Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 523

Chapter 523: Fragment

Once the plan was decided, it was executed with thunderous momentum.

Following Nan Ningjiang’s order, everyone got to work.

The reconnaissance targeting that secretive valley abruptly intensified, and the blockade was pushed forward. At the same time, the mountain region was completely locked down, ensuring that Tang Jie wouldn’t run out from behind them while they were in the mountains and escape.

In the middle of all this action, an elite unit gradually took form.

The leader was none other than King Canis He Changan.

For such an important matter, there was no reason for him to not take the lead.

This was also Tang Jie’s first time seeing He Changan.

He was a large man with slightly sunken eyes. He didn’t have any sort of intimidating aura, appearing more like a well-behaved farmer. If not for Master Xuan Zhong standing next to him and trying his best to not breathe too loudly, Tang Jie might not have even been sure that this was King Canis.

In terms of cultivation level, Master Xuan Zhong and He Changan were no different, both at the peak of Soul Transformation. But in terms of strength, He Changan could defeat countless Master Xuan Zhongs. A Chief was an expression of strength, representing the apex of a realm. The gap could be likened to Wang Juemie when he had yet to enter the Celestial Heart Realm and Tang Jie as a Mortal Shedding Realm cultivator.

Master Xuan Zhong and Nan Ningjiang flanked He Changan.

On Master Xuan Zhong’s side were the three Heart Demon True Persons—Elders Gold and Silver and Li Song—as well as Huang Yue, Ming Yezhen, Xu Mingyue, True Person Liang, and Ling Tianqi. On Nan Ningjiang’s side were Third Hawk Zhou Fanghua, the Seventh Hawk, the Ninth Hawk, the Tenth Hawk, two generals of the Bloodbath Hall, and fifty Bloodbath Hall elites.

There was also another party consisting of the Beast Refining Gate’s Ao Chihu and “Qian Yingchen”. They were mobilizing almost their entire force.

At this time, Nan Ningjiang was speaking with Xi Canhen. “Little Twelve, this expedition is very important. If we succeed, we might be able to find a treasure for the Beast Refining Gate that can make up for the loss of the Beast Garden. But we have to be on guard against Tang Jie. You and Eleventh Brother will stay here, and there will also be Fang An and several other True Persons. You will also have two hundred Bloodbath disciples, five hundred servant warriors, and eight hundred Goldplates at your command. I don’t need you to capture Tang Jie, only ensure that he doesn’t escape the mountains while we’re gone!”

Xi Canhen emerged from the void, revealing his young face.

He gave Nan Ningjiang a toothy smile. “Relax, Big Brother. Tang Jie won’t be escaping the mountains.”

Nan Ningjiang saw that Xi Canhen was serious and nodded.

The strike Xi Canhen had made during the world shift truly had removed many of Nan Ningjiang’s suspicions.

But for some reason, he still had many misgivings about Xi Canhen.

Whenever he saw Xi Canhen, he would feel uncomfortable. It was like how one couldn’t accept having an assassin standing behind oneself, because it meant that one’s safety was threatened.

Thus, he chose to keep Xi Canhen outside. At this critical moment, he didn’t want any accidents.

“Good,” Nan Ningjiang said, patting him on the shoulder.

At this moment, shouting came from the distance. “Hey, hey! Where are you all going? Why aren’t you bringing me?”

Everyone turned to the voice and saw Jin Yutang rushing over, followed by his old steward, sixteen guards, and a large group of his clan’s warriors.

Upon seeing Jin Yutang appear, Ao Chihu’s square face darkened, and he sternly said, “How did he find out?”

The exploration of the secret ground was an important matter, so when Ao Chihu learned about it, he immediately ordered that Jin Yutang not be informed. He didn’t want an idiot like Jin Yutang to participate in such an important mission.

But to his surprise, Jin Yutang had still managed to find out.

Ao Chihu looked around, but everyone shook their heads.

On the side, Tang Jie inwardly smiled.

Jin Yutang had over come over, grumbling as he did, “A mighty fine job you’ve done, Ao Chihu, going on a treasure hunt without calling me! Are you trying to take all the merit for yourself?”

