Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
At the center of the Celestial Flame Arena was a scarlet pagoda nine floors tall.
This was the famous Celestial Flame Pagoda, also called the Scarlet Pagoda.
It was a pair with the black pagoda in the eastern mountain range of the City of Freedom, together forming the famous Scarlet and Black Pagodas. The former represented the Celestial Flame Arena while the latter represented the City of Freedom. They could be considered the heart of the Plain of Slaughter.
Upon becoming a Blood Hand, one was permitted to enter the Scarlet Pagoda and select a promotion reward.
The promotion rewards consisted of techniques, art relics, and various rare materials.
This was one of the Celestial Flame Arena's special reward programs. Many people came not for the money, but for the unique cultivation texts and treasures in the Scarlet Pagoda. Some of those techniques and treasures couldn't be found in the outside world.
The next morning, Tang Jie went to the Scarlet Pagoda.
The inside of the Scarlet Pagoda was a vast space, its own little world.
Upon entering the pagoda, Tang Jie found himself in a reception hall of monumental size.
It had a height of one thousand feet and a radius of ten thousand feet, and there were eight giant doors arranged in a circle, seemingly designed for use by giants. In the center of the reception hall was a statue nearly reaching the ceiling. It was made from various essence metals and seemed majestic and solemn. One hand was turned up to the sky while the other hand held a ball of flame that was constantly shifting between various forms. This flame was known as the Pale Cloud Flame, one of the world's divine flames.
Tang Jie knew that this statue was probably that of the founder of the Celestial Flame Arena, the Flame Celestial Sovereign.
The Flame Celestial Sovereign had entered the Dao of Flame, and the Pale Cloud Flame was his art relic, his weapon, his symbol.
He hadn't expected this sacred flame to be placed on the statue, where it burned eternally.
So long as the sacred flame did not go out, the Celestial Sovereign would live on.
And the Celestial Flame Arena would not fall.
As he was looking at the statue, a vivacious girl wearing the uniform of the arena went up to Tang Jie and smiled. "Young Sir, what do you need today?"
Tang Jie passed over his jade tablet.
The girl saw the tablet and instantly understood. She smiled and said, "So you came to get your promotion reward? Young Sir, what sort of promotion reward do you want?"
Tang Jie asked, "What is there?"
The girl replied, "The Scarlet Pagoda's promotion rewards are categorized into texts, treasures, materials, and cultivation areas, and they are further divided into lower, middle, and upper grade, corresponding to Blood Hands, Asuras, and God Killers…"
As the girl went on, Tang Jie gradually grasped the rules of this place.
According to the rules, when it came to texts, the Celestial Flame Pagoda had both ordinary ones and high-class ones. The high-class mantras and techniques might be divided into two or three parts, and low-grade rewards only allowed one to get a single part, not the whole thing. If one chose an ordinary technique, then one could get the entire thing.
As for treasures, materials, and cultivation areas, they were divided according to grade, and the cultivation areas could only be used for one day every time. If one wanted more days, one would have to buy the time.
"You can buy them?" Tang Jie asked.
"Right, but you can only buy rewards appropriate to your rank."
"I see." Tang Jie thought it over before saying, "Then I would like to look at the technique manuals first."
Techniques were different from mantras.
Mantras primarily focused on cultivation. The Lesser Sea Grotto Metal Mantra, the Violet Jade Mantra, and the Ninedark Mantra were all texts meant for laying down a foundation for cultivation. The Lesser Sea Grotto Metal Mantra tempered and refined, favoring the concentration of energy and the piercing of armor. The Violet Jade Mantra merged one's body with the world so that one could seek the Heavenly Dao, making it easier to comprehend and enter the Dao. The Ninedark Mantra, meanwhile, had the ability to improve spell arts in all aspects, but none of this had any direct combat use.
As for techniques, they were complete combat systems and made one's spiritual energy possess more powerful attributes. If spell arts were skills, techniques represented all-around boosts.
He Changan's Formless Heavenly Demon Art was a combat technique. Once used, one's entire body would erupt with boundless strength that could even suppress Cang Qingfeng. If he had been able to unleash all his power, he would have been able to easily flatten a city.
