Aspiring to the Immortal Path

When Tang Jie awoke, he found that he was wrapped up like a mummy.

Fortunately, I\'m not wrapped up in Immortal-Binding Rope, Tang Jie mused to himself. This meant that he had gotten past the first checkpoint.

He was lying on a large bed made from Spring Electro Wood, and incense had been lit in the room. The only person around was a maid leaning on the side table, a hand propping up her head as she napped.

Supporting himself with his arms, Tang Jie sat up and found his entire body to be sore, every wound on his body crying out in misery.

He naturally had means of healing himself, but he could not do this. Not only that, he had to ensure that he did not recover in the short term.

Infiltrating Godhead Palace was an extremely risky plan, and there were too many people and too many reasons that could end with him being exposed. Thus, changing his appearance was only the core. Besides that, Tang Jie needed many other things to support him.

His severe injuries were currently his most important source of support.

To ensure that he wasn\'t found out, Tang Jie had broken six of his avatar\'s ribs and inflicted an intense shock on his organs. Most importantly, his face had been severely damaged, his cheekbones shattered and half of his chin blown off. The face was so severely deformed that even good friends wouldn\'t have been able to recognize Qian Yingchen.

Even if Huang Yue used Insight, the severe injuries would make it hard to differentiate the real from the fake. Insight primarily saw through spell art traces to see the true face beneath, but severe injuries were bound to require spell arts to heal, so the mingling spell art traces became difficult to see through. And even if it were seen through, the injuries meant that one would only see a similarly ruined face.

Severe injuries also required medicines, and the thick odor of medicines would cover up his odor and make it so that King Canis He Changan would also find it difficult to notice the difference.

Fortunately, Qian Yingchen hadn\'t been particularly known for a powerful recovery ability, and the injuries that Tang Jie had made were bone fractures, which were the most difficult to heal, so he wouldn\'t have to worry about being discovered for now. As for how to conceal the truth later, that would depend on the situation. If he could keep up the act, he would stay, but if he couldn\'t, he would kill some people and then run…

The sound of him sitting up awakened the napping maid. Startled, she quickly went to support Qian Yingchen, saying, "The young master is awake! This lowly one was momentarily negligent due to fatigue, so please forgive me…"

She was trembling, clearly afraid of Qian Yingchen.

Tang Jie, who was just about to say that it was fine, changed his mind and grumbled in dissatisfaction, causing the maid to drop to her knees in fright.

Tang Jie slowly said, "I\'ll spare you this once, so get out of here."

The maid acted as if she had been pardoned and fled out of the room.

Exhaling, Tang Jie shifted his body and began to totter his way out of the room. Emerging before him was a verdant land.

This was the perimeter region of the Spirit Mountains.

Various art relics transformed into temporary rooms filled this verdant clearing, and in the very center was a building comparable to an imperial palace. This was the Black Yellow Mobile Palace that Godhead Palace had set up on this mountain, and it was the headquarters of the Tang Jie hunting team.

As for the place Tang Jie was currently residing in, it was a little building that Qian Yingchen had brought with him. It appeared like just a room, but it seemed like another world inside.

The perimeter of this cluster of buildings was guarded by black-armored servant warriors. These servant warriors were not Bloodbath Hall disciples, but were the lowest class of warriors, most of them at the Spirit Platform Realm. Some of them weren\'t even raised by Godhead Palace, instead being directly recruited from the outside. They were normally tasked with minor matters, like this guard duty. All six major sects had servant warriors like this.

Upon seeing Tang Jie come out, a servant warrior captain bowed to him. "Young Master\'s severe injuries have yet to heal, and it is not proper for you to go out."

"That\'s none of your business!" Tang Jie angrily retorted.

Anger was the best cover for any sort of flaws. At this moment, Tang Jie appeared like a heavily wounded warrior, his face twisted in pain, who had come out to vent his emotions.

The captain could only retreat. Meanwhile, someone had already reported this matter to the Black Yellow Mobile Palace. A few moments later, Nan Ningjiang appeared. Looking at Tang Jie, he asked, "Yingchen, your wounds are very serious. Why did you come out?"

