Chapter 344: An Epilogue
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The students continued to go to class and cultivate every day, monotony and peace repeating day after day.
The relationship between Peng Yaolong and Ye Tianshang, which had ruptured during the struggle for True Inheritor, had slowly begun to heal after they had fought alongside each other at the Immortal Fortune Conference. But while they no longer secretly plotted each other’s deaths, on the surface, their competition was even fiercer than before. Whenever the two of them crossed paths, they would immediately ask each other to spar.
Qi Shaoming was formally announced as Li Hongyang’s True Inheritor and taken back to his mountain to cultivate. Wei Tianchong could only go to the mountain for one month per year, but Qi Shaoming spent half a year on the mountain, and he spent three months of the remaining half of the year carrying out missions. The remaining three months he spent in the academy were essentially for building a social network. The difference in treatment was as different as heaven and earth.
Long Dao had also been called back by his father to properly cultivate. His father, Long Ruohai, though not one of the 19 Celestial Chiefs, was still a Celestial Heart True Person. Even an ordinary Celestial Heart was still a Celestial Heart. Most importantly, he was willing to pay up for his child’s upbringing. Thus, Long Dao’s strength had been soaring as of late.
Not long after returning from Red Plum Ridge, Cai Junyang began to take numerous missions. Other people thought that he was dejected from his defeat at the Immortal Fortune Conference and was in no mood to cultivate, but Tang Jie knew that Cai Junyang was tempering himself. He was someone who sought the path of chivalry, and cultivating through combat benefited him more than staying in the academy. His experience in the Immortal Fortune Conference had not made him depressed. In fact, it had made him even more proactive toward his life and cultivation.
As for Wei Tianchong, his performance at the Immortal Fortune Conference had managed to pass Yan Changfeng’s test. As a reward for not bringing shame on his master, Yan Changfeng had made an exception and taught him the Nine Coronal Transformations. But the first thing this guy did after inheriting this secret art was to rush to the Freedom Society and confess his love to Ping Jingyue, frightening quite a few people. In the face of Wei Tianchong’s ardent pursuit, Ping Jingyue reacted by violently driving him off, chasing him for a whole three blocks.
But this violent refusal didn’t make Wei Tianchong give up.
This guy who was normally rather immature about how he did things was surprisingly stubborn on this. Unafraid of the mocking of his classmates or the cold gaze of his goddess, he continued to pursue Ping Jingyue, even though he was beaten back by Ping Jingyue every time.
Tang Jie did not care much about this.
He didn’t think there was anything wrong about it. Was a young man still a young man if he didn’t have any romance? When he thought about his time back in the old world, who hadn’t first known love before knowing their job?
And it was precisely because he didn’t care that Wei Tianchong dared to so vigorously pursue her. He even received some guidance and encouragement from Tang Jie. After all, Wei Tianchong couldn’t possibly have come up with the idea of giving flowers to Ping Jingyue all on his own—even though those flowers were thrown into the streets so that passersby could stomp them into the mud.
But as he was a young man, there were also times when he crossed the line.
Today, as Tang Jie was cultivating in his room, he heard a banging at his door.
It was Shi Meng.
He desperately shouted, “Tang Jie, Tang Jie, it’s bad!”
Tang Jie went out and opened the door. “What are you shouting about?”
He didn’t speak in a loud tone, but it was imbued with dignity.
Shi Meng frantically said, “The young master, he… he…”
Tang Jie frowned. “Speak properly. What happened to the young master?”
“He’s about to fight with someone to the death!” Shi Meng finally shouted.
“What?” Tang Jie jumped. “With who?”
“Du Bin.”
“The eighth-year Du Bin?”
“Who else could it be?”
“…He really is something else.” Tang Jie was speechless.
Although Wei Tianchong was someone who had taken part in the Immortal Fortune Conference and was under the tutelage of Yan Changfeng, he was still a fifth-year student and far from dominating the entire academy. In the academy, there was still a group of students that could crush him.
This Du Bin hadn’t participated in the Immortal Fortune Conference, but that didn’t mean that he was lacking in strength. As an eighth-year student, he was also a Mortal Shedding Realm cultivator, and he possessed above-average combat power. Moreover, the Five Energies Cold Flash Art and the Refined Phantom Mantra he cultivated were the counter to Wei Tianchong’s puppet. Wei Tianchong had little chance of victory against him.
“Where?” Tang Jie asked.
“The plum forest at the back of the mountain.”
Tang Jie grabbed Shi Meng and flew to the back of the mountain. While flying, he questioned Shi Meng, and it was only then that he learned that Wei Tianchong was fighting a mortal battle over Ping Jingyue. Du Bin also liked Ping Jingyue, and the two were romantic rivals. It would be difficult for them to not argue if they ran into each other.
