Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 753: Returning to the Sect

The charge at Violet Palace was really just the substantialization of the Divine Soul.

It was very similar to the charge at Heart Demon. In the Heart Demon Period, the soul went from formless to a cloud, and at Violet Palace, the cloud turned into something with solid form.

In this process, the cultivator's Divine Soul would charge out of their body, exposing itself to the light of the world. The soul would be bathed in spiritual energy in order to take on form. As the soul was still fragile, this was extremely dangerous, and the rush of spiritual energy and the intense light of the sun could easily vaporize the soul, which was why the protection of the Violet Palace was needed.

When Tang Jie used the Peaceful Abode Classic to protect Lin Xin's soul, he was actually forming the Violet Palace. But when one was actually attempting to break into Violet Palace, most of the soul would be focused on substantialization, so there was less available to protect the soul, and the soul needed to last longer, which posed a greater risk.

This was why the Peaceful Abode Classic was actually an excellent method to cultivate for someone making the charge at Violet Palace. Its greatest function was for the cultivator to get some early experience in creating the Violet Palace.

Difficulty's greatest fear was repetition.

Once something could be repeatedly tried, the chances of success would only go up, and this was the advantage of the Peaceful Divine Abode Classic. Although it damaged the Divine Soul as a price, it was still better than attempting the trial, failing, and dying as a consequence.

After protecting Lin Xin with his soul, Tang Jie had a lot of first-hand experience with condensing the Divine Soul, which was one of the reasons he was so confident.

The second was that he was rich in resources, possessing them in both quality and quantity.

In terms of quality, he had divine plants like the Nine Heavens Luan Grass, whose greatest effect was to improve the power and spirituality of the Divine Soul. As the latter part of a cultivator's life was mainly focused on cultivating the Divine Soul, the Nine Heavens Luan Grass had the power to improve a cultivator's chances of success at every tier.

Besides that, he had the twelve spirit herbs he had picked from the Martial Lord's hidden realm, each of them a rare plant that could strengthen the Divine Soul or otherwise assist him in his push. He also had the four fiend pellets and Divine Souls of the Fiend Emperors, each one being comparable to a top-class spirit plant.

In terms of quantity, he had the treasuries of three Fiend Emperors and the vast wealth of the inter-domain trade, a fortune that could crush any middle-tier sect.

He also had Xu Miaoran, who was a genius pill refiner. Tang Jie was confident that she could refine some of those legendary medicines that could help in the charge at Violet Palace.

Finally, he had Immortal Ji Yao's instruction, top-class mantras like the Violet Jade Mantra, the Ninedark Mantra, and the Celestial Treasure Mantra serving as his foundation, comprehension of many Great Daos, and the experience of two bodies sharing one soul. Tang Jie's foundations were abnormally solid.

Mantras, resources, foundations, and a little luckthese were the recipes to a successful charge at Violet Palace.

And for Tang Jie, who had comprehended the Dao of Fate, even luck wasn't a problem.

Fifty years of preparation was more than enough time for him to weave a Web of Fate around himself, letting him neutralize all unfavorable factors and widen his own advantages.

In these circumstances, it would make no sense for him to not be confident.

But he couldn't give everything away yet, so he simply smiled at everyone to try and inspire some confidence.

That night, everyone held a welcome feast for Tang Jie, and everyone drank to their heart's content, guzzling jars of wine. Although they had spiritual powers that made it very difficult for them to get drunk, this wine was superb spirit wine, and even the person with the best stomach for alcohol would be felled after several dozen jars of it.

Tang Jie actually could have chosen to remain sober, but when he saw everyone excitedly advising him to drink, seemingly not prepared to let him go until he was dead drunk, he decided to guzzle away, letting the alcohol seep into his body, dull his nerves, and assail his Divine Soul.

Everything gradually blurred, and while countless figures passed in front of him, he couldn't recognize any of them.

Finally, Tang Jie's head thumped onto the table, and he passed out.

When he woke up, he found that the sun was already high in the sky.

He was lying on a perfumed bed, his body covered by a large red blanket decorated with a scene of two mandarin ducks playing in the water.

Tang Jie got up just as a maid walked in. She smiled at him and said, "Master Husband, you're awake."

She put down a basin of water, wet the towel in her hands, and moved to wipe Tang Jie's face.

Tang Jie immediately avoided it. "Where is Miaoran?"

"The young lady is in the study handling business," the maid replied.

Tang Jie made his way over to the study, circulating spiritual energy to expel the toxins of last night from his body as he did.

When he arrived at the study, he saw Xu Miaoran seated at her desk, writing something, several subordinates standing in attendance.

Upon seeing Tang Jie come in, Xu Miaoran said, "You're awake? Wait a moment. I'll be done soon."

Tang Jie found a chair and sat down, quietly watching Xu Miaoran work.

He was seated at an angle where he could see Xu Miaoran's profile, her soft yet tenacious face lightly done-up with make-up.

More than a hundred years of grinding had failed to wear away her beauty, but they had transformed her aura. It was the same person, but that innocent and romantic woman now exuded the aura of a woman of great power.

Not power as in strength, but the confidence that came from numerous trials, the aura of a great general who had all under control.

Tang Jie was somewhat enchanted.

After a while, Xu Miaoran's voice woke him up. "What are you looking at? You're so focused."

He looked around and found that everyone else had left, leaving him alone in the study with Xu Miaoran.