Ao Chihu was so angry that he wanted to throw up blood, but he could only smile and say, “Young Master Jin, what ever do you mean? We have yet to confirm that there is any treasure in the secret ground, so we’re going first to do some scouting. If there’s nothing there, wouldn’t you have gone for no reason?”

“Don’t try that on me!” Jin Yutang shouted. “If you weren’t sure, would you be bringing so many people? I don’t care! I’m coming along.”

Ao Chihu knew that once this guy got interested, not even nine dragons could pull him away. He could only bitterly smile and say, “But I’m not the one who decides these matters.”

He glanced at the nearby He Changan.

He hoped that He Changan would refuse.

But to his surprise, He Changan glanced at the old steward for a while before saying, “Having more allies is a good thing.”

Oh no!

Ao Chihu despaired.

In the end, He Changan had been in high positions for too long. He thought that he could control Jin Yutang and prevent him from causing trouble, so what he cared about were the capable experts around Jin Yutang.

But Ao Chihu knew what sort of damage an idiot could really do once they got started.

The most frightening thing wasn’t his martial strength, but his sudden strange ideas and his terrifying habit of acting without thinking.

But he couldn’t say this to He Changan, only reluctantly nod as he prayed to the heavens that Jin Yutang wouldn’t cause any trouble.

As for splitting the merit with Jin Yutang, he didn’t care at all. You could boast all you wanted, but nobody in the Beast Refining Gate would believe that this guy could do anything proper.

If he didn’t weigh them down, that would be his greatest achievement!

Looking at Ao Chihu’s despairing expression, Tang Jie said, “Why don’t… I protect Young Master Jin?”

“Then I will leave it to you, Young Master Qian!” Ao Chihu gave Tang Jie a grateful look.

―――――――――――

A secluded valley.

It had actually only existed in this world for half a year, having come into being with the last world shift.

It was flanked by heaven-soaring mountains on both sides, with steep and perilous cliffs, but the valley itself was lush with grass, and the scenery seemed pretty good.

A white fox sauntered out of the valley, its cunning eyes roving around. Suddenly, it rushed out, streams of wind wreathing its paws as it flew over the grass and disappeared.

It didn’t realize that a group of people nearby had been watching it.

“That white fox had a red string tied around its foot. It was our people who tied it there. Three days ago, it was only an ordinary fox, but now, it’s middle-grade Spirit Sensing,” Nan Ningjiang said.

Looking away from the white fox, He Changan examined the valley, his plain face expressionless. “If that’s the case, what are we waiting for? Into the valley!”

The party marched into the valley, with the Beast Morphers of the Beast Refining Gate leading the way.

The valley was very large.

As they ventured deeper, the valley broadened.

In front of them was a sea of flowers, numerous wild flowers of unknown varieties blooming and spreading their aromas into the air. This sea of flowers extended off into the horizon, leading into the depths of the valley.

In order to make the advance easier, everyone hovered in the air, slowly flying over the sea of flowers. They didn’t dare to fly too high, but there was no problem with this sort of low-altitude flight.

As they were flying, a dark figure erupted out of the sea flowers and struck a Beast Morpher. The Beast Morpher instantly howled in pain.

“What happened?” Jin Yutang had been admiring the flowers, so he hadn’t seen what had happened.

“It’s nothing, just a snake,” Tang Jie replied.

They were stationed in the Beast Refining Gate’s rear, so he had been able to clearly see that the attacker was a Flower Snake. It only took one bite before that Beast Morpher tore it off.

But a moment later, the Beast Morpher’s leg began to swell monstrously.

The warrior immediately cried out for help.

Ao Chihu’s eyes flashed as he rushed over and took out a pill that he stuffed into the warrior’s mouth.

He wasn’t worried about the warrior’s life. He just wanted to see how formidable the snake venom was.

He saw the leg continuing to swell, and as the poison attacked, even the warrior’s face began to swell, his veins bulging out as if there was something wriggling underneath.

“Master Ao, save me!” the warrior screamed.

But Ao Chihu ignored him, taking several steps back in the air as if it was solid ground.

“Aaagh!” The warrior screamed, and then threw his head back and vomited poisoned blood before falling into the sea of flowers.

A moment later, a large number of red ants swarmed the warrior, instantly devouring him.