For the sake of his woman, Du Bin wouldn’t back down, even though Wei Tianchong was a True Inheritor. The two of them had already argued several times, but this time, things had developed into a lethal fight.
Hearing that they were fighting to the death over something like this made Tang Jie want to throw up blood.
As he flew near the clearing in front of the plum forest, he saw a large group gathered, and in the middle of them were Wei Tianchong and Du Bin.
They were still in a stand-off, their eyes seemingly ablaze as they stared at each other.
In the distance, Ping Jingyue had folded her arms and was helplessly staring up at the heavens. Two female students next to her advised, “Jingyue, try and talk them out of this.”
Ping Jingyue rolled her eyes. “What does it have to do with me? I’ve already said my piece to them, but what do they do? They demanded that I choose between them! ‘Choose’, my ass! These two idiots can just go and die!”
Their behavior had seemingly angered her so much that she had started cursing.
Du Bin and Wei Tianchong were still glaring at each other. In the end, it was still Du Bin who broke the stalemate and grunted, “Wei Tianchong, even if you’ve taken part in the Immortal Fortune Conference, even if you’re True Person Yan’s inheriting disciple, that doesn’t mean you can do what you want in Basking Moon Academy. Today, this Du will let you know that not everything will go your way, that some people will always…”
Wei Tianchong curled his lip. “Cut the chatter and start fighting.”
He waved his hand, and the puppet moved to his front. At the same time, he summoned a shadow soldier while a giant fireball formed in his hand.
This fireball was so big that Wei Tianchong had to use both hands to hold it up, like he was raising a large cauldron. Even Du Bin was taken aback by the sight. How much did you have to practice a spell art to have a simple Fireball reach this level?
Wei Tianchong held up that “Fireball” as he savagely said, “Watch closely! This is a spell art I created myself, the Explosion Ball! No one can defend against it! Watch this!”
He “tossed” out that giant Fireball.
As he threw it out, Du Bin’s sword unleashed a light at the fireball.
Just as they were about to fight to the death, a figure flew out. Completely ignoring the power of the Fireball, he blasted it away with a single punch and then grabbed Wei Tianchong and flew off.
Wei Tianchong was shocked at first, but when he saw that it was Tang Jie, he shouted, “Let me go! Let me go! I still need to fight that guy!”
Tang Jie roared back, “Shut up! It’s not like this is some deep grudge! Is it really worth fighting to the death? This is a school. Whether you kill him or he kills you, do you think anything good will happen to the survivor? Settle down!”
Wei Tianchong flailed around and shouted, “I don’t care! I don’t care! Tang Jie, didn’t you say that being a cultivator is all about struggles along the Immortal path? How could I just yield the path?”
Tang Jie was so angry that he rolled his eyes. He sealed off Wei Tianchong’s meridians so that he would stop making trouble and said, “You say this kind of stuff now? But were you struggling over the Immortal path? No, you were struggling over a woman!”
He flew all the way back to the Meditation Garden and threw Wei Tianchong into his room. “You’re grounded for three days. You can come out when your mind finally clears up.”
Wei Tianchong rushed up to the door and shouted, “Tang Jie, you can’t do this to me! I’m your young master!”
Tang Jie crossly replied, “Shut your mouth! Starting from now, I’m your young master!”
Three days later, a letter came from Yan Changfeng ordering Wei Tianchong to come up the mountain.
The woman-chasing crisis finally came to an end.
Tang Jie’s life remained simple, spending every day in secluded cultivation, as if he was still an ordinary student and not a disciple. That he was the groom of the Wandering Palace also had no effect on him.
He would occasionally receive a letter.
These came from Xu Miaoran, Cai Junyang, Qi Shaoming, or even Mu Yi.
He had formed a friendship with Mu Yi in the blessed land. It could be considered a friendship that had formed from fighting with each other, as Tang Jie and Mu Yi had come to appreciate each other’s talents. After the Immortal Fortune Conference, they left each other message talismans so that they could keep in touch. Of course, it was impossible to communicate as frequently with him as with Xu Miaoran.
Time went by quickly, and it was soon half a year later.
Today, as usual, Tang Jie was in that little forest at the base of the Clear Sky Mountains, walking by himself.
A gust blew through, bringing down a large number of leaves.
Amidst the falling leaves, several rays of starlight shot toward Tang Jie.
Tang Jie slightly raised his head, his eyes flashing, and the saber in his hand instantly unleashed a chilling wave of energy.
This energy created a pillar of wind that cut a hundred-meter-long fissure into the ground. In terms of power, it was comparable to a blow from Lan Yu’s green tassel sword.
Tang Jie exhaled and slowly sheathed his saber. Yiyi dropped from the air and clapped her hands. “Good job! Good job! This is a sign of major attainment!”
