Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Time seemed to stop.

Everyone was frozen at that particular moment in time, all of their eyes focused on Tang Jie in the center.

The Tang Jie of today was clearly different from before.

He had given up on the traditional white robes of the Basking Moon Sect for a black combat uniform. Standing there in combat posture, he exuded an intimidating aura, power so thickly concentrated around him that it felt like what stood before everyone was not a man, but a mountain!

This unique aura made everyone tremble in awe for a moment, and only when Qian Yingchen crashed down to the ground did this immense weight seem to lift from their hearts and they came to their senses.

"Aaaagh!" Qian Yingchen let out the most terrified scream of his life as he desperately rolled on the ground.

His right arm had been broken by Tang Jie\'s punch and his skeleton had almost come apart. There was barely an intact part of his body, and if he hadn\'t possessed a spiritual body and astounding talent, he would have died several times by now.

But survival meant only greater pain. The power of a Diamond Body was something even a Heart Demon cultivator found difficult to bear, let alone him.

It was the original body that had come!

But Tang Jie had done away with that imposing appearance, returning to how he appeared when he first entered the Nine Executions Immortal Formation. However, while he had hidden his formidable muscles, he couldn\'t hide his astonishing aura, which made everyone look at Tang Jie in a different light.

This was a dense congregation of power threatening to explode, like a storm about to arrive.

After crushing Qian Yingchen with a single punch, Tang Jie slowly said, "I was planning to get into a big fight, take the people, and run, perhaps even needing to sustain a heavy injury in order to escape. To my surprise… it turns out that I\'m just cleaning up."

He turned to Xu Miaoran and said, "Excellent work."

Hearing this, Xu Miaoran became so excited that she flew out of the jade palace and into Tang Jie\'s embrace.

Seeing this, the red fox thought that she had a chance and growled as she flew into the air, a powerful energy gathering in her claws.

She thought that Feng Buzhi would cooperate with her, and one Spirit Ring and two Heart Demon True Persons were enough to deal with a single peak Mortal Shedding cultivator, particularly one who was so careless that he was going to embrace his woman.

But Feng Buzhi was a little slow, as if he needed time to react, and it ended up that she attacked alone.

Tang Jie glanced at the red fox.

Rather than pushing aside Xu Miaoran, he embraced her waist with his right hand while thrusting his left hand at the red fox.

The red fox unleashed all of her power, her claws pulsing with crimson power. One claw swept at Tang Jie\'s left hand while the other swiped at Tang Jie\'s chest.

As fist met claw, there was an explosion of crimson light between the man and fox.

The red fox suddenly screeched in pain, her claw looking like it had been run over by a car traveling at high speed, a single strike having been enough to obliterate it. As for her other claw, it had seemingly run into a steel wall, leaving only five white marks on Tang Jie\'s chest.

"No!" The red fox was stunned.

How could this be?

How could Tang Jie be this powerful?

She knew that Tang Jie had a Heart Demon–level combatant at his side, but that wasn\'t Tang Jie himself!

The red fox couldn\'t understand what was going on.

As she was in a daze, Tang Jie moved to grab the red fox\'s face with his left hand.

Just when he was about to crush the red fox, Qian Yingchen sat up, and a red light appeared in his eyes as he looked at the red fox. The red fox suddenly yowled and charged off into the sky in a red streak and vanished.

Just as she was about to completely disappear, Tang Jie grabbed her leg. Bang! The red fox\'s left leg exploded in a cloud of blood.

This red fox was an extremely fast fiend, and body refiners found speedy opponents to be the greatest trouble. This was because body refiners had few moves, and they were usually straightforward. So long as their opponent could evade with speed, then they could pester the body refiner even if they couldn\'t win.

But the red fox hadn\'t known about Tang Jie\'s true level of power and had made the mistake of charging right in, putting up her shortcoming against his advantage.

With her leg shattered, it was no longer possible for her to utilize her speed.

After crippling the red fox, Tang Jie turned to Qian Yingchen in surprise. "You still have the strength to sit up? I underestimated you." As he spoke, he punched at the air, and there was a scream as the red fox staggered out.

As Tang Jie readied to make another punch, the red fox clenched her teeth and began to dodge, meanwhile shouting, "Feng Buzhi, what are you doing?"

