Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 758
Chapter 758: Tiger Roar
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Basking Moon Academy.
Westwatch Pavilion.
“Looking to the west, the old home of yesteryear, the winds howling from south to north, and only the twilight…” Standing at the window, Xie Fengtang gazed into the distance, suddenly gripped by melancholy.
This bout of melancholy had come on suddenly, and Xie Fengtang couldn’t explain why.
A voice rang out behind him. “The clap of thunder and fall of rain all become the grace of kindness, the rosy clouds of sunset on the horizon, an unforgettable memento of a teacher’s love. Headmaster, were you thinking about me?”
Xie Fengtang shivered at this voice and turned his head to see a grinning Tang Jie standing there.
Delighted, he moved toward Tang Jie. “So you know to visit me.”
But rather than a hug, he grabbed Tang Jie by the ear.
But then he realized that this was inappropriate. As the Young Lord, Tang Jie outranked him, so he quickly let go.
Tang Jie didn’t mind, mischievously smiling. “I’m quite busy, you know. Right after I returned to the sect, Master took me to see the Cloud Ancestor, and he then dragged me to the back mountain and insisted on having me memorize the Twelve Meditation Classics of the Yellow Court. After that, I had to go visiting all the hall masters and leaders. Now that I’m the Young Lord, I have to understand how to rule. Even if my duel in two hundred years means I don’t have to worry about sect affairs in that time, I still have to meet everyone and get some familiarity with the system. After all that, I finally had some time to come out and see you.”
“I suppose you still have some conscience left in you!” Xie Fengtang laughed, pointing at Tang Jie.
He began to grope about his body and produced a large jar of wine. “Come; let’s get drunk.”
“Please, spare me! Everyone has been inviting me to drink these last few days, so just let me off this time, Headmaster. Let’s have tea instead. Look; I’ve brought Moonstream Jade Orchid Leaves, just for you.” Tang Jie took out a large bag of tea leaves and began to brew tea.
Xie Fengtang laughed and decided to go along with his plan. The two sipped on tea in Westwatch Pavilion while conversing. Xie Fengtang didn’t have much to talk about. His life consisted of teaching students and sending them off. Occasionally, he would raise an outstanding student that he got along with, but when the time came, he would have to send them off, which would make him feel sad and reluctant to see them go. When this happened too many times, he would stand at his window and moan that he wouldn’t be a teacher in his next life. However, when the occasional student returned for a visit, he immediately felt like everything was worth it.
Tang Jie, on the other hand, had plenty of stories to tell, leaving Xie Fengtang amazed. His account of how he had managed to escape from the likes of Godhead Palace, the Blood River Lord, and the Flame Celestial Sovereign, and then kill several Divine Division fiends left Xie Fengtang feeling dizzy. Any one of these would have been a lifetime achievement for him, but it was just one of many amazing feats in Tang Jie’s life.
The two of them talked for a long while before finally stopping. Seeing that there wasn’t much time left, Tang Jie took out an item. “I have never yet been able to repay Headmaster for all the care you gave me in my ten years here. This is a piece of Celestial Spirit Stone I got after killing Feng Buzhi. Part of it has been used, but there should be enough to use it one more time. Please accept this gift, Headmaster.”
Celestial Spirit Stone was a treasure that could help in the charge at Soul Transformation, and his avatar had used it for this very purpose.
Although Xie Fengtang was the deputy headmaster, he was so busy managing the school’s affairs that he didn’t have much time to cultivate. He was only at Heart Demon and still a step away from Soul Transformation. He had been preparing to take this final step for some time now, but he still didn’t dare to take such an important step, until now.
If Tang Jie had given him something else, he might have exploded in rage and rebuked him, but he simply couldn’t refuse this Celestial Spirit Stone. At the same time, he sensed that Tang Jie was being sincere.
He wanted to say more, but Tang Jie said, “I killed four Divine Division fiends and looted three treasuries in Verdant Cloud, and I looted the Flame Celestial Sovereign’s treasury in the Blood River Domain, and I also have the inter-domain trade. I have so much money that I don’t know where to spend it all.”
Before he could finish his thought, Xie Fengtang took the stone. “Right, there’s no need for me to be so courteous with a kid like you.”
