Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chang Baimei was astounded, but no matter how he evaded, he couldn’t throw off the Time Current. As they moved here and there, the entire area was thrown into turmoil, the rapid flow of time causing leaves to wilt, trees to wither, and fiends to turn to dust.

In the course of this pursuit, the Time Current never once touched Tang Jie, causing Chang Baimei to roar in shock and anger, “Why is it like this? Who are you? Who is getting in my way?”

Tang Jie’s eyes remained calm.

From the moment he comprehended the Dao Will of Time, he had been able to sense that there was some sort of benevolent presence in the hidden realm that was protecting him, but he hadn’t been certain about it at that time.

It was only once that Time Current appeared that he was certain.

As Chang Baimei futilely attempted to escape, Tang Jie muttered, “It seems that it’s not that easy for me to die this time.”

He looked up at the sky and noticed that the Time Current was slowly beginning to weaken as it gave chase.

It was clear that a Time Current like this wasn’t endless. Every existence that it wore down would consume a part of it.

Chang Baimei also seemed to realize this, and he began to fly off toward an area with a large number of lifeforms.

As the Time Current weakened, Chang Baimei saw hope. He savagely laughed, “You can’t beat me!”

“Is that so?” Tang Jie sighed. “Actually… there’s one move that I haven’t used yet.”

“What?” Chang Baimei was startled.

A moment later, Tang Jie leaped into the air.

He pursued Chang Baimei and punched at him with his right hand.

“Absurd!” Chang Baimei howled as he thrust a palm in return.

With his strength, he did not think that a punch from Tang Jie could do anything to him.

But a moment later, Tang Jie’s fist erupted with a heaven-shaking power.

“Devil Crushing Fist!”

With this roar, fist and palm met. Chang Baimei felt a terrifying power like never before surging out, and he was thrown back, unable to control his body.

The problem was that the Time Current was right behind him.

“Aaaah!”

With a scream, Chang Baimei fell into the Time Current.

He struggled to get out, but the power of the Devil Crushing Fist neutralized his strength.

The Time Current rushed over him, and his elderly face instantly dried out, becoming a horrifying visage.

His life force left him as if it had sprouted wings, and Chang Baimei knew that there was no surviving this. He howled, “I die, but don’t even hope of surviving!”

He unleashed his full power at Tang Jie.

Chang Baimei put everything he had into this strike. He didn’t even have time to see if Tang Jie actually died, dissolving into dust.

At the same time, Tang Jie fell from the sky.

At this moment, he was completely devoid of strength. He couldn’t even conceal his wizened face, his white hair and wrinkles appearing as he fell.

He fell into the water.

In the end, I’m still dying, Tang Jie thought to himself.

He closed his eyes and quietly waited for death.

At this moment, a slender hand grabbed his collar and pulled him from the water.

A face that was a mixture of displeasure and happiness appeared before him.

Tang Jie tried to make out who this person was, but a moment later, exhaustion overtook him. He closed his eyes and fell unconscious.

When he woke up, he found that he was lying on top of a tree.

Shen Qingdan sat nearby, looking at him.

“As expected, you didn’t leave,” Tang Jie struggled out.

“I was looking for an opportunity to make a sneak attack. I just didn’t expect you to kill Chang Baimei all on your own,” Shen Qingdan replied.

“It was the Time Current that killed him, not me,” Tang Jie replied. Since Shen Qingdan had been able to come and save him in time, she had naturally seen everything.

“You used the natural features of this place. Unfortunately, you weren’t able to avoid it either,” Shen Qingdan said, stroking Tang Jie’s face.

Tang Jie instinctively pulled his head back. Turning around, he looked down at his reflection in the water.

So is that how it was?

Shen Qingdan thought that it was the Time Current that had aged him.

She didn’t know that the Time Current was actually selective with its attacks, that it was being controlled.

Who was controlling the Time Current to help him?

Countless figures appeared in Tang Jie’s mind, ultimately stopping on a familiar figure.

“Bao’er, was it you…” he muttered.

“What?” Shen Qingdan didn’t hear him properly.

“It’s nothing.” Tang Jie sat up and rubbed his face. His face once more became youthful and healthy.

Shen Qingdan saw him suddenly become young again and said in realization, “So you also have a transformation spell! This transformation spell of yours is amazing, not showing a single flaw. It must be one of your trump cards. To think that I’m fortunate enough to see it today.”

Tang Jie indifferently replied, “Since you know it’s one of my trump cards, please keep it a secret. We’re friends now, which is why I didn’t hide it from you.”

“‘Friends’?” Shen Qingdan folded her arms. “So, we’re friends now? Then what was I before?”

The two of them had fought side by side in that mortal battle against Chang Baimei. If Shen Qingdan hadn’t been there to support him, Tang Jie would probably have died. After all, this victory of his had already been hard-won, so the strength of a single ant might have been enough to tip the balance. That Shen Qingdan hadn’t abandoned him at the critical moment greatly improved Tang Jie’s opinion of her, causing him to treat her as a friend.

Hearing Shen Qingdan’s question, he smiled and said, “In the past… a troublesome woman.”

“What did you say?” Shen Qingdan’s eyebrows instantly rose in anger. She glared at Tang Jie and said, “Smug asshole!”

The two of them looked at each other and started laughing, and that last bit of misunderstanding between them was finally dissolved.

After resting for a while, the two of them prepared to set off again.

Tang Jie moved to take the lead, but Shen Qingdan stopped him. “There’s a Windwall Formation over there, occupied by quite a few fiends. Let’s move around it.”

