stars blinking in and out.
It had naturally seen the avatar and Deng and Duan, but it simply cocked its head and said nothing.
It watched Tang Jie battle, watched as he charged through the torrent of spell arts, watched as he was roasted by fire, frozen by frost, and wounded by blades, watched as he recovered each time and continued to chase He Chong. And as it watched Tang Jie chase He Chong through heaven and earth, it saw the light in his body, the glowing of Dao Runes, and the look in its eyes grew even more profound.
Whoosh!
The battle was still ongoing.
Winds howled and smoke plumed.
He Chong thrust out his palm, pushing Tang Jie back and using the chance to retreat. But his mouth felt a little dry.
This guy really was much stronger than before!
He Chong had already lost count of the number of spell arts he had thrown at Tang Jie.
It had to be in the hundreds, perhaps even a thousand.
Several of the hidden realm’s mountains had been flattened, but Tang Jie remained as lively as ever.
This guy was an unkillable giant, and any attack aimed at him seemed to have reduced effect. Moreover, the damage that was done was quickly healed by his powerful constitution. He Chong had once tried to deal so much damage that he wouldn’t have time to recover, but he soon found his judgment to be wrong.
Tang Jie had seemingly comprehended the Dao of Life, and so long as he was willing, he could quickly restore his body.
Besides that, he also seemed to have an extremely deep understanding of the Dao of Yin Yang, so he was able to easily tell which of He Chong’s attacks were feints and which were real. He was even able to use some sort of Insight ability to identify He Chong’s weaknesses—there was a gleam of starlight on the center of the avatar’s forehead, and what the avatar could see, the original body could also see. Finally, Tang Jie’s attacks were tinged with a hint of Slaughter which made even minor injuries difficult to heal for He Chong.
In short, even though this was a savage who had achieved power through brute strength, in actual battle, he showed off much more than pure strength.
This gave He Chong a terrible headache.
The spiritual energy in his body was being constantly consumed.
Although he was at Soul Transformation and could complete a Circuit Heaven with a single breath, recovering spiritual energy at an extraordinarily fast rate, that still couldn’t match up to the rate at which he cast spell arts.
In that frenzy of casting, his spiritual energy reserves were rapidly falling.
But Tang Jie seemed to have neverending strength and was constantly giving chase.
No, it wasn’t neverending.
He Chong was able to tell that the strength from the original body had also decreased.
Should he attempt a battle of endurance?
He Chong had a sudden idea.
But he almost instantly rejected it.
If this were someone else, He Chong was confident that, being at Soul Transformation, he could last out and win.
But against the body refiner Tang Jie, he wasn’t sure.
Strength was not spiritual energy. It was affected by one’s physical and mental state.
Law cultivators couldn’t have sudden eruptions of strength, because when spiritual energy ran dry, there was no more. Without spiritual energy, even if your will was linked with the world, you would not be able to cast a single spell art.
But strength was different. Whenever you thought that your opponent had reached their limit, your opponent might be able to give you a nice surprise.
A powerful will wasn’t invincible, but a powerful will could push a body refiner to go beyond their limits and accomplish the extraordinary.
He Chong wasn’t too clear about this difference, but if they really fought to the very end, the one to ultimately fall might end up being him.
Raaaa!
Tang Jie was still charging at him.
The image of Tang Jie swinging the halberd seemed to dominate the heavens. The wave of energy that the black halberd unleashed rushed out like a mighty river, engulfing the land in a terrifying windstorm that tore up the clouds and made the trees shudder.
As Tang Jie charged at him like a war god, He Chong took in a deep breath.
He shouted, “You! Tang Jie! You think you’ve won!?”
As he roared, He Chong suddenly stopped attacking.
All of the spell arts stopped in unison, and then He Chong’s body began to radiate golden light. This meant that he was focusing all of his strength on defense. At the same time, his hands began to blur as they produced countless signs, and he began to chant something, and even though the words rang out like a bell, it was impossible to understand what he was saying.
At Soul Transformation, he could cast spell arts with the flick of a finger, but even at his level, he had cast this spell art for much longer than it would normally take to cast a spell art, and he was even chanting an incantation. His intentions were clear.
This was not a spell art, but a Divine Connection, and not your average Divine Connection.
Tang Jie didn’t find this strange.
Rather than attacking, he held back and watched He Chong cast. “Is it finally coming?”
Excitement danced in his eyes.
A true brave never feared their opponent’s power, was willing to face the might of the world itself.
As He Chong chanted, a golden figure manifested behind He Chong’s head.
It was the figure of a standing human.
The moment it appeared, it seemed to fill the world.
It was ancient, vast, majestic, and divine. To look upon it was to be filled with reverence and feel an awe and fear that came from the depths of the soul.
Tang Jie’s eyes grew even brighter.
He gazed at that manifestation behind He Chong as if he was looking up at an ancient Buddha, softly muttering several words:
“Godhead Manifest, Paramount Majesty!”
