Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 432: Time

Three days went by in the blink of an eye.

As the hidden realm had thrown space into disarray, even Tang Jie wasn’t able to get out of the sea forest very quickly.

There were fierce fiends everywhere, and when they were paired with man-eating trees and that bizarre formation, a cultivator found progress very difficult here.

But the most headache-inducing thing of all was the mysterious energy within this hidden realm.

Tang Jie could sense that a boundless energy was emanating from the core of the Immortal mountain. This energy was behind the oddities of this space, making the fiends stronger. As it had nothing to do with a formation, it also prevented Tang Jie from making speedy progress. Not only that, he couldn’t even summon his original body or communicate with Yiyi through Heart Consonance.

Fortunately, before coming in, he had communicated with Yiyi using Heart Consonance and found out that she was coming with Xu Miaoran. They probably should have entered by now.

For the last three days, Tang Jie had been slowly moving through the forest. He didn’t get lost thanks to the guidance from the rabbit fiend, Tutu, and he was getting closer and closer to that Immortal island.

Today, as Tang Jie was moving forward, he spotted a pink three-petaled lotus flower on the water: a Threeheart Lotus.

The Threeheart Lotus was a kind of spiritual plant, though it normally did not grow on the sea. However, the effects of the sea fiend hidden realm had broken common sense, and everything had to be regarded from a new point of view.

As a newly-grown spiritual plant, this Threeheart Lotus wasn’t very valuable.

Tang Jie looked at it and still decided to pick it, passing it to the rabbit fiend. “For you.”

The energy of this hidden realm made it so that all the spirit plants would work only on fiends. Fiends that ate these plants would get stronger while humans would get nothing.

The rabbit fiend ate it in a few bites, shaking its head. “This sea forest has few spirit plants, and those that exist lack the accumulation of time. There’s basically no difference between eating and not eating this Threeheart Lotus. In the end, it’s only the spirit plants on that Immortal island that are worth anything.”

Tang Jie chuckled. “You’re not very strong, but you have quite the picky mouth.”

These words clearly wounded the rabbit fiend’s pride. Standing on Tang Jie’s shoulder, it stomped its feet and said, “Who said that? I’m still a Divine Division great fiend. Even if I’ve lost the strength of that level, I still have a vast array of knowledge. I could even give you pointers.”

“Yes, yes,” Tang Jie casually replied. “But as a fiend, you develop naturally and have little understanding of cultivation. Thus, you can’t give me any pointers on cultivation. You are a fiend of the Heavenshadow Domain, and while you’ve spent many years in the Rosecloud Domain, most of that was spent sleeping. Thus, you also can’t give me any pointers when it comes to knowledge of this domain. Other than selling out your former master and telling me some things about the Beast Refining Gate, what other value do you have?”

The rabbit fiend opened its mouth, but it couldn’t say anything.

While they were together the last few days, Tang Jie had figured out the rabbit fiend completely. This guy didn’t have any use other than acting cute and selling out others. However, it spent every day basking in its past glories and was unwilling to admit to the miserable reality.

It was only now, when Tang Jie tore away the illusion, that the rabbit fiend realized its situation, and it was momentarily speechless.

Tang Jie saw how sad it was and was somewhat remorseful. He soothed, “Fine, regardless of what you are now, you were still a Divine Division great fiend in the past. I’m sure that your weakness is only temporary. This place is a paradise for fiends, and there are natural treasures that can increase your strength wherever we go. If we go out looking for some, we can definitely improve your strength.”

The rabbit lazily replied, “There are also grades to spirit plants. I could eat ten thousand of this sort of one-year-old Threeheart Lotus, but that doesn’t mean I would get ten thousand years’ worth of cultivation.”

“Then I’ll help you find some better ones.” Tang Jie grinned.

Suddenly, he realized something and asked, “What did you just say? ‘One year old’? You’re saying that this Threeheart Lotus is a one-year-old spiritual plant?”

“Yes,” the rabbit fiend replied. “What about it?”

Tang Jie’s expression sank. “But that Threeheart Lotus clearly grew out not too long ago.”

The hidden realm had only formed three days ago, and the Immortal mountain was the actual body. The sea forest was only part of the radial region.

Tang Jie wouldn’t find it strange if there were spirit plants that were decades or centuries old on the Immortal mountain. After all, they had probably been kept in the Beast Garden for many years.

But the sea forest had formed only three days ago, and all of the spiritual plants had been born in the last three days. How could they be one year old?

Tang Jie’s tone became strange.

The rabbit fiend still hadn’t realized anything, saying, “My Heaven-Lost Rabbit Race is extremely sensitive to this sort of thing. The amount of medicinal power can’t be wrong. It’s a one-year spirit plant, worth three days of cultivation at most. It’s just terrible!”