And one could use spell arts on the foundation of techniques, multiplying their power.
As techniques had their own special and particularly fierce attributes, making the wrong choice could easily result in double the work for half the efficiency. Only after a cultivator entered Celestial Heart and awakened their spiritual talent would they know what techniques suited them, so techniques were normally cultivated after one became a Celestial Heart True Person.
This was why Tang Jie could only fully utilize his solid foundation after entering Celestial Heart, as only after entering Celestial Heart could he bridge the gap between mantras and spell arts.
He had originally intended to wait until he returned to the Basking Moon Sect to pick a good technique to cultivate, but since he was here in the Blood River Domain, he might as well see what its techniques were like.
The girl smiled at this. "Young Sir, please come this way."
She led Tang Jie toward one of the large doors.
Behind the doors were numerous texts, as if the Flame Celestial Sovereign had gathered up all the cultivation texts of the Blood River Domain. There were human mantras, demon techniques, and even the bizarre spell arts of the Hemos. He could see at a glance that there were tens of thousands of them.
Tang Jie was momentarily dazzled. The girl giggled and said, "What is Young Sir's talent? If you trust this servant, you can tell me and let me choose for you."
After some thought, Tang Jie answered, "What if I said that I had no talent?"
His Flesh Millstone had no effect on any of his other attributes, so it was fine to say that he had no talent.
The girl was startled, and then she smiled and said, "Having no talent is fine. Though you have no specialty, you also have no restrictions and can learn what you want. But this means that I can't really recommend anything to you."
"Then pick the offensively strongest one."
Techniques focused on battle, so the one with the strongest offense was naturally better.
The girl went up and grabbed a book. "Young Sir, what do you think about the Ten Thousand Ghost Corrosion Art? When reaching greater attainment in this technique, you can summon ten thousand ghosts, spreading ghost energy across the land, and nobody will be able to stop you. It is number one when it comes to slaughter."
Tang Jie shook his head. "While it's powerful, when you cultivate it, you become neither human nor ghost. Forget it."
The girl grabbed another book. "What about the Divine Lightning Prison Force? When you cultivate, you can cast nine bolts of Divine Lightning that will exterminate evil and cut down demons and fiends. But while this technique excels at sweeping away fiends and demons, it is rather lacking in other aspects."
Tang Jie also shook his head. "While it's strong, its usage is rather narrow."
The girl was in no rush, taking another book. "Then the Blueblood Massacre Classic? This technique comes from the Blueblood Clan of the Hemos, the technique of their royal lineage. At greater attainment, you will be powerful enough to suppress all."
Tang Jie shook his head.
Cultivating this technique required the blood of the Blueblood Clan, and those without this bloodline would find it difficult to reach greater attainment. Moreover, the Bluebloods didn't like it when others learned their techniques, and even if the technique had come from the Celestial Flame Pagoda, they would not accept it. They couldn't deal with the seller, but they could deal with the buyer.
The girl brought out several other technique books, but Tang Jie was never very satisfied.
It wasn't that these techniques were lacking in quality. In fact, the girl had mostly proposed top-class techniques, ones that he could only get a part of as a Blood Hand. Even back in the Basking Moon Sect, these techniques would have been treasured.
But Tang Jie wasn't satisfied.
He cultivated Immortal Platform mantras, so he naturally had high requirements when it came to techniques.
The girl seemed to realize what he was thinking, and she pulled out another book. "Young Sir, what do you think about the Infinity Sphere Art? When you cultivate this art, your energy will divide into Yin and Yang, which can transform into all things. It has the power of infinite transformation and the might of a god."
According to the girl's explanation, the Infinity Sphere Art could convert one's energy into Yin and Yang energy, which could combine into all things.
The Twelve Great Daos each governed a different aspect, and Yin Yang and Five Elements represented all the arts of the world.
Yin Yang was the origin and the Five Elements were the subordinate, so whether it was mantras, techniques, or spell arts, they were all under the purview of Yin Yang, inextricably connected to the Five Elements.
As Tang Jie had comprehended the Dao of Yin Yang, he had some understanding of Yin Yang energy. The technique and the Great Dao complemented each other, so they were bound to produce even greater effects when combined.