At this time, the two Feng Buzhis were retreating.

He was making a run for it!

They had been thinking about capturing Tang Jie, but now that the man was here, he was taking to the hills. When she saw this, the red fox finally realized that she had taken the bait.

Unlike the red fox, Feng Buzhi had very sharp eyes. The moment he saw Tang Jie, he sensed that this Tang Jie was different from before.

The avatar and original body had immensely different auras. The former was delicate and refined, and his aura was not particularly conspicuous. The latter was wild and fierce, and even when his form was hidden, he still pulsed with power.

And he had also seen a problem in the attack Tang Jie had made against Qian Yingchen. He found that there was no spell art here, only pure strength.

Even though he didn\'t know exactly what was going on, at that moment, Feng Buzhi instinctively thought about his own situation.

For this reason, he didn\'t fall into the original body\'s trap, instead letting the red fox scout ahead for him.

When the red fox had her claw pulverized and her attack ignored, Feng Buzhi felt like he could see that battle where that mysterious savage had battered He Yueyang.

The two Feng Buzhis shared a glance, and he had a flash of insight.

Tang Jie had an avatar!

The one who had killed He Yueyang wasn\'t Tang Jie\'s ally, but Tang Jie himself!

This was Tang Jie\'s real power!

He almost blurted out this discovery.

Immense fear engulfed him, and he retreated without hesitation, even abandoning Qian Yingchen.

Even though he had immediately made the correct decision, it had still been made a little too late.

Tang Jie coldly chuckled. "Now you want to leave? Too late!"

His right hand still holding Xu Miaoran, Tang Jie punched out with his left hand, and there was a deafening boom as a powerful blast of energy struck the ground. This power rippled out through the ground, causing countless spurts of energy to erupt from the earth.

Feng Buzhi howled and took to the air. By now, he no longer had any desire to fight Tang Jie.

But as dust plumed into the air, another person charged out, swinging a brilliant saber at the black-robed Feng Buzhi.

"Tang Jie!"

This was clearly another Tang Jie, the avatar Tang Jie, the Tang Jie that he was familiar with.

The reason he had only come out now was clearly that he had been cleaning up the Beast Refining Gate disciples in the forest, and the original body\'s shockwave hadn\'t been intended to stop Feng Buzhi from escaping, but to raise dust and create a smoke screen.

This meant that he still didn\'t want this secret to be exposed, did not wish for people to see two Tang Jies at once.

Upon realizing this, Feng Buzhi howled and thrust out his palm.

This palm wasn\'t meant to stop the avatar Tang Jie, but to scatter the dust.

He was going to dispel this obscuring dust and let everyone see Tang Jie\'s secret!

Tang Jie didn\'t seem to expect this move from Feng Buzhi. The avatar\'s saber struck Feng Buzhi\'s defensive barrier and pierced through it, the sharp saber energy erupting within his body in a cloud of blood. But Feng Buzhi ignored him, creating a great gale to disperse the dust and restore clarity to the world.

Only then did the black-robed Feng Buzhi furiously roar and thrust a palm at the avatar Tang Jie.

But as his palm flew out, he froze.

The one in front of him wasn\'t the avatar Tang Jie, but that fierce man who had killed He Yueyang!

This was…

A transformation spell!

Feng Buzhi instantly understood.

One Tang Jie was a body refiner and the other a law cultivator, and this law cultivator clearly had the ability to transform.

If that was the case, then the body refiner was the original.

He didn\'t have the ability to transform, but he at least had the ability to go between that muscular man and his original appearance. And when the original body assumed his original appearance, the avatar could turn into the original body.

In this way, the original body and avatar could switch places, leading to a misunderstanding, and if it were used against the enemy… what happened to the red fox would be a typical example. Misjudgment of one\'s opponents would lead to the wrong choice in battle, with lethal results!

Feng Buzhi instantly realized Tang Jie\'s plan.

In this dangerous moment, Feng Buzhi\'s mind was more clear than ever before, and he understood all the causes and effects.

Alas, this understanding had come too late.

The giant man Tang Jie swung the golden saber at Feng Buzhi\'s body.

Feng Buzhi wanted to dodge, but he found that he suddenly couldn\'t move.

