Aspiring to the Immortal Path
Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 694: Seclusion

A lonesome gray Fate Thread led off into the unknown. On the other end of it was a flashing point of light. Even though this thread was very, very long, that light continued to flash, never going out, guiding Tang Jie's vision to far beyond his normal limits.

Suddenly, the scene before him changed, and he appeared in a dark world. Under a dark and overcast sky, a translucent figure was running—Little Three.

Behind it, a vast army of ghost soldiers was giving chase.

At the very front were a black figure and a white figure.

These two figures eerily flitted around, always keeping close to Little Three so that it couldn't escape no matter how much faster it went. Worst of all was that the mourning staffs they held released faint threads of gray energy that wound around Little Three and prevented it from escaping via its Space powers.

As those black and white figures got closer and closer and the ghost soldiers neared, Little Three finally revealed some panic and fear on its face. It had never imagined that its hunting in the Nether Domain would provoke such a terrifying existence, and despair appeared in its eyes.

The Impermanence Ghosts?

Tang Jie was stunned when he saw those two figures.

These ghosts, very similar to the Ghosts of Impermanence spoken of in tales from his past life, were also famous in the Great Stellar Chiliocosm. What was different was that there weren't only two of them, but countless. However, they would always move in pairs, black and white.

(TN: The Black and White Ghosts of Impermanence are a pair of deities in Chinese mythology tasked with escorting the spirits of the dead. One is dressed in white robes and the other is dressed in black robes.)

They were the bodyguards of the Nether Emperor and killers for the Nether Court, chasing down souls to take their lives and resorting to any possible method to complete their task.

Tang Jie didn't know what Little Three had done to provoke the Black and White Impermanences, but let alone these two, even if the Nether Emperor had come himself, Tang Jie would not let them kill Little Three.

As the Impermanence Ghosts neared, Tang Jie called out, "Little Three!"

Little Three was mentally shaken. "Father."

It looked around, but it couldn't see Tang Jie anywhere.

"You don't need to look for me. I'm not there. I'm just using Fate power and the power of Karma I placed in your body to connect us so that we can talk."

"Father, I'm in trouble!"

"I saw it. Use the Profound Heavy Water, and then leave the rest to me."

"You'll do it?" Little Three was taken aback, but it still did as Tang Jie said, taking off that pearl necklace and throwing it behind it, upon which a giant torrent of yellow water rushed out.

The moment the Profound Heavy Water was used, a vast and roaring sea engulfed the area.

And this water had a formidable ability to crush and pulverize everything within it.

A group of ghost soldiers was instantly swept up in the flood and pulverized by its immense force. But those black and white figures reacted quickly, soaring up into the sky and just barely avoiding the torrent. A moment later, though, the torrent formed a massive wave that smashed toward the Impermanence Ghosts.

The two figures instantly split up, and with their incredible speed, they just barely managed to avoid the wave.

But this interference allowed Little Three to get some distance, and those gray threads of energy tied around it started to extend. Once these threads were completely taut, they would snap, upon which the Resentful Spirit Ropes that bound this Hunter Ghost would lose effect.

The Impermanence Ghosts had chased Little Three multiple times, and they were well aware of this ghost's abilities. While this little Hunter Ghost's strength was average, it had particularly formidable Space abilities, which had allowed it to escape several times from their grasp. This was why Little Three had underestimated them all this time, which had allowed the Impermanence Ghosts to get close and use the Resentful Spirit Ropes. But if it managed to escape this time, it would have learned its lesson and not give them a second chance.

Understanding this, the Impermanence Ghosts chased Little Three with even greater speed.

But as they charged, another wave rose up.

The Impermanence Ghosts made to dodge again, but at this moment, a ghost general behind them suddenly tripped, and as it did, its white bone sword flew out of its hand, shooting toward the back of the White Impermanence. The sword stabbed through it, and the White Impermanence let out a sharp shriek. Just as the wave was about to come down, the White Impermanence turned into a wisp of smoke and dissipated away from that sword that had pinned its body.

But in doing so, it stretched the Resentful Spirit Rope bound to its mourning staff too far and snapped it.

Little Three felt its body lighten and its speed improve.

But the Black Impermanence's mourning staff was still tied to it, and this one thread was enough to seal its ability.

Little Three urgently shouted, "Father!"

"Call back the Heavy Water!"

Little Three called back the Profound Heavy Water, and that raging torrent surged back, and the Black Impermanence just happened to be in its path.

The Black Impermanence sensed that something was wrong and pursued Little Three as hard as it could, instantly reaching its maximum speed.

But at this moment, a herd of phantom horses came galloping out. Little Three ran straight through the herd and out the other side, and the herd charged right at the Black Impermanence. The Black Impermanence knew that this was trouble and tried to evade, but no matter where it ran, the phantom horse herd followed, and they slammed into each other. As the Black Impermanence was knocked back, it was still desperately trying to maintain the Resentful Spirit Rope.

At this moment, a ghost general lurched out from the side and rammed into the Black Impermanence.

The Black Impermanence finally lost its control.

Pa!

The rope snapped.

As that gray energy dissipated, Little Three felt its entire body grow light.

It let out a cheerful howl, and then it blinked away, completely escaping the ghost army.

