Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 852: Illusory Formation

As Tang Jie was lost in thought, Kun Wu called out, "Brother Tang, keep up!"

This guy again.

Tang Jie was helpless against Kun Wu's enthusiasm, and after some thought, he decided to follow for now.

Whatever Reverend Whitestone was up to, he would have to see it with his own eyes first, so he followed everyone to the Southern Heaven Gate. Not long after they had left, another group appeared in the clearing: Yun Tianlan's group. After looking around, they followed Tang Jie.

As they ventured deeper, all they saw was ruins, with basically nothing intact.

In addition, the howling winds also subsided, until they ultimately disappeared entirely.

But the cultivators remained nervous, for they knew that the real danger was just beginning—the Court of Myriad Domains itself had countless dangers.

But while everyone was nervous, two people remained relaxed.

One was the Earth Immortal, Reverend Whitestone, and the other was Tang Jie.

While flying, Tang Jie acted like a tourist, occasionally remarking on the scenery. "Miaoran, look at that bridge over there. Although it's broken, the statues and carvings are executed exquisitely, almost like they could come to life. It's so vivid that it looks like a work of nature, so it must have been the work of a divine craftsman. Alas, those cultivators don't recognize what's really valuable. Once they see it doesn't have any spiritual energy, they pass it by, or even destroy it. What a sad state of affairs!"

Tang Jie shook his head and sighed.

Kun Wu said in surprise, "Brother Tang, you're in quite the fine mood if you can even comment on the scenery. This Court of Myriad Domains is crawling with danger, so it's best if you stay on guard. It'll be big trouble if you trigger some trap or fall into a formation."

Tang Jie indifferently said, "There might be dangers in the court, but there definitely aren't any here, so there's no need to stress myself."

Kun Wu said in surprise, "Why do you say that?"

Tang Jie gestured at their surroundings. "Look around you. It's nothing but ruins, and even the stones have been pried out of the road. This place has been swept over numerous times, and after such treatment, what formation could be left, what danger could exist?"

Everyone was dumbfounded. True! This place had been picked clean long ago, and any dangers had been eliminated, leaving nothing but ruins. What need was there to be so wary?

Tang Jie added, "That's why, so long as we see ruins, we don't need to be so nervous. But if we run into an intact palace, we have to be extremely careful. Anything that could stick around after so many expeditions must be packed with danger. And besides, don't we also have the reverend?"

Everyone called out in agreement, "Brother Tang is right!"

Even the Soul Projection experts nodded.

They ended up flying for quite a while before finally getting through that area of ruins.

A complex of buildings gradually appeared before them.

This was an area dense with fog, the buildings looming within it.

The cultivators stopped in front of the fog, upon which Reverend Whitestone said, "Everyone, starting from here, we need to be careful. This is the outer edge of the Violet Firmament Palace, and within is an illusory formation. Once we're in, we'll lose our sense of direction and not be able to tell left from right. But there's no need to panic. If you just walk straight, you'll be able to get out of the formation. But you have to watch out for the ghosts in the formation."

"'Ghosts'?" a cultivator said in shock.

"Indeed," Reverend Whitestone said. "Most of them came about from cultivators who went looking for treasure and died within, but there were a few existences from High Antiquity who transformed into vicious ghosts, and their strength is not to be underestimated."

These words left everyone frightened.

It wasn't strange for there to be ghosts in the court. That shard of the court Tang Jie had explored in the Rosecloud Domain had also had plenty of ghosts. But this place was on an entirely different level. The base of these ghosts was Violet Palace at the minimum, and those ghosts left behind by the Immortals of High Antiquity would be even scarier.

"But everyone can be at ease. Such ferocious ghosts are concentrated in the deeper layer. The ghosts around here are mostly from the Violet Palace experts who died while exploring, and their strength is not what it was. Everyone just needs to be careful and not get lost, and you can get through."

Reverend Whitestone entered the fog.

Everyone exchanged looks and then followed. They had come all this way, so they couldn't just shrink back at the first sign of danger.

Upon entering the fog, Tang Jie found that it was so thick that he couldn't even see his hand in front of him.

He attempted to use his power to drive off the fog, but the fog refused to dissipate. Not only that, the illusory formation also hindered the usage of spiritual energy and Divine Will, so using Divine Will to probe the path was extremely difficult. Even sound could only travel an arm's length.

An illusory formation naturally had to obstruct all means of probing it.

He felt pressure on his left hand, Xu Miaoran tightening her grip. She whispered, "Husband."

"I'm here."

"This place is very weird. I can't see a thing."

Tang Jie patted her and said, "Don't worry; I'm here."

The center of his forehead cracked open, and the vertical Celestial Eye appeared.

But whatever this fog was made of was even impervious to the Celestial Eye.

Tang Jie chuckled, not worried at all, and a ring of light spread out beneath his feet.

Within this ring, countless Dao Runes flashed, forming enigmatic and complex patterns.

The Realm of Insight!

Empowered by the Realm of Insight, Tang Jie's Celestial Eye fired off a beam of light.

Wherever this beam of light aimed, all the fog scattered. All obstructions were cleared away, and Tang Jie could clearly make out his surroundings.

This was the power of a Dao Realm. Its absolute privilege had the highest authority and could break through almost anything.

Of course, this didn't mean it was invincible. If one couldn't use a similarly supreme authority to resist, one could use quantity.