They cared nothing for the poison, and amid creepy gnawing sounds, they quickly cleaned up the body, leaving behind only the skeleton. A few moments later, the skeleton began to blacken, such was the ferocity of the poison.

Ao Chihu gasped and turned to shout, “Be careful! There’s something weird about this place!”

“‘Weird’?” Tang Jie and He Changan nodded in unison and said the same words: “‘Weird’ is to be expected!”

All the places in the world with treasures didn’t operate on common sense.

Strange encounters like this meant that there was something special about this place.

He Changan raised his head and said, “Continue and don’t dawdle.”

The pace accelerated.

The valley was shockingly big, and they just kept flying and flying with no end.

The farther in they went, the more numerous the dangers were.

It was venomous snakes at first, and then large numbers of venomous insects.

These unknown insects were the size of a fist, possessing sharp mandibles and glowing with a blue light.

One of the Beast Morphers was stung by an insect and quickly dissolved into ooze. Not even Ao Chihu’s best antidote was able to save him.

This had everyone shivering in fear, and they all applied barriers as they flew.

The aroma of flowers thickened, and everyone gradually began to realize that they were gradually losing their sense of direction in this sea of flowers.

“Godking…” Nan Ningjiang called out.

“I know.” He Changan looked up at the sky. “There should be a formation here that can disorder time and space.”

“‘A formation that can disorder time and space’?” Nan Ningjiang was shocked. “How could it be a formation?”

He could understand the Great Mountain having intelligence and a will, but how could the Great Mountain lay down a formation?

Could this have nothing to do with the Great Mountain and have been done by somebody else?

Could it have been Tang Jie?

As Nan Ningjiang reeled in shock, He Changan said, “A formation that has existed for a very long time, carrying an ancient and timeworn aura.”

What?

Nan Ningjiang was stunned.

He Changan had completely rejected the idea that this was part of Tang Jie’s plot.

He Changan added, “There’s no need to worry. It’s existed for too long, and its foundations are in ruin. It only has a few powers left, one of which is to disorder space. So long as we walk in one direction, we will break out of this formation. Have I said anything incorrect? Master Ling, Lady Xu?”

Formation Master Ling Tianqi chuckled and said, “As expected of supreme-rulerking He, possessing such a deep understanding of formations. Correct—this place should be home to some ancient great formation, but it has existed for so long that it has been rendered mostly ineffective.”

“Could there be some hidden realm within the Great Mountain?” Everyone grew excited at these words.

The Rosecloud Domain was an extremely developed world, and whether it was the ruins of Remote Antiquity, High Antiquity, or Near Antiquity, they had all been dug out by greedy people until nothing was left. This forced everyone to mark out their own areas and create blessed lands and paradises, and it was why supreme-rulerhead Palace was so desperate to find the Martial Lord’s hidden realm.

Everyone was rather taken aback by the news that there might be a hidden realm here.

“How could that be?” Nan Ningjiang said. “Hasn’t the palace investigated this place before? But they didn’t find anything.”

“Rather than an expedition, that was an imprisonment, so what exactly could they have found?” He Changan replied. “As for this time, it was probably because of the world shift.”

‘The world shift’?

This term made everyone shiver.

That sudden transformation of the mountains half a year ago had caused supreme-rulerhead Palace to completely lose its chance to capture Tang Jie, and it also made them realize the power of the world and the terror of the Great Mountain. It was so bad that it was a very long time until they were willing to think back to that battle again.

But today, He Changan had brought it up again as an answer to their question.

“Could it be that… the hidden realm was underground, but the world shift brought it up?” Ming Yezhen murmured.

“Maybe the Great Mountain’s shift was also related to this?” another person wondered.

“This is really interesting. Weren’t we looking for Tang Jie for the sake of getting a hidden realm? But it turned out there was one right under our eyes,” Xu Mingyue coldly chuckled.

Everyone fell silent.

Yes, who could have imagined that there was this kind of secret hidden in the Spirit Mountains?

But when they thought about how all those supreme-rulerhead Palace Titans and countless True Persons had been unable to expose this secret that had now revealed itself to them, everyone got excited.

This was an unparalleled opportunity!

“What are we waiting for? Charge!” someone roared.

The attacks from the sea of flowers couldn’t hold back human greed, and everyone flew forward.

