Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Alas, understanding ancient history was of no help to Tang Jie's current situation, nor did it explain why Wind Holder was here.

After some thought, Tang Jie laughed and said, "There's still three Earth Immortals causing trouble outside, so there's no point in worrying about all this right now. Let's take care of what's currently on our plate first."

Just as he was about to walk away, he suddenly stopped and turned around. He placed Wind Holder's body into the hole and bowed several times. "Although I do not know if those treasures left behind belonged to Reverend Five Origins or to Senior, I must still thank you, so I will erect this grave in your memory."

The greedy Azure Dragon came over and asked, "There was treasure? Was it good? What did it consist of?"

"Some divine treasures and some writing on formations," Tang Jie said, showing them to the dragon.

The dragon shook his head. "Not even a single Dao armament."

Tang Jie chuckled. "Dao armaments are hard to come by, so it's not strange that there aren't any."

The dragon rolled his eyes. "You think the court's Earth Immortals are like your everyday wandering Immortal? A member of the court wouldn't even be able to show their face if they couldn't bring along at least a pseudo–Dao armament. And Old Man Five Origins, with his mastery of formations, was incredibly wealthy. Other than the legendary Reverend Celestial Hook and the Bejeweled Star Lord, there was probably no one in the Great Stellar Chiliocosm that was as rich as he was. How else could he have laid out this Miniaturization Formation?"

Through the earlier conversation, the dragon had gotten a rough idea of the situation they were in, as well as about the miniaturization and the three Earth Immortals. He continued, "And there's also the Eternity Sarcophagus Immortal Ji Yao gave you. How do you think she got it? It was Old Five Origins who gave it to her. When she became a demon, he wanted to seal her and then seek out a way to save her. But after becoming a demon, Immortal Ji Yao managed to reach Gold Immortal, so how could he, this weakest of the True Immortals, possibly control her? As a result, the moment she broke out was the moment he died."

But Tang Jie kept this comment to himself, indifferently saying, "Is that so? Then perhaps he used them all, or perhaps there's a third layer that we've yet to find."

"Very possible!" the old dragon shouted. "Why don't we look around?"

Tang Jie shook his head. "No need. Since someone has already been here, the real treasures would have already been taken. We should be satisfied that we could already get this much."

He straightened the body and then waved his hand, summoning dirt to cover the hole.

After this was done, Tang Jie left without delay.

The old dragon was mystified as to why he was leaving with such resolve, scratching his head. "'Satisfied'? Tang Jie, when have you ever been satisfied with what you have?"

But as he couldn't understand, he could only shake his head and follow.

What he didn't know was that not long after they left, the ground began to tremble.

A corpse emerged from the earth! It was Wind Holder!

That spiritless body began to emit light, and as it grew brighter and brighter, its energy rose. Spirit Platform Realm, Mortal Shedding Realm, Celestial Heart Realm, Violet Palace Realm, and finally, the Immortal Platform Realm! Concentrated Immortal energy gathered in white clouds, completely engulfing that body.

Still, that energy continued to rise, breaking through Earth Immortal and reaching True Immortal.

Only then did this energy begin to weaken, and after a while, it was gone.

The corpse slowly opened its eyes and looked around, and then it began to laugh. "After a wait of ten thousand years, the day has finally come! The Immortal Emperor spoke the truth! Haha, haha, hahahaha!"

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Tang Jie returned to that grassland.

With the jade mirror, he could control the formation.

Alas, this was still a Dao Formation, and it was the kind of formation that didn't differentiate between friend and foe. In other words, Tang Jie could only control whether it was on or off and ensure that it didn't harm him, but he couldn't remove the formation's effect on him. This was the special property of Dao Formations. While powerful, they also possessed a certain level of blindness. To make the Dao Formation ineffective on oneself involved transcending this Dao, controlling this Dao.

But Tang Jie didn't mind. After all, his plan hadn't included this Miniaturization Formation in the first place. The formation not attacking him was enough, and he could use the resulting power imbalance to easily take down the three Earth Immortals.

Holding the jade mirror, Tang Jie took a trip around the place, if only to see what useful materials this formation held.