“Is that so…” Tang Jie looked around, and he suddenly recalled that giant shark that had “evolved” into an ape.

One-year-old spirit plants, rapidly evolving fiends, a mysterious sea forest, and this jumbled-up space… As all these things appeared in Tang Jie’s mind, he finally understood, shouting, “I see! It’s spacetime! A spacetime treasure! That must be it!”

The treasure that had been suppressed in the Beast Garden had to be some sort of treasure that could influence time. This was why the hidden realm was able to develop so rapidly, for the flow of time here was no longer the same as it was outside.

The rabbit fiend was stunned at first, and then it jumped up and said, “Right, right, it must be time! Damn it; why didn’t I think of that? The Beast Garden must have been suppressing a spacetime divine treasure– wait, no. Spacetime items can only be Dao armaments, not divine treasure. That’s one of the twelve Great Daos! We have to get it!”

The rabbit fiend almost fainted from excitement.

But Tang Jie was unmoved. “‘Get it’, my ass. If it were that easy, the Beast Refining Gate wouldn’t have needed to suppress it.”

The rabbit fiend had nothing to say to that.

True! If this item were that easy to control, why did the Beast Refining Gate have to seal it?

After all, this was a sect with an Immortal Platform Titan.

Tang Jie patted the rabbit fiend. “It’s not our place to think about Dao armaments. But using this opportunity to comprehend some of the Dao of Time is worth considering…”

Since he understood that the energy in the hidden realm was closely related to Time, he would be wasting a heaven-sent chance if he didn’t try to comprehend Time.

He immediately set out to do what he said, ceasing his advance and finding a giant tree to sit down atop. He then began to inspect the energy drifting about this world.

The rabbit fiend hadn’t expected Tang Jie to be so straightforward, and started anxiously hopping around. “Hey, hey, let’s keep going. There are still lots of spirit plants on the island!”

Tang Jie indifferently said, “It’s all for fiends, so they’re of no use to me. I can’t get the Dao armament, and the spirit fruits are useless to me, so rather than keep going, I would rather meditate and comprehend. Even if I could comprehend the tiniest bit, I will benefit for the rest of my life.”

Last time, when he had comprehended Karma, it was because a sudden insight had allowed him to understand thoughts that had been on his mind for some time. This time, however, he was trying to seize that Dao Will contained in that treasure’s energy. It had nothing to do with himself.

Thus, in essence, Tang Jie’s understanding of the Dao of Karma was called comprehending, and his attempt to understand the Dao of Time could instead be called robbery.

Robbery required power, not the mind, so the mental requirements were much more relaxed. If one did not consider efficiency, one could even talk while doing it.

The rabbit fiend angrily jumped up and down around Tang Jie. “Ugh, you think the Great Dao of Time is that easy to comprehend? This rabbit cultivated for ten thousand years, and I had the innate talent of Undirected Orientation, a skill derived from the Great Dao of Space, and I even reached Divine Division. But even then, I was never able to comprehend a single other Dao! Trying to comprehend a Dao here is just wasting time!”

Tang Jie replied, “I’ve only cultivated for ten years and didn’t have any special gifts, but in these ten years, I’ve comprehended Wisdom, Space, and Karma once, and I’ve also understood Insight.”

“What?” The rabbit fiend almost fell off Tang Jie’s shoulder in shock. “That’s not possible! Comprehending three Great Daos in ten years? It’s impossible!”

“It’s not strange,” Tang Jie calmly said. “There are some things that come with natural thresholds. For people who haven’t reached the threshold, things are extremely difficult, like an imbecile trying to do math. You could give them ten thousand years and they wouldn’t achieve a thing. But for those who have reached the threshold, things become only a matter of time.”

“You’re saying I’m an imbecile?” the rabbit fiend shrieked.

“Ten thousand years and not a single Dao comprehended? At least when it comes to comprehending Daos, you are an imbecile,” Tang Jie bluntly replied.

“And you are a genius?” the rabbit shouted back.

“I might not be a genius, but I made the most correct decision,” Tang Jie replied. “If 60 points is the basic threshold for being able to comprehend a Great Dao, then I already reached that point. The first Dao I comprehended was Insight, and though it is a minor Dao, it improved my comprehension, so you could say it added 5 points. After that, I comprehended Wisdom. Insight is a part of Wisdom, so after comprehending Wisdom, I also comprehended more of Insight, almost mastering it. The two combined added on another 10 points. In this way, I already have 75 points for the threshold of comprehending Daos, so is it strange that I would subsequently comprehend Space and Karma?”

The rabbit fiend’s jaw dropped, and it couldn’t find a retort.

Comprehending a Great Dao required both fortune and ability.

The most terrifying thing about Tang Jie was that his ability allowed him to seize fortune such that he would not miss an opportunity if it came to him.