“Alas, I only hit a single leaf,” Tang Jie indifferently said, his face devoid of pride.
Yiyi pursed her lips. “This is already pretty good. You only needed three months to completely master the Matchless Slash, and another three months to complete the Eclipsed Star. Any bystander that heard this would be so shocked that their mouth would be agape.”
The first day he had come back, Tang Jie had gone to Heaven One Pavilion to redeem a spell art, at the same time getting rid of the awkwardness of having the cultivation realm without the appropriate spell art.
As he had his original body to help him comprehend, Tang Jie had chosen five spells in total: the Matchless Slash, the Dragonlike Hand, the Star Finger, the Wandering Celestial Peng Art, and the Life Breath Mantra. He had chosen the last two because he had learned when comprehending the Dao that these could greatly improve his flight speed, but they weren’t very useful in battle.
The Matchless Slash was an extremely powerful offensive spell art. If a Spirit Platform Realm spell was comparable to a bullet, a Mortal Shedding Realm spell was a cannon, and the Matchless Slash was a most typical example. Moreover, the Matchless Slash was a long-range spell art, so Windcleaver could still serve as an effective complement and not go to waste.
The Dragonlike Hand and Star Finger were to be used as a cover for the Divine Firmament Sword Classic. These two spell arts shared a commonality in that they could be overlapped with other spells. The Dragonlike Hand differed from the Star Finger in that it could mask other spell arts but could not be masked itself, whereas the Star Finger could only be masked. It was precisely because of this trait of the Star Finger that it was often called “the Eclipsed Star”.
Tang Jie had chosen these two precisely for this masking effect.
But while the Dragonlike Hand and Star Finger did have these effects, not many people could actually realize them. It required much diligent cultivation.
Just now, Tang Jie had unleashed the Matchless Slash and fired off nine Star Fingers with it, which was the strongest manifestation of the Eclipsed Star: the casting of two spell arts at once, the Matchless Slash attacking in the open while the Star Finger attacked from the shadows. Alas, while he had managed to fire them off, his accuracy was awful. Of the nine leaves he had targeted, he had only struck one.
But regardless, it was shocking enough to achieve the basic combination after only three months. A normal person would often need three years, and many people wouldn’t be able to keep their patience and would give up midway. Tang Jie had been able to do this partially because he had comprehended Wisdom, allowing him to learn faster, and also because he had his original body helping him comprehend.
Thus, in terms of cultivation realm, Tang Jie might have been average, but when it came to spell art cultivation, he was an incomparable genius.
Tang Jie sighed, “But I’m still relying on the help of the original body. Alas, for the next few days, the original body won’t be able to help out.”
“Why?” Yiyi didn’t get it.
“Because the original body is about to make the charge at Mortal Shedding, and shedding mortality there is rather troublesome and will require some preparation,” Tang Jie replied.
“Wonderful! Isn’t that another opportunity to comprehend the Dao?” Yiyi excitedly said.
“That truly is the case.” Tang Jie mysteriously smiled.
—————————
The Nine Executions Immortal Formation.
In a corner of the ancient battlefield, Tang Jie was seated cross-legged in meditation, his eyes closed.
His breathing was even and powerful. Whenever he exhaled, his nostrils would form two little tornadoes. And whenever he inhaled, a small vortex would appear around him, the nearby dust floating around him like so many little fish.
This state lasted for a long while. Suddenly, all the dust froze in the air and fell down, blanketing Tang Jie in dust.
Tang Jie glanced around and let out a light puff of air. A breeze stirred up and scattered all the dust.
Tang Jie contentedly smiled. “I’m finally at peak Spirit Sea.”
Tang Jie’s original body hadn’t been wasting time, and through hard cultivation, he had finally pushed his body to the peak of Spirit Sea.
This wasn’t strange. The Nine Executions Immortal Formation was rich with spiritual energy, and it was far more concentrated here than in the Langya Blessed Land. One day of cultivation here was equivalent to five or six days on the outside.
In the outside world, without using any sort of spiritual medicine, Tang Jie would need three and a half years to reach the peak, but in the formation, seven months was enough. Although the avatar had used many medicines, the original body wasn’t much slower.
Tang Jie sighed in relief now that he had reached Spirit Sea’s peak.
He now needed to prepare to charge at Mortal Shedding.
Of course, there was a problem with that.
He Chong.
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Charging at Mortal Shedding created too much of a stir that would linger for some time. The moment He Chong realized what was happening, he would rush over and capture him. The best way of solving this was to find He Chong and negotiate with him, making him understand that his charge at Mortal Shedding would also benefit He Chong. After all, only by reaching Mortal Shedding could Tang Jie open the fifth checkpoint. Besides that, he would use his Duplication spell to make some additional preparations.
