Aspiring to the Immortal Path

The Rosecloud Domain continued its journey through the stars like a lonesome traveler.

After entering the Lustrous Jade Heaven Star Cluster, it began to travel along the trails of domains, thus allowing it to reach the greatest number of domains in the shortest distance.

It encountered domain after domain, assisting humans and exterminating demons, at the same time absorbing them to grow stronger.

Not every domain could accept the domain merging, but Tang Jie didn’t mind, remaining firm in his desire to help the locals vanquish the demons. The flesh and blood of the demons became the nutrients for the Rosecloud Domain, creating a path of development in the Rosecloud Domain based entirely on demons. This caused more and more humans to join the Rosecloud Domain. The Rosecloud Domain was like the liberator come to save them, and its cultivator force grew larger and larger.

The resource gathering force of the Rosecloud Domain also grew larger and larger, with tens of thousands of shuttles crisscrossing the stars almost every day, bringing back resources to strengthen the domain. The Rosecloud Domain was the hive, and the shuttles were like diligent worker bees.

At the top of the hive was a massive mountain that extended all the way into the Astral Winds. Unafraid of those intense flames, it ascended higher and higher, reaching into the void.

This was Heavenly Pillar Mountain.

It was artificial, created personally by Tang Jie over 81 days of work. It was made from 18 kinds of ore and more than 70 other kinds of natural resources. The inner cavity was covered in formation lines while the outer surface had been carved with images, all set out in harmony with the Great Daos. The base of the mountain reached all the way to the core, its middle had roots throughout the land, and its upper reaches were tempered daily in the Astral Winds. All these parts came together into a top-class Immortal formation.

Starsnatch Pagoda was placed at the summit of the Heavenly Pillar Formation, thus gaining the title of the highest-altitude building in all of the Rosecloud Domain, its top pointing to the infinity of space. At the tip of the tower, three treasures glowed, illuminating all directions. They were the Moon Wheel, Guiding Star Compass, and All-Illuminating Mirror.

The Moon Wheel was originally a Dao armament that could transmit a message across an entire domain, but it was now boosted by the Heavenly Pillar Mountain and Starsnatch Pagoda. When paired with the star compass and the mirror, a cultivator’s Divine Will could travel vast distances to pass on or receive information. Even cross-plane communication was possible.

A surveillance team consisting of 12 Violet Palace True Lords and 24 Soul Transformation True Persons was on rotating duty here, constantly observing and receiving information from other domains.

“Direction Geng Wei (275 degrees) Azimuth 66, there is a domain being assailed by the Primordial Fog Calamity. It has already completely fallen, and there are no signs of humans. The strongest demons are three high-rank devils… It is a small domain,” a cultivator reported his observations.

A lower-tier cultivator took this information to their superiors, and in an Immortal palace stationed on a mountain some distance from Starsnatch Pagoda, the information appeared on a crystal.

An Earth Immortal took the information and quickly looked through the data of known domains, declaring, “It’s the Water Spirit Domain. While a small domain, it has decent Water Element resources. While there is no value in merging with it, we can extract its resources. Order the Third Demon-Vanquishing Army to move out, and send two resource-gathering divisions behind them. The resource divisions must start their work the day the battle begins, and the entire battle cannot last for more than thirty days. The Rosecloud Domain will not wait for them!”

“Yes!” A cultivator left to deliver these orders.

A new report soon arrived.

That Earth Immortal inspected each report and issued the corresponding orders. If it was a small domain, he would dispatch armies to clear it. If it was a barren planetoid with valuable resources, he would send a resource division to mine it. If it was a Void Behemoth, the Rosecloud Domain wouldn’t waste it. He would evaluate its strength, calculate if they could win, and determine if there was any value in killing it. Once this evaluation was done, a Titan would be dispatched. If they were dealing with a medium-sized domain, this manager could no longer make decisions on his own. He would have to bring the matter to the assembly to decide.

If it was a large domain or super-large domain, a powerful enemy that was hard to deal with, or some other important matter, the issue would be elevated to the Elder Council, with all elders being Earth Immortals.

Tang Jie had personally developed this system, which allowed the Rosecloud Domain to run efficiently and more along the lines of a military with each passing day, and it had earned much praise from other Immortals. As for Tang Jie, he very rarely involved himself in the day-to-day business. As the Domain Lord, he spent more time planning the domain’s direction of development, designing and improving the domain’s ever-expanding formations, interacting with the core, and so on…

“Direction Jiachen (97.5 degrees) Azimuth 52, a pack of Void Behemoths is passing through. Report this to the Elder Council and let them decide if we should hunt them down.” After giving this order, Stellar Lord Bright Moon took a sip of his tea and then raised an eyebrow. “Did we change the tea?”

