Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Formation lines rippled out from the mountain wall, spreading throughout the valley.

Truth Embracer lived up to the fame that had caused Reverend Whitestone to recruit him. Under his hand, the formation hidden in the wall began to reveal itself.

As the formation emerged, the entire valley began to light up, the ring of light reaching all the way to the cave where Tang Jie and Xu Miaoran were located. This meant that this cave was actually covered by that concealment formation.

It was no wonder Tang Jie had found this place ideal for breaking through and thought that there might be some hidden opportunity within, because Reverend Whitestone had already found this place before!

The light struck Tang Jie's illusion formation, producing a rainbow burst of colors from the cave entrance.

"Eh?" Truth Embracer let out a cry of surprise. "There was another small formation hidden within, stopping me from breaking the larger formation."

He didn't know that Tang Jie had set this one up, taking it as having been there the whole time.

Reverend Whitestone hastily asked, "Can you break this formation?"

Truth Embracer proudly laughed. "A trifle. I can break it in a snap."

He threw out several calculating rods, which radiated a divine light as they fell on the formation, upon which the formation swiftly began to crumble.

Xu Miaoran panicked.

If this continued, the formation would break and Tang Jie would be exposed, and nobody knew what the consequences of that would be. Although Tang Jie had saved many of the people here, the hearts of men were impossible to predict, and some of them might choose to forget his kindness. And there was also the completely untrustworthy Reverend Whitestone.

Suddenly, she remembered something and searched through Tang Jie's Mustard Seed Bags for several items: the five Eight Gates Banners.

Xu Miaoran had been with Tang Jie for many years, and some of his knowledge of formations had rubbed off on her. Holding the five banners, she calculated the source of that ring of light and thrust a banner into the ground in the corresponding direction.

It was the Stop Gate Banner.

The Stop Gate controlled variation, so it was best for responding to a situation.

The Stop Banner was thrust into the Xun position (southeast), and Xu Miaoran swiftly formed eighteen hand signs, summoning lightning. A rumbling came from above, and a giant bolt of lightning cleaved down from the heavens.

Truth Embracer was started by this sudden development. Fortunately, Reverend Whitestone blocked the lightning with a simple wave of his sleeve. It seemed like this attack had had more bark than bite.

Even so, Truth Embracer was alarmed enough that he no longer dared to act recklessly.

This was the Court of Myriad Domains, and the traps here had killed countless Violet Palace experts. Although that attack just now had been rather weak, this might have only been a warning left behind by the Violet Lightning Star Lord. If anyone dared to recklessly venture in deeper, they might trigger an even greater danger.

His caution meant that he slowed down on breaking the formation, always testing first before deciding on his moves.

Reverend Whitestone viewed this all with impatience, but there was nothing he could do.

He had found this place on his last visit to the court, and at the time, he had gone in after confirming that there were no dangers, so there shouldn't have been any now. But he was no formation expert, so he couldn't say anything for sure. After all, the court's formation only weakened once every one thousand years, so why couldn't the defensive formation of the Unbounded Palace also change?

Yes, the secret passage behind this wall didn't lead to the Violet Firmament Palace, but the Unbounded Palace.

However, Reverend Whitestone had other plans, so he had kept this fact a secret.

Although Truth Embracer's formation-breaking speed had slowed down, the formation was inexorably being undone.

Since the Stop Gate Banner could not maintain the formation, Xu Miaoran added in the Death Gate, Injury Gate, Alarm Gate, and View Gate Banners in swift succession, and the skies over the mountain valley became turbulent.

Truth Embracer was also growing anxious.

He hadn't expected that opening a single mountain passage would take so much time. Hardening his resolve, he began to remove supplies from his Mustard Seed Bag and set up a large formation. Spiritual energy gathered within the formation, turning into a raging torrent that slammed into the mountain formation. Light erupted through the valley—a light that made Xu Miaoran despair.

In the middle of her panic, Tang Jie suddenly grunted and pointed a finger.

A ray of spiritual light struck the ground in front of Xu Miaoran.

Startled, Xu Miaoran watched as the light from the five banners merged together, creating a small lake.

Truth Embracer's formation power surged into this small lake, and from there, it flowed into Tang Jie like a surging silver river.

Xu Miaoran was confused at first, but then she realized with glee that Tang Jie was using his opponent's energy to recharge himself.

Tang Jie said, "Help me maintain it!"

When attempting to reach Soul Projection, he discovered that he had been too simpleminded. When lacking sufficient preparations, even with his solid foundations and dense Immortal energy, he still faced many difficulties in reaching Soul Projection.