"Tang Jie!" Tang Jie howled. "Did you kill him?"

Nan Ningjiang froze, and then he shook his head. "When we arrived, he was gone. We only found you."

Tang Jie trembled, and he said in a shaky voice, "The others… are all… dead?"

"All dead," Nan Ningjiang replied. "Including Feng Buzhi. He is also dead."

Tang Jie shuddered.

Finally, he howled, dropping to his knees and weeping.

Nan Ningjiang mentally sighed at his sorrowful appearance, at the same time thinking to himself, Rather than trying to use Xu Miaoran to capture Tang Jie, wouldn\'t it have been better to just inform us when you found Xu Miaoran?

He naturally understood what the Beast Refining Gate had been thinking. Undoubtedly, they had been thinking about capturing Tang Jie and then negotiating terms with Godhead Palace, but they had forgotten that if Tang Jie had been that easy to capture, none of them would have been here. But they couldn\'t be entirely blamed for their actions. After all, it was Godhead Palace who had first betrayed the Beast Refining Gate with the matter of the Space Crystal. Now that all of the people the Beast Refining Gate had sent had died, with only Yingchen surviving, Nan Ningjiang found it difficult to say anything more. In the end, he walked over and patted him on the shoulder. "Do not be sad. A true man weeps blood, not tears. Tang Jie is cunning, but no matter how fierce and cunning he is, he\'s still trapped in this mountain range. We\'ll catch him eventually."

Qian Yingchen\'s weeping lessened somewhat, but his crying had caused his wounds to open up, and blood began to seep through his bandages.

But he didn\'t seem to feel the pain. He spat out, "How do I explain this to my adopted father… how am I going to explain this…"

Nan Ningjiang warmly said, "We\'ll explain the situation to the Beast Refining Gate. They will forgive you."

"So you\'ll say that my greed for merit led Feng Buzhi and ten-some elites of the Beast Refining Gate to be slain in battle?" Qian Yingchen\'s voice suddenly turned cold.

"This…" Nan Ningjiang also knew what sort of effect this news would have on Qian Yingchen once it got back to his sect.

He was the most dazzling rising star of the Beast Refining Gate, but for this same reason, he wasn\'t allowed to make mistakes. Countless eyes were watching him, and a single failure might utterly doom him.

He now began to somewhat understand why Qian Yingchen had been weeping so bitterly. It appeared that he had also been mourning himself.

Thinking it over, he said, "But they\'ll find out eventually."

"Help me!" Qian Yingchen said to Nan Ningjiang.

Looking at those bloodshot eyes peeking through the bandages, Nan Ningjiang asked, "How do you want me to help you?"

"Say that you were the one who sent us, say that you sent us!" Qian Yingchen said, grabbing Nan Ningjiang\'s hand. He looked around, seemingly afraid that other people might be watching, and pulled him to the side.

Nan Ningjiang\'s face darkened. "You want me to share the responsibility with you?"

Qian Yingchen anxiously said, "You\'re not a member of the Beast Refining Gate, so they can\'t do anything to you. Help me this once, and I\'ll return the favor!"

Nan Ningjiang\'s face darkened even more.

He understood what this meant.

If he helped Qian Yingchen this one time, it would mean he would be able to blackmail Qian Yingchen. Qian Yingchen was an important disciple of the Beast Refining Gate, the future young lord. This sort of dirt on him, and the relationship it gave him, was of immense weight.

In the end, the 12 Hawks of the Hawk Hall were minor figures, only having some authority when they were on a case. Outside of this area, they were nothing. But Qian Yingchen was entirely different. Even if he couldn\'t become the sect master of the Beast Refining Gate, he still had a boundless future. Being on good terms with him was a good thing.

Thinking this, Nan Ningjiang nodded and said, "Fine. I\'ll share responsibility for this matter with you. I will inform the Beast Refining Gate that I had you pursue her, but your force alone wasn\'t enough, and you ultimately fell into an ambush and barely escaped with your life."

