Chapter 746: Going Home
Although Immortal Ji Yao was unwilling to talk about herself, she told Tang Jie and the others many secrets of the Court of Myriad Domains, while also debunking the many legends of the court that had been passed down over the years.
For example, she explained that the court wasn't just a royal court. It also had a world of its own, known as the Vast Wilderness, an immense world of countless cultivators, the number one great domain of the Great Stellar Chiliocosm. She also told them that Immortal Emperor Yu Cheng's full title was the All-Virtuous Divine World-Confirming Celestial Emperor Who Brings Immortal Salvation, and that he had never been married, that the Holy Mother of the West was the leader of the nobles of the Vast Wilderness's western region and one of the Four Sages of the royal court, not his wife. She also explained that the Disaster Dragon was actually a demon of the Primordial Fog and that just because it had "dragon" in its name didn't mean that it had any relation to the Dragon Ancestor. In addition, the Dragon Ancestor was also one of the Four Sages, but he was actually a little younger in terms of generation than the Azure Dragon, and that one shouldn't think he was the Azure Dragon's father just because he was the "ancestor". The Four Sacred Beasts were nurtured by the world, so while they had descendants, they had no forebears. She also verified that there was such a figure called the Scarlet Eyes Star Lord, but he was a very mature person who was not prone to over-drinking, that there was no such thing as him causing trouble in the court while drunk, at least in Immortal Ji Yao's time. Moreover, what sort of wine could have a figure on the level of the Scarlet Eyes Star Lord so drunk that he would throw the court into chaos? It was more likely to be a story invented to amuse the masses
In this way, Immortal Ji Yao lifted the curtain of mystery that hung over the Myriad Court, answering many lingering questions from High Antiquity. If these stories were collected and written up into novels, they would probably sell like hotcakes.
Of course, Immortal Ji Yao knew nothing of what happened to the Court of Myriad Domains after she was sealed.
When the Court of Myriad Domains shattered, most of its cultivators went missing. It was said that most of them returned to the Vast Wilderness, but Shentu's group knew nothing about it, and even Tang Jie had only heard a few rumors back in the Rosecloud Domain.
When she learned of this, Immortal Ji Yao sighed. "Back then, the Court of Myriad Domains was known by all the land, and all the Immortals came to attend upon it and show their respect. To think that it would be gone in a day, with not even a rumor left behind."
Tang Jie soothed, "Ten thousand years can change a lot."
"But it cannot change me," Immortal Ji Yao replied.
Everyone fell silent.
Ever since that day, Immortal Ji Yao stopped talking about the Myriad Court.
She spent most of the time silently brooding on the other end of the passage, only responding when someone asked for her help. But at times, they were able to hear fits of grief-stricken sobbing from the other end.
At times, Ice Phoenix became so upset that she proposed letting her go.
And they were tempted to do so.
But in the end, they were all veteran cultivators who were well aware of the danger demons posed, particularly a Boundless Gold Immortal, so they didn't let emotions rule their decisions.
They continued their life of subterranean cultivation.
It wasn't long before the Iron Blood Fiend Emperor paid a visit.
He had come to take back his saber.
He could have just summoned the blade rather than coming to personally take it, so he had clearly come to test the waters. But Lin Xin's soul had already grown in strength, and she managed to blow away the Fiend Emperor with a single breath, not killing him out of consideration for the promise.
Feng Wuxiang and Liu Zongchang also paid a visit several times, perhaps also guessing at the truth. But when they learned that they had missed their opportunity, they weren't dumb enough to keep probing, instead choosing to spar and converse with Tang Jie.
While Immortal Ji Yao helped Tang Jie in the theoretical aspect, these two helped Tang Jie with actual combat experience.
Status was gained through strength.
The opportunity to train with two Violet Palace experts wasn't something Tang Jie had gained through begging, but through his power.