An example of this quantity approach was the Jewel Immortal Sovereign using eleven finger strikes to destroy the Infinite Palace. However, this was possible because her cultivation level had been far above Tang Jie's.

This High Antiquity illusion formation wasn't able to gather the quantity sufficient to resist Tang Jie's Celestial Eye, so Tang Jie could immediately see his surroundings.

Without the fog, the formation's power was more than halved.

Holding Xu Miaoran's hand, Tang Jie smiled and said, "Just follow your husband."

He led her forward.

With his vision, Tang Jie could see not only the road, but other cultivators. But this time, he didn't lend a helping hand—exposing the Infinite Palace was enough.

Besides that, he could also see the ghosts drifting about.

As these were born from deceased Violet Palace cultivators, these were extremely powerful ghosts, and cultivators that ran into them were set for a tough battle.

While these ghosts had been at Violet Palace in life, their strength had greatly fallen upon becoming ghosts, and in normal circumstances, they would be no match.

But the living cultivators had lost their sense of direction and so had to keep going straight, which left them with no way to move around. In addition, the ghosts attacked in groups of twos and threes, which made the situation dangerous. Occasionally, a cultivator was forced to unleash a big move to destroy the ghosts, but this made them lose their sense of direction, upon which they would get lost forever in the fog. Not long after that, they would die, and a new ghost would be born.

Such dangers were nothing to Tang Jie, who pulled Xu Miaoran and advanced.

Not only that, he also used this opportunity to open up the Mustard Seed Bags Xu Miaoran had stolen and take a look at their contents. After all, nobody was able to see them, and not even the glow of the treasures could penetrate the fog.

Xu Miaoran had gotten 23 Mustard Seed Bags in total. Tang Jie found that they contained 76 art relics and 25 divine treasures. Of the divine treasures, 16 were lower-grade, 8 were middle-grade, and one was upper-grade.

Tang Jie was so rich now that let alone art relics, he even somewhat looked down on middle-grade divine treasures. Finding nothing special about the art relics, he shattered them for the Sovereign Blade. He then put the lower- and middle-grade divine treasures into the Treasure Cosmos Formation diagram, replacing some of the art relics, which he shattered.

This formation diagram that had once primarily consisted of art relics, with only a few divine treasures among their ranks, now had more than a hundred divine treasures. If this continued, it would soon be a Divine Treasure Cosmos Diagram.

With ten thousand divine treasures, even if nobody was supporting it, the diagram would be strong enough to overwhelm an Earth Immortal.

Of course, he was still far from that stage.

In the end, Tang Jie chose to keep a middle-grade divine treasure and the upper-grade divine treasure.

The middle-grade divine treasure was called the Violet Sunset Robe, and was an extremely powerful defensive treasure. While Xu Miaoran had some nice things, she had bought them all, so their quality was rather inferior. The Violet Sunset Robe was perfect for her.

As for the upper-grade divine treasure, it was called the Yin Yang Mirror of Life and Death. The Yin side reflected Death while the Yang side reflected Life, and it was extremely powerful. Alas, it wasn't a Dao armament, so its powers of Life and Death lacked authority, so a true expert would be able to block it.

Still, it was a fine treasure. The moment it was activated, anyone that it reflected would die. It was an instant-kill weapon that was great against groups.

Tang Jie also gave this mirror to Xu Miaoran, who happily accepted it. Alas, in this illusion formation, she couldn't see what the robe and mirror looked like and could only put them away.

Besides these, there were also medicines and talismans. The medicines were nothing special, but the talismans, as items worthy of being held by a Violet Palace expert, were all valuable tools that could save one's life.

As the two were sorting through the loot and seeing if there was anything useful, a person walked by: Reverend Whitestone.

Tang Jie was surprised when, as this man advanced, he suddenly stepped to the side.

Stepping to the side meant that he was losing his sense of direction.

Why was Reverend Whitestone heading off the straight path even when he wasn't being attacked by ghosts?

Tang Jie turned his attention to Reverend Whitestone.

He found that the man was taking a rather strange path. After every ten steps, he would take three steps to the side and then keep going. Moreover, each step was exactly measured.

Upon seeing this, Tang Jie somewhat understood what was going on.

Saying nothing, he covered Xu Miaoran's mouth and gestured for her to remain silent. Then, he began to follow Reverend Whitestone.

They quickly arrived in front of a small building.

This was a palace complex, so even though there was an illusory formation, the palaces remained. It was just that one would find it impossible to enter those palaces while in the formation.

But through some weird method, Reverend Whitestone had managed to make his way to one.

He pushed open the door and felt his way into the building.

Whoosh!

A cold flash of light shot toward him.

Reverend Whitestone's body flashed white as he blocked the attack. There was a clang as the weapon fell to the floor: a Lightning Shuttle. There appeared to be nothing special about this weapon, but it had been so strong that it had actually penetrated his barrier. If this had been Tang Jie, blocking it would have been impossible. While he wouldn't have died, he would have come out heavily injured.

But Reverend Whitestone was delighted. "Excellent—there are defensive measures. That means that no one's been here before and there are treasures within."

He continued to feel his way forward.

Tang Jie saw clearly that there was a desk in front of Reverend Whitestone, and on this desk was a brush that shone with a golden aura.

Tang Jie reached out and took the brush.

Moments later, Reverend Whitestone's hand reached the desk. He felt all over and then commented, "There's nothing?"

Undeterred, he continued forward.

Tang Jie and Xu Miaoran followed, taking whatever seemed like treasure.

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