He immediately embraced Xu Miaoran, moving to give her a big kiss.

Xu Miaoran laughed and tried to avoid him. "When did you get so anxious?"

"I've been holding back for a hundred years, so how can I not?" Tang Jie replied.

"Tsk, who knows if you're telling the truth, how many girls you bedded while in the Verdant Cloud Domain."

Tang Jie sat her on his leg and bitterly smiled. "Don't go unjustly accusing me. It's all because I wanted to preserve my body for you that I brought a lot of trouble for myself."

"Oh? Tell me about it." Xu Miaoran immediately grew excited.

Tang Jie told her about all that had happened in the Verdant Cloud Domain.

He had spent more than a hundred years there, so even if he picked his stories, he still had countless stories to tell.

The two of them ended up chatting for more than half a month.

In this time, they went traveling and whispered sweet nothings to each other, occasionally interrupted by a tactless boor like Cai Junyang who came to get in on the fun.

There was always something to talk about, a new sight to see, and the days were free and pleasant.

But while they were not in a rush, others were.

These people, Wei Tianchong among them, saw Tang Jie "enchanted by a woman" and "wasting cultivation time", so they came urging Tang Jie to focus on cultivating, as if he seized these twenty-some days, his cultivation would soar.

But Tang Jie simply gave them noncommittal replies and continued his romantic life with Xu Miaoran, infuriating countless people.

Some people who were envious of him even spread rumors that Tang Jie had already given up and that the pressure from the Jewel Immortal Sovereign had compelled him to set the duel for two hundred years from now. He knew that he couldn't do it, so he had just thought of a way to live two hundred more years.

Tang Jie could only smile at these rumors.

Just like this, an entire month passed.

Autumn Sigh Peak.

This was a small mountain on Great Wind Island.

Today, Tang Jie and Xu Miaoran were admiring the view from the top of this mountain.

Xu Miaoran idly plucked at the grass and said, "I've done what you asked for. Things will officially get started tomorrow."

"That's good," Tang Jie said in satisfaction.

"Are you leaving then?" Xu Miaoran asked.

Tang Jie sighed. "There are some things that have to be done. It's been a month since my return, but I've been at Horizon Ocean Pavilion this entire time. But am I a disciple of the Basking Moon Sect or of Horizon Ocean Pavilion?"

Xu Miaoran giggled and put her head on Tang Jie's shoulder. "When you go back, bring Wei Tianchong and the others with you."

"Why?" Tang Jie asked.

Xu Miaoran replied, "They came to help me protect the All-Talent Society and the inter-domain trade. Now that you're back, everything has changed. If they stay, they might end up harming the All-Talent Society."

Tang Jie considered this and nodded. "I overlooked that factor. In truth, rather than protecting you, over the years, it's thanks to you that they progressed at such a rapid rate. Horizon Ocean Pavilion must have been applying a lot of pressure, and you've been enduring it all."

Xu Miaoran smiled. "I didn't even care about Sang Hongmei, so this pressure is nothing. This wasn't what I meant by harm. Rather, I need to concentrate a lot of resources onto those matters you tasked me with."

She looked at Tang Jie. "No matter what, I won't let you die under that old witch Jewel's hands."

Tang Jie couldn't help but laugh at how Xu Miaoran had called the Jewel Immortal Sovereign a witch. He then pulled Xu Miaoran closer, and they silently leaned against each other.

Just like that, they sat there on the mountain, from sunrise to sunset.

They continued to whisper to each other, but there was still so much to say that they hoped that this day would never end.

The next morning, Tang Jie left Horizon Ocean Pavilion.

He brought Yiyi with him and set off on Tutu, heading off for the Basking Moon Sect alone. As for Cai Junyang and the others, they would return, but they needed to settle some matters first.

Ten-some days later, Tang Jie arrived at the Zephyr Mountains.

After more than a hundred years, he had finally returned home.

The mountains and rivers were unchanged, but he didn't know about the people.

Suppressing his excitement, Tang Jie flew toward the sect.

At this moment, several Basking Moon disciples flew out of the mountains. When they spotted Tang Jie, they intercepted him. "This is the base of Basking Moon. Outsiders are not allowed inside without permission."

Tang Jie was startled, and then he remembered that he had been so hasty to return that he had forgotten to put on the standard Basking Moon uniform. Fortunately, he had his identity token. "I'm not an outsider."

The disciples glanced at the token and hastily said, "So you were a fellow disciple! Our apologies!"

"It's fine." Tang Jie smiled and went on his way.

The group watched him leave and were about to go on their way when a disciple, who had clearly joined recently, blurted out, "Senior Brother Lin, this guy's name is really strange. It's Tang Jie, the Jie () of calamity ()."

That Senior Brother Lin had been so focused on determining the authenticity of the identity token that he hadn't paid attention to the name on it. After hearing this, he grunted and said, "This world is a big place, and people can have all sorts of names." Then he shuddered and cried out, "'Tang Jie'? His name is Tang Jie?!"

He recalled the characters on the token and then he immediately flew off in the direction Tang Jie had gone, all the while shouting, "Tang Jie has returned!"

By this time, Tang Jie had arrived at Starsnatch Peak.

Tang Jie prostrated before the Hall of Divine Conference.

"The unworthy disciple Tang Jie has returned to the sect and pays respects to his Sect Master and teacher!"

Boom!

A bell sounded.

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