Thus, Tang Jie became interested and said, "Let me take a look."
He took the book, and the moment he flipped to the first page, golden words strung together into a grandiose scene, and his mind was rocked with mighty waves while numerous loud sounds resounded in his ears. Tang Jie was so stunned that he almost threw the book away.
He hastily closed the book, and as his mind cleared, he blurted, "What a formidable Dao Will!"
The girl politely said, "It was this servant's error in forgetting to warn Young Sir. This Infinity Sphere Art is the original text, and it was written by the Infinity Celestial Sovereign using a Divine Connection. The book contains a supreme Dao Will that cannot be recklessly looked upon. If Young Sir wishes to learn this technique, you can use a copy. But this technique is considered one of the finest techniques in this pagoda. There are seven levels in all, and at Young Sir's current level, you can only borrow the first two levels. Even God Killers can only learn to the sixth level, as the seventh level is not to be transmitted."
"Then what if I borrow this one?" Tang Jie asked.
The girl was startled. "Young Sir wants to borrow the original text?"
The copy was handwritten, so it could be partitioned, but the original text could not be divided in this way, so all seven levels of the technique were naturally contained within it. Most importantly, the Infinity Sphere Art's Dao Will was closely linked to the Infinity Sphere Art itself, so reading the original text would not only allow one to learn the complete technique, but also comprehend its divinity. This could never be done with the copy.
According to the rules of the Celestial Flame Pagoda, one who could learn the technique from the original text was a supreme genius, so the pagoda could make an exception for them.
But was he that sort of genius?
Tang Jie once more opened up the original text.
The golden words once more began to light up, and all things in the world appeared before Tang Jie's eyes, his mind was thrown into turmoil, and a hundred sounds resounded in his ears.
But Tang Jie was ready this time. As he held the book in his left hand, his right hand formed the Clear Sword Sign, his mouth chanted the Jade Ocean Clear Sky Incantation, and his mind circulated the Basking Moon Heart Questioning Mantra, a moon rising up behind his head.
The Basking Moon Sect emphasized the state of one's mind the most, and the Jade Ocean Clear Sky Incantation and Basking Moon Heart Questioning Mantra were holy texts that emphasized a clear mind. As Tang Jie did all these things, his mental sea calmed, those raging waves having been pacified.
A vertical eye opened up in the center of Tang Jie's forehead, the power of Insight dispelling all illusions and clearing up his vision.
Lastly, he silently circulated the Dao of Yin Yang. Tang Jie's avatar, though he had not entered this Dao, had comprehended this Dao to the apex. While the Dao Will contained in the Infinity Codex was powerful, it was still within the domain of Yin Yang, so when he circulated this Dao, the din at his ear ceased.
With those three phenomena dispelled, the words of the Infinity Codex appeared before Tang Jie, and he immediately began to read them, treasuring every character and delighting in every sentence.
As he was studying, the girl next to him reminded, "It is fine for Young Sir to study the original text, but you cannot take it with you, only read it here, and you cannot read it for more than thirty minutes."
It wasn't like there were no cultivators who could resist the effects of the Divine Connection in the codex and forcibly read it, but reading it all and remembering it in thirty minutes was no easy task.
It had to be understood that this was the original text, influenced by the Divine Connection, so it could not be recorded into the mind through spell arts. One could only rely on their memory.
This was also a test for geniuses. Merely breaking through the illusions was not enough.
Tang Jie casually replied, "Thirty minutes? Enough."
In his mind, the Dao of Wisdom turned, so everything he read would be marked down in his mind.
This was not recording through spell arts, but simple memorization, so it was not affected by the original text.
He did not seek understanding, only memorization, so he took in ten lines at a glance, scanning through the text and flipping faster and faster through the pages.
The original text was not thick, so he quickly reached the end.
Tang Jie closed his eyes, and once he had confirmed that he had memorized everything, he opened his eyes and returned the book to its original place. He looked at the girl and smiled. "Have thirty minutes passed yet?"
The girl was stunned, finally unable to respond.
――――――――――
Upon returning to the inn, Tang Jie performed his daily rituals of examining the Pearl Lady statue and the Immeasurable Sword, after which he comprehended Slaughter. After doing all this, Tang Jie began to cultivate the Infinity Sphere Art.