But from a personal perspective, chance did not play a particularly large factor in this Time treasure energy.

Of Tang Jie’s 60-point threshold, one could reasonably say that 50 points were fortune.

Thus, his ability’s share was only 25 points—10 from himself, and 15 from comprehending Insight and Wisdom.

As for those 50 points of fortune, in this particular situation, Tang Jie had 10 points at best.

In total, he had only 35 points, which was far from the threshold.

And going by his own theory, it wasn’t that Tang Jie had a 35% chance of success. Instead, he had a 100% chance of failure.

But the world was unpredictable, and cultivation wasn’t math. The numbers were purely reference, the exact details depending on the person. What was absolutely impossible probability-wise might still be possible in reality, though there was still a massive gap to be overcome.

For Tang Jie, whether he succeeded or not, he was in the habit of doing his best to make use of every opportunity that came his way. The outcome was not important.

Without an ambitious heart, it didn’t matter how many opportunities were given, as one would give them all up regardless.

As he spoke, he closed his eyes and opened his mind, allowing it to freely soar about the hidden realm and feel the Time power within this space.

As he had yet to cultivate a Spirit Will, Tang Jie could not proactively interact with this energy. Although this energy filled the world and Tang Jie could sense its existence, he could only sense whatever interacted with his body, and his will could not travel too far.

Shedding mortality and comprehending the Dao involved using the Heaven-Earth Bridge. Questioning the heart and comprehending the Dao involved understanding one’s personal insights. Borrowing a treasure to comprehend the Dao required the support of actual strength.

Robbery required force, not mind!

Thus, to comprehend a Great Dao from a treasure, one first needed sufficient strength.

This was also why Tang Jie’s fortune was only 10 points. He was lacking the needed strength.

But Tang Jie had no plans of giving up.

So long as he tried, even if he failed, he would have no regrets!

As the mind entered the comprehending state, it tuned out all sounds. He stopped hearing the complaining of the rabbit fiend, his entire body and soul immersed in trying to sense and comprehend this energy.

His mind gradually emptied, and his surroundings seemed to grow still.

Without a Spirit Will, he couldn’t see the outside world, but he could at least see his own body.

Unlike before, when he truly focused on looking into his body, what he saw changed.

He could see his heart beating, his blood flowing, and his organs all operating as they should, but all of this was drawn out into a very long curved line.

There were countless hims on this curved line, all existing at once but with tiny differences. They represented him at different points in time, but they appeared on the same line and in the same manner.

Thus, Tang Jie saw countless versions of himself extending endlessly.

There was no end, and as time passed, the curved line grew longer and longer. But rather than disappearing, those selves from the past lingered.

Thus, the line got longer and longer. As one moved toward the beginning, one could see the past, and if one chased the end, one could see the future.

Tang Jie tried his best to see that part of the line leading toward the future, but he only saw darkness.

He knew that this was because he had yet to grasp the Dao, meaning he could not see his future. After all, prophecies were one of the most powerful manifestations of the Dao of Time.

Not only that, from the line itself, he could see that this was a part of the Dao of Time that had nothing to do with prophecy. He didn’t know what Dao it was, but he had to try to get it.

He tried to approach all those countless illusory selves, but he could never reach them.

They were right there, yet they seemed as far away as the other end of the world.

No matter how he tried, he couldn’t grab them!

In this illusory mental world, only Divine Will could get close. Spirit Will was only the foundation!

He didn’t even have Spirit Will, so how could he even talk about seizing a Great Dao?

“No…” Tang Jie bellowed.

Alas, despite his best efforts, without a Spirit Will, he was unable to seize even a sliver of a chance. It had to be understood that even a Spirit Will wouldn’t have guaranteed him that chance.

Maintaining this mental world was consuming a great deal of Tang Jie’s energy.

As that timeline grew more and more distant while he was incapable of grasping it, Tang Jie knew that this attempt would most likely end in failure.

He let out a long sigh and prepared himself for the loss.

At this moment, a majestic wave of energy swept out.

The rabbit fiend realized to its shock that all of the plants around it were rapidly growing.

Numerous vines rose up from the sea and grew into giant trees.

Countless fish turned into sea fiends and crawled up the trees, but none of them dared to approach the pair.

Tang Jie’s hair swiftly grew until it reached his waist.

“Time…” the rabbit fiend gasped. “Time is accelerating, directly acting on humans. How?”

It only now saw that the immense amount of energy in the air had substantialized into a giant vortex of clouds that was spinning over their heads, radiating a bloody light. The pressure it was releasing was so great that the rabbit fiend plopped onto its butt in fright.

It didn’t know of the immense transformation taking place in Tang Jie’s mental world.

That distant line suddenly started to come back, rushing straight at him!

Finally, Tang Jie’s consciousness fell on that timeline, merging with one of the points.