An attendant obediently replied, “A few days ago, the Dragon Gale Division found a thousand-year Spirit Palm Tea Tree in the Greenwood Domain, and they brought back a lot of tea leaves. I recalled that Stellar Lord enjoyed drinking tea, so I specifically requested some to give Stellar Lord a taste. If Stellar Lord likes it, this lowly one can go and get some more.”

Stellar Lord Bright Moon took another sip and said, “This tea truly is excellent. It’s a good thing you remembered my preferences. Seeing as you’re so considerate, I’ll teach you a little more after this.”

The attendant was delighted.

The greatest advantage of attending on an important figure was not being rewarded with resources, but being rewarded with cultivation instruction or arts.

Stellar Lord Bright Moon laughed and examined the next report. For him, trading experience and arts that he no longer needed for the loyalty of his subordinates was a decent deal. It could even improve his reputation.

But as he read the lines on the crystal prism, he suddenly froze.

The attendant watched in shock as Stellar Lord Bright Moon began to tremble, and then he stood up and flew out of the palace.

The attendant had never seen him in such a state before. “What happened that made him act that way?”

He curiously glanced at the crystal, and then he also froze in shock.

The Hall of Divine Conference.

The structure of the Hall of Divine Conference had undergone massive transformations.

This ancient palace that once belonged to the Basking Moon Sect was now Tang Jie’s personal villa. It was no longer located on top of the Zephyr Mountains, but in the Astral Wind region. The raging Astral Winds failed to harm this hall, instead seemingly acting like a divine furnace, refining it such that it glowed ever more radiantly.

A long river circled the palace, appearing like a jade belt, so it was named the Jade Belt River. While waging war on the Jade River Domain, Tang Jie had taken its Nine Heavens Jade River and refined it into this treasure.

Stellar Lord Bright Moon went straight to the Hall of Divine Conference.

He passed through the Astral Winds, crossed the jade river, and finally, past a layer of clouds, he appeared in front of the Hall of Divine Conference.

The plaza in front of the hall was fringed with clouds, ancient trees standing sentinel amid fields of flowers, with all kinds of birds and beasts frolicking within, a fairyland in the clouds.

The Stellar Lord ignored all this beauty and called out, “Bright Moon has an urgent matter to report to the Domain Lord.”

The gates of the hall opened.

Stellar Lord Bright Moon strode in and immediately found himself in a vast space. Around him were countless twinkling stars of unknown significance, and there was also a great crowd of people, all of them connected by threads of starlight. There was a great clamor, as if all of these countless people were engaged in hushed conversation.

Stellar Bright Moon tried to listen, and then a flood of information deluged his mind, overwhelming his mental faculties and causing him to scream.

And then time stopped.

Bright Moon found that all sound had ceased, and the stars had ceased to twinkle. There was only silence.

A figure strode out of the void, and though he was not particularly tall, he exuded such a peerless majesty that a mere glance made him want to prostrate.

It was Tang Jie.

Stellar Lord Bright Moon prostrated. “This subordinate pays respects to the Domain Lord.”

“What matter has you in such a panic?”

Bright Moon pressed his head against the floor and said, “It… it’s about the young master!”

“Hm?” Tang Jie raised his head.

This simple sound made Bright Moon feel like the world was collapsing.

“What happened to him?” Tang Jie casually asked.

“Domain Lord, the young master was ambushed in the Primordial Fog Domain and fled with heavy injuries. His current location is unknown.”

Boom!

The world seemed to freeze.

Bright Moon found himself paralyzed.

He couldn’t even tremble in fear.

But the sensation lasted only for a split second.

That world-crushing pressure disappeared, as if everything that had happened had just been an illusion.

Tang Jie said, “Who sent the report?”

“Celestial Sovereign Posha!”

“Give me his original words.”

“Yes!”

Bright Moon’s eyes flashed, and the exact contents of the report appeared in the air.

Tang Jie carefully read it, and after a while, he said, “This was not the work of the Massacre Saber Devil, but Ice Phoenix.”

Bright Moon lowered his head, not daring to speak.

Wang Posha had provided his speculations and analysis in his report. He had only guessed that Ice Phoenix was involved, but Tang Jie could tell with a glance that this was Ice Phoenix’s work.

It was too similar to his own.

“It seems that she didn’t waste her time with me,” Tang Jie muttered.

He suddenly laughed.

Bright Moon was dumbfounded.

His son and disciple were missing, but Tang Jie was laughing?

Tang Jie then said, “Tell Posha that he should officially inform Ice Phoenix. Just say… Xuanyu is missing, so I want Ice Phoenix to immediately dispatch her troops to search for him and bring him back for me.”

What?

Bright Moon was stunned.

You’re making Ice Phoenix bring him back?

Didn’t you just say that she was the one who had ambushed him?

“Why aren’t you going?” Tang Jie glared.

Bright Moon immediately came to his senses and ran off to inform Wang Posha.