“How do you know that?” Tang Jie asked.

“There are many hundred-year Cat-Ear Grasses in that formation. I wanted to get them, but I found that there were several dozen fiends inside, all of them at Mind Opening. I had no choice but to retreat.”

Cat-Ear Grass wasn’t some rare plant, but while hundred-year Cat-Ear Grass wasn’t as effective on humans as it was on fiends, it was still one of the few spirit plants in this hidden realm that humans could use. Shen Qingdan wanted to get them, mostly so that she could use them to treat Tang Jie, but she hadn’t expected there to be so many fiends guarding them.

Tang Jie thought it over and said, “Is that so? Then let me go and take a look.”

Shen Qingdan jumped in shock. “Are you crazy? You’ve just been through a tough battle and are still weak. You can’t risk yourself right now.”

A group of several dozen Mind Opening fiends was a threat comparable to Chang Baimei. At Tang Jie’s current level of strength, it was impossible for him to defeat that many sea fiends. Of course, he could go for mass destruction and blast open a path with a Heavenbane Lightning Pearl, as those sea fiends definitely wouldn’t be able to react as quickly as Chang Baimei. But if he did that, he could say goodbye to any chance of getting Cat-Ear Grass.

Tang Jie replied, “It’s fine. I just think that the heavens have been looking out for me lately. If I go over, those fiends might even hand the treasure over to me.”

Shen Qingdan rolled her eyes. “Ha, who do you think you are? A son of the heavens? Protected by fate wherever you go? The Time Current helps you when Chang Baimei attacks, and the fiends will back off when you go and take Cat-Ear Grass?”

“Who can say?” Tang Jie casually replied as he went forward.

Shen Qingdan was speechless with anger, but she could only follow. She decided to immediately run if the situation turned sour. In any case, this guy had a Heavenbane Lightning Pearl, so at least he wouldn’t die. At worst, he would just be wasting a treasure.

At this time, Tang Jie really did enter the formation.

With his level of understanding in formations, this Windwall Formation was of little use against him. But sure enough, large numbers of sea fiends gathered, led by a giant sea snail. The giant sea snail didn’t move, but a wind howled around as if it was prepared to unleash a terrifying attack at any time.

Tang Jie slowly walked closer and closer.

Shen Qingdan’s heart rose up to her throat.

A gust of wind blew past.

All of the sea fiends gave way, opening a path to the Cat-Ear Grass.

And then Tang Jie walked over, plucked those grasses, and then turned around and walked back.

Unexpectedly, the sea fiends didn’t attack Tang Jie once.

“This… What’s going on here?” Shen Qingdan’s eyes were wide open.

Leaving one grass for Tutu, Tang Jie gave the rest of the Cat-Ear Grass to Shen Qingdan, saying, “In thanks for your blessing. Perhaps I really am the son of the heavens, protected by such great fortune that fiends do not dare to approach me.”

Shen Qingdan looked at him in a daze. After a while, she finally squeezed out, “You… don’t want these?”

Tang Jie shook his head.

For him, gathering the Cat-Ear Grass was simply to prove his speculations.

In comparison, the Cat-Ear Grass was rather worthless.

“Then I won’t be polite,” Shen Qingdan said, happily putting them away.

Looking back at him, Shen Qingdan said, “Hey, since you’re a child of the heavens, protected by great fortune, why don’t we take a stroll around the area and see if there’s anything else to gather? You might not need it, but my Wandering Palace has a lot of expenses and needs such things.”

After some thought, Tang Jie nodded. “Fine. It just so happens that I need to find a missing friend, so I guess I can take a stroll around the perimeter of the island with you. You can take whatever we get, but while you can take what’s on the perimeter, don’t hope to get anything from the island itself.”

“Why?” Shen Qingdan’s eyes widened. The spirit plants on the island were definitely more valuable than the spirit plants around it.

Tang Jie replied, “Because if my guess is right, all the spirit plants on the island have already been cleaned out.”

“Who did it?”

“…The daughter of the heavens.”

———————

Buh!

Yiyi burped and rubbed her round belly. Lying on the ground, she moaned, “It’s no good. I can’t eat anymore…”

“Of course. You’ve been eating for the last two days,” Xu Miaoran replied, rolling her eyes.

She had never imagined that this little girl would have such a huge appetite. In these last two days, she had consumed an uncountable number of spirit fruits and flowers, so many that they could be measured in tons. Her stomach seemed like a bottomless hole, sucking in all these spirit plants. Only when she had consumed all the spirit plants on the island that she could see did she finally stop.

Yiyi was probably the first in history to consume spirit fruits to the point that her stomach was about to burst.

After eating everything, Yiyi weakly said, “No good—I need to sleep. Big Sister, you need to protect me.”

She lay down and turned into a rose that swayed in the wind, exuding a refreshing aroma.

“This is…” Xu Miaoran was startled, and then she understood, crying out, “Metamorphosis!”

The medicinal power from all the spirit plants Yiyi had consumed finally erupted, the sheer quantity producing a qualitative change.

Among fiends and sprites, this was extremely rare.

For both fiends and sprites, Metamorphosis was an immense opportunity, but also an immense danger.

In the process of Metamorphosis, a special fragrance would be exuded that would draw over the greedy and hungry.

To be more precise, after eating all the spirit plants on the Immortal island, Yiyi was now the last spirit plant, and the most valuable. Even all of the spirit plants added up together might not match her value.

At this moment, she was like a thousand-year Whitefiend Lotus, a top-class treasure!

Xu Miaoran realized that trouble was coming!

Yiyi is truly blessed by the heavens!