Given Tang Jie’s understanding of He Chong, if he were made to understand that a duplicate was observing his movements and that the best He Chong could do was make Tang Jie fail his charge and not capture him, he would most likely give up.
Besides that, charging at Mortal Shedding required drawing out the formation, which required the necessary materials. Alas, the ancient battlefield had only corpses and art relics. There weren’t even ants, let alone fiend beasts.
Fortunately, since the Martial Lord required the cultivator to reach Mortal Shedding before entering the fifth formation, he naturally had left behind a solution.
The five giant stones where he had gotten the mantra and received a spell art formed a special formation. Other than passing down spell arts, it also had the ability to link the heavens and earth, and its effect was far above that of the average linking formation. After all, the Nine Executions Immortal Formation was its own dimension, so linking with the heavens and the earth required the ability to penetrate through this space.
Tang Jie had researched these five stones for a long time and had a basic grasp of how the formation worked. The more he understood, the more he was astounded by the Martial Lord’s strength. Every one of the Martial Lord’s spell arts seemed simple, but behind the scenes, they were bursting with secrets. Of these, the Weapon Mantra concerned the Martial Dao in the Dao of Slaughter, the Duplication spell concerned the Illusion Dao of the Dao of Wisdom, and this formation concerned Space. In other words, based solely on what he knew, the Martial Lord’s power encompassed three Daos, and at the Dao-controlling level. Otherwise, it was impossible to create those divine spell arts.
After understanding this, Tang Jie came to understand exactly what the Martial Lord had left behind.
It wasn’t some spell art at all.
These spell arts were only for show. What he had really left behind was his understanding of the Great Dao.
These spell arts were keys that led one toward that boundless and mysterious world.
When he looked at the stone formation once again, Tang Jie felt like he could see things differently.
He carefully examined the patterns and images on the ground.
When looking at these pictures before, he had only recognized them as lines and points, had only seen the image and not understood their meaning. But now that he looked at them again, he found that each stroke was imbued with the principles of the world and contained infinite complex and profound meanings.
There were so many varied meanings that trying to comprehend them would make one realize that there were tens of thousands of places to start, and the mind would be barraged with so many random bits of information that it would feel like it was going to explode.
Tang Jie knew that he ultimately knew nothing about this particular Dao, so he did not have the ability to trace this formation all the way back to the Great Dao. And this was even after he had comprehended Wisdom and its ability to analyze. Someone who hadn’t comprehended Wisdom wouldn’t even be able to see all those thousands of clues.
“It seems I will have to return to the origin to understand the secret,” Tang Jie muttered.
This was the benefit of comprehending the Great Dao from the Heavenly Dao Law Wheel.
On the Heavenly Dao Law Wheel, the Great Daos were very simple, all of their variations reflected on them. Going straight to the core rather than working one’s way backward was a much easier way to understand the Great Dao.
Originally, he hadn’t decided which Great Dao to comprehend for this Mortal Shedding, whether he should deepen his understanding of Wisdom or comprehend another Great Dao.
This spatial formation before him gave Tang Jie an opportunity.
There was no better choice.
This spatial formation was like a model that was laid out in front of Tang Jie.
He could learn the basic theory from the textbook that was the Heavenly Dao Law Wheel, and this spatial formation was a practical example. What could be better?
Most importantly, Tang Jie discovered that a control over space was what he needed the most in this phase.
If he could set up a teleportation formation before passing through the ninth checkpoint, allowing him and his avatar to come in and out, the resources within this formation might no longer be purely to look at. His original body might even be freed from this place.
But the spatial seals on the Nine Executions Immortal Formation were extremely powerful, and setting up a teleportation formation between here and Sageheart would not be easy. He needed either a vast amount of resources or a sufficiently profound understanding of the Dao of Space.
Tang Jie could put aside any thought of the former, so his only hope was with the latter.
Standing in the formation, Tang Jie looked up at the sky and laughed, “If that’s the case, then let’s make it the Dao of Space!”
With the guidance of the Dao of Wisdom, Tang Jie already knew which of the twelve Great Dao clock hands represented Space.
On this day, a beam soared through the Nine Executions Immortal Formation, penetrating through the world and vanishing into the void.
Upon seeing this beam, He Chong couldn’t help but be shocked.
This kid… really did manage to successfully shed his mortality on this barren land.
His will soared upward, past the nine heavens.
It passed through the Boundless Sea of Stars, passed through the sea of dazzling lights. As he looked at that distant Heavenly Dao Wheel, Tang Jie chuckled and said, “Hey, how are you doing? I’m back.”
Tang Jie gets the rare chance to glimpse the Dao twice! And it seems like he might have a plan to get out of the formation…
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