Nan Ningjiang had turned Qian Yingchen\'s glory-seeking fiasco into a heroic battle where he had faked his death to survive.

Qian Yingchen couldn\'t smile, covered by bandages as he was, so he softly laughed and said, "That being the case, then I must thank Sir Nan."

"You\'re welcome," Nan Ningjiang replied. "If there\'s nothing else, I will return. You are badly injured, so you should go back and rest."

"Yingchen understands."

As Tang Jie watched Nan Ningjiang leave, his eyes momentarily flashed with glee.

Having Nan Ningjiang cover for him naturally wasn\'t for the sake of Qian Yingchen\'s future—this guy no longer had any sort of future.

The primary goal was to pull Qian Yingchen and Nan Ningjiang closer together.

The main goal behind pretending to be Qian Yingchen was to gather information, and there was no better target to work on than Nan Ningjiang. But based on the information he had uncovered with his original body, he gathered that Qian Yingchen was a very arrogant person who rarely interacted with others. Even if Nan Ningjiang asked for him, he might ignore the call.

There was an advantage to this, that being that now that all the Beast Refining Gate\'s people had been killed, there were few in Godhead Palace who understood him. But the disadvantage was that he would find it difficult to get close to Godhead Palace\'s people.

Tang Jie had thought of an excuse to solve this problem.

Through this method, Tang Jie had Qian Yingchen bow his head and swiftly shrink the gap between him and Nan Ningjiang.

The advantage of bringing them closer so quickly was that Nan Ningjiang was less likely to suspect him.

While rationality and profit played a part in human relations, emotions still played a large role.

Nobody would weigh the pros and cons of every single matter in life. That was no longer a human, but a robot. What guided human action normally was not logic and reason, but instinct.

This was why many important people would make low-level mistakes. It was wishful thinking to think that all bigshots were peerlessly intelligent and would never make mistakes. This was an extremely silly way of thinking, and anyone who held such ideas probably needed to read more history books.

With this connection with Nan Ningjiang, Tang Jie was sure that many things would get a lot easier.

――――――――――――

News that Qian Yingchen had woken up quickly spread, and quite a few people came to visit him.

This included the likes of Master Xuan Zhong, Elders Gold and Silver, Li Song, and Zhou Fanghua. They all came to his bed and asked if he was doing well.

It seems like these guys who were hunting me to the ends of the earth suddenly care quite a lot about me, Tang Jie said to himself in amusement. Suppressing the laugh eventually became so painful for the avatar that he decided to have his original body madly laugh, leaving Xu Miaoran perplexed as to why this guy had suddenly gone crazy. So did he find her sorrowful story about how her beloved dog had died, and she had to bury it, funny? Enraged, she kicked the original body in the butt.

Huang Yue also came to visit Qian Yingchen.

That was the most tense moment for Tang Jie.

Even though he had made preparations, the moment Huang Yue appeared, he became like a cheating student in front of a proctor teacher, his heart twisting in concern.

Huang Yue didn\'t know at all how tense Tang Jie was. The moment he came in, he shouted, "Brother Yingchen, you\'re finally alright!"

It was like they were old friends who hadn\'t met for years.

In Huang Yue\'s mind, there was something he had always taken pride in: his renowned lineage.

He was Shi Wunian\'s student, a future stakeholder of Godhead Palace.

What was Nan Ningjiang to him? If he hadn\'t had some specialized knowledge needed for chasing Tang Jie, Huang Yue wouldn\'t have even paid him a glance.

In the entire team sent to hunt down Tang Jie by Godhead Palace, there were only two people he respected. One was King Canis He Changan, though He Changan returning his respect was another matter entirely. As for the other person, it was Qian Yingchen.

Compared to Huang Yue, Qian Yingchen was even more suited for the title of "future stakeholder". After all, he was Feng Muyuan\'s adopted son.

One could have many disciples, and Huang Yue\'s rosy future might contain a little disciple-on-disciple violence. But Qian Yingchen was the sole adopted son.