His opponents knew of his many tricks, and his avatar was much weaker now that its Divine Soul had been injured, so he was no longer a match for the two, but his sheer strength coupled with his numerous abilities and tricky fighting style gave the two Violet Palace experts a whole new experience. If they dropped their guards for a moment, Tang Jie could make them eat dust.
As time passed, Tang Jie gradually recovered, and with Immortal Ji Yao's instruction, he began to grow more accustomed to the fighting style of the Violet Palace Realm. Thus, even before his avatar's Divine Soul had recovered, Tang Jie was able to fight the two to a draw, earning him their praiseTang Jie had not just created a miracle, he was continuing to build upon it.
Yiyi went over to Blackwater territory, thinking to plunder its treasury. But it turned out she had come late, and Iron Blood and Lan Ling had already cleared it outLan Ling seemed unwilling to be lonely, for she had married Iron Blood.
Yiyi was deeply unhappy about this, so she went over to Iron Blood territory and threw a tantrum. The Iron Blood Fiend Emperor did not dare to offend her, so he personally delivered some treasures to alleviate her anger.
The situation of the Verdant Cloud Domain had become rather strangehumans and fiends were still at war with each other, but they were also trying to get on Tang Jie's good side, and Tang Jie clearly had no plans on letting the fiends fall to ruin. All he said was that he would support anyone who gave him the materials he required.
The old equilibrium had been broken, and a new one was being established. Each side was repeatedly testing to see how far they could go, and the key to it all lay in the hands of a young outsider.
Three years went by in the blink of an eye.
In these three years, humanity had finally managed to break out of Dongjin Pass and expand westward. The Heavenly Dao Oath prevented Violet Palace cultivators from intervening, so the progress wasn't great, but Feng and Liu were already devising methods to get around the pact, and it seemed like the resurgence of humanity was not far off.
As for Lin Xin, she had finally begun to adapt to the Azure Dragon's body.
She could already move, though she moved around like a slow and lumbering fatty, so she spent most of her time lying down.
The recovery rate of Tang Jie's avatar remained slow.
It wasn't because there was some problem with the Divine Restoration Classic. He had simply used up too much of his soul.
According to Immortal Ji Yao, overusing the Peaceful Abode Classic meant that it would take at least forty years to recover.
Tang Jie had gone all-out to save Lin Xin, which meant that there was no avoiding these forty years. In this period, while his avatar's combat power might be able to be increased, there was no hope of advancing in cultivation.
This made Lin Xin feel extremely apologetic. After all, it was only to save her that Tang Jie had suffered such a huge loss.
Tang Jie didn't mind, simply saying that if she felt sorry, she could just give him a drop of Azure Dragon essence blood every year.
Lin Xin immediately agreed. Tang Jie was her savior, and she was willing to give him an entire bowl's worth.
With this, Tang Jie had collected the blood lines of all Four Sacred Beasts, but alas, there was no additional reward for his efforts.
Tang Jie's main focus was the extreme long-distance teleportation formation.
Now that he had the Dragonbone Spirit Sesame, he finally had a hope of creating this formation.
The only thing stopping him was the other materials, but most of these materials could be replaced in some way through some mixture of processing and combination of other materials to get what he wanted.
He had already sent out a list, and the most powerful experts of fiend- and humankind had personally given the order to search for these materials.
As these precious materials were delivered to Tang Jie, he grew closer to completing the formation.
Today, Tang Jie was playing hide-and-seek with Yiyi in the Infinite Palace when he saw Liu Yunshan flying over. He came over to Tang Jie and bowed. "Brother Tang, I've come on order from my father and the State Preceptor to deliver this Coldwood Pith to you."
"Oh?" Tang Jie immediately perked up. "You found the three Bloodvein Coldwood Pith Flowers?"
Coldwood was an extremely tough kind of tree that grew in arctic oceans, and it was said that they only grew one inch a decade. In other words, they took hundreds of years to grow to maturity. Coldwood had a pith where their essence was concentrated, and it was extremely rare. The pith of Coldwood was very small, with a thousand-year Coldwood often having a pith the thickness of a finger, which was called a pith flower.