Tang Jie laughed, and then he said, “I also came this time with an idea in mind.”
“Tell me.”
“I plan to donate a hundred thousand spirit coins to Basking Moon Academy every year that’s to be used to commend outstanding students.”
“What?” Xie Fengtang was startled by Tang Jie’s proposal. “Why is that?”
“It’s nothing much. I just think that a person can’t always be looking out for themselves and they should sometimes help out their juniors. A hundred thousand spirit coins isn’t a lot to me, but it can help the people who need it. Of course, I will place a limit. It’s mainly to be used to support those hardworking students who come from poor families. I call this money a scholarship.”
“‘A scholarship’?” Xie Fengtang considered the proposal and nodded. “It’s rather interesting.”
Every year, Basking Moon Academy would accept students who had excellent talent and mindset but couldn’t get to the next level because their families couldn’t support them. Tang Jie was giving them an opportunity.
This would help the Basking Moon Sect gain more talents, and it would also help Tang Jie, for the students that got opportunities through his scholarships would definitely be grateful and become his loyal fans.
In truth, a similar plan had already been implemented in Horizon Ocean Pavilion, and they had already become Xu Miaoran’s supporters. Tang Jie had given Xu Miaoran this idea while he was in the Verdant Cloud Domain.
Now that Tang Jie had returned, he was naturally going to use it here.
Xie Fengtang was very satisfied with the proposal, and the two of them decided on the fine details of the donations and limitations right there. As Tang Jie was providing the money, he was naturally the one to decide how it was distributed and used, and for the same reason, it also carried his name, being called the Tang Jie Scholarship.
Starting from today, Tang Jie’s name was bound to be one that every student admired and revered.
After the discussion, Tang Jie said that he wanted to take a walk around the academy.
Xie Fengtang happened to have work that he needed to do, so he let Tang Jie go wherever he pleased. After all, he was the Young Lord, so there was no place in the sect that was forbidden to him.
Tang Jie exited Westwatch Pavilion and began to walk along the mountain path.
As he visited his old haunts, he started to feel nostalgic.
The path was the same path, and the buildings were the same buildings, but the students had all changed. Familiar faces had been replaced by strange ones, but both were brimming with energy and hope.
Every student walking past him felt to Tang Jie like he was looking at himself.
In a flash, he was at his former residence. The sign of the Carefree House had been replaced, and it now said “Heaven Charging Pavilion”.
Tang Jie didn’t need to go inside to see within. The crude courtyard was now very neat and tidy, and a student was meditating within, circulating Circuit Heavens and clumsily forming hand signs, and the spirit crops had been planted in the yard.
Tang Jie tried to find the Violet Pomegranate he had planted, but he couldn’t find it.
He was startled. Had the Violet Pomegranate failed to mature?
He focused his vision on the place where he had planted the Violet Pomegranate and found that the seed was no more, and only a stump remained.
Tang Jie then realized that he had been away from this place for more than a hundred years. The Violet Pomegranate had long ago matured, and some student had noticed this fine spiritual tree growing here and naturally sold it off for some spirit coins. As for the meaning behind the Violet Pomegranate, that student naturally hadn’t cared one bit about it.
Tang Jie couldn’t help but sigh.
In the end, there was much Karma that he himself could not decide.
Tang Jie continued his stroll.
He passed through the school area and arrived at Tiger Roar Valley, going straight in. With his strength, the teacher guarding the valley couldn’t even try to cause trouble for him. He strolled through the valley and came to Tiger Roar Peak.
At the summit, Tang Jie was stunned.
There was a tiger there, but it was not Wang Poguan.
This much younger fiend tiger venomously glared at him, and then it roared and lunged.
But as it got close to Tang Jie, a sliver of spiritual energy coiled around it and immobilized it, so all it could do was howl and roar.
Tang Jie carefully examined it, feeling the energy in its body. Finally, he understood. “You’re Wang Xiao?”
The fiend tiger was dumbfounded and stared at Tang Jie in shock.
He finally said in human tongue, “How do you know that?”
Tang Jie smiled in gratification. “Because I was the one who gave you that name.”
The fiend tiger said in shock, “Tang Jie! You’re Tang Jie!”