He had noticed the coming of the Jadestone Alliance, and he had been rather worried about it, but to his surprise, Xu Miaoran had somehow managed to get into a formation battle with Truth Embracer. She naturally didn't have the skills to fight with Truth Embracer for long. However, the fight had caused Truth Embracer to put even more power into breaking the formation, drawing in spiritual energy from the surrounding area, through which Tang Jie saw an opportunity. He immediately used the five banners as a node to draw all that energy to him, using Truth Embracer's power to ascend to Soul Projection!

Poor Truth Embracer was completely unaware of this. When he saw that spiritual energy rushing in, he thought that the work was almost done and the formation was about to open, so he poured in even more power.

But all of this power vanished like a clay doll thrown into the sea, drawing no response.

Shocked, Truth Embracer shouted, "Brothers, please lend me a hand."

Several cultivators came forward and began to send energy in the direction Truth Embracer indicated.

At this point, Tang Jie had essentially connected himself to the Unbounded Palace's defensive formation, taking its place in enduring the formation-breaking attempts, using that pressure to temper his Divine Soul.

His Divine Soul evolved more and more as the waves of energy washed over it, and that infant with indistinct features gradually turned into an exact copy of Tang Jie, an elegant and majestic Immortal.

For a normal breakthrough, this level of growth for the Divine Soul was enough, but Tang Jie's Divine Soul seemed unsatisfied. Shaking its head, it said, "Still not enough. A little more."

It opened its mouth and began to suck in that torrent of spiritual energy. Its body became more and more realized, mystical Dao Runes appearing on its body that exuded such vast and profound energy that they were difficult to look at directly.

These Dao Runes were the condensed understanding of the Daos Tang Jie had comprehended and entered. They formed a sphere of mottled light around the Divine Soul, each different shade of light representing a different Dao.

The Divine Soul was unconcerned, and with a wave of its hand, it began to rise, slowly emerging from the top of Tang Jie's head.

Floating in the air, it gazed indifferently into the distance.

Meanwhile, Truth Embracer was terrified.

For some reason, this formation in front of him had devoured all their energy in a most tyrannical fashion. He had even sensed for a moment his own True Essence being affected, his cultivation level dropping by a little. He lost all courage and could only look to Reverend Whitestone, pleading, "Reverend, please assist me."

Reverend Whitestone had also realized that something was wrong. There was some sort of mysterious power in these mountains that was draining away all the power being used against the formation.

He thrust his hand at Truth Embracer's formation, sending in a flood of Immortal energy.

He wanted to see if this defensive formation could also absorb his Immortal energy.

In the cave, the eyes of Tang Jie's Divine Soul gleamed in excitement, and it faintly smiled. "That's the stuff."

Opening its mouth, it sucked up the Immortal energy as well, and it grew stronger and stronger. Finally, when it was the size of the adult Tang Jie, it stepped forward.

This was no avatar, but Tang Jie's Divine Soul, now completely independent, no longer needing the Violet Palace's protection.

The Divine Soul was the purest form of one's will, but through the nourishment of the world's spiritual energy, it matured and grew, becoming a God, becoming an Immortal.

Tang Jie's Divine Soul had just finished this process. His Divine Soul had finally transcended the limits of the soul and entered the realm of the gods.

The soul had become a God, and the body had become Immortal, thus were they called God Immortals!

And the moment the Divine Soul broke free of the body, Tang Jie had successfully entered Soul Projection.

Xu Miaoran said in delight, "Tang Jie, you've finally succeeded!"

She was just about to hug the Divine Soul when the soul opened its eyes and began to exude a boundless pressure.

This pressure made one want to drop to their knees, those shining golden eyes seeming to be those of a true God that towered over the world.

This was the aura of a God!

Xu Miaoran had seen the Divine Souls of Soul Projection cultivators before, but none of them had ever been this strong, and she was momentarily dumbfounded.

Gradually, the Divine Soul's holy aura faded, and it returned to its normal self.

The Divine Soul walked back into Tang Jie's body, but before it did, it looked back at Xu Miaoran.

It was a cool and indifferent glance, the look one would give a stranger, and it made Xu Miaoran shiver.

And then everything returned to normal.

Tang Jie opened his eyes and let out a long breath, after which he laughed. "Who would have thought that Reverend Whitestone would help me reach Soul Projection? If I didn't devour that last bit of Immortal energy from him, I wouldn't have been able to succeed this easily. Now I've got the Immortal energy from both the Wailing Baby and Whitestone, so even though I've just reached Soul Projection, my foundations are solid, and I already have the Immortal Essence in my body, so Earth Immortal isn't too far off."

"Husband, are you okay?" Xu Miaoran asked, grabbing his hand.

"Silly, how could anything happen to me?" Tang Jie smiled.

Xu Miaoran sighed in relief when she saw the loving expression on Tang Jie's face, with none of that coldness from before.

Hugging Tang Jie around the neck, she softly said, "That's good… so long as you're fine."

She fell into Tang Jie's lap, and Tang Jie gently stroked her face.

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