It was said that spirit trees were easy to find compared to Coldwood, which was easy to find compared to Coldwood Pith, which was easy to find compared to a single Coldwood Pith Flower. Three flowers was simply unheard of.
And Tang Jie needed the finest quality, Bloodvein Pith Flowers.
Tang Jie had only been missing this one last material.
Liu Yunshan said, "Indeed. Father had to cut down almost half the Coldwood in the Ice Ocean to finally get these three Bloodvein Pith Flowers, but we finally managed to get them."
He handed over the Coldwood Pith.
Tang Jie found that it truly was what he was looking for. "I've basically squeezed the Verdant Cloud Domain for all it has. Still, pass on my gratitude to Sect Master Liu."
Liu Yunshan replied, "Brother Tang is being too polite. All the items on the list have finally been collected. Does that mean that you will be laying down the teleportation formation and going back?"
"Yes," Tang Jie frankly said.
"When will you be leaving?"
Tang Jie considered the question and replied, "I have to do some final preparations, so it should be about seven days from now."
"Then that one?" Liu Yunshan glanced at the distant form of the Azure Dragon.
It was clear that Liu Zongchang and Feng Wuxiang were still worried about Lin Xin.
They would be happy to see her leave with Tang Jie.
The Verdant Cloud Domain didn't need a mighty god like this that would have everyone trembling in fear.
Tang Jie looked over at Lin Xin.
Lin Xin didn't open her eyes, but she seemed to know what they were talking about. She indifferently said, "Tang Jie, without you, I would still be a prisoner in that cage, or already dead, and I would have never experienced any of this. If you need me, I can follow you."
"What about you?" Tang Jie asked. "Don't you have your own opinion?"
"'My own opinion'?" Lin Xin slightly hesitated. After a while, she said, "If it's about my own opinion, then I suppose I do have one. I hope that I can one day walk out into the world and see its beauty. I've been a frog in a well for too long, and I really want to see how big the sky is."
"That won't be difficult for you." Tang Jie smiled. In Lin Xin's current situation, she would only need a few more days before she could freely roam the blue skies, and even breaking out of the Astral Winds would be easy. "If you want to go, then you can go. You don't need to worry about me."
Lin Xin opened her eyes in shock. "You don't want me to repay your kindness? I can become your strongest backer. With me around, you won't even have to fear Immortal Platform experts."
Tang Jie laughed. "I saved you because I wanted to save a friend, not because I sought repayment for my kindness. Moreover, the dragon blood and the Spirit Sesame are repayment enough. As for your help, I won't go so far as to say I don't want it, but it's also not necessary. I've already been through countless storms on my own, so while having you around would be nice, even without you, I can still make do. Thus, it's not important if you help or follow. What's important is that we're always friends."
"'Always friends' " Lin Xin muttered, chewing on these words. Finally, she laughed.
"Of course! We're friends, friends forever!"
Turning to Liu Yunshan, she said, "Go and tell your father and Feng Wuxiang that they don't need to worry. I won't stay here for too long. Once I can completely control this body, I will leave this place. I want to roam the myriad domains and see the outside for myself. But no matter what happens, Tang Jie will always be my friend. What he wills shall be my command!"
By now, she longer minded admitting that she could not control this body freely.
"By the will of the Sacred Emperor!" Liu Yunshan replied in a trembling voice.
Seven days later, the teleportation formation was complete.
Standing in front of the huge formation, Tang Jie glanced at Lin Xin and then at Er Hu. "We will be journeying to a far-off place, and even if the teleportation formation links them, returning won't be easy. Are you sure you don't have any second thoughts?"
Er Hu firmly replied, "To be a teacher for a day means to be a teacher for a lifetime! Master, wherever you go, I will go too."
"Okay!" Tang Jie smiled. "Then let's go! We're going home!"
"Going home!" Yiyi excitedly shouted.
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