After all, this was a supreme formation of High Antiquity, so it had to have required numerous materials, some of which could be reused.

Yes, Tang Jie was already planning to dismantle this formation.

While the Miniaturization Formation was powerful, it primarily existed to protect that cave, which made it similar to the Nine Executions Immortal Formation in that its purpose was to autonomously operate as an impregnable barrier. It wasn't viable to have it support him in battle.

Tang Jie naturally wanted a weapon that could kill rather than a steel door that could keep people out—but the door was made of fine materials that could be melted down to forge him a fine blade.

Thus, Tang Jie traveled along the formation lines, the jade mirror exposing the formation's entire internal structure. This allowed Tang Jie to easily discover its secrets and take apart the formation from its most basic layer.

And he really did manage to find some nice treasures. But he didn't take them yet, as this would affect the formation. Instead, he marked all the reusable materials with his Divine Will so that he could take them with a mere thought. As for the waste, as they contained traces of the Great Dao, they could be used as references for study. Thus, Tang Jie also marked them with his Divine Will.

The old dragon shivered at Tang Jie's plunderous ways, and he was even more confused as to how such a person could be "satisfied".

As they were going along, Tang Jie trembled and shouted in glee. "The View Gate Banner! How can there be a View Gate Banner here?"

(TN: The author seems to have forgotten that Tang Jie already possesses the View Gate Banner. He currently possesses the banners for Stop, Death, Injury, Alarm, and View. This means that he is missing Rest, Life, and Open.)

The jade mirror displayed a small banner fluttering in the wind: the View Gate Banner of the Eight Gates Banners.

The old dragon gave him a weird look. "What's so surprising about the View Gate Banner? The Eight Gates Banners were an artificial peak Dao armament Reverend Five Origins requested the Bejeweled Star Lord to make. For this, Five Origins ended up laying down an Immortal Formation for him."

"'An artificial peak Dao armament'? You're saying that these are part of an artificial peak Dao armament?" Tang Jie took out the five Eight Gates Banners he possessed.

To be honest, while they could increase the power of formations, Tang Jie couldn't see a Dao armament in them.

The dragon was stunned by these five banners, grabbing them and saying, "Let me take a look."

He examined them carefully and finally nodded. "Yes, these belong to the Eight Gates Banners, the Immortal formation treasure Reverend Five Origins so treasured. It was never shown to anyone else, but somehow, several of the banners were lost, leaving Reverend Five Origins furious. How… how did they end up with you?"

Tang Jie shook his head. "Rather than asking how they ended up with me, it would be better to ask how they ended up in the Rosecloud Domain."

The old dragon said in realization, "You got them in the Rosecloud Domain?"

Tang Jie nodded. "There was a fragment of the court in the Rosecloud Domain, where the Pearl Lady once lived. It fell to the Rosecloud Domain after the Martial Lord shattered the court. Considering that the Martial Lord's hidden realm was also in the Rosecloud Domain, this was probably intended by the Martial Lord rather than a coincidence. It also probably has something to do with how the Eight Gates Banners ended up in the Rosecloud Domain."

The old dragon laughed. "You're saying that your master's wife was such a scoundrel that she stole Old Five Origins' banners?"

Tang Jie shook his head. "I don't dare to make such a claim, but I hope not. But this isn't what's important. You're saying that this is a Dao armament? Why don't I feel any energy of the Great Dao from it?"

The old dragon explained, "The Eight Gates Banners are a combination Dao armament, and they can't show their might unless all eight are together. It's said that if the banners are all used on the same formation, they can upgrade it all the way to a Dao Formation."

"'Upgrade it to a Dao Formation'?" Tang Jie was startled.

This sort of effect was definitely worthy of the name of an artificial peak Dao armament, a far cry from the effect of each banner to boost the power of their corresponding gate.

"How many did he lose?" Tang Jie anxiously asked.

"It's been too long, and I don't remember too well," the dragon said, shaking his head. "But I think it was six."

Tang Jie's heart sank.

He went searching, and sure enough, he found the Life Gate Banner at the Life Gate's position. But there was no trace of that most important Open Gate Banner.