Ahead of him was still a murky darkness, and behind him were countless past selves that stretched back as far as he could see.

Yes, he was finally standing on the timeline!

He was so excited that he wanted to roar.

With no Spirit Will, he was unable to seize the Dao of Time, but the Dao of Time had chosen to crash into him.

He didn’t know why this was the case, but he knew that the next step was key to comprehending anything.

Standing on the timeline was only the opening to comprehension. Now, he needed to see what he could discover and solve.

And he didn’t have much time.

The moment he stood on the timeline of his life, his time began to accelerate, and his life began to rapidly drain away.

Whether he comprehended the Dao of Time or not, every second of his time was being used up at ten thousand times the normal flow of time. The more time he spent comprehending, the more of his life was consumed.

He might comprehend nothing about the Dao of Time but go white-haired in a single night, or even turn into dust.

Comprehending a Dao was not safe. Great opportunity often came hand in hand with great risk.

Tang Jie understood all of this the moment he stepped onto that timeline, but he did not turn back.

He looked into the unknown darkness and took a step forward…

The true comprehension had only just begun.

——————————————

The little boat passed through the dense forest, finally approaching that Immortal mountain!

“Oh! Finally here!” Yiyi cheered as Xu Miaoran pulled her up and stepped onto shore.

“Look!” Pointing into the distance, Yiyi excitedly said, “So many tasty things!”

Sure enough, in the distance were several dozen trees from which precious fruits dangled.

When it came to valuable plants, there were quite a few. They were all at least one hundred years old.

She started to count off with her fingers, “There are Gold Fruits, Jade Lotus Fruits, Luminescent Grass… They’re all tasty!”

The little girl waved her hands and rushed forward.

“Hey, be careful!” Xu Miaoran tried to grab her, but Yiyi had already run off, so she gave chase.

In their journey of three days, they had seen many savage fiends. Even these newborn fiends had given them a lot of trouble, and the fiends on the island were even stronger. How could a place with so many rare spirit plants be without great fiend guardians?

Sure enough, as Yiyi rushed out, a massive fiend wolf charged at her.

The fiend wolf opened its mouth to eat Yiyi up.

“Dodge!” Xu Miaoran shouted, thrusting out her palm. A blast of wind struck the fiend wolf with a bang, sending it flying.

The fiend wolf got back up, seemingly fine.

Xu Miaoran grimaced. “Yiyi, be careful. This fiend wolf isn’t weak.”

She knew how much power she had put in that palm. Since this fiend could take it without any problem, it was at least middle-grade Mind Opening.

But she wasn’t afraid of a middle-grade fiend wolf.

However, a moment later, several hundred fiends emerged from the forest, and all of them seemed to be at Mind Opening.

Xu Miaoran’s heart went cold. She had never imagined that there would be this many Mind Opening fiends on this island. She grabbed Yiyi and began to retreat.

She had only fallen back a few steps when the cry of an eagle came from overhead.

Looking up, she saw an Ironback Eagle circling in the air in a slow descent.

Shaking its wings, it turned into a hawk-nosed middle-aged man who coldly looked at Xu Miaoran and Yiyi.

A Transformation great fiend!

Xu Miaoran was scared out of her wits.

She pushed Yiyi. “Yiyi, run!”

Yiyi shouted, “No! Yiyi wants to go with Big Sister!”

Xu Miaoran was frantic. She pulled an item from her Mustard Seed Bag and resolved herself to fight to the death.

But to her surprise, the Transformation great fiend looked at them, let out a long cry, and then turned back into an eagle and left.

The fiends also instantly dispersed.

Yiyi and Xu Miaoran were dumbfounded, struggling to understand what had happened.

Yiyi was still the bolder one. She looked around and shouted, “Forget it. Let’s eat first.”

She rushed over to grab a spirit fruit and began to chow down.

“Yiyi, be careful!” Xu Miaoran was worried that the fiends would come back, and ran up to protect her. But she looked left and right and found that none of those fiends had come back.

As she was wondering what was going on, a fruit dropped down in front of Xu Miaoran.

Yiyi said in her childish voice, “Big Sister, take it.”

Xu Miaoran replied, “These things aren’t of any use to me.”

Yiyi replied, “If you can’t use it, just take it. Don’t leave it for others.”

Xu Miaoran rolled her eyes. “This lack of conscience—did you learn it from Tang Jie?”

“You think you can learn to be a good person from Big Brother?” Yiyi smirked. She rushed to another spirit plant and pulled it out of the ground.

Leaving Xu Miaoran in her doubt and confusion, Yiyi began to clean the area of spiritual plants, after which she pulled Xu Miaoran to another area.

It appeared that this little girl was determined to plunder this place of everything useful.

It seems like the gods must be protecting Yiyi! The entire island is hers to feast on!