"Keep going forward. If you follow the guidance of Fate, you will find the exit." Tang Jie's voice faded away, and no matter how Little Three called out, he did not speak again.

Opening his eyes, Tang Jie exhaled and wiped his forehead, which he found to be caked in sweat. As for the Fate Standard, its light was greatly dimmed.

Without the Fate Standard, it would have been impossible for Tang Jie to pluck the Threads of Fate over such a long distance at only the Dao Comprehension level. Of course, another reason was that the Dao of Fate didn't require much in terms of strength, and it was common to pull on one thread and set off a chain reaction. And to influence the Nether Domain from the Verdant Cloud Domain also wasn't unreasonable. From a certain perspective, Fate had an even wider range than Space. Space actually still cared about distance, but Fate completely ignored it.

Even so, using the Threads of Fate to influence the ghosts was still greatly taxing for Tang Jie's mind. Fortunately, he had entered the Dao of Wisdom, giving him unparalleled calculation powers, making all this possible. Otherwise, even if he had been capable of remote manipulation, he would have found it extremely difficult to be that accurate.

From this, one could see that the Daos were not separate from each other and could be used in combination.

But Tang Jie didn't know what the result of that would be.

Personally, he had never heard of any Dao Art made from different Great Daos. Of course, this was because there were few cultivators who could comprehend a Dao in the first place, and using two different Daos meant comprehending multiple Daos, which was even more rare.

Tang Jie could be considered to have a peerless talent when it came to comprehending the Daos, which was why he had a rough understanding of all twelve. But he still had a long road ahead of him to improve them all. And until he reached the end of that long road, how could he even consider combining them? He was just getting started on the road of the Great Dao, so it was best to not get too many ideas.

Even so, Tang Jie couldn't help but be a little expectant. Perhaps this just might be his future path.

Leaning against the jade railing of a small bridge, Xu Miaoran gazed at the blooming lotuses in the pond and the red koi beneath them. She sprinkled some food, which set off a frenzy among the fish.

A man in martial arts clothes rushed over to the bridge and stopped near Xu Miaoran, saluting her. "President."

"What's the situation?" Xu Miaoran asked without turning her head.

"We've received word from Cold Spring Pass. A few days ago, Xin Yue went to a restaurant alone and got drunk as a means of alleviating his sorrow. In his drunkenness, he cursed out the Blood Fairy, saying that she had gotten rid of him as soon as he had ceased to be useful."

"'The Blood Fairy'…" Xu Miaoran snorted. "So it really was her."

Xu Miaoran wasn't surprised to hear this name.

There were few in Horizon Ocean Pavilion with both the intellect and the daring to scheme against her, and of them, the Blood Fairy was the likeliest suspect.

Her master was the Jewel Celestial Sovereign, one of the three Violet Palace True Lords of Horizon Ocean Pavilion, whose status was even higher than that of Xu Guanghua. The woman herself was no weakling, being one of the Eight Ocean Rakshasas.

The Basking Moon Sect had its 19 Celestial Chiefs; Godhead Palace had its Eight Kings and Nine Generals; the Beast Refining Gate had its Four Braves and Seven Warbeasts; the Seven Absolutions Sect had its One King, Two Phases, Four Heroes, and Nine Eminences; the Thousand Passions Sects had its Five Flowers, Six Leaves, and Twinhead Lotus; and Horizon Ocean Pavilion had its Three Sons and Eight Ocean Rakshasas. All of these were chief-level individuals.

When it came to status, strength, and prestige, Xu Miaoran was no match for the Blood Fairy.

After some thought, Xu Miaoran said, "Tell Chenglong and the others to not take any sect missions for now and to just stick to cultivating within headquarters. If they need to go out, they should go together and endeavor to not get split up."

The Blood Fairy was one of the managers of Horizon Ocean Pavilion's external affairs hall, with her primary responsibility being to issue missions.

If she wanted to target Xu Miaoran, she would probably start with the missions, so Xu Miaoran immediately chose to call back her people and forbid them to go out.

At this critical moment, she didn't want anything to happen to her people.

The man left with her order.

At this time, Hong Yuan came over and said, "Young Lady, we've prepared the goods to be sent to the Blood River Domain."

Xu Miaoran considered these words and said, "Let them sit. For now, there's no need to go."

"Eh?" Hong Yuan was surprised. "Why?"

Xu Miaoran casually explained, "I know a little about the Blood Fairy's personality. She's ruthless and cruel, so if we've been targeted by her, we can't be too careful. Until we get reinforcements, everyone should enter seclusion and not go out unless they need to."

"But they're still waiting for goods back on the Blood River Domain side. If we don't keep up the business, where will the money come from?" Hong Yuan anxiously said.

Xu Miaoran replied, "Don't we still have some stockpile? Just put it all out. I also still have 11 million back at home, which was Horizon Ocean Pavilion's share of this season's earnings. If we decide to seize it all and be a little conservative, it should be able to last for a bit."

"What are we going to tell them then?"

"Do I need to explain anything?" Xu Miaoran's voice grew louder. "They understand more than anyone else why the trade has come to a halt. This 11 million is just compensation for my earlier expenses, but this is only the beginning, not the end! And if they anger me, then we'll just part ways, and nobody will have a good time!"