Just as He Changan had said, this ancient formation was on the verge of dissolution, so all it could do was disorient them and blur their sense of time.

And while the poison of these venomous insects was vicious, their attacks were mediocre.

Their barriers neutralized the vast majority of them, and only a few Beast Morphers who didn’t know how to cast barriers were ambushed and slain.

In truth, if other cultivators had been willing to protect them, many of the Beast Morphers could have survived. But Beast Morphers were cannon fodder meant to open the way, so nobody was going to risk themselves for them.

Life had now become worthless, as before them was endless desire and riches.

Finally, after flying for some time, they emerged from the formation.

The sea of flowers disappeared, and what stood before them was an immense palace.

Yes, a palace!

A massive palace complex half-buried in the earth!

The years had covered the underground palace in dust, but there was no hiding its ancient vastness.

The collapsed gates, shattered pillars, and gaping walls all exuded age.

Intricate and beautiful carvings covered every inch of the palace, and the shattered pillars gleamed gold.

“Startrace Stone, Violet Radiance Gold, Azureswell Jade… Good heavens!” Some of the more well-traveled people cried out in surprise. “These are all rare materials!”

This entire underground palace complex was made of rare materials, some of which they had seen and some of which were completely new to them.

Someone forgot everything in their excitement and rushed to pry a piece of Startrace Stone from the palace wall.

He Changan’s eyes shone with a supreme light, but he said nothing.

But Nan Ningjiang realized that something was wrong and shouted, “Watch out!”

A moment later, that person exploded into countless chunks of meat.

He Changan snorted, “Seeking death.”

There was already a great formation around the palace, so how could the palace itself have no defensive measures? And the deeper areas would only be more important. Since the perimeter formation had yet to completely fail, the inner formations could only be in better condition.

That person had tried to dismantle a wall without even testing it… Wasn’t this an attack? It would be strange if it were not met with a counterattack.

What could this be if not seeking death?

Not even glancing at the remains, He Changan looked to a certain part of the palace.

There was a small building there. It had been built into a cliff, leaving only its front door exposed.

There was a black jade dragon head hung on the door, and white liquid was gushing from it, falling down into a small pool below. This pool had no outflow, but no matter how much liquid fell, the pool never seemed to fill.

A raccoon was drinking from the pool.

Its body soon began to shine.

It wasn’t particularly bright, but it caused a stir among the cultivators.

“It’s become a fiend!”

The little raccoon had become a fiend.

“That dragon head… it’s that dragon head.” A Beast Refining Gate disciple excitedly pointed at the black jade dragon head and said, “The water gushing from it can turn wild beasts into fiends.” He rushed over to try and take it.

“Halt!” Ao Chihu called out. “Did you forget how that other person died just now?”

The excited Beast Refining Gate disciple came to his senses, but he still greedily stared at the dragon head.

“It’s not the dragon head,” Tang Jie abruptly said.

Everyone looked at him.

“Brother Qian, what do you mean?” Ao Chihu asked.

Tang Jie ignored him, continuing to examine the palace.

After a while, he said, “Pissing requires using the private parts, but are they the only thing involved?”

It was a crude analogy, but the reasoning was simple enough for everyone to understand.

It was clear that this liquid was not the dragon head’s power, but the power of the entire palace.

“Then what is it?” someone asked.

“A loop,” Ling Tianqi replied.

This old man who had spent many years researching formations had a glow in his eyes. “A loop, nourishment, energy, a well-spring… It’s like the blood in the body. As it flows, it provides the formation energy, sustaining the formation’s operation and the existence of this palace!”

“You’re saying… this liquid that can turn wild beasts into fiends is only the material used to maintain the formation?” someone said in disbelief.

“Correct!” Ling Tianqi bellowed. “Forget about this dogshit liquid, and maybe even this entire palace. Do you still not understand? The true treasure is inside the palace. It’s a supreme treasure, or maybe even a Dao armament!”

Everyone was stunned.

Nan Ningjiang muttered, “Just what is this place?”

What sort of place could deserve such extravagance?

Even Immortal Realms weren’t this impressive.

He Changan stared at that immense underground palace for a long time before finally squeezing out, “The Court of Myriad Domains… This is a fragment of the Court of Myriad Domains!”