For this reason, he was very willing to form an alliance with Qian Yingchen.

This was why he was particularly passionate, grabbing Tang Jie\'s hand while grinning.

Tang Jie was like a thief who had stolen a wallet, woodenly and fearfully glancing at this beaming fellow. Even with his intelligence, he was momentarily unable to understand why this guy was being so friendly with him.

The more he wanted this guy to leave, the more this guy wanted to stay.

Patting Tang Jie\'s shoulder, Huang Yue said, "Brother Yingchen, don\'t be disheartened. While you were defeated, it was still a glorious battle. Just think about when Tang Jie had been surrounded by all those pursuers. Didn\'t that scoundrel still manage to escape? He\'s a crafty one, and he can\'t be underestimated. That Brother Yingchen could fight Tang Jie alone and survive proves that you are a true genius of the Beast Refining Gate!"

Tang Jie managed a dry laugh. "Thank you for your concern, True Person Huang."

"You\'re too polite. Your adopted father and my honored master are of the same generation, so we can speak to each other as peers. I\'m a few years older, so you can just call me Big Brother."

Hearing this, Tang Jie finally understood a little of what was going on, but he had no desire to get on good terms with Huang Yue. He simply said that his severe wounds prevented him from entertaining guests.

What he really meant was: Hurry up and leave! I won\'t keep you.

Huang Yue heartily laughed. Slapping his head, he said, "I\'m starting to forget things."

He took out a long box made of white jade from his Mustard Seed Bag.

White jade was usually used to store rare herbs so that their medicinal effects would not fade. Huang Yue offered the box to Tang Jie and said, "This is a thousand-year King Sesame essence I obtained a few years ago. It has miraculous healing power, and I bought it as a back-up plan to save my life. Now, I\'m gifting it to you, Little Brother Yingchen. With it, you will heal up quickly… Oh, there\'s no need to use too much. You just need to squeeze a few drops of essence from the root to achieve an incredible effect."

As he was chattering, his face was wincing.

Meanwhile, Tang Jie was stunned by what he was hearing.

Thousand-year King Sesame essence!

This was truly an excellent thing. Even the Nine Executions Immortal Formation didn\'t have such a thing.

He hadn\'t expected Huang Yue to have one, and to have brought it out.

Given his reluctant face, it seemed like he didn\'t want to give it all to him, only a few drops so that the remainder could be returned, which was why he repeated the way to use it several times.

But there was no way Tang Jie was going to give it back.

He took the box and stuffed it under his pillow, after which he bowed to Huang Yue and said, "Big Brother, thank you for this gift!"

Huang Yue\'s face shuddered, but as an "important person", he couldn\'t be seen to be fussy about this "small gift". Pulling on Qian Yingchen\'s hand, he said, "Brother, there\'s no need to be so polite. We\'re brothers, so it\'s only right that we look out for each other!"

He placed particular emphasis on "look out for each other."

Tang Jie immediately replied, "Naturally. Big Brother, be at ease. So long as Yingchen is around, he will always support Big Brother!"

Since he didn\'t need to hold up this promise made in someone else\'s name, he decided to just make it. Let alone support, he was willing to make even greater promises. It wasn\'t like he needed to pay anything for this flattery.

Best of all, he was deceiving someone from Godhead Palace, so he didn\'t feel guilty at all.

Huang Yue grinned and whispered into Tang Jie\'s ear, "In a few days, my master is going to choose a disciple to pass on his Great Aspiration Divine Connection to."

"\'Pass on his Great Aspiration Divine Connection\'?" Tang Jie was stunned. "But I\'ve heard that everyone who becomes a disciple can inherit his arts."

"Disciples are only taught the essentials, which can\'t be considered the real Great Aspiration Divine Connection. But this time, it\'s the True Inheritance."

