Aspiring to the Immortal Path

"No! Please, no!"

Zheng Zhi\'s wails came from the depths of the Immortal Spring cave estate.

Yiyi raised her head, glanced into the cave, and then dropped her head.

After a little while, the wailing stopped.

Tang Jie carried out a corpse and threw it into the yard.

Several vines wrapped around it and dragged it into the earth. While cultivators who had yet to reach Celestial Heart couldn\'t form a spirit rain, after they died, their bodies would exude spiritual energy that could serve as excellent fertilizer for the surrounding soil.

"Did you get anything from him?" Yiyi asked without raising her head.

"A lackey whose knowledge was limited. All he knew was that he was ordered to deal with me if he had the chance. He didn\'t even know who his contact was. But this is fine. Since they didn\'t know each other, it will be difficult for them to determine who\'s dead and who\'s not. Everyone is operating on their own, which is perfect for getting them all to send themselves to their deaths," Tang Jie said as he wiped the blood off his hands, his voice tinged with displeasure.

"Big Brother."

"Mm?"

"For the next interrogation, can\'t you bring me along?" Yiyi looked at Tang Jie.

Tang Jie frowned. "You\'re still young. I don\'t want you to face such cruel things this early."

"It\'s not like I\'m a kid! I\'m just small!" Yiyi shouted.

Tang Jie was startled.

He saw Yiyi standing right in front of him, and while she only reached his waist, there was a very stern look on her face.

Yes.

Now that he thought about it, Yiyi had been with him for more than twenty years.

Even though she had remained cute and child-like all this time, this was only because sprites had a naturally long lifespan. But given how long she had been with Tang Jie, she had probably already understood many things that she hadn\'t been meant to understand.

Realizing this, Tang Jie smiled and lightly nodded. "Yes, I shouldn\'t underestimate you. That being the case, you can also participate in these matters, but not including this… I don\'t want you to become like that. Yiyi, I can accept you as my comrade in battle, killing my enemies, but I can\'t accept you being with me and delighting in the cruel torture of others. Do you understand me?"

Yiyi lightly nodded. "I know. But you can\'t be by my side every time, right?"

"…True. If that day really comes, I permit you to do anything."

A smile bloomed on Yiyi\'s face, and she threw herself into Tang Jie\'s embrace.

Pulling on his hand, she said, "Come."

"To where?"

"To see the garden!"

She sprinted off while holding Tang Jie\'s hand, bringing him to the garden in the back of the cave estate.

Tang Jie discovered that this place had been completely transformed in the year he had been gone.

Various spirit plants were blooming in the garden. Most of them had been planted ten years ago, and in the long period of time, they had been in a hibernating state.

Now, these spirit plants had finally matured. Some of these spirit plants that had been growing for ten-some years now had the effects of those that had been growing for several dozen years. Those that had received particular care from Yiyi even had the effect of one-hundred-year plants.

Tang Jie couldn\'t help but sigh in praise. With Yiyi, he was saving quite a lot of money on herbs.

It had to be understood that Tang Jie would be facing Celestial Heart next.

Charging at Celestial Heart wasn\'t only extremely difficult and dangerous. It was also extremely expensive.

From what Tang Jie knew, the most basic preparations for the charge at Celestial Heart would cost him nearly one million spirit coins, and this wasn\'t even counting the extremely difficult-to-obtain Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill.

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The Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill was a necessary medicine for a cultivator charging at Celestial Heart, raising their chances of success by several percentage points. Each one was extremely valuable and couldn\'t be bought with money. The method to get it was the same as to enter the Water Moon Paradise. One first had to accomplish some great achievement, which would unlock a special contribution point exchange: ten thousand contribution points per pill.

This was the Basking Moon Sect\'s method of controlling its disciples. As they grew stronger, the demands on them would also increase. Thus, no matter how much stronger one became, one would only seek more, not less, from the sect.

And to get all these nice things, one had to perform great feats for the sect.

But this wasn\'t what Yiyi wanted to show Tang Jie.

In the very depths of the garden, in an isolated area, a blade-like bean plant grew as tall as a tree, its leaning body covered with sharp teeth. It appeared like a saber thrust into the ground.

This was that king bean Tang Jie had planted long ago.

Currently, there was a pod hanging from the top of the king bean.

Yes, a single bean pod hung from the top of the king bean all by itself, as obvious as could be.

"It\'s grown a bean pod?" Tang Jie said in delight.

"Mm!" Yiyi firmly nodded. "It came out half a month ago. It will probably need a few more days to ripen."

"Thirteen years! It\'s finally bearing fruit," Tang Jie muttered.

"It\'s thirty years!" Yiyi seriously corrected. "I\'ve helped it get an extra seventeen years."

"Thirty years to bear fruit! I really have to wonder how many beans it will give, and how strong they will be," Tang Jie sighed.

"One bean," Yiyi replied. "There are three beans in the pod, but only one will come out. Before they come out, they have to fight against each other, and only the winner can emerge."

As a sprite, and as their caretaker for so long, Yiyi was very familiar with how these beans worked.

Tang Jie was startled. "Is that how it is? Then do you know how strong it will be?"

Yiyi solemnly said, "Very strong!"

Not much could make Yiyi turn solemn.