A power welled up within his body, instantly paralyzing him.

This was… Paralyzing Powder, a poison that could immobilize a person and that the poisoner could activate whenever they wanted.

But when had Tang Jie poisoned him?

Whoosh!

The golden saber stabbed into his body.

Once, twice, thrice…

Tang Jie callously stabbed in and out like he was killing a pig.

As Tang Jie freely stabbed the motionless Feng Buzhi, he suddenly recalled the palm he had exchanged with Tang Jie back then.

Tang Jie\'s shattered finger had left a faint wound on his palm.

Tang Jie had planned to kill him all the way back then?

"Why… me…" Feng Buzhi squeezed out.

At that time, he could only wonder why Tang Jie had chosen him out of so many people as the one to poison.

"Because you\'re very powerful!" Tang Jie callously said.

Paralyzing Powder wasn\'t expensive, but getting it into the body wasn\'t easy. The chance would only come once, so he needed to pick the most valuable target.

He would have wanted to pick Master Xuan Zhong if possible, but he realized that he couldn\'t take one of Master Xuan Zhong\'s palms.

So he had chosen Feng Buzhi.

Among all the Heart Demon cultivators he had interacted with, Feng Buzhi was the strongest and smartest, and he was also the one who understood him the most.

Reality proved him to be correct. Feng Buzhi was the first to see the truth behind the avatar and the original body—Tang Jie had realized what Feng Buzhi had been trying to do by dispelling the dust.

The paralyzing poison finally dispersed.

Tang Jie had finished turning Feng Buzhi into a sieve with his saber.

As the golden saber was extracted, Feng Buzhi weakly dropped to his knees.

But the black bear phantom behind him did not attack, only throwing back its head and roaring in rage and unwillingness.

Feng Buzhi looked up at the sky and mumbled, "I see… I am honored by your attention."

"Goodbye and good riddance!" Tang Jie coldly said, swinging the golden saber across his neck.

A head flew into the air, and Feng Buzhi\'s headless body thumped to the ground in a cloud of dust.

A soul rushed out of Feng Buzhi\'s body, shooting toward the distant body of the white-robed Feng Buzhi.

"You shouldn\'t have swept away the dust," Tang Jie sighed.

If Feng Buzhi hadn\'t tried to clear away the dust, Tang Jie really might not have noticed this phenomenon… Feng Buzhi\'s earlier behavior had all been an act.

A moment later, the ghost guard\'s clawed hand pierced through Feng Buzhi\'s chest, digging out his heart.

Unlike before, this heart had a human face that fearfully shrieked, "Don\'t! Don\'t kill me!"

"He already said \'goodbye\'," the ghost guard coldly said as he closed his hand and crushed the heart.

Tang Jie raised an eyebrow.

He hadn\'t taught the ghost guard to say such things.

As the heart shattered, the life it sustained lost its final supporting pillar.

The white-robed Feng Buzhi crumbled into stone, and amid the debris was that lotus platform of white jade.

"A Celestial Spirit Stone," Tang Jie murmured. "No wonder you were able to get an avatar."

The Celestial Spirit Stone was a famous divine stone of the Rosecloud Domain that had the ability to act as a vessel for the soul. To put it simply, it could strengthen one\'s soul and increase one\'s resistance to Divine Will attacks. But it had an even greater use: it was an important material for the charge at Violet Palace!

For this reason, the Celestial Spirit Stone was one of the most valued treasures of the Rosecloud Domain. He hadn\'t expected Feng Buzhi to have one.

But rather than leaving it to use for the charge at Violet Palace, he had used it to make an avatar.

He didn\'t know if Feng Buzhi was being shortsighted or if it was because too many people had seen Feng Buzhi get this stone at the time. At that moment, countless people would have begun to covet this stone for themselves.

The real problem was those Soul Transformation cultivators who were half a step into Violet Palace. If they wanted it, the Spirit Ring Feng Buzhi wouldn\'t have been able to refuse them.

Thus, after thinking things through, he had decided to use it as the support for his avatar. Once it was used, other people wouldn\'t be able to say anything about it.

This was also why Feng Buzhi wasn\'t able to keep his avatar a secret.