As Huang Yue explained, Tang Jie gradually understood. It turned out that Shi Wunian had fourteen disciples, but only three had obtained the Great Aspiration Divine Connection: the first disciple, the second disciple, and the fifth disciple. Alas, two of the three were deceased, and only the fifth disciple was still alive, and he was Shi Wunian\'s most outstanding disciple to date. As there was only one person with the Great Aspiration Divine Connection, Shi Wunian was unable to rest easy, so he had been seeking out a new inheritor of the Divine Connection this entire time.

Huang Yue was Shi Wunian\'s thirteenth disciple and was very talented in the Dao of Insight. Shi Wunian had been seeking a successor to his position as Insight Master, so he had taken Huang Yue as his disciple.

But Huang Yue wanted more.

"If Wolf Lord Feng is willing to give me a little praise, my master might choose me as the inheritor." Huang Yue confessed his aims.

Feng Muyuan was the Blue Sky Wolf Lord, and there was no way Shi Wunian would disrespect him.

Tang Jie grasped his hand and firmly said, "Big Brother, rest easy. I will write a letter to my adopted father now and ask him to say some good things about you."

Huang Yue was smiling so widely that his eyebrows were practically scrunched together. Grasping Tang Jie\'s hand, he said, "Thank you, Little Brother."

"Right, I was wondering: could you let your little brother take a look at the essential outline of that Great Aspiration Divine Connection?" Tang Jie abruptly asked.

"What?" Huang Yue was stunned.

This was the Great Aspiration Divine Connection, and Tang Jie wanted to see it? Although it was just an outline, it was still extremely important.

"I only want the bare essentials." Tang Jie sincerely said, "Yingchen swears an oath on his Immortal path that this is only out of curiosity, not greed."

Huang Yue thought it over and ultimately nodded. "Fine. I will let Little Brother take a look at the outline. But you must remember to keep it a secret. While the outline is not some cultivation art, it touches upon the foundations of divine connections, so it can\'t be spread around."

"Your little brother understands. Yingchen is willing to swear on his entire career in the Beast Refining Gate that he will not spread it to outsiders." Tang Jie was quite willing to make promises in the name of others, making several big ones in a row.

Hearing this, Huang Yue agreed.

He wanted to talk with Tang Jie a little more to bring them closer together, but Tang Jie was unwilling. Thus, he decided to roll his eyes and proclaim that his head hurt and that he needed to sleep for a while, thus sending Huang Yue off.

Tang Jie exhaled in relief when Huang Yue finally left.

When he thought about what had just happened, he found it rather amusing.

Unexpectedly, disguising himself as Qian Yingchen was quite profitable.

On that topic, disguising himself as Qian Yingchen hadn\'t been some plan long in the making, but something he had thought up on the spot. For this reason, he hadn\'t thought about what sort of benefit this could have for him, and he had spent all of his energy on thinking about how to not be exposed by his foes.

It was only recently that he realized that he had seemingly made a mistake.

It was this: what was the point in infiltrating Godhead Palace?

For information?

They were all in the mountains, and their plan was clearly to encircle and hunt down Tang Jie. What was the point of trying to dig into the details?

Was there a difference if the one chasing him down was Master Xuan Zhong or some other Soul Transformation cultivator?

Moreover, with Xi Canhen around, no matter how Nan Ningjiang tried to hide his plans, most of his plans would be exposed to him through Xi Canhen.

There was some value in the intelligence, but it wasn\'t big.

Killing?

It was clear that this wasn\'t realistic.

If he suddenly killed someone, then in a situation like that, he really could have killed any person he wanted, whether it was Nan Ningjiang, Huang Yue, or even the likes of Li Song and Elders Gold and Silver. So long as he was willing, if he erupted with all his might, he could even kill Master Xuan Zhong. But how significant would that be? And the death of his avatar might swiftly follow.

The value of killing also wasn\'t big.

But through Huang Yue, he saw another possibility.

By using Qian Yingchen\'s status, he could get even more. Without even paying anything, he could have people lining up to shower him with gifts.

This thought had a plan forming in his mind, and he chuckled.

He gave this plan a name: Infinite Overdrafting.

He was overdrafting Qian Yingchen\'s account, but the one making the money would be Tang Jie.