Tang Jie laughed. "It seems like we\'re going to have another trump card soon."

Most of his trump cards were already known to his opponents. He was in dire need of new ones.

It now appeared that this blade-like bean sprout had come at just the right time.

Ten days later.

The bean pod on the blade finally burst, and a blood-colored bean flew out, tumbling toward the ground.

A vine moved to coil around the bean, but unexpectedly, the blood bean changed directions mid-air, avoiding the vine and continuing its descent.

"Don\'t let it land!" Yiyi called out.

Just when the blood bean was about to touch the ground, a powerful energy erupted from below, sending it back into the air. And then a hand reached toward it.

The blood bean let out a shriek and continued to try and dodge.

But this time, more vines twined together, forming a net that enclosed the blood bean.

This time, there was no escape.

But the blood bean continued to bounce around like a ball, causing the net of vines to groan as if it was restraining some giant beast.

Tang Jie was flabbergasted. What sort of fruit had the blade bean sprout produced?

"Just how strong is it?" Tang Jie muttered.

"Won\'t you know once you try it out?" Yiyi waved her hand, tightening the net so that the blood bean could no longer move.

"\'Try it out\'? But won\'t it be done after one use?" Tang Jie asked.

"This one is different," Yiyi replied.

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The Mountain of Heavenly Secrets.

Tang Jie strode into the Hall of Profundity.

The one on duty was the same person who had issued him the Beast Garden mission all the way back then, Tie Feng.

Upon seeing Tang Jie come in, Tie Feng went to welcome him. "So it\'s Junior Brother Tang! Junior Brother, congratulations on returning stronger from the Water Moon Paradise."

Tang Jie had been back for a few days, and basically all of the Basking Moon Sect knew that he was back, Tie Feng being no exception.

Tang Jie smiled. "Senior Brother Tie, thank you for your kind words. This junior brother had a small harvest from the Water Moon Paradise, and my cultivation level rose somewhat, but this strength… haha."

Tie Feng naturally understood what this laugh meant, smiling as he replied, "Everyone has to go through the Three Withering Tribulations, and since you have to go through it, it\'s better to get it done sooner than later. Moreover, Junior Brother\'s complexion looks rather healthy, so you\'ve probably passed the mortal death phase and experienced the birth of the spiritual body, yes?"

Tang Jie smiled and said nothing. This matter involved one\'s cultivation secrets, and people normally wouldn\'t talk about it. Not only that, to protect themselves, cultivators would even use spell arts to disguise themselves and put out false impressions so that their enemies wouldn\'t know how strong they actually were.

Tie Feng knew this, and this was just a passing comment on his part, with no hope of getting a real answer. He then said, "What mission does Junior Brother need? Follow me, and I will do my best to get it for you."

This was one of the advantages of entering the Water Moon Paradise.

Having entered the Water Moon Paradise meant that one was favored by the sect, represented a personage with a very promising future. Unless one was sick in the head, no one would dare to provoke Tang Jie.

That Yu Yan back then had been extremely arrogant and conceited, but when Tang Jie returned eleven years ago, Hall Master Xu Baibing had personally decreed that Yu Yan would be demoted from steward to disciple, and despite his age, he was currently running around with all sorts of busy work.

Tang Jie said, "I want a simple killing mission. It\'s best if it\'s a mission to kill some upper-grade Mind Opening fiend."

Tie Feng immediately frowned. "This sort of mission isn\'t that easy to find. We\'re the Secret Hall, so we normally act for the sake of other halls, and we don\'t get many of these kill missions. Let me look around in the general hall missions."

After searching for a while, he finally said, "Found one. Medicine Hall Steward True Person Liu wants to refine a Thunderspirit Pill, so he\'s seeking an upper-grade Mind Opening Thunder Wolf. Whether it\'s dead or alive, so long as that Thunder Wolf has a horn on its head, he will pay one contribution point or three hundred spirit coins per wolf."

"Rather cheap," Tang Jie indifferently said.

"Yes. Thunder Wolves live in rather tricky terrain, and there\'s a lot of danger involved. That True Person Liu is being a little stingy, only offering so little. That\'s why no one is willing to take his mission."

"Well, if that\'s what it takes. I\'ll accept the mission," Tang Jie ultimately said.

Tie Feng watched him leave and then mumbled, "A person with so much potential taking a small-time mission like that? It seems like his strength really must have fallen by a lot."

He had just spoken when someone came inside and asked, "Senior Brother Tie, whose strength did you say had fallen?"

Tie Feng knew the disciple who came in, so he replied, "If it isn\'t Senior Brother Hong! I was talking about Tang Jie."

"Oh? One of the legendary prodigies of my Secret Hall, Tang Jie, was just here?" That Senior Brother Hong was clearly excited, presumably anxious to meet a celebrity.

Tie Feng chuckled. "Indeed. He just took a mission to hunt an upper-grade Mind Opening fiend from me and then left. When he was at Nine Revolutions, he took on even more difficult missions, but now that he\'s at Cognitive Creation, he\'s actually taking easier missions. It\'s clear that his strength must have been greatly affected."

"I see. So the rumor was true… good, good." Senior Brother Hong dropped his head and mumbled, a strange twinkle in his eyes.