The spirit rope was undone, and Tang Jie said, “It seems like you already know about what happened. So that means your father, Wang Poguan, already died at a student’s hand?”
“Five years ago, a group of students came, and my father was killed in the battle. Since then, I have been the fiend tiger of this place,” Wang Xiao said in a tone dripping with sarcasm.
Tang Jie sighed. Although he had expected that this would happen, Tang Jie still couldn’t help but feel extremely regretful over this news.
“How is my little brother?” Wang Xiao asked.
“I don’t know either,” Tang Jie said, shaking his head. “I haven’t seen him ever since he went to the Primordial Fog Domain. But I’m sure that he’s still alive and is only getting stronger. He will definitely return to the Rosecloud Domain. Perhaps he won’t be a friend, but who cares?”
“Wonderful, wonderful!” Wang Xiao sighed in relief, as if some great burden had been lifted from his heart.
He sat up and looked at Tang Jie. “You are very strong. It seems like you’ve achieved astonishing progress in the last one hundred years. Alas, I am suppressed by the formation here and will forever be stuck at upper-grade Spirit Sensing!”
His words were thick with hatred and sorrow.
He raised his head again. “Tang Jie. Can you help me with something?”
“Tell me. So long as it’s within my power, I will help you do it,” Tang Jie answered.
“Kill me!” Wang Xiao said. “Now that my younger brother has escaped, I no longer have to worry about the White Tiger lineage going extinct. My father has only recently died, and I have no descendants yet, so if you kill me, my White Tiger lineage’s fate of being slaughtered for generation after generation in this place will finally come to an end. If you don’t do this, they will eventually bring over another tiger and force me to impregnate it so as to foster the next generation. I don’t want this to happen, but the seals they have placed on my body prevent me from killing myself, so I can only ask you to do this.”
It was exactly as Tang Jie had guessed.
After some thought, he finally nodded. “I can help you by removing the seals and then strip you of your ability to reproduce. After that, you can choose the time you want to die.”
Wang Xiao was delighted. “That would be great!”
If possible, he naturally wanted to live a little longer, and this way would also prevent any suspicion from being cast on Tang Jie. Although Tang Jie wasn’t afraid of this, given his current status, it was still better to have less trouble to deal with.
On this day, Tang Jie removed Wang Xiao’s seal and personally destroyed his ability to reproduce.
The White Tiger lineage’s thousand-year torment was finally coming to an end.
After doing all this, Tang Jie flew off.
——————————
The Primordial Fog Domain.
A lonely figure advanced through the barren landscape.
A mountain that towered into the clouds loomed in the distance, like a black monster.
The figure reached the base of the mountain and immediately began to ascend it.
The mountain was tall and the path difficult. Worst of all was that all spiritual abilities had no effect while on this mountain. The human figure could no longer be maintained, and the person turned into a white tiger.
The white tiger continued to climb up the mountain, and as it climbed higher and higher, the temperature began to fall. Winds cut at its body like blades, leaving bloody wounds, and the icy rock resisted any effort to dig in, making the climb only more difficult.
But this white tiger did not stop, no matter how difficult it was.
Its paws bled all over the path, leaving a trail of suffering that led up toward the summit.
As it climbed and climbed, its white fur was dyed black, and its eyes erupted with unshakable resolve.
Finally, after three days and three nights, the white tiger arrived at the summit.
The summit was flat and smooth like a giant mirror, and on top of this mirror was a throne, gray and unremarkable.
The white tiger walked over to the throne and sat upon it.
Its blood seeped into the throne, and a light erupted from the throne and straight into the heavens.
The white tiger roared, “Starting from today, the Myriad Fiend Peak has a master once more! Fiends and devils of Primordial Fog, old servants of the White Tiger, return at once!!!”
This roar traveled far into the distance.
“Awoooo!!!” The frenzied cries of fiends and devils across Primordial Fog rose up, and their owners began to rush toward Myriad Fiend Peak.
In another part of Primordial Fog, in a blood-red palace atop a violet mountain, an old ghost suddenly looked up at the sky.
A voice drifted through the palace. “What must return has finally returned, and what must pass away will finally pass away.”