After losing his white crane fiend body, Feng Buzhi had decided to use the Celestial Spirit Stone that had served as a vessel for his soul as material for a new body. The price was that the new white robe was much more wooden than the old white robe. Without its former intelligence, it became easy to differentiate between the real and the fake.

Taking that lotus platform from the debris, Tang Jie looked it over and put it away.

This was a valuable treasure, and he needed to carefully consider how to use it.

The battle was already over.

In front of Tang Jie\'s original body, Qian Yingchen and the red fox were no threat, not even considering their severe injuries.

The red fox was dead, but Qian Yingchen was still alive.

"Why did you keep him alive?" Xu Miaoran thought about what Qian Yingchen had done and immediately wanted to execute him.

Tang Jie chuckled. "Fiends only have value when they\'re dead, but humans are useful when they\'re alive… In the end, Qian Yingchen is Feng Muyuan\'s adopted son. He must know many secrets about the Beast Refining Gate, which makes him very valuable."

"How?" Xu Miaoran asked.

Tang Jie didn\'t respond, instead turning his head.

Holding a Mustard Seed Bag, the avatar Tang Jie walked over. As he did, he slowly transformed into Qian Yingchen.

Xu Miaoran was stunned. "What… what\'s going on? Who is he? Why can he transform?"

Tang Jie replied, "This is an avatar I made using my flesh and a sliver of my soul, and it has the power to transform. It can transform into my appearance to bait the enemy, but it can also transform into others to deceive the enemy."

Tang Jie used the simplest and most direct method to explain to Xu Miaoran the avatar and the original body, showing off the ability and telling her what it was.

In the process, Tang Jie intentionally avoided sensitive questions like "how he had an avatar" and "whether this avatar had ever interacted with Xu Miaoran". For Xu Miaoran, this presented the illusion that this was Tang Jie\'s newest ability, so she did not feel conflicted about it, only sincerely happy.

Of course, most importantly, Xu Miaoran had not seen the avatar as "Tang Jie", so she didn\'t feel any rejection toward it.

And once she gradually became accustomed to the avatar\'s existence, she would lose any sense of rejection.

Hearing this, Qian Yingchen finally understood what was going on. As he saw the avatar turning into him, he shouted, "No, no, you can\'t do this!"

Tang Jie slowly raised up Qian Yingchen. "Why can\'t I? Actually, I\'ve been looking for a way to infiltrate my pursuers for some time, but with Huang Yue around, I found it very hard to do. But you gave me this chance. After all, you are the \'crown prince\' of the Beast Refining Gate, so True Person Huang cannot use his Eye of Insight on you whenever he pleases. You are the ideal target."

Qian Yingchen coughed blood and shouted, "You\'re not me! You\'ll eventually show a flaw!"

"That\'s why I need you alive." Tang Jie slapped his face and then prepared to throw him to Yiyi, but Xu Miaoran stopped him.

"What\'s wrong?" Tang Jie asked.

"Give him to me," Xu Miaoran replied. "I can guarantee that he\'ll cough up everything he knows."

"You…" Tang Jie was somewhat hesitant.

Forcing Qian Yingchen to talk was no easy task.

Xu Miaoran replied, "Trust me. When a woman becomes cruel, she can be very scary, particularly to a beast like him. I feel no pity for him."

Tang Jie looked at the unconscious Hong Yuan and Xian Tao, along with their tattered clothes, and he somewhat understood. Smiling, he said, "He didn\'t understand that the people you can afford to offend the least in this world are women… He\'s yours."

He threw him over to Xu Miaoran.

Grabbing Qian Yingchen, Xu Miaoran casually said, "Don\'t worry. We\'ll treat you well."

Seeing Xu Miaoran\'s eyes burning with hatred and anger, Qian Yingchen cried out in despair, "NO…"

――――――――――――

The forest finally fell quiet.

Numerous corpses were strewn about the devastation.

The thick odor of blood lingered in the air, and the bodies were still warm.

There was a rush of air as the disciples of Godhead Palace arrived. They were led by the third Hawk, Zhou Fanghua. She had an ashen expression as she looked around and sternly ordered, "Search the battlefield and see if you can find anything."

The disciples split up and began to search.

Very quickly, a call came from the depths of the forest. "Hurry! There\'s a survivor…"