As a technique written by a Celestial Sovereign, the Infinity Sphere Art was infinitely profound, and as Tang Jie cultivated, he couldn't help but sigh in praise.
Starting from this day, he stopped going to the arena and put all his focus into cultivating the technique.
The Infinity Sphere Art seemed complicated, but learning it was surprisingly easy.
This wasn't because of the Infinity Sphere Art itself, but because Tang Jie had comprehended the Great Dao of Yin Yang, which made all techniques and spell arts easy to learn. While the Infinity Sphere Art was powerful, it was still under the purview of Yin Yang, so Tang Jie naturally encountered no difficulties in cultivating it.
It only took a short ten-some days for Tang Jie to reach minor attainment in the Infinity Sphere Art.
Today, Tang Jie was meditating, Yin and Yang manifesting in his hands, energy curling around them.
The energy on the left emerged from the tips of his fingers and coiled around his hand like a silver snake, cool and aloof like snow.
The energy on his right hand emerged from his palm and danced like a flame, a searing red that dazzled like the rising sun.
The Yin and Yang energies rose into the air and merged, each occupying its own side. Through Tang Jie's will, they took on various forms: a dragon and pearl, Yin serving as the dragon and Yang as the pearl; the Taiji Diagram, Yin and Yang assuming their respective places; the sun and moon in the sky, Yin and Yang both forming their own stars as they danced in the cosmos; or the division of the heavens and earth, Yin and Yang playing the roles of the heavens and earth as they reenacted the beginning of the world…
This was the transformation ability of the Dao of Yin Yang. All arts of the world were under Yin Yang, so Yin and Yang were capable of simulating all arts. Of course, the Infinity Sphere Art did not focus on simulation, so this simulation here had only the form and none of the power.
Finally, Yin and Yang came together in a sphere, and then transformed into a howling gale.
This was the ultimate Celestial Sphere ability, the fusion of Yin and Yang producing boundless power. As for the actual power, that depended on how much Yin and Yang energy there was.
Tang Jie was only able to produce a sliver of these energies, but this was still enough to produce a fierce gale.
Tang Jie wasn't in some rush about the Celestial Sphere Art. From the very start, he had cared more about the Yin and Yang energies. The fusion of Yin and Yang energies was simply one of the ways to use them. With his grasp of the Dao of Yin Yang, he could develop even more powerful methods. He was extremely sure about this.
After twenty-some more days, Tang Jie finally finished cultivating the first level of the Infinity Sphere Art.
Although the first levels of all techniques were not too difficult, it was extremely rare to get this far in only a month.
Seeing that he didn't have much money left, Tang Jie knew that he would have to go back to the arena.
He had been in the City of Freedom for some time, but he had only made enough money for his daily expenses. It was only after becoming a Blood Hand that his wallet would become less tight. But because Tang Jie had gone to cultivate immediately after becoming a Blood Hand, he had yet to enjoy the benefits of matches of this level. Now, however, the time had finally come.
The arenas for Blood Hand bouts were much bigger than those for Warriors. One was no longer restricted to a simple stage, but could choose from arenas with a variety of environments, and one's opponents were also clearly much stronger.
Starting from Blood Hand, Spirit Ring True Persons made up the vast majority of one's opponents.
From a certain perspective, Spirit Ring, Heart Demon, and Soul Transformation corresponded to Blood Hand, Asura, and God Killer.
Before this, Tang Jie faced only opponents beneath him in cultivation level, but starting from now, he would be facing opponents who were at least on par with him in cultivation level.
But for Tang Jie, most of these people still didn't pose much of a problem for him. The real difficulty was how to keep hiding his true strength. Fortunately, with the Five Sacred Mountains Sword, he could still deal with most of his opponents. If he ran into someone too formidable and didn't want to show his trump cards, he could just concede.
As the days went by, Tang Jie gradually developed a reputation in the arena.
Many people came to know that a guy had shown up at the arena who wasn't especially strong but who had many treasures. Using a handful of divine treasures, he had managed to win twenty-some Blood Hand bouts.
A few real experts started to watch Tang Jie, looking forward to when they ran into him.
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